All About Baby (15 min.15OC54-01JL55)
Amanda (15 min. 12JA-04NV49)
Armed Forces Hour (30 min. 30OC49-11JN50)
Camera Headlines (15 min. 12JA-28MY49)
Chicago Symphony (Hour. 11OC-27DC53)
For Your Information (15 min. 07MY-16NV51)
General Sports Time (15 min. 09OC-14NV54)
Greatest Football Plays Of the Week (30 min. 09OC-11DC54)
Happy’s Party (30 min. 06SP52-09MY53)
Headline Clues (30 min. 04JL-04MY49)
Inside Photoplay (30 min. 12JA-04MR49)
It’s In the Bag 30 min. 16NV50-15FB52)
Johhny Olsen’s Rumpu s Room (30 min. 12JA49-04JL52)
Kids & Company (30 min. 05SP51-02MY53)
Ladies Date (30 min. 13OC52-31JL53)
Major Dell Conway of the Flying tigers 30 min. 29JL51-02MR52)
man On The Street (15 min. 12JA49-13Ap51)
Margaret Johnson Show (15 min. 07FB49-02JN50)
NBA Basketball (12DC53-27MR54)
NCAA Football (16OC-20NV48)
NFL (07OC51-11DC55)
Needle Shop (15 min. 12JA-18FB49)
New york Times youth Forum (Hour 14SP52- 12JN54)
Notre Dame Football (24Sp49-11DC50)
Okay Mother (30 min. 12DC49-06JL51)
Paul Dixon Show (Hour 29Sp52-08AP55)
Ruth Winchell (15 min. 12JA-04MR49)
Secret Files Of Captain Video (05SP53-29MY54. ALT SAT)
Shoppers Matinee (2hours 12DC49-07AP50)
Small Fry Club (30 min. 18JA-02MY48)
Stan Show Show (Hour. 12JA-04MR49)
Ted Steele Show ( 30 min. 06DC48-28Ap50)
Tom Corbett, Space Cadet (30 min. 29AU53-25JN54. ALT SAT)
Welcome Neighbor (30 min. 12JA-28JA49)
Woman To Remember (15 min. 21FB-28AP49)
Women’s Club (15 min. 24DC51-01AU52)
-Adventures Of Danny Dee (18SP45-AP55. Sat kidvid. Filmed. Bos, Chi & Phila)
-Aesop’s Fables (+Cubby Bear and Tom & Jerry)
-Captain Video (01SP53-01AP55)
-Funny Bunny (Dick Noel intro’d Crusader Rabbitt ina bunny suit)
-Kids & Company (01SP51-JN52/ AU-02MY52)
-King Cole Birthday Party (15MY49-23JN49.Hosts: Ted Brown, Bill Slater (47), “Aunt Grace” (48-49)
-Lovely Lady
-Magic Carpet
-Magic Cottage (20JN49-12SP52. H: Pat Meikel, P: James L. Caddigan, D: Wesley Kenney)
-Movies For Small Fry (11MR-DC47. Later SmOall Fry Club)
-Major Dell Conway of the Flying Tigers (30 min.14AP51-02MR52 “Junior Featurama”. Producer: Gen Genovese)
-Pixene
-Quiz Kids
-Silver Horseshoe (30 min. weekdays. 14SP-09OC52. Host: Bill Wendell)
-Talent Shop (30 min. 13OC51-29MR52. Hosts: Fred Robbins & Pat Adair)
-Terry & the Pirates (30 min. 1952-53)
-Winchell & Mahoney
-Little Lady Party (28SP52-11JA53. H; Irene Wicker. Sp: Little Lady toiletries)
-Kids & Company (01SP51-02MY53. Hiatus:31MY-09AU52. 9 city hookup. Hosts: Johnny Olsn & Ham Fisher)
-Pet Shop (01DC51-14MR53. (from WGN. Hosts: Gail & Gay Compton & George Menard)
-Oky Doky Ranch (04OC48-22OC49. Off: summer 49)
-Small fry Club (JA48-15JN51. Bob & Kay Emery. Sponsored by General Foods)
-Gene Autry’s Phanto Empire (Fall 1950)
-Roy Doty Show (10MY53-08AP55)
-Happy’s Party (30 min. 06AP52-02MY53)
1948
-13 September: “Operation Success” to air 4 weeks beginning 21SP in Boston, DC, NY, Baltimore, and New Haven from WABD. To feature VA doctors, training officers and guidance personnel and the VA’s work with amputees. Prospective employers were to phone in offers. Writer: Jack Rayel, Director: Tony Krab
-Kaiser- Frazer Company sponsored Original Amateur Hour for 11 weeks beginning 18JA. On WABD, WTTG, WFIL and WBAL.
-10 July: Following Senator Albert W. Barkley’s Democratic Convention speech (ending at 1015PM), Williams- Jack fight (from Shibe Park PAM telecast on DTN, WFIL, WNAC and WBZZ (both Boston), WMAR, WMAL, WNHC and WTVR.
1949
-08 February: former Executive Assistant to Dr Du Mont M. Loewi replaces Lawrence Phillips as DTN Director.
1951
-Broadcasting stations: WABD, WTTG, WDTV and pickup stations KA3431, KA 3432, KA 3433, KA 4448, remote pick up station 4039, TV inter city relay station KCA61 and experimental TV stations KE2XDN and KE2XDR.
1953
-48- 50 pro football games bought. 19 on whole network, others regional. Prime time and sunday afternoons.
-Network buys 26 top grade, if dated, movies from Quality Films for $1.8M
All About Baby (15 min.15OC54-01JL55)
Amanda (15 min. 12JA-04NV49)
Armed Forces Hour (30 min. 30OC49-11JN50)
Camera Headlines (15 min. 12JA-28MY49)
Chicago Symphony (Hour. 11OC-27DC53)
For Your Information (15 min. 07MY-16NV51)
General Sports Time (15 min. 09OC-14NV54)
Greatest Football Plays Of the Week (30 min. 09OC-11DC54)
Happy’s Party (30 min. 06SP52-09MY53)
Headline Clues (30 min. 04JL-04MY49)
Inside Photoplay (30 min. 12JA-04MR49)
It’s In the Bag 30 min. 16NV50-15FB52)
Johhny Olsen’s Rumpu s Room (30 min. 12JA49-04JL52)
Kids & Company (30 min. 05SP51-02MY53)
Ladies Date (30 min. 13OC52-31JL53)
Major Dell Conway of the Flying tigers 30 min. 29JL51-02MR52)
man On The Street (15 min. 12JA49-13Ap51)
Margaret Johnson Show (15 min. 07FB49-02JN50)
NBA Basketball (12DC53-27MR54)
NCAA Football (16OC-20NV48)
NFL (07OC51-11DC55)
Needle Shop (15 min. 12JA-18FB49)
New york Times youth Forum (Hour 14SP52- 12JN54)
Notre Dame Football (24Sp49-11DC50)
Okay Mother (30 min. 12DC49-06JL51)
Paul Dixon Show (Hour 29Sp52-08AP55)
Ruth Winchell (15 min. 12JA-04MR49)
Secret Files Of Captain Video (05SP53-29MY54. ALT SAT)
Shoppers Matinee (2hours 12DC49-07AP50)
Small Fry Club (30 min. 18JA-02MY48)
Stan Show Show (Hour. 12JA-04MR49)
Ted Steele Show ( 30 min. 06DC48-28Ap50)
Tom Corbett, Space Cadet (30 min. 29AU53-25JN54. ALT SAT)
Welcome Neighbor (30 min. 12JA-28JA49)
Woman To Remember (15 min. 21FB-28AP49)
Women’s Club (15 min. 24DC51-01AU52)
-Saturday, 14 September 1946: DTN contracts for experimental AAFC transmissions. NY Yankees vs Buffalo Bisons. Dennis James helped with play-by-play
-June 1946: W3XWT and 3 NBC stations carry Louis- Conn fight
-1946: Dodgers President Larry McPhail night games bought for $75000.
-1947: Yankee/ Dodger World Series on all 4 Nets, with alternating talent & crew (DTN’s Bill Slater handled games 2, 5 & 6) to 3 million in NY, Philadelphia and Schenectady.
-1949: Closed circuit games shown in NY
-1949 - 1955: Bob Wolff announces DC Senators games from Griffith Park over WTTG.
-1950: Jay Hanna “Dizzy” dean starts hosting Yankees pregame shows. $40,000 a year
-1950: DTN sits out Gillette’s World Series plan over costs.
-30 September 1951: DTN takes over NFL sunday afternoon games from ABC.
-07 October 1951: NFL Sunday games over DTN, 2PM to conclusion. 26 games on 27 stations.
-1951: DTN carries the NFL Championship game, paying $75,000 for the rights.
-1951: 5 regular season baseball games on.
-1951 - 1954: NFL championship games carried for $95K annually/ $450k total.
-1952 - 1954: NBA games carried.
-May 1952 - May 1954: Boxing From Eastern Parkway.
-03 October 1953: First NFL night game.
-53: 9 different commentators for national and regional games. On in 108 markets
-1953: 48- 50 pro footall games on, 19 to be on whole net (remainder regional), on in primetime and on sunday afternoons.
-1953 - 1955: some CBS and NBC affiliates pick up games
-1954 - 06 August 1956: When Boxing From Eastern Parkway went to ABC, the announcer (Chris Schenkel, who replaced Ted Husing) and crew moved south to do: Boxing From St. Nicholas Arena.
-1954: 12 regular season baseball games carried.
-1954: sunday afternoon football on 37% of NYC tvs.
-1954: DTN agrees to carry 20 Saturday afternoon games in the 54-55 season
-11 December 1955: NFL Sunday afternoon games end on DTN
-1955: NBC replaces DTN as THE NFL network, paying $100,000 for rights.
-1955: Baseball from Yankee stadium & Polo Grounds, wrestling and boxing from Jamaica Arena & Eastern Parkway Arena, midget car races from Roosevelt Parkway.
*Via Tom Gallery, Dodgers pro football games carried
-DTN Boxing, with Dennis James: Monday- Jamaica Arena (Queens), Tuesday- Park Arena, Wednesday- White Plains, NY, Thursday- Dexter Arena, Friday (?) From Eastern Parkway (Brooklyn), with Ted Husings (M ay 1952 - March 1953 and with Chris Schenkel until and after a switch to St. Nicholas Arena in MY54. Off DTN August 1956, though on WABD for a few months more.
The history of network television news cannot be considered complete if only the operations of ABC, CBS, NBC are considered. To be fully accurate, one must include other notable news services, such as those of the Satellite News Channel, Independent Network News and, most importantly, that of the Du Mont Television Network (DTN). In existence technically from 1946 through 1956, the DTN is widely believed to have existed 1949 through 1955, since that is the year that AT&T cables were available on a national basis. Regardless, Du Mont did indeed have a news service, and therefore must be included. Although there were only two actual hard-news programs on Du Mont, there were several series concerning news analysis and/ or public affairs, as well as a multitude of special programs.
During World War Two, Du Mont operated W2XWV in New York, then licensed as an experimental station; this was given over to advertising agencies to program some of the time, in order to develop the market for commercial exploitation after the war ended. W2XWV telecast public service-style shows at other times. An example of the latter would be Air Raid Warden training sessions; an example of the former was Face Of The War, on which author Samuel Cuff kept viewers abreast of war news. This station became commercial WABD in 1944. Likewise, the experimental W3XVT Washington, became WTTG in 1946.
The DTN began it’s news operation with the News From Washington in 1947. Seen locally in the Washington, DC area as since June of that y®ear as the Walter Compton News, it became available to all Du Mont affiliates beginning 25 August. These stations were those along the DC-NY corridor, getting signals that Du Mont was feeding to its stations anyway; DTN early on reasoned that it was less expensive to program one station than to program two, and the shows could even be used by stations belonging to outside groups. The show, News From Washington, aired week nights from 6:45 to 7 pm, until its cancellation in May 1948. Of course, there was competition from the other networks, all of which beat DTN to the air; however only the Du Mont news originated in DC.
The next DTN entry into the evening news arena came 27 September 1954, when the Du Mont News premiered. Anchored by Morgan Beatty, this edition ran through April 1955, also on week nights, but was twice as long, airing from 6:30-7pm. Records are unclear as to whether this originated in New York or Washi∞ngton, but seems likely to have begun in DC.
To accentuate these programs, DTN offered a pair of additional shows. Camera Headlines was an actual newsreel, shown week nights after the immensely popular Small Fry Club children’s show. In apparent ignorance of audience “flow’, the Small Fry Club was hammocked between news shows. Contrasting the New York- Washington axis, this provided national news coverage from January 1948 through January 1949. For international news, viewers could tune into INS TeleNews, a quarter-hour Hearst production that ran right after Camera Headlines on Tuesdays, also from January ‘48 through January ‘49.
There were many public affairs shows, the most notable being Keep Posted, hosted by Laurence E. Spivak and Martha Rountree. This was sponsored by the Saturday Evening Post from it’s October ‘51 inception until 31 March 1953, when the duo left and the show became known The Big Issue. The run finfially ended 31 March 1953. You might recall that Spivak and Rountree also originated Meet The Press .
Another exemplar program was Newsweek Views The News, which had a short run, from November 1948 to February 1949. Similar to this was the Court Of Current Issues, which was also a round table discussion of contemporary events, as were both the Georgetown University Forum and Washington Report. The Johns Hopkins Science Review obviously had a medical bent, while several shows had political overtones, such as Washington Exclusive and Meet Your Congrefs.
There were a couple of peculiar shows as well. Meet The Boss interviewed captains of industry exclusively, and Pentagon featured no spokesman below the rank of General. Both of these were pretty much vehicles for their subject matter. Perhaps THE most unusual was Broadway To Hollywood Headline Clues, which was originally an all-inclusive show, with quiz-, late-breaking news- and variety show- segments. The program was lÏater split in two, Broadway To Hollywood becoming an evening variety show and Headline Clues moving to afternoons as a game show. These are only a sampling of the more notable news series.
The Du Mont Television Network also excelled at specials, interrupting some 74 hours of regular programing in the 7 years between 1948 and 1955. Excusing 39 of these hours (because they appeared simultaneously on other networks ), the vast majority (51.5%) of these were news. Most of these were Presidential and Vice-Presidential Addresses, responses from opposing parties, commentators’ analysis and the like. Other specials included two reports on MacArthur in New York and seven speeches by Adlai Stevenson. Perhaps the hallmark of non-Presidential speeches was Secretary of State Acheson’s address on 30 November 1950, which told the world of the imminent US entry into the Korean fray. Du Mont was the only network to interrupt regular programing for it. Similar were the Army-McCarthy Hearings, which ONLY Du Mont carried in its 36 day (187 hour) entirety. Another very important event, that only Du Mont had the courage (and easy-to-preempt schedule) to air.
It should be noted that like all networks at the time, Du Mont relied heavily upon sponsored programs. This explains why the news shows were canceled, and (for the most part) why so many specials were aired; no sponsors could be found to foot the bill. This situation was exacerbated by the fact that Du Mont had quite a small reach, serving mainly the northeastern US, against the continental reach of NBC and CBS. Not ABC, though.
Like ABC, Du Mont was chronically impoverished, and via specials could prolong the commitments of series programing. It seems logical that a cash strapped network, anxious to provide regular service would seek out ways to facilitate this endeavor; the economics of the industry made it necessary to accept long form, sponsored programing. This would also apply to the Army- McCarthy hearings. Similar to today’s environment, with all the infomercials we now witness.
Another vital fact is that the Du Mont Television Network was fighting chiefly the equally weak ABC, and basically only Du Mont stations were guaranteed to clear network shows; relatedly, the affiliates (owned and otherwise) were concentrated chiefly in the northeast, and therefore concentrated on those areas for material (program and ad), both due to viewer interest and news-gathering capabilities. Taking all of these considerations into account, it becomes apparent that existing news shows required sponsors with sales from the Potomac to Canada and west to the Mississippi. It is evident that sponsored news programing was dependent upon advertisers with sizable sales in a certain geographic region who were willing Åto underwrite a program that could reach only small audiences.
Besides strict network shows, the Du Mont stations were well known for their news operations. Mike Wallace became well known due to his Nightbeat programs that originated on the WABD descendent (WNEW), and WTTG has long been a leader with it’s 10 pm newscast. In fact, the Fox organization (which bought the outlets from Du Monts’ succeeding firm) relied mainly on these stations for its news service.
As I have but briefly pointed out, the Du Mont Television Network was a definite power in the history of television news. Although the perennial underdog in competition, Du Mont managed to compete with the other networks through two decades, with solid news programs, public affairs shows and special events. The network obviously eventually folded, due to fiscal concerns, but gave the others a spirited run for their money.
-Bugs Bunny Theatre (aka Bugs Bunny & Friends) hosted by Sandy Becker. 14 September 1956, fri 730-8
-Bingo-At-Home (starring Monty Hall. 18 February - 12 December 1958)
-Captain Hartz And Pets (15 March 1954. From Chicago)
-Little Lulu. 26 March 1956, m-f 6- 6:30. 26 films (6- 8 min. ea.)
-Looney Tunes hosted by Sandy Becker. 11 April 1956 (55?), m-r 6:30- 7, f 6:45- 7:15. 517 films (5- 6 Min. ea.)
-Clock - Weather -Time
-Du Mont Health Club
-Your School Report
-Du Mont Kindergarten
-Morning Chapel
-Teleshopping with Martha Mann
-Friendship Circle
-Public Prosecutor (27 September 1951 - 28 February 1952)
-Stan Shaw Show
- Hold That Camera (16 November 1950- 07 June 1951)
-Man In The Street
-Sandy Becker Show. Producer: Fielden Farrington
-Hearst International News Service
-Bingo At Home
-12 April 1954- 07 January 1955: Ernie Kovacs Show. Monday through Friday 11:15- 12:15 am. 11 January - 24 February 1955, Tuesday and Thursday 10:30- 11pm
-01 March - 07 April 1955: Ernie Kovacs Rehearsal. 01MR- 07AP55, Tuesday and Thursday 10- 11pm
-Dennis James Sports Parade (ca. 1939)
-Television Roof
-February 1944: Thrills and Chills. 8:30- 9pm. Hosted by Doug Allen. Guests narrated home travel movies.
-Television Workshop. FB44, 9- 10 pm. Regular, live plays by Broadway producer Irwin Shaw
-Sunday Morning Movie. 1955. First local color show.
-Walter Compton and the News (WABD and WTTG at 7PM)
-A Christmas Carol. 1943, 1944 & 1945.
-ABC Radio’s Harvey Marlowe formed the Harvey Marlowe Players and telecast plays over WABD starting in May of 1944. Shows: The Valiant, then Footsteps Of Hate. August 1944: Gander Sauce and then in September: The Ring of General Macias.
-NYU New School of Social Research put on: Surrender, The Bear, People With Light Coming Through Them, and Hello Out There
-Mike Wallace hosted 7 & 11 PM news