OLD TV HISTORY: November 2021

Saturday, 27 November 2021

On Your Television 90 Years Ago

Variety shows were a big thing on television in 1931. And if you happened to live in (or near) New York City on Friday, November 27th, you could be watching one.

Unfortunately, newspapers of the era conflict, but we can pretty much figure out what was likely on the mechanical viewing apparatus that day.

Both the Associated Press and United Press wire services disseminated rather detailed radio listings (at least when it came to which network affiliate picked up a specific programme), and it mentions two New York television stations as well. Very brief.

W2XAB—2500kc (W2XE—6120kc)
8:00 to 11:00—Variety With Sound
W2XCR—2000kc (WGBS—1180kc)
6:00 to 7:00—Audiovision Variety
7:00 to 9:00—Silent Pictures

W2XAB was the CBS station. W2XCR was the New York station operated by C. Francis Jenkins, whose company was soon swallowed by the Depression. Neither could broadcast the audio and video on the same frequency at the same time. WGBS was owned at the time by the Hearst Corporation, which changed the call letters in early 1932 to WINS.

The New York Herald Tribune not only had a more extensive schedule, but gave the line-up for the variety show.

W2XAB—New York—2150k
2:00-6:00 p. m.—Experimental programs.
8:00—Singing Vagabond.
8:15—Indian Life and Customs.
8:30—Ruth Kerner, soprano.
8:45—Avelyn Frey, cellist.
9:15—Artells Dickson, songs.
9:15—Helen Board, soprano.
9:30—Captain Jack, “Old Skipper.”
9:45—Kassanova, violiniste.
10:00—Helen Nugent, contralto.
10:15—Harriet Lee, Miss Radio of 1931.
10:30—Sports interview.
10:45—Gay Sisters: Harmony Duo.

W2XCR—New York—2035k
(Sound on WGBS)
3:00 p.m.—Film programs.
4:00-5:00—Same as WGBS.
6:00-7:00—Same as WGBS.

What was WGBS airing? The New York Times ran down its radio listings for the TV broadcast period.

4:00—News Flashes.
4:05—Jacques Belser, songs.
4:15—A Spanish Lesson—Dr. Thatcher Clark.
4:30—Talk—Harrison Zeller.
4:45—Krausemeyer’s Broadcasting Station—Sketch.
6:00—News Flashes.
6:05—Triangle Hour.
6:30—American Music Ensemble.

Not exactly world-famous entertainers of the Bing Crosby/Boswell Sisters/A&P Gypsies variety are they? The best known may have been Harriet Lee, who cut a number of records and was an odd choice as the voice of Betty Boop in one cartoon, “The Bum Bandit.” If you’re wondering, the “Singing Vagabond” was a baritone named Artells Dickson, who later played Tom Mix on radio and wrote a few songs. He appeared under his own name later in the broadcast; this seems to have been pretty common on radio in the ‘20s.

What was the Krausemeyer sketch all about? The Brooklyn Eagle explained in a squib in its radio-television page of November 8, 1931:

One-Man Sketch
“The Krausemeyer Broadcasting Station,” a humorous sketch, will make its initial appearance on the air and by television over WGBS and W2XCR, on Friday, Nov. 13, at 4:45 p.m. Joe Trent, impersonator, will be the entire cast. This program will be broadcast each Tuesday and Friday at 4:45 p.m.

I can hear the dialect jokes now. Mr. Trent’s final programme was on December 18th.

The New York Sun listed other stations. Generally, they weren’t very specific.

W3XK (Jenkins, Washington)—M147—2035K
7:00 to 9:00—Film.
10:30 to 11:30—Film.

W2XBS (NBC)—M143—2100K
2:00 to 5:00—Experimental program.
7:00 to 10:30—Experimental program.

W1XAV (Boston)—M104—2870K
7:00 to 10:30—Films.

W2XR (J.V.L. Hogan)—M103—2950K
5:00—Films (2150k. and 2920k.)
7:00—Films (accompanied by coordinated sound through W2XAR, 1604k.).
9:00—Cartoons.

The NBC station broadcast silhouttes, accompanied by announcements or talks.

The only other television news for this date 90 years ago, other than the Federal Radio Commission denied a television license to the Congress Square Hotel company of Portland, Marine, which wanted to operate four hours a day. No reason was given.

Mechanical television, involving spinning wheels picking up signals, was soon obsolete as Philo Farnsworth and Vladimir Zworkin (and others) were perfecting a cathode ray tube, bringing TV into the electronic age at the end of the ‘30s.

Saturday, 20 November 2021

January and February 1943

NBC was the television leader on the U.S. East Coast in 1939, broadcasting live and filmed programming to mark the start of the New York World’s Fair. But after America entered the war, another company took the TV broadcasting reins.

At the time, New York had three stations—WNBT (NBC), WCBW (CBS) and the non-commercial W2XWV (DuMont). Commercials were permitted by federal regulation on July 1, 1941. But then the FCC curtailed programming in April 1942, ordering stations to cut from a minimum 15 hours a week to four. WNBT responded by broadcasting air raid training lessons and industrial films once a week. WCBW simply aired non-commercial films twice a week.

W2XWV had a different idea. It continued with live programming every Sunday. In May 1943, the station added live Wednesday night broadcasts, including a variety show starring Jerry Lester, the man known best for hosting Broadway Open House, a kind of forerunner to the Tonight show.

This is the first in a series of posts designed to give people an idea of what passed for television in a period when some don’t realise there was any television. In 1943, the New York Herald Tribune continued to publish a TV programming schedule. The Daily Home News in New Brunswick, New Jersey occasionally listed programming highlights; an editor had a connection to the station since 1940. We will be doing these TV schedule posts in pairs of months. Trade publications had virtually nothing to say because, as you can see, there wasn't much on the air to talk about.

W2XWV's programming included short films, and war news with Sam Cuff. He had been at NBC and left when its TV operation cut programming, getting a job at WNEW radio. Cuff and Ray Forrest reported live on television the day Pearl Harbor was bombed. A biography that looks like it came from a news release, published in a Poughkeepsie newspaper in 1941, describes him as: "Born at the turn of the century in Palestine, son of a British engineer engaged on the Suez canal, Red Crescent worker on the Palestine front during World War I, interpreter with the Turkish army and general liason man in the Near East." He left DuMont as general manager in 1948 to become a radio/TV consultant for Allied Stores. Cuff died of cancer on August 25, 1960 at the age of 58.

Incidentally, the U.S. did have a few other stations on the air at the time—W6XAO (Don Lee) in Los Angeles, WBKB (Balaban and Katz) in Chicago, WRGB (General Electric) in Schenectady and WPTZ (Philco), Philadelphia, with a number of others authorised. W6XAO was on every other Monday. W6XYZ (Paramount) signed on in Los Angeles in 1943. The city had roughly 200 sets in homes plus receivers in Hollywood police stations. Due to available media, the posts will mainly focus on New York City for now.

JANUARY

Sunday, Jan. 3
W2XWV—84mc
8:30 p.m. “Thrills and Chills.”
8:50 p.m. Film: “My Five Sons.”
9:00 Song Spinners.
9:15 Film: “Ack Ack” (British, 1941).
9:30 Sam Cuff, news.

Philco Radio & Television Corp., through WPTZ, will resume television broadcasts during the week of January 10. Station has been off the air since Thanksgiving, upon the conclusion of remote broadcasts of 10 football games from Franklin Field. In this interim engineers have perfected their equipment, and made improvements, so that results from therelay transmitter and shifts between programs operate more smoothly and satisfactorily.
Programming plans, under the direction of Paul Knight, program manager, call for broadcasts three times a week, Wednesday and Friday evenings, and late Sunday afternoons. The Wednesday and Sunday shows will be from motion pictures. The Friday night programs will be remotes from the Philadelphia arena which covers wide range of sports activities. Relay transmitter has already been set up in the arena. Evening broadcasts will start around 8:30 and run for about an hour. The Sunday airing will fall sometime between 3 and 5 p.m. Schedule will keep pretty much to the four hour minimum, Knight told RADIO DAILY. (Radio Daily, Jan. 4, 1943)

Monday, Jan. 4
WNBT—55.75mc
4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Air-raid warden instructions.
8:30 Films.

Thursday, Jan. 7
WCBW—65.75mc
8:00 p.m. News.
8:10 Quiz.
9:00 Film.

Friday, Jan. 8
WCBW—65.75mc
8:00 p.m. News review.
8:30 Table talk.
9:00 Film.
9:15 Red Cross first aid.

Sunday, Jan. 10
W2XWV—84mc
8:30 p.m. “Manhattan Sketches.”
9:00 Film: “America Sings.”
9:15 Sam Cuff, news.
9:30 Quiz.

Monday, Jan. 11
WNBT—55.75mc
4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Air-raid warden instructions.
8:30 Films.

Thursday, Jan. 14; Friday, Jan. 15
WCBW—65.75mc
8 to 10 p.m. Films.

Sunday, Jan. 17
W2XWV—84mc
8:30 p.m. Jack Kelsey.
9:00 Film: “Malaguena” (World, 1939)
9:10 Jolly Bill Steinke.
9:20 Film.
9:30 Sam Cuff, news.

Monday, Jan. 18
WNBT—55.75mc
4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Air-raid warden instructions.
8:30 Films.

Thursday, Jan. 21; Friday, Jan. 22
WCBW—65.75mc
8 to 10 p.m. Films.

Sunday, Jan. 24
W2XWV—84mc
8:30 p.m. “March of Dimes,” Milton Ward.
8:45 “Gags Galore.”
9:00 Doug Allan’s “Thrills & Chills.”
9:30 Film: “Sportsreel.”
9:30 Sam Cuff, news.

Monday, Jan. 25
WNBT—55.75mc
4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Air-raid warden instructions.
8:30 Films.

Thursday, Jan. 28; Friday, Jan. 29
WCBW—65.75mc
8 to 10 p.m. Films.

Sunday, Jan. 31
W2XWV—84mc
8:30 p.m. Charlie Kenny’s “Kute Kiddies.”
8:50 Film: “Report to the People.”
9:00 Sam Cuff, news.
9:15 Film: “Screen Snapshots.”
9:30 “What Do You Know?” quiz.

FEBRUARY

Monday, Feb. 1
WNBT—55.75mc
4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Air-raid warden instructions.
8:30 Films.

Thursday, Feb. 4; Friday, Feb. 5
WCBW—65.75mc
8 to 10 p.m. Films.

Sunday, Feb. 7
W2XWV—84mc

8:30 p.m. Scenes from “Heart of a City” by Little Theater workshop, New Jersey College for Women.
9:00 Film: “Conquer by the Clock” (RKO, 1942; Oscar nominee for Best Documentary Feature)
9:15 Sam Cuff, news.
9:30 Film: “Sportsreel.”
A new technique in telecasting will be tried Sunday at 8:30 p.m. when a group of New Jersey College for Women and Rutgers drama students appear in their first television broadcast, a combined radio-television sequence over Du Mont Television Station W2XWV.
Scenes of a bombed London from their forthcoming Little Theatre play, Lesley Storm’s “Heart of a City,” will be flashed on the screen while Miss Betty Ryder ’44 of Scarsdale, N.Y., narrated the story of the war-time drama. Episodes will be enacted against a background of British music, and snatches of songs from the play itself will be heard in the course of the half-hour broadcast. Professor Jane Inge, head of the N.J.C. department of speech and dramatic art, who is directing the theatre production, is supervising the television program arranged by Will Baltin of New Brunswick, program director for the station and theatre editor of The Daily Home News and Sunday Times.
Members of the cast will leave for the New York City studio at 515 Madison avenue immediately following their dress rehearsal at the N.J.C. Little Theatre Sunday afternoon. Taking part in the broadcast in addition to Miss Ryder will be Misses Judith Brines ’43 of Highland Park, Clair Viracola ’43 of Long Branch, Bobette Ryan ’43 of Merchantville; also Robert M. Hyde ’45 of Verona and Arthur Meredith ’43 of Somerville.
Persons with television sets can receive the broadcast by tuning in Channel No. 4 (78-84 megacycles.)
The play will be presented at the Little Theatre for four evening performances beginning Wednesday. (Home News, Feb. 5)

Monday, Feb. 8
WNBT—55.75mc
4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Air-raid warden instructions.
8:30 Films.

Tuesday, Feb. 9
Considerable activity in the television field took place over the weekend, all things considered, with the West Coast report that the Western Defense area has instituted a series of television broadcasts for the training of Civilian Defense personnel. Training of this sort via television had been employed in the East some time ago …
The West Coast civilian defense training broadcasts via television are scheduled over W6XYZ, owned and operated by Television Productions, Inc., on the Paramount Studio lot. Broadcasts will be twice weekly, Tuesdays and Fridays. (Radio Daily, Feb. 9)

Thursday, Feb. 11; Friday, Feb. 12
WCBW—65.75mc
8 to 10 p.m. Films.

Sunday, Feb. 14
W2XWV—84mc
8:30 p.m. Doug Allan’s “Thrills & Chills.”
9:00 “Salute to Greece.”
9:30 Film: “Screen Snapshots.”
9:45 Sam Cuff, news.

Monday, Feb. 15
WNBT—55.75mc
4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Air-raid warden instructions.
8:30 Films.

Thursday, Feb. 18; Friday, Feb. 19
WCBW—65.75mc
8 to 10 p.m. Films.

Sunday, Feb. 21
W2XWV—84mc
8:30 p.m. “Shades of the Gay ‘90s.”
8:45 Film: “Sportsreel.”
9:00 “Mathemania.”
9:15 Sam Cuff, news.
9:30 “What Do You Know?” quiz

Monday, Feb. 22
WNBT—55.75mc
4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Air-raid warden instructions.
8:30 Films.

Thursday, Feb. 25; Friday, Feb. 26
WCBW—65.75mc
8 to 10 p.m. Films.

Sunday, Feb. 28
W2XWV—84mc
8:30 p.m. Arthur Foran; “The Gay Mimic.”
8:45 Film: “War Activities.”
8:50 Sam Cuff, news.
9:10 Excerpts from “Naughty Marietta.”
9:25 Film: “Screen Snapshots.”
9:35 “What Do You Know?” quiz

Saturday, 13 November 2021

July to December 1942

Television shows during World War Two?

Yes, they existed. A few stations were on the air. The TV industry very slowly developed during the war after some setbacks.

To give you a bit of background there was, first, the age of mechanical television from 1928 to 1933. There was even regular programming. The system sounds cumbersome; stations used a spinning wheel to send pictures and TV sets needed a spinning wheel to receive them. Unfortunately different stations spun their wheels at different speeds so they couldn’t all be picked up.

Next, stations in the East shut down while electronic television was developed. Finally, NBC decided in 1939 its new system was ready and began broadcasting from the New York World’s Fair. A few other stations followed. The Federal Communications Commission then butted in, deciding transmission must be at 525 lines and then allowing commercial broadcasts as of July 1, 1941.

Then the Japanese got involved. No, we don’t mean Sony.

This is the first in a series of posts involving television during the years of World War Two. Mainly, they’ll consist of schedules, programme reviews and bits of news. For the last six months of 1942, schedules in New York newspapers generally (not always, WCBW especially) resembled this:

Mondays
WNBT 55.75mc, Channel 1
4:00 and 7:30 Air Raid Warden Instructions. 8:30 Film subjects.

Tuesdays and Wednesdays
No television scheduled

Thursdays
WCBW 65.75mc, Channel 2
8:00 News: Film. 9:00 to 10:00 Quiz

Fridays
WCBW 65.75mcm Channel 2
8:00 News Reports. 8:30 Red Cross Show. 9:10 to 10:00 Quiz.

Saturdays and Sundays
No television scheduled

However, one station did expand programming in 1942, the experimental DuMont station in New York, W2XWV. It’s possible it was off the air for a while. Electronics magazine of March 1942 mentions the station televised the burning of the Normandie at her piers in the Hudson River on February 9th, thanks to a telephoto lens. It also reports “This station is now on the air every Thursday evening from 7:30 to 9:30 usually with film programs.” The last time any newspaper mentioned the station in its TV listings was on Thursday, March 19 for “tests and films.”

The 1946 American Television Directory states the station “has been on the air almost every week since June 25, 1942.” If so, the papers ignored it. We do know W2XWV expanded its programming. Radio Daily of August 26, 1942 revealed that DuMont “recent set Sunday evening as ‘Television Night’ with “professional entertainers” broadcasting for over an hour starting at 8:30 p.m. This means the new, live Sunday night fare began no later than Sunday, August 23. Among the station’s first stars were Sam Cuff, who brought his ‘Face of the War’ news commentaries over from NBC’s WNBT; former newspaperman and WNBT personality Doug Allan, who interviewed adventurers and world travellers; and quiz show Charlie Taylor, who apparently had been singing on New York radio since 1930. The first two shows lasted several years. (An Associated Press article below seems to have been based on the Radio Daily article).

If a station’s identification is a mix of letters and numbers, that means it does not have a commercial license. That didn’t stop them from running ads as “experiments.”

We start with a look at a reduction in programming and why.

JULY

NEW YORK, May 15. (AP)—Television, which since Pearl Harbor has gone ahead with nearly normal program schedules in New York and other areas, soon may become a part-time casualty of the war.
Such a development is seen in the Federal Communications Commission's relaxation of its rules, sharply reducing the number of required hours broadcast each week.
Under the new regulation, commercial stations may operate as few as four hours a week instead of the former minimum of 15 hours over six days. The four hours may be confined to a single day if desired.

So far, neither NBC nor CBS has announced what it intends to do. NBC, which has been concentrating an important part of its schedule on air raid warden training telecasts, has just arranged a further six-week course to run 12 hours a week. CBS is in the midst of a Red Cross first aid series as well as inter-service boxing tournament. It also has been presenting other war-related programs.
The commission said its decision was made "to prevent recession of this new art to a purely experimental or laboratory stage and to keep it alive, ready to flourish as a public service after the war emergency." Another objective is to permit stations to conserve the life of equipment, particularly tubes, as well as to allow operation with "greatly reduced personnel." Engineers report that camera tubes now are becoming a rather scarce article.

IN ACCORDANCE with the new FCC regulations on television issued May 12, specifying minimum transmission of four hours weekly in place of the 15 hours a week formerly required, NBC and CBS have sharply curtailed the operating schedules of their New York television transmitters, WNBT and WCBW, respectively, the former to six hours a week, the latter to four hours weekly [BROADCASTING, May 18]. Beginning May 25, WNBT dropped all programs except the air warden training course presented by the New York Police Department for the instruction of the city's air warden service which is telecast 12 times weekly. Following the conclusion of the six-week course, WNBT expects to decrease its programs to the required four hours a week. To avoid duplication of service during the limited hours of operation, CBS has scheduled its television programs for Thursday and Friday evenings, from 8 to 10. The WCBW programs include Red Cross instruction, a news review and roundtable discussions. (Broadcasting, June 1)

PHILADELPHIA, July 4.—WPTZ, Philco television station, goes on a wartime basis this week for the duration, Station has cut down its operations to 5½ hours per week, and save for two quarter hours of news and an hour re-telecast from WNBT, New York, of an air raid warden course, program schedule is now confined solely to motion pictures. Moreover, station has cut down to five days a week for an average of an hour a night. Philco's tele engineers have shifted to research for the government. Station formerly operated 15 and more hours a week. While station could continue on its old schedule as long as present equipment would allow, Paul Knight, WPTZ program manager, said it was decided to reduce the number of hours per week and thus prolong the period during which tele shows would be available in metropolitan Philadelphia.
Philco is optimistic on the future of television. As soon as the war is over, Knight predicts, television will realize the high promise that many predicted for it. (Billboard, July 11)

COMMERCIAL FM was again beset by wartime difficulties as the FCC July 21 ordered the cancellation of four outstanding construction permits for high-frequency facilities. ... On the television side, WNBW, Washington, and W3XPP, Philadelphia, both construction permits of NBC, were ordered cancelled and deleted from the FCC's records. (Broadcasting, July 27)

Philadelphia, July 28
Philco’s television station, WPTZ, goes off the air Saturday (1) for a two months hiatus during which the transmitter will be moved from the Philco plant in northeast Philly to Wyndmoor, Pa., a suburb.
At Wyndmorr, Philco officials said, the transmitter antenna will have considerably greater elevation which should allow better reception. (Variety, July 29)

AUGUST

Though Dame Fashion is now on limited rations, and has more priorities than anything else for style suggestions, beauty is still her accent of design, as W6XAO lookers saw when Thomas S. Lee's television program in Los Angeles recently presented a review of wartime "ersatz fashions". Under the supervision of Harry R. Lubcke, Don Lee Television Director, Nancy Dixon, KHJ-Don Lee fashion authority, presented the review with models showing the replacements for wool, silk, rubber and other clothing materials now in demand for war production. (Heinl Radio Report, Aug. 11)

To fill a Sunday television void heretofore existing in the New York City area W2XWV, the video outlet of the Allen B. DuMont Labs., is now broadcasting more than an hour’s entertainment each Sunday starting at 8:30 p.m. (Broadcasting, August 31)

SEPTEMBER

Los Angeles—Set of films released through the Bureau of Aeronautics Training Film Unit has been obtained for the library of television station W6XAO according to film program director Marjorie Campbell. The two introductory films show the WEFT (wings, engine, fuselage and tail) system of aircraft identification, which depict basic, special and particular characteristics of aircraft. Additional material being prepared under the supervision of the Bureau of Aeronautics emphasize primary flight training, approaches, and landings, effect of aircraft icing, thunder storms and fogs.
First film was presented last Saturday [6], with two other pictures, "Winning Baseball," the story of professional baseball players, and "A Word to the Wise," based on the horror of fire hazards. The Thomas S. Lee Television Station presents programs each alternate Saturday evening, with test patterns, or test film transmissions starting at 7:00 p.m., PWT, preceding the program. (Radio Daily, Sept. 10)

First-aid team of five Western Union employees demonstrate the proper methods of handling major emergencies when they appear on CBS television station WCBW tonight from 8:30-9 p.m. Program is another in a series presented by WCBW in co-operation with the American Red Cross. Group from the Western Union is said to be an outstanding example of the type of well-equipped and efficient first-aid teams required to insure safety during air raids. (Radio Daily, Sept. 11)

Five programs have been scheduled by W2XWV, television station operated in New York by Allen DuMont Labs, for this Sunday night [13]. Beginning at 8:30 p.m. program schedule consists of "Instrumental Serenade," narrated by Jack Kelsey; "Musical Brevity," a film short; "Your Pet in Wartime," an educational feature presented under the auspices of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals; a salute to Czechoslovakia, and Sam Cuff with news comments. (Radio Daily, Sept. 11)

New York. Sept. 14. (AP). — You don’t hear much about television these war days. Yet, it's still on the air here-abouts under sharply-curtailed schedules.
Three New York stations continue to function with a maximum of four hours a week each. This arrangement has been in effect all summer, the stations arranging their transmissions so that programs are available four evenings a week. How long the schedule will con¬tinue has not been indicated.
The oldest transmitter, WNBT which NBC has operated since April, 1939, confines its four hours to Monday nights. Programs consist primarily of air raid warden instruction and film shorts.
WCBW of CBS, next in length of service, divides its time into two 2-hour telecasts a week. On Thursday it has news, badminton games and movies, while on Fridays the schedule contains more news, Red Cross first aid lessons and a quiz.
Dumont’s WABD, the third New York station, puts on a general variety show of an hour or more on Sunday nights. It has a lower power output than the other stations.
Size of the metropolitan audience has not been surveyed lately, but no doubt there has been a decrease. One factor besides the lessened program activity is that repairs and replacement parts for receivers are becoming more of a problem. Neither are technicians, many of whom have responded to the war call, so readily available for fix-it jobs.
Meanwhile out on the Pacific Coast W6XAO, Don Lee station at Los Angeles which dates its start back to 1931, continues in action, restricting telecasts to Saturday night variety shows. (C.E. Butterfield “Radio Day By Day” column)

Key civilians in radio broadcasting and television will not be accepted for commission or enlistment without written release from their company heads, according to a newly announced Army-Navy policy just adopted on recomme[n]dation of their joint personnel board. (Radio Daily, Sept. 16)

A full hour program of variety entertainment is now being broadcast Sunday nights at 8:30 o’clock on television station W2XWV, channel No. 4, 78-84 mc., owned by Allen B. Du Mont Laboratories, Inc., of Passaic.
Tonight’s show will include Doug Allen’s “Thrills and Chills,” with Earl Rossman, Alaskan explorer; Lillias MacLellan, vocalist; Sam Cuff, news commentator and a film dealing with the South African war effort. (Home News, Sept. 20)

Los Angeles—Under a new schedule, the West Coast's only operating television station, W6XAO, Los Angeles, has canceled its Saturday telecasts and will go on the air on alternate Mondays. First telecast under revised schedule was heard yesterday [21]. Monday was selected for bi-weekly programs after a survey showed the first day of the week to be the "preferred stay-at-home" night among West Coast listeners and lookers. Owner Thomas S. Lee of W6XAO also disclosed the installation for regular operation of two new orthicon television cameras. The Monday telecasts begin at 8 p.m. PWT and continue until 9:30 p.m. or later. (Radio Daily, Sept. 22)

Five local people will face a battery of kleig [sic] lights and television cameras when the “Solid Swing Revue” is televised over W2XWV on Channel No. 4, 78-84 megacycles, at 8:30 o’clock. Headlining the show will be Gloria Davis over 101 North Second avenue, Highland Park, who is being billed as the “Jitterbug Mimic.” The Highland Park High School student, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Alfred H. Davos, specializes in matching lip-movements with that of popular recording artists. The visual effect of the Park girl’s offering is both entertaining and hilarious.
Florence Reed, vocalist, who has appeared in many shows given here, as well as in night clubs and on the air, will also join in the television revue.
The “Torrid Trio,” a swing unit comprised of Edwin Shanholtz, pianist; Billy Holiday, bass fiddle, and Domic Angelo, sax and clarinetist, all of this city, will participate.

The remainder of the full-hour variety show will include a musical film, “Tempo of Tomorrow,” with Richard Himber’s orchestra; Charlie Taylor’s “Hit or Miss,” a quiz program and Sam Cuff’s “Face of the War” commentary. W2XWV is operated by the Allen B. Du Mont Laboratories, Inc., of Passaic. (Home News, Sept. 27)

OCTOBER

A full-hour program of television will be transmitted every Sunday night at 8:30 o’clock on W2XWV, channel No. 4, 78-84 megacycles.
This week’s telecast includes Holly Bill Steinke, “Man About Town” cartoonist; Althea Corwin, songstress; the “International Serenade,” narrated by Jack Kelsey and two films, “Bowling Skill” [Paramount Grantland Rice short, 1940] and “R. A. F. in Action.” (Home News, Oct. 4)

Last week's CBS television program over WCBW, New York, was aired by staff members of the network's head-quarters who have taken the American Red Cross first aid course. Team of five demonstrated the proper methods of handling major emergencies. Staff has been instructed by Charles Benninger, publicity, and the course is under the supervision of G.S. McAllister, director of construction and building operations. (Radio Daily, Oct. 6)

SCHENECTADY—An amateur two-hour boxing show was televised last night with police and fire stations in the neighborhood reporting “reception excellent” over television receiving sets.
The General Electric Company’s station WRGB televised the bouts before a studio audience of 150.
Sponsored by the Adirondack AAU the boxing show was composed of two five-round and five three-round bouts. (Olean Times Herald, Oct. 10)

Chicago, Oct. 13
Balaban & Katz Station W9XBK has hired seven girls with radio backgrounds and is training them to replace its engineer staff, which has joined the armed forces virtually in a body.
Girls will handle turnstile, microphones, audio and video boards and, in addition, learn to operate mobile trucks going out to get man-in-street interviews for visual broadcast.
New fall television program starts about Nov. 1 and consists of about hour’s television broadcast nightly. (Variety, Oct. 14)

Star of last Friday's [19] television program conducted by Richard Hubbell, head of the CBS Television News, was a beet—a sugar beet—from Colorado, important today because of the shortage of cane sugar. The beet, silvery white in color, seemed exceptionally handsome, but Hubbell modestly assured his audience it was only average. Debut was a success. (Radio Daily, Oct. 20)

Philadelphia, Oct. 20
The football game between Penn and Princeton was broadcast simultaneously via three media on Saturday (20)—standard radio, television and frequency modulation. It’s the first three-way broadcast ever made here at the same time.
The stunt was sponsored by the Philco and aired through WCAU, W60PH (WCAU-owned), and WPTZ, Philco’s own television station. (Variety, Oct. 20)

The New York City Committee on Child Welfare will present a special television program on behalf of its Foster Homes for Children Bureau, over W2XWV, 78-84 megacycles, on Channel No. 4 Sunday night [25] at 8:30 o’clock.
Other highlights of the weekly Sunday telecast on W2XWV will include the International Serenade, starring Jack Kelsey; two motion pictures, “Women at War” and “The Bike Parade,” and Sam Cuff, news analyst. (Home News, Oct. 25)

Film made by Navy during battle of Midway Island, will be carried over NBC television station, WNBT, next Monday [26], 9 p.m., EWT. Produced by Lt. Commander John Ford, former Hollywood director, presentation is made up of pictures taken while island was under direct Japanese attack. Many of the scenes were shot so close to the exploding bombs that the cameras were jarred out of position by the blasts. Program is one of group of official government films being televised during the station's regular Monday evening broadcasts. (Radio Daily, Oct. 22)

Chicago, Oct. 27
Entire technical staff of girls has been hired and trained to service W9XBK, Balaban & Katz television station in the Loop, handling the controls, studio cameras, operate the audio [sic] and video controls, power panels, and serving as stage managers and announcers.
Stage manager is Fran Harris, former radio actress. Others include Jean Schricker, former office workers and Rachel Stewart, former soda dispenser, both working as cameramen, Margaret Durnel, onetime film router and Esther Rojewski, electric appliance worker, as power panel operators, Pauline Bovrow, commercial artist and video control, and Jean Mintz, former secretary on audio control. Girls are known as the Women’s Auxiliary Technical Television staff, otherwise the WATTS. They present one-hour-a-day in television broadcasts, including playlets, monologues, fashion sketches and musical entertainment. Technical gang has been trained and is supervised by Archie Brolly, only male technician left at the station. (Variety, October 28)

A talking film on television, prepared for presentation at schools, service clubs and other audiences which might be interested in iconoscoping, has been made by General Electric. GE produced it in the form of a 20-minute show over its Schenectady television station, WGRB [sic], giving a complete backstage picture of how a television program is presented. One of the most interested ‘spectators’ was Robert S. Peare, manager of broadcasting for GE. Peare was ill at home and until he gave his approval of the picture it could not be released. (Variety, October 28)

Philadelphia – Preparatory to the formal opening of television station WPTZ, owned and operated by the Philco Corp., test programs on experimental station W6XE were inaugurated last week. In addition to a receiver test chart, the Penn-Columbia football game was televised from Franklin Field in this city on Saturday.
Beginning on Wednesday at 7:30p.m. and every Wednesday night thereafter, the Philco television station is transitting [sic] a receiver test chart at which time a feature film will be televised. Plans for continued transmission of Penn football games each Saturday during the current season have also been announced by Paul Knight, program manager, who has addressed a letter to "all viewers of Philco's television station" in which the firm's future television activity was revealed.
Letter also advises viewers of the possible necessity of adjusting receiving antenna in view of the new location of the transmitting antenna. Purpose of the test programs is to make the necessary adjustments. Philco's new television transmitter is located at Wyndmoor, Pa. (Radio Daily, Oct. 29)

NOVEMBER

Hon. Greenwood Adams, M. P., member of the Australian Parliament, will make a guest appearance on television station W2XWV, when the weekly Sunday [1] evening variety program is presented on the air at 8:30 o’clock.
He will participate on Doug Allan’s “Thrills and Chills” program. Others to be heard include Charlie Taylor in televisions’ first viewing audience quiz participation program; Georgette Starr, vocalist at Tony Pastor’s; a film, “The Bike Parade,” and Sam Cuff’s news analysis. (Home News, Nov. 1)

Paul Knight, program manager of Philco’s television station, arranging a series of test programs on the experimental W3XR in preparation for the formal opening of WPTZ. (Billboard, Nov. 7)

In cooperation with the program experimentation committee of the American Television Society, Du Mont Television Co. has specially arranged to open its studios for an evening of practical television on Tuesday, November 24 at 8:30 p.m. The operation of the Du Mont equipment will be explained to this group, and opportunity will be given for members to experiment with ideas and camera shots.
In accepting this offer, Kay Reynolds, chairman of the committee, said: "We are greatly indebted to M.B. Lajoie and the Du Mont organization for their enthusiasm and kind cooperation. During the war, the technical progress of television is continuing at an accelerated pace; this makes it all the more necessary that, in the interests of this great industry of the future, program experimentation must carry on."
Following the demonstration at the studio, an important matter of American Television Society policy will be put before the members by Norman D. Waters, president. (Radio Daily, Nov. 19)

DECEMBER

Television's first audience community sing program will be flashed from the studios of the Du Mont Television Station, W2XWV, at 515 Madison Avenue, New York City on Sunday [Dec. 6], at 9:30 A.M.
Four hundred men in khaki have been invited by the Montclair Y. M. C. A. to attend a special television party and join the song fest.
Two members of the Montclair Rotary Club, M. C. MacPherson, past president, and Sayard Rowell, who is also instructor of instrumental music in the Montclair public schools, will conduct the community sing which has been titled "Sing and Be Happy." Mr. MacPherson will lead and Mr. Rowell will be accompanist.
C. Henry Klaubert, secretary of the Montclair Lions Club and director of programs at the Y. M. C. A. will play host to the servicemen. Televiewers throughout the metropolitan area of New York and New Jersey will also be invited to sing the favorite songs of yesterday and today during the telecast.
W2XWV transmits variety programs every Sunday night at 8:30 o'clock on television Channel 4, 78-84 mc. (Montclair Times, Dec. 3)

Washington – The FCC yesterday granted a license to Balaban & Katz, Chicago theater organization affiliated with Paramount, to operate its new experimental television station W9XBB. Commission records show Paramount as the principal stock-holder of Balaban & Katz, whose directors include the Paramount president, Barney Balaban, vice-president Y. Frank Freeman and Paramount's legal chief, Austin C. Keough. The other directors of the company are John Balaban and Elmer C. Upton.
W9XBB will operate with 10 watts power on an experimental basis, using frequency for from 384,000 to 396,000 kilocycles. (Radio Daily, Dec. 4)

With the resignation of Leonard Hole, acting executive director of television, CBS will probably curtail its television activities drastically. Hole will report Tuesday (22) as a lieutenant (jg) at the Quonset Point (R. I.) Naval Base. He will probably not be replaced.
Last of the executives to leave CBS television, Hole leaves a skeleton staff of four men. Company will probably air only four hours of films a week, as NBC has done since July. Because of the shortage of manpower and technical equipment, particularly tubes, the FCC is not enforcing its earlier edict that the television companies would have to operate on a 14-hour weekly schedule. (Variety, Dec. 16)

Nelson Birch, clerk of the North Brunswick township committee, whose hobby is performing feats of magic, will appear tonight on a television broadcast over station W2XWV, 78-84 Megacycles, on channel No. 4, in New York City.
Birch, who has appeared before many groups here and elsewhere, is known as “Professor Eloff.” He has performed tricks for the past 30 years and is regarded as one of the best semi-professional magicians in the east.
The telecast will begin at 8:30 o’clock, with Birch making his appearance at 9. (Home News, Dec. 27)

The Thomas S. Lee, television station W6XAO, Los Angeles, came up with quite a feather in its cap recently when it televised an interview with Commander Richard Kiefer of the airplane carrier Yorktown. Kiefer was interviewed before the television lens by John B. Hughes. Through Hughes' interrogation Kiefer gave details of the story of the Yorktown. (Radio Daily, Dec. 30)

Saturday, 6 November 2021

Commercial TV Arrives

Television didn’t just come full-blown into the world in 1948 with the major radio networks putting daily televised schedules on the air. It appeared in homes around almost at the dawn of network radio in the late ‘20s and slowly evolved through the ‘30s and the war years. But there were small numbers of sets, no networks, fewer than a dozen stations and they were concentrated in fewer cities. Like early radio, it was local, simple, and devoid of commercials (and, unfortunately, live, so next to nothing of it survives for us to view).

Commercial television in the U.S. finally came due to a number of things, mainly after the FCC approved some uniform technical specifications for broadcasting and set a date. So it was that July 1, 1941 marked the start of commercial broadcasts. New York City had three stations on the air—NBC’s WNBT (which had begun life in 1928 as W2XBS), CBS’s WCBW (which had been W2XAB) and DuMont’s W2XWV, which became WABD when it went commercial. The New York Sun reported on June 28 that W2XWV wouldn’t be going on the air "because of difficulty in obtaining necessary equipment." But the station managed to rig something.

While no visual record of the first day of commercial TV exists, Broadcasting magazine of July 7, 1941, gave a pretty complete account. Hugh James, by the way, was the announcer on “The Voice of Firestone.”

Five advertisers participated in making the opening day of commercial television really commercial by sponsoring telecasts on WNBT, only station to be ready for business with a commercial license and a rate card. The latest sponsor was Missouri Pacific Lines, St. Louis, whose advertising department placed a half-hour travel film on WNBT Friday night.
The FCC last Monday, in connection with the start of commercial video the following day, issued an objective statement reviewing events leading up to full commercial authorization.
The FCC indicated that in addition to the established visual broadcast service for the New York area, three more stations expect soon to make the transition from experimental to commercial operation—Don Lee's W6XAO, Los Angeles, Zenith's W9XZV, Chicago, and Philco's W3XE, Philadelphia.

Bulova Watch Co., New York, opened and closed the day's transmissions on this station with a visual adaptation of its familiar radio time signal. A standard test pattern, fitted with hands like a clock and bearing the name of the sponsor, ticked off a full minute at 2:30 p.m. and 11 p.m. for the edification of the viewers-in. This two-program contract also provides television's first success story, for following the opening day's test the sponsor immediately signed up for daily time-signals for the standard 13-week period.
Sun Oil Co., Philadelphia, telecast the regular evening news broadcast of Lowell Thomas as it also went out to listeners over the Blue network, with Hugh James reading the commercials from a desk piled high with cans of the product. This program, sponsored as an opening day special, was placed through Roche, Williams & Cunnyngham, Chicago.
Lever Bros Co., Cambridge, Mass., treated the audience to a sight-and-sound version of its radio program, Uncle Jim's Question Bee, with the commercials presented by Aunt Jennie, star of another Lever series. For her first commercial, Aunt Jennie told of compliments her cooking has received since she started using Spry, demonstrating her remarks about its quality by opening a can and displaying its contents to the audience.
At the close of the program she cut and served to the cast and the contestants on the show an appetizing chocolate cake. While they ad libbed their appreciation, including several requests for second helpings, Aunt Jennie got in a couple of short conversational plugs for Spry. This one-time test program, handled by Ruthrauff & Ryan, New York, effectively demonstrated the ease with which television can put over a hard–hitting direct sales message.
P & G Program
Procter & Gamble Co., Cincinnati, presented an adaptation of one of its programs, Truth or Consequences, ideally adapted to the medium with its comic situations.
The commercials told the familiar "red hands" story. The camera presented a close-up of a pair of hands, red and rough from dishwashing, then dollied back to reveal a woman and a boy with a basket of groceries, including three cakes of soap.
The woman told the boy to take the two cakes of Ivory to the bathroom and to put the laundry soap on the sink for dishwashing. Then the scene was repeated with another pair of hands, this time all three cakes of soap were Ivory, pointing an obvious moral. Contestants on this show received large cakes of Ivory, whose labels were plainly visible to the audience. Compton Adv., New York, handled the program.
In addition, WNBT during the afternoon telecast the Dodgers-Phillies baseball game and in the evening put on USO program and a condensed version of a satire on Army life, written, produced and performed by the privates and non-coms of Ft. Monmounth, N. J.

And what about the other two stations? Broadcasting doesn’t reveal much more than problems.

Although beset by technical difficulties which threatened to halt the proceedings, both WCBW and W2XWV pushed through to get programs on the air on July 1. The DuMont engineers, unable to make the necessary changes in their antenna in the time allotted, rigged up a substitute temporary mast which, although not transmitting as powerful a signal, sent out pictures and sound which were clearly received by set-owners as far away as Passaic, N. J. This station's two-hour evening program included both live and film entertainment.
Troubles Galore

CBS engineers, hampered but not stopped by a broken camera circuit and the failure of the fluorescent lighting system shortly before time for the afternoon program, got WCBW on the air on schedule. Highspot of the afternoon program was a dancing lesson given to a boy and girl by Arthur Murray instructors.
Other entertainment included a newscast, with a large map behind the announcer that reversed on a central pivot to permit an immediate change of geography in keeping with the locale of the news, and a children's story-telling program, with the story illustrated by an artist drawing his sketches as the audience watched and listened.
In the evening, after further camera trouble, WCBW presented a blues singer, the first of a scheduled series on the Metropolitan Museum of Art, introduced by the museum's director, Francis Henry Taylor, and Bob Edge interviewing sports celebrities.

WNBT carried on with a 15-hour-a-week commercial schedule. CBS was still fussing around with colour TV, broadcasting Country Dance that month in colour after a black-and-white telecast earlier in the day. By 1943, W2XWV was carrying sponsored programmes on an experimental basis on Wednesday nights and finally got a commercial license the following year.

If you’re interested in the W2XBS/WNBT programming schedule, THIS web site has transcribed them from the New York Times. Unfortunately, other stations aren’t included.

(Reprint from Tralfaz blog)