Planning
for Central Illinois' First TV Station
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On April 14th 1953
the FCC announced that the TV Freeze would be lifted
on July 1, 1952. The FCC was once again to grant TV licenses to
applicants across the country. This time, they would be granting
permits for television station owners to build television facilities to
broadcast on the new ultra high frequency band. In fact, the new
rules would allow for 617 Very High Frequency (VHF), 1436 Ultra High
Frequency (UHF) stations and would establish zones with mileage
requirements for separation of stations along with establish antenna
height standards.
In September of 1952, the first commercial UHF
station went on the air
in Portland, Oregon on channel 27. It would be less than a year
later that central Illinois would not only see it’s first TV station,
but it would be one of the new UHF stations on channel 17 broadcasting
from Decatur. On December 16, 1952 it was announced that the
Prairie Television Company of Decatur, Illinois applied and received
permission to build central Illinois’ first TV station. W.L.
Shellabarger, who said the facility would be built with a budget
of
$250,000, headed the company. Even though the FCC approved the
original license with the station broadcasting from a 350-foot tower,
the license was modified and later approved for a 600-foot broadcasting
tower.
By February of 1953, the man who would be General
Manager was
announced, Harold G. Cowgill.
In an interview, said that he
hoped to pick up network programs from a microwave link which was
under construction between Chicago, Peoria and St. Louis. The
link would include a series of microwave towers which would run on a
path which would take it west of Springfield. From a repeater
there, it would be microwaved to another link which would take it to
the studios of the new Decatur station. He also stated that the
station would air programs from CBS, NBC, DuMont and ABC. He
continued, “TV stations unlike radio, do not need to contract for
exclusive use of one network.” He also would soon announce the
plans for the building of the actual facility in Decatur.
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By March, the station announced the hiring of 28 year old James C.
Wulliman, originally of Tuscola as Chief Engineer. He came
to
Decatur from Connersville, Indiana where he was an engineer at WCNB
AM/FM for five years. Before that, he did broadcast engineering
for the military, as well as engineering at WDZ, Tuscola in his early
days.
On June 6th, 1953 testing began from their new studios and broadcasting
site located on Route 47, about one mile south of Decatur (now
Southside Drive). The Studio was reported being 95% completed and
the tower erection was taking place, having just over 100-feet of it’s
planned 600-foot completed. The RCA transmitter had arrived the
previous week from the factory in Camden, New Jersey. At that
time, a few more facts about the station were released. First of
all, the call letters of the new TV station were to be WTVP, which
would broadcast a signal of 17,100 watts. It was estimated that
the station would reach out between 40 and 60 miles across central
Illinois. It’s assumed the call letters WTVP stood for “T V
Prairie.”
In June and/or July, Prairie Broadcasting filed an objection
with the FCC over the placement of the tower of Champaign's first TV
station, WCIA and Midwest Television. Their objection basically
stated that the proximity of WCIA's tower to Decatur could pose a
hardship to the financial development of WTVP. The term
used was "invasion and encroachment" of WTVP's territory. To
avoid delays in the construction, another site was chosen by Midwest
Television which engineers determined a minimal change in the proposed
coverage area for WCIA. That site was the current tower site of
WCIA near Seymour along Illinois route 10 west of Champaign.
Central
Illiinois' First TV Station Signs On
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By 4PM, Sunday,
August 16th, 1953, WTVP signed on the air to a central
Illinois TV audience in which only about 25-percent of the household
TV’s were equipped to receive the new UHF station, and there was still
a very low percentage of homes which even had TV in central
Illinois. Based on some of the national figures, probably only
25% of the total households had a TV. The reception reports were
all favorable, with one of the most distant reports from
Champaign-Urbana as being “almost perfect.” The relatively small
number of households with TV at the time was probably one very large
problem, for Sales Manager Downey
Hewey in trying to show advertisers that the station had a large
number of viewers in Decatur and across central Illinois.
WTVP would end up being a full time ABC affiliate,
as the original plan
by GM Harold Cowgill was a bit
overstated. The chances of WTVP or
any other station being able to pick and choose programming from all of
the networks were slim, unless there were no other stations
available. In this case, the chances of increased competition
from other stations that were already under construction in central
Illinois pretty well set the wheels in motion to network exclusivity
between these stations. WTVP was one of the original 19 ABC
affiliates.
One of the major technical problems for these early
TV stations, was
the inability to receive live network programming. (See WCIA and
the lengths that that facility went through to receive network
programming) The microwave system which would give WTVP an
opportunity to receive ABC programming, was still in the future.
There was no “coax cable” which could take the signal to Decatur.
In
fact the closest one known to exist went through, of all places,
Danville. Based on maps which showed AT & T network TV cables
which were in operation in 1951, the Danville connection existed
because the cable was routed between Chicago, Danville, Terre Haute
then St Louis.
The solution to the network problem, was one which
many stations were
forced to utilize. They would “bicycle” kinescopes from the
network to individual stations for airing. That process, would
require the network to film from a TV screen at New York, process the
film, process a number of duplicate films of live broadcasts, then ship
them to their affiliates. Most of these would air either the next
week or perhaps two weeks later than the original broadcasts. So,
WTVP would show films and kinescopes of the ABC shows until the
microwave link was established. In the meantime, the station
would also rely on local live productions and during the early years,
WTVP had plenty.
It didn’t take too long for WTVP to finally
broadcast ABC programming
live from the network. By early October 1953, it’s believed that
the link was complete to provide network programming to the Decatur
station. This same microwave link also fed stations in
Springfield and Peoria. In just a short time, WTVP was able to
broadcast CBS programming live from the network as well. How this
came about technically is unknown.
By January of 1954, WTVP wasn’t alone in
broadcasting to central
Illinois. WICS, Channel 20 in Springfield joined the list on
September 30th, 1953, and on November 13th, 1953 WCIA, Channel 3 in
Champaign was
on the air. WBLN, Channel 15 in Bloomington was added by the end
of the year and in late December 1953, WDAN, Channel 24 in
Danville wrapped up the roster of heritage central Illinois TV stations.
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Because of the coverage area of the UHF stations being somewhat
limited, compared to that of the lone VHF station, WCIA, the network
affiliations fell into place. Due to some shrewd planning
and negotiations WCIA ended up in the “cat bird seat” with CBS
(primary), DuMont (secondary) and NBC (secondary). Since WCIA’s
coverage put Springfield in the fringe, WICS was granted a primary
affiliation with NBC(primary) and ABC (secondary) with DuMont
(secondary).
There were documented occasions, though, in which WICS broadcast
programming from CBS. WTVP with it’s proximity to both WCIA and
WICS, was restricted to being an ABC primary affiliate with DuMont
(secondary), but again, there were occasions in which WTVP broadcast
CBS programming as well. That also placed WBLN and WDAN as being
in the ABC column, although it would be a time before WBLN was able to
receive ABC network live. Even though it seemed that the network
scorecard was set, there was still a number of programs from one
network, which would show up on another network’s affiliate. This
had to be very confusing for the viewers, as network promotional
announcements had to appear from time to time on opposing stations.
"irreconcilable
differences" take WTVP off the air in January 1954
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In January of 1954, Prairie Broadcasting faced the reality of costs
versus revenue. It appears from the series of newspaper articles
that describe the goings on at the Decatur station that a major change
in policy and direction was about to happen. On January 20, 1954,
WTVP didn’t sign on the air. It was said that “personnel and
mechanical troubles” kept the station from going on the air that day,
and that WTVP was expected to return to the air within 48 hours.
This episode ended up being a rather earth shattering event in the
history of WTVP! It was announced that Station Manager Howard
“Harry” Cowgill, Chief Engineer James
Wulliman and Program Director Paul
Taff had
resigned. The trio later stated to the press, that
they were asked to quit. Meanwhile, Prairie Broadcasting
President Shellabarger denied
the three managers were asked to quit,
but also said that a number of other staff members didn’t show up for
work that day either. The AWOL employees included Sports Director
Tony Parker, Woman’s
Director Deloris Ryan and
another person Dick
Shaugnessy, whose title was not stated but hosted a show on
weekday
afternoons (see schedule below).
The absent employees forced the cancellation of a network TV Polio
benefit show which was hosted by Gene
Autry. A technical problem
was also part of the situation, as the station finally returned to the
air by evening, but without video, just audio of the broadcast.
It isn’t known, if this TV telethon event involved local community
members as they often do today. If it did, this would have been
an extremely embarrassing event for WTVP.
In that later interview with now former WTVP Station Manager Cowgill, he blamed
“irreconcilable differences in views and
positions” between himself along with Taff
and Wulliman and Shellabarger. It’s
also assumed, part of the problem between the
station’s department heads and the President of the company was the
number of employees, presumably hired by the Cowgill and the department
heads. The WTVP staff consisted of 47 employees, more than twice
the number of staff members at WCIA or WICS! Shellabarger,
in an interview, said
that the “stockholders thought we were tremendously over burdened by
expense of this large staff and wanted to reduce it.” It ended up
being a “black Friday” firing of 20 employees, including News Director James E. Crowell.
A few days later Harold Cowgill
showed up again in the headlines, as
saying he intended to file an application for Channel 23 in
Decatur. He also said he could be on the air with the new station
in as little as 90 days. His alliance with his former workers at
WTVP was evident when he went on to say he hoped that some of his
former WTVP staff would follow him to his new station. Whether or
not, the application went forward from there is unknown, but as
research continues, there’s no indication it was ever granted or it
ever was filed with the FCC.
Another side note, WTVP’s Farm Director, Al Pigg was booked for an
appearance on The Names the Same
a national TV game show hosted
by Robert Q. Lewis from Goodson-Todman Productions. This show
would bring on a guest with an unusual name who would have some ironic
tie in with their name. A celebrity panel would then guess the
name and the irony. In his case, he was a Farm Director, by the
name of “Pigg.” He was to appear on the show, broadcast live from
New York on February 9th, 1954 at 9:30pm CT. It was fortunate
that The Names the Same was
broadcast on ABC where it would appear on
WTVP.
WTVP
Broadcast Schedule
from January 22, 1954
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2:00
PM Feature Film
3:00 PM Dick
Shaugnessy(since he was fired a few
days before
this, his show probably wasn't on)
3:30 PM A
Woman's World(again, with the loss of
the hostess, Dorothy Ryan probably was a no show)
4:30 PM Prairie
Ranch Home
5:00 PM
School Program
5:30 PM
Headlines From the Past(old newsreels
presumably)
5:45 PM
Triple Streak(unknown program-unknown
source)
6:00 PM Farm
News
6:15 PM John
Daley(ABC-news)
6:30 PM Film
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7:00
PM Dangerous Assignment(Syndicated)
7:30 PM All
Star Theatre(unknown program, unknown
source)
8:00 PM Pride
of the Family(ABC-filmed sitcom)
8:30 PM Come
Back Story(ABC-live from New York)
9:00 PM
Hollywood Half Hour(probably
"Showcase Theatre"ABC)
9:30 PM
Amateur Hour(probably a kinescope
from NBC's broadcast)
10:00 PM
Weather-Mr. Esquire(unknown who/what
is Mr. Esquire?)
10:15 PM News
10:30 PM Sports
10:45 PM Movie
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For a look at the WTVP Schedule from later in the year.....June 12,
1954, and how it compared
with the schedules of the other stations across central-Illinois click here.
Supplemental Information:
It's amazing how I've heard from some of the very early staff members
of WTVP from the early to mid 1950's. Among those is the original
Sales Manager of the station, Downey Hewey. What follows are some
of his recollections:
"I was there for the sign-on, Doug. I recall Bill
Pownall being hired to do the opening party with an appearance by Studs
Terkel who was doing an early Chicago tv show - he was there to play
the piano! Opening rates were super-cheap: my best
recollection (remember that at 80 that's not too good) we averaged
about $20 prime, $15 daytime locally, with natiional rates at about
$40-$50. Don't remember too many advertisers by name
anymore: there was a Ford Dealer on the northside who featured a
cute young lady doing the spots who was rumored to be an excellent
friend of the sales manager - the furniture store that loved Al Pigg's
pitches for them - Kelly Potato Chips was there - H Post and
Sons. That's about all I recall."
"I moved on to WEEK-TV in
Peoria after a year where I made a career error, jumping back and forth
from sales to on-the-air as a 'utility man', doing Chick Hearn's sports
show and anchoring newscasts when the main guys were on vacation or
gone. Circled back to radio after some arguements about my future
with the Kerr ownership people. Pulled Senator Dirksen off a
toilet seat as a part of our prankster program - my top political
achievement! Circled back to radio with WPEO as news director
when RnR hit, back to Decatur at WSOY from '58 to '68, winding up as Station Manager."
Mr. Hewey also described the situation of licencing WCIA...
"One
thing that might be of interest to all of us Illinoisers: The two
newspaper families fought over the WCIA VHF Channel 3 dial
position. It looked as if the FCC might take as long as 3-4 years
to decide on whether or not the Lindsay-Schaub Newspapers (owners of
the Courier in Champaign-Urbana) would win out as the best operators
over the D. W. Stevick family (News Gazette)."
"Neither wanted such a
long term fight, especially when it would allow the UHFs to establish
set penetration and network affiliations. They both also knew that
Senator Dirksen might favor either chain at a time when politicians
were suspect in their close influence with the commission.
Stevick also would probably have to discard WDWS Radio - and get some
kind of FCC approval for owning a newspaper and a TV (station) in
the same market. They did the wise thing and had (what) was then
called a "marriage", typical in many markets the time. The
competing interests did a 'Solomon' and cut the grant in half by
forming a convenient partnership. Any group who managed to
get a VHF grant became instant muillionaires at the time; it was
a wise and immensely profitable move."
Mr. Hewey also told of a particular experience on a plane with WCIA
owner August Meyers...and the early days of flying Ozark
Airlines. I let him tell his story in his own words...
"The Augie Myers story w/Ozark was like this. I
was flying from Decatur to Chicago w a first stop in Champaign.
The plane was filled to capacity. This was in the first days of
Ozarks existence. Augie got on board across the aisle from
me. He seemed nervous, looking around a lot. As we were all
buckling up, he adjusted his hearing aids and asked the stewardess if
they'd carried "this many passengers before?" She rsponded that the FAA
even required that the DC-3 could fly with a full load on only one
engine."
"We left the terminal. On the way out, he asked her again:
"have you carried this many people before?" She again answered
'yes' and tried to calm him, carefully checking his seatbelt. We
got to the end of the runway where in those ancient days they used to
rev the engines up as a test before taking off. When the first
acceleration came, he unfastened his seat belt, got up and said he
wasn't going, he didn't think it was safe. There was a lot of
fuss. She rushed to the cabin and told the pilot....the co-pilot
came out and talked with him, but he refused to sit down. He went
back into the cabin and shortly after we returned to the
terminal. Augie got off. We taxied back out to the
runway....they reved up the engines again and some wag in the back (I
wish I could say it was me) said loudly "Do you suppose he knew
something we don't?" There must have been a lot of white knuckles
after that - but of course nothing happened. I've often wondered
if Ozark ever let him back on a plane."
---Many thanks to
Downey Hewey for his contribution!!!
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WTVP
Programming from 1953-1959
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The early days of
WTVP consisted of many hours of locally
produced programs. Most of these early local TV shows were simple
productions covering topics such as women’s general interest features,
local church services or presentations. The list of subjects also
include local school panel shows covering subjects such as the school
calendar of events or school music and drama productions, farm news,
children’s participation cartoon shows locally produced variety shows
as well as local news, weather and sports.
In 1954 WTVP used the slogan, “The Best is Seen on 17. ” By 1954
WTVP produced shows with titles like “A
Woman’s World,” “Prairie Ranch House,” “Uncle Al’s Corral,” “Triple
Streak,” “Kim’s Korner,” “Farm News,” “Teen Time,” “Romper Room”,
“Fore-d” and “Decatur
Churches.” The subjects and hosts, other than the ones
listed as part of the title, are unknown and have been
lost in history. Among those shows, a little more information is
known about “Kim’s Korner”
which was
hosted by longtime local TV celebrity, Kim Wilson, and “Uncle Al’s Corral” a children’s
show with WTVP Farm Director Al Pigg.
A 1954 TV Guide had this description of the new weekday at 4:30 PM
local program for kids, Uncle Al’s Corral: “Emcee of the show is Al
Pigg, long-time favorite with frontier fledglings. Featured are
“Hiram, the Hollywood Horse” and a starling of uncertain ancestry
called “Commonsence Bird.” Uncle Al’s Corral is complete with
feature length shoot-em-ups.” In just a few years, Al Pigg was
listed as the host of Farm News on WICS. It’s assumed he left
WTVP by 1957 to go to WICS in Springfield. He did return to WTVP,
but the exact date of his return is still unknow.
Also in the Fall of 1954, “Downstate
Jamboree” was seen on Wednesday nights at 8:30-9:30 PM on
WTVP. It was a local production that was conceived by WTVP
Program Director Bob Wright. Once again, according to a 1954 TV
Guide, he began to cast the local evening show in March of
1954. He figured that Decatur was right for a western music
television show, and evidently he was right. Even after one
telecast the station received over 350 pieces of mail from viewers of
“Downstate Jamboree.” The stars of the show were “The Rhythm
Wranglers.” |
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Supplemental Information: I received some additional
information from Bill Burns, the leader of the "Rhythm Wranglers"
mentioned above as one of the original live performers at WTVP.
He is the last living member of the group, and saw the mention of his
group on this website.
He wrote, "This is Bill
Burns. I was the leader of the Rhythm
Wranglers on WTVP in the early days of TV in Decatur. All of them are
dead now but me & I'm 79 so I'll be joining them again shortly. I
was reading your report on the early TV days of WTVP on the internet
and saw my name and the rest of the Wranglers. Bob Wright did not
discover us in a bar though. I got a sponsor for us to do a show and he
had to listen to us. He discoverd us in his own studios after we did
the show. We had a contract before leaving the station that day."
"I'm surprised your report
didn't mention the country group of Jack
Carson, Ralph Drake, Fred Bear & son who were appearing in the same
era on your station in Champaign. Jack asked us to join him over there
but we figured we had a better setup to do our own thing on WTVP what
with the stars from WLS, KMOX and the Midwestern Hayride on WCKY in
Cincinnati. We played all the local fairs and the state fair for
International Harvester where they did a square dance with tractors
& implements were used as partners. The tent they did it in was the
largest one on the Fair Grounds with seating capacity of 1000 people.
We did 5 shows a day for 9 days (45,000 people) When we'd take a break,
we;d go over to the tent where Captain Stubby and the Buccaneers from
WLS were appearing and catch their show. That's where I picked up a lot
of stuff I used MCing our show".
"Al Pigg only did our show
a few times, then we had another guy for a
few more, then I started doing it. We were on the air for two years.
Well all this prattle isn't of much interest in general but I thought
you might enjoy hearing from someone who was there."
Thanks to 70 year old Bill Burns, the last remaining member of the
"Rhythm Wranglers" from the early days at WTVP!
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They were a trio, when they were
discovered in a
local bar “in which beer bottles have been used as instruments of
combat.” The Wrangles consisted of Bill Burns, Gene Eckes and Rio
Diall and have added Leon Brontin. Their lead female singer,
Dorothy Hargus, left the group to audition for a Chicago TV Show.
Even though the show revolves around the Rhythm Wranglers, there a few
guest stars including Red Blachard and Homer and Jethro. The
emcee, by the way, is non other than Al
Pigg, WTVP’s Farm
Director and
host of “Uncle Al’s Corral.”
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There were other,
presumably, local shows on the limited schedule of
WTVP in 1954, including “Music Box”
(a variety show-the content and source are
unknown), “Decatur Churches”
(this one was local, but exact content and format is unknown), “The Christian Fellowship Hour” (a
local religious show-airing Sunday evenings at 6pm in 1956), “Mayor of the Town” (a local
production-again, content unknown), “Studio
Party” (hosted by a person named O’Shane-format unknown, content
unknown), “The Decatur Story”
(a local production-again content, format, host unknown), “Old Scrapbook” (a music program, I
assume it was a local production, but nothing is known about this
production), and “What’s New”
(was hosted by Kim Wilson on Wednesday nights at 10:10 PM, but again
format and content is unknown). By 1957, children’s programming
included “Jingles Menagerie”(again,
nothing is known about this entry to the schedule other than it was for
kids), “Music Box Revue”(no
information is known about this weekend Saturday night 9 PM music
program), and “Channel 17 Calling”(nothing
is known about this weekday afternoon local show from 1957).
During the late Summer of 1956, WTVP also listed “Little League Baseball” with Earl
Hickerson as commentator, probably covering the local Little League
Baseball standings from 5:45 to 6 PM on Mondays, with “Kiddie Pops” (listed as a music
show) on Tuesdays, “Let’s Play Ball”
with Hickerson on Wednesdays, “The
Jerry Booth Show” (unknown program, unknown source) on
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Thursdays and “Look
Ma I’m Dancing”(again,
unknown program, unknown source) on Fridays. Also in 1956 Friday
nights at 9 PM included an hour long show, assuming locally produced
called, “Centennial Hoedown.”
One can only assume it was another of WTVP’s Program Director,Bob
Wright’s local country music shows.
In 1956 “Kim’s Korner” was
increased from a 30-minute show to an hour followed by “Uncle Al and his Friends.”
The expanded “Kim’s Korner”
would include new segments and special get acquainted sessions for new
residents of Decatur but appeared to consist mostly of homemaking
segments and recipes. A locally produced musical variety show was
included in the 1958 prime time schedule, Monday’s at 7:30pm, called
“Frank Monte Show.”
By 1957 WTVP’s News Director was Dale
Coleman. His exact tenure
span at Channel 17 is unknown, but in the early 60's it appears
that he moved on
to
WICS as news anchor and News Director. But, in 1957 while at
WTVP, he offered air time to each of the five candidates seeking
positions as circuit judges in the forthcoming elections. Locally
produced interviews were offered during the 10pm newscasts starting in
mid to late May. The schedule of interviews include Judge Charles
E. Keller incumbent of Champaign appeared on May 16th, Piatt County
Judge B.E. Morgan appeared on May 21st and Incumbent Circuit Judge
Martin E. Morthland of Decatur appeared on May 23rd. Tuscola
attorney Harry Pate, the only Democrat was seen on May 28th and
Moultrie County Judge Rodney A. Scott appeared on May 31st. Out
of the bunch, four would be chosen to serve as 6th Circuit Judge on the
elections of June 3rd. It’s unknown which of the four actually
won the election.
Also in 1957 WTVP hosted it’s own teen dance show called “TV Record Hop” from 5 to 5:30pm on
Saturday’s. It's unknown who hosted this record hop formated
program. This pre-dates the WCIA version called “The Hop” which didn’t appear for
several more years.
“Romper Room” was a
nationally syndicated concept show which was produced locally by
stations in virtually every market in the country beginning in the mid
1950’s. It usually featured a half dozen or so, five or six year
old children in a classroom setting in which they would do art
projects, hear stories read by the teacher and generally learn how to
conduct themselves. The phrase “Don’t be a don’t be, be a do be”
was used to direct the behavior of the kids. The show would air
generally during the mornings around 9am, although in 1957 the show
aired on WTVP live at Noon with Miss
Ruth as the station didn’t sign-on
until the mid day.
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It was the golden
age of syndicated programming, as the network
schedules of the time didn’t cover the broadcast day as they do
today. Advertising agencies owned many programming concepts and
would produce programming, many of which were thirty-minute low budget
productions with B-movie actors. Production companies would sign
sponsors to their shows and with a lineup of local affiliate stations
they were able to reach households in many markets across the
country. Some of these syndicated shows on WTVP included “Abbott and Costello” “This is the Life” (30 minute
religious moral dramas which ran through the 1960’s on all three
stations in the market), “The
Adventures of Kit Carson”starring
Bill Williams and Don Diamond (kids western), “David Niven”(dramatic
anthology), “China Smith”
with Dan Duryea. Syndication also included national religious
shows like “A.A. Allen” “Bishop Fulton
Sheen” and “Oral Roberts”
which were probably purchased by their respective
producers. Other syndicated shows of the mid to late 1950’s
included: “Stage 7” (drama
starring John Loder). Adventure shows included “Orient Express,” “The Dick Powell
Theater,” “Sea Hunt”(with Lloyd Bridges) and “Ramar of the Jungle.” World
War II newsreels were popular, and WTVP broadcast “Victory at Sea” during prime time
Wednesdays at 8PM in 1958 as well as other military and government
produced films such as “The Big
Picture” throughout the 1950’s. Country and Western music
played a big part in the history of WTVP, with not only “Downstate Jubilee” but also the
syndicated from Springfield, Missouri “Ozark
Jubilee” which starred Red Foley, Brenda Lee, the Marksmen, and
Bill Wimberly’s Country Rhythm Boys. In 1956 a Sunday afternoon
may have included a kids show produced out of Chicago called “Super Circus” with Ringmaster
Claude Kirchner with Mary Hartline. The episode which ran on
August 21st, 1956 included The Atomics, tumblers; a clown sketch;
Cockattos, valentine birds; Ted and Flo Vallet, baton twirlers; Bernie
Hoffman, super menagerie; and the Dresler Brothers,
motorcyclists. It’s unknown whether this show was done live or
was on film, but WTVP was the only station which broadcast it in the
edition of TV Guide that week, which would hint at it being a
kinescope, as opposed to coming off the network live.
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Off network shows
began to appear on local TV station schedules as the backlog of network
programs began to increase and
WTVP was no exception. Even in 1954, reruns of off network “Dragnet” episodes showed up on the
schedules of both WTVP and WICS as “Badge
714.” “The Honeymooners” the 30-minute filmed sit-com
ended up on the Sunday prime time schedule at 7:30pm on Sundays during
1958. “The Life of
Riley” (off network NBC show) was shown on WTVP as well as “Mama” starring Peggy Wood which
appeared Friday nights at 7PM in 1958. Other off network
syndicated series on WTVP by 1959 included “My Hero” starring Bob Cummings(an
off network NBC show from 1952-53) “Amos
and Andy,” “Our Miss Brooks,” “Burns and Allen” and “Hoot Gibson.”
Daytime programming during the first few years of
WTVP was fairly
sparse. Even though the station broadcast the Don McNeill’s
“Breakfast Club”
live
from Chicago off of the ABC network from 8 to 9AM, the station would
sign off or run a test pattern until 3 in the afternoon when
programming would resume. It wasn’t until the very late 1950's
that the weekday afternoon schedule began to expand inward. By
1958, the daytime schedule would begin to fill out with locally run
movies, local interest shows and eventually programming from ABC, such
as “American Bandstand” with
Dick Clark. Also in that year the late afternoon lineup would
include “Bandstand” followed
at 5PM with “Fun at Five” (presumably
a kids show with cartoons), Local News at 6PM, then the ABC Network News with John Daley.
ABC added “Woody Woodpecker”
to the afternoon schedule in 1958-59.
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There's
nothing real notable about a novelty premium given away to customers of
a particular business, but this prize relic from the early days of WTVP
is one which has
been
obviously cared for over the years.
This wallet
style notebook was called
"The WTVP
Shell Press Pass" included
a couple of
ID cards and calendars from
the years of
1958 and 1959.
They were
probably given out to various
participants
of local TV productions as
well as
advertising clients in the mid
to late
1950's.
The pictures
are courtesy of the
Bob Wilcott
Collection
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It’s also interesting to note that the network
schedule and the lineup
of network affiliates were somewhat blurred during the 50’s. WCIA
was regarded as being a CBS primary affiliate, but their schedule
included the broadcast of local news at 6:30pm, which shifted the
airing of the CBS shows at 6:30pm CT to WTVP. Among the CBS
shows which ended up on the WTVP schedule were “Robin Hood” and “Willy”, a 30-minute sit com
starring June Havoc and Denny Richards Jr.. On Sunday
nights, “Lassie” aired on CBS at 6PM, but was not carried by
WCIA. Instead “Lassie”
was broadcast on WTVP, while WCIA aired a kinescope “Zorro” which was broadcast on ABC
the week before! At least during the Fall of 1954, a program ran
Thursday nights at 8:30-9:30 PM CT, "NBC
Ford Theater" (named for the sponsor), which was broadcast in
central Illinois on all three of the major stations and stations in the
surrounding markets: WCIA, KSD-TV(St. Louis), WGEM-TV(Quincy), WTVP and
WICS! In 1957, a Saturday afternoon ABC feature called “Five Star Comedy” which starred
ventriloquist Paul Winchell and dummy Jerry Mahoney was shown by both
WTVP and WICS.
Many shows of one network, ended up being shown
either live or via
kinescope on other affiliates later in the week. Programming
would either come live from a network coax, or would be a kinescope of
the network program which would be shipped to the station by
mail. It appears that WTVP received it’s CBS programming
live from coax at least by 1958, as the station broadcast Saturday
afternoon baseball at least in 1958 along with CBS programming at 6:30
PM weekdays. During the baseball season at least in 1958,
WTVP broadcast the same CBS game broadcast on WCIA announced by Dizzy
Dean and Buddy Blattner. The baseball
game would be followed by “All Star
Golf” hosted by Dick Danehe and broadcast by stations of all
three networks. Why the CBS exclusive affiliation contract
allowed this to happen is unknown.
In 1958 ABC
broadcast the “Thanksgiving
Day Parade” from Detroit sponsored by the J.L. Hudson Department
Store. Bob Keeshan as CBS’s Captain Kangaroo anchored the parade
coverage on ABC! It was also sponsored by Chrysler Corporation’s
“The
Forward Look” which was a marketing slogan used to describe their newly
designed models which featured a lower body style, and a longer and
wider wheel base. The broadcast of this department store
sponsored parade went head to head with the annual NBC broadcast of the
Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade in New York.
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Above: TV Guide
listing with WCIA(3)CBS, KHQA(7)CBS, WTVP(17)ABC, WMBD(31)CBS from
1958. One of the "blurring" of the network affiliate situations
that was common during the early days of the 1950's with the simulcast
of the Yankees Vs. Tigers game. WAND took the CBS
feed of the game along with WCIA.
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Early TV commercials existed in several different formats. They
were broadcast as live productions, or film slides, or filmed
productions with either recorded or live announcer audio. The
assumption is made that virtually all of the local commercial
productions have been lost to the ages. There may be a few
slides, or film clips, kinescopes or audio transcriptions that have
been stashed into a box by an account executive, or master control
operator over the years....with most being discarded at sometime during
the last 45 years. But....there’s also a chance that someone
still has some material which was aired as part of a commercial
production of WTVP, or any other broadcast station and doesn’t know
what it is....or what it’s purpose was. If you know of any
material which exists from an earlier era of broadcasting, please turn
it over to your local historical society...explain what the material
is, and if there’s any question of it’s historical value or worth, have
them get in touch with me! I’ll explain it to them!
Probably one of the most remembered local sponsors on WTVP/WAND over
the years was local Oldsmobile dealer Paul
Weidenbacher. Mr.
Weidenbacher, dressed in his trench coat, sunglasses and dress hat
would describe a new Oldsmobile or used car from the parking lot behind
the TV station. His commercials on WTVP during the 1950's, 60's
and 70's made his name and face one of the most recognized in central
Illinois. He, evidently, saw the need for local TV to build his
business, by his effort to drive one of his vehicles to the TV
station EVERY day during the dinner hour for a live TV commercial
Other major local advertisers through the early 1960's included: El
Bauer Chevrolet, Cohen Furniture, Good’s Furniture, TV Tom, H Post and
Sons, The
Millikin Bank, Tollie Foods, Heinkel Packing and Dawson and Wikoff
Funeral Home. There were alot more, but those were the one's
which come to mind the easiest.
A
New Manager...more wattage
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It was also in late
January 1954 that Prairie Broadcasting announced
the hiring of a new Station Manager, Steve
Pozhay of Neenah, Wisconsin,
where he held a position at WNAM-TV. His hiring took place as
WTVP was looking to the future and an increased coverage area.
Another new key staff member was announced during the Winter of 1954 to
take control of the engineering of the station. H.F. Abfalter was
then the new Chief Engineer.
In early July 1954, a modification of the station’s
licence allowed the
station to increase it’s power. A new transmitter was ordered
from RCA which would take the power of the station from 17,000 watts to
213,000 watts. It was stated that it would increase the radius of
the signal from 40 miles to nearly 75 miles.
By October 30th, 1954, WTVP was on the air with
213,000 watts from
their 600 foot tower on Southside Drive in south Decatur.
Reception reports came in from Paris (83 miles), Farmer City,
Champaign-Urbana, Springfield, Effingham and Gibson City. WTVP
reported they were watchable in 140,000 TV homes across central
Illinois. By this time, the station continued to air a mixture of
local shows of interest to farmers, housewives, children, along with
local news and shows from ABC.
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There's more on the history
of WTVP at the bottom of this page......
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