Most TV stations are off the air by 1 a.m., but Pittsburgh's WDTV is one U.S. station that telecasts 24 hours a day. The experiment began last month, after Station Manager Harold Lund discovered that nearly 200,000 swing-shift workers in the steel mills and other Pittsburgh industries seldom got a chance to see TV except on weekends.
WDTV's Swing Shift starts at 12:50 a.m., runs until the daytime programs begin at 7 a.m. It is sold, at $475 an hour, to sponsors peddling beer, jewelry, insurance and pianos. Each night and dawning, televiewers see two feature films, two westerns and one episode...