Ken Foote's Radio/TV Files: KTVT At A Glance, Part 2
In Part 1 of our look back at KTVT, we talked about how it began and how its first General Manager, Jim Terrell, starting the building process of making it a national success. But here are a few other firsts as well:
*For the better part of three decades, it was the #1 station for kids with programming like Slam Bang Theatre, The Three Stooges, those great Warner Brothers Merrie Melodies cartoons, and The Disney Afternoon
*First station in the Dallas/Fort Worth to launch I Love Lucy in syndication. Back then, networks kept running many of their shows in daytime long after they had left prime time, and that's what happened with Lucy. From 1951 until 1957, I Love Lucy was the #1 show in America. But from 1957 until around 1965, Lucy reruns were seen on CBS during the daytime morning hours. It was in the fall 1965 when Lucy went into syndication on KTVT for $50 an airing!
*KTVT, along with Channel 8, owned the rights to fabulous movies as well with a library close to 5,000 titles at one time.
*Saturday nights were also popular with a 2 hour country and western music block with artists like Ernest Tubb and Bill Anderson.
*KTVT helped make famous the Von Erich family of wrestlers with the famous Saturday night Championship Sports.
*With Ed Gaylord's 30% ownership investment in the Texas Rangers, KTVT was the home of the Rangers with over 90 games a year for over 10 years.
*KTVT was the first station in the southwest to be picked up on the satellite by United Video, distributed all over the Western Hemisphere. I remember getting letters from viewers in Mexico, Canada, and the Caribbean about how much theyr enjoyed KTVT.
In 1991, KTVT became part of a newly created company: Gaylord Entertainment. This company held the assets of the Opryland Hotel, Opryland Theme Park, The Grand Ole Opry, TNN: The Nashville Network, and CMT: Country Music Television. It remained under Gaylord ownership until 1999 when it was sold to CBS where it has been ever since.
On our next blog, we will take a look at KTXA At A Glance.
See you next time!
