Just a few random TV related events that happened on September 15. Discuss or comment as you please……
1922: Actor/director/producer and Our Ganger Jackie Cooper (The People’s Choice, Hennesey) is born in Los Angeles.
1949: With a hearty “Hi-yo, Silver, away!” The Lone Ranger hits America’s TV screens for the first time.
1949: WJAC-TV (channel 13) begins operating in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The station would move to channel 6 in 1952. DYK: Johnstown was one of the three smallest television markets in the country (along with Erie, Pennsylvania and Binghamton, New York) to put a commercial TV station on the air during the 1940’s.
1949: WMBR-TV (channel 4) signs on in Jacksonville, Florida, the second TV station in the state (after Miami’s WTVJ, also on channel 4, which hit the air about 6 months prior.)
1954: RCA demonstrates its new 21-inch color picture tube and a simplified color TV receiver, the plans and components of which are made available to RCA patent licensees. The set would be produced by Emerson, Raytheon, and other companies.
1955: WCTV (channel 6) hits the airwaves, serving the Thomasville, Georgia/Tallahassee, Florida area. It would remain the only commercial station in the market for nearly two decades.
1959: Television comes to India as Doordarshan (a/k/a National Television Network of India) signs on a transmitter in New Delhi. It would be 13 years before a second transmitter would begin to spread TV to other parts of the country.
1959: Laramie premieres on NBC.
1962: WOKR (channel 13, now WHAM-TV) begins operating in Rochester, New York.
1962: WLOX-TV (channel 13) signs on in Biloxi, Mississippi.
1964: Peyton Place premieres on ABC.
1964: The long-running Jack Benny Program airs its final episode on CBS. The show would move to NBC for one more season.
1965: A big first night for four shows destined to become classics (cult or otherwise): CBS debuts Lost in Space and Green Acres; The Big Valley premieres on ABC; and NBC launches I Spy.
1967: KPOB (channel 15) signs on in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, as a satellite of Harrisburg, Illinois’ WSIL-TV.
1967: Password airs its final CBS show. The venerable game show would be revived 3 ½ years later on ABC.
1968: WUAB (channel 43) debuts in Cleveland, Ohio. The station’s humble (i.e., cheap) beginnings are epitomized in its first studio facilities: a combination of a former bowling alley's kiddie room and a trailer in a shopping center.
1977: ChiPs debuts on NBC.
2001: Director/producer Fred De Cordova dies in Woodland Hills, California, aged 90. In addition to his well-known stints directing and/or producing the programs of Jack Benny, George Burns, and Johnny Carson, De Cordova worked, in whole or part, for hundreds of other series over the course of his long career
2007: Actress/singer/comedienne/game show panelist (and ex-wife of actor Jack Klugman) Brett Somers (The Match Game) dies in Westport, Connecticut, aged 83.
(Just a little featurette I hope to do as time permits…..don’t expect it every single day. It’s an entirely random selection based on a quick Net search, and is not meant to be comprehensive. So, don’t post nasty messages about “you forgot THIS” or “how could you not mention THAT?” Do so, and I’ll just take my keyboard and go home…..)
1922: Actor/director/producer and Our Ganger Jackie Cooper (The People’s Choice, Hennesey) is born in Los Angeles.
1949: With a hearty “Hi-yo, Silver, away!” The Lone Ranger hits America’s TV screens for the first time.
1949: WJAC-TV (channel 13) begins operating in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The station would move to channel 6 in 1952. DYK: Johnstown was one of the three smallest television markets in the country (along with Erie, Pennsylvania and Binghamton, New York) to put a commercial TV station on the air during the 1940’s.
1949: WMBR-TV (channel 4) signs on in Jacksonville, Florida, the second TV station in the state (after Miami’s WTVJ, also on channel 4, which hit the air about 6 months prior.)
1954: RCA demonstrates its new 21-inch color picture tube and a simplified color TV receiver, the plans and components of which are made available to RCA patent licensees. The set would be produced by Emerson, Raytheon, and other companies.
1955: WCTV (channel 6) hits the airwaves, serving the Thomasville, Georgia/Tallahassee, Florida area. It would remain the only commercial station in the market for nearly two decades.
1959: Television comes to India as Doordarshan (a/k/a National Television Network of India) signs on a transmitter in New Delhi. It would be 13 years before a second transmitter would begin to spread TV to other parts of the country.
1959: Laramie premieres on NBC.
1962: WOKR (channel 13, now WHAM-TV) begins operating in Rochester, New York.
1962: WLOX-TV (channel 13) signs on in Biloxi, Mississippi.
1964: Peyton Place premieres on ABC.
1964: The long-running Jack Benny Program airs its final episode on CBS. The show would move to NBC for one more season.
1965: A big first night for four shows destined to become classics (cult or otherwise): CBS debuts Lost in Space and Green Acres; The Big Valley premieres on ABC; and NBC launches I Spy.
1967: KPOB (channel 15) signs on in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, as a satellite of Harrisburg, Illinois’ WSIL-TV.
1967: Password airs its final CBS show. The venerable game show would be revived 3 ½ years later on ABC.
1968: WUAB (channel 43) debuts in Cleveland, Ohio. The station’s humble (i.e., cheap) beginnings are epitomized in its first studio facilities: a combination of a former bowling alley's kiddie room and a trailer in a shopping center.
1977: ChiPs debuts on NBC.
2001: Director/producer Fred De Cordova dies in Woodland Hills, California, aged 90. In addition to his well-known stints directing and/or producing the programs of Jack Benny, George Burns, and Johnny Carson, De Cordova worked, in whole or part, for hundreds of other series over the course of his long career
2007: Actress/singer/comedienne/game show panelist (and ex-wife of actor Jack Klugman) Brett Somers (The Match Game) dies in Westport, Connecticut, aged 83.
(Just a little featurette I hope to do as time permits…..don’t expect it every single day. It’s an entirely random selection based on a quick Net search, and is not meant to be comprehensive. So, don’t post nasty messages about “you forgot THIS” or “how could you not mention THAT?” Do so, and I’ll just take my keyboard and go home…..)