Just a few random TV related events that happened on July 26. Discuss or comment as you please……
1895: Comedienne Gracie Allen (The Burns and Allen Show) is born in San Francisco. Well…..maybe. She celebrated July 26 as her birthday, but depending on the source, the year may have been one of several between 1895 and 1906. George Burns stated her birth year as 1902, and this appears on her death record and crypt, but research has determined that the 1895 date is most likely.
1909: Actress Vivian Vance (I Love Lucy, The Lucy Show) is born (as Vivian Roberta Jones) in Cherryvale, Kansas.
1949: WCPO-TV (channel 9) signs on as Cincinnati’s third TV station.
1954: Five years later, Cincinnati is host to the start of the country’s first licensed public television station as WCET begins operations on channel 48.
1966: One of the smallest network affiliates hits the air in the Connecticut River Valley as WRLH-TV signs on in Lebanon, New Hampshire on channel 31. The NBC affiliate runs very low power with a small coverage area and no color capabilities. Nevertheless, the station manages to survive until going dark in 1976. Two years later, the dormant license would be purchased, and the station moved across the river (to White River Junction, Vermont) to become WNNE. They would become a semi-satellite of Plattsburgh’s WPTZ in 1991.
1980: The short-lived movie spin-off The Bad News Bears ends its brief CBS run after just 25 episodes.
1984: NBC becomes the first network to transmit a program using MTS as this day’s Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson goes out in stereo. Only New York’s O&O WNBC-TV actually has stereo broadcast capability at this time, however. Regular stereo transmission of NBC programs would begin in 1985, with ABC and CBS following suit in 1986 and 1987.
1994: Gymnast Christy Henrich dies, aged 22, of multiple organ failure due to anorexia, her weight having dropped to as low as 47 pounds in her last days. The death shocks the sporting world, and motivates other gymnasts (such as Cathy Rigby) to go public discussing their own battles with anorexia and bulimia. As a result, U.S. networks institute a strict policy of not verbally commenting on the weights of athletes during broadcasts of gymnastics competitions, nor including that information in on-screen graphics.
(Just a little featurette I hope to do as time permits…..don’t expect it every single day. 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…..)
1895: Comedienne Gracie Allen (The Burns and Allen Show) is born in San Francisco. Well…..maybe. She celebrated July 26 as her birthday, but depending on the source, the year may have been one of several between 1895 and 1906. George Burns stated her birth year as 1902, and this appears on her death record and crypt, but research has determined that the 1895 date is most likely.
1909: Actress Vivian Vance (I Love Lucy, The Lucy Show) is born (as Vivian Roberta Jones) in Cherryvale, Kansas.
1949: WCPO-TV (channel 9) signs on as Cincinnati’s third TV station.
1954: Five years later, Cincinnati is host to the start of the country’s first licensed public television station as WCET begins operations on channel 48.
1966: One of the smallest network affiliates hits the air in the Connecticut River Valley as WRLH-TV signs on in Lebanon, New Hampshire on channel 31. The NBC affiliate runs very low power with a small coverage area and no color capabilities. Nevertheless, the station manages to survive until going dark in 1976. Two years later, the dormant license would be purchased, and the station moved across the river (to White River Junction, Vermont) to become WNNE. They would become a semi-satellite of Plattsburgh’s WPTZ in 1991.
1980: The short-lived movie spin-off The Bad News Bears ends its brief CBS run after just 25 episodes.
1984: NBC becomes the first network to transmit a program using MTS as this day’s Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson goes out in stereo. Only New York’s O&O WNBC-TV actually has stereo broadcast capability at this time, however. Regular stereo transmission of NBC programs would begin in 1985, with ABC and CBS following suit in 1986 and 1987.
1994: Gymnast Christy Henrich dies, aged 22, of multiple organ failure due to anorexia, her weight having dropped to as low as 47 pounds in her last days. The death shocks the sporting world, and motivates other gymnasts (such as Cathy Rigby) to go public discussing their own battles with anorexia and bulimia. As a result, U.S. networks institute a strict policy of not verbally commenting on the weights of athletes during broadcasts of gymnastics competitions, nor including that information in on-screen graphics.
(Just a little featurette I hope to do as time permits…..don’t expect it every single day. 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…..)
