Today in Broadcast History

The outstandingly popular miniseries “Roots” by Alex Haley debuted on ABC and ran for 8 consecutive nights. Radio station WOR moved from Newark New Jersey to New York City. What would become an iconic police station sitcom, ‘Barney Miller’ premiered on ABC-TV. Mr. T became a TV action celebrity as ‘The A Team’ began its 5-year run on NBC. The ‘Donny & Marie’ variety show debuted on ABC-TV. The sitcom ‘about nothing’ Seinfeld’ began a nine-year run on NBC-TV. And it’s the date we lost TV superstars Johnny Carson and Bob Keeshan (Capt.Kangaroo.). ALL the milestones for the date INSIDE.

CKNW threw the switch boosting power from 250 to 1,000 watts on 1320 KHz. One of Irna Phillips’ early daytime dramas ‘The Right to Happiness’ moved from the NBC Blue network to CBS radio. The hilarious ‘Rowan & Martin’s Laugh In’ began as a weekly series on NBC -TV. And New Westminster’s Raymond Burr starred for the 1st time as Captain Lee Quince in the debut of “Fort Laramie” on CBS radio. ALL the milestones for Jan. 22nd INSIDE.

It’s the date the legendary deejay Wolfman Jack (pictured) was born. The portly detective show ‘The Fat Man’ began its 5-year run on ABC radio, Patsy Cline sang ‘Walkin’ After Midnight’ on ‘Arthur Godfrey Talent Scouts’ on CBS and became the winner for the week. ABC-TV aired the debut of ‘The Johnny Cash Show’ in a regular season primetime slot, after 15 successful weeks as a summer replacement. And singer Jackie Wilson and Canadian comedians Wayne & Schuster headlined ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’ on CBS-TV. ALL the milestones for Jan. 21st INSIDE.

Radio Tuktoyaktuk went on the air, serving the Northwest Territories in English and Inuktutuk. This was the date a US television show was transmitted live through an outlet in Canada for the first time, when CBS TV’s “Studio One” was fed from Buffalo to CBLT in Toronto. Singers Sonny James and Ivory Joe Hunter headlined the ‘Ed Sullivan Show.’ And Fred Silverman (pictured) quit as boss of programming at ABC-TV to become president of CBS. ALL the milestones for Jan. 20th INSIDE.

Joe Chesney (pictured) got his own Langley (BC) radio station CJJC on the air at 850 KHz. The first episode of the soon-to-be-iconic ‘Dick Van Dyke Show’ was filmed. 68% of all US TV sets were tuned in as Lucy gave birth on CBS-TV’s ‘I Love Lucy.’ Two years later, CBS-TV debuted ‘The Millionaire” with Marvin Miller. And three decades later, that same network introduced the first edition of the newsmagazine show ’48 Hours.’ ALL the milestones for Jan. 19th INSIDE.

This was the date that Canadian content music quotas first came into effect for AM radio stations. Victoria’s second radio station CKDA started broadcasting, some 27 years after the first station debuted. Lee Majors’ starring vehicle, ‘The Six Million Dollar Man’ premiered on ABC-TV. CBS-TV aired the 100th episodes of both the sitcom ‘Good Times’ and ‘Northern Exposure,’ 17 years apart. And prolific producer Norman Lear scored yet another sitcom spinoff as ‘The Jeffersons’ (as pictured) debuted on CBS-TV. ALL the milestones for Jan. 18th INSIDE.

A full page newspaper ad heralded C-FUN AM1410’s move to 1900 West 4th Avenue. Robert Blake starred as ‘Baretta’ debuted on ABC-TV. Garth Brooks’ first TV special aired in NBC prime time. ‘Larry King Live’ gave way to a notable CNN failure, ‘Piers Morgan Tonight.’ The journalistic series ‘Frontline’ made its first appearance on PBS. And after 29 years on the air, Phil Donahue (pictured) announced that his syndicated talk show would end at the end of the season. ALL the milestones for Jan. 17th INSIDE.

The pioneering sci-fi series ‘The Outer Limits’ aired for the final time on ABC-TV. CBS-TV’s Ed Sulllivan Show featured songs by Mike Douglas and The Lettermen, with comedy by impressionist Frank Gorshin, and Vancouver’s Mimi Hines teamed with husband Phil Ford. After 15 years in the spot Terry Reid left the QM/FM morning show. Five years after he retired polls declared CBS anchorman emeritus Walter Cronkite to STILL be the ‘most trusted man in America.’ And America’s 6th network UPN (Universal-Paramount Network) began telecasting. ALL the milestones for Jan. 16th INSIDE.

CKNW moved its studios from downtown New Westminster to a former Safeway location at 815 McBride Boulevard. Saskatchewan-born Art Linkletter (pictured) introduced his longrunning (22 years) daytime hit ‘House Party’ on CBS radio. Ed Sullivan insisted that the Rolling Stones change the lyrics of their hit ‘Let’s Spend the Night Together’ or they’d be banned from his CBS-TV Sunday night showcase. The retro sitcom ‘Happy Days’ started its memorable 11 year run on ABC-TV. And Gene Shalit started his 37-year career as movie critic on NBC-TV’s ‘Today Show.’ ALL the milestones for Jan. 15th INSIDE.

66 years ago today, NBC-TV aired the premiere ediition of the longrunning ‘Today Show,’ hosted by the legendary Dave Garroway (pictured). ‘The Bionic Woman’ starring Lindsay Wagner debuted on ABC-TV, while ‘The Dukes of Hazzard’ started its run on CBS. One billion viewers worldwide watched the live TV special, ‘Elvis – Aloha from Hawaii.’ David Letterman announced his pending departure from NBC, and then 7 years later to the date underwent emergency open heart surgery. ALL the milestones for Jan. 14th INSIDE.