Industry News

Talk about timing... first getting hitched up, then securing a full time job in one of British Columbia's wonderlands, the Okanagan Valley...

It’s the date when Victoria’s 2nd TV station, ‘The New VI’ signed on; when Gordon MacRae hosted and sang on radio’s very first ‘Railroad Hour’; and when two East Coast US radio stations aired game one of the first complete World Series to be broadcast. Bryant Gumbel began his run as co-host of NBC-TV’s Today Show; Barbara Walters became the first woman to co-anchor a network newscast (ABC); CBS premiered the TV shows December Bride, Playhouse 90 and Leave It To Beaver. CBC Vancouver telecast its first live hockey game, and CBC News aired the first show in the ‘This Hour Has Seven Days’ series. Louis Armstrong and Pat Boone were headliners on CBS-TV’s Ed Sullivan Show; and Blondie starring Penny Singleton made the move from comic strips and radio to the TV screen. ALL the milestones for Oct. 4th can be found INSIDE.

The 25-54 game continued to be hotly contested. KQMV (Movin' 92.5) won again but was also down for the fourth book in a row.

The “Free Fallin’” singer was taken to UCLA Medical Center early Monday morning but could not be revived, Tony Dimitriades, the band manager said in a statement.

Oct. 3rd gave birth to musicians Stevie Ray Vaughan, Tommy Lee, Chubby Checker, Eddie Cochrane and Gwen Stefani. Some legendary family TV fare first aired this date, including the Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet, The Real McCoys and the Mickey Mouse Club (ABC); Father Knows Best, The Andy Griffith Show, Captain Kangaroo and The Dick Van Dyke Show (CBS). Desperate Housewives and According to Jim also premiered (ABC), as did Quincy ME (NBC). Among the legendary broadcasters and entertainers who died Oct. 3rd were Charles Collingwood, Woody Guthrie, Del Wood, Janet Leigh, Ronnie Barker and Zachary Scott. Details and ALL the milestones for the date INSIDE.

Sheldon Mack (pictured), son of former CTV Vancouver Island anchor and news director Hudson Mack, was wounded when a gunman unleashed a hail of bullets at the Route 91 Harvest Festival Sunday night

Next week the Edmonton Broadcasters Club salutes a giant in journalism, both in stature and reputation. His Edmonton Sun bio speaks volumes

Born this date were Groucho Marx, Bud Abbott, Kelly Ripa, Don Maclean, Lorraine Bracco, and movie critic Rex Reed. The Lutheran Hour debuted on radio, as did The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (w/Basil Rathbone), The Cisco Kid, and the predecessor to the longrunning daytime radio soap Pepper Young’s Family. The Aldrich Family began a 4-year run on NBC-TV, Combat and Ben Casey had their premieres on ABC-TV, while The Twilight Zone and Edward R. Murrow’s celebrity interview show, Person to Person, got their starts on CBS-TV. Obituaries include Rock Hudson, Frank Lovejoy, Gene Autry, Lon Clark, Nipsey Russell, Harriet Nelson and Canadian bandleader Denny Vaughan. More milestones for Oct. 2nd INSIDE.

If there was a Hall of Fame for radio producers Kevin Cremin would without a doubt be a unanimous choice for induction. Kevin has for the past 35 years been the heart and soul of your Seattle Mariners radio broadcasts.

A huge date in Canadian broadcasting, as the CTV network was born with stations from Vancouver to Halifax. CBC-FM also went coast to coast for the first time, and the CBC’s Montreal station produced Canada’s first colour telecast. Much More Music debuted on the country’s cablesystems; Vancouver’s CJOR moved down the dial to its longtime home at 600 KHz; Duncan BC got its own radio station as CKAY AM1500 debuted; the second national CBC radio network (The Dominion network) went dark as more national advertising migrated from radio to TV. STAR FM debuted with two transmitters in the Fraser Valley, and Calgary’s CFXL AM1140 (successor to Top 40 powerhouse CKXL) transitioned to FM. In Nanaimo, CKEG AM 1570 moved from a country format to ‘Feelgood Oldies.’ And it’s the birthday of Western Canada radio tycoon Jimmy Pattison (pictured). Details of these, and Johnny Carson’s first hosting of NBC’s ‘Tonight Show,’ indeed ALL the October 1st broadcast milestones INSIDE.