TV For Shepard Wasn't As Easy as Pie

It took 20 years, but John Shepard the 3rd got his TV station.

Shepard was the owner of pioneer radio station WNAC in Boston. In late 1928, he tried, and failed, to get a license for a television station. After the death of mechanical television, he tried again. WNAC-TV finally reached Bostonians in mid-1948.

The Yankee Network of radio stations was founded by Shepard around 1930. During World War Two, it joined the large number of companies that wanted to take a risk and get into television. The Christian Science Monitor reported on September 1, 1944.

Boston Radio Seeks Permit For Television
A Yankee Network radio official today said that the current modern studios of the regional chain at Kenmore Square in Boston would be adequate to take care of the initial stages of television in its present state of development. The Network, which operates Station WNAC in Boston, WEAN, Providence, R. I., WAAB, Worcester, and WICC, Bridgeport, Conn., yesterday [Aug. 31] applied for a permit from the Federal Communications Com-mission for television station in Boston. The application asked for Channel 2 in the current television band, between 60 and 66 megacycles.

Shepard talked to the Monitor about the problems of television. Here’s part of a story from Sept. 13, 1944 where his predictions were extremely accurate when it came to WNAC-TV.

Though he placed high hopes in the future of both frequency modulation radiocasting and television, John Shepard, III, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Yankee Network in Boston, held to the opinion of many observers in the radio industry that it will be from one to five years after the war before television will emerge as a household feature.
Mr. Shepard, whose network applied recently for a television license for Station WNAC in Boston, was inclined to favor the prediction of T. A. M. Craven, Federal Communications Commissioner, who has stated his opinion that it will be two years before television is an accepted commercial proposition.
After disclosure of plans to apply for television licenses for network stations in Providence, R. I., and Hartford, Conn., Mr. Shepard explained that the tremendous cost of television programs would invariably [sic] slow up progress. He declared that costs would force individual stations into networks in order to average off, and hazarded the opinion that stations would be on the air for possibly not more than two hours a day for quite a period. The inaugural output of network television stations would probably consist mostly of films, occasional live shows, and an occasional sports pickup, he said.

The application turned out to be a false start. Here’s Broadcasting magazine, March 25, 1946:

ENTHUSIASM of many television applicants has been cooling, for two major reasons.
1. The campaign of CBS in behalf of ultra-high frequency color video.
2. The cost, as evidenced in FCC hearings. ...
John Shepard 3d, chairman of the board of Yankee Network, said Yankee had withdrawn its Providence application and planned to withdraw from Boston and Hartford because “we feel that the future of television lies in the ultra-high frequencies with color and finer definition in black and white...Also in cities where television broadcasting has not yet been established, we do not think we should encourage the public to buy receivers which in our opinion under those circumstances would be obsolete in two years’ time.”

The application was withdrawn April 5, 1946.

Things settled down, and some of the companies that decided to get out of the TV business decided to get back in. Broadcasting of June 9, 1947 reported:

YANKEE AGAIN SEEKS BOSTON TV STATION
YANKEE NETWORK applied to FCC last Thursday [5] for a new television station at Boston. It requested Channel 7.
Yankee had previously filed for a video affiliate of its WNAC Boston, but withdrew with the intention of entering the color television field if FCC approved commercial color operations. It withdrew applications for Hartford and Providence at the same time.
Five video channels have been allocated to the Boston area. Two of these have been assigned: One to Westinghouse Radio Stations Inc. for WBZ-TV Boston and one to Raytheon Mfg. Co. for WRTB Waltham. In addition to the Yankee Network application, which was filed by Thomas N. Dowd of the Washington law firm of Pierson & Ball, New England Theatres Inc., is seeking a television station at Boston.

The FCC made a decision several months later. From Broadcasting, Oct. 6, 1947:

A GRANT to Yankee Network for a new television station at Boston was issued by the FCC last Thursday [2]. The permit authorizes use of Channel 7 (174-180 mc) with 32.7 kw visual and aural power and antenna height 566 feet. The network, which is licensee of AM station WNAC Boston, estimated construction costs at approximately $280,250. It plans to operate the station 28 hours weekly.

Now it was a matter of getting equipment and some programming. The latter was made easier when a series of relay stations linked Boston with TV-producing networks. That happened about a month later.

New Television Circuit Links Capital, New York, Boston
NEW YORK, Nov. 13 (U.P.)—Television was sent over a 500-mile wire-radio circuit today, linking Washington, New York and Boston. It marked another step toward coast-to-coast television network programs.
The new system, opened experimentally today, will enable Boston to share New York's and Washington's television programs. In all, it is expected that 25,000,000 persons will be able to see television.
Officials of the American Telephone and Telegraph Co. and the Bell Laboratories which developed the system, said that a network to Chicago is now being constructed and should be in operation by spring. This will enable millions more to be included in the television luxury.
The system demonstrated today included use of the coaxial cable between New York and Washington, and a new microwave radio relay between New York and Boston.
The Boston part of the program was broadcast by an experimental station, with the signals being transmitted through a series of hilltop repeater stations. These are located at Bear Hill, Waltham, Mass., Asnebumskit Mountain, northwest of Worcester, Mass.; Bald Hill, east of Stafford Springs, Conn., John Tom Hill, Glastonbury, Conn., Spindle Hill, north of Waterbury, Conn., Birch Hill, about three miles south of Pawling, N. Y., and Jackie Jones Mountain, west of Haverstraw.
These stations, located about 20 to 30 miles apart, are necessary to television which does not follow the curvature of the earth. With the stations operating automatically, the television signals are picked up before they shoot off into space, and are relayed on to the next station. The demonstration today showed that pictures could be sent by the radio relay as clearly as they can by the coaxial cable, which has been in operation between New York and Washington for some years.
Walter S. Gifford, president of the A. T. & T., said the radio relay also would be used for the transmission of telephone communication. He and other company engineers said many thousands of telephone calls might be made over the relay at the same time.
The microwaves, used in the transmission, are of high frequency, and are not interrupted by storm or magnetic disturbances to a great degree. Static also is eliminated.

From the Boston Globe, Nov. 22, 1947:

WNAC Signs for TV Equipment
John Shepard 3d, chairman of the board, Yankee Network, signed contracts this week with R. L. Hans, New England manager of the General Electric Electronics Dept.; William C. Jaeger, district representative, and A. A. Brandt, general sales manager of G. E. WNAC will use complete G. E. transmitting equipment for its new television station. Transmitting facilities will be located at Medford. WNAC plans to be on with television early in 1948.

A report on March 8, 1948 from the FCC said a petition had been made to drop requests for a modification of WNAC-TV Boston construction permit. The station sought to switch from Channel 7 (174=180 mc) to Channel 13 (210-216 mc).

From Broadcasting, April 12, 1948:

TEN TELEVISION receivers will be awarded as prizes in contest being conducted by WNAC-TV Boston, in co-operation with Boston Daily Record, American and Sunday Advertiser, and Electric Institute of Boston. Receivers will go to writers of ten best letters of 50 words or less on, "I would like a television receiver in my home, because . . . " Contest, which started April 1 and will run until April 22, is being promoted on the air by WNAC and in daily features by the newspapers. Prize receivers also were on display April 3-10 in the WNAC-TV booth at First Annual Electric Show in Boston's Mechanics Bldg. WNAC-TV is scheduled to go on the air in June.

And local sports clubs were anxious to be seen in homes, too. Broadcasting reported on May 3, 1948:

TV RIGHTS FREE
3 Sponsors for Boston Baseball Telecasts
IN A GESTURE unprecedented in major league baseball advertising the Boston teams (Braves and Red Sox) have granted television rights without charge to the Atlantic Refining Co., Narragansett Brewery, which co-sponsors the baseball AM broadcasts, and the Boston Herald-Traveler, it was revealed last week at a meeting of the principals.
The three advertisers were reported to have previously offered an estimated $30,000 for television privileges, but both Tom Yawkey, president of the Boston Red Sox, and Louis Perini, president of the Boston Braves, turned down the bid. They explained that they had investigated television and had decided that there were an insufficient number of sets in Boston.
However, Mr. Perini maintained that they were so pleased with the AM broadcasts and the way the advertisers and WHDH Boston were handling them that in "fairness to the sponsors" they were giving them the video rights free of charge.
In granting the free telecasts Mr. Yawkey told the sponsors, "We feel we like to help speed the growth of television ... and render a service to the Boston fans." The baseball president went on to as-sure the advertiser representatives that the baseball telecasts would be in "their hands."
Thus, effective May 20 the games will be seen on WBZ-TV Boston (which goes on the air for the first time the day before, May 19) sponsored by Atlantic Refining, the brewery and the newspaper. The games are also scheduled to be carried on WNAC-TV when that station takes the air.

Christian Science Monitor, June 8, 1948:

Yankee Network Pictures Early Television Debut
While a definite date has not been set for the debut of the Yankee Network's television station WNAC-TV, work at the site in, Medford, on the Malden line, is progressing rapidly.
Linus Travers, Executive Vice-President and General Manager of the Yankee Network, disclosed that Boston's second television station will offer a varied program of network and local television programs.
WNAC-TV, Mr. Travers disclosed, will exchange television programs with WCBS-TV, the Columbia Broadcasting System's station in New York, on an experimental basis. Local lookers-in he said, will have available all the CBS network programs sent over the Eastern Seaboard Network.
The summer dramatic productions at the Wellesley College Summer Theater will be relayed exclusively by WNAC-TV, Mr. Travers disclosed. Noted Broadway and Hollywood actors, and students will take part in the series which runs for five weeks from July 5 to Aug. 14.
Lester Smith, Yankee's director of special events, will give the color and commentaries at the home games of the Red Sox and Braves which will be telecast in conjunction with WBZ-TV from Fenway Park and Braves Field. Transformation of Yankee Network's old Studio One at the Hotel Buckminster into a new television studio is nearly completed, Mr. Travers said.
In addition, Yankee Network will relay its frequency modulation (FM) programs from the new location in Medford. A pioneer in FM radiocasting, the new station will be the Yankee Network's third station radiocasting in this medium.
WNAC-TV, according to Mr. Travers, will serve the metropolitan area of Boston and an outlying area hounded approximately by the New Hampshire-Maine state lines on the north, on the west by Worcester, to Providence on the southwest, and to the southeast of Plymouth or approximately 49 miles from Boston.

Finally the station was set to take to the air with programmes, just in time for the Republican Convention in Philadelphia. The Boston Globe reported on June 19, 1948.

Both WNAC and WBZ to Televise Convention
Boston's second television station, WNAC-TV, will be on the air today with test patterns on Channel 7. And on Monday, WNAC-TV will join WBZ-TV in bringing the highlights of the Republican National Convention opening in Philadelphia. Thereafter daily events of interest at the Convention will be seen by television.
However, WNAC announces Monday will not be its "T-Day." Formal dedication of WNAC-TV will take place in the middle of August, when a gala celebration will mark the official opining of television for the Yankee Network. Linus Travers, vice president and general manager, says the telecasting of convention activities is for test purposes.
All told, 18 stations along the East Coast will be hooked up with the convention through television, extending from Richmond, Va., to Boston. Operation will be under a pool arrangement with NBC. CBS, ABC and DuMont Stations throughout the Middle West and on the Coast will get their convention scenes by film because network hookups are not yet extended that far and won't be until 1952.
Telecasts of the convention will come to Boston over the microwave system from New York. Only one Boston television station can use it at a time. When WBZ-TV is on with convention pickups, WNAC-TV will resort to test patterns.

The programming week looked like this:

MONDAY, JUNE 21, 1948
Republican Convention pickups, times indefinite.

TUESDAY, JUNE 22, 1948
10-10:45 a.m.—Test Pattern. 10:45-11:15—Republican Convention. 8-8:45 p.m.—Test Pattern. 8:45-11:15—Republican Convention.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 23, 1948
(Informal Program Schedule)
10-10:45 a.m.—Test Pattern. 10:45-1:15 p.m.—Republican Convention. 8:30—Test Pattern. 9:00—Convention. 10:00—Indefinite. 10:30-midnight—Convention.

THURSDAY, JUNE 24, 1948
10:15-10:45 a.m.—Test pattern. 10:45-1:30 p.m.—Republican Convention. 1:45-2:15—Test pattern. 2:15-5:15—Republican Convention. 8:30-9:00—Test pattern. 9:00-10:00—Republican Convention. 10:00—Joe Louis-Jersey Joe Wolcott fight. 10:30-2 a.m.—Republican Convention.

FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 1948 through MONDAY, JUNE 28, 1948
No schedule available.

WHAC-TV didn’t have any studio programmes for the nonce (do people still say that?), so it found some more outside sources. Broadcasting, June 28, 1948:

WNAC-TV Boston Starts Experimental Programs
WNAC-TV Boston has announced plans for formal opening August 15 with a full schedule of video programs.
First test pattern was carried June 19 according to Linus Travers, executive vice president and general manager. Experimental programming last week included pooled broadcasts from Republican Convention and interviews with leading candidates which were filmed by Life magazine.
WNAC-TV is on Channel 7 (174-180 mc), with transmitter and tower located at Medford, Mass. Licensee is the Yankee Network.

The Christian Science Monitor, July 1, 1948:

WNAC-TV Arrange 2 Network Deals
Completion of agreements for the temporary telecasting affiliation of WNAC-TV with both the Columbia Broadcasting System and the American Broadcasting Company picture networks, was announced today by Linus Travers, Executive Vice-President and General Manager of the Yankee Network.
Effective tonight, WNAC-TV of the Yankee Network will telecast programs of both networks during its present period of informal programming. WNAC-TV has been relaying CBS television programs.
Tonight the local station will carry three programs of the ABC network from 5:30 to 6:45 p.m.
The formal dedication of WNAC-TV is scheduled for about the middle of August, Mr. Travers said. The Yankee Network is affiliated with the Mutual Broadcasting System for standard (AM) and FM (frequency modulation) programs. Mutual's telecasting plans are in the formative stage.

Once it was ready, the station split Boston baseball play-by-play with WBZ-TV, which went on the air less than two weeks before WNAC-TV. The Globe also had specifics of its first day of network programming, convention aside.

TUESDAY, JUNE 29, 1948
8:00—Test Pattern. 8:30—Boston Braves vs New York Giants at Braves Field.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 30, 1948
8:00—Test Pattern. 8:30—Boston Braves vs New York Giants at Braves Field.

THURSDAY, JULY 1, 1948
10-noon—Test Pattern. 3:30-4:30—Test Pattern. 5:30-6:00—What’s New? (ABC/WFIL-TV) 6:45—CBS Film. 7:00—Fabrielle, songs (ABC/WFIL-TV). 7:15—Face the Music. (CBS). 7:30—CBS Television News (CBS). 9:00—Presidential Timber: Henry Wallace (CBS). 9:30—Winner Take All (CBS).

WNAC-TV wanted additional programming, meaning the test phase would have to continue. Variety, July 14, 1948:

DuMont Network is building its own relay system on the way to Boston. The DuMont relay already extends to New Haven, Conn., where the web’s affiliate, WHNC, has been receiving programs for several weeks.
DuMont starts feeling programs to WNAC-TV, Boston, this Sunday (17), but over AT&T’s microwave relay.

Broadcasting, July 1948:

BOSTON YANKS TO BE ON TV
Owners of Boston Yanks pro football team have agreed to permit television coverage of home games by WNAC-TV Boston, starting with season opener against Green Bay Packers night of Sept. 17. Agreement is for 1948 season only as is in nature of trial run.

Billboard, Aug. 28, 1948"

Second N. Y.-to-Boston Relay To Be Opened in September
BOSTON, Aug. 21. — Additional television network productions are virtually assured for this area as the result of a decision by American Telephone & Telegraph Company (AT&T) to permit use of the protection circuit in the New York-to-Boston microwave relay system for relaying two different video programs at the same time.
In effect, the agreement reached between AT&T and WBZ-TV and WNAC-TV officials enables both stations to take eight hours of network relays a day instead of the present arrangement of sharing eight hours between them. The project is expected to go into effect sometime in September and continue thru November and will be operated on an un-protected basis.
Up until now one of the two circuits north to Boston has been utilized as a spare, over which television programs have been automatically switched when trouble developed in the overland relay system. While telephone and video engineers are inclined to discount the possibility of any serious break in the service, disruption of either circuit might wreck a telecast until engineers at any one of the seven intermediate radio relay stations between the two cities could restore normal service.
The move to turn over the protection circuit for added relays was deemed necessary to avoid an impending wrangle over the allotment of the facilities. WBZ-TV, tied in with the National Broadcasting Company, was obliged to struggle along with about one-quarter of the eight hours a day, while WNAC-TV, still operating on an informal schedule, had title to the remaining time by virtue of their interim affiliation with DuMont, the American Broadcasting Company and Columbia Broadcasting System television networks.
Telephone officials intimated that a new protection circuit should be in operation around November 1.

The formal debut of the station was supposed to be Oct. 3, “but Hub newspapers, which use any excuse these days to get out video supplements, couldn’t cover the ad field in time,” Variety told readers. “Sunday papers for Oct. 10, however, bloomed with special video spreads, Herald, Post, Globe, Advertiser and Christian Science Monitor publishing video sections.”

WNAC-TV staff and viewers may not have been concerned about the delay. They were handed a programming gem—the 1948 World Series between the Boston Braves and the powerhouse Cleveland Indians. WNAC-TV produced all three broadcasts from Braves Field. Unfortunately, there was no cable link between WEWS in Cleveland and the eastern stations, and the Stratovision system of relaying signals from airplanes was ruled out because of possible interference, so fans had to rely on radio for the two games from Cleveland (Variety, Oct. 6).

Here’s a preview column from the Christian Science Monitor, Oct. 9, 1948:

Hub Television Network To Begin 7-Day Schedule
By Albert D. Hughes
Radio Editor of The Christian Science Monitor
WNAC-TV, the Yankee Network's television station in Boston on Channel 7 will inaugurate a seven-day schedule of programs with its formal opening on Sunday [10].
The station has been operating for more than three months with an informal schedule of approximately five hours daily of programs.
Formalization of station operations will not at first imply that the Yankee Network is undertaking a larger program schedule. Rather it does mean that the station management is now definitely committing itself to a program schedule. A slogan of "Seven on Seven" adopted by the Yankee Network indicates that programs will be telecast seven days on Channel 7.
CBS One Big Source
WNAC-TV will, as it has in the past weeks, continue to retelecast programs from the Columbia Broadcasting System, American Broadcasting Company and DuMont television network. The network shows will be supplemented with extensive local sports pick-ups.
These will include Harvard, Boston College and Holy Cross football games, the Boston Yanks Pro football, the Manning Bowl high school football games from Lynn, boxing and wrestling.
The Yankee Network has nearly finished the reconversion al a large sound radiocasting studio in the Buckminster Hotel into a television studio for local picture programs.
Relay From Medford
The television programs are relayed from a new station in Medford near the Malden line. From the same location the FM (frequency modulation) staticless programs of WNAC-FM also are radiocast. The programs emanate from an antenna located at 509 feet altitude, thus providing a good signal in an area of approximately 50 miles radius from the transmitter. The video, or picture signal, is transmitted with a power of 26:6 kilowatts and the audio, or sound, is radiocast with a power of 13.3 kilowatts.
Among the network television shows scheduled for the opening Sunday telecasts on the formal schedule include: the Original Amateur Hour, 7 p.m.; Actors Studio, 8:30 p.m.; Ed Sullivan's "Toast of the Town," 9 p.m.; and the Gallup Election Poll, 10 p.m.

The Globe had no fewer than nine stories (and plenty of photos) about WNAC-TV when it formally began broadcasting on October 10, 1948. Here is the main story.

WNAC-TV Presents Video Magic
WORLD SERIES GAMES HERE STEM FROM YANKEE T-V STATION
Boston Station Formally Launches Channel 7
Tele Formal announcement today that WNAC-TV the Yankee Network's television station, is launching a broad program of informative, educational and entertaining programs places Boston among the top television cities in America.
With WNAC-TV a fall-fledged Metropolitan class television station, this city now has two of the 37 stations in the entire country as of early October. It is estimated that there are 16,4000 television receiving sets in Boston, in excess of 6000 more than Detroit, for example.
"Our interim affiliations with the Columbia Broadcasting System; American Broadcasting Company and DuMont Television gives us a wider variety of programs than is telecast by any other station, and as full a schedule as is seen in any television city in the country," said Linus Travers, vice president and general manager of WNAC-TV.
The WNAC-TV executive disclosed that the station will telecast a total of approximately 63 hours each week. Already he stated an abundance of requests for types of programs desired by tele-viewers have been received. Placing emphasis on sports, which, he said, lead all television popularity polls, Mr. Travers commented:
"WNAC-TV takes its place as Boston's station for sports events. We'll have the World Series, Callahan A. C. boxing bouts, Paul Bowser's wrestling matches and Boston College, Harvard and Holy Cross football games.
"WNAC-TV will telecast the Manning Bowl high school football games. In the professional ranks, we’ll telecast the Boston Yanks home games. And we are negotiating in addition for the final period of the Bruins Boston Garden hockey games.
"Whenever our schedule permits, we also include nationally-originated fights, football games, tennis, polo and wrestling. During one tele-cast day, for example, we gave our audience a local baseball game, a local football game and the tennis matches from Forest Hills. That night, for good measure, we added two of New York's highest-rated talent shows, Dumont's 'Ama-teur Hour,' and Columbia's ‘Talk of the Town.’"
The things that can and can't be done in television rapidly are being learned through the trial and error method, Mr. Travers pointed out. Elaborating on the subject, he explained.
"The dramatic nature of the system, and the vast amount of publicity it has received have combined to give the owner of a television set an inflated expectation of what the industry can do at the present time.
"With the cooperation of the set distributors and installation crews we have been making every effort to give the un-colored facts about television to viewers in Boston and the surrounding communities. Once the set owner is given these facts, we have found him mast understanding and helpful in developing the art.
"The television set owner never is casual. He is intense, critical and full of suggestions for which we are most grateful. The requests for types of programs have been most helpful to our planners, who already have put into production study a half-dozen which originated with our audience."
Continued expansion of WNAC-TV's television program will, Mr. Travers asserted, involve installation of equipment, training of personnel, clearances of film, music copyright and union negotiations "However," he put it, "current enthusiasm of set owners is high, and serves as an incentive for continued efforts by our staff and management to increase our service."
WNAC-TV studios are at 21 Brookline av. Its transmitter is at Medford.
The Yankee Network Institute, familiar to New England listeners over the last two years, is planning extensive television activities over WNAC-TV.
Jurists, lawyers, medical men, educators and scientists heard on its award-winning radio shows now are to be seen on the television screen during the "Medical Center of the Air" and other panels. A Mental health series for television also is being considered. The institute is making plans or television appearance of the country's greatest psychologists and psychiatrists. James S. Powers, director of the institute, sees in WNAC-TV a fine opportunity to extend its social usefulness.
In announcing its broadened television program, WNAC-TV, the Yankee Network's television station, makes profitable use of the opinions exchanged and views !expressed during its Yankee Network Television Clinic, sponsored earlier this year.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1948
1:45—Test Pattern. 2:15—Football Game Manning Bowl, Malden Catholic High vs. St. Mary’s High, Lester Smith. 6:00—Scrapbook Junior (CBS). 6:30—Key to the Missing (DuMont). 7:00—“Original Amateur Hour” with Ted Mack (DuMont). 8:00—“Hollywood Screen Test,” Elissa Landi, Neil Hamilton with ten-year-old Jimsey Somers (ABC). 8:30—The Actors’ Studio, “The Giants’ Stair” with Michael Strong, Peggy Meredith and Julie Harris. (ABC). 9:00—Toast of the Town with Tony Canzomeri, Mark Plant, Joey Adams, comedy; Mayo Brothers, Deep River Boys, Hammond’s Birds, Don Henry Trio, Bill Robinson and host Ed Sullivan. (CBS). 10:00—“America Speaks,” George Gallup Election Report (CBS).
A unique feature of the football telecasts done by WNAC-TV on Channel 7 each week from the Manning Bowl in Lynn, the largest schoolboy stadium in the East, is the live lineups.
At most games an announcer reads the lineup. Fred Foye, who assists Les Smith by giving color and doing interviews at the game, has each boy come to the microphone, give his name, number and position. This gives the people at home a chance to make their own score card and chart and at the same time see what the lads look like.
After the game Foye takes part in another unusual telecast. He interviews the “Men of the Game,” boys who have been outstanding on the field of play for that particular game.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1948
10:00—Test Pattern. 12:45—World Series Game Six, Cleveland vs. Boston at Braves Field. 5:15—Test Pattern. 5:30—Cartoon Teletales (ABC). 6:00—“Small Fry Club” with Bob Emery (DuMont). 6:30—Russ Hodges’ Scoreboard (DuMont). 6:45—Film shorts. 6:50—“Shawmut Nightly News Teller” newsreel. 7:00—“News and Views,” Gordon Fraser, H.R. Baukhage and Jim Gibbons. (ABC). 7:15—“Places Please” with Barry Wood (CBS). 7:30—CBS Television News (CBS). 7:45—“Face the Music” with Johnny Desmond, Tony Mottola Trio, Sandra Deal (CBS). 8:00—“Quizzing the News,” Alan Prescott and guests (ABC). 8:30—“Swing Into Sports,” Wendell Rollins and Reggie McNamara, cyclists (DuMont). 9:00—Film shorts (DuMont). 9:30—“Court of Current Issues” (DuMont).

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1948
1:00—Test Pattern. 2:15-4:30—Football game at Manning Bowl, Somerville vs. Lynn Vocational High School. 5:15—Test Pattern. 5:30—Ireene Wicker, the Singing Lady (ABC). 6:00—“Small Fry Club” with Bob Emery (DuMont). 6:30—Russ Hodges’ Scoreboard (DuMont). 6:45—Film shorts. 6:50—“Shawmut Nightly News Teller” newsreel. 7:00—“News and Views,” with George Hicks; Sports. (ABC). 7:15—Film Shorts; West Point (ABC). 7:30—CBS Television News (CBS). 7:45—“Face the Music” with Johnny Desmond, Tony Mottola Trio, Sandra Deel (CBS). 8:00—“Operation Success” (DuMont) 8:30—Film shorts (DuMont). 9:00—“We, the People” (CBS). 9:30-10:00—“The People’s Platform—Straws in the Wind,” Lyman Bryson, Elmo Roper and guests (CBS).

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1948
10:00-noon—Test Pattern. 1:00-4:30—Test Pattern. 5:30—Cartoon Teletales (ABC). 6:00—“Small Fry Club” with Bob Emery (DuMont). 6:30—Russ Hodges’ Scoreboard (DuMont). 6:45—Film shorts. 6:50—“Shawmut Nightly News Teller” newsreel. 7:00—“News and Views,” with George Hicks; Sports with Joe Hasel. (ABC). 7:15—“Places Please” with Barry Wood (CBS). 7:30—CBS Television News (CBS). 7:45—“Face the Music” with Johnny Desmond, Tony Mottola Trio, Sandra Deel (CBS). 8:00—Gay Nineties Revue with Gus Van, Lulu Bates and others (ABC). 8:30—“Winner Take All” with Bud Collyer (CBS). 9:00—Wrestling Matches from Turner’s Arena, Washington (ABC).
Two unblemished local records will be threatened tonight at Turner’s Arena where Bibber McCoy seeks his fourth straight victory in the feature wrestling bout with Laverne Baxter and the Golden Superman attempts to keep his slate clean in a special match with Gino Garibaldi.
The headlined Baxter-McCoy bout is a grudge battle of villains. McCoy was the top mat meanie here several years ago until he rassled a bitter draw with Baxter and then went into the service. Since then Baxter has been the No. 1 villain here. The bout tonight should settle the question of supremacy among the bad men of the mat. (Washington Star)

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1948
10:00-noon—Test Pattern. 1:00-4:30—Test Pattern. 5:30—Film shorts. 6:00—“Small Fry Club” with Bob Emery (DuMont). 6:30—Russ Hodges’ Scoreboard (DuMont). 6:45—Film shorts. 6:50—“Shawmut Nightly News Teller” newsreel. 7:00—“News and Views,” G. Fraser; Sports, Hasel (ABC). 7:15—Film shorts: “Football 40 Years Ago” (ABC). 7:30—CBS Television News with Douglas Edwards (CBS). 7:45—“Face the Music” with Johnny Desmond, Tony Mottola Trio, Sandra Deel (CBS). 8:00—“To the Queen’s Taste” with Mrs. Dione Lucas (CBS) 8:30—“Club Seven” with Johnny Thompson (ABC). 9:00-11:00—World’s Championship Rodeo, Madison Square Garden (CBS).

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1948
10:00-noon—Test Pattern. 1:00-4:30—Test Pattern. 5:30—Film shorts. 6:00—“Small Fry Club” with Bob Emery (DuMont). 6:30—Russ Hodges’ Scoreboard (DuMont). 6:45—Film shorts. 6:50—“Shawmut Nightly News Teller” newsreel. 7:00—“News and Views,” Pauline Frederick; Joe Hasel, sports (ABC). 7:15—“Places Please” with Barry Wood (CBS). 7:30—“Touchdown,” film. 8:00—“Sportsman’s Quiz,” film short. 8:15-11:00—Boston College-Villanova football.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1948 No programming.