1948 WBKB Schedule Cards
Here are a pair of schedule cards mailed out to viewers in Chicago, Illinois to promote WBKB (Channel 4), the television station owned by Balaban & Katz, from March and May of 1948. I’ve blurred the address the card was mailed to just to be on the safe side. Click on the image for a larger version:
The first of these cards (Program No. 13) is for the week beginning Sunday, March 28th, 1948 and ending Saturday, April 3rd, 1948. Three of the programs listed — Chicago Television Showcase, Jane Foster Comes Home to Call and Junior Jamboree — premiered in October of 1947 “in an effort to liven afternoon looking for women and children” [1].
Junior Jamboree, of course, was the first stomping ground of what would soon become Kukla, Fran and Ollie. Chicago Television Showcase was a talent show for local Chicago performers and Jane Foster Comes Home to Call was an instructional cooking program.
The second card (Program No. 18) lists programs for the week Sunday, May 2nd, 1948 through Saturday, May 8th, 1948. Note the absence of both Chicago Television Showcase and Jane Foster Comes Home To Call. Woman’s World, an hour long series, premiered in April of 1948. Directed by Loraine Larson, it featured “11 segments–knitting, fist aid, figure control exercises, shopping tips, pets in the home, economic advice, advice on rent control and housing, cooking, comedy, fashions and medical advice” [2].
Tele-Charades was, as the name suggests, a televised charades program, hosted by Ed Roberts.
Sources:
1 Ratty, Marguerite. “A Puppet Gives Women and Kids Break on Video.” Chicago Daily Tribune. 19 Oct. 1947: SW18.
2 “WBKB Prepares Variety of TV Fare For Fall.” Chicago Daily Tribune. 19 Sep. 1948: F8.
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