I recently got a hold of a New England TV Guide for 1955. It covers ALL of the New England states except for Vermont (which I suppose was part of the Montreal-Ottawa edition) and Central and Northern Maine (which I'm guessing was covered by the Canadian Maritime edition). After looking through it, I find some interesting facts:
Most of the current VHF stations were on the air in 1955 with some exceptions.
Not on the air yet are Channel 5 Boston, Ch. 6 New Bedford MA and Ch. 3 Hartford, yet two UHF stations are on the air in the Hartford area (18 and 30) and two UHF stations are also on the air in nearby Springfield MA (22 and, instead of present day 40, there is Ch. 55). Today 18 is Univision but it was ABC then. 30 was mostly CBS but today is NBC. 22 was and is NBC. And 55 was both CBS and ABC but 40 today is all ABC. I know at one time there was also a Ch. 48, WICC-TV in Bridgeport CT, running mostly ABC shows but it isn't in this TV Guide.
With no Ch. 5 yet, Ch.9 in Manchester NH seems to be serving as Boston's ABC affiliate. (WGBH 2 is Educational, WBZ 4 is NBC and WNAC 7 is CBS and DuMont.) ABC isn't feeding much on the network yet, so Ch. 9 WMUR doesn't sign on till 1:15pm with a movie, followed by "Jigsaw Quiz" and religious shows like "Our Faith" and "Catholic Thought." The station then runs another movie followed by some locally produced programs, such as "The Happy Dragon," "Donn Tibbetts' Variety Show" and "Guest House" hosted by someone named Kearney. Ch. 9, 18 in Hartford and 55 in Springfield all carry ABC News with John Daly at 7:15pm. (Daly doubled as ABC's evening anchorman and hosted the long-running "What's My Line?" on CBS Sunday nights, still seen late nights on GSN.)
With only two stations per market in most parts of New England, stations have numerous networks to choose from and interchange shows on their schedule. A few stations are affiliates of 3 networks. Ch. 8 in New Haven lists all four (ABC, CBS, NBC and DuMont) as its networks.
Some more oddities: Movies rarely last more the 60 minutes. It's amazing that whether it's a western or drama, most stations cut their movies to one-hour, even if they have to fill the next quarter or half hour with "film shorts" or some other time filler. And 15 min. shows are not uncommon, especially soap operas and early evening music shows, hosted by Patti Page, Julius LaRosa, Perry Como, etc.
Ch. 8, WMTW, with its tower on Mt. Washington NH and licensed to Poland Spring, ME, is mostly a CBS affiliate, the same as nearby Ch. 13 WGAN in Portland ME. This is really odd since their coverage overlapped a great deal. Today Ch. 8 is the ABC affiliate for the Portland market and its tower is now near CBS 13 and NBC 6 by Sebego Lake. But till a couple of years ago, 8 had a giant coverage area from its tower on the tallest peak in the Northeast. At one time, Ch. 8 was the ABC affiliate for both Portland and Burlington VT-Plattsburgh NY till Ch. 22 signed on in Burlington as an ABC affiliate in the 70s. So I don't know why in 1955 Ch. 8 was running the same prime time line up as Ch. 13 Portland (and I would guess Ch. 3 in Burlington, also a CBS affiliate).
Another oddity: Five NBC stations pick up the Today Show from 7-9am. Two CBS stations (7 Boston and 30 Hartford) carried something called The Morning Show with John Henry Faulk from 7-9am but no other stations sign on this early. Yet only two of the NBC stations bother to carry the Tonight Show with Steve Allen. Ch. 22 Springfield runs it at 11:30 but Ch. 4 Boston joins Tonight at 11:40, following various half-hour syndicated shows such as City Detective and People Are Funny at 11:10. I've heard in the past that when Allen and Jack Paar hosted Tonight, stations had the option of joining at 11:15 or 11:30... there were two openings, but not 11:40. As more stations expanded their late news to a half-hour, Johnny Carson refused to go on at 11:15 and opened the show at 11:30. For a while, Ed McMahon and Doc Severinson hosted a 15 min. warm-up at 11:15 before Carson came out but were only seen in smaller markets where they couldn't fill 30 min. of news at 11pm.
When it comes to news, all stations except 8 New Haven and 12 Providence do an 11pm newscast, although that late news only lasts till 11:05, 11:10 or 11:15. Ch. 8 has no late news. It runs syndicated shows such as Eddie Cantor and I Led Three Lives from 11-Midnight and wraps up with a movie at 12:00. Ch. 12 runs a drama called Lone Wolf at 11 and does a late newscast at 11:30, then signs off. Only a few stations do news at 6pm and only for 15 min. Others do 5 or 10 min. of news at 6:30, 6:45 or 7:15 and separately list their sportscasts and weather. John Cameron Swayze does NBC News at 7:45, carried by all five NBC affiliates. Five CBS stations run a 15 min. network newscast at 7:30. I believe it was done by Douglas Edwards although this TV Guide doesn't list the anchor. At noon, only Ch. 4 Boston does a newscast, lasting 15 min. Ch. 13 Portland also does a 15 min. newscast at 11am when it signs on. And Ch. 30 Hartford does a 15 min. newscast at 2pm.
There were quite a few 15 min. shows in 1955. Many soap operas and early evening music shows were only a quarter hour, including shows featuring Patti Page, Julius LaRosa, Liberace and Teresa Brewer. They were often paired with 15 min. news shows to make up a half-hour. The three Connecticut stations each a 15 min. show at different times during the weekend hosted by Sen. Prescott Bush. He was the grandfather of the current president and father of the former president.
Gregg
[email protected]
Most of the current VHF stations were on the air in 1955 with some exceptions.
Not on the air yet are Channel 5 Boston, Ch. 6 New Bedford MA and Ch. 3 Hartford, yet two UHF stations are on the air in the Hartford area (18 and 30) and two UHF stations are also on the air in nearby Springfield MA (22 and, instead of present day 40, there is Ch. 55). Today 18 is Univision but it was ABC then. 30 was mostly CBS but today is NBC. 22 was and is NBC. And 55 was both CBS and ABC but 40 today is all ABC. I know at one time there was also a Ch. 48, WICC-TV in Bridgeport CT, running mostly ABC shows but it isn't in this TV Guide.
With no Ch. 5 yet, Ch.9 in Manchester NH seems to be serving as Boston's ABC affiliate. (WGBH 2 is Educational, WBZ 4 is NBC and WNAC 7 is CBS and DuMont.) ABC isn't feeding much on the network yet, so Ch. 9 WMUR doesn't sign on till 1:15pm with a movie, followed by "Jigsaw Quiz" and religious shows like "Our Faith" and "Catholic Thought." The station then runs another movie followed by some locally produced programs, such as "The Happy Dragon," "Donn Tibbetts' Variety Show" and "Guest House" hosted by someone named Kearney. Ch. 9, 18 in Hartford and 55 in Springfield all carry ABC News with John Daly at 7:15pm. (Daly doubled as ABC's evening anchorman and hosted the long-running "What's My Line?" on CBS Sunday nights, still seen late nights on GSN.)
With only two stations per market in most parts of New England, stations have numerous networks to choose from and interchange shows on their schedule. A few stations are affiliates of 3 networks. Ch. 8 in New Haven lists all four (ABC, CBS, NBC and DuMont) as its networks.
Some more oddities: Movies rarely last more the 60 minutes. It's amazing that whether it's a western or drama, most stations cut their movies to one-hour, even if they have to fill the next quarter or half hour with "film shorts" or some other time filler. And 15 min. shows are not uncommon, especially soap operas and early evening music shows, hosted by Patti Page, Julius LaRosa, Perry Como, etc.
Ch. 8, WMTW, with its tower on Mt. Washington NH and licensed to Poland Spring, ME, is mostly a CBS affiliate, the same as nearby Ch. 13 WGAN in Portland ME. This is really odd since their coverage overlapped a great deal. Today Ch. 8 is the ABC affiliate for the Portland market and its tower is now near CBS 13 and NBC 6 by Sebego Lake. But till a couple of years ago, 8 had a giant coverage area from its tower on the tallest peak in the Northeast. At one time, Ch. 8 was the ABC affiliate for both Portland and Burlington VT-Plattsburgh NY till Ch. 22 signed on in Burlington as an ABC affiliate in the 70s. So I don't know why in 1955 Ch. 8 was running the same prime time line up as Ch. 13 Portland (and I would guess Ch. 3 in Burlington, also a CBS affiliate).
Another oddity: Five NBC stations pick up the Today Show from 7-9am. Two CBS stations (7 Boston and 30 Hartford) carried something called The Morning Show with John Henry Faulk from 7-9am but no other stations sign on this early. Yet only two of the NBC stations bother to carry the Tonight Show with Steve Allen. Ch. 22 Springfield runs it at 11:30 but Ch. 4 Boston joins Tonight at 11:40, following various half-hour syndicated shows such as City Detective and People Are Funny at 11:10. I've heard in the past that when Allen and Jack Paar hosted Tonight, stations had the option of joining at 11:15 or 11:30... there were two openings, but not 11:40. As more stations expanded their late news to a half-hour, Johnny Carson refused to go on at 11:15 and opened the show at 11:30. For a while, Ed McMahon and Doc Severinson hosted a 15 min. warm-up at 11:15 before Carson came out but were only seen in smaller markets where they couldn't fill 30 min. of news at 11pm.
When it comes to news, all stations except 8 New Haven and 12 Providence do an 11pm newscast, although that late news only lasts till 11:05, 11:10 or 11:15. Ch. 8 has no late news. It runs syndicated shows such as Eddie Cantor and I Led Three Lives from 11-Midnight and wraps up with a movie at 12:00. Ch. 12 runs a drama called Lone Wolf at 11 and does a late newscast at 11:30, then signs off. Only a few stations do news at 6pm and only for 15 min. Others do 5 or 10 min. of news at 6:30, 6:45 or 7:15 and separately list their sportscasts and weather. John Cameron Swayze does NBC News at 7:45, carried by all five NBC affiliates. Five CBS stations run a 15 min. network newscast at 7:30. I believe it was done by Douglas Edwards although this TV Guide doesn't list the anchor. At noon, only Ch. 4 Boston does a newscast, lasting 15 min. Ch. 13 Portland also does a 15 min. newscast at 11am when it signs on. And Ch. 30 Hartford does a 15 min. newscast at 2pm.
There were quite a few 15 min. shows in 1955. Many soap operas and early evening music shows were only a quarter hour, including shows featuring Patti Page, Julius LaRosa, Liberace and Teresa Brewer. They were often paired with 15 min. news shows to make up a half-hour. The three Connecticut stations each a 15 min. show at different times during the weekend hosted by Sen. Prescott Bush. He was the grandfather of the current president and father of the former president.
Gregg
[email protected]