If you were around 50 years ago, like I was, you remember what watching your local TV station was like. In Philadelphia, there were local stars like Chief Halftown and Sally Starr, hosts of popular children’s shows on Saturday mornings. One of my favorite kid shows was hosted by Soupy Sales. I could write a […]
If you were around 50 years ago, like I was, you remember what watching your local TV station was like.
In Philadelphia, there were local stars like Chief Halftown and Sally Starr, hosts of popular children’s shows on Saturday mornings. One of my favorite kid shows was hosted by Soupy Sales. I could write a whole column about Soupy Sales and some of his antics that got him suspended several times.
In February of 1966, I was a freshman in high school outside Philadelphia. On Saturday evenings a few of us would go to the TV studios of the local UHF station, WKBS, to dance on the Hy Lit Show. Hy Lit was a popular local radio DJ who hosted this hour-long dance show.
On Sunday mornings, the same group would tell our parents we were going to church, when what we really did was sneak into someone’s house to watch the rerun of the Hy Lit Show so we could catch ourselves dancing.
I bring this up because I imagine there are many people reading this who were not around 50 years ago, and are perhaps too young to remember what local TV programming was like in its early years.
I’ve walked the halls of many TV stations around the country in markets large and small and seen the photos hung on the walls of the early days of local TV.
In today’s climate of consolidation, new owners may forget those early years, and the emotional connection that many stations established with viewers then and have maintained through the years.
So I’m always happy to see that a station recognizes its early contributions, and honors its roots that stretch back to black and white, VHF and UHF.
Today, WCWJ is Nexstar’s CW affiliate in Jacksonville, Fla. But in February of 1966, the station signed on as WJKS, an ABC affiliate “that went on to become Jacksonville’s NBC, then moved back to ABC, followed by WB and now is a regularly recognized model affiliate of The CW Network,” said Marc Hefner, WCWJ’s general manager.
“Through its history of broadcasting the station has had numerous employees that started successful careers at Channel 17. Situated on Hogan Road, the station was dubbed ‘The Hogan Road School of Broadcasting’ by many of its former news employees. Its 50 years of broadcasting has provided a foundation of strength to be one of the top performing CW affiliates in the country.”
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