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January 13: This Day in TV History

S

Stanislav

Just a few random TV related events that happened on January 13. Discuss or comment as you please……

1928: Experimental station W2XB (later W2XAD and W2XAF at various times) goes on the air in Schenectady, New York. The station, which would eventually become WRGB, initially transmits on 790 kHz with 24 lines of resolution. W2XB/WRGB has probably the strongest claim (there are others) of being the first regularly operating TV station in the world.

1931: Actor Charles Nelson Reilly is born in The Bronx, New York.

1932: Actor Jon Cypher (Hill Street Blues) is born in New York City.

1934: Comedian Rip Taylor is born (as Charles Elmer Taylor) in Washington, D.C.

1943: Actor Richard Moll (Night Court) is born (as Charles Richard Moll) in Pasadena, California.

1949: TV executive Brandon Tartikoff is born in Freeport, New York.

1953: Tucson, Arizona’s first TV station debuts as KOPO-TV (later KOLD-TV) signs on to channel 13. In a silly publicity move, they play up the “13” angle by going on the air at 1:13:13 p.m. on the 13th day of the year. Initially owned by Gene Autry, the change to the calls was also a cutesy move, playing on the calls of one of Autry’s other station, Phoenix’s KOOL-TV. (*Groan*)

1954: WEAR-TV (channel 3) begins broadcasting in Pensacola, Florida. Originally a CBS primary affiliate (ABC secondary), the station would lose CBS the following year when WKRG-TV (channel 5, Mobile) signed on, and become ABC primary from that point on to the present day.

1961: Actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Seinfeld, The New Adventures of Old Christine) is born (as Julia Scarlett Elizabeth Louis-Dreyfus) in New York City.

1962: Actor/comedian Ernie Kovacs, aged 42, is killed when he loses control of his Chevrolet Corvair on rain-slicked pavement and hits a power pole at the corner of Beverly Glen and Santa Monica Boulevards in L.A.

1966: Tabitha is born on the Bewitched episode entitled "And Then There Were Three."

1968: Actress/model Traci Bingham (Baywatch) is born in Cambidge, Massachusetts.

1972: Actress Nicole Eggert (Charles in Charge, Baywatch) is born in Glendale, California.

1981: Color television is introduced in Israel.

1985: Actress Carol Wayne (best known as Johnny Carson’s “Matinee Lady”) dies in Manzanillo, Colima, Mexico, of an apparent accidental drowning. Many still cite suspicious circumstances regarding her death and question whether it was accidental.

1986: WOR-TV (channel 9, now WWOR-TV) finally establishes a New Jersey presence (three years after the channel was reassigned from New York City to Secaucus) with the opening of its new studio facility, Nine Broadcast Plaza.

1989: Ryan’s Hope airs its 3,515th and final episode on ABC.

1992: Unfortunately, all the duct tape, shoelaces and chewing gum in the world aren’t enough to enable MacGyver to avoid cancellation after 7 seasons on ABC.

1997: La Femme Nikita premieres on USA Network.

(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…..) ;)
 
1953: Tucson, Arizona’s first TV station debuts as KOPO-TV (later KOLD-TV) signs on to channel 13. In a silly publicity move, they play up the “13” angle by going on the air at 1:13:13 p.m. on the 13th day of the year. Initially owned by Gene Autry, the change to the calls was also a cutesy move, playing on the calls of one of Autry’s other station, Phoenix’s KOOL-TV. (*Groan*)

Actually, KPHO, channel 5 in Phoenix was Arizona's first TV station signing on Dec 4, 1949. It stayed independent until becoming a C(BS) affiliate some 13 years ago in Rupert Murdoch's "Night of the Long Knives".

Tucson had a radio station with the call KOPO (not sure if Autry owned that one too but it would be my guess) which is where the TV call came from.

After the change to KOLD (which was a play on Tucson's nickname "Old Pueblo") they used to answer the phone "It's KOLD (cold) in Tucson".
 
landtuna said:
1953: Tucson, Arizona’s first TV station debuts as KOPO-TV (later KOLD-TV) signs on to channel 13. In a silly publicity move, they play up the “13” angle by going on the air at 1:13:13 p.m. on the 13th day of the year. Initially owned by Gene Autry, the change to the calls was also a cutesy move, playing on the calls of one of Autry’s other station, Phoenix’s KOOL-TV. (*Groan*)

Actually, KPHO, channel 5 in Phoenix was Arizona's first TV station signing on Dec 4, 1949. It stayed independent until becoming a C(BS) affiliate some 13 years ago in Rupert Murdoch's "Night of the Long Knives".
Click to expand...

I said it was Tucson's first station, not the state's.
 
landtuna said:
1953: Tucson, Arizona’s first TV station debuts as KOPO-TV (later KOLD-TV) signs on to channel 13. In a silly publicity move, they play up the “13” angle by going on the air at 1:13:13 p.m. on the 13th day of the year. Initially owned by Gene Autry, the change to the calls was also a cutesy move, playing on the calls of one of Autry’s other station, Phoenix’s KOOL-TV. (*Groan*)

Actually, KPHO, channel 5 in Phoenix was Arizona's first TV station signing on Dec 4, 1949. It stayed independent until becoming a C(BS) affiliate some 13 years ago in Rupert Murdoch's "Night of the Long Knives".
Click to expand...

Being the first station in Arizona, KPHO-TV was the original CBS (and NBC, ABC, and Dumont) affiliate in Phoenix, losing NBC, some Dumont, and most ABC programming in 1953. All 3 metro Phoenix stations at the time carried at least a few ABC and Dumont shows.

When KOOL-TV first came on the air in 1953, it shared time and studio space with KOY-TV for about a year before KOY got out of the TV business. KOOL-TV was the market's first primary ABC affiliate (with KPHO-TV and NBC affiliate KTYL-TV Ch. 12 still carrying a few ABC shows each). KOY-TV never aired ABC programming during its (shared) time on Channel 10 from what I remember reading about their arrangement. I believe they were on the air on alternate days.

KPHO lost CBS to KOOL in 1955, when KTVK Ch. 3 came on the air and took over all ABC programming. According to some sources, Gene Autry wanted his CBS show on his station and was able to get the affiliation. By this time, there was very little of Dumont left for KPHO to carry.
 
Stanislav said:
1954: WEAR-TV (channel 3) begins broadcasting in Pensacola, Florida. Originally a CBS primary affiliate (ABC secondary), the station would lose CBS the following year when WKRG-TV (channel 5, Mobile) signed on, and become ABC primary from that point on to the present day.
Click to expand...

WALA-TV in Mobile had secondary affiliation with ABC before WEAR-TV started broadcasting from a tower in Baldwin County, Alabama in 1960. Sometimes I wish WALA-TV would switch network affiliations with WEAR-TV, as the latter station has mistreated ABC programming on a regular basis for at least 25 years. The station airs "Nightline" at about 11:00 PM (or later to make room for a local high school football program on Fridays), airs "Jimmy Kimmel Live" at 12:00 AM (or later) never aired "Port Charles", doesn't air the weekend editions of ABC's "World News", occasionally pre-empts two-hours of ABC's prime-time programming for a movie, doesn't air ABC's "World News Now".

As for syndicated programming, WEAR-TV's recent moves of "The Jerry Springer Show", "The Maury Povich Show", and "Inside Edition" to "sister station" WFGX-TV in Fort Walton Beach, Florida leaves the Mobile side of the broadcast area without those shows. WFGX-TV also airs "The Daily Buzz", which used to air on WBPG-TV (licensed to Gulf Shores, Alabama), a "sister station" to WALA-TV.

Pardon me for the long post, but that's the situation here in the Mobile-Pensacola TV market. Hopefully ABC finally realizes what an awful station WEAR-TV is when the station's affiliation agreement expires on December 31st, 2009.
 
It would be hard to part from a network with fewer hours of network programming per week and all the local advertising time (and paid programming), but since WALA-TV's current network affiliation came as a result of ownership change (Savoy-Fox Broadcasting) after 42 years with NBC and the station's newscasts have been very successful in the local Nielsen ratings, it might be the best time to change networks.
 
Stanislav said:
1968: Actress/model Traci Bingham (Baywatch) is born in Cambidge, Massachusetts.

1972: Actress Nicole Eggert (Charles in Charge, Baywatch) is born in Glendale, California.
Click to expand...

Two beautiful reasons to love the late 60's/early 70s ;D

And that should be "Cambridge", not 'Cambidge'. I was in Cambridge yesterday, as a matter of fact. Had I known Traci was born there, I would have looked for her birthplace. ;)

Do you think Nicole ever has a day when she can't get the Charles in Charge theme out of her head? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9Gc...4E858E765&index=5&playnext=2&playnext_from=PL
 
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