WBKB Schedule, Week of December 28th, 1946

On Wednesday, January 1st, 1947, The Chicago Daily Tribune began publishing daily television listings alongside its radio listings. The paper noted that “counting both pre-war and new television receivers the total in the Chicago area now is around 1,000. Some 550 new sets have reached here since Nov. 1. As any television set owner can confirm, this means many thousands of televiewers” [1].

The only station on the air at the time was WBKB and on January 1st it only broadcast one program, a hockey game between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Montreal Canadiens. Some of the programs have really interesting names. Telechats and Telequizicalls? Great stuff.

Note: Listings are in Central Standard Time; WBKB was on the air from 12-3PM and 7:30-9:30PM or so.

Wednesday, January 1st, 1947 [2]
8:00PM – Hockey, Chicago Black-hawks vs. Montreal Canadiens.

Thursday, January 2nd, 1947[3]
12:00-3:00PM – Varied subjects.
7:30-7:40PM – Over Shoemaker’s Shoulder.
7:40-8:00PM – Film, “Winners of West.”
8:00-8:30PM – Cavalcade of Medicine.
8:30PM – Sonja Henie’s Ice Review.

Friday, January 3rd, 1947 [4]
12:00-3:00PM – Varied subjects.
7:30-7:45PM – Telechats.
7:45-8:00PM – Film: Short subjects.
8:00-8:30PM – Telequizicalls.
8:30-9:00PM – Stump the Authors.
9:00PM – Boxing.

Saturday, January 4th, 1947 [5]
12:00-3:00PM – Varied subjects.

Works Cited:

1 “Tribune Radio Column Will List Telecasts.” Chicago Daily Tribune. 1 Jan 1947: 59.
2 Ibid.
3 “Television Programs.” Chicago Daily Tribune. 2 Jan. 1947: 10.
4 “Television Programs.” Chicago Daily Tribune. 3 Jan. 1947: 23.
5 “Television Programs.” Chicago Daily Tribune. 4 Jan. 1947: 20.


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3 Replies to “WBKB Schedule, Week of December 28th, 1946”

  1. There WAS no “W2XBS” in 1946- NBC’s New York affiliate officially became “WNBT” on July 1, 1941, and stayed that way until the call letters were changed to “WRCA-TV” in 1954 (to conform to RCA’s intention of banding their New York radio and TV stations under their corporate name)- it finally became “WNBC-TV” in 1960.

    On WBKB’s schedule (the call letters reflected the station’s owners, Balaban & Katz Broadcasting), I find it interesting that they presented a “Sonia Henie Ice Review” on Thursday night; this was probably a live telecast of a performance she gave in a Chicago arena [the famous skater hadn’t appeared in a Hollywood film for several years, and depended on personal appearances to keep her name before the public]. Even though she did perform in several “splashy” specials during the 1950’s, this was one of Sonia’s first TV appearances, although few viewers at the time saw it.

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