Retro: New York City, February 1, 1949 (repost--complete listing)

[Bob1370]

Source; New York Times

Repost with complete day's programming, to supplant earlier post aborted by technical trouble

Stations; 2-WCBS-TV (CBS)
4-WNBT (NBC)
5-WABD (DuMont)
7-WJZ-TV (ABC)
11-WPIX (Ind.)
13-WATV (Ind.)

MORNING
7:00-WABD-News; Time; Weather
7:15-WABD-Health Talk; Interviews
7:45-WABD-Your School Reporter
8:00-WABD-News; Time; Weather
8:30-WABD-KIndergarten-Pat Meikle
9:00-WABD-Time; Morning Chapel
9:30-WABD-Time; Television Shopper
10:00-WABD-Margaret Johnson, Songs
10:15-WABD-Camera Headlines (news)
10:30-WABD-Rumpus Room with Johnny Olson
11:00-WABD-Stan Shaw

AFTERNOON

12: 00-WABD-Amanda, Interviews
WJZ-TV-News (Hourly to 6)
12:30-WCBS-TV-Music; Weather; Films
WABD-Ted Steele. Piano
1:00-WCBS-TV-Warren Hull Show
WABD-Okay, Mother; Dennis James
1:30-WCBS-TV-Vanity Fair; Dorothy Doan, Gil Fates, from March of Dimes Fashion Show, Waldorf Astoria
WABD-News; Music
2:30-WNBT-Bess Johnson Club
WABD-Wendy Barrie Show
3:00-WNBT-Gordon B. Halstead Program
WABD-The Needle Shop with Alice Burrows
3:15-WNBT-The Three Flames (music)
WABD-Vincent Lopez
3:30-WNBT-We're On with Yul Brynner and Virginia Gilmore; Jose Ferrer, guest
WABD-TIme: Weather
3:45-WABD-Spare Room
4:00-WNBT-Figure Magic with Claire Mann
WABD-And Everything Nice with Maxine Barrat
4:15-WABD-Fred Fassler. Violin
4:30-WNBT-Marie Cimino, Storyteller
WABD-Women's Club with Irene Murphy
WPIX-Music
5:00-WNBT-To Be Announced
WABD-Ted Steele Show
WPIX-Comics on Parade with Danny Webb
5:15-WABD-Time and Weather
WPIX-Pixie Playtime
5:30-WNBT-Howdy Doody with Buffalo Bob Smith
WABD-Time; Weather
5:45-WABD-Children's Records
WPIX-Magic Books

EVENING

6:00-WNBT-Easy Does It:. Adele Girard and Johnny Andrews
WABD-Small Fry Club with Bob Emery
WPIX-News: Six-Gun Playhouse
6:15-WCBS-TV-Music, Weather
WNBT-Weather-Tex Antoine
6:30-WCBS-TV-Lucky Pup (children)
WNBT-Nature of Things with Ivan Sanderson
WABD-Camera Headlines (news)
6:45-WCBS-TV-Bob Howard Show
WABD-Russ Hodges Scoreboard
7:00-WCBS-TV-Your Sports Special. With Caswell Adams and Dolly Stark
WNBT-Kukla, Fran and 011ie Show
WABD-Swing Into Sports. With Johnny Farrell
WJZ-TV-News, Gordon Frazer
WPIX-News: Child Care-Dr. James F. Bender
7:15-WCBS-TV-Film Shorts
WJZ-TV-Harlem Jam Session
7:20-WPIX-Shirley Spencer, Handwriting Analyst
7:30-WCBS-TV-Douglas Edwards, CBS News
WNBT-You Are an Artist-Jon Gnagy
WABD-Manhattan Spotlight With Charles Tranum; Guest, Alex Dobkin
WJZ-TV-The Fashion Story, With Marilyn Day
WPIX-Newsreel
7:40-WPIX-Sports. Guy LeBow
7:45-WCBS-TV-Make Mine Music: Carole Coleman. Bill Skipper, Tony Mottola Trio
WABD-Alan Dale Show, With Janie Ford
7:50-WNBT-Newsreel Theatre with John Cameron Swayze
8:00-WCBS-TV-Fictional Jury Trial:" Cross-Question"
WNBT-Texaco Star Theatre with Milton Berle: Jack Carter, Beatrice Lillie, Others
WABD-Film Shorts
WJZ-TV-Film: Power by Which We Live
WPIX-Drama: Obscure Destination. by New York University Television
8:30-WJZ-TV-America's Town Meeting
WPIX-Film: Of Mice and Men. With Burgess Meredith
9:00-WCBS-TV-We. the People
WNBT-I'd Like to See
WABD-School House-Kenny Delmar
9:30-WCBS-TV-What's It Worth? With Sigmund Rothschild. Gil Fates. Others
WNBT-Who Said That?-Quiz With Robert Trout; Guests. Elsa Maxwell, Milton Caniff, Jim Moran, John
Cameron Swayze
WABD-News Reports
WJZ-TV-Flim: Modern Sculpturing
10:00-WCBS-TV-Blues by Bargy
WNBT-Wrestling, St Nicholas Arena
WJZ-TV-Boxing. From Chicago
10:15-WCBS-TV-Newsreel
WPIX-Newsreel

A few things to take note of...Several of the stations which had been programming only after 5 PM were now expanding their schedule into the early afternoon hours. WABD had been offering a full morning slate for several months now. WCBS began airing early afternoon programming at the beginning of the year as well. WNBT, which had started its day with Howdy Doody at 5:30, began signing on earlier in the afternoon on this day. One of its first live afternoon talk shows was "We're On", co-hosted by future stage and film star Yul Brynner (who was yet to shave his head--that began with his breakthrough role on Broadway in 'The King and I'); "We're On' was perhaps his first emergence from behind the camera, where he'd previously worked as one of New York TV's first producers, to become a television personality.

You may also notice that schedules were still sketchy. Stations would interrupt their broadcast day and sign off, sometimes for short periods and sometimes for hours at a time, depending on whether they had an available program to show and could find a sponsor to pay for it. One station, independent station WATV (ch. 13) didn't announce any scheduled programming and may have literally taken the day off. Stations did that back then, when maybe 25% of the homes in the market had TV.

 

[wbhist]

I read somewhere (I think in an old edition of Broadcasting-Telecasting on David Gleason's site) that in the 1949-50 period, Channel 7 (then WJZ-TV) had two days of the week when and where they weren't on the air at all - I think it was either Friday and Saturday or Sunday and Monday. In any case, as of this time their sign-on was 7 P.M. Yep, 7 P.M., folks.

 

[Bob1370]

WJZ-TV at this time was unusual in what it did prior to the 7 PM start of primetime programming...they'd sign on at noon and do a top-of-the-hour newscast every hour from noon to 6 PM (don't know what it looked like, but it was probably a guy on camera in a simple set with a few graphics and photos, maybe a map or two, on air for about five or ten minutes with news, sports and weather copy--like most TV newscasts of the early days of TV). Rest of the time? Nothing listed. You'd kind of doubt they'd just turn the transmitter off only to power it back up at the start of the following hour for the news. Probably ran a test pattern and canned music for the audio track (or maybe WJZ radio audio?) until evening programming started.

Anyone see WJZ's early newscast format and remember it? Anyone know who announced it? Was it a rotation of WJZ and/or ABC network staff announcers, or someone specifically detailed to TV news?