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Sports on PBS history
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tmc...@gmail.com
Jul 8, 2019, 9:00:03 PM7/8/19
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Here is strange one. For some reason I remember a hockey game (maybe between the Devils and Canucks) on Channel 13 in New York which is a PBS Station. It does not seem that it could be right, but for some reason I remember it. Anyone else have this recollection or is my mind just playing tricks on me?
Thanks.
it was Devils at Minnesota, two games one in Dec 87 the other in Jan 88, shown on channel 13 on delay at 1130pm; I have no idea why they were shown on channel 13 rather than on sportschannel
It's not unheard of for PBS stations in that part of the country to cover sports, though a pro sports telecast is a bit unusual; UConn women's basketball has aired on public TV in that state for years, and I believe PBS outlets in Maine, Vermont, Minnesota, Alaska, and other 'cold weather' states have made room for college and high school hoops and hockey.
Perhaps the New Jersey station's Devils coverage was some vestige of when PBS routinely included tennis, soccer, and other sports not as widely covered by commercial TV.
The Rangers and Islanders never were on 13; the only other hockey I recall on 13 were a few games of the 1974 and 1975 Stanley Cup finals (using the CBC feed, and inserting a plea for donations during commercials); I believe the channel 13 Devils games were sportschannel productions; I imagine the games were commercial free; sportchannel did have conflicts on these two nights with the Islanders or the Nets, but certainly could have shown the Devils on delay
I did not see either of these telecasts and probably learned of them via the tv listings in a New York newspaper; maybe someone else actually watched them and can give a more complete answer
I saw one of them- don't recall any ads- believe usual sponsors were "providers", "donors" or whatever PBS called them for telecast- but I could be wrong
Other PBS sports examples I recall (was thread for that here or at DBS Forums, BTW?)- New Hampshire Public TV carries UNH hockey and the old New Jersey Public Television (future NJN) used to carry college basketball during the old pre-Big East/ other conference ECAC days in the late 1970's- when Seton Hall played at Walsh Gym and the St. Peter's games were how I first knew of the recently deceased Bob Dukiet
I recall there were some NASL games on PBS in 1975.
Many PBS stations carried pro sports in the 1970s.
In Chicago, WTTW carried the games of the 1974 and 1975 Stanley Cup Final that weren't on NBC. The feed was syndicated by Hughes. WGN had picked it up in 1970 and 1972 (and originated Hawks road games in 1971 and 1973 unless CBS, then NBC, carried them), but passed in 1974 and 1975. In 1976, the NHL put together a syndication package that was carried on WFLD.
WTTW also carried at least one Sting soccer game (against New York and Pele, at Giants Stadium) in the early days of that franchise, as well as the PBS series of tennis that Collins and Dell, all the way back to daylong coverage of the U.S. grass court championship at some tony club in New England in 1971 or so. WTTW or another local PBS station also carried Soccer Made In Germany for several years.
KUHT (owned and operated by the University of Houston) has carried UH basketball games in the past. They inserted pledge breaks where the commercials would be.
When you say the feed was syndicated by Hughes, does that mean they had their own announcers or does it mean they lined up the stations and arranged to send them the CBC feed of the 1974 and 1975 finals? In NY the PBS station carried game 5 of 1974 at Boston and several of the 75 games that NBC did not have, but I am nearly certain it was the CBC feed, not that of the Flyers, Bruins, Sabres or a separate Hughes crew
PBS also did two or three WHA all-star games in the mid-1970's. I actually think it was their own production.
PBS also carried the first Canada Cup in 1976. They carried the CTV feed of those games. They did not do all of the games. They did a couple of USA games (one opponent was the USSR, can't remember off-hand the other) that were played at the Spectrum and had their own on-air crew and personnel for those games. For the Canada-Czecheslovakia Final, I do remember when CTV went to a commerical break, PBS simply stuck up a slide with a sketched hockey player with "CANADA CUP 1976" or something to that effect, with a jazzy track until the commerical break ended.
the other game was Sep 9, 1976 at the Spectrum vs Czechoslovakia; I had no idea it was on tv (since I went to the game); since PBS did not have its own sportscasters, if I had to guess, I would say they borrowed a regular NHL crew for those games and a regular WHA crew for the All Star Games; I won't even bother to guess at the WHA crews, but for the games at the Spectrum it might have been Don Earle and Gene Hart, or if not them, perhaps Fred Cusick and John Peirson; but if you don't remember, probably no one does!
Yes I remember Soccer Made in Germany as well, but I am sure PBS also covered NASL for a brief time before CBS picked up some games in 1976 and TVS in 1977. I may have been only in 1975.
The U.S. Grass Court from Longwood being on WGBH dated back to 1964 or so, I believe
Having seen it in person- I would hardly describe Longwood's setting as "tony"- its located off a busy highway (MA 9) and is across the street from a supermarket- the rickety wooden grandstands and relative disrepair of parts of the club was why the tournament was discontinued in the late 90's
PBS (at least in parts of the northeast) carried Ivy League football during the mid-1980s.
PBS carried Soccer Made in Germany for quite some time. I'm thinking from the 1977-78 season till at least 1982 or so. The earlier matches were called by Toby Charles and then later by Alan Fountain. Charles was excellent. Fountain was as dry as drywall.
PBS also carried nightly same-day highlights of the 1982 World Cup in Spain, with Charles's commentary. This was actually the first compreshensive televised coverage (in English) of a World Cup in the U.S. ESPN also did cover some matches live in '82.
IIRC, PBS also had some preliminary round coverage of French Open tennis in the 70's.
There was a local (Northern VA) PBS affiliate that used to carry Raycom SEC basketball games (on Saturdays) about 10 years ago. Not sure if they did the SEC football package too.
PBS channels 45/49 WNEO-Alliance and WEAO-Akron used to show High School Football games from 2003 till maybe 2005. I remember seeing the listings and thought about how would they show the games without commercials. During a break they would just use local advertisements about certain colleges or communities. Anyway that was the first time I remember them showing a sporting event and I thought that they might have been the first PBS station to show sports.
I also remember WNET, the PBS affiliate in NYC, airing the home opener for the Brooklyn Cyclones back in 2001.
When you say the feed was syndicated by Hughes, does that mean they had their own announcers or does it mean they lined up the stations and arranged to send them the CBC feed of the 1974 and 1975 finals? In NY the PBS station carried game 5 of 1974 at Boston and several of the 75 games that NBC did not have, but I am nearly certain it was the CBC feed, not that of the Flyers, Bruins, Sabres or a separate Hughes crew
JT, Hughes provided the hookup, but took the visiting team announcers. Gene Hart and Don Earle from Boston for the Bruins-Flyers series, for instance. Still remember the call of the OT game won by Bobby Clarke in Boston in 1974. Same deal in 1975, first time I'd heard Ted Darling.
I remember KCET showing English and European soccer highlight shows in the 70's and early 80's. And KLCS shows sporting events involving LA Unified School District high school teams...LAUSD owns KLCS,though with the budget crisis,it may be up for sale soon(hopefully not to TBN or some other religious group.)
Some other examples...
Speaking of WTTW, they carried a few games of the Chicago Sky (WNBA) in its first couple of seasons, sharing over-the-air rights with WCIU. Now their games, looking at their current schedule, are now on a local Comcast network.
KLCS, the secondary PBS affiliate owned by the Los Angeles Unified School District, used to carry high school sports championships up until a couple of years ago. Those contests now air on a regional community access cable station.
Wisconsin Public Television used to air same-day telecasts of Wisconsin Badgers basketball and football...of course, now those rights are retained by the Big Ten Network. I believe they still air Badgers hockey (either live or on delay).
Joe Paterno's coach's show, "TV Quarterbacks", aired on at least 4 NET/PBS stations in Pennsylvania; WPSX State College/Clearfield, WITF Hershey/Harrisburg, WVIA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, WQLN Erie and maybe WLVT Allentown/Bethelehem from 1966 thru c.1983. It is possible that WQED Pgh and WHYY Philly also aired the show, but I am not certain.
The show aired live on Wednesday nights from 7 Pm to 8 PM and featured Fran Fisher as host with Jim Tarman as co-host, JoePa, a player on the team and an assistant coach. The format was usually the intro, previous week's filmed first half highlights (unless the game was televised, then they were taped), Fran interviewing a player, seond half highlights, Fran interviewing the assistant (guys like George Welsh, Dick Anderson, Jerry Sandusky, J.T. White, etc.), then a little feature or Tarman asking Joe about next week's opponent, Joe diagramming a play, or other stuff.
In the 60's, 70's, and 80's WSIU channel 8 in Carbondale, Illinois, the station run by Southern Illinois
University, telecast football and basketball. They may still do it. WSIU was the PBS station for the
three state area of Illinois, Kentucky, and Missouri. Each state had a network affiliate and channel 8
also served as a quasi-independent station as well.
Looking up the PG Archives, I see WQED aired "TV Quarterbacks" between 1971 and 1974. Did PBS stations in PA have to carry the show on Wednesdays or can it be aired at any time between Wednesday night and Saturday afternoon?
IPTV (Iowa Public Television) used to televised the Saturday Night Championship Rounds at the Iowa Wrestling Tournament. Now the state has a television company that distributes the tourney across the state for a nice rights fee. I also know that IPTV televised a couple of Iowa State Women's Basketball games in the 1980s.
About 20 years ago, KQED in San Francisco tried an experiment by doing a live broadcast of a Red Sox A's game at the Oakland Coliseum. The show was titled "Ballgame!", but it was more of a behind-the scenes look at what went on before and during the game, rather than being a conventional telecast of the game. For instance, they had features on the grounds crew and clubhouse personnel before the game, and the in-game content was basically mini-cam footage from various points in the stands, interviewing fans, vendors, etc., interspersed with radio play-by-play to at least occasionally keep track of what was happening on the field. Apparently, this approach to TV sports didn't win any converts from traditional sports viewers, or from the (stereo)typical KQED/PBS viewers('SPORTS? EEEEEWWW!' )
Red Barber chatted with Bob Edwards for years on "Morning Edition."
In Chicago, when WBEZ-FM was owned by the Chicago Board of Education, there was a weekly prep football/basketball game. The interesting thing was, the analyst was a blind guy. Really. He'd key off the play-by-play call and set up the next play, and I didn't know he was blind until I met him.
In 1980, WCNY 24 (PBS) in Syracuse carried NY state High School basketball championships.
When I was a kid in the 70's, WQED, the local PBS affiliate in Pittsburgh showed multiple WPIAL and PIAA high school basketball tournament games.
Wisconsin Public TV still shows Badgers Hockey on tape Delay. home games only, and not all of them. couldn't tell you if there is a pattern
Lakeshore Public TV based in Gary, IN used to show syndicated Big 10 basketball games involving Purdue and Indiana during the week as well as a few Valparaiso games that they produced themselves. Now, they show Valpo, Loyola, and a few MAC-produced Ball State games. they show ads of corporate donors and do pledge drives during other commercial breaks. When they had the Big Ten games, they used to do competitions between Purdue and IU fans/alums to see which school would be more generous.
Racall New Jersey Network had Trenton Thunder AA games that year- was the only live sporting event on TV in New York or Philadelphia some nights in August 1994
In the mid/late '70s, WCAE Channel 50, a high school PBS station in St. John IN (40 miles SSE of Chicago), carried Indiana and Purdue basketball games that originated at WTTV Indianapolis, only with the commercials cut out and either PSAs or pledge drives inserted.
Its successor, WYIN Channel 56 in Gary IN (who had bought the WCAE license after it had been dark for several years), carried the games in the early '90s, again with the commercials cut out.
Thanks.
it was Devils at Minnesota, two games one in Dec 87 the other in Jan 88, shown on channel 13 on delay at 1130pm; I have no idea why they were shown on channel 13 rather than on sportschannel
It's not unheard of for PBS stations in that part of the country to cover sports, though a pro sports telecast is a bit unusual; UConn women's basketball has aired on public TV in that state for years, and I believe PBS outlets in Maine, Vermont, Minnesota, Alaska, and other 'cold weather' states have made room for college and high school hoops and hockey.
Perhaps the New Jersey station's Devils coverage was some vestige of when PBS routinely included tennis, soccer, and other sports not as widely covered by commercial TV.
The Rangers and Islanders never were on 13; the only other hockey I recall on 13 were a few games of the 1974 and 1975 Stanley Cup finals (using the CBC feed, and inserting a plea for donations during commercials); I believe the channel 13 Devils games were sportschannel productions; I imagine the games were commercial free; sportchannel did have conflicts on these two nights with the Islanders or the Nets, but certainly could have shown the Devils on delay
I did not see either of these telecasts and probably learned of them via the tv listings in a New York newspaper; maybe someone else actually watched them and can give a more complete answer
I saw one of them- don't recall any ads- believe usual sponsors were "providers", "donors" or whatever PBS called them for telecast- but I could be wrong
Other PBS sports examples I recall (was thread for that here or at DBS Forums, BTW?)- New Hampshire Public TV carries UNH hockey and the old New Jersey Public Television (future NJN) used to carry college basketball during the old pre-Big East/ other conference ECAC days in the late 1970's- when Seton Hall played at Walsh Gym and the St. Peter's games were how I first knew of the recently deceased Bob Dukiet
I recall there were some NASL games on PBS in 1975.
Many PBS stations carried pro sports in the 1970s.
In Chicago, WTTW carried the games of the 1974 and 1975 Stanley Cup Final that weren't on NBC. The feed was syndicated by Hughes. WGN had picked it up in 1970 and 1972 (and originated Hawks road games in 1971 and 1973 unless CBS, then NBC, carried them), but passed in 1974 and 1975. In 1976, the NHL put together a syndication package that was carried on WFLD.
WTTW also carried at least one Sting soccer game (against New York and Pele, at Giants Stadium) in the early days of that franchise, as well as the PBS series of tennis that Collins and Dell, all the way back to daylong coverage of the U.S. grass court championship at some tony club in New England in 1971 or so. WTTW or another local PBS station also carried Soccer Made In Germany for several years.
KUHT (owned and operated by the University of Houston) has carried UH basketball games in the past. They inserted pledge breaks where the commercials would be.
When you say the feed was syndicated by Hughes, does that mean they had their own announcers or does it mean they lined up the stations and arranged to send them the CBC feed of the 1974 and 1975 finals? In NY the PBS station carried game 5 of 1974 at Boston and several of the 75 games that NBC did not have, but I am nearly certain it was the CBC feed, not that of the Flyers, Bruins, Sabres or a separate Hughes crew
PBS also did two or three WHA all-star games in the mid-1970's. I actually think it was their own production.
PBS also carried the first Canada Cup in 1976. They carried the CTV feed of those games. They did not do all of the games. They did a couple of USA games (one opponent was the USSR, can't remember off-hand the other) that were played at the Spectrum and had their own on-air crew and personnel for those games. For the Canada-Czecheslovakia Final, I do remember when CTV went to a commerical break, PBS simply stuck up a slide with a sketched hockey player with "CANADA CUP 1976" or something to that effect, with a jazzy track until the commerical break ended.
the other game was Sep 9, 1976 at the Spectrum vs Czechoslovakia; I had no idea it was on tv (since I went to the game); since PBS did not have its own sportscasters, if I had to guess, I would say they borrowed a regular NHL crew for those games and a regular WHA crew for the All Star Games; I won't even bother to guess at the WHA crews, but for the games at the Spectrum it might have been Don Earle and Gene Hart, or if not them, perhaps Fred Cusick and John Peirson; but if you don't remember, probably no one does!
Yes I remember Soccer Made in Germany as well, but I am sure PBS also covered NASL for a brief time before CBS picked up some games in 1976 and TVS in 1977. I may have been only in 1975.
The U.S. Grass Court from Longwood being on WGBH dated back to 1964 or so, I believe
Having seen it in person- I would hardly describe Longwood's setting as "tony"- its located off a busy highway (MA 9) and is across the street from a supermarket- the rickety wooden grandstands and relative disrepair of parts of the club was why the tournament was discontinued in the late 90's
PBS (at least in parts of the northeast) carried Ivy League football during the mid-1980s.
PBS carried Soccer Made in Germany for quite some time. I'm thinking from the 1977-78 season till at least 1982 or so. The earlier matches were called by Toby Charles and then later by Alan Fountain. Charles was excellent. Fountain was as dry as drywall.
PBS also carried nightly same-day highlights of the 1982 World Cup in Spain, with Charles's commentary. This was actually the first compreshensive televised coverage (in English) of a World Cup in the U.S. ESPN also did cover some matches live in '82.
IIRC, PBS also had some preliminary round coverage of French Open tennis in the 70's.
There was a local (Northern VA) PBS affiliate that used to carry Raycom SEC basketball games (on Saturdays) about 10 years ago. Not sure if they did the SEC football package too.
PBS channels 45/49 WNEO-Alliance and WEAO-Akron used to show High School Football games from 2003 till maybe 2005. I remember seeing the listings and thought about how would they show the games without commercials. During a break they would just use local advertisements about certain colleges or communities. Anyway that was the first time I remember them showing a sporting event and I thought that they might have been the first PBS station to show sports.
I also remember WNET, the PBS affiliate in NYC, airing the home opener for the Brooklyn Cyclones back in 2001.
When you say the feed was syndicated by Hughes, does that mean they had their own announcers or does it mean they lined up the stations and arranged to send them the CBC feed of the 1974 and 1975 finals? In NY the PBS station carried game 5 of 1974 at Boston and several of the 75 games that NBC did not have, but I am nearly certain it was the CBC feed, not that of the Flyers, Bruins, Sabres or a separate Hughes crew
JT, Hughes provided the hookup, but took the visiting team announcers. Gene Hart and Don Earle from Boston for the Bruins-Flyers series, for instance. Still remember the call of the OT game won by Bobby Clarke in Boston in 1974. Same deal in 1975, first time I'd heard Ted Darling.
I remember KCET showing English and European soccer highlight shows in the 70's and early 80's. And KLCS shows sporting events involving LA Unified School District high school teams...LAUSD owns KLCS,though with the budget crisis,it may be up for sale soon(hopefully not to TBN or some other religious group.)
Some other examples...
Speaking of WTTW, they carried a few games of the Chicago Sky (WNBA) in its first couple of seasons, sharing over-the-air rights with WCIU. Now their games, looking at their current schedule, are now on a local Comcast network.
KLCS, the secondary PBS affiliate owned by the Los Angeles Unified School District, used to carry high school sports championships up until a couple of years ago. Those contests now air on a regional community access cable station.
Wisconsin Public Television used to air same-day telecasts of Wisconsin Badgers basketball and football...of course, now those rights are retained by the Big Ten Network. I believe they still air Badgers hockey (either live or on delay).
Joe Paterno's coach's show, "TV Quarterbacks", aired on at least 4 NET/PBS stations in Pennsylvania; WPSX State College/Clearfield, WITF Hershey/Harrisburg, WVIA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, WQLN Erie and maybe WLVT Allentown/Bethelehem from 1966 thru c.1983. It is possible that WQED Pgh and WHYY Philly also aired the show, but I am not certain.
The show aired live on Wednesday nights from 7 Pm to 8 PM and featured Fran Fisher as host with Jim Tarman as co-host, JoePa, a player on the team and an assistant coach. The format was usually the intro, previous week's filmed first half highlights (unless the game was televised, then they were taped), Fran interviewing a player, seond half highlights, Fran interviewing the assistant (guys like George Welsh, Dick Anderson, Jerry Sandusky, J.T. White, etc.), then a little feature or Tarman asking Joe about next week's opponent, Joe diagramming a play, or other stuff.
In the 60's, 70's, and 80's WSIU channel 8 in Carbondale, Illinois, the station run by Southern Illinois
University, telecast football and basketball. They may still do it. WSIU was the PBS station for the
three state area of Illinois, Kentucky, and Missouri. Each state had a network affiliate and channel 8
also served as a quasi-independent station as well.
Looking up the PG Archives, I see WQED aired "TV Quarterbacks" between 1971 and 1974. Did PBS stations in PA have to carry the show on Wednesdays or can it be aired at any time between Wednesday night and Saturday afternoon?
IPTV (Iowa Public Television) used to televised the Saturday Night Championship Rounds at the Iowa Wrestling Tournament. Now the state has a television company that distributes the tourney across the state for a nice rights fee. I also know that IPTV televised a couple of Iowa State Women's Basketball games in the 1980s.
About 20 years ago, KQED in San Francisco tried an experiment by doing a live broadcast of a Red Sox A's game at the Oakland Coliseum. The show was titled "Ballgame!", but it was more of a behind-the scenes look at what went on before and during the game, rather than being a conventional telecast of the game. For instance, they had features on the grounds crew and clubhouse personnel before the game, and the in-game content was basically mini-cam footage from various points in the stands, interviewing fans, vendors, etc., interspersed with radio play-by-play to at least occasionally keep track of what was happening on the field. Apparently, this approach to TV sports didn't win any converts from traditional sports viewers, or from the (stereo)typical KQED/PBS viewers('SPORTS? EEEEEWWW!' )
Red Barber chatted with Bob Edwards for years on "Morning Edition."
In Chicago, when WBEZ-FM was owned by the Chicago Board of Education, there was a weekly prep football/basketball game. The interesting thing was, the analyst was a blind guy. Really. He'd key off the play-by-play call and set up the next play, and I didn't know he was blind until I met him.
In 1980, WCNY 24 (PBS) in Syracuse carried NY state High School basketball championships.
When I was a kid in the 70's, WQED, the local PBS affiliate in Pittsburgh showed multiple WPIAL and PIAA high school basketball tournament games.
Wisconsin Public TV still shows Badgers Hockey on tape Delay. home games only, and not all of them. couldn't tell you if there is a pattern
Lakeshore Public TV based in Gary, IN used to show syndicated Big 10 basketball games involving Purdue and Indiana during the week as well as a few Valparaiso games that they produced themselves. Now, they show Valpo, Loyola, and a few MAC-produced Ball State games. they show ads of corporate donors and do pledge drives during other commercial breaks. When they had the Big Ten games, they used to do competitions between Purdue and IU fans/alums to see which school would be more generous.
Racall New Jersey Network had Trenton Thunder AA games that year- was the only live sporting event on TV in New York or Philadelphia some nights in August 1994
In the mid/late '70s, WCAE Channel 50, a high school PBS station in St. John IN (40 miles SSE of Chicago), carried Indiana and Purdue basketball games that originated at WTTV Indianapolis, only with the commercials cut out and either PSAs or pledge drives inserted.
Its successor, WYIN Channel 56 in Gary IN (who had bought the WCAE license after it had been dark for several years), carried the games in the early '90s, again with the commercials cut out.
Some dued
Jul 8, 2019, 9:05:30 PM7/8/19
to
WTF?
plai...@gmail.com
Jul 8, 2019, 10:17:27 PM7/8/19
to
This guy shows up about once or twice a year and reposts some random sports related piece like this. He then disappears without making any comment or engaging in any conversation. I seem to recall him posting a list of all the college football games that were televised in some year like 1973 with the networks and all the people working as broadcasters on those games. Weird, but he's been doing it for years on several groups I follow.
unclejr
Jul 8, 2019, 10:19:41 PM7/8/19
to
Futbol Phan
Jul 8, 2019, 11:51:17 PM7/8/19
to
dotsla...@gmail.com
Jul 9, 2019, 8:53:57 AM7/9/19
to
Yeah I remember all that too, dude. You got it all exactly right.
Hth. Hand.
Cheers.
Hth. Hand.
Cheers.
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