September 1948 was the beginning of big things in Northeast Ohio Television.Plans were put in motion for live, network broadcasts to Cleveland..The first of these was a Detroit/Boston American League Baseball Game September 20, 1948..As we see in the above articles, it was a mammoth undertaking just to air one Baseball Game from Detroit to Cleveland..About this time also WEWS aired an ABC-TV Inaugral Show live from Chicago..These were the first "On Location" telecasts ever seen live in Cleveland..When we compare with how easily and relatively cheaply remote telecasting is done today..Very Intriguing.
September 29, 1948 TV Schedule: Cleveland Plain Dealer
WEWS-TV 5
10AM Test Pattern
1:30 News
1:40 Dugout Interviews
1:55 Baseball Chicago White Sox at Indians
4:15 Fans In The Stands
5PM Just For Kids
6:30 News
6:45 Face The Music-Johnny Desmond (CBS)
7PM Feminine Features
7:20 Film Short
7:30 Winner Take All (CBS)
8PM Places Please (CBS)
8:15 Know Your Neighbors
8:30 As Others See Us
8:50 Film Short
9PM Videovaudeville
9:20 Film Short
9:30 Tune Time
9:45 Film Shorts
10PM Hot Rod Auto Races (ABC)
Midnight News
Too bad Toledo had it less.
ReplyDeleteThere was a reason as to why WEWS-5 wanted to carry the Detroit/Boston game on September 20th, 1948 (which presumably was the local Detroit telecast being relayed to Cleveland): Boston and Cleveland were in quite a pennant race during the final weeks of the 1948 regular season.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, the two teams tied for first at the end of the regular-season, and met in a one-game playoff for the pennant (which Cleveland won).
Since the Eastern and Midwest networks weren't yet linked, Clevelanders weren't able to watch the playoff game at Fenway Park in Boston, nor the World Series games against the old Boston Braves played at Braves Field in Boston.
Likewise, Boston TV set owners didn't get to see World Series games played in Cleveland.
It was the only time since the first televised World Series in 1947 that some Series games weren't televised (or in this case, could not be televised) in the home cities of participating teams (the first televised Series in 1947 was between two New York-area teams).
By the 1949 series, all ten cities with MLB teams at the time were connected to network lines, so all World Series games, home and away, would be seen in the particpating teams' home cities.