Sixty-five years ago today, October 31st, 1948, was the first Halloween after the arrival of commercial television here in Boston.
The following are that day's TV listings as published in the Boston Sunday Globe that day.
In the early years of commercial television, the Globe printed listings by station, with all of the shows airing that day on each station following the call letters and channel number.
However, I have used the more familiar format of time period followed by programs listed for that time period by channel.
Brooks and Marsh and Wikipedia's page on the 1948/49 Fall TV season were used to verify network status of programs; network carrying applicable program is indicated in the listing. In parenthesis are portions of show titles, usually sponsor names, that were not mentioned in the Globe listings.
All times are P.M.
WBZ-TV, Channel 4 (NBC)
WNAC-TV, Channel 7 (ABC, CBS, DuMont)
1:45
7-Test Pattern
2:15
7-High School Football: St. John's Prep (Danvers) at St. Mary's Of Lynn (played at the Manning Bowl in Lynn) (Play-by--play commentator: Lester Smith) (During he Fall of 1948, WNAC carried a number of high-school football games played at Manning Bowl; today, regular-season high-school football games in Massachusetts are found on local cable-access channels)
(No programs are listed for WNAC between the end of the game and 6 P.M.; either the station signed-of at the end of the game, which would have been around 4:15 P.M., or WNAC aired a test pattern from the end of the game until 6)
5:30
4-Test Pattern
5:40
4-News Tape
6:00
4-(Shawmut) Sunday Newsteller (local newscast; sponsored by the old Shawmut Bank)
7-Scrapbook Junior (Edition) (children's program) (CBS)
6:15
4-Movie: "Lydia" (1941, with Merle Oberon and Joseph Cotton) (information on this film according to IMDB.com)
6:30
7-Looking at the Campaign (probably a CBS news program looking at the Presidential election that would take place two days later)
7:00
7-(Ted Mack and the) Original Amateur Hour (the famous talent show of radio and early television) (DuMont)
7:30
4-(Admiral Presents The Five Star Revue) Welcome Aboard (variety show with rotating hosts) (NBC)
8:00
4-Author Meets The Critics (discussion on newly-published books, moderated by John K.M McCafferty) (NBC)
7-Hollywood Screen Test (acting talent show emceed by Bert Lytell) (ABC)
8:30
4-Meet The Press (Yes; it actually aired in prime-time in it's early years although it is best known for it's many years on Sunday mornings) (The moderator during this period was Martha Roundtree) (NBC)
7-Actors' Studio (no relation to the later Bravo cable network series "Inside The Actors' Studio"; this show featured short plays broadcast live) (ABC)
9:00
4-(Philco) Television Playhouse (live dramatic anthology series) (NBC)
7-Toast Of The Town (long-running variety show later re-named "The Ed Sullivan Show" in honor of it's emcee; in 1949, it would move to the 8 P.M. Eastern slot it would hold for the rest of it's run) (CBS)
10:00
4-(Boston Post) Views Of News In New England (local newscast with news photos supplied by the now-defunct Boston Post newspaper)
7-America Speaks (weekly report during the 1948 election campaign on Gallup Polls concerning candidates and issues) (CBS)
10:05
4-Tomorrow's Programs (rundown of what WBZ would air the next day, November 1st)
10:08
4-Sign-Off
(Brooks and Marsh along with Wikipedia both indicate "America Speaks" ended at 10:15; WNAC signed-off after that program)
Although there was an NFL team in Boston that year (the old Boston Yanks, who moved to New York for the 1949 season and eventually to Dallas in 1951, Baltimore in 1952, and finally to Indianapolis in 1984), their game that day was on the road in Washington and wasn't televised back to Boston; maybe a good thing as the Yanks lost 59-21 (according to Shrp Sports.com).
WNAC did televise the Yanks' home games that season. After the team left, telecasts of pro football in Boston would be spotty for the next few years, perhaps because Boston had lost it's team and wouldn't get pro football back until 1960 when the then-Boston Patriots., a charter member of the American Football League, took to the field for the first time.
The following are that day's TV listings as published in the Boston Sunday Globe that day.
In the early years of commercial television, the Globe printed listings by station, with all of the shows airing that day on each station following the call letters and channel number.
However, I have used the more familiar format of time period followed by programs listed for that time period by channel.
Brooks and Marsh and Wikipedia's page on the 1948/49 Fall TV season were used to verify network status of programs; network carrying applicable program is indicated in the listing. In parenthesis are portions of show titles, usually sponsor names, that were not mentioned in the Globe listings.
All times are P.M.
WBZ-TV, Channel 4 (NBC)
WNAC-TV, Channel 7 (ABC, CBS, DuMont)
1:45
7-Test Pattern
2:15
7-High School Football: St. John's Prep (Danvers) at St. Mary's Of Lynn (played at the Manning Bowl in Lynn) (Play-by--play commentator: Lester Smith) (During he Fall of 1948, WNAC carried a number of high-school football games played at Manning Bowl; today, regular-season high-school football games in Massachusetts are found on local cable-access channels)
(No programs are listed for WNAC between the end of the game and 6 P.M.; either the station signed-of at the end of the game, which would have been around 4:15 P.M., or WNAC aired a test pattern from the end of the game until 6)
5:30
4-Test Pattern
5:40
4-News Tape
6:00
4-(Shawmut) Sunday Newsteller (local newscast; sponsored by the old Shawmut Bank)
7-Scrapbook Junior (Edition) (children's program) (CBS)
6:15
4-Movie: "Lydia" (1941, with Merle Oberon and Joseph Cotton) (information on this film according to IMDB.com)
6:30
7-Looking at the Campaign (probably a CBS news program looking at the Presidential election that would take place two days later)
7:00
7-(Ted Mack and the) Original Amateur Hour (the famous talent show of radio and early television) (DuMont)
7:30
4-(Admiral Presents The Five Star Revue) Welcome Aboard (variety show with rotating hosts) (NBC)
8:00
4-Author Meets The Critics (discussion on newly-published books, moderated by John K.M McCafferty) (NBC)
7-Hollywood Screen Test (acting talent show emceed by Bert Lytell) (ABC)
8:30
4-Meet The Press (Yes; it actually aired in prime-time in it's early years although it is best known for it's many years on Sunday mornings) (The moderator during this period was Martha Roundtree) (NBC)
7-Actors' Studio (no relation to the later Bravo cable network series "Inside The Actors' Studio"; this show featured short plays broadcast live) (ABC)
9:00
4-(Philco) Television Playhouse (live dramatic anthology series) (NBC)
7-Toast Of The Town (long-running variety show later re-named "The Ed Sullivan Show" in honor of it's emcee; in 1949, it would move to the 8 P.M. Eastern slot it would hold for the rest of it's run) (CBS)
10:00
4-(Boston Post) Views Of News In New England (local newscast with news photos supplied by the now-defunct Boston Post newspaper)
7-America Speaks (weekly report during the 1948 election campaign on Gallup Polls concerning candidates and issues) (CBS)
10:05
4-Tomorrow's Programs (rundown of what WBZ would air the next day, November 1st)
10:08
4-Sign-Off
(Brooks and Marsh along with Wikipedia both indicate "America Speaks" ended at 10:15; WNAC signed-off after that program)
Although there was an NFL team in Boston that year (the old Boston Yanks, who moved to New York for the 1949 season and eventually to Dallas in 1951, Baltimore in 1952, and finally to Indianapolis in 1984), their game that day was on the road in Washington and wasn't televised back to Boston; maybe a good thing as the Yanks lost 59-21 (according to Shrp Sports.com).
WNAC did televise the Yanks' home games that season. After the team left, telecasts of pro football in Boston would be spotty for the next few years, perhaps because Boston had lost it's team and wouldn't get pro football back until 1960 when the then-Boston Patriots., a charter member of the American Football League, took to the field for the first time.