KCMT

This is part 2 of 7 of my Marcel Proust imitation of "A La Recherche' Du Temps Perdu"  (Remembrance of Things Past)

Mine is the first generation immersed in television from early childhood. I am tempted to say raised on television. Television's effect on my generation was comparable to social media's on Gen Z. It changed our understanding of the world.

I think we got our first TV about 1956, a 17” black and white Setchel-Carlson that sat on a metal stand. The closest broadcast stations were 150 miles away in Minneapolis/St Paul. The first station was TV pioneer Stanley Hubbard’s KSTP followed by WTCN (which became WCCO). KMSP and KTCA completed the lineup. 

We had an antenna tower that stood along the south side of our house like a windmill and extended 20 feet or so above the roof line. The antenna position was controlled from the inside by a rotor which turned the antenna to the optimal reception position. Optimal was generally not too good. Reception tended to be “spotty”. The weather conditions needed to be much better than normal to get a clear picture, preferably cloudless with a SE wind. But be not dismayed - I happily watched Lassie running through the snow or Ramar of the Jungle in a blizzard, fiddling with the rotor all the while. But my favorites were "Victory at Sea", WWII US Navy documentaries on late Sunday afternoons followed by Edward R. Murrow's "See It Now". Reception in the evenings tended to improve, at times good enough to recognize Ed Sullivan on his "really big shew" or watch Pa, Hoss, Adam and Little Joe save Nevada from the bad guys. 

It wasn't until October of 1958 that the area got a dependable TV station. KCMT (Central Minnesota Television), Channel 7, broadcasting NBC programming from Alexandria. (Huntley-Brinkley instead of Walter Cronkite,  Jack Benny instead of I Love Lucy). The miraculous TV tower near Westport became a local tourist attraction soaring 1200' skyward. That changed everything. Once you get a reliably clear picture it’s hard to tolerate a fuzzy one. Color TV was years away.

KCMT introduced local on air personalities soon to become familiar and admired. Glenn Flint & Jon Haaven, news anchor. Jim Syrdal, weatherman, Bud Gorham, sports desk endearing itself to the area by focusing on high school sports. (No Twins or Vikings yet). "Welcome Inn" was a live, popular late afternoon talk show co-hosted by Natalie Johnson & Jon Haaven, plugging local events and people and occasionally featuring Jimmy Jensen singing "Walking in My Winter Underwear". That's about as edgy as it got. (You can probably find a parody of it on YouTube somewhere). And local filler broadcasts ("Echoes From Calvary","AFL-CIO Program") and public service announcements - and each night at midnight the national anthem and a test pattern.

Weekday mornings were Captain Kangaroo, not Sesame Street. 

And Saturdays, what a smorgasbord. Start off with cartoons - Bullwinkle, Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound. Then cowboys - Hopalong Cassidy, Roy Rogers, Lone Ranger, Cisco Kid & Sky King.  And Fury, the black stallion. In the afternoon, baseball’s Game of the Week with the inimitable and prone to malaprop Dizzy Dean doing the color: “They ain’t gonna get nobody!” (American teachers appealed to the FCC to get Dizzy fired. He was setting a bad grammatical example for children. Dizzy defended himself: “A lot of folks who ain’t sayin‘’ain’t’, ain’t eatin’. So, Teach, you learn ‘em English, and I’ll learn ‘em baseball.”)

Weekday late mornings and early afternoons were dominated by soaps. Guiding Light (15 min episodes), As the World Turn (1st to experiment with 30 min episodes). But at 4:30 we tuned in Clellan Card as Axel & His Dog (Towser) telling corny jokes, riddles and knock-knocks from the treehouse. “What’s that in the road? A head?” And of course we could not miss the comprehensive news coverage on the 15 minute Huntley Brinkley Report at 5:30. Goodnight, Chet. Goodnight, David. Followed by local news, weather, sports & community billboard. (6:00, 6:10, 6:15, 6:20).

Evenings were dominated by cowboys, comedy, variety shows and doctors  Wagon Train, Bonanza, Have Gun Will Travel, The Virginian. Dr. Kildare, Ben Casey. The Honeymooner’s, Father Knows Best, Leave It To Beaver, Jack Benny, Ed Sullivan, Dinah Shore (see the USA in your Chevrolet), Perry Como, Milton Berle, Red Skelton, Jimmy Durante (goodnight Mrs. Calabash wherever you are). 

I liked “What’s My Line?” with Dorothy Killgalen, Bennett Cerf , Steve Allen & Arlene Francis, a 20 questions style quiz show trying to guess a some person's occupation and then as blindfolded panelists trying to guess the identity of a famous contestant.

And I was amazed by contestants knowledge on "21" and "$64,00 Question"  - until it was disclosed they were provided answers in advance. (I watch Jeopardy these days)

Early TV.  Pretty primitive, but we ate it up.

Chime in.  What's your favorite childhood TV show? 

Copyright ©  2021  Dave Hoplin