Just a few random TV related events that happened on March 15. Discuss or comment as you please……
1913: Actor Macdonald Carey (Days of Our Lives) is born (as Edward Macdonald Carey) in Sioux City, Iowa. The hub of the series’ cast for over 30 years (he died in 1994), his voice can still be heard delivering the show’s epigraph ("Like sands through the hourglass...”) in the introduction, which has been retained in memory and tribute to him. DYK: He also voiced the very first PBS idents after that network evolved from NET.
1921: Television writer Madelyn Pugh (I Love Lucy, et. al.) is born in Indianapolis, Indiana. Sometimes credited as Madelyn Pugh Davis or Madelyn Davis, her partnership with Bob Carroll, Jr. was a fruitful one, the pair writing about 400 television programs and roughly 500 radio shows over more than 50 years.
1935: Televangelist Jimmy Swaggert is born in Ferriday, Louisiana.
1935: Actor Judd Hirsch (Taxi, George and Leo, Numb3rs) is born in Bronx, New York.
1949: WICU-TV (channel 12) begins broadcasting in Erie, Pennsylvania. It was one of the last stations to snag a construction permit before the FCC “freeze.”
1949: WLWD (channel 2, later WDTN) launches in Dayton, Ohio.
1954: WSJV (channel 28) begins broadcasting in Elkhart, Indiana.
1955: Lexington’s first TV station (and just the third in Kentucky) signs on as WLEX-TV on channel 18.
1957: Actress Park Overall (Empty Nest) is born in Greeneville, Tennessee.
1958: KGHL-TV (channel 8, now KULR-TV) launches in Billings, Montana.
1959: WILX-TV (channel 10) begins operating in Onandoga (Jackson), Michigan. WILX was part of one of the last share-time arrangements in U.S. TV, sharing a single transmitter, but splitting schedule time, with Michigan State University’s WMSB. (The MSU station had formerly been WKAR-TV on channel 60, but had great difficulty attaining sufficient coverage on UHF.) WILX was on the air for 70 percent of the broadcast day including all of prime time. (WMSB would also occasionally yield extra time to WILX in the event of breaking news, a sporting event or special, etc.) The arrangement lasted until 1972 when WMSB once again became WKAR-TV, this time on channel 23.
1962: KATU (channel 2) signs on in Portland, Oregon as an independent station. (They would affiliate with ABC two years later.)
1965: WMFE-TV (channel 24) brings an educational signal to Orlando, Florida for the first time. The station’s legacy call sign stands for “Mid-Florida Education,” a nod to its original studio location, on the campus of Mid-Florida Tech (an adult vocational school).
1967: WSJK-TV (channel 2, now WETP) is launched in Sneedville, Tennessee. It is the first in a series of four stations that the Tennessee state board of education would establish over the next 12 years. DYK: Despite historical problems adequately covering both the Tri-Cities (Bristol/Kingsport/Johnson City) and Knoxville markets from a compromise transmitter location, the station’s analog tower site is so “hemmed in” by other co-channel allocations that it literally cannot be moved a mile in any direction without falling afoul of separation requirements.
1977: Eight is Enough premieres on ABC.
1975: Actress Eva Longoria Parker (The Young and the Restless, Desperate Housewives) is born (as Eva Jacqueline Longoria) in Corpus Christi, Texas.
1980: Sanford, an attempt to resurrect Redd Foxx’s character of Fred Sanford, debuts on NBC. The show pairs Fred with a new business partner, an obese redneck named Cal. (Lamont, it was explained, was away working on the Alaska Pipeline.) A pale shadow of the original series, Sanford would only last 2 seasons/26 episodes.
1985: Mr. Belvedere debuts on ABC.
1992: Green Bay’s WFRV (channel 5) and WBAY (channel 2) swap networks, with 5 going to CBS and 2 joining ABC.
2001: Actress Ann Sothern (Private Secretary, The Ann Sothern Show, My Mother the Car, The Lucy Show [recurring role]) dies of heart failure in Ketchum, Idaho, aged 92.
2002: Former NBC president Sylvester “Pat” Weaver dies in Santa Barbara, California, aged 93.
(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…..)
1913: Actor Macdonald Carey (Days of Our Lives) is born (as Edward Macdonald Carey) in Sioux City, Iowa. The hub of the series’ cast for over 30 years (he died in 1994), his voice can still be heard delivering the show’s epigraph ("Like sands through the hourglass...”) in the introduction, which has been retained in memory and tribute to him. DYK: He also voiced the very first PBS idents after that network evolved from NET.
1921: Television writer Madelyn Pugh (I Love Lucy, et. al.) is born in Indianapolis, Indiana. Sometimes credited as Madelyn Pugh Davis or Madelyn Davis, her partnership with Bob Carroll, Jr. was a fruitful one, the pair writing about 400 television programs and roughly 500 radio shows over more than 50 years.
1935: Televangelist Jimmy Swaggert is born in Ferriday, Louisiana.
1935: Actor Judd Hirsch (Taxi, George and Leo, Numb3rs) is born in Bronx, New York.
1949: WICU-TV (channel 12) begins broadcasting in Erie, Pennsylvania. It was one of the last stations to snag a construction permit before the FCC “freeze.”
1949: WLWD (channel 2, later WDTN) launches in Dayton, Ohio.
1954: WSJV (channel 28) begins broadcasting in Elkhart, Indiana.
1955: Lexington’s first TV station (and just the third in Kentucky) signs on as WLEX-TV on channel 18.
1957: Actress Park Overall (Empty Nest) is born in Greeneville, Tennessee.
1958: KGHL-TV (channel 8, now KULR-TV) launches in Billings, Montana.
1959: WILX-TV (channel 10) begins operating in Onandoga (Jackson), Michigan. WILX was part of one of the last share-time arrangements in U.S. TV, sharing a single transmitter, but splitting schedule time, with Michigan State University’s WMSB. (The MSU station had formerly been WKAR-TV on channel 60, but had great difficulty attaining sufficient coverage on UHF.) WILX was on the air for 70 percent of the broadcast day including all of prime time. (WMSB would also occasionally yield extra time to WILX in the event of breaking news, a sporting event or special, etc.) The arrangement lasted until 1972 when WMSB once again became WKAR-TV, this time on channel 23.
1962: KATU (channel 2) signs on in Portland, Oregon as an independent station. (They would affiliate with ABC two years later.)
1965: WMFE-TV (channel 24) brings an educational signal to Orlando, Florida for the first time. The station’s legacy call sign stands for “Mid-Florida Education,” a nod to its original studio location, on the campus of Mid-Florida Tech (an adult vocational school).
1967: WSJK-TV (channel 2, now WETP) is launched in Sneedville, Tennessee. It is the first in a series of four stations that the Tennessee state board of education would establish over the next 12 years. DYK: Despite historical problems adequately covering both the Tri-Cities (Bristol/Kingsport/Johnson City) and Knoxville markets from a compromise transmitter location, the station’s analog tower site is so “hemmed in” by other co-channel allocations that it literally cannot be moved a mile in any direction without falling afoul of separation requirements.
1977: Eight is Enough premieres on ABC.
1975: Actress Eva Longoria Parker (The Young and the Restless, Desperate Housewives) is born (as Eva Jacqueline Longoria) in Corpus Christi, Texas.
1980: Sanford, an attempt to resurrect Redd Foxx’s character of Fred Sanford, debuts on NBC. The show pairs Fred with a new business partner, an obese redneck named Cal. (Lamont, it was explained, was away working on the Alaska Pipeline.) A pale shadow of the original series, Sanford would only last 2 seasons/26 episodes.
1985: Mr. Belvedere debuts on ABC.
1992: Green Bay’s WFRV (channel 5) and WBAY (channel 2) swap networks, with 5 going to CBS and 2 joining ABC.
2001: Actress Ann Sothern (Private Secretary, The Ann Sothern Show, My Mother the Car, The Lucy Show [recurring role]) dies of heart failure in Ketchum, Idaho, aged 92.
2002: Former NBC president Sylvester “Pat” Weaver dies in Santa Barbara, California, aged 93.
(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…..)
