Just a few random TV related events that happened on August 1 (big day!). Discuss or comment as you please……
1933: Actor/comedian Dom DeLuise is born in Brooklyn, New York.
1949: The FCC sends a letter to CATV pioneer L.E. Parsons in Astoria, Oregon, requesting that he "furnish the Commission full information with respect to the nature of the system you may have developed and may be operating." This is the first known involvement of the FCC in CATV.
1952: Television broadcasting begins in the Dominican Republic as La Voz Dominicana (based on the radio station of the same name) signs on for the first time.
1953: KBES-TV (later KTVM, then KOBI) signs on for the first time in Medford, Oregon.
1955: WILL-TV begins broadcasting on channel 12 from the University of Illinois in Urbana.
1956: KRCR-TV (channel 7) begins broadcasting in Redding, California. Until 2006, they were one of very few ABC affiliates that operated on channel 7, but didn't use any version of the famous “Circle 7” logo.
1959: WAFG-TV begins operations on channel 31 in Huntsville, Alabama. In 1963, the station would be sold to Smith Broadcasting, adopting the present WAAY-TV calls.
1963: WQAD-TV begins serving the IA/IL Quad Cities on channel 8.
1965: Cigarette ads are banned from television in the U.K. Pipe tobacco and cigar ads, however, would continue until 1992.
1967: Non-commercial WBRA-TV (channel 15) signs on for the first time in Roanoke, Virginia. The station would become the flagship of Blue Ridge Public Television.
1968: WXIX-TV (channel 19) officially begins operating in Newport, Kentucky. The station had previously run some sporadic test transmissions, including "mini-shows" featuring The Larry Smith Puppets promoting the sale of UHF converters.
1971: CBS begins presenting the first U.S. airing of the acclaimed 6-hour BBC miniseries The Six Wives of Henry VIII, broadcast over six consecutive Sundays.
1975: Death Valley Days ends its long original run (558 episodes over 23 years) in syndication.
1977: Francis Gary Powers, the former U-2 Pilot shot down over the USSR in one of the most potentially volatile Cold War incidents, dies while piloting a news helicopter for KNBC-TV in Los Angeles. Powers had been covering brush fires in Santa Barbara County in the station’s “Telecopter” (one of the first equipped with 360-degree cameras) when he ran out of fuel and crashed just a few miles from Burbank Airport. KNBC cameraman George Spears was also killed in the crash.
1978: Harry Reasoner returns to CBS after taking advantage of an escape clause in his contract with ABC.
1979: Good Times ends its network run on CBS.
1980: WXAO-TV (Channel 47) signs on in Jacksonville, Florida. Originally a primarily Christian outlet with a few (wholesome) secular shows, the station would gradually reduce the percentage of religious programs in favor of a more general entertainment schedule, and change calls to WNFT (North Florida Television) in 1983. In 1995, they would become a charter UPN affiliate, and again change calls, this time to WTEV. In 2002, WTEV would gain the CBS affiliation that had surprisingly been allowed to lapse by long-time affiliate WJXT.
1981: MTV (Music Television) launches its culture-changing cable channel. Only seen by a few thousand subscribers to a northern New Jersey cable system, the inaugural transmission begins with the words "Ladies and gentlemen…rock and roll" spoken by original COO John Lack, immediately followed by the original MTV theme song playing over a montage of images of the Apollo 11 moon landing.
1995: Longtime CJOH-TV (Ottawa, Ontario) sports anchor Brian Smith is shot in the station's parking lot by Jeffrey Arenburg, a released mental patient with a past history of threatening media personalities. (Arenburg thought the station was broadcasting messages in his head.) Smith died in the hospital the following day.
(Just a little featurette I hope to do as time permits…..don’t expect it every single day. It’s an entirely random selection based on a quick Net search, and is not meant to be comprehensive. So, don’t post nasty messages about “you forgot THIS” or “how could you not mention THAT?” Do so, and I’ll just take my keyboard and go home…..)
1933: Actor/comedian Dom DeLuise is born in Brooklyn, New York.
1949: The FCC sends a letter to CATV pioneer L.E. Parsons in Astoria, Oregon, requesting that he "furnish the Commission full information with respect to the nature of the system you may have developed and may be operating." This is the first known involvement of the FCC in CATV.
1952: Television broadcasting begins in the Dominican Republic as La Voz Dominicana (based on the radio station of the same name) signs on for the first time.
1953: KBES-TV (later KTVM, then KOBI) signs on for the first time in Medford, Oregon.
1955: WILL-TV begins broadcasting on channel 12 from the University of Illinois in Urbana.
1956: KRCR-TV (channel 7) begins broadcasting in Redding, California. Until 2006, they were one of very few ABC affiliates that operated on channel 7, but didn't use any version of the famous “Circle 7” logo.
1959: WAFG-TV begins operations on channel 31 in Huntsville, Alabama. In 1963, the station would be sold to Smith Broadcasting, adopting the present WAAY-TV calls.
1963: WQAD-TV begins serving the IA/IL Quad Cities on channel 8.
1965: Cigarette ads are banned from television in the U.K. Pipe tobacco and cigar ads, however, would continue until 1992.
1967: Non-commercial WBRA-TV (channel 15) signs on for the first time in Roanoke, Virginia. The station would become the flagship of Blue Ridge Public Television.
1968: WXIX-TV (channel 19) officially begins operating in Newport, Kentucky. The station had previously run some sporadic test transmissions, including "mini-shows" featuring The Larry Smith Puppets promoting the sale of UHF converters.
1971: CBS begins presenting the first U.S. airing of the acclaimed 6-hour BBC miniseries The Six Wives of Henry VIII, broadcast over six consecutive Sundays.
1975: Death Valley Days ends its long original run (558 episodes over 23 years) in syndication.
1977: Francis Gary Powers, the former U-2 Pilot shot down over the USSR in one of the most potentially volatile Cold War incidents, dies while piloting a news helicopter for KNBC-TV in Los Angeles. Powers had been covering brush fires in Santa Barbara County in the station’s “Telecopter” (one of the first equipped with 360-degree cameras) when he ran out of fuel and crashed just a few miles from Burbank Airport. KNBC cameraman George Spears was also killed in the crash.
1978: Harry Reasoner returns to CBS after taking advantage of an escape clause in his contract with ABC.
1979: Good Times ends its network run on CBS.
1980: WXAO-TV (Channel 47) signs on in Jacksonville, Florida. Originally a primarily Christian outlet with a few (wholesome) secular shows, the station would gradually reduce the percentage of religious programs in favor of a more general entertainment schedule, and change calls to WNFT (North Florida Television) in 1983. In 1995, they would become a charter UPN affiliate, and again change calls, this time to WTEV. In 2002, WTEV would gain the CBS affiliation that had surprisingly been allowed to lapse by long-time affiliate WJXT.
1981: MTV (Music Television) launches its culture-changing cable channel. Only seen by a few thousand subscribers to a northern New Jersey cable system, the inaugural transmission begins with the words "Ladies and gentlemen…rock and roll" spoken by original COO John Lack, immediately followed by the original MTV theme song playing over a montage of images of the Apollo 11 moon landing.
1995: Longtime CJOH-TV (Ottawa, Ontario) sports anchor Brian Smith is shot in the station's parking lot by Jeffrey Arenburg, a released mental patient with a past history of threatening media personalities. (Arenburg thought the station was broadcasting messages in his head.) Smith died in the hospital the following day.
(Just a little featurette I hope to do as time permits…..don’t expect it every single day. It’s an entirely random selection based on a quick Net search, and is not meant to be comprehensive. So, don’t post nasty messages about “you forgot THIS” or “how could you not mention THAT?” Do so, and I’ll just take my keyboard and go home…..)
