| Date |
Addition |
| 07/18/08 |
New WBTV Videos. They're from the 1960s, '70s and '80s—of Betty Feezor and Jim Patterson. In them, you'll see many of the station's staff, on and off camera. There are scenes going back to the very day of sign on, July 15, 1949. |
| 06/13/08 |
You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll go shopping! Spend awhile in the new Bitty Bird suite of stories about life at WBTV in the '60s. Bob Storck is the author.
And your webmaster has a kind of a memoir of his early days, in which the media (including WBT and WBTV) played a big role in shaping his aimless life. |
| 04/12/08 |
A couple of new letters are on the Feedback page.
About three dozen photos from the early years (1964-1980) of Jefferson Production have been provided by Ken Helms and Jim Rogers.
We've added four selections to our Talent Caricatures collection, thanks to Debbie Reynolds Reavis.
There are two more Pictures Worth (up to) 1,000 Words, beginning here.
There's something new in the Sound Vault: An hour-long Project 60 broadcast from 1964. Clyde McLean hosted the popular WBT program. This edition is a documentary on the infamous Glick family of Belmont (the town at the other end of the Belmont Tunnel). Sit back and marvel how profound and serious radio used to be. |
| 03/15/08 |
Chuck Hemrick sent us a delightful old (1936) clipping from a Winston-Salem newspaper touting a stage show starring Fred Kirby and his "RCA Victor Smiling Cowboys."
Last year North Carolina's General Assembly paid official tribute to the Briarhoppers with a resolution acknowleging the group's importance to the State. Read the resolution and the speech made to the legislature by our own Cullie Tarleton, who represents the people of the 93rd Congressional District.
Every so often we on the staff, and thousands of viewers and listeners, received Power To The People, an elegant report of the Company's recent contributions, on and off the air, to the community and the coverage area. Here's the January 27, 1967 edition.
 Debbie Reynolds Reavis, daughter of the late George Reynolds of WBTV's engineering department, has contributed a collection of her father's photos, most of which were taken in 1974. We've assembled 18 of them into a Flash presentation. (By the way, that blue, round control element can be moved around anywhere on the frame. Just click on the top of the circle and drag.)
We've added a couple of new "Pictures Worth 1,000 Words," starting here and going to here. And a lady in Woodruff, SC, Angie Urps, found an old photo of someone named "Grady Cole." Unaware of anyone with that name, she googled him and found his name on our Web site. We've put the photo on the page with other Cole pictures.
Celebrity vistors to our station were always welcome. And some were subject to a special welcoming treatment, as was little Anissa Jones, one of the stars of Family Affair.
We've added over a dozen letters to our Feedback page. They appear by date, the most recent at the top.
Sadly, we've added more names to the In Memoriam page, some from years ago and some more recent. We miss them all. They are Willie (Mrs. Bob) Dycus, Andy Anderson, Bobby Greene, Lionel Norman, Tom McMurray, Bob Carroll, Tom Ashcraft, J.B Clark, Wade St. Clair and Ray Gooding.
|
| 05/11/07 |
We've got words, pictures and sounds from the radio version of Gunsmoke (1952-61), a series you probably won't remember unless you're as old as, say, Ty Boyd. The sounds, a 23 minute recording of a 1956 episode's rehearsal, are also listed in our Sound Vault.
In early 1954, when Jefferson Standard was less than a decade old, work began on a site out on West Morehead Street for a grand new broadcast center. Nat Tucker, former WBTV Production Manager, loaned us these interesting photos. |
| 05/03/07 |
In 1930 the numbers on radio dials ran from 0 to 100. WBT "came in" at 38 on the dial. See the Wave-length Guide from "What's On The Air," a booklet designed to "double the benefits of your radio set."
|
| 04/24/07 |
On the Articles & Artifacts page, we've placed a link to WBTV's 30th anniversary booklet, printed in 1979. It has dozens of photos of local and network personalities.
For nearly a quarter century, Betty Feezor was consistently WBTV's most-watched personality. Davan Mani has written a nice profile of Channel 3's queen of midday.
In 1945 CBS sold WBT to Jefferson Standard. It was a pretty big deal for Charlotte and for listeners. Here are a couple of stories about it from the old Charlotte News.
We've added 11 new feedback items from readers, all added at the top of the page in date order.
Three new pictures have been added to the Remote gallery, showing our cameras and their operators in romantic and exotic locales.
One of our readers reminisced about "Those Were The Years," Mike McKay's 90 minutes of late Friday night tomfoolery and episodes of old shows from TV's early days. "Years" ran in the mid 70s. As a coincidence, Jim Scancarelli rambled through his vast archives and found a 1976 newspaper profile of the program and its "cast."
For the "Photos" section, H. A. Thompson has sent us a semi-priceless shot of Ty Boyd and Bill Curry plying their trade on some city sidewalk, back when they were mere sprouts on the broadcasting bush.
|
| 06/14/06 |
Thanks to welcome contributions from Phil Morris and Dennis Phillips, both veterans of WBTV's kid productions of yesteryear, we're able to post some very interesting photos and stories.
There's a Kids' Stuff Gallery (in the Photos section), with eight vintage pictures from those golden years.
Under Articles, Dennis has recorded all the details you'll ever need to know about the Whistle Stop series, of which he was the producer.
Also under Articles, we've reproduced an old circa-1973 interoffice memo from Carol Wonsavage in which you'll find the names of people involved, and the difficulties encountered, in a large production, "A Child's Christmas."
And there's a long letter Dennis Phillips wrote upon hearing the news of Jim Patterson's death in July 1986.
Have you been trying to remember the WBTV personalities and programs in 1972? Check out this roster and program schedule (PDF file) in a year when the big hits were All in the Family, Mary Tyler Moore, Cannon, etc.
Jim Scancarelli is up to his old tricks again, sharing stuff from his vast collection. This time it's a recent illustration he has created titled "Cathedral of Radio." |
| 04/26/06 |
In this "issue" you'll find a compelling 12-page company newsletter from January 1955 called "Mikes and Dollies." It contains great stories of those days of live TV.
We've "stolen" one of the stories in the newsletter, and published it "up front" (so you won't overlook it). It's the history of WBT from the perspective of a transmitter engineer. Bill Hicklin talks a lot about antennas, transmitters, tubes and oscillators, and also includes some rich detail we were unaware of.
In conjunction with Hicklin's story, we've added to the Sound Vault a really, really remarkable find: a 10-minute 1957 recording of WBT's J. B. Clark interviewing the person who uttered the first words over the station's airwaves way back in 1922. Clark also chats with Mr. Crutchfield about his early days with the station, and with Earl Gluck, one of the founders of WBT, who, at the time of the interview, was preparing to go on the air with his new station, WSOC-TV. Read the story here; hear the program here.
A former employee at our Florence TV station, it turns out, had as interesting a background as you could possibly imagine. His story also gave us an opportunity (excuse?) to show off some of the collectibles and memorabilia associated with his name (from the Scancarelli collection, of course), and to examine the role of box tops in radio and print advertising. View the entire series of photos and documents listed under The Saga of Melvin Purvis.
Six weeks ago we had great fun talking to Henry Boggan, in preparation for last month's article on the "Hello, Henry" show. We were all shocked and saddened by news of his death on April 20, only 18 days after his induction into the North Carolina Broadcasters Hall of Fame. He was a wise and gentle man, one of a kind. We've reprinted the obituary that appeared in area newspapers. |
| 03/07/06 |
When you ease open the Big Door of BT Legacy, two names rush out: "Boggan" and "Briarhoppers." We found a way to maim two birds with one stone when we stumbled onto a recording of those two entities appearing on the same broadcast. It's one of the last "Hello, Henry" shows (summer of 1996), on which Henry has as his guests the Briarhoppers, the storied pickers and singers who--with their announcer, Charley Crutchfield--put WBT on the cultural map. Read the story, enjoy the photos, then listen to nearly an hour of "Hello, Henry." |
| 02/10/06 |
Big addition this time, a new Video Center, starting out with about 45 minutes of material in 24 segments, running from 30 seconds to five minutes. All the clips were "harvested" from a copy of the 80th Birthday show for Fred Kirby that aired on WBTV May 19, 1990--nearly 16 years ago. You'll see and hear a number of personalities who are no longer with us: Fred, Jim Patterson, Bill Ward, C. J. Underwood, and a lot of others who are still living but have moved on from WBTV, like Moira Quinn, Phil Morris, Tom King, Mike and Barbara McKay and others. Hope you like them. (These require Flash Player 8, which is no big deal to download free of charge. If you have difficulty playing these videos, please let us know.)
And to the In Memoriam page, we've added the name of Max Davis. |
| 01/17/06 |
Under Profiles, there's a tribute by Mike Cline to Big Bill Ward, WBTV's sportscaster in the '50s and '60s, who had a big following among wrestling fans..
In Photos, there's a gallery of 27 photos from the '60s and '70s of our TV news team in action.
And there's a Feedback letter that'll bring back memories. |
| 12/13/05 |
A couple of new things in Photos:
A gallery called "Let's Hear It For The Crew!," with eight old photos of floor crew members in the fifties and sixties, with descriptions of studio and remote production, and the people involved.
A small but soon-to-expand collection of "Pictures Worth a Thousand Words." We hope the photos we present will live up to the title. Just in case you can't figure out WHICH thousand words the pictures are worth, we try to supply some of them.
Under Articles, there's the story of your editor's experiences in WBTV's promotion department.
And in the Feedback department there are four must-read letters from readers, with compliments, suggestions and reminiscences. |
| 12/04/05 |
New What's Up calendar for December. Due to the large number of birthdays in December, Tom Camp has volunteered next year to have his birthday in August to avoid the crowd. Your old webmaster has been having to fry a lot of other fish these past weeks. There's interesting new content to come soon, we promise. Lots of stuff in the works. |
| 11/02/05 |
Lots of new material to enjoy:
A look at Marc Hamilton's talent montage that hung for years in the Jefferson Suite.
A bit of whimsy from over 60 years ago involving WBT's Aunt Sally and a certain masked lawman.
A copy of the Jefferson-Pilot Broadcasting Telephone Directory for 1981 (Charlotte only. PDF format).
Two fantastic Flashbacks: reminiscences from Betty Johnson and Doug Bell. |
| 10/24/05 |
Last week another quarterly Jefferson Pilot Broadcasting retirees' luncheon was held at the Prime Sirloin in northwest Charlotte, and a good time was had by all. We'll give you a heads up before the next one. In the meantime enjoy the two dozen photos we took of the attendees.
We've learned from Roger Adams that George Grills, former engineer at WBTV, should be added to the In Memoriam page.
We received nice emails about the Web site from WBT's John Hancock and Joseph Gallent. They're posted on the Feedback page. |
| 10/03/05 |
James K. Flynn has contributed an important story about WBT major role in serving the community during Hurricane Hugo in 1989. Don't miss "Ol' Hugo Was A'messin'," in the Articles section.
As an adjunct to James K.'s article, he's contributed--at my urging--his Hugo song parody, "Chainsaw!" It's located, of course, in the Sound Vault.
For birthday listings for October, check out the What's Up calendar. (Something gold would be nice.)
Sadly, we've added two more names on our In Memoriam page: Jim Forest and Tom Matthews. |
| 09/05/05 |
Back in the summer of 1962, the Concord Daily Independent ran a long piece on our fearless leader, Charles Crutchfield. With their permission we've "republished" it here, in the Profiles section.
The What's Up? calendar page has been updated for September. |
| 08/18/05 |
Remember the old song "Heartaches?" Back in the late '40s it became associated with WBT and DJ Kurt Webster. It was quite a story.
In the early days of television, one way a station could attract (and impress) viewers was to haul its cameras, lights and racks full of equipment down the street or to some distant location and do a "remote." WBTV's cameras were a familiar sight all over the Carolinas. |
| 08/09/05 |
See the wide-angle staff photo taken about 1957. Some of these old timers are unidentified. If you recognize someone, let us know. |
| 08/03/05 |
Added a couple of readers' letters on the Feedback page.
Added the names of Al Pruitt; Jud Gregory; two former Briarhoppers, Arval Hogan and Don White; and two of the Johnson Family Singers, Jesse "Pa" Johnson and Lydia "Ma" Johnson to the In Memoriam page. |
| 07/31/05 |
What was the Yellowjacket all about? It was the collaboration of a band of rebelliously creative people who wanted radio to be--if only for a few minutes a week--what it once was, and not a jukebox with commercials. The scripts were written (mostly) by Reno Bailey, Bill Curry and Jim Scancarelli. The parts were played by whoever we could catch coming down the hall. It all lasted for about three months. When the sponsor's contract ran out, so did our creative juices. Much later, El Presidente Charles Crutchfield was astonished to learn it was a locally-produced show; he thought it was network!
At any rate, here are two episodes randomly selected for your listening pleasure--or not. They're down in the Sound Vault. Be careful on the steps, it's kind of dark down there. |
| 07/27/05 |
Remember The Yellowjacket? It was a twice-weekly radio drama (with stories ripped--er, stolen--from the headlines) that was heard on Bill Curry's afternoon drive time show on WBT back in '67, when the world was young, and so forth.
Anyhow, in an effort to keep you entertained we've add two significant sound clips: One of the The Yellowjacket himself, Rex Mundane (Bill Curry) recording a promotional announcement. The other clip is cute and perky Candy Ferrell "singing" the official Yellowjacket Song. They're on the Sound Vault page in the Yellowjacket section.
There's more in store. Unless you beg us, as this long, hot summer wears on we'll be adding to the Sound Vault a dozen or so actual episodes of the Yellowjacket show. |
| 07/18/05 |
A new Reader Comment from Ray Stikeleather with a funny Crackerjacks story. |
| 07/17/05 |
We've devised a star-studded picture gallery (in the Photo section, of course) of some of the hundreds of "Picker's 'n' Singers" who have come through those hallowed doors of WBT and WBTV. Many stayed to enjoy years of regional fame; some went on to become legends.
In addition, under Profiles, from Kenneth M. Johnson's book The Johnson Family Singers: We Sang For Our Supper, we've excerpted a short profile of Larry Walker, the piano man who graced our presence and entertained our listeners in the '40s and '50s.
In the Sound Vault (scroll down to Oldtime Radio Sounds) we've added a couple of clips: a WBT sign off announcement from sometime during World War II, and eleven minutes of a WBT 20th anniversary special featuring the Golden Gate Quartet, recorded in 1942. |
| 07/01/05 |
Another photo in our "Singing Cowboys" series, visual proof that "our boys" actually did go to Hollywood and perform with the stars.
In 1954 WBTV celebrated its fifth anniversary and distributed this great eight-page booklet about the history and the people of the station. |
| 06/29/05 |
Gregg Pell, formerly of the WBTV news department, sent us a nice story about the conversion from 16mm film to Electronic News Gathering. He also provided us with a neat aerial shot of the BT "campus" and the city of Charlotte circa 1982. |
| 06/26/05 |
From the files of Ken Helms, tape editor extraordinaire, comes this great contribution. In 1957, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), in its monthly technical magazine Broadcast News, profiled the new broadcast center WBT/WBTV had just opened at One Julian Price Place, Charlotte. Occupying a third of the magazine, 28 pages, the story featured 51 photos and diagrams detailing nearly every aspect of the new building. In the Articles section, we hope you enjoy Broadcast News. |
| 06/23/05 |
Following a massive outbreak of apathy toward the BT Memories Bulletin Board, we have removed that sucker. Tossed it in the trash, is what we did. But all is not not lost, no. In its place we have devised a new page called the Sound Vault, from which you can listen to old WBT sounds (mostly Belmont Tunnel foolishness) and some bloopers from WBT and elsewhere. Let me know (1) if you like it, (2) if you would like to hear more sounds and (3) if you have any radio or TV stuff that would be interesting.
Lots more stuff coming soon. Keep checking this page. |
| 02/02/05 |
In Articles, Belmont Tunnel: The Untold Story
|
| 01/30/05 |
We'd like to thank John Reichard for actually leaving a message on the BT Memories Bulletin Board. Glad he was the only one; we'd hate to draw a crowd, the place catch on fire and many of you get injured in the stampede. Really we would.
That darned Jim Scancarelli, he of the vast archives, has come through again! This time with a fantastic artifact from WBT in 1941. You'll love it.
He also provided us with about 30 more WBTV slides from the sixties. They've been integrated into the Slide Show's existing categories (tacked onto the end, actually, most in the Local category). And we've added more names of former art department people to the Scroll of Fame in the aforementioned Slide Show.
And, it being that time of the month, it's time for a new What's Up calendar page for February. Somebody's having a birrrrthdaaaaay! Of thee I sing.
Coming soon: We're going to recreate, or republish, WBTV's 5th anniversary booklet (1954). Some of you will be amazed at how young you used to be, and now...not so much. Also, you won't want to miss The Belmont Tunnel: The Untold Story. (It's untold because I'm just now making it up.) |
| 01/18/05 |
Digging through your closets you can come up with the oddest
things, like a shoebox full of old station ID slides. In Photos we've
included about 100 of them in a little Slide Show, and in Articles we
tell about who made them and how it was done. |
| 01/10/05 |
The most significant new addition this time is a BT
Memories Bulletin Board, accessible by a link on the
left side menu of the front page. A bulletin board, also
called a forum, is a device you can use for exchanging insults,
venting your frustrations, sharing your memories or thoughts,
etc. It requires you first register, then log on each time
you use it, but, hey, any good thing requires a little effort.
Under Articles, you'll find a short history lesson (called
"WBT's '70s Evolution") that eventually leads you to a web
site
on which you can hear a huge number of sounds and voices from WBT in the 1970s.
Under Photos, there's a shot from 1967 taken at the WBT's
45th anniversary party, and a quite unusual picture from the
early 1950's of Arthur Smith &
The Crackerjacks. |
| 12/31/04 |
As regular as clockwork, here is the
calendar for the new
month, January, denoting the birthdays and other pertinent--or
not so pertinent--events that will occur, or have occurred,
in this period. Caution: Due to space constraints, not all
events--past or future--can be listed on this calendar. |
| 12/07/04 |
In the Photos section, we've selected and scanned
130 familiar faces from
editions of The Jeffcaster for the years 1979-81.
These are sure to bring back a lot of memories, which is
what this is all about.
You'll laugh, you'll cry, maybe you'll even whinny,
as you become acquainted (or reacquainted) with three of
WBT's singing
cowboys from the '40s (Don
White, Jack Gillette and Cecil Campbell) and their respective
cayuses.
There's a great early picture of our numero uno cowboy, Fred
Kirby—and a link to a biographical sketch.
Under Articles there's a fine
old artifact from the early days
of radio. As you read this, think of Grady Cole and the tremendous
impact he must have had on his vast audience.
And, sadly, we've had to add another great friends' name to the
In Memoriam list, that of Lee Jenkins, who just recently passed
away. |
| 11/30/04 |
Where does the time go? Here's the calendar of
important events for December. Congratulations to all who survived
the first eleven months of the year. |
| 11/05/04 |
On the front page, added a "Feedback" link.
Check it from time to time for the latest fan/pan mail.
Sad to report , we've learned of eight more former friends
and co-workers to be added to our In
Memoriam page: Bertha
Alexander, Clarence Etters, "Bee" Fortson, Aurelia "Billie"
Cave, Lester Staten, Bob Carter, Jack Knell and, most recently,
Jack Burney. (You can now click Loonis
McGlohan's name on this
list and go to an extensive memorial page for Loonis
on another Web site. )
|
| 10/31/04 |
Added a calendar page for November. Much more to come once
I've gotten my man elected president. Or not. |
| 09/28/04 |
Gene Birke forwarded this
essay about his days of directing
Championship Wrestling.
Poking around in Scancarelli's archives we found this early
photo of a seriously-musical
Hank Warren.
There's a new calendar page—for October. Doesn't time
fly? Ring for your nurse; have her check to see if you've got
a birthday coming up. |
| 09/17/04 |
Here's a letter sent to Loonis McGlohon by John Reichard
shortly before Loonis' death in 2002.
Clint Pressley dug deep into his memory bank and came up with
this interesting review of
his career as a member of WBTV's (and JP's) Floor Crew.
In Photos, there are pictures of the WBT
news team of 1981.
Another look at Cleo Crowder's afro is worth the visit.
Added two more names to In
Memoriam: Ken Spicer and Tony Johnson.
In Jim Scancarelli's large collection of WBT memorabilia,
we found this quaint newsletter from 1943. They called it the WBTattler. |
| 09/07/04 |
Added new navigation links on front page for What's
New (this page); What's Up (upcoming
events in the current month such as birthdays, reunions,
anniversaries, etc.); Contact
Us (guess what that one's for); About Us (who
we are and why we are doing this); and Search (for
searching this site only or the entire Web.).
Added new Profiles section. To inaugurate the section,
Tom Camp has submitted a moving and loving profile of Lewis
Van Leuven. And, despite all we could do to discourage it,
Tom had another
Flashback. |
| 09/02/04 |
Added tribute to Erv Melton in
Articles section. |
| 08/27/04 |
Added "In Memoriam" page listing deceased employees. |
| 08/24/04 |
Added items from old Audio-Graph
newsletter; Grady Cole
pictures;
1949 ads for WBTV signon; talent
caricatures. |
| 08/11/04 |
Started web site with 2004
"Reunion" photos. |
|
