Mama's Family-No Spoiler

[Ian Wallis]

Quote:
I remember it being on my aunt's cable in the '80s in NJ (when it was known as TV38)...Nowadays, it's a upn affiliate known as \"UPN 38\"...


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I liked the station a lot better when it was \"TV38\".  I loved the show they used to have called \"Ask the Manager\", where people could write in about anything and they'd read the questions on the air and answer them.  Found out a lot of neat stuff that way!  Very few stations have done shows like that.

WSBK used to be located on Spacenet 3, Channel 3.  But it was pulled from C-Band satellite several years ago, available now only on digital.

Looking back at some old TVGuides I have from the Boston area, Channel 38 actually aired many syndicated game shows during the mid-70s.

[tvrandywest]

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Jul 27 2003, 01:21 PM\'] I loved the show they used to have called "Ask the Manager", where people could write in about anything and they'd read the questions on the air and answer them. [/quote]
 Tough question I'd appreciate some help with.

One of the Boston area UHFs was owned for many years (and may still be) by John Garabedian. Does anyone know if this TV38 is that station? That \"ask the manager\" programming feature sounds like the kind of thing John would do. Anybody know?

FYI, John was a big time radio DJ in the glory days of AM (on WPTR Albany as Johnny Gardner, and lots of other stations). He was back on radio as host of the syndicated \"House Party\" Saturday night show sometime in the mid 90s.

In the 1970s I and a group of our friends laughed at Johnny buying a low power UHF in some Boston suburb. Boston was a major market saturated with VHF signals, and this seemed like a poor business move at the time. His was a low budget operation at the beginning, but John spent the decades getting a power increase and building the business.

I last saw John in 1999 in NY at the funeral of a mutual friend. He was doing very well; the private jet and all that stuff. We didn't get a chance to talk very much, and I'm wondering if this TV38 is his. Somehow I thought his UHF was a channel 68, but I could easily be wrong.


John Garabedian and TV38. Any clues?  

Thanks   ;-)


Randy
tvrandywest.com

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'Dsmith\' date=\'Jul 23 2003, 05:25 AM\'] For those of you who get the west feed of TBS; or those who get it in syndiication; the first episode of "Mama's Family"; the Cardinal edition of "The $25,000/$100,000" Pyramid is prevanitely featured; as are several refrences to Dick Clark.... [/quote]
 There was an episode of Hogan Family(in the Sandy Duncan era) that also used the 80s Cardinal Pyramid home game in a scene.

[Esoteric Eric]

[quote name=\'tvrandywest\' date=\'Jul 27 2003, 01:10 PM\']
Tough question I'd appreciate some help with.

One of the Boston area UHFs was owned for many years (and may still be) by John Garabedian. Does anyone know if this TV38 is that station? That \"ask the manager\" programming feature sounds like the kind of thing John would do. Anybody know?

In the 1970s I and a group of our friends laughed at Johnny buying a low power UHF in some Boston suburb. Boston was a major market saturated with VHF signals, and this seemed like a poor business move at the time. His was a low budget operation at the beginning, but John spent the decades getting a power increase and building the business.

I last saw John in 1999 in NY at the funeral of a mutual friend. He was doing very well; the private jet and all that stuff. We didn't get a chance to talk very much, and I'm wondering if this TV38 is his. Somehow I thought his UHF was a channel 68, but I could easily be wrong.


John Garabedian and TV38. Any clues? 

Thanks   ;-)


Randy
tvrandywest.com[/quote]
I haven't lived in Boston since 1987, but I have some input on your query, TVRW...

John H. Garabedian was known as \"John H.\" in '60s Boston radio listings; I'm not sure about the station(s) he worked at then, having never actually listened to him until he showed up at WBCN in... the early-'80's? Mid-'80's?

Anyway, just about the time he was working @ 'BCN, he purchased interest in WVJV-TV, Channel 66, which debuted as a local music-video channel.  John also served as one of the VJ's.  The experiment didn't last long (which disappointed me, since the local cable of the day (Cablevision) put MTV on a higher tier than I was willing to pay for), and the channel's format switched to home shopping, possibly simulcasting HSN or QVC before Cablevision carried them.)

John was never involved w/ WSBK AFAIK; the dulcet-toned Mr. Dana Hersey (who later appeared in a syndie entertainment mag called \"Preview - The Best of the New\") was the host of \"Ask the Manager\" for most of the show's run.

Hope this helps!

Esoteric Eric, who will have Nu Shooz' \"(I'm at the)Point of No Return\" playing in my head for a couple of days now, since I first saw the stop-motion video for the song on (makes peace sign with right hand) \"V-66.\"

[tvrandywest]

[quote name=\'Esoteric Eric\' date=\'Jul 27 2003, 11:30 PM\'] ... he purchased interest in WVJV-TV, Channel 66, which debuted as a local music-video channel.  John also served as one of the VJ's.  The experiment didn't last long (which disappointed me, since the local cable of the day (Cablevision) put MTV on a higher tier than I was willing to pay for), and the channel's format switched to home shopping... [/quote]
 Thanks Eric...

That's the station... it was 66. Yes he debuted with music videos (they were cheap  ;-).  I thought John owned the station longer, but I might be confused with another station he owned.

John's a great guy. Thanks for the help with this left field question. This board is amazing!

Randy
tvrandywest.com

[Ian Wallis]

Just to add in a few more details on topics raised in this thread:

\"Open House Party\" was (and is) hosted by John Garabedian.  It started in Boston around 1988, and WMJQ in Buffalo was its second affiliate (unfortunatly, the Buffalo station dropped the show in 1992).  I used to love listening to it every weekend and have missed it ever since Buffalo dropped it.  The last time I heard it was on a Cleveland radio station when I was at the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.  I recently saw an \"Open House Party\" web site (surprised that it was still on - there can't be too many stations that pick it up) and wanted to e-mail them, but their e-mail feature doesn't work (argghh).

\"Ask the Manager\" on TV38 was hosted in part by Dana Hersey, but also hosted by Daniel J Berkery from 1991 (the time I first saw it) to around 1996.  Daniel left to go to a station in Phoenix and a guy named Stu (don't remember his last name) took over.  I don't think the show's on anymore.

OK - to put something to do with game shows back in this thread:  there was a time during the late '60s when TV38 ran shows like \"Eye Guess\" for a while, because Boston's NBC affiliate ran something else during that time period.

[ChuckNet]

CBS/Viacom bought WSBK a few years back....if you go to the website of Boston's O&O CBS affiliate (WBZ-4), you'll see links to WSBK there as well

And I think, because of the deal, WSBK also airs a simulcast of WBZ's late news...a similar arrangement is used in nearby Providence, RI, where CBS affiliate WPRI (Ch. 12) has it late new simulcasted on Fox affiliate WNAC (Ch. 64).

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious \"Chuckie Baby\")

[ChuckNet]

Anyway, just about the time he was working @ 'BCN, he purchased interest in WVJV-TV, Channel 66, which debuted as a local music-video channel. John also served as one of the VJ's. The experiment didn't last long (which disappointed me, since the local cable of the day (Cablevision) put MTV on a higher tier than I was willing to pay for), and the channel's format switched to home shopping, possibly simulcasting HSN or QVC before Cablevision carried them.)

The \"music video channel\" experiment was also tried elsewhere...Newark's Ch. 68, previously best known for B&W reruns, WHT, and Uncle Floyd, became the all-video \"U-68\", although they mostly showed 3rd-rate videos that weren't exclusive to MTV, and later went to home shopping as well.

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious \"Chuckie Baby\")

[ChuckNet]

John was never involved w/ WSBK AFAIK; the dulcet-toned Mr. Dana Hersey (who later appeared in a syndie entertainment mag called \"Preview - The Best of the New\") was the host of \"Ask the Manager\" for most of the show's run.

Locally, Hersey also did intros and wrap-arounds for TV38's nightly \"Movie Loft\", as well as hosting the entertainment series Hersey's Hollywood.

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious \"Chuckie Baby\")

[SRIV94]

[quote name=\'ChuckNet\' date=\'Jul 28 2003, 11:02 AM\']

Anyway, just about the time he was working @ 'BCN, he purchased interest in WVJV-TV, Channel 66, which debuted as a local music-video channel. John also served as one of the VJ's. The experiment didn't last long (which disappointed me, since the local cable of the day (Cablevision) put MTV on a higher tier than I was willing to pay for), and the channel's format switched to home shopping, possibly simulcasting HSN or QVC before Cablevision carried them.)

The "music video channel" experiment was also tried elsewhere...Newark's Ch. 68, previously best known for B&W reruns, WHT, and Uncle Floyd, became the all-video "U-68", although they mostly showed 3rd-rate videos that weren't exclusive to MTV, and later went to home shopping as well.

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby") [/quote]
 It was also tried in Chicago on Channel 66 (I believe the station was time-brokered for business news during the day and music videos at night and on weekends).  Eventually it evolved into a general TV outlet (chock full of syndie fare and reruns [it was Chicago's home to the Davidson PYRAMID and picked up the Finn TJW somewhere along the line], plus Illinois and Northwestern basketball) and now serves as the Univision outlet.

Doug

[uncamark]

It was also tried in Chicago on Channel 66 (I believe the station was time-brokered for business news during the day and music videos at night and on weekends).  Eventually it evolved into a general TV outlet (chock full of syndie fare and reruns [it was Chicago's home to the Davidson PYRAMID and picked up the Finn TJW somewhere along the line], plus Illinois and Northwestern basketball) and now serves as the Univision outlet.

It also aired for very brief periods of time \"Strike It Rich,\" \"The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime\" and the final seasons of \"TJW\" and \"TTD.\"  I emphasize \"short time\" in that many of those shows got pulled off the air because the station's owner, Milt Grant, a rich man who bought a lot of TV stations in the mid-late 80s, overspent on programming and couldn't pay his bills (it should be pointed that some syndicators knew they had a live one with Grant and overcharged him on some shows).  The syndicators responded by pulling many of their shows off his stations, including what was then (and now) known as WGBO.  His stations eventually got sold off piecemeal, but WGBO remained the doormat of Chicago TV until the great Latino TV switcharound of 1993-4 where in a year or two's time WCIU went English-language independent from Univision, WSNS went Telemundo from Univision and WGBO went Univision from indie.  (The latter two stations were bought by their network, with the NBC-Telemundo merger WSNS now originates from the NBC Tower, with their news staff right next to WMAQ's.)

I would say that WCIU became and still is the ratings doormat of Chicago television, but it seems like since Fox bought WPWR, our UPN outlet, that the U is gaining on \"UPN Chicago\" (as they prefer to be known now, like \"Fox Chicago\" for WFLD, although some spots still say \"Chicago's Power Station\" without any reasoning for that slogan, like the call letters).  And the U is the home of \"Pyramid\" and \"Feud\" in Chicago.