October 3: This Day in TV History

[Stanislav]

Just a few random TV related events that happened on October 3. Discuss or comment as you please……

1942: Actor Alan Rachins (L.A. Law, Dharma & Greg) is born in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

1947: D.C.’s second TV station WTVW (shortly thereafter to become WJLA-TV) debuts on channel 7. It is the first VHF hi-band station in the U.S. (The WTVW calls would, of course, soon end up on another channel 7 in Evansville, Indiana.)

1954: KFVS-TV (channel 12) launches in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

1954: The first of 203 episodes of Father Knows Best airs on CBS.

1955: A double treat for the kiddies: Captain Kangaroo debuts on CBS, and The Mickey Mouse Club launches on ABC.

1955: WDBJ (channel 7) signs on in Roanoke, Virginia.

1960: The Andy Griffith Show premieres on CBS.

1961: The Dick Van Dyke Show debuts on CBS.

1964: There’s no need to fear.....Underdog premieres on NBC.

1970: WAPT (channel 16) signs on in Jackson, Mississippi. Its first broadcast is, appropriately enough, ABC coverage of an Ole Miss football game.

1973: Actress Neve Campbell (Party of Five) is born in Guelph, Ontario.

1976: Quincy M.E. premieres on NBC.

1983: Delivering a live NBC News Update, anchor Jessica Savitch appears drugged and incoherent; slurring her words, repeating phrases, and deviating from her script. The video of the infamous “meltdown” is impounded by NBC, but copies eventually get into circulation anyway.

1988: Doesn’t Ted Turner have enough channels yet? TNT launches on cable.

1992: Singer Sinéad O'Connor creates major controversy when she rips up a picture of Pope John Paul II (saying “Fight the real enemy”) on Saturday Night Live after singing an a cappella version of Bob Marley's "War." The act catches the production staff totally off-guard (in the dress rehearsal, she had instead held up a photo of a starving African child). NBC has as a matter of policy used the innocuous dress rehearsal footage in rebroadcasts, although footage of the Pope incident was released on an SNL DVD.

2001: A special, hastily-written episode of NBC’s The West Wing, addressing the issue of terrorism in the wake of the September 11th attacks, airs in place of the scheduled broadcast. The episode, “Isaac and Ishmael,” is considered to be a special standalone episode that is not officially part of the show’s continuity.

2001: According to Jim premieres on ABC.

2002: Producer/director Bruce Paltrow (The White Shadow, St. Elsewhere, Homicide: Life on the Street) dies in Rome, Italy, aged 58.

2003: Port Charles is canceled by ABC, ironically shortly after the series received its first Daytime Emmy nomination.

2004: Boston Legal and Desperate Housewives both have their ABC debuts.

2005: British comedian Ronnie Barker (The Two Ronnies) dies in Adderbury, Oxfordshire, aged 76.

(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]

1947: D.C.’s second TV station WTVW (shortly thereafter to become WJLA-TV) debuts on channel 7. It is the first VHF hi-band station in the U.S. (The WTVW calls would, of course, soon end up on another channel 7 in Evansville, Indiana.)

But in-between, wasn't the station WMAL-TV? I seem to recall those calls in place on that station prior to 1976, when Joseph Allbritton (whose initials were the namesake for the current calls) bought it.

 

[RicoGregg]

1955: A double treat for the kiddies: Captain Kangaroo debuts on CBS, and The Mickey Mouse Club launches on ABC.

On the day these two shows debut, Bob Keeshan (Captain Kangaroo) wires Walt Disney, and asks him why is he debuting The Mickey Mouse Club on the same day that his program is debuting.

Disney wires back, "Why? Because we like you!" :

 

[Stanislav]

1947: D.C.’s second TV station WTVW (shortly thereafter to become WJLA-TV) debuts on channel 7. It is the first VHF hi-band station in the U.S. (The WTVW calls would, of course, soon end up on another channel 7 in Evansville, Indiana.)

But in-between, wasn't the station WMAL-TV? I seem to recall those calls in place on that station prior to 1976, when Joseph Allbritton (whose initials were the namesake for the current calls) bought it.

Yeah, yeah, I meant to type WMAL. So sue me.

 

[mleach]

1947: D.C.’s second TV station WTVW (shortly thereafter to become WJLA-TV) debuts on channel 7. It is the first VHF hi-band station in the U.S. (The WTVW calls would, of course, soon end up on another channel 7 in Evansville, Indiana.)

I have WJLA's 50th anniversary show on tape ( from 1997 ). Of course they brought up the fact they were WMAL-TV but they didn't say a peep about WTVW.

Actually they showed ( so they say ) a clipping from the old Washington Star paper from the same day WJLA/WMAL went on the air and it said something like "WMAL-TV signs on the air tonight". I need to go back and watch that tape. But I am pretty sure they never did mention WTVW.

A few years back there was a rumor that ABC-TV was looking at buying WJLA-TV and since they ( at the time ) alreaady owned WMAL radio, they were going to rename DC's channel 7..back to WMAL-TV. Of course it never happened.

 

[Stanislav]

1947: D.C.’s second TV station WTVW (shortly thereafter to become WJLA-TV) debuts on channel 7. It is the first VHF hi-band station in the U.S. (The WTVW calls would, of course, soon end up on another channel 7 in Evansville, Indiana.)

Actually they showed ( so they say ) a clipping from the old Washington Star paper from the same day WJLA/WMAL went on the air and it said something like "WMAL-TV signs on the air tonight". I need to go back and watch that tape. But I am pretty sure they never did mention WTVW.

Officially they were WTVW for the first few months, but since they were owned along with WMAL radio, maybe that was for advertising (it was "WMAL's TV station" so it was "WMAL-TV" -- sort of...) rather than their official calls.

I'm not well versed in how they assigned calls back that far (mid-1947) -- was it standard practice to give a new TV station the same calls as the affiliated radio station if desired, or did the FCC insist on separate calls at first? There was yet no FM, so these early examples would be the first instances of the possibility of two different but related broadcasting entities having the same calls. Did they routinely assign the "-TV" suffix in the earliest years, or was that convention quickly developed to allow a situation like WMAL/WMAL-TV to use the same calls?

 

[Ultimajock]

1947: D.C.’s second TV station WTVW (shortly thereafter to become WJLA-TV) debuts on channel 7. It is the first VHF hi-band station in the U.S. (The WTVW calls would, of course, soon end up on another channel 7 in Evansville, Indiana.)

I have WJLA's 50th anniversary show on tape ( from 1997 ). Of course they brought up the fact they were WMAL-TV but they didn't say a peep about WTVW.

...interestingly, there was a third WTVW -- Channel 12 in Milwaukee, which was an ABC affiliate upon its 10/27/54 sign-on (taking the affiliation away from WOKY-TV/19). In fact, they timed their sign-on to coincide with the ABC debut of Disney's first television venture, Disneyland. WTVW/12 was also a secondary DuMont affiliate (WOKY-TV remained a primary DuMont affiliate); the following year, the Hearst Corporation bought WTVW/12 and changed its call sign to WISN-TV, dropping the DuMont secondary affiliation...

 

[Tim L]

Also on October 3, 1961:

ABC Premieres Calvin and the Colonel. This was One of several Prime-Time animated series to try to duplicate the success of the Flintstones. Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll re-imaged Amos and Andy into a series about a Fox and Bear in a large Southern City. Here, from Cleveland Classic Media, courtesy Internet Archive, is a complete Black and White episode of Calvin and the Colonel, including original commercials.

http://clevelandclassicmedia.blogspot.com/

 

[bpatrick]

1948: NBC debuts the Philco Television Playhouse,
produced by Fred Coe, one of the pioneering giants of the
business. Like most of the playhouse shows of the era, it's
a place for future stars to get a break; there's a picture in
Shulman and Youman's "How Sweet It Was" of a young Leslie
Nielsen appearing in a "Philco" play. In 1951, it begins alternate
sponsorship with Goodyear (and by the mid-'50s has dropped out
of sponsorship, with Alcoa picking up the slack). The show is
replaced in 1957 by the Dinah Shore Chevy Show, although
Alcoa will sponsor dramatic anthologies into the 1960s, including
the creepy One Step Beyond.

BTW, five weeks later Studio One premieres on CBS. It
originally airs on Sundays but CBS has problems getting clearances;
about half its affiliates (what, maybe 13 by 1949?) are over at DuMont
running Ted Mack's Amateur Hour. Studio One is a fixture
Mondays at 10 from 1949-58, and it got the time slot because that
was the time the one and only station in Pittsburgh, DuMont-owned
WDTV (now KDKA) would clear it, and Westinghouse naturally wanted
the show aired in its home city.

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

1951: The "Shot Heard Round the World": New York Giants' Bobby Thomson hits a three-run walk-off home run off Brooklyn Dodger pitcher Ralph Branca gives the Giants a 5-4 win in the third and deciding game of a tie-breaking playoff series, and enables them to complete a miraculous 13 1/2-game comeback in the NL pennant race from the previous Aug. 11. The famous Russ Hodges "The Giants Win the Pennant!" call was broadcast only on radio, on WMCA-AM 570, while Ernie Harwell called the game on television through Giant flagship station WPIX for network broadcast over NBC.

An interview with Ernie Harwell and Red Barber on the classic day in baseball history (with Harwell indicating that his TV broadcast of the game has been largely forgotten compared with the memorable Hodges radio call) is on You Tube at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiZuVXYa43E&feature=related

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

14 years ago today:

1995: A nearly 16-month old media frenzy, which some have argued has since altered the course of daytime television to the present day, ends as the LA jury in the O.J. Simpson "Trial of the Century" finds the former NFL great/actor/broadcaster not guilty in the June 12, 1994 slayings of his wife Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman. (But Simpson would later be found guilty in the 1997 civil trial, and then need we say more about his 2006 "If I Did It" book and eventually cancelled Fox special on that book).

 

[WMC2006]

14 years ago today:

1995: A nearly 16-month old media frenzy, which some have argued has since altered the course of daytime television to the present day, ends as the LA jury in the O.J. Simpson "Trial of the Century" finds the former NFL great/actor/broadcaster not guilty in the June 12, 1994 slayings of his wife Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman. (But Simpson would later be found guilty in the 1997 civil trial, and then need we say more about his 2006 "If I Did It" book and eventually cancelled Fox special on that book).

This event is one of those "where were you..." things. I remember I was driving on the Washington DC Loop (Beltway, whatever it's called) and heard the verdict on the radio.

And, by the way, will Ronald Goldman ever be known as anything other than Nicole Simpson's "friend"??? Did he not do anything on his own? Did he not have a job?? Someday, I'll look up his bio or something.

 

[mleach]

And, by the way, will Ronald Goldman ever be known as anything other than Nicole Simpson's "friend"??? Did he not do anything on his own? Did he not have a job?? Someday, I'll look up his bio or something.

Ronald Goldman I believe at the time of his ( and Nicole's ) murder was a waiter for the now defunct LA restuarant..Messaluna. I also seem to remember hearing that shortly before his murder Goodman had filed personal bankruptcy now as to why..who knows !!! But at the time of his death I remember the news media made some issue about Goldman having only a few bucks in his bank account so its wasn't money on the part of Ronald Goldman that got him murdered.

 

[Ultimajock]

14 years ago today:
1995: A nearly 16-month old media frenzy, which some have argued has since altered the course of daytime television to the present day, ends as the LA jury in the O.J. Simpson "Trial of the Century" finds the former NFL great/actor/broadcaster not guilty in the June 12, 1994 slayings of his wife Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman. (But Simpson would later be found guilty in the 1997 civil trial, and then need we say more about his 2006 "If I Did It" book and eventually cancelled Fox special on that book).

This event is one of those "where were you..." things. I remember I was driving on the Washington DC Loop (Beltway, whatever it's called) and heard the verdict on the radio.

And, by the way, will Ronald Goldman ever be known as anything other than Nicole Simpson's "friend"??? Did he not do anything on his own? Did he not have a job?? Someday, I'll look up his bio or something.

...FWIW, I was on the Kennedy Expressway, driving to Chicago's Metro Golden Memories nostalgia shop on West Addison (come back, MGM!), and also heard it on radio. Wasn't Goldman a contestant on Studs with his episode scheduled to be aired the week after his murder?...

 

[Corky Marlowe]

Wasn't Goldman a contestant on Studs with his episode scheduled to be aired the week after his murder?...

Wikipedia (yeah, I know) indicates Goldman was a contestant on "Studs" in 1992.

(Now I can cross "Looking up Ron Goldman on Wikipedia" off my personal bucket list.)

 

[Tim L]

. FWIW, I was on the Kennedy Expressway, driving to Chicago's Metro Golden Memories nostalgia shop on West Addison (come back, MGM!)

Ultimajock:
I I didnt originally see that You were driving to MGM..Was going to mention the name of the shop. Chuck Schaden, Old Time Radio Guru, owned/managed that store for years. It was the main sponsor for Schaden's OTR shows on WBBM or WMAQ (Maybe WCFL) that id listen to at night back in the day..Never bought anything from there..Got occasional catalogs but t always wanted to visit..

 

[FreddyE1977]

1970: WAPT (channel 16) signs on in Jackson, Mississippi. Its first broadcast is, appropriately enough, ABC coverage of an Ole Miss football game.


But gaining fame only 3 decades later when they were punked by Borat

 

[ShawnHill1]

14 years ago today:

1995: A nearly 16-month old media frenzy, which some have argued has since altered the course of daytime television to the present day, ends as the LA jury in the O.J. Simpson "Trial of the Century" finds the former NFL great/actor/broadcaster not guilty in the June 12, 1994 slayings of his wife Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman. (But Simpson would later be found guilty in the 1997 civil trial, and then need we say more about his 2006 "If I Did It" book and eventually cancelled Fox special on that book).

This event is one of those "where were you..." things. I remember I was driving on the Washington DC Loop (Beltway, whatever it's called) and heard the verdict on the radio.

And, by the way, will Ronald Goldman ever be known as anything other than Nicole Simpson's "friend"??? Did he not do anything on his own? Did he not have a job?? Someday, I'll look up his bio or something.

I was a high school sophomore at the time of the verdict. I was in my math class, and our school broadcast the verdict over the P.A. system. One of the vice principals came on the P.A. just prior to the reading warning us that anyone caught causing trouble because of the verdict (and the rumor that it might be rioting if the verdict went the other way, a la the Rodney King police brutality trial) would be suspended on the spot.

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

1981: Canadian actress and former MuchMusic VJ Amanda Walsh is born in Rigaud, Quebec.

 

[71dude]

1984: New boy in the neighborhood: Charles in Charge debuts on CBS:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=km22zWPz4uY