Just a few random TV related events that happened on February 28 and 29. Discuss or comment as you please……
FEBRUARY 28
1940: The first televised basketball game (Pittsburgh vs. Fordham) is broadcast from Madison Square Garden on New York’s W2XBS.
1955: WJPB-TV (channel 35), Fairmont, West Virginia, ends just under a year of broadcasting, unable to overcome the lack of UHF converters in the market and the problems of providing a decent signal over the rough terrain. The failed UHF’s license would lie dormant until late 1959, when it would be awarded a construction permit for channel 5 in Weston, signing on 6 months later and soon changing its calls to WDTV.
1970: WUTR (channel 20) signs on in Utica, New York.
1971: Both transmitter towers (a 1000’ main tower and a 700’ auxiliary tower) used by KOIN-TV (channel 6) and KOIN-FM (Portland, Oregon) collapse during an ice and wind storm. Both stations would return to the air 9 days later when a temporary tower is erected on the site. During those nine days off the air, CBS programming would be temporarily carried on independent KVDO-TV (channel 3) in Salem. (Re: KVDO, see also next item.)
1976: A disgruntled viewer, protesting KVDO-TV’s sale to OEPBS (Oregon Educational and Public Broadcasting Service) cuts guy wires supporting the channel 3 TV tower, which topples to the ground. The station would be off the air for almost 7 months until a new tower could be completed.
1977: Actor Eddie “Rochester” Anderson (The Jack Benny Program) dies in Los Angeles from heart disease, aged 71.
1978: Actress Zara Cully (The Jeffersons) dies in Los Angeles from cancer, aged 86.
1980: KCPQ (channel 13), Tacoma, Washington, begins a 8-month off-air hiatus during which the transmitter would be relocated to Gold Mountain, a peak west of Bremerton, enabling better signal coverage throughout Western Washington.
1983: The 251st and final episode of M*A*S*H, “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen,” is first telecast by CBS. The 2 ½ hour episode is viewed by nearly 106 million Americans (77% of viewership that night), which establishes it as the most watched episode in United States television history, a record which still stands.
1985: Actress Charita Bauer (The Guiding Light) dies of complications from diabetes, aged 62.
1993: A federal raid on the Mount Carmel compound of the Branch Davidian sect, northeast of Waco, Texas, leads to a shootout in which 4 ATF agents and 6 followers of sect leader David Koresh are killed. Prior to the raid, a cameraman for KWTX-TV (channel 10), acting on a tip about the pending federal action, had innocently asked directions to the compound of a postal carrier, unaware that he happened to also be a Branch Davidian. Tipped off, the postal worker warned Koresh, and the sect members were armed and prepared for the arrival of the ATF agents.
2002: Actress Mary Stuart (Search for Tomorrow, Guiding Light) dies in New York City of a stroke, aged 75. She was also a breast cancer survivor, and had battled both gastric and bone cancer late in her life.
FEBRUARY 29
1920: Actor James Mitchell (All My Children) is born in Sacramento, California.
1944: Actor Dennis Farina (Crime Story, Miami Vice, Law & Order) is born in Chicago.
2008: News anchor Bill Carlson dies of prostate cancer, aged 73. He had been a fixture at Minneapolis’ WCCO-TV for almost half a century, starting at the station in 1959 (not counting having worked briefly there as a page in 1951 while still in high school).
(Just a little featurette I hope to do as time permits. 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…..)
FEBRUARY 28
1940: The first televised basketball game (Pittsburgh vs. Fordham) is broadcast from Madison Square Garden on New York’s W2XBS.
1955: WJPB-TV (channel 35), Fairmont, West Virginia, ends just under a year of broadcasting, unable to overcome the lack of UHF converters in the market and the problems of providing a decent signal over the rough terrain. The failed UHF’s license would lie dormant until late 1959, when it would be awarded a construction permit for channel 5 in Weston, signing on 6 months later and soon changing its calls to WDTV.
1970: WUTR (channel 20) signs on in Utica, New York.
1971: Both transmitter towers (a 1000’ main tower and a 700’ auxiliary tower) used by KOIN-TV (channel 6) and KOIN-FM (Portland, Oregon) collapse during an ice and wind storm. Both stations would return to the air 9 days later when a temporary tower is erected on the site. During those nine days off the air, CBS programming would be temporarily carried on independent KVDO-TV (channel 3) in Salem. (Re: KVDO, see also next item.)
1976: A disgruntled viewer, protesting KVDO-TV’s sale to OEPBS (Oregon Educational and Public Broadcasting Service) cuts guy wires supporting the channel 3 TV tower, which topples to the ground. The station would be off the air for almost 7 months until a new tower could be completed.
1977: Actor Eddie “Rochester” Anderson (The Jack Benny Program) dies in Los Angeles from heart disease, aged 71.
1978: Actress Zara Cully (The Jeffersons) dies in Los Angeles from cancer, aged 86.
1980: KCPQ (channel 13), Tacoma, Washington, begins a 8-month off-air hiatus during which the transmitter would be relocated to Gold Mountain, a peak west of Bremerton, enabling better signal coverage throughout Western Washington.
1983: The 251st and final episode of M*A*S*H, “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen,” is first telecast by CBS. The 2 ½ hour episode is viewed by nearly 106 million Americans (77% of viewership that night), which establishes it as the most watched episode in United States television history, a record which still stands.
1985: Actress Charita Bauer (The Guiding Light) dies of complications from diabetes, aged 62.
1993: A federal raid on the Mount Carmel compound of the Branch Davidian sect, northeast of Waco, Texas, leads to a shootout in which 4 ATF agents and 6 followers of sect leader David Koresh are killed. Prior to the raid, a cameraman for KWTX-TV (channel 10), acting on a tip about the pending federal action, had innocently asked directions to the compound of a postal carrier, unaware that he happened to also be a Branch Davidian. Tipped off, the postal worker warned Koresh, and the sect members were armed and prepared for the arrival of the ATF agents.
2002: Actress Mary Stuart (Search for Tomorrow, Guiding Light) dies in New York City of a stroke, aged 75. She was also a breast cancer survivor, and had battled both gastric and bone cancer late in her life.
FEBRUARY 29
1920: Actor James Mitchell (All My Children) is born in Sacramento, California.
1944: Actor Dennis Farina (Crime Story, Miami Vice, Law & Order) is born in Chicago.
2008: News anchor Bill Carlson dies of prostate cancer, aged 73. He had been a fixture at Minneapolis’ WCCO-TV for almost half a century, starting at the station in 1959 (not counting having worked briefly there as a page in 1951 while still in high school).
(Just a little featurette I hope to do as time permits. 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…..)
