Retro: Tucson, Arizona, 4 and 5 January, 1954

[Ultimajock]

Source: Tucson Citizen

Note: the Citizen displayed "(C)" next to several programs, and at this early date I doubt that it denoted "color." Considering three of the programs in question were Dennis Day and President Eisenhower's address on the 4th and Milton Berle the following night, in pattern with what would have been fed from the network line from the East Coast, I suspect it actually meant "current," as opposed to material from a kinescope.

Stations:
4 – KVOA-TV Tucson (NBC/ABC)
13 – KOPO-TV Tucson (CBS/DuMont)

MONDAY, 4 JANUARY 1954
AFTERNOON

12:45
4 Test Pattern

1:00
4 Glamour Girl
13 Test Tunes – Dance, Jazz

1:30
4 Hawkins Falls

1:45
4 The Bennetts

2:00
4 Three Steps to Heaven

2:15
4 Follow Your Heart

2:30
4 On Your Account (C)

3:00
4 At Home with Freda
13 Music with a View

3:30
4 Ladies Matinee
13 Love of Life

3:45
13 Visiting with Virginia

4:00
4 Sagebrush Theatre

5:00
13 Down Melody Lane

5:15
13 Telenews

5:30
4 Dance Party (C)
13 Uncle Mac & Squeaky

5:45
4 KVOA-TV Sports Reel

EVENING
6:00
4 Weather – Record Counter
13 Highway Patrol

6:15
4 Sound Stage
13 Professor Yes & No

6:30
4 American Forum
13 Speaking of Tucson

6:45
13 Sports with Portia

7:00
4 Dennis Day (C)
13 I Love Lucy

7:30
4/13 President Eisenhower (C)

7:45
4 Robert Montgomery
13 Red Buttons

8:00
13 Badge 714

8:30
4 Greatest Drama
13 Life Begins at 80

8:45
4 KVOA-TV News Spotlight

9:00
4 University of Arizona
13 Dean Armstrong

9:15
4 The Christophers

9:30
4 La Hora Mexicana
13 TV Theatre

10:00
4 Weather – Late Show
13 All-Star Theater

10:30
13 Weather

10:45
13 Platterama


TUESDAY, 5 JANUARY 1954
AFTERNOON

12:45
4 Test Pattern

1:00
4 Glamour Girl
13 Test Tunes – Dance, Jazz

1:30
4 Hawkins Falls

1:45
4 The Bennetts

2:00
4 Three Steps to Heaven

2:15
4 Follow Your Heart

2:30
4 On Your Account (C)

3:00
4 Webb Spinning
13 Selected Shorts

3:30
4 Ladies Matinee
13 Love of Life

3:45
13 Visiting with Virginia

4:00
4 Sagebrush Theatre

5:00
13 Down Melody Lane

5:15
13 Telenews

5:30
4 Ding Dong School
13 Uncle Mac & Squeaky

5:45
4 Weather
13 Garry Moore

EVENING
6:00
4 Milton Berle (C)
13 Bar Nothing Ranch

6:15
13 Jim & Judy

6:30
13 Speaking of Tucson

6:45
13 Sports with Portia

7:00
4 TV Little Theatre
13 Scrapbook

7:15
4 Indian Lore

7:30
4 International Theatre

8:00
4 Press Conference
13 Arthur Godfrey & His Friends

8:30
4 Bob Considine (C)

8:45
4 KVOA-TV News Spotlight

9:00
4 Appointment With Your Doctor
13 Wrestling

9:30
4 La Hora Mexicana

10:00
4 Weather – Late Show
13 KOPO-TV Playhouse

10:30
13 Weather

10:45
13 Late Movie

 

[landtuna]

January 1954 would have been several months before we got our first TV set but I remember Jack Webb's police show as "Dragnet" and thought "Badge 714" was the title of the later syndicated show.

Did my memory fail....again? ;D

 

[oldiesfan6479]

MONDAY, 4 JANUARY 1954
6:00
13 Highway Patrol

10-4? Don't think so. The syndicated Highway Patrol with Broderick Crawford did not
premiere until the fall of 1955, and this listing was for only fifteen minutes. Any idea
what this "Highway Patrol" was about?

I'm surprised at the very limited live network shows being aired and why the stations
just didn't take the network at 5:30 and run it until 9. I've read that one of the early
"trancontinental cables" ran through Tucson (between El Paso and Phoenix, on its way
to El Lay); perhaps at that time it had limited capacity and could feed only one program
at a time.

 

[Ultimajock]

January 1954 would have been several months before we got our first TV set but I remember Jack Webb's police show as "Dragnet" and thought "Badge 714" was the title of the later syndicated show.

Did my memory fail....again? ;D

...Badge 714 was offered in syndication starting in September 1953, so it fits. Will check other listings to see if KVOA-TV was carrying Dragnet by that time...

 

[Ultimajock]

MONDAY, 4 JANUARY 1954
6:00
13 Highway Patrol

10-4? Don't think so. The syndicated Highway Patrol with Broderick Crawford did not premiere until the fall of 1955, and this listing was for only fifteen minutes. Any idea what this "Highway Patrol" was about?

...can't say as I do have any idea. Maybe it's just a local highway patrolman being interviewed by a KOPO-TV staffer; from the rest of the schedule, that looks like a distinct possibility...

I'm surprised at the very limited live network shows being aired and why the stations just didn't take the network at 5:30 and run it until 9. I've read that one of the early "trancontinental cables" ran through Tucson (between El Paso and Phoenix, on its way to El Lay); perhaps at that time it had limited capacity and could feed only one program at a time.

...makes sense. Also interesting to note how several of these shows are obviously from film or kinescope; Life Begins at Eighty was fed live by DuMont on Fridays at 7:00 Mountain, and Arthur Godfrey & His Friends would have hit Tucson live from CBS on Wednesdays at 6:00...