History and Memories of Cleveland and Northeast Ohio Television and Radio from the 1940's-1980's..Dedicated to preserving the Broadcast Heritage of Northeast Ohio..
Below is a series of Plain Dealer stories about an AFTRA strike by Announcers and Newsmen at KYW-Radio 1100 and TV 3 which began February 9, 1959 and ended l February 11..Issues were The new technology of video tape and how it would affect the way announcers worked.. as well as wages. Personnel were flown in from other Westinghouse stations to keep the station going, and Cleveland management filled on-air slots.
First:The Plain Dealer Strike Story Monday, February 9..
Continuation of PD Strike Story from Page 1:
Note the early Kenny Kings ad-Before KFC
George Condon Column-Also from February 9, Including full details of on-air radio/tv replacements for strikers and a photo of Tom Haley and Big Wilson outside KYW picketing..
Cleveland Plain Dealer Wednesday February 11, 1959-Details of Strike Settlement..
Some of the issues dealt with at that time are still issues 50-some years later, only more so..Technology has just about wiped out the need of "live announcers" on Television and Radio veterans know the effects of "Voice-Tracking" on radio..
Ad for one of the first, and I think, best animated Thanksgiving Specials..Mouse On The Mayflower, which had it's premiere showing Saturday, November 23, 1968 on NBC/WKYC-TV 3
Plain Dealer ad for WNOB 107.9. The station is now WENZ "The End"
"The Singing Rage" Patti Page, in a musical special sponored by a pair of Cleveland Area Car Dealerships Sunday, November 24, 1968
November 28:WUAB early "Star Movie" presentation..Channel 43 would use the "Star Movie" title into the 1980's..
Today, we'll look at Thanksgiving 1968 in Cleveland TV..
Some Highlights:
NFL Football: Philadelphia/Detroit at Noon, Washington/Dallas at 6, WJW-TV 8
AFL Football: Houston/Kansas City at 1:30 Buffalo/Oakland at 4 WKYC-TV 3
Mr. Jingeling (Earl Keyes) begins his 13th year on WEWS-TV 5 sponsored by Halles at a special time of 2:15 due to College Football
WVIZ-25, despite the Holiday, offered a full slate of classroom TV from 8AM-3PM..Also, nearly all their programming was still Black and White..
WKYC-TV offered a Thanksgiving Special at 1PM, with Tom Haley, Gary Essex and Norma Quarles..
Macy's Parade on NBC was hosted by Lorne Greene and Betty White
Parades on CBS
New York-Burr Tillstrom/Fran Allison Detroit-Bob Keeshan/Beth Brickell (Gentle Ben) Toronto-Arthur Godfrey/Barbara McNair Philadelphia-Mile Douglas/Bess Myerson North Carolina-Jack Linkletter
Listings for Thursday, November 28, 1968:
WKYC-3 NBC
7AM Today 9AM Mike Douglas 10AM Macy's Parade Lorne Greene/Betty White Noon Jeopardy-Art Fleming 12:30 Eye Guess-Bill Cullen 12:55 NBC News 1PM Tribute To Thanksgiving 1:30 AFL Football Chiefs/Oilers 4PM AFL Football-Bills/Raiders 7PM Huntley/Brinkley 7:30 Daniel Boone 8:30 Ironside 9:30 Dragnet 10PM Dean Martin 11PM News-Virgil Dominic 11:15 Weather-Wally Kinnan 11:20 Sports-Jim Graner 11:30 Tonight 1AM Playhouse
WEWS-5 ABC 7AM Funny You Should Ask 7:30 Dream House 8AM Treasure Isle 8:30 Bullwinkle 9AM Uncle Al 9:30 Romper Room 10AM Paige Palmer 10:30 Dick Cavett Noon Bewitched 12:30 News 12:45 Dorothy Fuldheim 1PM What's My Line?-Wally Brunner 1:30 Password-reruns of 1966-67 season. 2PM Captain Penny 2:15 Mr, Jingeling 2:30 College Football-Texas/Texas A&M 6PM Merv Griffin 7:30 Thanksgiving Visitor 8:30 Bewitched 9PM That Girl 9:30 Journey To The Unknown 10:30 Felony Squad 11PM News 11:30 Joey Bishop
WJW-TV 8 CBS
7AM Sunrise Semester 7:30 CBS News/Local News 8AM Captain Kangaroo 9AM Thanksgiving Parades Noon NFL Football-Eagles/Lions 3:30 Mr. Magoo in Sherwood Forest Compilation of 1964-65 Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo series..The entire series is now out on DVD, with the Complete Magoo TV Collection.
5PM City Camera News 5:30 Voice Of The Fans-Andy Hale, Blanton Collier 5:45 Best Of The Browns-John Fitzgerald 6PM NFL Football-Redskins/Cowboys 9PM CBS Movie-Marco Polo The Magnificient 11PM City Camera-Doug Adair, Martin Ross, Dick Goddard, Harry Jones 11:25 Movie-The Tender Trap-1955 1AM Moivie-Fury at Furnace Creek-1948 (per IMDB)
WAKR-23 ABC Akron
9:30 Ed Allen 10AM Women's Page 11AM Dick Cavett (Joined In Progress) Noon Bewitched 12:30 Treasure Isle 1PM Funny You Should Ask (listed as an hour) 2PM Newlywed Game 2:30 College Football-Texas/Texas A&M 6PM ABC News 6:30 Cheyenne 7:30 Thanksgiving Visitor 8:30 Bewitched 9PM Football High School Champs (Akron City Series) 11PM News/Weather 11:30 Joey Bishop
WVIZ-25 NET
8AM Classroom Programs 11:30 Misterogers Noon Classroom Programs 3PM Being Mature 4:15 Reading 4:45 Friendly Giant 5PM Yoga 5:30 Kindergarten 6PM Misterogers 6:30 Folk Guitar 7PM Insight 7:30 In Society 8PM Joyce Chen Cooks 8:30 French Chef 9PM Don Robertson-Robertson At Large Special 2 hour show with The Browns' Bill Glass, Classical Music Composer/Conductor Jose Serebrier,Liquor Control agent Ralph Kreiger (who may have just been elected Cuyahoga County Sherriff), Plain Dealer Writer Russell W, Kane and WEWS-TV 5 News Commentator Dorothy Fuldheim.
(Personal Note:In the few times I have seen Robertson At Large listings..The guests that he had make me want to see some of these..Too bad they are'nt likely to have been saved..)
11PM Sign-Off
WUAB-43 Ind
Noon News 12:30 Underdog/Uncle Waldo (Hoppity Hooper) 1PM Lucy Show 1:30 Movie-Magic Sword-1962 3PM Cartoon Special 3:30 Bugs and Friends 4PM Ultraman 4:30 Batman 5PM Batman 5:30 Patty Duke 6PM Real McCoys 6:30 Farmer's Daughter 7PM Gilligan's Island 7:30 I Spy 8:30 Movie-Brass Legend-1956 10:25 Paul Harvey 10:30 Untouchables 11:30 Football Forecast
WKBF-61 Ind.
9AM Jack LaLanne 9:30 Mr. Ed 10AM Woody Woodbury Show 11:30 Make Room For Daddy Noon Cartoons 1PM Movie-Two-Way Stretch-1961 3PM Linn Sheldon 3:30 Captain Cleveland 4:30 Dennis the Menace 5PM My Favorite Martian 5:30 Superman 6PM Flintstones 6:30 McHale's Navy 7PM Twilight Zone 7:30 Special-This Is Show Business 9PM Ray Anthony Special 10PM News 10:30 Alfred Hitchcock Presents 11PM Perry Nason Midnight The New Breed
Note:Since there hasnt been a lot of response to the messageboard since I put it up in early October, I've made the decision to discontinue it. I will, however over the next few weeks merge some of the History posts into the blog itself..Thanks to everybody who signed up..
Thursday, October 4, 1956. Cleveland Plain Dealer mentions WEWS' Bob Dale and Mary Ellen Sussex leaving the station..Dale had been with WEWS since 1948 and was probably the most popular personality at the time....
Mary Ellen had hosted Fun Farm since March 1955 after bringing the show from WSPD-TV 13 Toledo..
Dale spent more than 40 years in San Diego TV and passed away in 2008.
Mrs. Sussex continued Fun Farm and other shows in her new home at Tampa, Florida (WTVT-13) from 1957 through 1964.
Sadly, Mary Ellen passed away last April..She and her husband Clyde moved to Hawaii in 1980.
Blog written by TampaBay.com's Eric Deggans at the time of Mary Ellen's passing..
Cover of Joe Tait's Biography, "It's Been a Real Ball" co-authored with Terry Pluto..Gray and Company Publishers
Terry Pluto at one time has covered both the Indians and the Cavaliers in a long newspaper career..Currently a Sports and Faith Columnist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer and frequent guest on "More Sports and Les Levine"..aired Monday-Friday at 6PM with an 11PM repeat on Time Warner Cable Northeast Ohio Network (NEON). He has also authored over 20 sports books, many of them classics..
Here on the blog we have written twice about Joe Tait..The time of his 3,000th NBA game and at his retirement in April 2011..It's no secret I am a Tait fan as from 1971-72 I have listened to Tait call Cleveland Cavaliers Basketball action (as well as the Indians)
It has always been hoped that Tait would someday write a book. According to all indications, he never thought he was that interesting..And never wanted to go through the process..It was a surprise that Tait was the one to ask Terry Pluto, "Well, what about that book?"..So The process was begun this spring..The result is a smorgasbord of Joe Tait Stories, many never made public before..His Illinois upbringing, with a stern Father Figure..Joe's lifelong love for trains, his early Radio work..A friendship with Bill Fitch that would lead to the big leagues as he became the Cavaliers Radio announcer in 1970. The Early Cavaliers years, where there was some doubt the franchise would survive..The Miracle Of Richfield..The Stepien years..His Indians work from 1973-87..Back to the Cavs after a couple of years away..The Lebron years..Some of the people mentioned include Indians announcer Bob Neal, who had a fairly large ego..Frank Robinson, who blamed Tait for getting him fired as Indians Manager in 1977, Ted Stepien, worst owner ever in pro sports..Pete Franklin..and many others..
Much of the book is also taken up with memories of Joe from fans, players and broadcasters, some who worked with Joe and others who looked up to Joe as a Mentor in other broadcasting jobs..Joe Tait, from his earliest jobs in broadcasting, always worked hard and went the extra mile..He also went the extra mile for fans whether it be writing a letter, impromptu invitation to sit with Joe at dinner, an autograph or just taking time to say hello..Joe "Got it" from a fan's standpoint..
As a whole, the book is just a delight. While it covers much of Joe's life biographically it is just as much a book of Cleveland Sports History from 1970-2011 as anything else..I guarantee you will not be able to put it down..
January 29, 1958:Cleveland TV Guide Ad for "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" aired Wednesdays at 9 on Cleveland's WEWS Channel 5 and WKST-Channel 45 in New Castle Pa. (Youngstown, Ohio Market)
Note about an intriguing possibility in Classic TV:
Sam Nelson, son of the late Rick Nelson.has upon the death of his Uncle David Nelson, acquired the Nelson Family Archives. Included in these archives are the 35 mm original Masters of all 435 episodes of the TV series Adventures Of Ozzie and Harriet, along with much other memorabilia..He has launched a campaign to try to digitize all the Ozzie and Harriet episodes to save them and make them available on DVD for future generations..There have numerous DVD collections in Public Domain as well as a few Nelson Family authorized Mill Creek Collections, but these would be official authorized collections of the complete series, which no one thought would be possible till now..Here's hoping Sam Nelson is successful here as I am for saving any Classic tv series to DVD if it can be possibly done..
Update (October 22, 2023)
As of October 10, 2023 MPI Home Video has released all 14 seasons (435 Episodes) to DVD. A Complete Series Collection is due to be released December 19, 2023.
Partridge Family Reruns on WKBN-TV, October 1975:The show ran on ABC 1970-74.
WEWS-TV 5 Movie:October 1975
WYTV-33 Sitcom Lineup-June 1976
Hello everybody: As I said before, when we started Cleveland Classic Media, I didnt know how well we'd be received..Though there have been slow times in recent months, I am very pleased and honored that people seem to like what we do..We've extended the reach of C-C-M to a YouTube Page and several Facebook Pages, which have been well received, and I thank you all for that..
Today I want to announce what will be probably our last extension, as far as I know..I have toyed with the idea of an HTML message board for some time now just a few days ago decided to take the plunge..Going through the Boardhost.com free service, I've created the Cleveland Classic Media Message Board..While There will be some room for discussion of current broadcast topics, I've made separate Boards for each full-power station in Cleveland and Youngstown, a board for former TV stations, and a General TV/Radio Board, which will contain current discussion, and National Classic TV Clips, along with perhaps Radio memories as well..I might expand to a new radio section should board action warrant it, but we'll see how things go..We've had 3 members thus far..
To eliminate possible spam from the outset, all new members will have to be approved by me first..Would love to see some of the regular readers come aboard..
