Solving That TV Viewing Problem

It’s an age-old problem. There are two things on TV tonight. Which one do you watch?

Technology has made the decision less daunting these days, but way-back-when, before VCRs and such, it was a lot more difficult.

That was the situation a man in Louisville, Kentucky had to deal with in 1950. Television networks were growing, despite an FCC-ordered freeze on new stations. But the big network radio programmes were still on the air, though the industry was being weakened by TV.

The man managed to find a solution, though it must have been a fairly costly one in those days.

Bill Ladd’s “Twist the Dial” column in the Courier-Journal of March 5, 1950 outlined what he did.

Incidentally, the man in question was connected with a movie studio in Louisville owned by Reynolds Aluminum, directing the industrial film “Pigs and Progress.” He went on in 1954 to have his construction permit for a TV station in Sharon, Pennsylvania revoked for misrepresenting his financial situation. At the time, he was commercial manager of WFAR, Farrell, Pennsylvania. He died in 1999.

All Those Scientific Gadgets Make It Possible For One Weary Listener To Hear and See All
LET US SHED a silent tear for the problems of Mr. Leonard J. Shafitz of our city.
"I thought you might be interested," he states, "in how all this scientific advance in the entertainment world affects one little weary listener such as me and how I am fighting to keep abreast of it all. Also, what might happen to me within a few moons if this mad pace keeps on as I'm sure it will.
"I find myself coming when I should be going, so to speak, and I blame it all on old man time who gives us only 24 hours a day instead of 36.
"I made my problems myself, since I invested in a television set right at the very beginning. All went well until I realized that

I was missing some of the radio stars to whom I had become attracted through the years of, if you will pardon the expression, radio. Being slightly in the business end of show business, I found myself embarrassed. I had but one pair of eyes and one pair of ears. Watching television while listening to Jack Benny can be very distracting. Instead of simply going when I should be coming, I might even eventually go that-a-way.
Hears ‘Em All
"So I bought a tape recording machine. Now on a typical Sunday evening this is the general schedule. At 5:30 I begin by listening to the Henry Morgan show, which I listen to without qualm or interruption. At 6 I warm up TV for 'This Is Show Business.' While I am watching this I record on tape the Jack Benny program. Then Amos 'n' Andy.
"At this point I knock out TV and listen to Charlie McCarthy, Christopher London and maybe Screen Guild. Then to TV again for 'Toast of the Town' and 'Playhouse.'
"After this, if still conscious, I play back Jack Benny and spend a half hour wishing I had another tape recorder so I could have gotten Red Skelton and Phil Harris.
"But the big trouble comes when I am too tired and put off listening to Benny until the following night. Hearing a Sunday show on Monday louses up the entire week. It makes me think a day behind all week!
"I think what I need is a personal kinescope machine, because when the other station (WHAS-plug) goes on, I'll want to record some of the TV shows too!"
TV Film Studio
We can only advise a stiff upper lip, Leonard, and a set of tin ears and soap boilers' eyes. Beyond that we cannot go.