April 1956-Time of Transition

A double page ad by Storer Broadcasting announcing the move of WXEL/WJW to new studios at 1630 Euclid Avenue, Downtown Cleveland, where they would remain till the 70's when studios would move to 5800 South Marginal Road near downtown..Also, there was a special program Sunday April 15, 1956 at 2:00PM dedicating the new studios and announcing the call letter change from WXEL to WJW-TV to match Storer's newly acquired WJW-AM 850


TV Guide Ad for the Monday April 16, 1956 KYW-TV 3 premiere of "Six O Clock Adventure" a hodgepodge of western, action and adventure shows during the 6:00 hour. According to the listing "former Philadelphian" Big Wilson is host for the hour (55 minutes actually)
This indicates that Wilson may have only recently arrived at KYW, where he would stay till 1961.


TV Guide Ad for the syndicated "Man Behind The Badge" with Kroger as sponsor, Monday at 10:30PM on KYW-3


TV Guide ad for varied Thursday evening shows on Cleveland stations.


In our first major historical post of 2009 I thought we would look at the week of April 14-20, 1956. KYW-TV was settling in after the Westinghouse swap with Philly's channel 3, with several local program changes.. WEWS was preparing to move into its new srudios at 3001 Euclid Avenue, where they are to this day. WXEL was about to move into new studios downtown with the call letters WJW-TV..Some program highlights:

Saturday 4/14
9AM WEWS-5 Fun Farm with hostess Mary Ellen..Captain Penny (Ron Penfound) would take over Fun Farm by Spring 1957.

3:30 WXEL-8 Humbard Family-Rex Humbard's Broadcast from Akron, Ohio
4PM WXEL-8 Wrestling
6:30 WEWS-5 Little Rascals
6:50-WKBN-27 Ohio Story-Visit to the Toledo Zoo
8PM KYW-3/WFMJ-21 Perry Como-With Ginger Rogers, Tennesee Ernie Ford, Phil Foster and the Duke Univ. Choir
11PM KYW-3 News-Tom Field

Sunday 4/15
Noon-WEWS-5 Gene Carroll
2PM WXEL-8 WJW-TV Dedication-TV 8 changes calls from WXEL ro WJW
7:30 KYW-3 WFMJ 21 Salute to Baseball..90 minute spectacular on the opening of the 1956 Baseball season..
10:30 WEWS-5 Bill Randle Show

Monday 4/16

9AM KYW-3 Morning Surprise-Tom Haley
10:45 WFMJ-21 Industry On Parade
12:30 WEWS-5 Uncle Leslie-Linn Sheldon
6PM KYW-3 Six o' Clock Adventure-DEBUT-Captain Z-RO and an episode of "My Hero" With Bob Cummings-Big Wilson hosts.
6:50 WEWS-5 News-Bob Dale/Paul Wilcox
7:30 WAKR-49 Chef Lorenzo
7:45 KYW-3 WFMJ-21 John C. Swayze News-Originating from WNBQ Chicago, which became fhe first TV station to broadcast "virtually" all its shows in color
9PM WJW-8 WKBN 27 I Love Lucy-The "Grape Stomping" episode
10PM WEWS-5 Boxing from St. Nicholas Arena, NY-The last DuMont series.

Tuesday 4/17
1PM WJW-8 Alice Weston
2PM WEWS-5 WKBN-27 Baseball-Indians at Chicago White Sox..Opemning Day Ken Coleman, Jim Britt Indians lost 2-1

6PM WJW-8 Looney Tunes
6PM WFMJ-21 Susie Sidesaddle
7:30 WEWS-5 WKBN-27 WAKR-49 Warner Brothers Presents-Cheyenne
11:05 KYW-3 Weather-Joe Finan

Wednesday 4/18
7PM WEWS-5 Inside Catholic Schools
7:30 WEWS-5 Disneyland
8PM WAKR-49 Akron Jaycees
8:30 WAKR-49 Wrestling-Hollywood
10PM WJW-8 20th Century Fox Hour Reginald Gardiner and Eddie Bracken in "Mr. Belvedere"
10:30 KYW-3 Midwestern Hayride

Thursday 4/19

1:15 WEWS-5 Double Drama-Bob Dale
6PM WEWS-5 Superman-George Reeves
6:20 WAKR-49 Sports-Bob Wylie
7:15 WEWS-5 ABC News-John Daly
8:30 WJW-8 WKBN-27 Climax!-The Lou Gehrig Story

Friday 4/20
8:55 WJW-8 Farm News
1:15 WFMJ-21 Hal's A Poppin-Hal Fryar
5:55 WJW-8 News
7PM KYW-3 Amos and Andy
7PM WJW-8 WFMJ-21 Badge 714 (Dragnet-Jack Webb)

Tom Haley Dies...

Longtime Channel 3 personaity Tom Haley..courtesy WKYC-TV


From November 1957..A TV Guide ad for the Program "Cash on the Line"..The weekday morning movie show on channel 3 KYW-TV

It is with sadness that I have to report another loss in the Cleveland Classic Television community. Tom Haley, 88, veteran announcer, newsman and program host for WKYC-TV and it's predecessors for nearly 50 years, passed away suddenly Tuesday morning at Lakewood Hospital after about a bout with pneumonia....Haley began his broadcast career as an NBC Page in New York, then in radio at Allentown, Pa in 1943. After a stint at WRC Radio in Washington, DC, The Brooklyn, NY Native landed at Cleveland's WJW Radio, before moving to WTAM Radio about the time WNBK-TV began in Cleveland in 1948. Like most early TV performers, Haley did every kind of program imaginable at WNBK/KYW/WKYC. Booth announcing, Program Host, News reader, game show and Movie Host..His earliest program on WNBK was "Haley's Daily"..An hour show which he says he hosted and prepared the entire show himself..He also hosted Cash on the Line..A game show wrapped around a morning movie on KYW-TV..Another Game Show he hosted in the early 60's was Give N Take..As the years went on, he did more of booth announcing and 5-minute news updates then anything else..By the 1970's he began hosting the Sunday Morning Dialogue program..and, around 1980 or so, began to team with Del Donahoo on "Today in Cleveland"..Most younger viewers today remember Haley from Today In Cleveland..The show was a off the cuff, homespun half hour of news, jokes and just plain having fun..Haley retired in 1997..after a 49 year career at WNBK/KYW/WKTC...An amazing feat, considering how volatile broadcasting can be..

Haley's family included 7 daughters, 9 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren..From all the tributes I am reading and seeing today, he was the consummate gentleman off the set as all as on..and will be missed..Prayers go out to his family at this time..

http://www.wkyc.com/news/local/news_article.aspx?storyid=109435&catid=45

WKYC.com Tribute..

http://www.wkyc.com/weblog/directors_cut/2009/03/directors-alert-former-wkyc-personality.html

Frank Macek's Director's Cut Tribute..

http://www.cleveland.com/tv/index.ssf/2009/03/tom_haley_longtime_cleveland_t.html

Cleveland.com Article..





From TV 3's 50th anniversary..Tom Haley Remembers the early days..




WKYC-TV Report with Romona Robinson and Eric Mansfield..from Frank Macek..

A Final Thought..Tom Haley is more than likely the last WKYC link to the WNBK days..Also one of the last links to truly local television in Cleveland.

Some notes at Midweek:

Color Test Pattern for WKYC-TV

Page of Plain Dealer TV week June 21, 1965..KYW-TV had already changed to WKYC-TV 3 two days earler, but too late for presstime

Just a few notes here at midweek:

I'd like to publicly thank Ms. Vivian Goodman of WKSU-FM and Jim Davison for the kind comments on the "Cleveland Broadcast Museum" post a few days ago, as well as the other comments on that subject, and also the comments on the WKBF audio post..

Rich Emery of Hamilton, Ohio who writes to me regularly about posting ideas, and shares his thoughts about classic TV/Radio..has found a Olympia, Washington Newspaper obituary about Thomas T. Goldsmith, founder/operator of WTTG-TV 5 Washington, DC with Allen B. DuMont.

WTTG was one of the DuMont Network owned and operated stations and is now Fox 5..Goldsmith was one of the pioneers of early TV. He passed away March 5..

http://www.legacy.com/TheOlympian/Obituaries.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonId=125011059

Also:I've gotten in touch with retired TV personality Gordon Ward through Facebook recently. Ward was an announcer/Newsman at WNBK/KYW-TV for much of the 1950's before spending many years as an anchorman at WTOL-11 "Toledo Eleven"..He is living in retirement at age 83 in the Toledo area..Always good to know some of the pioneers are still around..

Update:Here is Mr. Ward with a 1956 KYW-TV sign-off..




KYW-AM/FM Sign-off by Gordon Ward Mid 1950's,

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"Uncle Al" Lewis-1924-2009

Newspaper Ad for the Uncle Al Show on WCPO-9 Cincinnati..This ad and the one below courtesy larrysmithpuppets.com

Uncle Al with Wife Wanda and the Larry Smith Puppets-ABC TV ad for The Uncle Al Show Saturday Mornings in 1959-60

Cincinnati Kids TV Institution "Uncle Al" Lewis passed away Saturday Morning at the age of 84. He hosted the Uncle Al Show aat Scripps-Howard's WCPO Channel 9 in Cincinnati from 1950-1985,,Most of the time with his wife, Wanda. Both Al and Wanda were/are Cleveland natives. Mr. Lewis began his career at WEWS-5 Cleveland as an announcer and artist before he and Wanda moved to Cincinnati to help start up WCPO-TV in 1950..ABC-TV carried Uncle Al nationally at 11AM Saturday Mornings in 1959-60. For a time in the early 1970's, Uncle Al was carried on WEWS-TV 5. The Uncle Al Show was the longest running Local Kids TV Show in History..

More on Uncle Al Here:

WCPO-TV:

http://www.wcpo.com/news/local/story/Tri-States-Beloved-Uncle-Al-Passes-Away/mbqT7X002EG7deu_FvxVww.cspx

Cincinnati Enquirer:

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090302/NEWS01/903020353/1055/NEWS


Tri-State Media Watch

http://ohkyintristatemedia.blogspot.com/2009/03/breaking-tonight-beloved-local-icon.html

Includes links to WLWT-5 and WKRC-12 Reports..

While this is'nt directly Cleveland Related, I felt we should mention it because of his Cleveland Connections and the fact that he is an Icon in Southwestern Ohio..Best Wishes and prayers go out to his family..

Cleveland Classic Media now on Twitter

As you may notice, included on the right side of the page is now a reference to "Twitter"..Following the lead of Fox 8 and Ohio Media Watch, we decided to sign up. There will be updates of Cleveland Classic Media as well as times I will be away. etc.. and other personal notes as warranted..I've already had 3 followers and I appreciate it.

I havent mentioned this, but I also have the Blogger "Followers" application and there are 17 blog "Followers"..Very humbled and thankful for that..Have a good week all..

Paul Harvey Passes Away

From our friends at Ohio Media Watch:Paul Harvey, iconic Newsman and commentator for ABC News well over 60 years, has passed..


WHBC -AM in Canton had carried his programs continually since 1951. Other stations had just recently stopped carrying Paul Harvey News..Prayers to his family and friends at this time..


http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com/2009/02/breaking-news-paul-harvey-has-died.html

Cleveland Broadcasting Heritage Museum

Since I've had access to the Internet on a regular basis..Over 10 years or so, Ive learned a great deal about the fine Museums in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago that celebrate Television and Radio Heritage..I always thought, with Cleveland's radio history, there should be something similar, albeit on a smaller scale, for Cleveland and Northeast Ohio..

In the last several months, Jim Davison has opened such a museum at the Colonial Arcade, 530 Euclid Avenue in Downtown Cleveland, filled with memorabilia of Radio in Cleveland, mostly from the top 40 era, but also dating as far back as the 1930's. The Museum is located in the basement of the Colonial Arcade, sharing space with the Baseball Heritage Museum.

From a late January visit to the Museum, here are pictures of some of the exhibits:





Early Poster of Alan Freed's "Moondog" Show on WJW Radio..sponsored by "Record Rendezvous"



KYW-1100 Poster with pictures of the airstaff..This would be around 1963-65..


WJW-85 Welcome sign, with a WDOK 102.1 T-shirt, among other items..


Full Page Ad of Bill Randle of WERE-1300 from a Trade Magazine in the 1950's..



Vintage 1960's WCRF-FM Microphone..



1947 WGAR "Range Riders" Calendar


From 2 different eras..a 1944 Presidential Election Poster from WTAM and What I believe are some 1970's pictures of the WGAR Air Staff..


WTAM program schedule from the early 1950's. Johnny Andrews is featured here on the "Morning Bandwagon" Jay Miltner was a featured singer in the WTAM Orchestra before becoming an icon as WNBK/KYW/WKYC announcer for over 30 years..

Uncle Jake Record from Gene Carroll's early days at WEWS. While he had been known as half of comedy duo Gene and Glenn on NBC Radio in the 1930's..Few realize Carroll played Lena the Maid on NBC Radio's Fibber McGee and Molly in part of the 1946-47 season..

These are just a few of the exhibits. The Museum is generally open 11AM-1:30PM Monday-Friday and Admission is free..