• 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

Retro: New England Monday May 30, 1955

Back at the end of August I posted listings for New England from January 1955 (http://radiodiscussions.com/smf/index.php?topic=218409.0). These listings are from almost 6 months later. All 3 Portland area stations are listed but WTAO, while still on the air, is not listed. Two stations had come on in the spring - WGBH 2 in Boston and WPRO 12 Providence. Providence now had 2 stations and all CBS programming has left WJAR.

Source: TV Guide New England Edition

2 – WGBH Boston (Educational)
06:00p Images – Fine Arts
06:30p News
07:15p Shakespeare on TV – “Romeo and Juliet”; 2nd of 3 lectures by Prof. Frank Baxter
08:00p Roads to Bach

4 – WBZ Boston (NBC)
06:45a News – Jack Chase
07:00a Today – Memorial Day salute; presentation made to newscaster Frank Blair
09:00a Swan Boat – variety
10:00a Ding Dong School
10:30a Way of the World
10:45a Sheliah Graham – guest-of-the-week is Jimmy Cagney via film
11:00a Home – interview with Ezio Pinza
12:00p News and Weather
12:15p Big Brother – Bob Emery
01:00p Royal Playhouse – drama
01:30p Baseball – Boston Red Sox vs. Baltimore Orioles (1st game of a double header)
04:00p At Four on 4 – drama
04:30p Mr. Sweeney
04:45p Modern Romances
05:00p Pinky Lee – variety
05:30p Howdy Doody
06:00p The Rascals – comedy (Little Rascals?)
06:30p News
06:45p Annie Oakley – western
07:15p News – Arch MacDonald
07:30p Tony Martin – songs
07:45p NBC News – John Cameron Swayze
08:00p Producer’s Showcase “The Petrified Forest” with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall (color)
09:30p Robert Montgomery Presents “Now or Never”
10:30p Foreign Intrigue “Reluctant Killer”
11:00p News
11:10p People are Funny – quiz
11:40p Tonight – Steve Allen
01:00a News

6 – WCSH Portland (NBC)
07:00a Today – Memorial Day salute; presentation made to newscaster Frank Blair
09:00a Movie – to be announce
10:30a Your Kitchen – women (tips on easier homemaking)
11:00a Home – interview with Ezio Pinza
12:00p Down East – variety
12:30p Feather Your Nest – the prize is a kitchen
01:00p Your Home and You
01:30p Movie – to be announced
02:30p TV Classified
03:00p Ted Mack
03:30p Greatest Gift
04:00p Homemaking – Gibbs
04:30p Mr. Sweeney
04:45p Modern Romances
05:00p Pinky Lee – variety
05:30p Howdy Doody
06:00p Superman
06:30p News
07:00p Youth Cavalcade
07:30p Tony Martin – songs
07:45p NBC News – John Cameron Swayze
08:00p Producer’s Showcase “The Petrified Forest” with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall (no colorcast for channel 6)
09:30p Robert Montgomery Presents “Now or Never”
10:30p It’s a Great Life “The Inheritance”
11:00p News
11:15p Roller Derby
11:45p The Passerby – drama

7 – WNAC Boston (ABC/CBS/DuMont)
07:00a Morning Show – Jack Paar
09:00a Star Time – Drama “The Shattered Dream”
09:30a Mr. & Mrs. North “Terror”
09:45a Road of Life – serial
10:00a Garry Moore
10:30a Arthur Godfrey – variety
11:30a Strike It Rich
12:00p Valiant Lady – serial
12:15p Love of Life – serial
12:30p Search for Tomorrow
12:45p Guiding Light
01:00p Dear Homemaker – Women
01:30p Welcome Travelers
02:00p Robert Q. Lewis
02:30p Art Linkletter
03:00p Big Payoff – quiz
03:30p Bob Crosby – music
04:00p Brighter Day – serial
04:15p Secret Storm
04:30p On Your Account
05:00p Matinee Time “The People’s Choice”
05:30p Flash Gordon “At the Earth’s Core”
06:00p Gene Autry
06:30p Big Town – drama “Hostage of the Law”
07:00p I Led Three Lives “Comrade Herb”
07:30p CBS News – Douglas Edwards
07:45p Perry Como – songs
08:00p Burns and Allen
08:30p Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts
09:00p I Love Lucy “The Tour”
09:30p December Bride “The Sentimentalist”
10:00p Studio One “Operation Home”
11:00p News
11:05p Damon Runyon Theater
11:35p Stars in the Night “Radiology Story”
12:05a Stars in the Night “The Next to Crash” (with Milburn Stone before he became famous as Doc in “Gunsmoke”)

8 – WNHC New Haven (ABC/CBS/DuMont/NBC)
09:00a The Yankee Peddlers – chatter
10:00a Holiday Parade
10:30a Way of the World
10:45a Sheilah Graham
11:00a Window Shopper – women; Loys Malgren discusses “best buys”
11:30a Strike It Rich
12:00p Tennessee Ernie Ford
12:15p Love of Life
12:30p Search for Tomorrow
12:45p Electric Show – variety
01:30p Welcome Travelers
02:00p Robert Q. Lewis
02:30p Guiding Light
02:45p News – Joe Burns
03:00p Big Payoff
03:30p Greatest Gift
03:45p Miss Marlowe
04:00p Hawkins Falls – serial
04:15p Secret Storm
04:30p Meet The Stars
05:00p Outdoor Adventure Club
05:30p Howdy Doody
06:00p Stage 8 – film drama
06:30p Sports, Weather
06:45p News – McNamara
07:00p Mr. District Attorney
07:30p Tony Martin
07:45p NBC News – John Cameron Swayze
08:00p Producer’s Showcase “The Petrified Forest” with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall (color)
09:30p December Bride “The Sentimentalist”
10:00p Studio One “Operation Home”
11:00p Douglas Fairbanks
11:30p Mystery Theater
12:00a Movie “Iron Crown”
01:00a News

8 – WMTW Poland Springs (ABC/CBS/DuMont)
02:30p What’s New, Girls?
03:00p Cooking Can Be Fun
03:30p News
03:35p Movie “Poet’s Pub” part 1
04:15p Secret Storm
04:30p Rhythm Ranch
04:45p Lost Jungle – serial
05:00p Vanishing Legion – serial
05:15p Mystery Mountain – serial
05:30p Mountain Playhouse
06:00p News and Weather
06:15p Movie “Love Story” 1947 part 1
07:15p ABC News – John Daly
07:30p The Name’s The Same
08:00p Burns and Allen
08:30p Concert – guest soloists are soprano Nadine Conner and tenor Brian Sullivan
09:00p I Love Lucy “The Tour”
09:30p Star and the Story “Payment in Kind”
10:00p To be announced
10:45p To be announced
11:00p News

9 – WMUR Manchester (ABC/DuMont)
01:15p Movie “Foreign Correspondent”
02:00p Holiday Parade
02:30p Jigsaw Quiz – prizes
03:30p Film short
04:00p Farm & Home Digest
04:30p Cartoon Time
05:00p Donn Tibbetts – variety
05:45p Guest House – Kearney
06:40p Sports and News
07:00p Kukla, Fran and Ollie
07:15p ABC News – John Daly
07:30p Kit Carson – western
08:00p Meet Corliss Archer
08:30p Concert – guest soloists are soprano Nadine Conner and tenor Brian Sullivan
09:00p Pee Wee King – variety
10:30p My Hero – comedy (Bob Cumming’s 1st show)
11:00p News

10 – WJAR Providence (ABC/DuMont/NBC)
06:50a Jobs for You
06:55a New England Farm Report
07:00a Today
09:00a Breakfast at the Sheraton (Audience participation with Nancy Dixon and Johnny King as co-hosts)
10:00a Ding Dong School
10:30a Way of the World
11:00a Home
12:00p Tennessee Ernie Ford
12:15p Circus Time – kids
12:30p Let’s Go Shopping
12:45p Catholic Chapel
01:00p Movie “Captain Tugboat Annie”
03:00p Ted Mack
03:30p Greatest Gift
04:00p Miss Marlowe
04:15p First Love – serial
04:30p Mr. Sweeney
04:45p Modern Romance
05:00p Children’s Theater – puppets
05:30p Howdy Doody
06:00p Superman
06:30p Secret File
07:00p Your News Reporter
07:15p TV Sports Page
07:30p Madison Sq. Garden
07:45p NBC News – John Cameron Swayze
08:00p Producer’s Showcase “The Petrified Forest” with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall (color)
09:30p Robert Montgomery Presents “Now or Never”
10:30p Mr. District Attorney
11:00p News
11:15p Sports Final
11:20p Playhouse – drama

12 – WPRO Providence (CBS)
09:00a Cartoon Playhouse
09:30a Robert Q. Lewis
10:30a Arthur Godfrey
11:30a Strike it Rich
12:00p Valiant Lady – serial
12:15p Love of Life – serial
12:30p Search for Tomorrow
12:45p Guiding Light
01:00p For the Ladies
01:15p Road of Life – serial
01:30p Welcome Travelers
02:00p Playhouse – drama “My Other Love”
02:30p Art Linkletter
03:00p Big Payoff – quiz
03:30p Bob Crosby – music
04:00p Brighter Day – serial
04:15p Secret Storm
04:30p On Your Account
05:00p Cartoon Carnival
05:30p What in the World?
06:00p The Rascals – comedy
06:30p Playhouse – Drama “The Real Thing”
07:00p Film Short
07:15p Golf – John Mahoney
07:30p CBS News – Douglas Edwards
07:45p Perry Como
08:00p Burns and Allen
08:30p Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts
09:00p I Love Lucy “The Tour”
09:30p December Bride “The Sentimentalist”
10:00p Studio One “Operation Home”
11:00p Man Behind the Badge

13 – WGAN Portland (ABC/CBS)
12:00p News and Weather
12:15p Love of Life – serial
12:30p Search for Tomorrow
12:45p Guiding Light
01:00p The Inner Flame – serial
01:15p Road of Life – serial
01:30p Welcome Travelers
02:00p Robert Q. Lewis
02:30p Paints and Painters
02:45p Little Theater
03:00p Movie Quick Quiz – prizes
03:15p Garry Moore
03:30p Bob Crosby – music
04:00p Brighter Day – serial
04:15p Secret Storm
04:30p On Your Account
05:00p Western Playhouse
05:15p Movie – western
06:00p Dinner Date
06:15p News, Weather, Sports
06:45p Maine Politics – panel
07:00p Penny to a Million
07:30p CBS News – Douglas Edwards
07:45p Perry Como
08:00p Burns and Allen
08:30p no show listed – most likely Talent Scouts based on CBS shows the rest of the evening
09:00p I Love Lucy “The Tour”
09:30p December Bride “The Sentimentalist”
10:00p Studio One “Operation Home”
11:00p News

18 – WGTH Hartford (ABC/DuMont)
04:55p News
05:00p Movie – western
06:00p News and Weather
06:15p Movie “Breaking the Ice”
07:00p Movie – to be announced
07:15p ABC News – John Daly
07:30p The Name’s The Same
08:00p TV Reader’s Digest “The Anatomy of Graft”
08:30p Concert – guest soloists are soprano Nadine Conner and tenor Brian Sullivan
09:00p Pee Wee King – variety
10:30p To be announced
11:00p News
11:10p Heart of the City

30 – WKNB Hartford (ABC/CBS)
07:00a Morning Show – Jack Paar
09:00a World Around Us
10:00a Garry Moore
10:15a Film Shorts
10:30a Movie “Meet Me at Dawn”
12:00p Valiant Lady
12:15p no program listed despite Valiant Lady being 15 minutes
12:30p Magic Carpet – travel
01:00p Little Playhouse
01:30p TV Kitchen – women
02:00p News and Weather
02:30p Art Linkletter
02:45p Homemaking Adventures
03:30p Bob Crosby
04:00p Club 30 – variety
04:30p Wolf Dog – serial
04:45p Petey’s Adventures – serial
05:00p Movie – westerns
06:00p News and Weather
06:15p Movie “One Frightened Night”
07:25p Weather – Cavell Jobert
07:30p CBS News – Douglas Edwards
07:45p Perry Como
08:00p Liberace – music
08:30p Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts
09:00p China Smith – drama
09:30p Stage S – “Counterplot”
10:00p Movie “Charlie Chan in Rio”
11:00p News
11:05p Movie “Lady Behave”

55 – WHYN Springfield (CBS/DuMont)
12:45p Movie – to be announced
02:00p Robert Q. Lewis
02:30p Matinee – Bill Martin
03:00p Movie – to be announced
04:30p Fred’s Corner – variety
04:45p Out West with Bill
05:45p The Rascals – comedy
06:15p Movie – to be announced
07:30p CBS News – Douglas Edwards
07:45p Perry Como
08:00p Burns and Allen
08:30p Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts
09:00p TV Theater “Cardboard Casanova” starring Ricardo Montalban
09:30p December Bride “The Sentimentalist”
10:00p Studio One “Operation Home”
11:00p News

61 – WWLP Springfield (ABC/NBC)
09:00a Movie “Hot Rhythm”
10:30a Film Short
10:45a Sheilah Graham
11:00a Home
12:00p Tennessee Ernie Ford
12:30p Feather Your Nest – quiz
01:00p Movie “Father Makes Good”
02:00p Marilou Weston – variety
03:00p Movie “Music Man”
04:30p Mr. Sweeney
04:45p Modern Romance
05:00p Uncle Ed’s Fun Club
05:30p Howdy Doody
06:00p Hopalong Cassidy
06:30p News
07:00p Weather – John Quill
07:05p Little Show – Don Pirnie
07:15p Highlights – Colton
07:30p Film Short
07:45p NBC News – John Cameron Swayze
08:00p no program listed – most likely Producer’s Showcase due to NBC programming from 9:30p-11p
09:30p Robert Montgomery Presents “Now or Never”
10:30p Foreign Intrigue “Reluctant Killer”
11:00p News
11:05p Sports Review
11:15p Movie Museum
11:30p Tonight – Steve Allen
 
The May 30th, 1955 Boston Globe did list the programming broadcast that day by WTAO-56, and this is the schedule:

1:15 P.M.-Sign-On/Film Short
1:30 P.M.-Horse Racing From Suffolk Downs
(it is possible that this event ran all the way until 5 P.M.; if it didn't, WTAO signed-off until 5 P.M., when programs resumed as follows:)
5:00 P.M.-The Christophers (religious program)
5:30 P.M.-Feature Theatre (a movie whose title was not listed)
7:00 P.M.-Encore Show (maybe a repeat of a half-hour film drama)
7:30 P.M.-Movie: "Letter From A Pilot" (I could not find a feature film by that title on IMDB.com)
8:30 P.M.-Movie: "Out Of The Blue" (according to IMDB.com, there were two movies with that title that could have been shown in this slot: A British film made in 1931 and an American film produced in 1947. Given that WTAO was likely being run on a shoestring, I think it was the former; it would likely have cost WTAO less to get the rights to show that version)
10:00 P.M.-Boxing Bout-10 Round Middleweight bout between Gene Poirier and Miguel Diaz (at the time, the DuMont network was broadcasting Monday-night boxing from St. Nicholas Arena in New York; according to Brooks and Marsh, a young Chris Schnekel did the play-by-play. Although most DuMont programming had ended on April 1st, the boxing show would continue on the network until August 8th, 1956, and locally on WABD/WNEW-5 New York for a couple of more years after that. The August 8th, 1956 edition was DuMont's last network program)
11:00 P.M. (approximate)-Sign-Off
 
It would be interesting to see listings for Boston during October 1954.

MA apparently remained on DST (EDT) until October 31 in 1954 (New Hampshire
also did--until 10/27/54). All other areas returned to standard time at the end
of September in '54.

Source: Time Changes In The USA by Doris Chase Doane.
 
mysticnitekatt said:
So at this point, what was DuMONT offering to the affiliates?

Not much..As of May 20 1955, Captain Video, Fulton Sheen, Game Show Down You Go and Plainclothesmen and Rocky King had all been canceled (The Detective shows in 1954)..At the Cleveland WXEL/WEWS switchover (WEWS to ABC, WXEL to CBS) in March 1955, Captain Video and The Boxing were the only DuMont Shows Channel 5 carried..
 
Oldiesfan6479:

The information on vintage Boston Globe TV listings comes from a "Historical Newspapers" feature on Pro Quest.

Although I access the information from Pro Quest at my library through their "catalog and databases" computers and send the pages to my E-Mail box, you can go to http://www.proquest.com/en-US/ and try your luck at accessing them.

While I don't have any October, 1954 Boston TV listings in front of me, I do seem to recall that most network programs here in Boston aired an hour later than usual, and that late local news on WBZ-4 and WNAC-7 came on until 12 Midnight instead of 11 P.M.
 
Interesting to see that "I Love Lucy", the #1 show at the time, wasn't cleared in pattern in either Hartford or Springfield. Was it shifted to another time slot in those markets or not cleared at all?

Also intriguing to see "Lucy" and "Burns and Allen" cleared on TWO stations in Portland. I know WMTW had a killer signal at the time due to its transmitter location on Mt. Washington. IIRC, it had a significant audience up in the Montreal area. Wonder if that had something to do with it.
 
WTIC ran a movie on Monday night into the 70s. They cleared most of the preempted shows on Sunday afternoons. I'll post a Sunday schedule sometime this week.
 
I should clarify (that's what I get for replying too quickly) - WTIC didn't come on until 1957, but did preempt Monday night programming for a movie. CBS had to buy WHCT channel 18 to get any clearance.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom