May 17: This Day in TV History

[Stanislav]

Just a few random TV related events that happened on May 17. Discuss or comment as you please……

1939: The first televised baseball game (over New York’s W2XBS) sees Princeton beat Columbia 2-1 in 10 innings at Baker Field.

1940: Clear signals from W2XBS are picked up as far as 234 miles away aboard an ocean liner heading from Bermuda to New York. The NBC/RCA test sets a distance record for ship-to-shore TV reception.

1948: What is claimed to be the first country music program on network TV, Village Barn, begins airing on NBC. The show is named for the venue from which the live show originates each week: a country music nightclub in the basement of 52 West 8th Street in New York City's Greenwich Village.

1948: News anchor Jim Gardner is born (as James Goldman) in New York City. After a few years in radio in the early 70’s, and getting his TV feet wet as a reporter for Buffalo’s WKBW-TV, Gardner would land at Philadelphia’s WPVI-TV in 1976, soon becoming the anchor of the 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts, a position he holds to this day.

1953: During a broadcast of The Ed Sullivan Show, the host and Broadway director Joshua Logan chat in the wings. Logan suggests that he talk about his experiences in a mental institution, and Sullivan takes him up on the offer. The unusually candid and stark discussion is credited with helping to advance public understanding of mental illness, inspiring some state legislatures to repeal or modernize laws concerning treatment of the mentally ill, and to allot funds for the construction of new mental hospitals.

1956: Comedian/actor Bob Saget (Full House, America’s Funniest Home Videos) is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1959: Sportscaster Jim Nantz is born in Charlotte, North Carolina.

1962: Comedian/TV host Craig Ferguson (The Late Late Show) is born in Glasgow, Scotland.

1973: U.S. daytime television is interrupted by the Watergate hearings, which would continue until August 7. Each network would air live coverage in rotation every third day (ABC was first, then CBS, then NBC).

1976: The date on which the events of the first episode of That 70’s Show are set. The series would progress more or less chronologically (though not smoothly so) through the late 70’s, with its final episode (originally broadcast May 18, 2006) depicting the cast celebrating New Year’s Eve 1979.

1992: Bandleader Lawrence Welk dies from pneumonia in Santa Monica, California, aged 89.

2000: After 296 episodes, and stardom for such previous unknowns as Jason Priestly, Shannon Doherty, and Luke Perry, the final Beverly Hills 90210 airs on Fox.

2002: Stargate SG-1 airs for the last time on Showtime. The series would move to Sci-Fi the next month, where it would remain for the duration of its run.

2004: Actor Tony Randall (Mr. Peepers, The Odd Couple, Love Sydney, The Tony Randall Show) dies in New York of complications from pneumonia following bypass surgery, aged 84.

2005: My Wife and Kids ends a 5-season ABC run.

2005: Actor/impressionist Frank Gorshin dies in Burbank, California of lung cancer, emphysema, and pneumonia, aged 72. His final performance was in "Grave Danger," an episode of the CBS series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, which aired two days after his death. The episode, in which he played himself, was dedicated to his memory.

(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…..)

 

[wbhist]

1973: U.S. daytime television is interrupted by the Watergate hearings, which would continue until August 7. Each network would air live coverage in rotation every third day (ABC was first, then CBS, then NBC).

From my memory, it appears to have wrought havoc with local TV affiliates' schedules as well. There may've been cases of certain TV stations' afternoon movie shows rescheduling whatever films they were to have shown in this stretch due to the hearings.

 

[Stanislav]

1973: U.S. daytime television is interrupted by the Watergate hearings, which would continue until August 7. Each network would air live coverage in rotation every third day (ABC was first, then CBS, then NBC).

From my memory, it appears to have wrought havoc with local TV affiliates' schedules as well. There may've been cases of certain TV stations' afternoon movie shows rescheduling whatever films they were to have shown in this stretch due to the hearings.

I'm thinking also that many stations that routinely tape-delayed daytime network shows were left with "holes" on their schedules even on days and at times when the hearings weren't in session. I imagine the situation wasn't too popular at the local affiliate level!

 

[KeithE4]

Just a few random TV related events that happened on May 17. Discuss or comment as you please……

1939: The first televised baseball game (over New York’s W2XBS) sees Princeton beat Columbia 2-1 in 10 innings at Baker Field.

Not even close. The first documented televised baseball game was at Boston's Braves Field in 1933. The first televised football game (location unknown) was also that year. Here are snapshots of both games (erroneously labeled as 1934).

It isn't indicated who the teams were (college or pro). Nor is the station indicated in either case (I'm guessing the baseball game was on W1XAV or W1XG).

Link: Historytv.net

 

[Stanislav]

Just a few random TV related events that happened on May 17. Discuss or comment as you please……

1939: The first televised baseball game (over New York’s W2XBS) sees Princeton beat Columbia 2-1 in 10 innings at Baker Field.

Not even close. The first documented televised baseball game was at Boston's Braves Field in 1933. The first televised football game (location unknown) was also that year. Here are snapshots of both games (erroneously labeled as 1934).

It isn't indicated who the teams were (college or pro). Nor is the station indicated in either case (I'm guessing the baseball game was on W1XAV or W1XG).

Link: Historytv.net

Interesting how almost every source you will see lists that '39 game (and the alleged "first" televised football game around that same time) as the first. Maybe a lot of people ignore pre-electronic TV in these lists and "facts," or just assume that TV "began" with the '39 World's Fair.

Actually, in general, I'm always suspicious of any "first" claimed when it comes to early TV, because so little documentation exists of the mechanical-era stations and their schedules. Perhaps we should routinely footnote these little factoids as "first [whatever] on electronic television?"

 

[KeithE4]

Interesting how almost every source you will see lists that '39 game (and the alleged "first" televised football game around that same time) as the first. Maybe a lot of people ignore pre-electronic TV in these lists and "facts," or just assume that TV "began" with the '39 World's Fair.

Probably because most of these "claims" are for events that occured in NYC, mostly on W2XBS. It seems that most American TV experiments (Philo Farnsworth being one of the few exceptions) of the 1930s tend to be put on the back burner for some reason (like the probability of David Sarnoff-led RCA/NBC - the Microsoft of its day - wanting to take credit and patent royalties for all early TV developments).

Actually, in general, I'm always suspicious of any "first" claimed when it comes to early TV, because so little documentation exists of the mechanical-era stations and their schedules. Perhaps we should routinely footnote these little factoids as "first [whatever] on electronic television?"

The photographs of the baseball and football broadcasts I referenced show decent definition, but they may have been generated by mechanical means. The referring article doesn't say, although I don't believe there was electronic television in Boston in 1933.

 

[bpatrick]

I was fortunate to see Frank Gorshin in person
not long before he died. In January 2005 he
brought his one-man show where he played
George Burns to Greensboro; for my birthday
that year, my dad and stepmom took me to
see it.

I wish I'd seen Tim Conway and Harvey Korman's
appearance in Greensboro not long before Korman's
death.

 

[radioman148]

Interesting how almost every source you will see lists that '39 game (and the alleged "first" televised football game around that same time) as the first. Maybe a lot of people ignore pre-electronic TV in these lists and "facts," or just assume that TV "began" with the '39 World's Fair.

Probably because most of these "claims" are for events that occured in NYC, mostly on W2XBS. It seems that most American TV experiments (Philo Farnsworth being one of the few exceptions) of the 1930s tend to be put on the back burner for some reason (like the probability of David Sarnoff-led RCA/NBC - the Microsoft of its day - wanting to take credit and patent royalties for all early TV developments).

Actually, in general, I'm always suspicious of any "first" claimed when it comes to early TV, because so little documentation exists of the mechanical-era stations and their schedules. Perhaps we should routinely footnote these little factoids as "first [whatever] on electronic television?"

The photographs of the baseball and football broadcasts I referenced show decent definition, but they may have been generated by mechanical means. The referring article doesn't say, although I don't believe there was electronic television in Boston in 1933.

In todays sports section they listed the 1939 date. Even though it's not fact that's the date they go with.

 

[radioman148]

I was fortunate to see Frank Gorshin in person
not long before he died. In January 2005 he
brought his one-man show where he played
George Burns to Greensboro; for my birthday
that year, my dad and stepmom took me to
see it.

I wish I'd seen Tim Conway and Harvey Korman's
appearance in Greensboro not long before Korman's
death.

I had the pleasure of seeing Frank Gorshin in the 60s. At that time he was far & away the best impressionist.
To this day his Kirk Douglas routine is the best I ever saw.

 

[mleach]

Interesting how almost every source you will see lists that '39 game (and the alleged "first" televised football game around that same time) as the first. Maybe a lot of people ignore pre-electronic TV in these lists and "facts," or just assume that TV "began" with the '39 World's Fair.

Actually, in general, I'm always suspicious of any "first" claimed when it comes to early TV, because so little documentation exists of the mechanical-era stations and their schedules. Perhaps we should routinely footnote these little factoids as "first [whatever] on electronic television?"

Myself..I am suspicious of any "first" that I read about..period..and not just when it comes to early TV. The first fast food restaurant? Many say it was McDonalds ( even Micky D's themselves had made that claim over the years) but what about A&W? Hot Shoppes? Both of which had existed long before McDonalds.

Sometimes history over the years is "changed" because..well there are two reasons actually. One is to make the story sound better and try to bury the past for whatever reason. Example..the first US radio station to had played the Beatles. Better to say it was some respected big city radio station like DC's WWDC-AM, Chicago's WLS, or NYC's 1010 WINS or WA "Beatle" C..than to say it was some small 1000 watt AM full service daytimer in a small town in West Virginia who had played 20 seconds of "Love Me Do" in the summer of 63 even before the "big guys only to have the dj say not only the song was trash and ended up breaking the record live on the air but even going as far making a comment on air that the Beatles sounded like "ugly women". I think even the Beatles themselves would rather had WWDC be known as "the station that first played the Beatles"

Second..there are some things where the public will accept better than reality. For example many people can accept that the first local TV station in America to do a local 60 minute newscast was LA's KNXT. Of course that is true fact. But lets say for the sake of this conversation that Burlington, Vermont's WCAX had done it first..and KNXT was second. Many people would still claim KNXT had done it first. Why? Because KNXT is a "big city TV station" and Burlington..well to many is a "small town" that few outside New England and New York would know about.

Of course nobody can change "true history"..but some will do everything they can to do the next best thing.

 

[Stanislav]

Interesting how almost every source you will see lists that '39 game (and the alleged "first" televised football game around that same time) as the first. Maybe a lot of people ignore pre-electronic TV in these lists and "facts," or just assume that TV "began" with the '39 World's Fair.

Probably because most of these "claims" are for events that occured in NYC, mostly on W2XBS. It seems that most American TV experiments (Philo Farnsworth being one of the few exceptions) of the 1930s tend to be put on the back burner for some reason (like the probability of David Sarnoff-led RCA/NBC - the Microsoft of its day - wanting to take credit and patent royalties for all early TV developments).

Actually, in general, I'm always suspicious of any "first" claimed when it comes to early TV, because so little documentation exists of the mechanical-era stations and their schedules. Perhaps we should routinely footnote these little factoids as "first [whatever] on electronic television?"

The photographs of the baseball and football broadcasts I referenced show decent definition, but they may have been generated by mechanical means. The referring article doesn't say, although I don't believe there was electronic television in Boston in 1933.

In todays sports section they listed the 1939 date. Even though it's not fact that's the date they go with.

Let's face it, once electronic 441-line TV was debuted to the masses at the World's Fair, in one of the biggest media-rich cities in the world, people pretty much forgot about everything that came before. TV was now "ready for prime-time." Yes, there were nearly-comparable systems operating prior to 1939 (BBC, for instance, or Don Lee's L.A. station) but the RCA/NBC system got the big publicity because of the venue. Many people probably had seen earlier demonstrations of low-resolution, mechanically-scanned images on tiny screens, and shrugged it off as an experimenter's toy, a folly. But in 1939, visitors from all over the country and the world got to see something very close to what "television" would be like for the next 60+ years. So it's not hard to understand that pretty much every television "first" in the popular mind starts there.

 

[Ultimajock]

Sometimes history over the years is "changed" because..well there are two reasons actually. One is to make the story sound better and try to bury the past for whatever reason. Example..the first US radio station to had played the Beatles. Better to say it was some respected big city radio station like DC's WWDC-AM, Chicago's WLS, or NYC's 1010 WINS or WA "Beatle" C..than to say it was some small 1000 watt AM full service daytimer in a small town in West Virginia who had played 20 seconds of "Love Me Do" in the summer of 63 even before the "big guys only to have the dj say not only the song was trash and ended up breaking the record live on the air but even going as far making a comment on air that the Beatles sounded like "ugly women". I think even the Beatles themselves would rather had WWDC be known as "the station that first played the Beatles"

...bad example you picked there, bro. That issue is easily enough cleared up -- the first U.S. radio station to play a Beatles record ("Please Please Me") was WLS, whose Dick Biondi got the record from the promo office at Vee-Jay Records (headquartered in Chicago) on 9 February 1963, the day the thing was released in the States. Later that same month, copies of WLS' "Silver Dollar Survey" listed the record on its chart. The whole story is told and illustrated in Bruce Spizer's book The Beatles Are Coming!...

 

[mleach]

Sometimes history over the years is "changed" because..well there are two reasons actually. One is to make the story sound better and try to bury the past for whatever reason. Example..the first US radio station to had played the Beatles. Better to say it was some respected big city radio station like DC's WWDC-AM, Chicago's WLS, or NYC's 1010 WINS or WA "Beatle" C..than to say it was some small 1000 watt AM full service daytimer in a small town in West Virginia who had played 20 seconds of "Love Me Do" in the summer of 63 even before the "big guys only to have the dj say not only the song was trash and ended up breaking the record live on the air but even going as far making a comment on air that the Beatles sounded like "ugly women". I think even the Beatles themselves would rather had WWDC be known as "the station that first played the Beatles"

...bad example you picked there, bro. That issue is easily enough cleared up -- the first U.S. radio station to play a Beatles record ("Please Please Me") was WLS, whose Dick Biondi got the record from the promo office at Vee-Jay Records (headquartered in Chicago) on 9 February 1963, the day the thing was released in the States. Later that same month, copies of WLS' "Silver Dollar Survey" listed the record on its chart. The whole story is told and illustrated in Bruce Spizer's book The Beatles Are Coming!...

There you got me LOL

But lets say for the sake of this thread, for example even had that West Virginia station ( WEPM-AM 1340 in Martinsburg ) did their Beatles thing say...in 1962 and WLS would had played that song in Feb. 1963...WLS would still get the credit for being the the first US station to play a Beatles tune for two reasons..WLS treated the song quite seriously unlike WEPM which had treated the the whole thing as a joke ( and WEPM didn't even play the entire record ) plus on top of that WLS was a rock and roll station while WEPM was doing country music at the time. The fact that WLS being a Chicago station and WEPM being a small town one..well that could play a role too. In other words, even if WEPM would had "played" the Beatles before WLS, well it would had been much easier for the Beatles fan to accept WLS as being the "first".

 

[mleach]

1953: During a broadcast of The Ed Sullivan Show, the host and Broadway director Joshua Logan chat in the wings. Logan suggests that he talk about his experiences in a mental institution, and Sullivan takes him up on the offer. The unusually candid and stark discussion is credited with helping to advance public understanding of mental illness, inspiring some state legislatures to repeal or modernize laws concerning treatment of the mentally ill, and to allot funds for the construction of new mental hospitals.

Vivian Vance, after having a breakdown herself, later on ( mainly after I Love Lucy ) did a lot to help out those suffering from mental illnesses as well. Also I seem to recall wathcing old films of Tab Hunter doing some fundraising as well from that era.

 

[radioman148]

Sometimes history over the years is "changed" because..well there are two reasons actually. One is to make the story sound better and try to bury the past for whatever reason. Example..the first US radio station to had played the Beatles. Better to say it was some respected big city radio station like DC's WWDC-AM, Chicago's WLS, or NYC's 1010 WINS or WA "Beatle" C..than to say it was some small 1000 watt AM full service daytimer in a small town in West Virginia who had played 20 seconds of "Love Me Do" in the summer of 63 even before the "big guys only to have the dj say not only the song was trash and ended up breaking the record live on the air but even going as far making a comment on air that the Beatles sounded like "ugly women". I think even the Beatles themselves would rather had WWDC be known as "the station that first played the Beatles"

...bad example you picked there, bro. That issue is easily enough cleared up -- the first U.S. radio station to play a Beatles record ("Please Please Me") was WLS, whose Dick Biondi got the record from the promo office at Vee-Jay Records (headquartered in Chicago) on 9 February 1963, the day the thing was released in the States. Later that same month, copies of WLS' "Silver Dollar Survey" listed the record on its chart. The whole story is told and illustrated in Bruce Spizer's book The Beatles Are Coming!...

There you got me LOL

But lets say for the sake of this thread, for example even had that West Virginia station ( WEPM-AM 1340 in Martinsburg ) did their Beatles thing say...in 1962 and WLS would had played that song in Feb. 1963...WLS would still get the credit for being the the first US station to play a Beatles tune for two reasons..WLS treated the song quite seriously unlike WEPM which had treated the the whole thing as a joke ( and WEPM didn't even play the entire record ) plus on top of that WLS was a rock and roll station while WEPM was doing country music at the time. The fact that WLS being a Chicago station and WEPM being a small town one..well that could play a role too. In other words, even if WEPM would had "played" the Beatles before WLS, well it would had been much easier for the Beatles fan to accept WLS as being the "first".

As an addition to that Dick Biondi has often told the story that after he left WLS and went to California in July of 63 he tried playing "Please Please Me" on KRLA and was told by his listeners to "get that crap off the air!"

 

[Ultimajock]

Sometimes history over the years is "changed" because..well there are two reasons actually. One is to make the story sound better and try to bury the past for whatever reason. Example..the first US radio station to had played the Beatles. Better to say it was some respected big city radio station like DC's WWDC-AM, Chicago's WLS, or NYC's 1010 WINS or WA "Beatle" C..than to say it was some small 1000 watt AM full service daytimer in a small town in West Virginia who had played 20 seconds of "Love Me Do" in the summer of 63 even before the "big guys only to have the dj say not only the song was trash and ended up breaking the record live on the air but even going as far making a comment on air that the Beatles sounded like "ugly women". I think even the Beatles themselves would rather had WWDC be known as "the station that first played the Beatles"

...bad example you picked there, bro. That issue is easily enough cleared up -- the first U.S. radio station to play a Beatles record ("Please Please Me") was WLS, whose Dick Biondi got the record from the promo office at Vee-Jay Records (headquartered in Chicago) on 9 February 1963, the day the thing was released in the States. Later that same month, copies of WLS' "Silver Dollar Survey" listed the record on its chart. The whole story is told and illustrated in Bruce Spizer's book The Beatles Are Coming!...

As an addition to that Dick Biondi has often told the story that after he left WLS and went to California in July of 63 he tried playing "Please Please Me" on KRLA and was told by his listeners to "get that crap off the air!"

...that's odd, considering the Spizer book displays a KRLA Tune-Dex Survey from the very week that Capitol Records' Dave Dexter rejected "She Loves You" for that label, and as it turns out "From Me To You" was on KRLA's playlist at that moment...

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

1965: Actress Paige Turco, whose television credits include appearances on Guiding Light and Big Shots, is born in Springfield, MA.

 

[FreddyE1977]

Frank Gorshin, one of a long line of talented people from Pittsburgh, PA to make it big in
show business (attended Peabody High School, the same school as Gene Kelly, though
much later)