WTVE was the first television station to go on the air in the Elmira

Elmira, New York

Elmira is a city in Chemung County, New York, USA. It is the principal city of the 'Elmira, New York Metropolitan Statistical Area' which encompasses Chemung County, New York. The population was 29,200 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Chemung County.The City of Elmira is located in...

-Corning, New York

Corning (city), New York

Corning is a city in Steuben County, New York, United States, on the Chemung River. The population was 10,842 at the 2000 census. It is named for Erastus Corning, an Albany financier and railroad executive who was an investor in the company that developed the community.- Overview :The city of...

 market.

It was a DuMont Television Network

DuMont Television Network

The DuMont Television Network, also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont, Du Mont, or Dumont was one of the world's pioneer commercial television networks, rivalling NBC for the distinction of being first overall. It began operation in the United States in 1946. It was owned by DuMont...

 station broadcasting from studios on Market Street in Elmira in 1953. It broadcast on UHF

Ultra high frequency

Ultra-High Frequency designates the ITU Radio frequency range of electromagnetic waves between 300 MHz and 3 GHz , also known as the decimetre band or decimetre wave as the wavelengths range from one to ten decimetres...

 channel 24.

The station was blown off the air in 1954 when its tower on South Mountain was blown down by Hurricane Hazel

Hurricane Hazel

Hurricane Hazel was the deadliest and costliest hurricane of the 1954 Atlantic hurricane season. The storm killed as many as 1,000 people in Haiti before striking the United States near the border between North and South Carolina, as a Category 4 hurricane...

. Not long after, the DuMont network itself shut down. The station remained on the FCC

Federal Communications Commission

The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...

 books until at least 1960. At one point, the licensee held a construction permit for VHF

Very high frequency

Very high frequency is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz. Frequencies immediately below VHF are denoted High frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Ultra high frequency...

 channel 9, according to BostonRadio.com.

However, the station never signed back on the air. Both channels 9 and 24 were reallocated to Syracuse, New York

Syracuse, New York

Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, the largest U.S. city with the name "Syracuse", and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,170, and its metropolitan area had a population of 742,603...

, where they are occupied by WSYR-TV

WSYR-TV

WSYR-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for Central New York State that is licensed to Syracuse. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 17 from a transmitter on Sevier Road in Pompey. The station can also be seen on Time Warner channel 9 and in high definition on...

 (originally WNYS and then WIXT) and WCNY-TV

WCNY-TV

WCNY-TV is Syracuse, New York's public television station and PBS member station. WCNY-TV's programming is also seen in Utica on low-powered repeater W22DO-D channel 24 Digital...

, respectively.

The WTVE call letters were reallocated to a station

WTVE

WTVE, Channel 25 , is a Reading, Pennsylvania television station that has been in operation since May 4, 1980 Its schedule consists mostly of infomercials and paid religious programs. It also simulcasts Real Politics Live and Richard French Live which are produced by sister station WRNN in...

 in Reading, Pennsylvania

Reading, Pennsylvania

Reading is a city in southeastern Pennsylvania, USA, and seat of Berks County. Reading is the principal city of the Greater Reading Area and had a population of 88,082 as of the 2010 census, making it the fifth most populated city in the state after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown and Erie,...

.

It is notable that Hazel also blew WLBR-TV

WLYH-TV

WLYH-TV is the CW-affiliated television station for South Central Pennsylvania licensed to Lancaster. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 23 from a transmitter on Butler Road in South Londonderry Township's Timber Hills section. The station can also be seen on Comcast...

 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Lancaster is a city in the south-central part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the county seat of Lancaster County and one of the older inland cities in the United States, . With a population of 59,322, it ranks eighth in population among Pennsylvania's cities...

off the air, though it came back on under new ownership within a few years.