January 1: This Day in TV History

[Stanislav]

Just a few (hah!) random TV related events that happened on January 1. (Grab a sandwich first – it’s a long one today. And these are selected events; for example, there are a lot more network swaps that took place on a January 1st than are mentioned here.) Discuss or comment as you please……

1940: The Tournament of Roses parade from Pasadena, California is televised for the first time by Don Lee’s W6XAO in Los Angeles.

1943: Actor Don Novello (Saturday Night Live) is born in Ashtabula, Ohio.

1948: The Rose Bowl is telecast for the first time (locally in Los Angeles on KTLA).

1949: KTTV (channel 11) signs on in Los Angeles. It is the original CBS affiliate for the market, the network moving that affiliation to newly-acquired KTSL (channel 2, later KNXT, now KCBS-TV) two years later.

1949: KLEE-TV (channel 2, later KPRC-TV) hits the air in Houston, Texas. It is the first TV station in Houston, and the 12th in the country.

1952: The Three Stooges (Moe, Larry, and Shemp) make a rare live TV appearance (along with longtime foil Vernon Dent) on CBS’ The Frank Sinatra Show.

1953: WBRE-TV (channel 28) signs on in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, the first TV station in that market. Contrary to the popular assumption that the call letters have always stood for Wilkes-BaRrE, they actually originally referred to Baltimore Radio Exchange, the first owners of the station.

1954: The Tournament of Roses parade from Pasadena, California is telecast in color by twenty-one stations of NBC's first coast-to-coast color network. This marks the first use of NBC's new mobile color TV unit, the first West-to-East transcontinental transmission of color television, and the first coast-to-coast broadcast of a network color program. 200 RCA “Model 5” color TV receivers (the prototype of the venerable CT-100) had been shipped to RCA distributors and NBC affiliates for public demonstrations.

1955: WEAT-TV (channel 12, now WPEC) begins broadcasting in West Palm Beach, Florida.

1956: KOSA-TV (channel 7) launches in Odessa, Texas.

1956: KHAS-TV (channel 5) signs on in Hastings, Nebraska.

1956: WREC-TV (channel 3, later WREG-TV) begins broadcasting in Memphia, Tennessee.

1958: WMBD-TV (channel 31) signs on in Peoria, Illinois.

1958: Montana gets its first TV station: KXLJ (channel 12, later KTCM, KTVG, and KTVH) in Helena.

1961: CJCH-TV (channel 5) begins broadcasting in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Originally an independent station, CJCH would join CTV later that year, and ultimately become the flagship of the CTV Atlantic (ATV) regional system in the Maritimes, providing all of the system's programming except for some commercials and local news inserts.

1962: The 1962 Rose Bowl game on NBC is the first coast-to-coast color television broadcast of a college football game in the United States.

1963: WTEV-TV (channel 6, now WLNE-TV) signs on in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

1963: Astro Boy (known as Mighty Atom in Japanese), Japan's first anime, debuts.

1964: Top of the Pops premieres on BBC television, beginning an incredible 42-year run.

1966: Lawrence Spivak becomes the moderator on NBC’s Meet the Press, replacing Ned Brooks.

1971: The last cigarette advertisements are televised in the United States, with the final commercial (a Virginia Slims spot) occurring during this evening's broadcast of The Tonight Show on NBC.

1976: Oopsie! NBC replaces its classic “peacock” logo with a modernistic “N” made up of two trapezoids. Unfortunately, it turns out to be virtually identical to that used by the Nebraska Educational Television network, leading to an embarrassing (and costly) lawsuit.

1982: CHCH-TV (channel 11) becomes a Canada-wide superstation as Cancom begins feeding the independent station and three others to cable television operators in remote regions of the country that had previously had access only to the CBC.

1985: Cable channel VH1 is launched.

1989: The big Miami network shakeup: CBS moves to WCIX (channel 6), NBC to WTVJ (channel 4). Fox to WSVN (channel 7), and most of WCIX's syndicated programs to WDZL (channel 39). Viewers are bewitched, bothered, and bewildered.

1989: WPBF-TV (channel 25) debuts in Tequesta/West Palm Beach, Florida. Originally slated to be an independent, the station received an unexpected gift when the Miami-area network changes (see above) moved CBS to persuade longtime ABC affiliate WPEC-TV (channel 12) to switch to CBS, with ABC then deciding to affiliate with WPBF rather than with former CBS affiliate WTVX (channel 34, Fort Pierce). WPBF had already purchased a large inventory of classic sitcoms and cartoons, but now had no time to air most of them due to the unexpected network affiliation. They would end up selling many of these programs to newly independent WTVX.

1990: Mr. Bean premieres in the U.K. on ITV.

1996: Fox and NBC switch stations in the Mobile, Alabama market, with WALA (channel 10) becoming a Fox affiliate, and WPMI (channel 15) switching to NBC.

1996: Speedvision premieres as a new cable channel.

1997: The U.S. television networks adopt ratings systems for their programming, similar to those used for motion pictures.

2007: CourtTV re-brands as TruTV.

2009: And one for “This Day in TV Present:” Today KBTV (channel 4 analog/40 DTV) in Beaumont, Texas moves to Fox, ending a 51-year long affiliation with NBC. Previously, Fox had no full-power affiliate in the market, relying on an LPTV. Interestingly, NBC programming in the market now moves to ABC affiliate KBMT (channel 12 analog/50 DTV), which will carry NBC on a digital subchannel. This means that for the 7 weeks from today until the analog switch-off, the Beaumont-Port Arthur market will have no analog NBC affiliate.

(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…..)

 

[WMC2006]

That was long. I should have grabbed a sandwich. Or a drink.

 

[KML0224]

Wow! How do you find the time to compile a list that long? Granted, it's a very good read. Just one question: Once you hit the anniversary of the day you started these lists, will the facts be different or will you simply repost what was listed before?

 

[Stanislav]

Wow! How do you find the time to compile a list that long?

Well, I'm a full-time caretaker for my elderly invalid mother, so I have a lot of time to sit in front of the computer while also keeping tabs on her. I try to do these things as I have time, and usually stay at least a couple of weeks ahead.

Just one question: Once you hit the anniversary of the day you started these lists, will the facts be different or will you simply repost what was listed before?

I shall at that point retire and live off my residuals. Seriously, at that point if someone wants to check a date, they can just search it in the archives -- the only new items would be things that in the year since I posted it.

 

[TVWorldwide]

Speaking about this day in history, here's the news from TF1 in France on today's date exactly 30 years ago -- a snowy January 1, 1979 (the clip takes a few seconds to load):

http://www.ina.fr/archivespourtous/index.php?vue=notice&id_notice=CAA06010454

Note the thoroughly psychedelic intro and those wonderful 2CVs!

Happy New Year, everyone!

 

[landtuna]

The Three Stooges on the Sinatra show? That was before my house had TV so I never saw Frank's show but would assume it was a musical variety of some sort. The Three Stooges were anything but musical (even though their very first short together was all in rhyme).

 

[Stanislav]

The Three Stooges on the Sinatra show? That was before my house had TV so I never saw Frank's show but would assume it was a musical variety of some sort. The Three Stooges were anything but musical (even though their very first short together was all in rhyme).

Variety shows have comedy sketches and interludes as well. As I recall, the setting of the January 1 show was a New Year's Party, and the Stooges are waiters. Supposedly, Frankie was a big fan of the boys.

As for the Stooges not being musical -- actually, Larry was a trained violinist (when he plays in a Stooge short, he's really playing -- no dubbing) and Moe had a decent voice (he used to sing off-camera for fun with the likes of Bud Jamison, Charley Chase and others -- "barbershop harmony" as Moe put it). There are a few moments in the Stooges shorts where they sing something "straight" and sound not too bad at all.

 

[landtuna]

I was referring to the Boys performances on film but yes, they were talented people all. Larry was also an accomplished dancer but I remember only one short where he actually does some high stepping. It was very good and I remember thinking how I would have taken advantage of his talent had I been the director.

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

January 1, 1963 - The Rose Bowl goes longer than scheduled as Wisconsin rallies trying to overcome a large Southern Cal advantage. With no lights in the stadium, Mel Allen, doing the play-by-play for NBC-TV, has trouble seeing the game's last few plays. USC holds on to win, 42-37. It was the last Rose Bowl that Allen would ever do.

 

[mleach]

1971: The last cigarette advertisements are televised in the United States, with the final commercial (a Virginia Slims spot) occurring during this evening's broadcast of The Tonight Show on NBC.

I would not at all be surprised that within the next 5 to ten years, ads for soda pop like Coke, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, Mountain Dew and the like will be banned in the US like cigarettes ( I also see someplace somewhere in the not too far distant future outlawing the sale of soda to kids ).

Like cigarettes in the 60s, soda has a horrible reputation now. Between sales being down among the soda brands, the lack of nutritional value, damage to teeth, making kids and adults fat, heck there is even debate right now if diet soda is really well..diet soda. Hell yesterday at Safeway I saw a woman screaming at another parent because she had bought her child a Pepsi...going on about how can any parent give a child something that is "of no value".

Not too mention all the local school districts who have banned the sale of soda at school even though many of these schools simply switched from the sale of soda to the sell of those energy drinks like Red Bull & Rockstar..go figure !!!! Last year I heard that Starbucks and Caribou were thinking about putting coffee stands in high school. Ok soda is sooooooo wrong but coffee is ok for kids.

Anyway with so many people against soda now, I would not be surprised if the ads were to leave the airwaves sometime in the future. Not to say the networks would lose much in terms of money since both Coke and Pepsi own a lot of other non-soda products like Minute Maid juice and Vitamin Water.

 

[therealjm12]

I was referring to the Boys performances on film but yes, they were talented people all. Larry was also an accomplished dancer but I remember only one short where he actually does some high stepping. It was very good and I remember thinking how I would have taken advantage of his talent had I been the director.

I knew that Larry Fine was an accomplished violinist but never knew about the dancing part. I do know, however, Curly was quite the ballroom dancer and had won some competitions in his day. There are some shorts where he does show his dancing talent but for laughs, of course.

 

[RicoGregg]

January 1, 1963 - The Rose Bowl goes longer than scheduled as Wisconsin rallies trying to overcome a large Southern Cal advantage. With no lights in the stadium, Mel Allen, doing the play-by-play for NBC-TV, has trouble seeing the game's last few plays. USC holds on to win, 42-37. It was the last Rose Bowl that Allen would ever do.

In the late 50s and early 60s, the Los Angeles Rams would play their first home pre-season game at the Rose Bowl, and they were always at night. I attended one of them, in 1959. I also remember the above-mentioned Rose Bowl game. I seem to recall that they did turn the lights on. It could have been that the Rose Bowl lights back then were inadequate. It was a very long game by 1962/63 standards.

 

[LKellerIII]

January 1, 1963 - The Rose Bowl goes longer than scheduled as Wisconsin rallies trying to overcome a large Southern Cal advantage. With no lights in the stadium, Mel Allen, doing the play-by-play for NBC-TV, has trouble seeing the game's last few plays. USC holds on to win, 42-37. It was the last Rose Bowl that Allen would ever do.

In the late 50s and early 60s, the Los Angeles Rams would play their first home pre-season game at the Rose Bowl, and they were always at night. I attended one of them, in 1959. I also remember the above-mentioned Rose Bowl game. I seem to recall that they did turn the lights on. It could have been that the Rose Bowl lights back then were inadequate. It was a very long game by 1962/63 standards.

I never thought I'd note anything Bob Eubanks had to say. But yesterday, anchoring the KTLA Rose Parade coverage, he noted that in 1965, he produced a Rolling Stones concert at the Rose Bowl. He said that he sold 4,000 tickets and gave the Stones a check for $4,500, which was their take for the concert. Sounds laughable today - laughable even by 70s rock concert standards.

Eubanks is a more clever guy that he appears, and did quite well producing rock concerts in the mid 60s when he was a DJ at KRLA - most notably the Beatles concerts at the Hollywood Bowl.

 

[fortmill]

Are you sure about KXLF/12 (now KTVH) Helena being the first TV station in Montana? I'm pretty sure the first station debuted in Billings in 1953--KOOK/2 (now KTVQ), and that several more stations were on the air by 1958.

 

[landtuna]

I would not at all be surprised that within the next 5 to ten years, ads for soda pop like Coke, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, Mountain Dew and the like will be banned in the US like cigarettes ( I also see someplace somewhere in the not too far distant future outlawing the sale of soda to kids ). <snip>

There is a huge difference between the health hazards of tobacco (all forms) and soda (or any other manufactured food). Tobacco, in even minute quantities is lethal and has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Food products, even soda, are not lethal if consumed in appropriate quantities. Even those not having nutritional value (empty calories).

Individuals have to make the choice of what to put into their bodies. For instance, it would be eventual suicide to live on a diet of hot dogs yet hot dogs are not a controlled substance because it is assumed they consist of only a small portion of one's overall diet. The same is true with lettuce. You can't live on lettuce alone either.

Kids (and many adults as well) make poor choices in their diets but it is assumed adults at least make that as an informed choice. Kids usually pick a food that tastes good without regard for its nutritional value. Therefore, if a school offers pizza and salad for lunch most kids will pick pizza. And if it is a choice between a Dr. Pepper or water (or juice, etc.) the kids will choose soda. Therefore, it is a good idea to offer only "good" food products whenever kids are selecting themselves. When at home the parents can direct their diets....hopefully.

 

[mleach]

I would not at all be surprised that within the next 5 to ten years, ads for soda pop like Coke, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, Mountain Dew and the like will be banned in the US like cigarettes ( I also see someplace somewhere in the not too far distant future outlawing the sale of soda to kids ). <snip>

There is a huge difference between the health hazards of tobacco (all forms) and soda (or any other manufactured food). Tobacco, in even minute quantities is lethal and has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Food products, even soda, are not lethal if consumed in appropriate quantities. Even those not having nutritional value (empty calories).

Individuals have to make the choice of what to put into their bodies. For instance, it would be eventual suicide to live on a diet of hot dogs yet hot dogs are not a controlled substance because it is assumed they consist of only a small portion of one's overall diet. The same is true with lettuce. You can't live on lettuce alone either.

Kids (and many adults as well) make poor choices in their diets but it is assumed adults at least make that as an informed choice. Kids usually pick a food that tastes good without regard for its nutritional value. Therefore, if a school offers pizza and salad for lunch most kids will pick pizza. And if it is a choice between a Dr. Pepper or water (or juice, etc.) the kids will choose soda. Therefore, it is a good idea to offer only "good" food products whenever kids are selecting themselves. When at home the parents can direct their diets....hopefully.

While I totally agree with you I still think we will see soda ads banned in the US sometime in the not so far distant future. When I say "banned" I dont mean a "forced ban by goverment" like what happened with cigarettes ( and later with cigars and smokless tobacco ). In the case wth sodas I can see Coke, Pepsi and Dr. Pepper slowly withdrawing their ads on their own from the airwaves and start spending money, their ad money on the other non-soda products they make like Coke with Minute Maid juices for example. Had the goverment NOT say to the cigarette companies "..your ads will be banned from TV & radio on 1/2/71" but rather "..sure..advertise all you want ...but pay the price later on". With all those anti-smoking foes already in place at the time, the known health hazzards, and the fewer number of smokers, chances are that sometime by the mid 70s all the cigarette companies would have gotten together and quietly take their own ads off the air. It would not have been worth the trouble for them to keep advertising.

With sodas..the current backlash against them, the questional nutrional value and also keep in mind..fewer people drink sodas now ( most kids and many adults today would much rather drink a Rockstar or some other energy drink than a Dr. Pepper or a Mountain Dew and energy drinks I believe are still allowed in many schools unlike sodas ), I believe the puzzle pieces are already here that could very well mean we could see the day come when soda ads are a thing of thing of the past. It would be a case of Pepsi for example saying "..why should we keep on advertising Pepsi-Cola when fewer people are drinking it..we could spend our money promoting other things".

 

[landtuna]

Drinks like Rockstar are no better than most non-diet sodas. They are loaded with carbs and caffeine just like cola's.

As far as soda's being a primary cause of obesity in children (or adults for that matter)....there are many causes. Overconsumption of sugary drinks is certainly one but unless the government wants to tackle all the various causes (Twinkies, chips, candy, alcohol, etc.) I don't think zeroing in on only one cause is appropriate or effective.

There is just no substitute for a bit of education, discipline and oversight by parents when it comes to children's food intake (as well as exercise and health care). Banning certain forms of advertising may have some effect but, just as with smoking, it won't be a cure.

If I were an advertising dictator for the gubmint I think I'd be more concerned with companies targeting unhealthy products at certain ethnic groups. I've noticed in recent years the change in advert content directed at Blacks by KFC and McDonalds (to name but two).

 

[hrhwebmaster]

1949: KLEE-TV (channel 2, later KPRC-TV) hits the air in Houston, Texas. It is the first TV station in Houston, and the 12th in the country.

I was wondering where you got the claim of 12th? I know Jack Harris made the claim in his The Fault Does Not Lie With Your Set but according to this list, there were something like 4 dozen on the air by this time:

http://jeff560.tripod.com/1949tv.html

Note: KPRC has also claimed to be the first radio station in Houston but was actually the 12th (it is the oldest surviving).

My article on the first day: http://houstonradiohistory.blogspot.com/2007/06/klee-tv.html

 

[bpatrick]

January 1, 1963 - The Rose Bowl goes longer than scheduled as Wisconsin rallies trying to overcome a large Southern Cal advantage. With no lights in the stadium, Mel Allen, doing the play-by-play for NBC-TV, has trouble seeing the game's last few plays. USC holds on to win, 42-37. It was the last Rose Bowl that Allen would ever do.

In the late 50s and early 60s, the Los Angeles Rams would play their first home pre-season game at the Rose Bowl, and they were always at night. I attended one of them, in 1959. I also remember the above-mentioned Rose Bowl game. I seem to recall that they did turn the lights on. It could have been that the Rose Bowl lights back then were inadequate. It was a very long game by 1962/63 standards.

I never thought I'd note anything Bob Eubanks had to say. But yesterday, anchoring the KTLA Rose Parade coverage, he noted that in 1965, he produced a Rolling Stones concert at the Rose Bowl. He said that he sold 4,000 tickets and gave the Stones a check for $4,500, which was their take for the concert. Sounds laughable today - laughable even by 70s rock concert standards.

Eubanks is a more clever guy that he appears, and did quite well producing rock concerts in the mid 60s when he was a DJ at KRLA - most notably the Beatles concerts at the Hollywood Bowl.

The Stones actually made a small fortune compared to what the Beatles
got for their first appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show": $600 apiece.
(Elvis, OTOH, got $50,000 for three appearances on Sullivan, by far the
most Sullivan ever paid an act.)

I remember reading in TV Guide's countdown of the best game shows
and hosts that Eubanks briefly managed Dolly Parton in the '70s.

 

[bk77]

RE: Cigarette ads...actually cigarettes still advertise on TV, radio and print...just now its indirectly.

If some magazine like People or In Touch shows a pic of Jennifer Aniston and John Mayer sitting nude in a hot tub together while they are puffing away on their Marlboro Lights or if E! airs an interview with actor Christian Slater and during the interview Slater takes out and lights up a Black & Mild cigar and starts to puff and talk...thats PR for both Marlboro Lights and Black & Mild cigars and I am sure the makers of those products enjoy every minute of it.

Until the FCC and/or the networks ( and magazines ) put in place a total ban of stars being seen with a cigarette in the media, then the tobacco companies will always "find a way" to get their products noticed.