In the 1950s and '60s this billboard-sized sign loomed over the square in downtown Charlotte. Shoppers could easily check the current time and temperature as they moved from Belks to Iveys to Efirds, the three big department stores.

Photos | One of a Kind

The Film Room

During its first couple of decades everything WBTV broadcast was either live, or on projected slides or 16mm film. Feature films, syndicated programs, commercials — shipments arrived almost every day.

Reel to reel»

The Early News

The early news department, that is. By 1955, when the station moved to its new quarters, local reporting was beginning to take off. Here's one of its earliest photographers—and cameras.

Rolling »

The Square

In the 1950's both WBTV and WBT Radio were wildly popular, thanks in part to aggressive, expensive and effective advertising efforts, like the big sign on the square. Here's the scene at Trade and Tryon on a typical day in that era.

Park 'n shop »

Spencer Mountain Today

And we thought the old WBTV tower had been dismantled! The lower sections of it still stand, and, after 60 years, it's still useful to a number of commercial and government entities.

Alma Mater

A stunning aerial view of the BT "campus" and the city of Charlotte in the early '80s.

Auld Lang Genny

Often Jefferson Productions produced its programs or commercials where no power was available for our lights and electronic gear. In such cases we needed a generator—this one. If you thought it had long ago been smashed up and shipped to China, you couldn't be more wrong. You won't believe where it is today!

Check it out »

Men At Work

Our stations' personalities frequently traveled around the viewing areas, making friends and spreading good will. We tried hard to be involved in the many communities whose citizens watched and listened.

On the street »

Stand In

Sometimes you just have to fake it. On an early-'50s WBT radio show there were two characters played by the same person, so how did they handle it in the promotion stills?

Big Blast

In 1967, WBT commemorated its 45th anniversary with a large party on the Pine Terrace. Most of the attendees (the entire staff and invited guests) dressed in "Roaring '20s" attire. Legend has it that there was real gin in the bathtub.

Marc Hamilton Painting

Back in the '70s, former WBTV graphic artist Marc Hamilton was commissioned to paint a montage of some of the personalities who had worked and performed on the two stations over the years. The painting hung in the Jefferson Suite for over a decade, and now, we understand, it is in a conference room off the company's main lobby.

Staff Picture

Many of the WBT/WBTV staff massed in the parking lot for this rooftop shot soon after moving into the new building on West Morehead Street in 1957. Some remained inside keeping the ship on course; most of the night shift had not arrived. Though many are gone, you'll see some familiar faces.

For a few years in the early '60s Jefferson Productions and WBTV shared studios and cameras. Here JP is taping one of the first, if not the very first, Charmin commercials featuring Dick Wilson as "Mr. Whipple." (Don't squeeze the Charmin.) Wilson played the role for 21 years until 1984.