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RETRO: COLUMBIA SC November 9, 1953

A

Al Timiter

NOTE: All three stations began broadcasting in 1953. WIS-TV was the last to sign (Nov 7th) but was the area's first VHF.

WIS-TV 10 NBC
WCOS-TV 25 ABC
WNOK-TV 67 CBS

9:15 Sign on and Test Pattern-67

2:00 Test Pattern-25

2:30 Matinee Theater-25

2:55 Sign on-10

3:00 Kate Smith-10

3:30 To Be Announced-25
Rob Crosby-67

4:00 Family Kitchen-10
Turn to a Friend-25
Action in the Afternoon-67

4:30 Live and Learn-10
Ern Westmore Show-25
UN in Action-67

4:50 The Living Word-10

4:55 News-Home Edition-10

5:00 Atom Squad-10
To Be Announced-25
Fitz Parade-67

5:15 Gabby Hayes-10

5:30 Howdy Doody-10
Afternoon Melodies-25
Cowboy Playhouse-67

6:00 Bar-Q-Ranch-10 (Local Children's show-w/host Mackie "Cactus" Quave
Kit Carson-25
Star Time-67

6:30 Weather Report-10
Santa's Workshop-25
News-67

6:35 Sports Spotlight-10

6:40 Weather-19

6:45 News-10
Weatherman-25
Sports-67

6:50 TV Bandstand-25

7:00 Man About Town-10
Perry's Kitchen-25
Spotlight Revue-67

7:30 TV Bandstand-25
In the Public Interest-67

7:45 John Cameron Swayze-10
Perry Como-67

8:00 The Hired Hands-10 (local country/bluegrass musicians)
Front Page Detective-25
To Be Announced-67

8:30 Howard Barlow-10
Of Many Things-25
Talent Scouts-67

9:00 Dennis Day-10
Jr. Press Conference-25
I Love Lucy-67

9:30 Robert Montgomery Presents-10
Artists and Models-25
Red Buttons-67

9:45 Yesterday's Theatre-25

10:00 The Unexpected-67

10:30 Who Said That?-10
The Big Picture

11:00 News-Weather-Sports-10
Sign Off-25

11:15 Sign Off-10


Source: The State newspaper Columbia SC November 9, 1953
 
Al Timiter said:
NOTE: All three stations began broadcasting in 1953. WIS-TV was the last to sign (Nov 7th) but was the area's first VHF.

WIS-TV 10 NBC
WCOS-TV 25 ABC
WNOK-TV 67 CBS


3:30 Rob Crosby-67

10:30 Who Said That?-10
The Big Picture
Click to expand...


"Rob Crosby" was probably Bob Crosby (Bing's Brother)..I know especially from listings this far back, there could be a lot of typos..

Also, at 10:30, was "Big Picture" on 25 or 67?
 
Yep, WIS was the first VHF, and, as they used to say, the rest was history. Even with DTV now, I'm pretty sure neither the CBS nor ABC outlets are even close to WIS at any daypart. Talk about dominance--Columbia was, and perhaps still is, a one-station market, for all intents and purposes.
 
I was just coming back to correct the 10:30 entry. The Big Picture was on 19-CBS.

Tim L: Yes, I'm betting there were a lot of typos. Also, the newspaper provided no descriptions of the programs either.

Other fun facts: WCOS-TV 25 signed on as a primary NBC affiliate and I think DUMONT was a secondary for them. WNOK-TV 67 signed on as a primary CBS affiliate with DUMONT secondary. After WIS TV 10 decimated both 25 and 67, WCOS-TV signed off in 1956 and returned in 1961 with different owners after ABC's programming improved. 67 was able to hang on, I'm guessing due to the strength of CBS.
 
You keep interchanging 19 and 67 when referring to
the CBS affiliate. CBS was on 67 in 1953.

I noticed something else that was standard practice
in listings in those days. At 8:30 on 10, it shows
"Howard Barlow." The program was "Voice Of Firestone,"
but since that program--and many others--had the sponsor's
name in the title, newspapers would use an alternate title so
as not to give free advertising. BTW, Barlow conducted the
orchestra on the program.
 
Bpatrick:
Thanks for clarifying about channel 19/67. Also, I didn't think about the "free advertising" angle regarding some sponsored program titles. That would make sense.
 
I always thought Columbia and Augusta GA were sort of co-markets, since Columbia had a VHF NBC affiliate and Augusta, only about 50 miles to the southwest, had VHF CBS and ABC affiliates. I figured in the days before most people had TVs that picked up UHF signals, the two cities shared their TV signals.

Now it turns out that two UHF stations signed on the same year as Channel 10 in Columbia. They probably just applied for their stations a few weeks or months later than WIS. By the way, WIS, WCOS and WNOK were all AM stations in Columbia that decided to get into TV. WCOS and WNOK are still highly ranked radio stations in Columbia, although now on FM. When Channel 10 and AM 560 were sold to different owners some years ago, the TV station kept the WIS call letters and AM 560 took the call letters WVOC (Voice of Columbia). WIS is one of only a handful of TV stations with only three call letters where the AM station with the same call sign has disappeared. That's why it's not WIS-TV, just WIS.

Interesting to note that WIS decided to remain on VHF Channel 10 with its DTV signal and WOLO ABC 25 moved to VHF Channel 8, no doubt hoping to get a DTV signal competitive with WIS. Now it turns out UHF signals are superior for DTV coverage and WIS's original advantage of being the only VHF in the market is no more. I'd also guess WOLO now wishes it had stayed with UHF 25 or some other UHF frequency as CBS affiliate WLTX 19 did, now using Channel 17 for its DTV signal.




Gregg
[email protected]
 
South Carolina didn't have a station of its own until 1953;
WCOS was the first station in the state. But by the end of
that year there were five stations I know of in the Palmetto
State: the three Columbia stations, WCSC/5 Charleston, and
WFBC (now WYFF)/4 Greenville. Prior to that, some viewers
as far south as Columbia could watch WBTV Charlotte, and
people in the Upstate, if they were really lucky, might pick up
WSB and/or WAGA Atlanta.

South Carolina has remained relatively free of affiliate switches;
there was the 1996 WCBD/WCIV switch in Charleston (Allbritton
owns WCIV and switched it from NBC to ABC so as to get all of
its stations on the Alphabet Network, giving NBC to WCBD), and
Anderson's Ch. 40 has been all over the place (ABC and CBS in
the '50s, '60s, and '70s; ABC again as a duplicate to WLOS in the
early '90s; Fox for a couple of years--1987-1989; the WB; and now
MyNetwork), but otherwise South Carolina has been remarkably stable:
WIS and WYFF have stayed with NBC, WNOK (WLTX), WCSC, WSPA,
and WBTW with CBS, and WOLO, WLOS, and WPDE with ABC.
 
bpatrick said:
You keep interchanging 19 and 67 when referring to
the CBS affiliate. CBS was on 67 in 1953.

I noticed something else that was standard practice
in listings in those days. At 8:30 on 10, it shows
"Howard Barlow." The program was "Voice Of Firestone,"
but since that program--and many others--had the sponsor's
name in the title, newspapers would use an alternate title so
as not to give free advertising. BTW, Barlow conducted the
orchestra on the program.
Click to expand...

Yes, I made a mistake when transcribing the grid....saying that the weather was on 19, when it should have said 67. And then I completely left off the channel number for The Big Picture. I transcribed the Program names as they appeared in The State newspaper. I am aware that WNOK-TV signed on as Channel 67. They changed to Channel 19 in 1961 if my sources are to be believed. I didn't know there would be this much interest in this.
 
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