Retro; New York City, Monday, August 1, 1949

[Bob1370]

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Source; New York Times

Stations;
2-WCBS-TV (CBS)
4-WNBT (NBC; now WNBC)
5-WABD (DuMont; now WNYW-Fox)
7-WJZ-TV (ABC; now WABC-TV)
11-WPIX (Ind.; now CW)
13-WATV (Ind.; now WNET-PBS)

MORNING

10:30
5-Morning Chapel; Dr. Francis Stifler
10:45
5-Armanda, songs
11:00
5-Television Shopper; Kathi Norris; guests, Elaine Monesmith, Finn H. Magnus

AFTERNOON
12:00
5-Headline Clues; George Putnam
7-News (on the hour through 6 PM)
12:30
5-Rumpus Room with Johnny Olsen
11-News, music
1:00
2-Jack Sterling Show
5-Okay Mother (game show); host Dennis James
1:30
5-Man on the Street
1:45
5-The Needle Shop (instruction); Alice Burrows
2:00
5-Test pattern, music
3:30
13-Sign-on; test pattern, music
4:00
13-Western film (title not listed)
5:00
2-Music, weather
11-Comics On Parade with Danny Webb
13-Film; Of Human Interest
5:15
2-Classified Column; Paul DeFur
11-Pixie Playtime
13-Film; Of Human Interest
5:30
2-Chuck Wagon with Bob Dixon (children)
4-Howdy Doody with Buffalo Bob Smith (children)
5:55
5-Time for Reflection

EVENING

6:00
4-Kids' Athletic Club (sports, children)
5-Small Fry Club with Bob Emery (children)
7-News
11-Six Gun Playhouse (Western films)
6:30
2-Lucky Pup (children)
4-Easy Does It; Johnny Andrews (variety)
5-Magic Cottage with Pat Meikle (children)
6:45
2-Bob Howard Show (variety)
6:55
4-Weather Man; Tex Antoine
11-Film Museum
7:00
2-Your Sports Special; Jack Sterling, host; Bob Edge, Van Campen Hellner
4-Judy Splinters (children)
5-Captain Video (adventure, children)
7-Film; Lost Jungle; (serial adventure, 1934); Clyde Beatty, Cecelia Parker
11-Sports; Jimmy Powers
13-Western Film
7:15
2-Ted Steele Show
4-Mary Kay and Johnny (situation comedy)
7-Film; This and That
11-Newsreel
7:30
2-CBS News with Douglas Edwards
4-Gene Archer, baritone; Cliff Instrumental Quartet (music)
5-Vincent Lopez Show
7-Film Shorts
11-Little Old New York with John Miles (variety/talk); Lisa Kirk, George Schering, Jimmy Bronson, guests
7:45
2-Cliff Edwards Show; Tony Mattola Trio, guests
4-Camel News Caravan; John Cameron Swayze, anchor
5-Manhattan Spotlight with Chuck Tranum
8:00
2-Cooking with Dionne Lucas
4-Play; The Stolen Prince
5-Views of the News; Ernest K. Lindley, William H. Byrne, E.G. Peterson, Dr. J.A. Morton, Earl French
7-Film; Petticoat Parade
11-Theater Time
13-Of Human Interest
8:05
7-Travel Film Shorts
8:25,
13-Baseball; Buffalo at Newark (International League)
8:30
2-It Pays To Be Ignorant (comedy game show); Tom Howard, host; Lulu McConnell, Harry McNaughton, George Shelton
4-Play; The Clock, with Robert Noe, Woody Parker, Alfreda Wallace, Vaughn Taylor
5-And Everything Nice (fashion); Maxine Barrat
7-Science Circus
11-Jolts and Jabs (sports/boxing); Jack McCarthy
8:45
11-Boxing at Coney Island Velodrome; Hy Meltzer vs. Willie Beltram
9:00
2-Preview with Tex McCrary and Jinx Falkenberg; Ruth Gilbert, guest
4-Play; Vic & Sade; Bernadine Flynn, Frank Dane
5-Film; Mercy Plane (action/adventure, 1939); James Dunn, Frances Gifford
7-Barn Dance (country music, from Chicago)
9:30
2-People's Platform (public affairs); Quincy Howe, host; topic, "Is Modern Art-Art?" with panelists Georg J. Lober, John D. Morse
4-Nature of Things; Dr. Roy K. Marshall, host
9:45
4-The Three Flames; songs
10:00
2-Jeanne Bargy, songs
4-Meet The Press; Martha Rountree, moderator; Philip D. Reed, guest; Edwin Leahy, May Craig, Richard Harkness, Lawrence Spivak, panelists
5-News
10:15
2-News
10:45
11-News

WOR-TV, Channel 9 (now WWOR), was still under construction and in preliminary testing; it would sign on and begin regular programming in October of 1949.

All stations in New York would have ended their broadcast day by roughly 11 PM.

 

[crainbebo]

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12:00
7-News (on the hour through 6 PM)

A six-hour newscast?? LOL

-crainbebo

 

[wbhist]

All stations in New York would have ended their broadcast day by roughly 11 PM.

It wasn't until a year after this schedule that WPIX would be one of the first to push the broadcast day envelope with Night Owl Theatre, the first of several late-night movie shows that aired on Channel 11 over the years (others: All-Star Movie, Tonight at the Movies, Movie Favorites and The Channel 11 Film Festival). Wonder if this, in turn, led to WCBS-TV, in 1951, launching their own late-night movie series, that went on to become a New York City institution: The Late Show.

The station transmitters were also scattered in those days: WJZ's stick was at the Hotel Pierre, and WPIX's antenna was situated at the Daily News Building; I think WCBS in those early years had their xmtr at the Chrysler Building, WOR in its early years on the air transmitted from North Bergen, NJ - and I.I.N.M., only WNBT was at the Empire State Building; it wasn't until 1951-52 that most of the other stations moved to ESB (except for WOR-TV which didn't move there until 1953).

 

[Bob1370]

crainbebo asks about WJZ-TV's listings, "A six-hour newscast?? LOL"

Can't prove it but I'd be willing to bet they had a short newscast at the top of each hour, possibly a simulcast with WJZ-AM 770, and filled the rest of the time until 6 with a test pattern and music. Lots of stations would sign on that way and start serious programming only several hours later, back in the late 1940s...others would run a midday schedule but take an hour or two off in the afternoon, like WABD. In a lot of European countries they did that a lot more recently. I was in Russia for a few weeks in the late 80s and saw all three main channels take a break in mid-afternoon and went to test pattern even in Moscow and St. Petersburg. (In France and Britain, though, all the principal channels were 24/7.)

wbhist is right about TV transmitters in NYC being all over the place in 1949 and correctly placed all the stations he mentioned. In addition. WABD (predecessor of WNYW Fox5) was atop the DuMont building at 515 Madison Avenue in Manhattan, and WATV had its tower in Jersey not far from the Armstrong FM tower. The WATV tower is long gone, dismantled in the 50s--so is the old WOR-TV tower, which was taken down by a plane crashing into it a few months after Channel 9 moved to Empire in 1956 (the last of the New York V's to make the move). 515 Madison, however still has the old WABD tower and Channel 5 antenna atop it, although it's been about 58 years since any signals went out from it. 5 out of the 7 VHF TV signals in NYC moved to Empire in 1951, with 13 moving there shortly after and 9 making the move by 1956.

 

[wbhist]

The WATV tower is long gone, dismantled in the 50s--so is the old WOR-TV tower, which was taken down by a plane crashing into it a few months after Channel 9 moved to Empire in 1956 (the last of the New York V's to make the move). 515 Madison, however still has the old WABD tower and Channel 5 antenna atop it, although it's been about 58 years since any signals went out from it. 5 out of the 7 VHF TV signals in NYC moved to Empire in 1951, with 13 moving there shortly after and 9 making the move by 1956.

Again, as I said, WOR moved to Empire in 1953 - from then until the 1956 plane crash, North Bergen served as a backup transmitter. But it was the last New York V to move to Empire, still.