The
First Days of Central Illinois Local Television
It's hard to believe that any new technology would attract so much
attention today! Even with the introduction of the past 30 years
of TV related inventions: VTR's, VCR''s(Beta and VHS),
Camcorders(VHS, C-VHS, 8mm,
Digital 8, DVD recording, etc.), Digital TV, Digital Hi-Definition,
Plasma and other flat set formats, no event like it has EVER taken
place since!
What
we missed before we had TV in Central Illinois
ABC presented "The Ruggles" live from Hollywood from 1949 to
1952. It starred the movie character actor Charlie Ruggles.
It was performed live for the west coast stations from KECA-TV, while
being kinescoped for airing the next week on the rest of the small ABC
network.
The Ed Wynn Show was the first variety show to originate from
Hollywood. It was done live in Hollywood, then kinescoped for
airing the next week on the rest of the CBS network stations.
This NBC kids sci-fi series was broadcast from 1950 to 1952. The
episodes were 15 minutes long for mos of the it's run.
In 1948,"The Life of Riley" aired on just a few
thousand TV sets in mostly major markets,
starring Jackie Gleason. William Bendix
had a very successful film career, and in
spite of playing the character on radio
for several years, wasn't able
to fill the roll of Chester Riley. Gleason filled
the roll, but the program was cancelled after
one year. Those few viewers wanted
Bendix as Riley, and by January of 1953,
watchers of "The Life of Riley" got to see
William Bendix play the bumbling husband
on TV. He also continued to play him on
radio for a number of years at the same time.
Here is a video from the pilot episode with
William Bendix from January of 1953.
WICS wasn't on the air yet.
Central
Illinois Television Mania
Here's a montage of TV ads from
November of 1953, the
first month of WCIA's sign-on. Note the large number of TV
dealers which sprung up just within a year as the prospect of receiving
local TV became a reality. The Champaign-Urbana Television
Dealers Association, being led by WCIA introduced the new appliance to
the Champaign-Urbana households by hosting a weekend trade show like
event at the Urbana Armory. Each dealer had a booth in which they
could display their models. Television's with names like Arvin,
Majestic, Hoffman, DuMont, Sentinel, Columbia, Motorola, joined brands
known today like RCA, Philco, Zenith, Sylvania,
Emerson and Admiral at the dealer's
booths. I would bet that most of not all were manufactured right
here in the USA. WCIA also gave a demonstration of just how
attendees would look on TV by setting up a camera with a closed circuit
"broadcast" within the confines of the Armory. The event
attracted thousands, with a newspaper account naming the east central
Illinois and west central Indiana communties which were represented at
the show. It appeared that the advent of the TV age was
coming into Central Illinois with a great deal of enthusiasm and
excitement!
This
was an ad for
the C-U Television Dealers Association's TV Show Trade Show which took
place at the Urbana Armory in early November of 1953. This lists
most
of the local TV dealers which sprang up in the
Champaign-Urbana area at the time.
"What's new in
TV? What's best
for
me? What kind of
installation? Should I buy now? What programs will
I
get?" Think about
it,
with TV prices at around 200-400
dollars, most family incomes were only around
$50 a
week. What could you afford if TV's
were 6
times your weekly salary?
A live
demonstration of TV was a real crowd pleaser at the Armory for the TV
Show,
sponsored by the C-U Television
Dealers Association. The set up was provided by WCIA which signed
on during the weekend.
Along
with the TV dealers and brands represented, there were also dealers who
dealt in TV antenna's, towers, roof mount masts and the like.
They sold amplifiers, also known as "boosters" which help to bring in
those distant
stations. Both the Champaign-Urbana Couriers and the News-Gazette
listed the programming of the Chicago and Indianapolis stations.
A viewer in the C-U
area would
have needed quite an array of an atenna to bring in those distant
stations to any kind of reliable regularity. You could probably
add a couple of
hundred dollars
for most antenna systems, although I'm sure that most viewers depended
on the "rabbit ears" indoor antennas. That would limit any
viewing to probably just
WCIA. Even reception from WTVP in Decatur and WDAN-TV in Danville
would've required an outdoor antenna, with a rotator to aim the
directional antennas toward the
station's tower/antenna.
(all images above are from
the
Champaign-Urbana Courier)
(from
the
Champaign-Urbana Courier)
(Left) Is a summary of the
local TV
scene from November of 1953 listing the statis of the central Illinois
stations as they came on the air. WCIA was the only VHF
station in the listing.
WTVP(WAND)
was the first to sign on in
August of 1953 and the only station on the air when this was
published. Note the statis of WDAN-TV, which had a target date of
December 10th(actually happened a week or so later). WBLN-TV was
scheduled to go on the air at about the same time(Right now, it's
unknown when WBLN signed on).
The
list also
included another station which ultimately didn't go on the air at
all. That would have put C-U's first UHF station on the air from
a
transmitter site near Mahomet at Channel 21. Champaign-Urbana
would have to
wait 7 years for their first UHF station when WCHU signed on at Channel
33.
(from
the Champaign-Urbana Courier)
(from
the
Champaign-Urbana Courier)
(Left)
is the story of the
ill-fated
Champaign-Urbana TV station which was proposed at Channel 21. The
owners of Champaign-Urbana Television Inc. were
headed
by a group of University of Illinois professors of journalism and
electrical engineering, even though the real money behind the effort
came from a group of
New York realtors. Among the names listed was Phillip Zimmerly
"the local spokesperson for the firm." who
said,"that it would join WCIA-TV on the air in the near future."
Although it never did.
From the article: "Proposed station plans are to show both local
live
shows and also shows of national networks, although no network
affiliation has been contracted yet. Zimmerly reponded that the
station
hopes to get one of the first color transmitters."
(Left) Here the article
from
the
Champaign-Urbana Courier says that the WDAN-TV plans a December 10th,
1953 sign-on. The article quoted Robert Burrow,
Manager. It stated
that the crew has begun work on the new 400-foot AM/TV tower of the
stations. Meanwhile, WBLN in Bloominton had plans to begin
transmitting the following week.
(left) The cameras
weren't actually
from WTVP,
although Channel 17 did broadcast the first U of I Illini Basketball
game in December of 1953. The camera's pictured were owned by the
U of I Communications Department which produced the broadcast carried
on the Decatur station.
(Left below) The ad in the Champaign-Urbana Courier which ran as a
promotion
of the broadcast. The game was with Butler University of
Indianapolis playing against the Illini at Huff Arena.
Additional note: Notice the ad for WKID radio, 1580AM in
Champaign-Urbana.
(Above)Another article from
the Champaign-Urbana
Courier which read, "A fourth area TV station goes on theair today when
WDAN-TV, channel 24 offer the ABC network program, "Super
Circus."
The station at present is offering ABC network programing
exclusively
for the next two weeks, and
will carry both commercial and sustaining shows.
Between network shows the staion will show only it's test
pattern."
Why? Because of equipment installation problems which kept WDAN
from
any local origination. The station was a prime example of
"operating
on the cheap" which kept it from
becoming a success over the years.
The TV set shown above is a 1950 Zenith Porthole TV.
I inherited one just like it many years ago, and kept it in my
personal collection until just a few years ago, when I
donated it to the Vermilion County Museum.
The last time I visited the museum, it was on display.
Check it out at the Vermilion County Museum in Danville, Illiinois.
NEWSPAPER
POLITICS---Comments
by the Author.... In
researching
the local
Champaign-Urbana newspapers for details about the sign-on of WCIA and
WCHU it became obvious that the News-Gazette virtually ignored the news
generated by the sign-on of WCHU, while the sign-on of WCIA 7 years
earlier received maximum exposure. Obviously the ownership issue
was at play here, as members of the board of the N-G were also stock
holders at Midwest TV and WCIA in the early days. Although, after 1955,
outside
of the occasional "off the air due to
technical difficulties" stories, the
most favorable news of WCIA seemed to be ommitted in the
News-Gazette as well. Perhaps
WCIA
was cutting into the profits of the N-G and WDWS. But the N-G's
media
slant was even more obvious when looking at the listings of local
radio. The
News-Gazette being the owner of WDWS radio, carried a full listing of
programming of both the AM and FMstations, meanwhile the listings of
thenewspaper competitor, the Urbana Courier only covered the local
radio listings of
WKID(1580-AM). Other than that, the Courier seemed to be the most
objective in their coverage of the local television media.
It's that coverage which has been the basis of most of the information
here.
Early
Television and the Fighting Illini
The first University of Illinois "Fighting
Illini" basketball game was telecast on WTVP in Decatur on December 9,
1953 as Butler University visited Huff Gym. The reason it
was broadcast first on the Decatur station isn't real clear, but it
wasn't long before WCIA began broadcasting the games as well.
WCIA's first Illini game was on December 12, 1953. It's also
assumed that this was not an exclusive arrangement like today, because
arrangements were also made for future basketball broadcasts of the
Illini on WTVP. It was reported that a portable microwave
tower and repeater which was used to relay the Illini Football games to
Danville and the coaxial network cable which sent the
signal to Chicago and the network switchboard there was moved from it's
location about 3 miles
southeast of Ogden, Illinois, to it's new location 2 miles north
and 1 mile west of Bement, Illinois. The tower height was
78-feet originally, but after it was moved to Bement it was extended
further to 102-feet. Another relay system was located either on
the Citizen's Bank Building in downtown Decatur or atop the Staley
Manufacturing Office Building on Eldorado Street in Decatur. It
appears that the relay site in Decatur was not yet determined, and it's
unknown where it ultimately ended up. From either of these
locations, the signal was relayed again to the receiver on the
broadcast tower of WTVP on Southside Drive in Decatur. The audio
for the games was sent via phone lines. The video for the games
was provided by the University of Illinois Motion Picture and
Television Unit, while the local stations provided their own announcers
and audio.
Earlier on December 5th of 1953, WCIA announced it would broadcast a
total of 10 home games. It's unknown how many games were
broadcast by WTVP, plus it's unknown how many were actually simulcast
by both WTVP and WCIA. During the first game broadcast on WCIA
just a few nights later, WCIA was hit by an unfortunate transmitter
problem which knocked their audio transmitter off the air. The
station lost audio during the first quarter of the game, due to mice
eating through some wiring and shorting out a fillament relay in the
250,000 watt audio transmitter. It was also reported by the
News-Gazette(who also owns WDWS radio), that many viewers used the
audio of Larry Stewart(the sports announcer) on WDWS radio.
Below from YouTube is
a General Motors Produced film about early TV
