July 21, 70 Years Ago

Bits and Pieces of BC Radio History

July 21, 70 Years Ago

Postby cart_machine » Tue Jul 21, 2020 2:58 am

A fairly dry radio column by Dick Diespecker in the Province 70 years ago this day. There were a lot of those. (The Province’s column for this date 80 years ago is even duller).

Interesting to read about television. CBUT was still a few years away. KING was the only TV station available locally. It appears most of KING’s programming was in-house, it being the era of network-via-kinescope.

“The Treasury Show” was a 15-minute syndicated programme featuring well-known Hollywood, singing and radio stars pushing U.S. Treasury Bonds.

“Mystery is My Hobby” was a Mutual network show, sent to stations on transcription discs. By 1950, it had already moved to television. There’s conflicting information when the radio show ceased first-run broadcasts. It was still airing on CKTB St. Catharines in 1955. There are plenty of episodes available on the internet for download, as there are for the Treasury show.

cArtie

MOBILE TV EQUIPMENT FOR CBC
Two mobile television units to be used by the CBC TV in Toronto and Montreal have been ordered from Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Co. Ltd., of Chelmsford, England, through Canadian Marconi.
Total cost of the two large trucks fully outfitted with portable TV equipment end necessary accessories is around $190,000. The CBC will use the mobile units for TV programs originating outside the studios although all equipment is portable and may be utilized within the studios if necessary.
Each truck, about 22 1/2 feet in length, is actually a low-powered mobile television station and is equipped with three cameras, a transmitter and associated receiver for relaying programs back to the main transmitter.
Two previous orders for TV equipment placed by the CBC include two transmitters now being built in Canada, and studio equipment which is being manufactured in England.
Total value of television equipment ordered to date is approximately $875,000. Delivery is expected to start early next year.
* * *
JOHN GILLIN PASSES
Canadian broadcasters have lost a sincere and able friend in the death of John Gillin, president and general manager of WOW, Omaha, Nebraska.
Mr. Gillin, who was 45, died of a heart attack while holidaying at Junction City, Wisconsin. He started in radio as a part-time announcer and joined the staff at WOW in 1929. He was the youngest director in the history of the National Association of Broadcasters, and served as executive vice-president of the association from 1934 to 1937.
Mr. Gillin was liaison officer for the NAB to the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, and attended every convention of the CAB in the past 10 years. He visited scores of Canadian stations and played host to Canadian radio men on visits to the United States.
William Guild, manager of CJOC, Lethbridge, and president of the CAB, is in Vancouver for a business visit. Mr. Guild tells us that Mr. Gillin was a key worker in the co-operation between Canadian and American radio, and had always given freely of his services and advice when needed.
* * *
TONIGHT'S BEST BETS
6:00 p.m.—U.N. Documentary, CBR, Easy Listening, CJOR.
7:00 p.m.—Hobby Lobby, KIRO; Treasury Show, KJR; Wanted, KOMO.
8:00 p.m.—Open House, CKMO; Music by Seaborn, CBR.
8:30 p.m.—Cloud Nine, KIRO; Maisie, CKWX; Dimension X, KOMO.
9:00 p.m.—Lacrosse, CKNW; Philo Vance, CJOR; Stars and Starters, KOMO.
9:30 p.m.—Mystery is My Hobby, CKWX; Beat the Champs, CBR.
TELEVISION TONIGHT, KING-TV, Channel 5
6:00, Test Pattern; 7:15, Glamour Go Round; 7:30, Pinky Lee Show; 8:00, King's Queen; 8:30, We'll Take Your Word; 9:00, Clipper Capers; 9:30, People's Platform; 10:00, Cavalcade of Sports; 10:30, Telenews Daily.
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Re: July 21, 70 Years Ago

Postby ronrob » Tue Jul 21, 2020 1:01 pm

Hey Cartie .. My OTR reference books tell me "Murder is my Hobby" ran on Mutual in 1945-46. A spinoff, "Mystery is my Hobby," also featuring Barton Drake as the central character, ran in syndication from 1947-49.
I wasn't yet with WX, so I don't know if the show was in reruns in 1950 .. or the first run had yet to complete, perhaps because WX didn't start running it at the outset. I do know it was several years before WX dropped its block programming, with shows as short as 15 minutes through much of the daytime, and after 10 at night.
This was still the era when spot commercials were not permitted in evening "prime time" .. when the shows were sponsored by one advertiser for the full half hour. The only exception was the sponsored time check .. "It's 8:59, B-U-L-O-V-A, Bulova watch time."
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Re: July 21, 70 Years Ago

Postby jon » Tue Jul 21, 2020 3:06 pm

Meanwhile, based on Cartie's comments about CBUT-TV still being years away, I was looking at early references to Television, and found that the earliest claims to inventing television, circa 1920, were, in fact, full motion video telephone conversations, i.e. - wired, not wireless.

A few years later, what was essentially wireless Fax, was being successfully demonstrated, i.e. - a still picture being displayed at a distance using radio waves.

Something resembling true television appeared in the late 1920s, but it relied on some mechanical operations to occur in the receiving set, rather than the all electronic version of television receivers we all know and love.

The Great Depression and World War II essentially delayed Television by nearly 20 years.
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Re: July 21, 70 Years Ago

Postby cart_machine » Tue Jul 21, 2020 7:20 pm

jon wrote:Something resembling true television appeared in the late 1920s, but it relied on some mechanical operations to occur in the receiving set, rather than the all electronic version of television receivers we all know and love.

The Great Depression and World War II essentially delayed Television by nearly 20 years.


In a way, yes. The Billboard reviewed shows on both the NBC and CBS owned stations in New York in the early '30s and their programme schedules were listed in the papers. They're interesting to read. The Don Lee station in Los Angeles signed on in the early '30s. Things died off until the World's Fair in NY in 1939. Commercial TV in the U.S. was legalised on July 1, 1941 but programming was reduced during the war. With the war over, manufacturers could make sets and programming slowly expanded along with the number of licenses and transmitted construction permits.

Fax broadcasting was experimental during the period and never made the big breakout that some expected.

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Re: July 21, 70 Years Ago

Postby cart_machine » Tue Jul 21, 2020 7:34 pm

ronrob wrote:Hey Cartie .. My OTR reference books tell me "Murder is my Hobby" ran on Mutual in 1945-46. A spinoff, "Mystery is my Hobby," also featuring Barton Drake as the central character, ran in syndication from 1947-49.
I wasn't yet with WX, so I don't know if the show was in reruns in 1950 .. or the first run had yet to complete, perhaps because WX didn't start running it at the outset. I do know it was several years before WX dropped its block programming, with shows as short as 15 minutes through much of the daytime, and after 10 at night.
This was still the era when spot commercials were not permitted in evening "prime time" .. when the shows were sponsored by one advertiser for the full half hour. The only exception was the sponsored time check .. "It's 8:59, B-U-L-O-V-A, Bulova watch time."


Hi, Ron. The reference books seem to conflict. I try to go back to source materials from the day. "Mystery is My Hobby" ran on the Mutual flagship (WOR) through 1949 and into 1951 but I can't tell if they're original shows. Broadcasting magazine in fall of 1949 has it on the Mutual network schedule. According to Variety of August 21, 1946, the "Mystery" version was to debut Sept. 8, 1946. I like the idea that the name was changed from "Murder" because the sponsor was an insurance company that didn't think murdering someone was a good product selling point.

There's an error up top. The Treasury show mentioned above was another show on Mutual and ran a half hour. I guess the 15-minute syndicated shows were something else.

Ah, if those old transcriptions had been kept.

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