thathoustonradiogeek said:
The KTRK Wikipedia article doesn't say that the station grew out of KNUZ; it says the station grew out of the VHF "freeze" and that it bought the studios of KNUZ.
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The KTRK Wikipedia article doesn't say that the station grew out of KNUZ; it says the station grew out of the VHF "freeze" and that it bought the studios of KNUZ.
dhett said:
Seems I chose poorly when writing up a condensed history.
*puts on "DUNCE" paper cone cap*
:'(
PS: I'm OK and stand duly corrected. I just like being melodramatic ;D
dhett said:
Grew out of the freeze???? What a clever turn of phrase and complete bull. The freeze was lifted in April, 1952, negotiations to form Houston Consolidated Television did not get underway until November, 1953. There were at least six applicants for Channel 13; one withdrew to apply for Channel 29 (KXYZ-TV), another dropped out completely, the other four formed a partnership. The impetus was to avoid lengthy competitive hearings that could have delayed Channel 13's debut by up to 2 years.
The University of Houston built the University Television Center on Cullen Blvd, also known as the Texas Television Center. According to the KUHT history, the president of the university had a vision of all the TV stations in Houston being clustered together with a huge production facility. KNUZ-TV leased the first space. When 39 failed in 8 months, KTRK bought some of the KNUZ equipment and took over the lease of the building until 1961. The University built the facility, has always owned it, still owns it. After 13 moved out it was leased by NASA for a computer operations center, then Channel 8 moved in for over 3 decades. It's now called the TLC2 center (I have no idea what that stands for but it's part of UH) and you can still see the original KNUZ-TV quonset hut.
This is all on the blog.
Bruce, you've done an excellant job with your blog. I have thoroughly enjoyed it. Not only does it bring me up to date on the broadcast history of Houston, but also cleared up a lot of questions I've had concerning KNUZ, my old stomping gropunds from 1976-1982.
Mike, KNTH finally showed up in the ratings. The PPM data I saw was promising.
Mike, KNTH finally showed up in the ratings. The PPM data I saw was promising.
Chuck Tiller said:
Thanks, Chuck. You know a lot about Hou radio history yourself and there are several others on the Hou/Gal board that are very knowledgeable, but mostly about more recent stuff, I guess. I thought I knew a lot, too, until I started noodling over some memoirs and looking things up in the old newspapers and realized how bad a memory I have. I remember some of those e-mails we exchanged several years ago - man, some of the stuff I thought I remembered was way off. What on earth have I been able to tell you about KNUZ? I haven't even gotten to that in the chronology, yet.
I always knew about KNUZ-TV, but not the relationship between AM1230 and Channel 39. In fact, the log you provided on your blog, reflected some simulcasting between the two stations. Additionally, Paul's Place was Paul Berlin's TV show. I knew he was on, but I didn't know the name of the show. Years ago, Arch Yancey told me there was a cooking show on the air. A lady cook was preparing her dish. She had poured a glass of sherry and set it down to use as one of the ingredients. Paul came up behind her, grabbed the glass and drank it. The cook was bewildered. It was live TV. Arch said Paul was drunk. He related the KNUZ bunch were always having a good time.
I would have never seen it because #1, I was only 3 years old and #2, even if I had been older, we only had VHF television, as did most people.
I would have never seen it because #1, I was only 3 years old and #2, even if I had been older, we only had VHF television, as did most people.
Chuck Tiller said:
The 1964 law requiring new TV's have both VHF and UHF capability was a shining example of the FCC actually getting something right. Too bad it came a dozen years late. Would be interesting to see how television would have grown if so many of the failed 50's era UHF's had stayed on the air.
When I was ten years old (mid-60's) my family got a new black and white set for Christmas. The coolest thing was that it had UHF, and we were able to watch all sorts of programs on the UHF network affilate that we hadn't seen before.
Chuck Tiller said:
Those of you who missed live, local TV in the early 50s, when almost everything was live and local, really missed some great stuff. One part of my 'memoirs' that may get on the blog is my memories of Channels 2 and 11 in the very beginning. We didn't have UHF either and didn't get a good signal from 8. One of my favorite shows on 2 in the early days was Jane Christopher's TV Kitchen, 1 hour live, five days a week but it was really Bob Dundas and Lee Gordon, her two cut-up sidekicks, that made the show for me as a little kid and when she was on vacation and they did the show by themselves it was a riot. They might do something like take a whole hour to make a hot dog, the kitchen set would be littered with pots and pans and flour, etc. Then they'd realize they only made one hot dog and they'd fight over who got to eat it.
Mediafrog+ said:
Yes, very true.
My God, Lee Gordon! There's a name I haven't heard in years. What became of him? I'm sure he's gone by now. Remember the live spots during newcasts? I guess it was Fingers Furniture. It seems like a lot of appliances were being sold, especially refridgerators and stoves. I was really to young to appreciate the birth of television.
A
airwave999
Guest
The KNUZ radio people also had a pretty good time. My Dad had a sports show on KNUZ in the 60's and I used to go down there with him quite often. I was just a little kid, but never remember laughing so much at EVERYONE'S andtics. By everyone, I'm talking about the GM to the on-air folks to the salepeople. Someone was always pulling something.
Chuck Tiller said:
I have a vague memory of seeing something about him a few years ago, but my memory's so lousy, maybe not. He might still be going -- he was Houston's Jack La Lanne, had an exercise show, jumping rope, jumping jacks, push-ups, etc., dressed all in white. I did come across something about him in my research that he had done sports but I don't remember that - Bruce Layer and Carl Mann were the sports reporters I remember. You may be right about the Finger's commercials.
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