• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

May 7: This Day in TV History

S

Stanislav

Just a few random TV related events that happened on May 7. Discuss or comment as you please……

1922: Actor Darren McGavin (Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, Riverboat, The Outsider, Kolchak: The Night Stalker) is born (as William Lyle Richardson) in Spokane, Washington.

1947: Kraft Television Theater, the first regularly scheduled drama series on a network, premieres on NBC. It would run for 11 years.

1950: Journalist Tim Russert (Meet the Press) is born in Buffalo, New York.

1958: Newark, New Jersey’s WATV (channel 13) changes calls to WNTA-TV, reflecting its new ownership (National Telefilm Associates). The station would later become non-commercial WNDT, now known as WNET.

1963: Telstar II, the second of two experimental active communications satellites, is launched. It would remain active for 2 years.

1975: The pilot episode of Matt Helm is broadcast as a TV-movie by ABC. It would debut as a regular series in the fall, but only last 13 episodes.

1975: Anchorage, Alaska gets a full-time public station in the form of KAKM (channel 7). It is currently the only PBS outlet in Alaska that is not part of the statewide AlaskaOne network.

1988: The last original episode of The Facts of Life airs on NBC.

1995: After 9 seasons (6 on NBC, 3 on ABC), the last first-run episode of Matlock is broadcast.

1999: A jury finds The Jenny Jones Show and Warner Bros. liable in the shooting death of Scott Amedure, after the show deceived Jonathan Schmitz into appearing on a secret same-sex crush episode. The judgment would later be overturned by the Michigan Court of Appeals, and the Michigan Supreme Court would decline to hear the case.

(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…..) ;)
 
Stanislav said:
1947: Kraft Television Theater, the first regularly scheduled drama series on a network, premieres on NBC. It would run for 11 years.
Click to expand...

There was always a curious thing about "Kraft Theater." They would go into a commercial break, which would be a studio job, with the same voiceover guy for years, probably Ed Herlihy, not sure, extolling the virtues of various Kraft products. The camera would pan slowly across a table, showing various meals made with Kraft products, and invariably, off to the side, there would be a toy TV camera, with a toy cameraman wearing headphones, sitting on the seat behind the viewfinder.

They did this for many years, and it was always on a Kraft commercial on NBC. I don't remember them doing this on any other network.

I always wondered what the story was behind this odd set decoration. I also wonder if any of those toy cameras & cameramen still exist somewhere?
 
I think all television specials sponsored by Kraft into the 1980s, regardless of network (mainly NBC and CBS) were done the same way -- every commercial break featured Ed explaining things you can cook with Kraft products. In addition, Kraft would often place an 8-page ad in the listings section of TV Guide magazine (often in the center of the magazine, for easy removal), featuring recipes of the meals featured in the special's ads (Ed would always refer viewers to TVG in the commercials).

I think all this ended in the late-1980s, following Kraft's acquisition of General Foods.
 
RicoGregg said:
They did this for many years, and it was always on a Kraft commercial on NBC. I don't remember them doing this on any other network.
Click to expand...

...Kraft Television Theatre ran a parallel series on ABC from October 1953 to January 1955; whether they used the same motif and announcer on ABC (I believe Frank Gallop alternated with Ed Herlihy on those Kraft NBC shows), I know not...
 
azumanga said:
I think all television specials sponsored by Kraft into the 1980s, regardless of network (mainly NBC and CBS) were done the same way -- every commercial break featured Ed explaining things you can cook with Kraft products. In addition, Kraft would often place an 8-page ad in the listings section of TV Guide magazine (often in the center of the magazine, for easy removal), featuring recipes of the meals featured in the special's ads (Ed would always refer viewers to TVG in the commercials).

I think all this ended in the late-1980s, following Kraft's acquisition of General Foods.
Click to expand...

I also remember seeing this practice as late as December 1986 on ABC's broadcast of the Jim Henson special "The Christmas Toy," which Kraft sponsored. One of the Kraft plugs from the special has been posted on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INVuvmzesOc&feature=related
 
Stanislav said:
1975: Anchorage, Alaska gets a full-time public station in the form of KAKM (channel 7). It is currently the only PBS outlet in Alaska that is not part of the statewide AlaskaOne network.
Click to expand...

But in July 2012, that will change as KAKM will be flagship station of AlaskaOne. KUAC (Fairbanks) will be back on their own.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom