Retro: New York City Fri, Apr 15, 1955

[Bluenoser]

from TV Clock (local TV magazine based in Pleasantville; the majority of ads were for businesses in Mt Kisco)

WCBS 2-CBS
6:45 Previews
6:55 Give Us This Day
7:00 Morning Show
8:55 Memo (Margaret Arlen)
9:00 George Skinner
10:00 Garry Moore
10:30 Arthur Godfrey
11:30 Strike It Rich
noon Valiant Lady
12:15 Love of Life
12:30 Search for Tomorrow
12:45 Guiding Light
1:00 Inner Flame
1:15 Road of Life
1:30 Welcome Travelers
2:00 Robert Q. Lewis
2:30 Linkletter's House Party
3:00 Big Payoff
3:30 Bob Crosby
4:00 Brighter Day
4:15 Secret Storm
4:30 On Your Account
5:00 Barker Bill's Cartoons
5:15 Late Matinee "Forced Landing"
6:00 News (Robert Trout)
6:05 Feature (Bill Leonard)
6:10 Sports (Jim McKay)
6:15 Early Show "Fingerprints Don't Lie"
7:25 Weather (Carol Reed)
7:30 CBS News
7:45 Perry Como
8:00 Mama
8:30 Topper
9:00 Playhouse of Stars "O'Brien"
9:30 Our Miss Brooks
10:00 Lineup
10:30 Person to Person
11:00 Chronoscope
11:15 News (Ron Cochrane)
11:25 Sports (Bill Hickey)
11:30 Late Show "Time, Gentlemen, Please"
12:45 Late Late Show "Stage Door Canteen"
2:45 Late News
2:50 Give Us This Day

WRCA 4-NBC
6:40 Daily Sermonette
6:45 Kids Today (Herb Sheldon)
7:00 Today
8:55 Herb Sheldon
10:00 Ding Dong School
10:30 Way of the World
10:45 Sheilah Graham
11:00 Home
noon Tennessee Ernie Ford
12:30 Feather Your Nest
1:00 News (Kenneth Banghart)
1:05 Norman Brokenshire
1:30 Beauty Advice (Willis)
2:00 Big Matinee
2:30 Jinx Falkenburg's Diary
3:00 Ted Mack's Matinee
3:30 Greatest Gift
3:45 Miss Marlowe
4:00 Hawkins Falls
4:15 First Love
4:30 World of Mr. Sweeney
4:45 Modern Romances
5:00 Pinky Lee
5:30 Howdy Doody
6:00 TBA
6:30 Sky's the Limit
6:45 News (John Wingate)
6:55 Weather (Tex Antoine)
7:00 TBA
7:30 Eddie Fisher
7:45 Camel News Caravan
8:00 Red Buttons
8:30 Life of Riley
9:00 Big Story
9:30 Miss Phoebe
10:00 Boxing: 10-round action from Philly as Holly Mims (DC) takes on Bobby Jones (Oakland)
10:45 Jan Murray
11:00 News (John McCaffery)
11:10 Weather (Tex Antoine)
11:15 Steve Allen
11:30 Tonight Show (Steve again)

WABD 5-DuMont
11:15 News
11:30 Girl Talk
noon Funny Bunny
12:05 Cooking (Susan Adams)
12:30 Midday Matinee "The Money"
1:00 Glamour Secrets (Mann)
1:30 Food for Thought (Graham)
2:00 All About Baby (Crowley)
2:15 Maggie McNellis
2:30 Letter to Lee Graham
3:00 Double Feature "The Substitute"
4:00 Tea Time Theatre "Jungle Book"
5:30 Old Timer
6:30 Ames Brothers
6:45 Looney Tunes
7:00 Western Gal
7:30 Life with Elizabeth
8:00 Secret File USA
8:30 Counterpoint "The Prize"
9:00 Mr. & Mrs. North
9:30 City Assignment
10:00 Chance of a Lifetime
10:30 Down You Go
11:00 News (Don Russell)
11:10 Starlight Theatre "Party Line"
11:40 Weather Girl

WABC 7-ABC
8:00 Tinker's Work Shop
9:00 John Henry Faulk
9:55 News (George H. Combs)
10:00 Road of Romance
10:30 Drama of Life
11:00 Romper Room
noon Time for Fun
12:30 Entertainment
3:00 Romantic Interlude
3:30 Memory Lane (Franklin)
4:00 Hopalong Cassidy
5:15 Movie (no title listed, it's a Western)
6:00 Files of Jeffrey Jones
6:30 Dramatic Film
6:50 News
6:55 Weather (Scotty)
7:00 Kukla, Fran & Ollie
7:30 Rin Tin Tin
8:00 Ozzie & Harriet
8:30 Ray Bolger
9:00 Dollar a Second
9:30 Vise
10:00 I Led Three Lives
10:30 Mr. District Attorney
11:00 TV Playhouse "And Suddenly You Knew"
11:30 Weather (Scotty)
11:35 Tonight's News (George H. Combs)

WOR 9-Ind
12:45pm Christophers
1:00 This is the Life
1:30 Fortune Theatre
3:00 Ted Steele
5:00 Teen Bandstand (Ted again)
6:00 Merry Mailman
6:45 News (Lyle Van)
6:55 Sports (Jack O'Reilly)
7:00 Cowboy G-Men
7:30 Million Dollar Movie (title not listed)
9:00 Badge 714 (Dragnet)
9:30 Inner Sanctum
10:00 Million Dollar Movie (no title listed, re-run from 7:30?)
11:30 Fortune Theatre

WPIX 11-Ind
12:30pm New York Calendar
1:00 Warm-Up Theatre
1:10 A Day with the Giants
1:25 Baseball: Giants-Dodgers
3:50 Frankie Frisch
4:00 Post-Game Theatre
4:30 Dione Lucas
4:55 News (John Tillman)
5:00 Cartoon Comics
5:30 Clubhouse Gang Comedies
6:00 Ramar of the Jungle
6:30 Liberace
7:00 News (Kevin Kennedy)
7:10 News (John Tillman)
7:25 Sports (Jimmy Powers)
7:30 First Show "The Years Between"
8:55 News (Joe Bolton)
9:00 Double Feature Theatre
10:50 News (John Tillman)
10:55 Weather (Joe Bolton)
11:00 Liberace
11:30 Night Owl Theatre "T-Men"

WATV 13-Ind
8:58 TV Pastor
9:00 Casa Serena
9:30 Italian Movie
11:00 Musical Moments
11:15 Aldo Aldi
noon News Report
12:05 Report to Parents
12:30 Shop, Look & Cook
1:00 Musical Jackpot
2:00 Movie "Eternally Yours"
3:30 Fun Time
4:00 Movie (title not listed, Western)
5:00 Junior Frolics (Fred Sayles)
5:45 Fun Time
6:00 Movie (Western)
7:00 Movie "Last Crooked Mile"
8:00 House Detective
8:30 Big Picture
9:00 Laurel Garden Wrestling
11:00 Mystery Hour

 

[bpatrick]

In his book "More Funny People," Steve Allen was reminiscing
about the cast of his Sunday-night show, and he mentioned
that "Entertainment" on WABC was where he first saw Tom Poston.
He also mentioned that another regular on "Entertainment" was
Gene Wood, best known as the announcer on the Dawson and
Combs versions of "Family Feud".

I also noticed "The Sky's The Limit"; according to TV Guide's
mini-profiles of its picks for the ten best game-show hosts in
2000, this was an early hosting job for Gene Rayburn (#3 on
the list behind Allen Ludden and Bob Barker). And since somebody
will probably ask, here's the list:

1. Allen Ludden
2. Bob Barker
3. Gene Rayburn
4. Alex Trebek
5. Bob Eubanks
6. Bill Cullen
7. Peter Marshall
8. Groucho Marx
9. Guy Smiley (Muppet character)
10. Regis Philbin

 

[Ultimajock]

I also noticed "The Sky's The Limit"; according to TV Guide's
mini-profiles of its picks for the ten best game-show hosts in
2000, this was an early hosting job for Gene Rayburn (#3 on
the list behind Allen Ludden and Bob Barker). And since somebody
will probably ask, here's the list:

1. Allen Ludden
2. Bob Barker
3. Gene Rayburn
4. Alex Trebek
5. Bob Eubanks
6. Bill Cullen
7. Peter Marshall
8. Groucho Marx
9. Guy Smiley (Muppet character)
10. Regis Philbin

...Cullen was the greatest of the lot, and Rayburn was better than either Ludden or Barker. And Eubanks doesn't even deserve to be on the list, let alone appear above Guy Smiley ;D ...

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

What station was doing the Yankees back then? On this date they defeated the Red Sox 6-4 at Fenway Park (not sure if that was a day or night game), but I don't see that listed here.

 

[wbhist]

What station was doing the Yankees back then? On this date they defeated the Red Sox 6-4 at Fenway Park (not sure if that was a day or night game), but I don't see that listed here.

Oh, WPIX . . . but even then, they didn't run every single game. To 1957, 'PIX also covered New York (baseball) Giants games. WOR-TV was the Dodgers' station.

 

[oldschooler1]

And by this time, Howdy Doody was done daily in color -- would any of the other NBC shows on this day be shown in compatible color?

 

[The King Bee]

When I joined the Air Force in 1973 and went to AFRTS, there were still a few RCA TK-41 color cameras in excellent condition in daily use. These were used in the final, color years of "Howdy Doody" and all other NBC color shows. I believe Howdy was the only regularly-scheduled color program on NBC...of couse, their color "spectaculars" (Pat Weaver's term for the single-sponsor, all-star extravaganzas) were on an irregular, one-shot basis. Plus, not all studios at 30 Rock or Burbank were color ready.

Anyway, those TK-41s were HUGE and ran very hot...running one was like steering an aircraft carrier with an oar on those big Mathews, Houston-Fearless or ITE heads and dollies or pedestals. You could literally tell the regular camera ops by the definition in their forearms and biceps, they were just that big and bulky. Don't believe me? Pull a photo of a RCA TK-41 up and be amazed-1954 technology at its best (look at all the pretty glowing tubes)!

 

[BMR]

Much longer transmission hours than the 1947 schedule posted above!

 

[wbhist]

WRCA 4-NBC
1:30 Beauty Advice (Willis)

From what I gathered, this was Richard Willis. Who later was part of the whole Day Watch block as of five years from this airdate on what by then was WNTA-TV/13.

Also . . . wasn't the significance of this date in any way connected with the ultimate demise of the DuMont Network, and Channel 5's transformation into an indie station?