WGSF Television

Link: http://wgsf.oldgleaner.com/

Four locally originated programs were broadcast in 1963, using a borrowed videcon television camera. WGSF did not again possess equipment to originate any programming, other than station identification, until 1966.

Borrowed Dumont cameras were used for several months in early 1966 for the origination of locally produced broadcasts, including offerings by a summer school class in television production.

Slide projectors and the "still" RCA TK-20 Iconoscope camera chain was utilized for several more programs that fall.

When station WJW-TV in Cleveland donated two RCA TK-30 studio cameras later that year, production finally "took off."

WGSF was airing at least thirteen locally-originated programs a week by 1968!

In addition, WGSF broadcast many 16mm films from various sources during the years from 1967 to 1976.

This series of posts will share some of the memories and insights into local origination on WGSF Television.

Link: http://wgsf.oldgleaner.com/

During the time frame after the cameras were sent back to Cincinnati, and the RCA cameras arrived from Cleveland, John Hall and I developed a slide show called The Newark Test. We asked viewers to take the test on a form printed in The Advocate. A
slide of the Newark area was shown, then the correct multiple choice answer. Everything started out good - Show the picture, ask the multiple choice question, and then show a slide of the correct answer of A, B,C, or D.

We had a back up Kodak carousel projector, and a spare bulb. After about 10-minutes we were "sliding down the hill." Projector bulb burns out (of course); spare projector pressed into service as the slides were being transferred to the back-up projector. The
picture slides in the transfer didn't get in the exact right order and of course the letter showing the answer to the question some how got in the wrong spot. Sometimes the correct or wrong answer got ahead of the picture.
If I remember correctly the audio was recorded by John and me ahead of time.
People who probably didn't really know that Newark had a TV station, were ringing the phone off the hook to inform us of the jumbled mess. Too bad we didn't have a phone system like today, in which we could tell them to start pressing (dialing) numbers for improved service while disgusting music played telling them their call was important to us.

See also: Murphy's Law

As I think of things, I will write them as we walk down memory lane. Things to be covered:
Licking County Spotlight; Land of Legend shows on the hill; and probably
several more.

Bill Clifford
Source: http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/WGSF_TV/message/17

Link: http://wgsf.oldgleaner.com/

http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/WGSF_TV/

Here are excerpts from Diane's program summary from 1975 and 1976.
lhh

1975 Programs . . .
Licking Count Art Association - 1 hour 27 minutes 15 seconds
Communiscope - 5 hours 45 minutes 40 seconds
31 Reports - 121 hours 6 minutes 43 seconds
Wildcat Den - 18 hours 41 minutes 19 seconds
Specials - 24 hours 52 minutes 55 seconds
Movies - 24 hours 52 minutes 55 seconds

Boy, John Hall and his movies happening on the weekends with Laurel
and Hardy and some of the serials ("The Crimson Ghost" and "Nyoka and the Tigermen"). More game being shown: baseball, football, and
basketball.

1976 Programs . . .
I finally made it through 1976. Boy, you can feel the depression on
the paperwork. Some info was incomplete so a couple of shows I had to guess if they were new or reruns. Also, for several of shows (Wildcat Den, Communiscope), the topic is not on the log and I looked through the Advocate microfishe at the library and many times the published schedule did not match the program log.
Anyway, Licking County Art Association did 6 shows (2 hours, 55
minutes, 25 seconds), Communiscope did 12 shows (9 hours, 44 minutes,22 seconds), 31 Reports did 127 shows (61 hours, 12 minutes, 40 seconds), Wildcat Den did 20 shows (9 hours, 35 minutes, 40 seconds), other specials had 32 programs (18 hours, 23 minutes, 46 seconds), and of course the movies with 101 features (143 hours, 8 minutes, 56 seconds).

Link: http://wgsf.oldgleaner.com/

A very necessary and oft-quoted axiom - an accepted truth, dictum, truism, principle; maxim, adage, aphorism - at WGSF Television was Murphy's Law.
Simply put, it states:

If anything can go wrong, it will . . . At the worst possible moment!

There is a corollary known as IPIO - The Innate Perversity of Inanimate Objects.

That is the nature of the final screw to fall into the device being reassembled. Or, a slice of bread to fall buttered-side down.
The 'watched pot' that doesn't boil, or the printer/copier that can sense that you are in a hurry, and jams!
IPIO