tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post7274084748262354085..comments2024-03-27T22:27:16.556-04:00Comments on It's About TV: What's on TV? Wednesday, September 14, 1960Mitchell Hadleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08695771505209080030noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-9650024997205152442015-09-08T15:27:53.832-04:002015-09-08T15:27:53.832-04:00Your comment in the intro about cities in close pr...Your comment in the intro about cities in close proximity to each other...<br /><br />Back in the late '60s, when I was but a lad, I found that it was possible to pull in broadcast signals from distant cities on channels that weren't assigned to Chicago's local stations.<br />This was particularly true during the summer months, on clear nights (and sometimes days); the signal would sometimes wander in and out, and the picture would be snowy, but we on the Southwest Side of Chicago could occasionally pull in a fair picture from stations in Milwaukee, Rockford, sometimes South Bend (rare, but it happened), and on a really clear day, Grand Rapids/Kalamazoo, Michigan (the stations, WKZO in Kalamazoo (what a gal ...) and WZZM in Grand Rapids, were at pains to point that they served both cities).<br />This was when <i>TV Guide</i> carried the Rockford listings in the Chicago edition; I learned that in the northwestern reaches of the Chicagoland Area, people could get usable (if not pristine) signals from both cities.<br />Years later, I became friendly with Max Allan Collins, mystery writer of note, a lifelong resident of Muscatine, Iowa.<br />Muscatine is just down the Mississippi River from the Quad Cities: Rock Island and Moline, Illinois, and Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa. The advertising agencies, who determine such things, call all of these (Muscatine included) one "market", and have from the beginnings of broadcasting.<br />My friend Max, who is around my age, tells me that the QC area didn't have an ABC station until he was in junior high school (that would be about the mid-'60s). <br />Across the USA, there have been any number of markets that consisted of more than one city; Some others I've read about include Albany/Schenectady/Troy in upstate New York, Tampa/St. Petersburg Florida (aka the Suncoast), and a whole string of American cities close to the Canadian border that are cheek-by-jowl with each other: Buffalo NY/Toronto, Detroit MI/Windsor, Ontario, Fargo ND/Winnipeg, Seattle WA/Vancouver, several others.<br />All of this knowledge dates from the '60s-'70s, before the rise of cable and satellite and digital; I don't really know how much of it is still applicable, if any of it is.<br /><br />I was aware that Dallas/Fort Worth calls itself the Metroplex; I'd imagine this was so for quite some time. Maybe not twin cities, but close enough for jazz.<br />Others on this line can, and should, correct me if necessary.Mike Dorannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-50586972645506173562015-09-07T14:18:45.174-04:002015-09-07T14:18:45.174-04:00Had to do a quick check of my reference books (I d...Had to do a quick check of my reference books (I don't have the Chicago edition this week):<br /><br />During the summers of 1959 and 1960, ABC mounted a series called <i>Music For A Summer Night</i>. <br />This show came about when ABC caught considerable PR flak from its cancellation of <i>The Voice Of Firestone</i>. The current show had the same producers, but was less classically oriented than the <i>Firestone</i> series.<br />In both of its seasons, Merv Griffin was one of its more frequent performers, and its host was John Daly - who had served as <i>Voice Of Firestone</i>'s on-camera host just prior to its cancellation.<br />I'm reasonably sure that this <i>Football Kickoff</i> "special" was in fact a regular episode of <i>Music For A Summer Night</i>, which was wrapping up its run in its usual Wednesday time slot.<br /><br />Added note: a year or so later, ABC brought back <i>Voice Of Firestone</i> - without John Daly, who had left ABC after the 1960 election. (Probably just a coincidence ...)<br /><br />Mike Dorannoreply@blogger.com