March 12: This Day in TV History

[Stanislav]

Just a few random TV related events that happened on March 12. Discuss or comment as you please……

1932: Actress Barbara Feldon (Get Smart) is born (as Barbara Hall) in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. (*Sigh*.....are there any guys my age who were not in love with Agent 99 at one time?)

1950: One of the first TV westerns, The Marshal of Gunsight Pass, debuts on ABC. The show originates from the Iverson Ranch in Chatsworth, California, and is broadcast live to the West Coast, and on kinescope to the rest of the country. The series would last for 22 episodes.

1950: Actor Jon Provost (Lassie) is born in Los Angeles.

1961: CJOH-TV (channel 13) launches in Ottawa, Ontario.

1964: WCCB-TV (channel 32, later WKAB-TV and WHOA-TV, now WNCF) signs on in Montgomery, Alabama.

1980: Actor John-Paul Lavoisier (One Life to Live) is born (as John-Paul Seponski) in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania.

1982: T.J. Hooker premieres on ABC.

1982: WPMI-TV (channel 15) signs on in Mobile as Alabama’s first independent TV station. (They would later become a charter Fox affiliate, and 13 years ago swapped networks with WALA-TV to become the NBC outlet for the market.)

1984: CJBR-TV (Rimouski, Quebec) switches from channel 3 to channel 2. Oddly, TV Guide continued to list them on 3 for many years (CJBR was still carried on channel 3 on most cable systems).

1990: WNEV-TV (channel 7, Boston) changes calls to WHDH-TV. Those very calls had previously been used on Boston’s channel 5 from 1957-72.

2001: Talk show host Morton Downey, Jr. dies in Los Angeles of lung cancer, aged 67.

2002: The Shield premieres on Fx.

2003: Actress Lynne Thigpen (All My Children, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?) dies in Marina del Rey, California of a cerebral hemorrhage, aged 54.

(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…..)

 

[Ultimajock]

2003: Actress Lynne Thigpen (All My Children, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?) dies in Marina del Rey, California of a cerebral hemorrhage, aged 54.

...before her TV work, she was the cool and menacing radio disc jockey in the theatrical film The Warriors...

 

[Mario500]

1982: WPMI-TV (channel 15) signs on in Mobile as Alabama’s first independent TV station. (They would later become a charter Fox affiliate, and 13 years ago swapped networks with WALA-TV to become the NBC outlet for the market.)

WKAB-TV Channel 48 was actually Mobile's first independent TV station.

 

[bpatrick]

WCCB became the call letters of Ch. 18 in Charlotte.
It was an ABC affiliate from sign-on in 1964 (on Ch. 36,
and carrying some CBS and NBC programs as well--the
move to 18 occurred in late 1966, the fulltime ABC affiliation
began in the fall of 1967) until 1978, when WSOC/9 switched
from NBC. WCCB then went independent until the arrival of
Fox in 1986; it has been with Fox ever since.

Both Ch. 18 in Charlotte and Ch. 32 in Montgomery were owned
for years by Cy Bahakel.

 

[WMC2006]

2003: Actress Lynne Thigpen (All My Children, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?) dies in Marina del Rey, California of a cerebral hemorrhage, aged 54.

...before her TV work, she was the cool and menacing radio disc jockey in the theatrical film The Warriors...

And she was co-starring in The District with Craig T Nelson at the time of her death. They incorporated her death into the series and aired a nice memorial to her.

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

1962: Actress Julia Campbell is born in Huntsville, AL. She has appeared in series including Ryan's Hope, Herman's Head, A Whole New Ballgame, and Martial Law.

 

[FreddyE1977]

Just a few random TV related events that happened on March 12. Discuss or comment as you please……

1932: Actress Barbara Feldon (Get Smart) is born (as Barbara Hall) in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. (*Sigh*.....are there any guys my age who were not in love with Agent 99 at one time?)

Bethel Park is a suburb of Pittsburgh. I can practically throw a rock into Bethel Park from where I sit.
She is also another celebrated theater program alum from Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie-Mellon University)