CKNW, CKMO Changes - 1950

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CKNW, CKMO Changes - 1950

Postby cart_machine » Sun Nov 04, 2007 5:19 am

Around Your Radio Dial—Tonight
By DICK DIESPECKER
[Vancouver Daily Province, August 22, 1950]

PEOPLE AND PROGRAMS
Radio performers in Vancouver are doing some shifting around. Personable young actor, Juan Root, has recently joined the staff of CKNW and has taken over Hal Yerxa’s early morning disc jockey stint. Yerxa is at present free-lancing. Juan Root, it may be remembered, conducted the very successful Yawn Patrol on CKWX in the early forties.
Incidentally, CKNW is starting something new in early morning programs by introducing the American live talent Breakfast Club touch some time after the PNE. It is expected that the Rhythm Pals, Mike, Marc and Jack will join Juan Root between 6 and 8 every morning on CKNW.
Wilf Ray, who, for some time past, has been conducting the DX Prowl on CKMO, is leaving that station to take over from Lew Fox as the all-night record man on CKNW. Fox, who is being married, will shift over to a daytime job.
Don Laws, Commercial Manager of CJOR, is raking off for Eastern Canada on a business trip the latter park of this week, and Wallie Peters of the same station is going to Hollywood in September for further television studies. Peters is about the only program man in Vancouver radio who has spent any considerable time in the study of television in American centres. Several years ago he took a radio course at New York University which included some television. Since then he has made a number of trips to Seattle to study television techniques and will extend his studies this fall in Hollywood.
Gisele, who is Canada’s top-flight radio songstress was offered a television contract recently in the U.S., but after she had done a little arithmetic and discovered how little was left after the various agencies, representatives, and innumerable unions had taken their slice, she decided to return to Canada and stay with radio.
That safety razor company which sponsors most of the big sports events has bought the television rights to the 1950 World Series along with Mutual Broadcasting Company for $800,000. They have also bought the broadcasting rights for another $125,000, which means they for the right to both broadcast and televise the World Series they are paying almost a million dollars. Many people wonder what happens to this sort of money paid for broadcasting and television rights. In this case it is going into organized baseball’s general fund.
Billy Rose is shortly starting a new dramatic series on the ABC-TV network. It is to be called “Billy Rose’s Playbill.” Since Billy Rose has never done anything on a small scale it is not surprising to hear that he has engaged the famous Jed Harris to direct with Ben Hecht and Clifford Odets among other big names to do the writing.
There are rumours that Jack Benny’s plans for television don’t include Rochester, Phil Harris and all the other regulars in his radio cast. There are also rumours that he plans to drop radio entirely in the near future and concentrate on TV.
TONIGHT’S BEST BESTS
5:15 p.m.—Racing Highlights, CJOR.
6:00 p.m.—Life With Luigi, KIRO; Easy Listening, CJOR.
6:30 p.m.—Candid Microphone, KIRO; Charles Boyer Show, KOMO.
7:30 p.m.—Leicester Square to Broadway, CBR; A Life in Your Hands, KOMO.
8:30 p.m.—Hawaiian Harmonies, CKNW; Open House, CKMO; Paul Weston Orchestrs, CKWX.
9:00 p.m.—Hon. Brooke Claxton and W.T. Grant, Chief of Naval Staff, CBR; Hobnail Corners, KOMO.
9:30 p.m.—Jake and the Kid, CBR; Mr. Feather, CKWX.
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Postby Jack Bennest » Sun Nov 04, 2007 7:57 am

Interesting to note that Wallie Peters became a musician and his brother Ray was the one who ?
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KING-TV was first

Postby jon » Sun Nov 04, 2007 8:25 am

This 1950 reference to studying TV in Seattle caught my eye. According to Wikipedia: "When Channel 5 came on the air as KRSC-TV for the first time on November 25, 1948, it became the first television station north of San Francisco and west of the Mississippi River."

It was bought by KING-AM eight months later, and became KING-TV.

KOMO-TV signed on December 10, 1953. KIRO-TV February 8, 1958.

One trivia note: when KIRO-TV signed on, Puget Sound was awash in CBS affilliates: (1) KVOS-TV Bellingham had been on the air since June 3, 1953; and (2) KTNT-TV (now KSTW) Tacoma since March 1, 1953. KTNT lost CBS in 1961.
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Re: KING-TV was first

Postby skyvalleyradio » Sun Nov 04, 2007 9:08 am

jon wrote:This 1950 reference to studying TV in Seattle caught my eye. According to Wikipedia: "When Channel 5 came on the air as KRSC-TV for the first time on November 25, 1948, it became the first television station north of San Francisco and west of the Mississippi River."

It was bought by KING-AM eight months later, and became KING-TV.


...and KRSC-FM which started on 94.9 then moved to 98.1 was also bought by the Bulletts and became KING-FM
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Re: KING-TV was first

Postby cart_machine » Sun Nov 04, 2007 11:46 am

jon wrote:This 1950 reference to studying TV in Seattle caught my eye.


I didn't print them, Jon, but here are all the TV listings (meaning KING) for that evening (Aug. 22/50):
5:00—Howdy Doody; 5:30—Time for Beany, Birthday Club; 6:00—Test Pattern; 6:30—King’s Queen; 7:00—Ransom Sherman, 7:30—Toni Twin Time; 8:00—The Lone Ranger; 8:30—Sports Special; 9:00—International News Roundup; 9:30—Morey Amsterdam.

It's just so odd seeing today's prime news-time as the time when the test pattern was aired. And you can imagine the shape of those Morey Amsterdam kinescopes by the time they got to Seattle (hmm. About the shape of the average video on YouTube today).

jon wrote:KTNT lost CBS in 1961.


I didn't realise that. I was under the impression they lost the affiliation almost immediately after KIRO signed on in 1958. Thanks for the info.

Back to the radio end of things..

Juan Root was in a theatre company in Winnipeg from at least 1939 to 1942. I'm guessing he was the same Juan Root in the Broadway data base who appeared in one show that opened and closed the same night in 1937. I found a Juan A. Root who died in New Jersey in 1989; it might be the same guy.

I do love those '50s euphemisms. Hal Yerxa was "free-lancing." Not on his own volition, I would guess.

cArtie.
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