Retro: Cleveland/Akron/Youngstown Wed, May 19, 1954

[Bluenoser]

from TV Guide-Lake Erie edition

WNBK 3-NBC Cleveland
7:00 Today
9:00 Movie "Young Recruit"
10:00 Ding Dong School (c)
10:30 One Man's Family
10:45 Three Steps to Heaven
11:00 Home
noon Bride & Groom (Detroit's Nancy G. Ayres gets hitched to Richland, WA's Donald W. Gossard)
12:15 Hawkins Falls
12:30 Betty White
1:00 Movie "Blue Scar"
2:15 Maggi Byrne
2:45 Nancy Dixon
3:00 Kate Smith (guests Al Bernie, Ted Collins, and Ezra Taft Benson (then Sec. of Agriculture, and later Mormon president from 1985-1994))
4:00 Welcome Travelers
4:30 On Your Account
5:00 Pinky Lee
5:30 Howdy Doody
6:00 Wild Bill Hickok
6:30 Sports (Tom Manning)
6:40 Weather Vein
6:45 Today's News
7:00 Story Theater
7:30 Eddie Fisher (guest June Hutton)
7:45 News Caravan
8:00 I Married Joan
8:30 My Little Margie
9:00 Kraft Television Theatre "A Touch of Summer"
10:00 This is Your Life
10:30 City Detective
11:00 News (Tom Field)
11:05 Weather (Joe Finan)
11:10 Sports (Mulvihill)
11:15 Custom Inn (Cy & Rosemary Kelly/Glenn Rowell)
11:30 Movie "Traffic in Crime"
12:45 News

WEWS 5-CBS Cleveland
7:00 Morning Show
9:00 Wings of Song
9:30 Western Reserve Telecourse
10:00 Arthur Godfrey Time
11:30 Strike It Rich
noon Valiant Lady
12:15 Love of Life
12:30 Search for Tomorrow
12:45 Guiding Light
1:00 Women's Window
1:30 Garry Moore (guests Billy Gilbert and Ivan Sanderson, Denise & Ken perform)
2:00 Double or Nothing
2:30 Art Linkletter
3:00 Big Payoff
3:30 Bob Crosby
4:00 Mixing Bowl (Van Cleve)
4:30 Robert Q. Lewis
5:00 Uncle Jake's House
5:45 News
5:50 Dinner Platter
6:30 Dorothy Fuldheim (news)
6:45 Sports Page (Graney)
6:55 Weather (Johnny Price)
7:00 Water Front
7:30 CBS News
7:45 Perry Como
8:00 Godfrey & Friends
9:00 Liberace
9:30 I've Got a Secret
10:00 Boxing (from the Detroit Olympia, a 10-round welterweight bout between Jed Black (28-1-1, 15 KO) and Carmine Fiore (46-15-5, 18 KO))
10:45 Sports Spot
11:00 Ten-o-Two Ranch
mid. News

WXEL 8-ABC/DuMont Cleveland
8:55 Preview Corner
9:00 Breakfast Club
10:00 Maggie Wulff
10:30 Charming Children (Marjorie Harm)
11:00 Alice Weston
11:30 Rena & Bob
noon Treasure Party
1:00 Brighter Day
1:15 Portia Faces Life
1:30 Movie "Shadow of Terror"
2:55 You are What You Eat
3:00 All for You
3:15 Joe Portaro
3:30 Paul Dixon
4:00 Woman with a Past
4:15 Secret Storm
4:30 King Jack's Toy Box
5:00 Movie "Land of the Outlaws"
6:15 Sports (Bob Neal)
6:30 Weather (Dr. Annear)
6:40 Cleveland Today
6:45 Home with the Grahams
7:00 Captain Video
7:15 News Parade (Lang/Dudley)
7:30 Mark Saber "The Case of the Hidden Clue"
8:00 TBA
8:30 Spello (Bob Neal)
9:00 Strike It Rich
9:30 Rocky King
10:00 Rainbow Wrestling (from Chicago)
10:30 Better Living Theater "From Every Mountainside"
11:00 News (Sohio Reporter, Warren Guthrie)
11:10 Ted Malone
11:15 Sports (John FitzGerald)
11:20 Movie "Sunbonnet Sue"

WKBN 27-CBS/ABC/DuMont Youngstown
7:00 Morning Show
9:00 Breakfast Club
10:00 Movie "Man's Best Friend"
11:30 Strike It Rich
noon News
12:15 Love of Life
12:30 Search for Tomorrow
12:45 Guiding Light
1:00 Brighter Day
1:15 Home Cooking (Resch)
1:45 Garry Moore
2:00 Movie "Lady Raffles"
3:00 Big Payoff
3:30 Bob Crosby
3:45 Movie Miniature
4:00 Woman with a Past
4:15 Secret Storm
4:30 Robert Q. Lewis
4:45 Grizzly Pete (premiere)
5:00 Barker Bill
5:15 Grizzly Pete
6:00 Superman
6:30 News Today
6:40 News at Home
6:45 Sports (Don Gardner)
6:55 Weather Report
7:00 Captain Video
7:15 Rambling Reporter (Stu Wilson)
7:30 CBS News
7:45 Perry Como
8:00 Godfrey & Friends
9:00 Strike It Rich
9:30 I've Got a Secret
10:00 Boxing: Black-Fiore
10:45 Sports (Don Gardner)
11:00 Sohio Reporter
11:10 News (Sid Davis)
11:15 Wrestling
mid. News

WAKR 49-ABC Akron
The station aired the Army-McCarthy hearings at 10:30am and 2:30pm, according to Lake Erie Dateline
5pm Hinky Dinks
5:30 Summer Matinee
6:00 News
6:10 Social Whirl
6:15 Humbard Family
6:30 Sports (Bob Wylie)
6:45 Custom Ranch (Wodell)
6:55 Weather Report
7:00 News (Jack Fitzgibbons)
7:10 Scores
7:15 ABC News
7:30 Chef Lorenzo
7:45 Trophy Room
8:00 Movie: TBA
9:00 Johnnie Dixon
9:30 Wrestling
11:00 News (Bill Murphy)
11:10 Sports (Bob Wylie)
11:15 Wrestling

WFMJ 73-NBC Youngstown (the station would move to 21 on August 7th)
7:00 Today
9:00 Movie "I Stand Accused"
10:00 Ding Dong School (c)
10:30 One Man's Family
10:45 Three Steps to Heaven
11:00 Home
noon Bride & Groom
12:15 Hawkins Falls
12:30 Betty White
1:00 News
1:15 Hal's a Poppin' (Hal Fryer; from the Century Foods Exposition)
2:00 Kitchen Corner (Marjorie Mariner, also from the CFE)
3:00 Kate Smith
4:00 Welcome Travelers
4:30 On Your Account
5:00 Susie Sidesaddle
6:00 News
6:15 Sports (Eddie Lane)
6:25 Weather
6:30 Kit Carson
7:00 Tee-Off Time
7:15 Main Street Youngstown
7:30 Eddie Fisher
7:45 News Caravan
8:00 I Married Joan
8:30 My Little Margie
9:00 Kraft Television Theatre "A Touch of Summer"
10:00 This is Your Life
10:30 Vacation Show (premiere)
mid. News

 

[Tim L]

Several notes:

"Mulvihill" was Joe Mulvihill, who also did programs for WTAM-1100 and the early days of KYW Radio..

"At Home With The Grahams" on WXEL featured Then-Cleveland Browns QB Otto Graham and his family..

John FitzGerald remained with WXEL/WJW-TV well into the 1980's

Trophy Room on WAKR-TV was hosted by Eddie Elias, who would become a founder of the Professional Bowlers Association in Akron in the early 1960's.

Hal Fryar would end up in Indianapolis by 1960 and spend many years as Kid Host Harlow Hickenlooper at WFBM-6

The Betty White Show on NBC was a Variety Show

The Cover on this particular TV Guide was Frank Sinatra..One of several "reprint" TV Guides to make the rounds in recent years..

 

[Corky Marlowe]

The Betty White Show on NBC was a Variety Show

I kinda remember her...Is she still around?

 

[Ultimajock]

WAKR 49-ABC Akron
The station aired the Army-McCarthy hearings at 10:30am and 2:30pm, according to Lake Erie Dateline
5pm Hinky Dinks
9:30 Wrestling
11:00 News (Bill Murphy)
11:10 Sports (Bob Wylie)
11:15 Wrestling

...hmmm. Would the Army-McCarthy coverage have been a live feed from ABC, or perhaps day-or-two-old kinescopes? And I assume, since the dateline indicated two different times, that WAKR signed off the air between the end of the midday session and the beginning of the afternoon session, providing they *were* live and not simply the same film run twice in the day. And also the end of the afternoon session and the start time of Hinky Dinks...

...also interested that there was a 90-minute wrestling program, interrupted for a 15-minute news block, and then another wrestling show. There were certainly enough filmed wrestling shows from around the country in '54 to fill those time slots thrice over, so I'm curious as to what originating locales they would be from...

 

[Tim L]

WAKR 49-ABC Akron
The station aired the Army-McCarthy hearings at 10:30am and 2:30pm, according to Lake Erie Dateline
5pm Hinky Dinks
9:30 Wrestling
11:00 News (Bill Murphy)
11:10 Sports (Bob Wylie)
11:15 Wrestling

...hmmm. Would the Army-McCarthy coverage have been a live feed from ABC, or perhaps day-or-two-old kinescopes? And I assume, since the dateline indicated two different times, that WAKR signed off the air between the end of the midday session and the beginning of the afternoon session, providing they *were* live and not simply the same film run twice in the day. And also the end of the afternoon session and the start time of Hinky Dinks...

...also interested that there was a 90-minute wrestling program, interrupted for a 15-minute news block, and then another wrestling show. There were certainly enough filmed wrestling shows from around the country in '54 to fill those time slots thrice over, so I'm curious as to what originating locales they would be from...

About the Hearings:
All Ive ever heard is that they were live..WAKR could have aired Cartoons or a film short or two In between the hearings..  I believe without the hearings, the station's normal sign-on was 5PM.  The wrestling could have been from ABC at 9:30 and either Akron or Cleveland at 11:15

 

[FreddyE1977]

from TV Guide-Lake Erie edition


WKBN 27-CBS/ABC/DuMont Youngstown

4:00 Woman with a Past

Seems like awful racy fare for 1954!

I presume the short-lived Channel 45 in New Castle, PA had gone away by this point?

 

[Tim L]

from TV Guide-Lake Erie edition


WKBN 27-CBS/ABC/DuMont Youngstown

4:00 Woman with a Past

Seems like awful racy fare for 1954!

I presume the short-lived Channel 45 in New Castle, PA had gone away by this point?

Actually, the Channel 45 allocation had more lives that a cat, seemingly..

April 1953-January 15, 1955-WKST carried ABC and at least Captain Video from DuMont..Here's a sample schedule from December 20, 1954:

3PM Test Pattern
6:15 (Mahoning) Valley Reporter
6:30 Komedy Kapers
6:45 Santa Claus
7PM Captain Video
7:15 John Daly ABC News
7:30 45 Scrapbook
8:30 Voice Of Firestone
9PM Monday Marquee (Local Movie slot)
10PM Monday Night Fights
10:45 Neutral Corner
11PM News
11:15 Sign-off

45 returned as WKST once again November 1957, again licensed to New Castle and an ABC affiliate. In 1959 WKST was relicensed to Youngstown and moved down the Dial to channel 33..Call letters were changed to the current WYTV September 15, 1963..

Channel 45 came back again under new ownership as WXTV in 1960-62 as a Youngstown Independent..It showed some promise early on but fell back on multiple showings of the same movies, very cheap syndicated fare and even cheaper looking local shows and bit the dust by March 1962.

Channel 45 returned as WNEO-PBS licensed to Alliance, Ohio with Transmitter/antenna located between Salem and Alliance, nominally a Youngstown-Akron PBS with WEAO-49(Former WAKR-TV), acquired in 1975..45/49 are together now known as Western Reserve PBS..

 

[BRNout]

The Betty White Show on NBC was a Variety Show

I kinda remember her...Is she still around?

LOL!! You're kidding, right?

 

[Tim L]

The Betty White Show on NBC was a Variety Show

I kinda remember her...Is she still around?

LOL!! You're kidding, right?

I am sure that was well placed sarcasm..

 

[FreddyE1977]

Channel 45 came back again under new ownership as WXTV in 1960-62 as a Youngstown Independent..It showed some promise early on but fell back on multiple showings of the same movies, very cheap syndicated fare and even cheaper looking local shows and bit the dust by March 1962.

Sounds just like WFAT-TV 19 out of Johnstown, PA in the mid-1980's.

 

[wbhist]

Channel 45 came back again under new ownership as WXTV in 1960-62 as a Youngstown Independent..It showed some promise early on but fell back on multiple showings of the same movies, very cheap syndicated fare and even cheaper looking local shows and bit the dust by March 1962.

While the WXTV calls would be snapped up by a Spanish-language station on UHF Channel 41 in Paterson, NJ, that signed on the air on Aug. 4, 1968 and is today a key Univision affiliate.

 

[Ultimajock]

WAKR 49-ABC Akron
The station aired the Army-McCarthy hearings at 10:30am and 2:30pm, according to Lake Erie Dateline
5pm Hinky Dinks

...hmmm. Would the Army-McCarthy coverage have been a live feed from ABC, or perhaps day-or-two-old kinescopes? And I assume, since the dateline indicated two different times, that WAKR signed off the air between the end of the midday session and the beginning of the afternoon session, providing they *were* live and not simply the same film run twice in the day. And also the end of the afternoon session and the start time of Hinky Dinks...

About the Hearings:
All Ive ever heard is that they were live..WAKR could have aired Cartoons or a film short or two In between the hearings.. I believe without the hearings, the station's normal sign-on was 5PM.

...okeh, fair enough. Although we do know that either ABC or DuMont (or both) did make kinnies of the hearings, as those kinnies were the source of the material from which Emile de Antonio cobbled together his 1964 documentary Point of Order...

 

[Ultimajock]

...just checked, and at the Museum of Broadcast Communications (a.k.a. Bruce DuMont's basement) website, http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=army-mccarthy, they claim that all four networks were originally set to take a live feed from ABC's affiliate in Washington, WMAL-TV/7, but CBS decided at the last minute not to give up the advertising money they'd lose by cancelling the soap operas and daytime domestic chat shows, so they merely took ABC's kinescopes and edited them down for a nightly Nightline-like capsule special. Then, after two days of ridiculously tedious coverage, NBC decided to follow suit, taking ABC's kinnies and editing them down for their nightly capsules. Thus, both DuMont and ABC aired the live feed, and ABC made duplicate kinescopes for its own affiliates and library, CBS and NBC. DuMont was probably so cash-poor by this time that I suspect they were mainly limiting their kinescope activity for Bishop Sheen's program Life is Worth Living (was that one commercially sponsored?) and their commercially sponsored, non-sustaining programs...