Retro; New York City, Christmas Day (Thursday, December 25), 1947

[Bob1370]

Source; New York Times

WCBS-TV ch. 2 (CBS O&O)

No Morning Or Afternoon Programming on Ch. 2

Evening
7:30-Christmas Carol
7:40-Short Film; Santa and the Little Angel
8:00-Channel 2 News with Douglas Edwards
8:15-Merry Christmasland Exposition, from Grand Central Palace
8:45-Basketball from Madison Square Garden; New York Knicks vs. Providence Steamroller (NY wins 97-75; this was the first Christmas Day game in American professional basketball history)

WNBT Ch. 4 (NBC O&O, now WNBC)

No Morning Programming on Ch. 4

Afternoon
3:00-Christmas Program at St. Alban's Hospital

Evening
7:50-News with John Cameron Swayze
8:00-Christmas Play
8:30-Television News
8:40-Musical Merry-Go-Round
9:00-You Are An Artist with Jon Gnagy (instruction)
9:10-Motion Picture Trailer
9:15-Choir
9:25-Feature Film; The Second Chorus (Musical, 1940), with Fred Astaire and Paulette Goddard

WABD Ch. 5 (DuMont O&O, now WNYW-Fox O&O)

Morning
11:00-Christmas Service from National Cathedral, Washington, DC

Afternoon
4:00-Christmas Show from Walter Reed Army Hoospital, Washington, DC
5:00-Film; A Christmas Carol (1938); Reginald Owen, Gene Lockhart
6:45-Walter Compton News
7:00-Small Fry Club with Bob Emery (children)
7:30-Birthday Party (Children)
8:00-Champagne and Orchids, with Adrienne (Music)
8:15-American Home (film)
8:30-Charade Quiz with Bill Slater

 

[oburn]

does anyone know what stations were carring these programs in other cities

 

[KeithE4]

does anyone know what stations were carring these programs in other cities

The live Dumont network at the end of 1947 was WABD/5 New York, WTTG/5 Washington, WFIL-TV/6 Philly, and maybe WRGB/4 Schenectady (they ran Dumont shows as well as NBC, but I don't know if they had a live connection to WABD). Small Fry Club, Birthday Party, and Charade Quiz were the normal Thursday night Dumont network shows. The Christmas shows had to have been produced by WTTG.

The live NBC network consisted of WNBT/4 New York, WRGB/4 Schenectady, WPTZ/3 Philadelphia, & WRC-TV/4 Washington. The 7:50 news, You Are An Artist, and Musical Merry-go-Round were NBC network shows in 1947. IIRC, WBKB/4 Chicago carried some NBC shows, but of course they couldn't do it live.

Other stations, like WWJ-TV/4 Detroit and WEWS-TV/5 Cleveland, were affiliated with both networks - at least via kinescope, but there was no live connection to the midwest until Dumont's WDTV/3 Pittsburgh signed on in 1949.

CBS didn't have a TV network in 1947. All shows were local to WCBS-TV.

 

[bpatrick]

And leave us not forget what happened on Channel 4 two days
later: the premiere of what would become "Howdy Doody." From
what I've read there was some doubt for hours as to whether the
show would get on the air; sixteen inches of snow blanketed New
York. But get on it did, and it would last (in its original version)
until 1960.

 

[FreddyE1977]

Source; New York Times

WCBS-TV ch. 2 (CBS O&O)


8:45-Basketball from Madison Square Garden; New York Knicks vs. Providence Steamroller (NY wins 97-75; this was the first Christmas Day game in American professional basketball history)

And they've been beating us over the head with them ever since.

Here we go, Steamroller, Here we go!

 

[oburn]

wmar tv baltimore carried dumont in 1947 wmal tv and wmar tv carried cbs tv in 1947 wrgb tv carried cbs tv dumont tv one network monday and one network tuesday besides nbc i believe wfil tv also carried cbs tv in 1947 wptz tv carried dumont in 1946

 

[Bob1370]

Most reference books, including the Tim Brooks/Earle Marsh prime time TV history, indicate that nothing produced by CBS aired outside of the NYC market until the spring of 1948. The show "Tonight on Broadway", the first program distributed by CBS to other affiliate stations, premiered April 6 of 1948.

ABC's first network series, Hollywood Screen Test, made its debut over a three station network on May 10, 1948. At the start it was fed to Washington and Baltimore from WFIL-TV in Philadelphia because ABC's own fleet of O&O stations wouldn't sign on acrosss the country until the late summer and fall of 1948.