Cleveland TV Guide Sample Page for Thursday, February 18, 1956, with ads for the Cisco Kid and Mr. District Attorney. Notice what I presume is a Bell Telephione ad (Clevelamd to Miami-$1.45 for the first 3 minutes..) Remember when long distance phoning was a luxury?
Cleveland Press TV listings for Feb. 13-14, 1956.
Byline of Stan Anderson, Cleveland Press Radio-TV Columnist for his "See Hear" column for Monday, February 13, 1956..
In our final installment on KYW's move to Cleveland from Philadelphia in January, 1956, we will look at a Column from Cleveland Press TV/Radio writer Stan Anderson. Part news mostly editorial comment..We will also list some of the names of the Westinghouse personnel who made the move to Cleveland..
See Hear
With
Stan Anderson, Cleveland Press
WESTINGHOUSE BROADCASTING CO.
INJECTS LIFE INTO NEW STATION
Monday February 13, 1956.
"One must be impressed with the spirit in which Westinghouse Broadcasting Co. is taking over the former WTAM-WNBK operation here.
The liveliness and alertness of young and determined executives sort of oozes through the walls of the building at E. Ninth and Superior Ave.
As these men of the WBC organization wave their hands today and transform WTAM and WNBK into KWY and KWY-TV (sp) you will notice the sort of dynamic touch Bill Veeck once exhibited around town.
Everybody bubbles like Donald H. McGannon, WBC president who is only 35 years old. I have found this is contagious during the last two weeks. A new enthusiasm has grown up among the performers who remained on staff when the ownership shifted from NBC to WBC.
A visitor to the building housing the station's studios is immediately cognizant of sharp changes. Example:The lower part of the NBC building has been thoroughly scrubbed.
The brightness, this promise of a house cleaning. is even more noticeable in the interior. In the Lobby, in the corridors and the offices there is a cheerful, almost gay transformation going on. And new equipment is being installed.
It may be the Westinghouse people have been mindful of the new building into which WXEL and WJW are about to move (1630 Eulclid Ave.-Ed.) and they probably have not overlooked WEWS' recent announcement that it will soon have a new studio building (3001 Euclid Ave. Ed.)
Considering the energies and money the newcomers are pouring into an overhauling of policies and fiscal property, it would seem they intend to make the KYW stations a permanent operation under the WBC banner. This is good for the community.
One of WBC's immediate problems is pounding the KYW call letters into the public mind. So thousands of balloons were being released from Public Square at 12:30 noon today. Thousands more will be released at the same time tomorow and Wednesday. You will find some of these balloons bear a certificate for $3 and others for $11. This is a promotional reminder that KYW-TV is Channel 3 and KYW is 1100 on your radio dial.
There will be a fireworks display just east of the Stadium tonight at 8. A TV mobile unit will visit shopping centers daily and if its camera happens to pick you out, you will see yourself on TV.
Now balloons and fireworks and such obviously come under the heading of gimmicks. But at the same time it would appear the new management is thinking beyond mere gimmicks. There is good reason to believe it is thinking earnestly about local programming and community participation. I devoutly hope I am not wrong in this.
For samples of revised programming concepts, try Night Music on KYW tonight at 10:15 and Tom Haley's Morning Surprise on KYW-TV tomorrow at nine. See-Hear will print other programming changes as they come up."
End of Press Article
Some Westinghouse personnel who made the move to Cleveland:
Donald H. McGannon, WBC President
Rolland V. Tooke, VP/GM KYW-TV/Radio
Gordon Davis, GM KYW Radio
Mark Olds, KYW Radio Program Manager
Edward Wallis, Sales Promotion Manager
Janet Byers Sales Promotion Radio
Albert P. Krivin Sales Manager TV
Preston Stover TV Program Manager
B. Calvin Jones, Production Manager, TV
Comment:I find it interesting that Westinghouse pulled out all the stops when they arrrived in Cleveland..And they did a wonderful job here, but just slipped out quietly in June, 1965 with hardly a good bye..I've wondered lately if it was ever thought of finding a way to stay, with another station perhaps (UHF Indys were just around the corner) or even if they had just kept KYW in Cleveland..Would 1100 be all news by now?..Of course, TV 3 would now be owned by CBS...Can you say NBC 19? It boggles the mind..
For those new to the blog, here is a series I did last August on NBC's 1965 return to Cleveland..:This is actually the August Archive..scroll back to August 19, 2007 for the beginning of the series and scroll ahead till the 25th to get all the series..
http://clevelandclassicmedia.blogspot.com/2007_08_01_archive.html
One thing I had noticed about the TV listings was the network newspeople, John Daly and Robert Q. Lewis, both game show hosts. Brings to mind my first memory of Hugh Downs as the host of Concentration, later to go on the Today show.
ReplyDeleteNow as far as if Westinghouse stayed in town, I seem to recall a couple of years ago a spectulative thread on Radio-Info.com about what would have happened to KYW-AM/1100 and KYW-FM/105.7.
Some good materials there, Tim.
WIXY:
ReplyDeleteNice to see ya..Robet Q. Lewis was never a newsperson as far as I know...The show listed there was a variety half hour on channel 8. John Daly was very well known in news as early as the late 1930's on CBS before launching What's My Line?..As fr as the "speculative" thread on KYW..I was the one that started that..
Thank you for recreating an historic time in Cleveland media.
ReplyDelete== Joy
I didn't know John Daly's newscast was available in Cleveland. That was ABC's early evening newscast, but it was not as popular as Douglas Edwards on CBS or John Cameron Swayzw on NBC with "The Camel Camera."
ReplyDelete