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