tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post5901600813409225918..comments2024-03-27T22:27:16.556-04:00Comments on It's About TV: This week in TV Guide: April 9, 1966Mitchell Hadleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08695771505209080030noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-79213172314160614162015-07-23T22:28:53.595-04:002015-07-23T22:28:53.595-04:00Regarding Frank McGee and the assassination of Pre...Regarding Frank McGee and the assassination of President Kennedy - Walter Cronkite and CBS seem to get most of the attention these days when people bring up TV's coverage of that terrible weekend, with special reference to Cronkite's catch-in-the-voice thing when he announced the death. But NBC's coverage was every bit as good. I particularly recall Frank McGee (who, as you note, made a special effort to bring fresh viewers up to speed on what was going on) and Edwin Newman, who was a powerfully somber presence (I seem to recall Newman anchoring coverage of the funeral on Monday but I could be wrong). Also Chet Huntley and David Brinkley of course. The overall NBC television news operation by 1963 had caught up with CBS and perhaps surpassed it in some areas (coverage of civil rights). CBS had the great tradition for broadcast news, dating to Edward R. Murrow and his boys broadcasting from Europe during WWII, but NBC in the early '60s was awash in cash because of the success of Huntley/Brinkley (who consistently beat Cronkite in the ratings). NBC was hiring top people - John Chancellor, Sander Vanocur (who was very good despite being in the Kennedy's pocket a lot of the time). My family in St. Paul watched NBC's coverage exclusively that weekend. One factor in this might have been the giant KSTP antennae on University Avenue - the KSTP/NBC signal was 25 percent better than WCCO/CBS.Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13328437220607977308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-28669296117639443902014-04-17T11:45:07.275-04:002014-04-17T11:45:07.275-04:00My reverse march continues ...
The Rex Sparger &q...My reverse march continues ...<br /><br />The Rex Sparger "expose" went nowhere, to nobody's surprise.<br />The one question no one asked:<br />Why did Sparger choose to "rig" the numbers on shows that were likely to draw big numbers anyway?<br />Carol Channing's special - which was on CBS, by the way - was her first such appearance in many years. General Foods sponsored it, and gave it promotional support well above and beyond the line of duty, both on-air and in print. The ad spots put Channing together with the stars of GF's many other CBS shows - exactly the sort of thing that GF's AdMen would make a legitimate survey topic.<br />Bob Hope was at his peak in those days; his series and specials almost always won their timeslots by wide margins, and the annual Vietnam special usually was the number one show (or close to it) for its week.<br />My point: If Sparger wanted to prove his point about rig-ability, why didn't he choose shows that ordinarily <i> didn't</i> rate well? Heaven knows there were more than enough candidates in those three-network days.<br /><br />I'm pretty much flying blind with this new confuser (a term I borrowed from the late Bob Collins, a Chicago radio guy of long standing), and one of the things I've having trouble figuring out is E-mail.<br />Consequently, those "off-line requests" you mentioned elsewhere are out of my reach - for now, anyway.<br /><br />Back to excavations ...Mike Dorannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-59729747407971588932014-04-05T13:01:23.713-04:002014-04-05T13:01:23.713-04:00Roy Thinnes is from Chicago and is alive and well ...Roy Thinnes is from Chicago and is alive and well today.... True Newshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15570273164478168819noreply@blogger.com