Boston started June 1948 with no television. It had two stations before the end of the month.
There were television transmissions in the early ‘30s in Boston by the Shortwave & Television Co.’s W1XAV. General Television received a license to put experimental station W1XG on the air in 1934.
Westinghouse’s radio station operations filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission on March 22, 1944 for a commercial television station in Boston to operate on Channel 5. Television magazine noted in May 1945 that General Television had withdrawn its application to go commercial and leased W1XG’s transmitter and studios to Twentieth Century-Fox, which then applied for an experimental station. The story also pointed out there were only 15 sets in Boston, all owned by General Television.
It took two years for the FCC to decide to hand Westinghouse a construction permit for a TV station. It happened Aug. 12, 1946. Walter E. Benoit of Washington declared to the Boston Globe “As soon as equipment and facilities are available, television will be placed in operation in the Boston area.” Television Digest of Aug. 17 added the owners of WBZ and WBZ-FM were granted Channel No. 4 (66-72 me) with 10 kw visual power, 7.5 kw aural power, 500 ft. antenna height. The same trade paper, on Nov. 16, 1946, said the station had been assigned the call-letters WBZ-TV.
It took some time to get things ready. The papers tracked the progress. Here's what Television magazine said in its July 1947 issue:
WBZ-TV, Westinghouse station in Boston, will be on the air with test programs by the end of the year and will inaugurate a regular television program service early next year, according to W. C. Swartley, station manager. New radio-television center now under construction, will include a 40x45 foot television studio, with a mezzanine operations room for technicians, producers, etc.; an auditorium type studio equipped for television; make-up rooms, film studios, and a film vault. Also included will be garages for the WBZ-TV mobile unit, which will pick up special events throughout the area and relay them to the center for broadcast.
Billboard, Aug. 2, 1947:
Boston Tele Preps' For Remote Pick-Ups
BOSTON, July 26.—Boston's first television station, WBZ-TV, now being constructed on a 10-acre tract adjoining Harvard Stadium, will be equipped with an RCA microwave relay unit for use as needed in remote pick-ups.
In announcing this new equipment, W. H. Hauser, chief engineer of the New England Westinghouse stations, said it was being installed so that all special event requirements in the metropolitan Boston area could be met where co-axial lines from the pick-up point were not available. The added coverage will bring plenty of Boston and suburban sport events within range of the tele station. Suffolk Downs Race Track, Wonderful Dog Track, and the stadia of Harvard, Boston College, Boston University, Tufts, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology and other colleges will be within easy reach.
Test patterns are expected to be aired late this year, and Jordan Marsh, the department store head, reports early customer-interest in television sets.
Variety, Aug. 27, 1947:
WBZ-TV's Mobile Unit
Boston, Aug. 26.
WBZ-TV, Hub's first video outfit readying for fall debut, acquired a mobile television unit this week for spot coverage. No tests are planned for some time but vehicle, a special unit on a Chevy chassis, is being used for personnel training under direction of W. H. Hauser, WBZ-TV chief engineer.
Outfit has a two-camera video pickup plus Microwave Relay Unit for relaying spot coverage back to main transmitter when coaxial lines are not available. It's figured that new WBZ studios, under construction in Alliston, will be ready by Christmas. New building will house television center as well as standard band. FM, administrative staff plus shortwave affiliate WBOS.
Broadcasting, Oct. 13, 1947
WBZ's Radio-TV Center Cornerstone to Be Laid
CORNERSTONE will be laid for Boston area's new Westinghouse-WBZ Radio and Television Center at ceremonies next Thursday[16] in suburban Allston. Vice President Walter E. Benoit of the broadcasting division will head the list of Westinghouse officials participating. Other speakers include WBZ Manager W. C. Swartley and W. H. Hauser, chief engineer.Ceremonies will be broadcast 1:30-1:45 p.m. on WBZ-WBZA Boston-Springfield. A tape recording of the program, and other mementos of the day, will be placed in the cornerstone.
Television programs, including NBC network video shows, are scheduled to take the air over WBZ-TV, sometime prior to March 1, 1948.
Something else had to be done. There was no coaxial cable to Boston, which meant no network feed from network. Billboard, Nov. 22, 1947, reported on the solution.
ATT Launches N.Y.-Boston Radio Relay
Big Step in Tele Networking
NEW YORK, Nov. 15.—Television networking made a major gain this week when American Telephone & Telegraph Company (ATT) Thursday (13) inaugurated radio relay service between New York and Boston. The system, based on microwave relays perched atop seven hills between this city and the Hub, can handle several hundred phone conversations and a limited number of television transmissions simultaneously.
A demonstration of the facilities also inaugurated the world's longest existing television network, flashing images from Boston to Washington and vice versa, some 500 miles. The pictures were routed thru New York City, the coaxial cable between New York and Washington serving as a second link in the network and proving the possibility of combining radio relay and coaxial transmission.
Opens Big Market
The New York to Boston link cost an estimated $2,000,000 to install. It opens in conjunction with the Washington hookup, a market of 25,000,000 potential television viewers. A New York to Chicago relay system is now under construction and further experimentation will determine which transmission system is the more practical. The Chicago line is to be finished in about 18 months.
The ATT demonstration, which used both live pickups and film, resulted in an excellent picture, with no loss of fidelity in transmission. Program was aired by WABC, WCBS-TV and WNBT in New York; WFIL-TV and WPTZ, Philadelphia; WMAR-TV, Baltimore; WMAL-TV, WNBW and WTTG, Washington, and WRBG, Schenectady.
As matters stand now NBC will benefit most thru the Boston link, since its affiliate, WBZ-TV (Westinghouse) is to be the first Boston telecaster, due on the air in a few months. Yankee Network's tele station is now being built, with service due probably in the fall of next year. Since there are now no Boston video facilities, NBC mobile equipment did the pickup for this week's demonstration.
Even though the station wasn’t on the air, the WBZ-TV remote truck was used on Jan. 22, 1948 to relay a broadcast of the approach of the beam trawler Dorchester to the Boston Fish Pier on NBC stations in Schenectady, Baltimore, Washington and Philadelphia—in the middle of a snowstorm. A special telecast of films of the spring training action of Boston’s two baseball clubs was sent by microwave from the WJZ-TV studio to the Boston Electrical Show, April 3 to 10. Then on May 11, it was announced both teams would televise their home games on the eventually-two Boston stations.
The weather continued to be a problem, making it impossible for engineers to put up the transmitter tower. Dates of testing and the start of programming kept being postponed. The Christian Science Monitor reported on the first tests in its issues of June 3 and 4.
WBZ-TV Shows `Preview' Of Regular Video
A limited television schedule of 60 minutes daily of motion pictures and films by Station WBZ-TV, prior to "T-Day," June 9, was initiated today by Westinghouse officials in Boston. The program, on Channel 4, in the 66-72-mega-cycle region, was, and will continue to be, telecast from 12 noon to 1 p.m., daylight time.
The new video plant at Allston, Mass. next to the Harvard Stadium, will be dedicated with special ceremonies beginning at 6:15 p.m., on Wednesday, Mr. Swartley said. At that time visual greeting will be telecast by leading national and local civic, religious, and business leaders.
WBZ-TV's telecasting schedule after T-Day will be limited initially, Mr. Swartley explained, with regular programs scheduled Wednesday through Sunday at 7 p.m.
“We plan no television pro-grams on Mondays and Tuesdays with the exception of baseball games,” Mr. Swartley said.
He disclosed that on Wednesday, WBZ-TV, furthermore, would join the National Broadcasting Company's television network. This link, now largely regional, extends from Boston south to Richmond. Va., though it is being pushed farther South to Atlanta, Ga., and west to Chicago.
Among the Wednesday network NBC television programs are television newsreels at 7:50 p.m. and 10 p.m.; "In the Kitchen," with Alma Kitchell, at 8:30 p.m., and a 60-minute drama in "Television Theater." at 9 p.m. WBZ-TV test patterns will continue on a regular transmission schedule, Mr. Swartley added, to enable local service personnel the opportunity in line up receivers. The test pattern is a geometric-figured diagram placed before the TV cameras of WBZ-TV which permits both station engineers and television set dealers to tune up their equipment and receivers for a clearer and sharper picture.
First Program in Boston Telecast; WBZ-TV Shows Three Short Movies
By Albert D. Hughes
Radio Editor of The Christian Science Monitor
A Panagra film short depicting a flight over company routes from the Canal Zone to Bolivia was included in the first modern television program telecast yesterday [3] in Boston by Westinghouse Station WBZ-TV.
Reception was clear though marred slightly by local "man-made" static at the Massachusetts Trade School, 100 Massachusetts Avenue, where several receivers were tuned into the program. Due to technical difficulties, the picture program, scheduled at noon, did not go on the air until 12:40 p. m.
Other films, one a United States Army recruiting feature, and a local short showing the arts and crafts classes organized by the Metropolitan Chapter of the American Red Cross for veterans in local hospitals, were also shown.
Today, Westinghouse showed three films beginning at noon. One was "Let's Stop Starvation," a United Nations appeal for aid to European children; the second was "We of the West Riding," a British Information Office film showing life in the northern English county of Yorkshire; the last film, second part of yesterday's airline travelogue, took travelers on down the South and East Coasts of South America.
The Red Cross film drew comment because of the local scenes shown, such as the sign and driveway at the West Roxbury Veterans Hospital.
Evidence of the great interest in television in Boston was shown by the crowd which quickly gathered in the small room in the Trade School where several sets were turned on. Only two per. sons were on hand when the DBZ-TV [sic] programs began. In a short while classrooms of the school began to fill as word went around quickly in the corridors. "Television!"
Westinghouse officials also re-ported, crowds gathered outside radio stores about Boston where picture receivers were tuned into the WBZ-TV program.
WJZ-TV formally began programming on June 9, 1948. The NBC relay worked just fine. Here is the report from Broadcasting of June 14.
WBZ-TV Formally Opened at Boston
Inaugural Features Government, Business, Religious Leaders
COMMENTS on television's impact by government and business officials and religious leaders featured the formal dedication of WBZ-TV Boston and expansion of its program service last Wednesday evening [BROADCASTING, June 7].Inaugural program gotunderway at 6:30 p.m. from the Boston studios of WBZ and WBZA Springfield, Mass., with brief talks by several religious leaders. Among their comments was this one by the Most Rev. Richard J. Cushing, D. D., Catholic archbishop of Boston:
"Recreational, spiritual and cultural posibilities of this medium cannot be fully estimated. It will be a healthy and wholesome service to the spiritually-minded ... It will be a happy medium for pleasant and profitable diversion."
Speaking on behalf of business, C. Lawrence Muench, new president of the Boston Chamber of Commerce, said in part: "I have considered my radio indispensable, and now realize that my radio is blind." Mr. Muench forsees numerous possibilities for business and public relations through television.
On the governmental side Boston's Mayor Curley pointed out that a public servant "can no longer be unaware of his appearance. Television will have a great impact on the future of all public servants."
Also appearing on the inaugural program was Gov. Robert F. Bradford of Massachusetts,who recalled his first television experience last winter when NBC, in cooperation with WBZ-TV, televised Boston Fish Pier activities.
Other participants were J. B. Conley, general manager of Westinghouse Radio Stations Inc., Philadelphia, and W. C. Swartley, WBZ station manager.
WBZ-TV is operating on Channel 4 (66-72 mc), and its programming includes a full evening schedule beginning at 7, plus big league baseball and other Boston events.
Television's June 1948 issue looked at sponsors and programming, both local and network.
WBZ-TV Boston
Opening of Westinghouse's WBZ-TV in Boston adds another link to the Eastern seaboard network and another affiliate to NBC. First television outlet to open in the nation's fifth market area, WBZ-TV's coverage is estimated as serving a 40-mile radius, with a population of nearly three million people. Programs will be telecast over channel 4. Westinghouse also has applications on file in Pittsburgh and Portland.
Initial schedule calls for Wednesday through Sunday programming, beginning at 6:55 each evening. Afternoon pickups will feature the home games of both the Red Sox and the Braves and station will also telecast these events on the "off" days, Monday and Tuesday, when the line-up requires it. Bulk of their programming will be relayed over the A.T. & T. radio relay from NBC, but Saturday night's fare will be purely local. Emphasis is on news, with such daily five minute features as a news tape preceding evening shows; the "Daily Newsteller," the" INS Newsreel," "Views and News of New England," using Boston Post pictures and the WBZ newsreel, a Saturday feature. The 10 minute Camel Newsreel Theatre will be relayed three times weekly. Station has also contracted for the Korda films, shown Sunday night at 9.
Studios will be located in the Radio-Television Center, which has one large auditorium studio with stage 28' x 30' and another 40'x 50'.Facilities include four studio image orthicon cameras, 16mm and 35 mm film projectors and complete mobile equipment, including four image orthicon cameras.
On the commercial side, the outlook is bright, withabout 70% of its program time commercially sponsored (based on an average of 20 hours a week, excluding baseball.) This includes such network sponsors as Kraft, Lucky Strike, Camel, Swift, Gillette, Kelvinator, Motorola, Gulf, U.S. Rubber, Kools, General Electric and General Foods. Local accounts include Atlantic Refining and Narragansett Brewing, co-sponsors of the ballgames; Bulova, Clinton Clothing Mfg. Co., John Donnelly & Sons Advertising, Esso Standard Oil of New Jersey, Filene's, First National Bank, Haffenreffer & Co., Jordan March, Mass. Cooperative Bank League and National Shawmut Bank of Boston.
Station is staffed by W. C. Swartley, station manager; W. H. Hauser, chief engineer; W. Gordon Swan, program manager, and C. Herbert Masse, sales manager.
And the story in the Boston Globe the day after the broadcast:
Historic Date
Boston's First Day of Television
By ELIZABETH SULLIVAN
Globe Radio Editor
How did you like it ... you sidewalk brigade who viewed the debut of television from the store windows of Boston last night?Would you like to know how the show was put on?
Many weeks went into its preparation. Leaders of the three dominant faiths were invited long ago to start off the inaugural ceremonies. As you know, the weather delayed T-Day and since these men are extremely busy fulfilling engagements, it was possible they would be out of town just when they were needed at WBZ. So WBZ officials sent cameramen to film them at their offices, or at the film studio where WBZ does special work.
Dean Edwin van Etten and C. Lawrence Muench, new president of the Chamber of Commerce, were filmed at the studio, while Archbishop Cushing, Gov. Bradford and Mayor Curley were filmed in their executive offices. Dean van Etten looked most comfortable as he rocked casually in an easy chair. Mr. Muench looked as if he were speaking from atop a tall building but that was an aerial view of Boston banging on the wall. It was so appropriate, for his talk was on the scenic beauty of Boston as seen from atop the John Hancock building. Smart people, these television execs!
This film part of the show was run off at the transmitter site in Allston, where WBZ has just completed its new steel television tower. Signals making up the film were sent from the new building beside the tower through a co-axial cable up the tower and out over the air for television set owners to pick up. Incidentally, WBZ had the pleasure of picking up its own signals last night. All the receivers assembled in Studio A, where invited guests viewed the show, at the Bradford Hotel, tuned in WBZ-TV signals right from Allston. One antenna served the six sets in the studio, a clever engineering stunt.
Remember the group of young folks you saw sitting on a divan, with a coffee table nearby covered with goodies to eat? This presentation, put on under sponsorship of Filene’s, took place right in the WBZ studios at the Bradford. Cameras, lights and engineers were in a large rear studio televising the show. This was sent out of WBZ to Allston and then retransmitted for public consumption ... from the tall, steel tower.
When you saw Gov. Bradford, he was by film. . . made several weeks' ago. . and this film was out at the transmitter in Allston. On the other hand, Senator Leverett Saltonstall, who was down in Washington, was actually being interviewed when you saw him. Televised in Washington, his picture we sent by co-axial cable (an underground wire process) to WNBT, New York. From WNBT, it came to Boston over the air by microwave system, which is the telephone company's system to Bowdoon sq. from which point it was sent to the transmitter at Allston and here again WBZ turned in its own television signals.
J. B. Conley, general manager of broadcasting for Westinghouse, sat in a comfortable chair at the Bradford WBZ studio, surrounded by door lamps, open fireplace and carpeted floor, while television cameras were focused upon him. This was a live studio show, sent to the transmitter for telecast.
New Television Center
So there you have it. Some of the pictures were by film, some right from the studios of WBZ, in the Bradford and the Senator in a real live interview all the way from Washington by microwave system.
Very soon WBZ will be moving out to its new radio and television center in Allston. There will be no need then for the shifting back and forth ... from the Bradford to the transmitter ... as was necessary last night. Whether a show is live, or by film, it will go right out over the air from the new site.
Equipment to televise from WBZ studios last night was borrowed from the televan. This is a large van WBZ has equipped for outdoor television. You will see this truck at the ball games and at special events.
And while we're letting you in on secrets, let us tell you about that Indian head symbol you have been seeing during the past week while WBZ-TV has been putting on test patterns. The symbol has caused no amount of comment. We tracked it down last night.
Lynn Morrow, assistant sales manager of WBZ, thought it up. It signifies "tepee" ... get it? 'T.P"— for test picture!
The broadcast had the unenviable distinction of featuring a dead man.
BOSTON, June 9. (AP)—The death of Rabbi Joshua Loth Liebman, author of the best-seller Peace of Mind, came today shortly before he was to participate, via film, in the first television broadcast in Boston.
Officials of Station WBZ-TV were notified of his death less than half an hour before a movie showing Rabbi Liebman was to be televised.
Station Manager W. C. Swartley conferred with the clergyman’s relatives and friend. Swartley went on the air with an explanatory message stating that it was believed the noted rabbi would want the film used despite his death.
In the televised film, Rabbi Liebman prayed for a renewal of the spirit of religion.
We’ve talked about two Boston stations signing on in June, but there was a third that went on the air in New England. Folks in Holyoke, Massachusetts could pick it up and, in fact, it began tests the next day after WBZ-TV began full programming.
Here’s the Holyoke Transcript-Telegram of June 11.
Subway Café Mobbed At Its Television Goes Into Action
Fred Pafik of 244 Oak St., owner and operator of the cafe, said today that altho he is satisfied with yesterday's test, he is already thinking of having the present piece of apparatus replaced with a larger and more expensive radio. The television set at the Subway, which was installed by the Holyoke Radio Supply Co., sells for $375 plus installation costs. The work was done by Wallace Foerster of 898 Main St.
This apparatus has a 12 by inch screen and Pafik hopes to have a radio with a screen 18 by 18 inches.
The attendant publicity in last night's edition of the T.-T. relative to the appearance of television at the Subway resulted in an overflow crowd thruout the night. At one point three police cruisers appeared on the scene due to an erroneous report that trouble was brewing at the cafe.
The test which started yesterday afternoon at 4 p. m. from New Haven merely flashed a test pattern on the screen. Vocal reception attended the testing with announcements made that WNHC-TV would go on the air Tuesday, June 15th on a tie-in with the Dumond [DuMont] Corporation out of New York city on Channel 5. The New Haven station will have a relay station at Hampden, Conn.
After WBZ-TV started telecasting at 6 last night, Foerster managed to bring it in immediately with a very strong "signal" or in other words, a clear picture on the screen. The station is on Channel 4 and Foerster believes that even better reception can be expected on Channel 5 from New Haven, due to the fact that the relay station at Hampden will boost the "signals" into this area.
The receiving set at the Subway was set up on a table at the east end of the cafe. Pafik today stated that a special platform is already under construction which will have the radio set up almost to the ceiling and stationed in this position, patrons can get a much better view of the picture.
Last night's telecast out of Boston comprised mostly drama, altho an orchestra, complete with vocalists, and newscasts were also received here. Pafik admitted that business was unusually good last night. As a couple of television and bar customers said. "You pay for a movie—the least you can do is to 'have a few' when you're watching this screen."
Here’s the first week’s schedule for WBZ-TV.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9
10-noon—Test Patterns. 1:00-4:00—Test Patterns. 6:15—Boston Scenes. 6:25—Test Pattern and News Tape. 6:30—WBZ-TV Inaugural Program including: Dean Edwin J. van Etten, Archbishop Richard J. Cushing, Rabbi Joshua Loth Liebman, Mayor James M. Curley. 6:54—National Sports Gallery. 7:00—Kit Carson Serial. 7:20—Big Broadcast, cartoon. 7:25—Nightly Newsteller. 7:30—New England Holiday. 7:42—Weather. 7:45—Coming Attractions. 7:47—Talk by Gov. Robert F. Bradford. 7:50—Newsreel Theatre, sponsored by Camel cigarettes (NBC). 8:00—Magic Words. 8:12—Future Look, Mrs. Mary Wight, H.D. Hodgkinson interview young boys. 8:27—Kisses to You. 8:30—“In the Kelvinator Kitchen,” with Alma Kitchell (NBC). 8:45—Story of the Week with Richard C. Harkness (NBC). 9:00—Kraft Television Theatre (NBC). 10:00—To be announced. 11:00—INS News. 11:05—News and View of New England. 11:10—Sign Off
THURSDAY, JUNE 10
10-noon—Test Patterns. 1:00-4:00—Test Patterns. 4:00—INS Newsreel. 6:30—Test Patterns. 6:55—Newstape. 7:00—Film, “Fighting with Kit Carson,” John Mack Brown, Noah Beery, Sr., Noah Berry, Jr. 7:30—Jack and the Beanstalk, cartoon (Iwerks, 1933). 7:40—Stop Starvation (Children’s Crusade). 7:50—Newsreel Theatre, sponsored by Camel cigarettes (NBC). 8:00—Salt Water Wonderland. 8:15—Nature of Things, with Dr. Roy K. Marshall (NBC). 8:30—Lanny Ross Show, sponsored by Kraft. (NBC) 9:00—You Are an Artist with John Gnagy, sponsored by Gulf. (NBC). 9:15—NBC Newsroom. 9:30—Barney Blake, Police Reporter (NBC). 10:00—INS News 10:05—Views of New England. 10:10—Sign Off.
FRIDAY, JUNE 11
10-noon—Test Patterns.
1:00-4:00—Test Patterns.
4:00—INS Newsreel.
6:30—Test Patterns.
6:55—Newstape.
7:00—Film, “Fighting with Kit Carson,” John Mack Brown, Noah Beery, Sr., Noah Berry, Jr.
7:20—Coming Attractions.
7:30—Preamble to Peace (U.S. Army).
7:42—Bold King Cole, cartoon (Van Beuren, 1936).
7:50—Newsreel Theatre, sponsored by Camel cigarettes (NBC).
8:00—Sports Time.
8:15—New England Calling
8:49—Big Bad Wolf.
9:00—Sports Reports.
9:15—Newsreel.
9:25—“Gillette Cavalcade of Sports” from Madison Square Garden (NBC).
10:00—Boxing feature match (NBC).
10:30—INS News.
10:35—Views and News of New England.
10:40—Sign Off.
SATURDAY, JUNE 12
9:00-10:00—Test Patterns. 1:00-5:00—Test Patterns. 4:00—INS Newsreel. 6:30—Test Patterns. 6:55—Newstape. 7:00—Film, “Fighting with Kit Carson,” John Mack Brown, Noah Beery, Sr., Noah Berry, Jr. 7:20—Coming Attractions. 7:25—Daily Newsteller. 7:30—Julius Caesar. 7:50—WBZ Newsreel. 7:55—INS Documentary. 8:00—Little Ballerina. 9:00—Instruments of Orchestra. 9:23—INS News. 9:28—Views and News of New England. 9:30—Sign Off.
SUNDAY, JUNE 13
5:30—INS Newsreel. 6:30—Test Patterns. 6:55—News Tape. 7:00—Life of St. Paul. 7:20—Coming Attractions. 7:25—Daily Newsteller. 7:30—Sea Going Thrills (Castle film). 7:40—Weekend in Bermuda (Pan-Am, 1945). 7:50—Sunday Newsteller. 8:00—Film. 8:30—NBC Play House. 9:00—Home Theatre, Alexander Korda Film “Q-Planes” with Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson, Valerie Hobson. 10:30—INS News. 10:35—News and Views of New England. 10:40—Sign off.
MONDAY, JUNE 14
No programming.
TUESDAY, JUNE 15
7:00—Test Pattern. 7:45—News Tape. 7:50—Newsreel Theatre, sponsored by Camel cigarettes (NBC). 8:00—Film. 8:15—Pre-Game Ceremonies. 8:30—Baseball, Boston Braves vs. Chicago Cubs. 10:30—Sign Off.
Video Baseball Pleases Hub Fans
Most Favor Closeups, Offer Suggestions
Greater Boston baseball fans, who saw the first televised game last night [15] between the Braves and Cubs, today called it a good and interesting show. But they had a few suggestions to offer.
* * *
They were impressed most by the closeups, which they thought were very good. They reported they could see every move of the players in these closeups—even their mouths moving when they talked.
In some respects, one fan said, the television was superior to a grandstand seat. For example, when a batter hit a fly ball, television took its audience right out into the outfield for a closeup of the outfielder making the putout catch.
But when the televisers tried to take in the whole infield or show a large part of the outfield, results were not so successful, according to some fans. They said the picture blurred so they had to concentrate on it to make out what was going on; they couldn't tell where the ball was, for one thing.
It was helpful, at times like this, when the announcer kept abreast of the play and told them what was happening. But when a pitcher would wind up and let go and there was a lapse before the announcer came through with the information of what happened, it was a little confusing for some fans.
Station WBZ-TV reported today that it received many favorable comments on the broadcast. The few complaints about jumping pictures, etc., were due, station officials said, to sets that were not tuned in properly. A group of Boston sports writers who watched the television of the game called it a "good show," but said it wasn't quite equal to a seat in the press box. They said that sometimes the action seemed a little far away and they couldn't quite make out whether the batter had ducked away from the ball or had taken a swing at it.
More people are believed to have watched last night's game, due to the television show, than have ever before seen a local ball game. They watched Boston's first "live" television show on home sets, in taverns, restaurants, cocktail lounges, bars, hotels and store windows. (Boston Globe)
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 16 10:00-Noon—Test Pattern. 2:00—Baseball, Boston Braves vs Chicago. 6:55—News Tape. 7:00—Film, “Fighting with Kit Carson,” John Mack Brown, Noah Beery, Sr., Noah Berry, Jr. 7:20—Coming Attractions. 7:25—Nightly Newsteller. 7:30—Cartoon Corner. 7:50—Newsreel Theatre, sponsored by Camel cigarettes (NBC). 8:00—Film, “Clear Track Ahead.” 8:30—“In the Kelvinator Kitchen,” with Alma Kitchell. (NBC) 8:45—Richard Harkness Interview (NBC). 9:00—Kraft Television Theatre, “Applesauce” (NBC). 10:00—INS News. 10:05—Views and News of New England. 10:10—Sign Off.
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