Harrisonburg, VA ( Blue Ridge Cable TV ) Tuesday January 12, 1954

[mleach]

Harrisonburg, VA ( Blue Ridge Cable TV ) January 12, 1954

From the Harrisonburg Daily News-Record
Primetime Listings ( except for WSVA ) Tuesday January 12, 1954


WSVA-TV Harrisonburg ( All Networks ) channel 3 ( OTA & Blue Ridge Cable )

7:00pm Captian Video
7:15 Cartoons
7:30 Film
8:00 Life Is Worth Living
8:30 Red Skelton
9:00 John Foster Dulles
9:30 Film
10:00 Film
10:30 Wrestling From Baltimore
11:00 WSVA News
11:05 Sign-Off


WTOP-TV Washington channel 9 CBS ( channel 4 on Blue Ridge Cable )

7:00pm Mark Evans Show
7:30 News
7:45 Jane Froman
8:00 Gene Autry
8:30 Boston Blackie
9:00 This Is Show Business
9:30 Suspense
10:00 Danger
10:30 See It Now
11:00 News
11:15 Seigel On Sportd
11:25 News Anaylsis
11:30 WTOP Late Show


WTTG Washington channel 5 Dumont ( channel 5 Blue Ridge Cable )

7:00pm Captian Video
7:15 Quick Movie Quiz
7:30 Hans Christian Andersen
8:00 Live is Worth Living
8:30 Pantomine Quiz
9:00 John Foster Dulles
9:30 Liberace
10:00 Wrestling
11:00 News
11:10 Simpson On Sports
11:20 Theatre
12:30 News


WTVR Richmond channel 6 all networks ( channel 6 on Blue Ridge Cable )

7:00pm Move Quick Quiz
7;15 Virginia News
7:30 Hans Christian Andersen
8:00 Toast Of The Town
9:00 Theatre
9:30 Theatre
10:00 Judge For Yourself
10:30 Sports On Parade
11:00 City Detective
11:30 Meet Mr. McNutley
Mid News
12:15 WTVR's Tomorrow Programs
12:20 Sign-Off


WLVA Lynchburg channel 13 ( channel 7 on Blue Ridge Cable )

7:00 Captian Video
7:15 Marge & Jeff
7:30 Cavalcade Of America
8:00 Bishop Sheen/Live Is Worth Living
8:30 Red Skelton
9:00 Show Business
9:30 Theatre
10:30 Wrestling
11:00 News

 

[oldiesfan6479]

WTTG Washington channel 5 Dumont ( channel 5 Blue Ridge Cable )
11:10 Simpson On Sports

Would this be retired NBC Sports announcer Jim Simpson?

His early TV sports career was in Washington, DC, so this may have
preceded his stint with NBC O&O WRC-TV.

 

[bpatrick]

Did Harrisonburg have cable in 1954? I didn't know
anyone outside a certain community in Pennsylvania
had cable that early.

The 9:00 and 9:30 shows on WTVR labeled "Theater"
are almost certainly "Fireside Theater" (later hosted by
Jane Wyman) at 9, and "Armstrong Circle Theater," which
moved to CBS in 1957, at 9:30. I don't know why the word
"Fireside" wasn't included, but newspapers didn't like to
mention sponsors' names, considering it free advertising.

BTW, WTVR was an NBC primary affiliate from 1948-55.
WXEX (now WRIC) signed on in 1955 and somehow managed
to get the NBC affiliation; in 1956 WRVA (now WWBT) signed
on as a CBS affiliate (WRVA was the CBS radio affiliate), and
WTVR was ABC until 1960. Because WRVA was one of CBS's
weakest affiliates, the two stations swapped affiliations, and
WTVR remains a CBS affiliate to this day. WXEX and WRVA
swapped in 1965, and they, too, have stayed with ABC and
NBC, respectively.

WSVA (WHSV) dropped CBS in 1968, switching its primary
affiliation from NBC to ABC. It carried some NBC programs
in the '70s, especially in timeslots where ABC was down,
but is exclusively ABC today. And WLVA (WSET) is the oldest
ABC affiliate south of Washington, followed by WLOS Asheville,
NC; coincidentally, both are on Channel 13.

 

[mleach]

Did Harrisonburg have cable in 1954? I didn't know
anyone outside a certain community in Pennsylvania
had cable that early.


WSVA (WHSV) dropped CBS in 1968, switching its primary
affiliation from NBC to ABC. It carried some NBC programs
in the '70s, especially in timeslots where ABC was down,
but is exclusively ABC today. And WLVA (WSET) is the oldest
ABC affiliate south of Washington, followed by WLOS Asheville,
NC; coincidentally, both are on Channel 13.

Harrisonburg/Rockingham County, Virginia had cable TV as early as 1953 if not earlier ( I have no idea as to when the exact start date was ). Imagine my surprise when I saw an ad in the Daily News-Record for "Blue Ridge Cabel TV" ( yes..that was how it was in the ad )...the ad said that Harrisonburg viewers could lose WTOP's signal on channel 4 due to "tower work". Another news piece from December 1953 said that the "issues' with WLVA-TV on "channel 7" has been "corrected". Hmmmmm cable TV had issues back then too..guess some things never changed.

I was checking out the Harrisonburg Daily News-Record from December 1967 & January 1968 about WSVA's switch to ABC. Oddly the paper didn't run any stories about it nor did WSVA-TV even advertised it, as it was like "so what"..however...some 70 miles to the north in Winchester, VA..the local Winchester Evening Star not only did the paper did a story about the switch but WSVA even ran a full page ad promoting the fact that they are now ABC. Go figure !!

 

[Stanislav]

Did Harrisonburg have cable in 1954? I didn't know
anyone outside a certain community in Pennsylvania
had cable that early.

Cable television of at least a primitive nature dates as far back as 1948. By 1954, quite a few communities around the country had what we would recognize as a typical early analog CATV system.

 

[Stanislav]

WSVA-TV Harrisonburg ( All Networks ) channel 3 ( OTA & Blue Ridge Cable )

8:00 Life Is Worth Living
8:30 Red Skelton
9:00 John Foster Dulles

What an interesting "sandwich" -- two unapologetic anti-communists, with a "Red" in the middle. <LOL>

I wonder -- did Dulles actually have a regular TV commentary slot, or was this just a one-shot program about him?

 

[mleach]

After doing some research through the pages of the Harrisonburg Daily News-Record...( GEE If I ever see one more ad for live chickens and beef hearts !!! UGH )...anyway WSVA-TV channel 3 had made the switch to ABC full-time on Sunday, January 7, 1968. And they did run a full page ad about the switch in Harrisonburg too..right next to an ad for the Harrisonburg Telephone Company. Well its better than beef hearts LOL

 

[radiorob2.0]

What was on Cable 2?

I would love to know the design of that system. I'm guessing it was RG-59 coax with a bunch of amplifiers.

 

[bpatrick]

After doing some research through the pages of the Harrisonburg Daily News-Record...( GEE If I ever see one more ad for live chickens and beef hearts !!! UGH )...anyway WSVA-TV channel 3 had made the switch to ABC full-time on Sunday, January 7, 1968. And they did run a full page ad about the switch in Harrisonburg too..right next to an ad for the Harrisonburg Telephone Company. Well its better than beef hearts LOL

Amazing that Harrisonburg had cable so soon. But as to the switch to ABC, I was getting the Eastern Virginia edition of TV Guide, which included Harrisonburg, in early 1968. It was like it just happened;
no ads leading up to the switch unlike in Atlanta when WSB started calling itself "2 the One" and WXIA
promoed the "proud new tradition."

 

[mleach]

Amazing that Harrisonburg had cable so soon. But as to the switch to ABC, I was getting the Eastern Virginia edition of TV Guide, which included Harrisonburg, in early 1968. It was like it just happened;
no ads leading up to the switch unlike in Atlanta when WSB started calling itself "2 the One" and WXIA
promoed the "proud new tradition."

I too was amazed at how low-key the switch to full-time ABC was for WSVA compared to the excitement in 1999 when WHSV was seriously considering dropping ABC in favor of FOX. How serious? WHSV even paid to have their new "FOX 3 WHSV" logo done !! There were a large number of people excited about that and the "rumor" that WHSV was going to start carrying WVU sports ( a good chunk of their viewers are in West Virginia ). But in the end with digital TV on the way, Gray Television/WHSV decided to have FOX appear on one of their subchannels rather than totally breaking ties to ABC.

I could be wrong but outside of the Virginia PBS outlets like local WVPT, WHSV had got into DTV subchannel rather early on with not only by offering FOX on its subchannel but also MY Network TV as well as two ABC feeds, one for Harrisonburg/Rockingham County and the other for Winchester/Frederick County.

 

[Stanislav]

I could be wrong but outside of the Virginia PBS outlets like local WVPT, WHSV had got into DTV subchannel rather early on with not only by offering FOX on its subchannel but also MY Network TV as well as two ABC feeds, one for Harrisonburg/Rockingham County and the other for Winchester/Frederick County.

?? Huh ?? What do you mean by "two ABC feeds" and how were they county-specific?

 

[mleach]

I could be wrong but outside of the Virginia PBS outlets like local WVPT, WHSV had got into DTV subchannel rather early on with not only by offering FOX on its subchannel but also MY Network TV as well as two ABC feeds, one for Harrisonburg/Rockingham County and the other for Winchester/Frederick County.

?? Huh ?? What do you mean by "two ABC feeds" and how were they county-specific?

WHSV splits their ABC on two different subchannels. WHSV-DT 49.1 is ABC for Harrisonburg ( and the central Shenandoah Valley ) while WHSV-DT 49.3 is ABC for Winchester ( and the northern Shenandoah Valley ). Both channels show the same ABC line-up and most of the syndicated fare as well BUT the difference between the two is that the commericals and newscasts are different. Harrisonburg has their own news team while Winchester has theirs.

At first it sounds like a waste but this concept has worked out quite well for WHSV as they now can make a lot of money selling ads for two very different and growing counties.

 

[Stanislav]

I could be wrong but outside of the Virginia PBS outlets like local WVPT, WHSV had got into DTV subchannel rather early on with not only by offering FOX on its subchannel but also MY Network TV as well as two ABC feeds, one for Harrisonburg/Rockingham County and the other for Winchester/Frederick County.

?? Huh ?? What do you mean by "two ABC feeds" and how were they county-specific?

WHSV splits their ABC on two different subchannels. WHSV-DT 49.1 is ABC for Harrisonburg ( and the central Shenandoah Valley ) while WHSV-DT 49.3 is ABC for Winchester ( and the northern Shenandoah Valley ). Both channels show the same ABC line-up and most of the syndicated fare as well BUT the difference between the two is that the commericals and newscasts are different. Harrisonburg has their own news team while Winchester has theirs.

At first it sounds like a waste but this concept has worked out quite well for WHSV as they now can make a lot of money selling ads for two very different and growing counties.

Interesting concept. I wonder if any other stations are using their subchannels this way?

 

[bpatrick]

Sounds a bit like WKYT Lexington/WYMT Hazard, KY.
Although they are separate stations with separate staffs,
both are CBS affiliates and they share some programming
(WYMT carries WKYT's 5 PM news) while differing in other
ways (WYMT carries Young And The Restless in pattern at
12:30, WKYT carries it on day-behind at 9 AM; WYMT does
not carry Sunday Morning or Face The Nation; WKYT carries
Oprah, Wheel Of Fortune, and Jeopardy!, while WYMT does
not). And in Hazard, WYMT is seen on digital 12-1, WKYT on 12-2.