Financial constraints caused by an overexpansion in the warehouse business led Overmyer to sell majority control of the other unbuilt stations to American Viscose Corporation (AVC) in exchange for a loan.

[4] Overmyer was adopted: while his mother was described as "prim and proper" and his father "mild-mannered, slender ... whose dress was so impeccable", he gained a reputation for being a bully, with an "obnoxious" demeanor, a slovenly wardrobe and was overweight throughout his life.

[3] While a Denison student in 1943, Overmyer was drafted into the army; he served as a private and transport warrant officer during World War II, and helped with barge unloadings during the landings in Normandy on D-Day.

[3][7] Overmyer grew up a fan of the Toledo Mud Hens, the city's minor league baseball club, and unsuccessfully tried to buy the team at the age of 27.

[14] From 1962 to 1966, Overmyer controlled the Toledo Monitor, launched in 1959 as a business newspaper but ventured into yellow and tabloid journalism during his four-year tenure as owner.

[18] While still a speculative investment in 1963, the All-Channel Receiver Act mandated the inclusion of UHF channels on newly constructed television sets.

[25] Over the next several months, Overmyer filed to purchase construction permits for WATL-TV in Atlanta,[26] and two unbuilt stations: WNOP-TV in Newport, Kentucky, serving Cincinnati, Ohio,[27] and KBAY-TV in San Francisco.

[30] The Atlanta, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco purchases were all approved by the FCC in 1965, as were the construction permits in Houston and Toledo; KBAY-TV's previous owner retained a minority interest.

[38][39] The Dallas application initially was competed against by Maxwell Electronics Corporation,[40] which ultimately won the license to channel 33 when that allocation opened up.

[50] The warehouse company also had substantial overhead: the financial development team frequently traveled across the country, with monthly airfare as high as $80,000.

[54][55] The cash crunch brought on by guaranteeing the contractor's debt was later attributed as the reason for Overmyer's 1967 sale of Progress National Bank.

On June 1, 1967, the United Network folded because of insufficient advertising revenue and costly AT&T distribution charges, effectively cancelling The Las Vegas Show.

[83] Hyde concluded Overmyer's application was sufficient for approval"[84] and agreed with commissioner Kenneth A. Cox that the true nature of the transaction was to raise funds to save the warehouse business.

[85] Cox criticized the submission of out-of-pocket expenses and the loan and option agreement in the transaction, claiming it violated an FCC policy by providing a profit.

[93] Four of the five stations signed on between 1968 and 1969: KEMO-TV in San Francisco,[94] WXIX-TV in Cincinnati,[95] WPGH-TV in Pittsburgh, and WATL-TV in Atlanta,[96] all joining WPHL-TV.

[104] The Subcommittee conducted another set of wide-ranging hearings on the Overmyer-AVC deal in July and August 1968:[105] with Overmyer, AVC president Dr. Frank H. Reichel, five FCC staffers and the commissioners named as witnesses.

[107] Overmyer's method of calculating out-of-pocket expenses proved essential in the hearings as half of the amount was based on opinion instead of documented evidence.

[108] The FCC received copies of letters from banks willing to talk about loans to help fund construction of the television stations, which was regarded as "partial evidence" of "financial capability" by Overmyer but was found by the Subcommittee not to be actual commitments.

[107] The hearings were characterized in Broadcasting magazine as "fishing for evidence ... [b]ut it has portrayed the commission as having acted in a casual, perhaps even inept, manner".

sale to examine out-of-pocket expenses involved and determine if fraud was committed;[124] concurrently, WDHO-TV's license renewal was deferred.

[42][125][c] WDHO had become Toledo's ABC affiliate on June 15, 1969, after operating as an independent[128][129] but did not launch local newscasts until 1972; the news department was initially housed in a garage adjacent to—but not connected with—the studio building, a repurposed warehouse.

[130] Overmyer pledged the stock of WDHO's license subsidiary to the First National Bank of Boston (FNBB) as security for a $6 million loan in 1971.

[37] Because of poor advertising revenue, WATL-TV and KEMO-TV left the air on March 31, 1971, with WPGH-TV following suit on August 16, 1971;[131] WPGH entered bankruptcy after going dark.

[135][136] In the initial decision issued on April 20, 1973, administrative law judge Herbert Sharfman determined Overmyer overstated his total out-of-pocket expenses by $227,000, but found no evidence of maliciousness or fraud.

[146] A New York Daily News investigation revealed that Herzog appointed a member of an accounting firm run by Babitt's brother to assist in audits on the companies but engaged in money laundering, kickbacks, and other personal favors.

[153] Overmyer provided documents to the Southern District of New York (SDNY) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), hired private detectives and contacted columnist Jack Anderson, who talked to the Daily News; Overmyer said of the court, "I watched a company with $220 million in assets be reduced to $5 million through mismanagement and fraud.

[161][162] Babitt was eventually cleared by a five-member committee of SDNY judges, but was criticized for "poor judgment" having his brother's accounting firm be involved, creating an avoidable "appearance of influence".

[178] A warehouse adjacent to the WDHO studios on South Byrne Road in Toledo was sold to Canadian investors the following month, the last asset among the D. H. Overmyer Company's 41 subsidiaries to be auctioned off.

[37] The Hadar Leasing Company, which operated as an Overmyer subsidiary from the Park Avenue offices, filed a proof of claim of $859,481.80 in the WDHO bankruptcy proceedings on August 7, 1981, after they also entered Chapter 11.

[189] In early 1988, the British Columbia superintendent of brokers announced a probe into Crossland's spending of $1.3 million in shareholder's money for management, professional and consulting fees, promotion, travel and entertainment.