Just a few random TV related events that happened on January 14. Discuss or comment as you please……
1892: Producer Hal Roach is born in Elmira, New York. After his long stint producing film comedies with the likes of Harold Lloyd, Laurel & Hardy, Our Gang, and Charley Chase, his television producing career would include such series as The Gale Storm Show and My Little Margie (as well as leasing his facilities for such shows as Amos 'n' Andy and The Abbott and Costello Show).
1906: Actor William Bendix (The Life of Riley) is born in New York City.
1919: Writer/commentator Andy Rooney (60 Minutes) is born in Albany, New York.
1952: The first network early morning program debuts as Today (with host Dave Garroway, newsman Jim Fleming, and announcer Jack Lescoulie) is broadcast for the first time on NBC. The network conceived the pioneering show after witnessing the local success of Ernie Kovacs’ morning show Three to Get Ready on WPTZ (channel 3, later KYW-TV) in Philadelphia. (It had been previously assumed that no one would want to watch television at such an early hour.) To date, about 21,000 episodes of Today have aired.
1953: WALA-TV (channel 10) signs on in Mobile, Alabama. It is the oldest currently operating station in the Mobile-Pensacola market, but not the first overall, that distinction belonging to WMOB-TV, a short-lived UHF station. (Whose demise was very much hastened by the arrival of a VHF in the market.)
1958: TWW, the first ITV franchise for South Wales and the West of England, goes on the air.
1962: CKRT-TV (channel 7) begins broadcasting in Rivière-du-Loup, Quebec.
1964: News anchor Shepard Smith (The Fox Report, Studio B) is born (as David Shepard Smith, Jr.) in Holly Springs, Mississippi.
1968: Super Bowl II (Green Bay vs. Oakland) is broadcast by CBS with Ray Scott handling the play-by-play duties and color commentators Jack Kemp and Pat Summerall in the broadcast booth. The videotape of the game is believed to be lost or wiped.
1969: Actor Jason Bateman is born in Rye, New York.
1969: WLIW-TV (channel 21) goes on the air in Garden City, New York. It is currently the third most-watched PBS affiliate in the country (behind New York’s WNET and L.A.’s KCET).
1972: Sanford and Son debuts on NBC. It is based on the long-running U.K. sitcom Steptoe and Son.
1973: The Elvis Presley special Aloha From Hawaii - Via Satellite is seen around the world by over 1 billion viewers in more than 40 countries. It is one of the earliest live entertainment specials distributed via satellite. (Presley pre-taped a January 12 rehearsal concert as a fail-safe in case anything went wrong with the satellite during the actual broadcast.) Oddly, this special starring an American entertainer performing from an American location and using largely American technology was not seen live in the U.S., but would be tape-delayed and finally broadcast on April 4th.
1974: Third time’s the charm: after two previous ill-fated attempts (1952-54, 1969-71) channel 53 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania finally has a permanent occupant as WPGH-TV returns to the air for good.
1978: Actress Blossom Rock (The Addams Family) dies of a heart attack in Los Angeles, aged 82.
1980: 3-2-1 Contact premieres on PBS.
1986: Actress Donna Reed (The Donna Reed Show, Dallas) dies of pancreatic cancer in Beverly Hills, aged 64.
1990: America’s Funniest Home Videos debuts as a weekly series on ABC. (It had been previously seen as a one-shot special the previous year.)
2001: The Jamie Foxx Show ends a 5-season, 100-episode run on The WB.
2005: A new version of the classic series Battlestar Galactica premieres on SciFi.
2007: Actress Darlene Conley (The Bold and the Beautiful) dies of stomach cancer in Los Angeles, aged 72. The show has not recast nor killed off Conley’s character (Sally Spectra); rather, Sally is now referred to in absentia as having permanently relocated to St. Tropez.
2007: During an ice storm, the main transmission tower of KRBC-TV (channel 9 analog, 29 DTV) in Abilene, Texas collapses. The falling tower destroys the station’s main analog and temporary digital antennas, but misses the transmitter building and an adjacent auxiliary analog antenna. The station's analog signal would be returned to the air in 13 hours, while the DTV signal would not be reactivated for another 9 months.
(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…..)
1892: Producer Hal Roach is born in Elmira, New York. After his long stint producing film comedies with the likes of Harold Lloyd, Laurel & Hardy, Our Gang, and Charley Chase, his television producing career would include such series as The Gale Storm Show and My Little Margie (as well as leasing his facilities for such shows as Amos 'n' Andy and The Abbott and Costello Show).
1906: Actor William Bendix (The Life of Riley) is born in New York City.
1919: Writer/commentator Andy Rooney (60 Minutes) is born in Albany, New York.
1952: The first network early morning program debuts as Today (with host Dave Garroway, newsman Jim Fleming, and announcer Jack Lescoulie) is broadcast for the first time on NBC. The network conceived the pioneering show after witnessing the local success of Ernie Kovacs’ morning show Three to Get Ready on WPTZ (channel 3, later KYW-TV) in Philadelphia. (It had been previously assumed that no one would want to watch television at such an early hour.) To date, about 21,000 episodes of Today have aired.
1953: WALA-TV (channel 10) signs on in Mobile, Alabama. It is the oldest currently operating station in the Mobile-Pensacola market, but not the first overall, that distinction belonging to WMOB-TV, a short-lived UHF station. (Whose demise was very much hastened by the arrival of a VHF in the market.)
1958: TWW, the first ITV franchise for South Wales and the West of England, goes on the air.
1962: CKRT-TV (channel 7) begins broadcasting in Rivière-du-Loup, Quebec.
1964: News anchor Shepard Smith (The Fox Report, Studio B) is born (as David Shepard Smith, Jr.) in Holly Springs, Mississippi.
1968: Super Bowl II (Green Bay vs. Oakland) is broadcast by CBS with Ray Scott handling the play-by-play duties and color commentators Jack Kemp and Pat Summerall in the broadcast booth. The videotape of the game is believed to be lost or wiped.
1969: Actor Jason Bateman is born in Rye, New York.
1969: WLIW-TV (channel 21) goes on the air in Garden City, New York. It is currently the third most-watched PBS affiliate in the country (behind New York’s WNET and L.A.’s KCET).
1972: Sanford and Son debuts on NBC. It is based on the long-running U.K. sitcom Steptoe and Son.
1973: The Elvis Presley special Aloha From Hawaii - Via Satellite is seen around the world by over 1 billion viewers in more than 40 countries. It is one of the earliest live entertainment specials distributed via satellite. (Presley pre-taped a January 12 rehearsal concert as a fail-safe in case anything went wrong with the satellite during the actual broadcast.) Oddly, this special starring an American entertainer performing from an American location and using largely American technology was not seen live in the U.S., but would be tape-delayed and finally broadcast on April 4th.
1974: Third time’s the charm: after two previous ill-fated attempts (1952-54, 1969-71) channel 53 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania finally has a permanent occupant as WPGH-TV returns to the air for good.
1978: Actress Blossom Rock (The Addams Family) dies of a heart attack in Los Angeles, aged 82.
1980: 3-2-1 Contact premieres on PBS.
1986: Actress Donna Reed (The Donna Reed Show, Dallas) dies of pancreatic cancer in Beverly Hills, aged 64.
1990: America’s Funniest Home Videos debuts as a weekly series on ABC. (It had been previously seen as a one-shot special the previous year.)
2001: The Jamie Foxx Show ends a 5-season, 100-episode run on The WB.
2005: A new version of the classic series Battlestar Galactica premieres on SciFi.
2007: Actress Darlene Conley (The Bold and the Beautiful) dies of stomach cancer in Los Angeles, aged 72. The show has not recast nor killed off Conley’s character (Sally Spectra); rather, Sally is now referred to in absentia as having permanently relocated to St. Tropez.
2007: During an ice storm, the main transmission tower of KRBC-TV (channel 9 analog, 29 DTV) in Abilene, Texas collapses. The falling tower destroys the station’s main analog and temporary digital antennas, but misses the transmitter building and an adjacent auxiliary analog antenna. The station's analog signal would be returned to the air in 13 hours, while the DTV signal would not be reactivated for another 9 months.
(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…..)
