December 19, 2016

What's on TV? Friday, December 23, 1955

Today's listing is in answer to a special request, something I'd like to do more of here. On Saturday, one of our commentators asked to see the listing for this day, as it was his or her birthday. I tried but failed to track down a Boston guide on short notice; hopefully this edition from the Twin Cities will do. At least it isn't The World's Worst Town™. Happy Birthday - I hope you enjoy it!

These listings are perhaps both the shortest and the longest programming listing you're likely to see here. Short, because the Twin Cities has but four stations; one for each network, plus one independent. Long, because of the plethora of 15- and 30-minute programs that abound during the broadcast day. The quarter-hour program, particularly the soap opera, is a carryover from the days of radio - which, in 1955, is still very much a going concern - NBC's acclaimed Monitor, for example, premieres earlier in the year - but the handwriting is on the wall.


WCCO, Channel 4 (CBS)

Morning

06:40a
Tele-Farmer

07:00a
The Morning Show

07:30a
News and Weather (local)

08:00a
Dave Moore

08:30a
Mel Jass

09:00a
Garry Moore

09:30a
Arthur Godfrey

10:30a
Strike it Rich

11:00a
The Valiant Lady

11:15a
Love of Life

11:30a
Search for Tomorrow

11:45a
The Guiding Light

Afternoon

12:00p
News (local)

12:15p
Weather (local)

12:20p
Amy Vanderbilt

12:25p
Answer Man

12:30p
Love Story

01:00p
Robert Q. Lewis

01:30p
Art Linkletter (guest Clark Daniels)

02:00p
The Big Payoff

02:30p
Bob Crosby

03:00p
The Brighter Day

03:15p
The Secret Storm

03:30p
On Your Account

04:00p
Around the Town

04:30p
Roy Rogers

05:30p
Axel and His Dog

05:55p
Weather (local)

Evening

06:00p
News (local)

06:10p
Sports (Rollie Johnson)

06:15p
Douglas Edwards with the News

06:30p
Soldiers of Fortune

07:00p
Mama

07:30p
Our Miss Brooks

08:00p
Crusader

08:30p
Playhouse of Stars

09:00p
The Lineup

09:30p
Person to Person (guests Danny Thomas, Burr Tillstrom)

10:00p
Appointment with Adventure

10:30p
News (Rollie Johnson)

10:40p
Weather (Bud Kraehling)

10:45p
Amos ‘n’ Andy

11:15p
Sports (Dick Enroth)

11:20p
Frankie Laine

It looks funny to see a CBS affiliate from the 50s and 60s without Captain Kangaroo, but there it is. The show had only debuted a couple of months before; I'm not sure when it was picked up by WCCO. I'm not positive on this, but I believe The Morning Show was, at this time, hosted by Jack Paar. Later on, he would get a later-morning show of his own, and he'd be replaced by, believe it or not, Dick Van Dyke.


KSTP, Channel 5 (NBC)

Morning

06:00a
Billy Folger

06:55a
News (George Grim)

07:00a
Today

09:00a
Ding Dong School

10:00a
Home

11:00a
Tennessee Ernie Ford

11:30a
Feather Your Nest

Afternoon

12:00p
News (local)

12:15p
Weather (local)

12:20p
Main Street

12:45p
Exclusive

01:00p
Reserved Seat

02:00p
Matinee Theater (color)

03:00p
Date with Life

03:15p
First Love

03:30p
Mr. Sweeney

03:45p
Modern Romance

04:00p
Pinky Lee

04:30p
Howdy Doody (color)

05:00p
Famous Playhouse

05:30p
The Man Behind the Badge

05:55p
Weather (local)

Evening

06:00p
News (local)

06:15p
You Should Know

06:30p
Coke Time with Eddie Fisher

06:45p
Camel News Caravan

07:00p
Truth or Consequences

07:30p
My Little Margie

08:00p
The Big Story

08:30p
Star Stage

09:00p
Gillette Cavalcade of Sports (boxing: Ryff vs. Vasquez)

09:45p
Fight Follow-Up

10:00p
News (local)

10:15p
Weather (Johnny Morris)

10:20p
Sports (Dick Nesbitt)

10:30p
Follow That Man

11:00p
Tonight (guests Toba Brill, Gyula Dennis)

12:00a
Midnight

The midnight show on KSTP, Midnight, isn't just there to tell you what time it is. It's hosted by Rodger Kent, who did everything from the news to professional wrestling. Midnight, according to the Pavik Museum, was "the first local television disc-jockey show in the midnight time slot." I remember his voice well.


KEYD, Channel 9 (Ind.)

Afternoon

04:30p
9-Teens

Evening

06:00p
Movie – “The Shanghai Gesture”

08:00p
Hollywood Offbeat

08:30p
The Choralairs

09:00p
Movie – “Guest in the House”

10:30p
News, Weather, Sports

10:45p
New Car Jamboree

10:55p
Movie – “Cover Up”

This was the first of three stints for Channel 9 as an independent station in the Twin Cities. This one began after the disintegration of the DuMont network; they would then become the ABC affiliate in 1961, and in turn be dumped by them in 1979; later, they would be one of the original Fox affiliates, go back to being an independent, and return to Fox again. It's probably easier to keep up with their call letter history - if I'm not mistaken, they were originally named after a radio station (as was the case with so many television stations), before becoming KMSP in the late '50s.


WTCN, Channel 11 (ABC)

Morning

09:00a
Tele-A-Story

09:30a
J.P. Patches

10:00a
Romper Room

11:00a
Morning Movie

Afternoon

12:00p
Lunch with Casey

12:30p
News (Paul Sevareid)

12:45p
Relax

01:00p
Flamingo Theater

01:30p
Cash and Carry

02:00p
Movie – “The Creeper”

04:00p
Carnival Clown

04:30p
Skipper Darl

05:00p
The Mickey Mouse Club

Evening
06:00p
Crusader Rabbit
06:05p
Weatherbird
06:10p
News (Paul Sevareid)
06:15p
John Daly and the News

06:30p
Rin Tin Tin
07:00p
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
07:30p
Crossroads
08:00p
Dollar a Second
08:30p
The Vise
09:00p
Ethel and Albert
09:30p
Theater
10:00p
News (local)
10:15p
Patti Page
10:30p
Movie – “The Black Book”

Skipper Darl, one of the many children's shows on local television, was hosted by Daryl Laub, who also played J.P. Patches in the morning. In some of my other Twin Cities listings from the '60s, you may have noticed a show on Channel 9 called T.N. Tatters - that was Daryl as well, after he moved there from Channel 11. The new J.P. Patches was Chris Wedes, who stayed with the character when the show moved to Seattle. That's notable because I used to work with a colleague who was married to a relative of Chris. He was also named Chris Wedes, and his wife - my former colleague - was named Kris Anderson; her married name is Kris Wedes. Got all that straight? TV  

5 comments:

  1. I think you missed one ...

    John Daly's newscast was 15 minutes, not 45, which would have ended at 6:30.
    ABC's Friday/6:30 entry was The Adventures Of Rin Tin Tin, which was one of that network's more popular entries of that time.
    If it's not listed here, we may be looking at a misplaced line of type.

    By late '55, Jack Paar had long since left The Morning Show; his current show was airing at 12 noon Central time - or would have, if WCCO was carrying it.

    Also at WCCO: they're bypassing the CBS network offering at 6:30, Adventures of Champion, starring Gene Autry's horse (the syndicated Soldiers Of Fortune got ch4's nod instead).

    Meanwhile, KSTP has a network bypass of its own: NBC's Life Of Riley is displaced by the newly syndicated My Little Margie.

    Just noticed that WCCO is running Appointment With Adventure at 10 pm;
    The rest of the CBS network has this show on Sunday night at 9 pm.
    (Wonder what ch4 has on then?)





    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Updated - thanks.

      On Sunday night, Channel 4 has Crosscurrent, aka Foreign Intrigue, on at 9:0pm, followed by a local movie.

      Delete
  2. "Followed by a local movie..." What, no WML at 9:30 CT Sun on 'CCO? Did they run it via kinnie on another night?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks!

    Actually, I had once seen the local TV listings for my hometown of Boston on the date of my birth, so it was nice to see the Twin Cities listings for that date. In fact, I was expecting to see TV listings on the date of my birth for a city other than my hometown.

    Back then, Steve Allen's "Tonight Show" ran from 11:15 P.M. to 1 A.M. Eastern time, but the first fifteen minutes were broadcast only on NBC's New York flagship station (probably to satisfy a long-term, multi-year sponsor commitment made before the show went network).

    The portion after 11:30 was sent to the network.

    Then-NBC station WBZ Channel 4 in Boston picked-up the show in progress at 11:40 P.M. (it ran a ten-minute newscast at 11 and half-hour syndicated shows from 11:10 to 11:40).

    Still, Boston viewers got to see more of "Steverino" (one hour and 20 minutes a night) than viewers in the Twin Cities did (the final hour).

    ReplyDelete
  4. Was Paul Sevareid of WTCN Channel 11 (who anchored the station's midday and early-evening newscasts) related to Eric Sevareid?

    I know Eric (one of the so-called "Murrow Boys" and a longtime CBS News correspondent and later news analyst) was a Minnesota native. Could Paul have been Eric's brother or otherwise related?

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for writing! Drive safely!