"Sesame Street" airing on other stations besides PBS ones

[harrisburgpatv]

I know that when it premiered in '69, WNET didn't air it at 9am right away, so WPIX did, and it probably aired in other markets too..My question, however, isn't stations airing it at the outset, but later on..

I'm sure a lot of you know about this already but Google News has a bunch of old newspapers (the actual images of the pages), with a lot of them free. GREAT way to view old TV listings. Anyway, I happened to notice in a 1980 issue of WITF (then in Hershey, now in Harrisburg), being off the air for a week (!) due to transmitter maintenance.

Even before I saw that, I long remember (or think I remember!) finding SS on another channel temporarily, perhaps 21 (WHP in Harrisburg, our CBS). Now knowing that WITF was off for an ENTIRE WEEK makes me wonder again - Are my memories fooling me or could this have actually happened?

 

[KeithE4]

WLWI/13 (now WTHR) aired Sesame Street in its first year, before WFYI/20 started up in October 1970. The only PBS station in the market at the time was WTIU/30 Bloomington, which had started in March '69, but didn't make it to Indy.

 

[fybush]

And up the road in Fort Wayne, it was the late seventies before PBS arrived even via translator (W39AA, which relayed WBGU from Bowling Green, Ohio, and later WFYI). So Sesame Street's early years were seen on one of the market's commercial stations - I think it was WPTA-21.

 

[dave73]

I was aware of WNDU-TV (NBC) in South Bend Indiana airing Sesame Street for 4 years (1970 - 1974). They aired it until WNIT went on the air in 1974, and took over airing it. Chicago has been lucky to have a PBS affiliate, along with predecessor NET carrying it, which would be WTTW. I'm not aware of any other station that has aired Sesame Street on non PBS stations (or predecessor NET).

 

[anotherguyTN]

Sesame Street was part of the lineup of Noggin before it became Nick Jr., and CTW was a partner in the channel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noggin_(TV_channel)#As_Noggin_.281999-2009.29

 

[cowboybud]

Sesame Street aired on WJAC Johnstown, PA and KBMT Beaumont, TX well into the 70s.

 

[Stanislav]

I recall many moons ago seeing a South Texas TVG that had KGBT-4 in Harlingen with Sesame Street. This would have been a good decade or more before KMBH signed on to ch. 60 in 1985 -- Brownsville/Harlingen/McAllen may well have been the last market in Texas to get a local PBS.

 

[bpatrick]

WLOS Asheville, NC (ABC) and WINK Ft. Myers, FL (CBS)
aired it throughout the '70s.

 

[ngriffin]

I think I saw it in a listing for KQTV-2 in St. Joseph, MO, probably in the late 70's or early 80's. PBS coverage is spotty in much of NW Missouri.

 

[therealjm12]

Sesame Street aired on WUTR-TV20 (ABC) in Utica for several years in the early 1970's. They took the feed directly off air from WCNY in Syracuse.
It was underwritten on WUTR by a local bank. WCNY later put a translator on the air in Utica so it was no longer needed on WUTR.

 

[Prais]

"Street" was on WZZM-tv, Grand Rapids, prior to PBS afil, WGVU's going on the air.

 

[gr8oldies]

Assuming there were no commercial breaks in the show, did PBS pay the commercial stations for the time?

 

[Tim-In-Houston]

KFBB-Great Falls aired Sesame Street for until approx. the mid-1980s before MontanaPBS signed on and was distributed via cable (from the Bozeman station) into Great Falls. There is still no OTA station in Great Falls that carries PBS, but the system is in the process of getting a translator off the ground. They installed antennaes at KRTV's transmitter but so far as I know its not yet on-air.

 

[mjlarochelle]

CBC in Canada aired Sesame Street as-is before they created Canadian Sesame Street and later Sesame Park. The privately-owned affiliate stations aired it off the network.

There was one controversy in 1972 involving CBC affiliate CHSJ/CHMT in Saint John/Moncton, New Brunswick, which dropped Sesame Street because of the new Canadian Content regulations. The education minister in that province criticized CHSJ for the move.

 

[SteveRichards]

KTVO (ABC) in Kirksville, Missouri aired "Sesame Street" for a few years in the early '70s. KRCG (CBS) in Jefferson City also aired SS for a few years back in the '70s.

 

[ssetta]

CBC in Canada aired Sesame Street as-is before they created Canadian Sesame Street and later Sesame Park. The privately-owned affiliate stations aired it off the network.

There was one controversy in 1972 involving CBC affiliate CHSJ/CHMT in Saint John/Moncton, New Brunswick, which dropped Sesame Street because of the new Canadian Content regulations. The education minister in that province criticized CHSJ for the move.

I would like to know if there are any clips of Canadian Sesame Street around. From what I understand, some of the inserts about teaching Spanish were replaced with ones that taught French. I also heard that in Canada, the letter Z is pronounced "Zed." I would also love to see a clip of the alternate closing credit sequence that was used in Canada, I believe it had kids sliding down a big mountain slide, but it had a longer version of the normal harmonica closing theme that was used on the US version.

 

[wbhist]

I also heard that in Canada, the letter Z is pronounced "Zed."

It's also pronounced as "Zed" in Britain.

 

[cwf1701]

CBC in Canada aired Sesame Street as-is before they created Canadian Sesame Street and later Sesame Park. The privately-owned affiliate stations aired it off the network.

There was one controversy in 1972 involving CBC affiliate CHSJ/CHMT in Saint John/Moncton, New Brunswick, which dropped Sesame Street because of the new Canadian Content regulations. The education minister in that province criticized CHSJ for the move.

I remember in the late 1970s seeing (while channel surfing) Sesame Street over CBET, but in the early years (1970-75), i don't remember seeing it aired over CKLW-TV (CBET call letters Before 1975) (was it because WTVS (the Detroit PBS Station) aired the program and the Windsor rules kicked in?)

http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?topic=150474.0 Listing for Michigan on 8-7-1975. again note some non PBS stations (WJRT and WGTU) airing Sesame Street, and CKLW(CBET) has no airing of Sesame street. most people can assume that CBET didn't air Sesame Street until the Canadian version went into production.

 

[azumanga]

some non PBS stations (WJRT and WGTU) airing Sesame Street,

At the time because the nearest in-market PBS station to Flint, WUCM of Bay City (WDCQ), didn't come in very well, and neither did its alternate stations from elsewhere, WTVS Detroit and WKAR East Lansing. And of course, WFUM was not on the air yet. WJRT dropped Sesame sometime in the mid-1970s.

WGTU carried the show, as PBS service in Northern Michigan did not come until WCML Alpena opened in 1975. (It was the 1980s until Traverse City and Cadillac got PBS; in all cases, from repeaters of WCMU.)

and CKLW(CBET) has no airing of Sesame street.most people can assume that CBET didn't air Sesame Street until the Canadian version went into production.

Or even until CKLW became a full CBC O&O, as CBET, in 1975.

 

[BobbyNBC10]

When Sesame Street began in 1969, we had it in Battle Creek on both full fledged NET/PBS station WTVS 56 Detroit and WKAR-TV East Lansing, when it was WMSB-TV and sharing Channel 10 with commercial NBC station WILX-TV,which was HQ'd in Jackson, then. WILX-TV's shared time arrangement with WMSB-TV would last until 9/9/1972 when WMSB signed off, and the next day, WKAR returned on Channel 23, and WILX went full time on Channel 10.