My childhood memories of the local station were mostly cartoon related. KTLA had the worst of the cartoons (looking at you, Popeye) as well as Tom Hatten hosting the Family Film Festival, which were the films that either didn’t have copyright because they were poorly dubbed international films, i. e. Pippi Longstocking or old and unrestored so copyright had expired, which meant they were free to air. They also had Knight Rider in daytime syndication. KCOP and KTTV had either a Cartoon Carnival or Cartoon Circus, which fluctuated between the Warner cartoons or the Tom & Jerry (and friends). But it was during my childhood that first run syndicated cartoons thrived, which included Transformers and GI Joe. KTTV had Robotech, which was to me a game changer. KTLA burned off Three Stooges. KHJ had Elvira, Mistress of the Dark.
When we watched the news, it was usually KABC with Jerry Dunphy and Dr George. I know I watched the Challenger explode on KTLA because I was in Catholic school in West Covina at the time, and for some reason they could only pick up channel 5 at school. The article referenced the Rose Parade, which was only worth watching with Bob and Stephanie doing commentary. Honorable mention to KCET for everything from Huell Howser to Monty Python to Square One (and Mathnet) to Simon & Garfunkel’s Concert in Central Park to This Old House to the Frugal Gourmet. Because man cannot live by cartoons alone. On Sat, Feb 26, 2022 at 7:09 AM PGage <[email protected]> wrote: > So, this sent me to Wikipedia, which was oddly non specific about the > stations Putnam worked at. They do say that he anchored the news for all 4 > LA independent stations (KTLA, KHJ, KTTV and KCOP), but they don’t give the > years for each station. They do say that he was replaced by Hal Fishman in > 1975, without giving the station, but that has to be KTLA, which comes > close to my memory. > > For my sister and I, as kids, KHJ was for the Million Dollar movie (I > remember seeing “The Blob” for the first time, and also “Goldfinger”). KTTV > and KCOP were for cartoons and kid shows (I think Wonderama and Jerry > Mahoney were on KTTV), and also re-runs (Star Trek I think was on KTTV when > I was rushing home to watch it in syndication in the 70s). Also I think > Vince and the Dodgers were on KTTV when I was a kid, and Lakers in KHJ. > > > On Sat, 26 Feb 2022 at 1:41 AM 'Dave Sikula' via TVorNotTV < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> I remember Putnam at KTTV and KCOP, but not at KTLA, though I'll happily >> admit I'm wrong. >> >> L.A.'s independent stations were a mixed bag, at best. KTTV probably had >> the best film library, but also had Ben Hunter (he who inspired Carson's >> Tea-Time Movie*) constantly selling you-finish A-frame homes. KHJ took >> occasional risks (I remember one week they devoted to 50s programming, >> complete with commercials, playing it straight-faced), and had the Million >> Dollar Movie and Sherlock Holmes, Charlie Chan, and monster movies on the >> weekend. KCOP was hopeless, with seemingly no budgets for anything and the >> worst house-made local commercials. KTLA was somewhere in the middle, with >> reruns, a good film library (mainly Goldwyn and what movies Paramount >> hadn't sold to Universal), Tom Hatten, and great news broadcast (I thought >> Hal Fishman and Stan Chambers were immortal), all subject to the whims of >> Gene Autry. >> >> (*Watching "Whew!" on Buzzr last week, they're finally up to the >> "celebrity" episodes and Carol Wayne was one of the guests. I was kind of >> surprised to see she really was that dim.) >> >> --Dave Sikula >> >> On Friday, February 25, 2022 at 5:59:40 PM UTC-8 PGage wrote: >> >>> The article skips from 1964 to 1979, which is most of the interval of my >>> experience with KTLA (I left LA in 1987, and my memory begins around 1967). >>> For me they were the home of Dick Enberg and the Angels, and old movies to >>> watch occasionally when the three prime time networks failed. >>> >>> But I can’t believe any history of KTLA, no matter how cursory, can skip >>> over George Putnam (Ted Baxter). I know he worked at most of the LA >>> independent stations, but for most of my childhood he was Channel 5. We >>> watched a lot of local news in my house, and LA had some pretty high >>> profile anchors in those days. We would never watch Putnam for news, but my >>> mother liked to hate-watch (she never knew that phrase but would have loved >>> it) him for 5-10 minutes a couples of days a week, and we always thought he >>> was a joke. >>> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "TVorNotTV" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To view this discussion on the web visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/cf8ea36f-3ed9-4147-8765-b81716550d39n%40googlegroups.com >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/cf8ea36f-3ed9-4147-8765-b81716550d39n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > -- > Sent from Gmail Mobile > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKGtkYJ9g%2BnEUsVqpuPk5R65%2BFWE%3DumEkrAKNZN3F2PXyxX%2BPw%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKGtkYJ9g%2BnEUsVqpuPk5R65%2BFWE%3DumEkrAKNZN3F2PXyxX%2BPw%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- Kevin M. (RPCV) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKgmY4C5QOMNtcfzf52aopn6A7jukRvw1AqUMdRsb7WmRefTGQ%40mail.gmail.com.
