HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Happy 75th Birthday to WBZ-TV Channel 4

[Fenway]

On this day in 1948, WBZ-TV became New England’s first TV station. The very first messages ever broadcast were greetings from Mayor James Michael Curley, Cardinal Cushing, and Rabbi Joshua Loth Liebman, followed by our inaugural newscast.

Rabbi Liebman died hours before this aired.

​

Click to read more...

 

[Kate08]

Wild to think 75 years ago news was so different than it is now.

I’m a channel 5 girl at night but enjoy channel 4 in the morning.

 

[Mione134]

I used to watch WB56(I think that's what it was) the one with the big clock in the intro all the time with my mom. Then they stopped airing. I remember the last broadcast. I think my mom got sad. We definitely have it on tape somewhere.

I go back and forth with the stations now.

Love Maria Stephanos on Channel 5.

Havey Leonard was a staple in my house.

We've got some great newscasts here in Boston.

 

[GordonHowe]

I used to watch WB56(I think that's what it was) the one with the big clock in the intro all the time with my mom. Then they stopped airing. I remember the last broadcast. I think my mom got sad. We definitely have it on tape somewhere.

I go back and forth with the stations now.

Love Maria Stephanos on Channel 5.

Havey Leonard was a staple in my house.

We've got some great newscasts here in Boston.

A venerable institution.

We've been pretty lucky around here relative to local broadcasting and news.

TV38. Bruins. The Movie Loft. Ask the Manager.

"Living 56." ("It's 10 o'clock. Do you know where your children are?") I used to watch Jon Keller's Talking Politics every week.

Jack and Liz and the two Bob's. Joyce Kulhawik. Sports Final.

Chet and Nat and Susan Wornick. Martha Bradley. Paula Lyons. Chronicle.

Channel 7 always brought up the rear. Then the guy from FLA bought it and "If it bleeds, it leads" & non descript, interchangeable anchors came along.

That's just off the top of my head.

 

[Alicat]

Wild to think 75 years ago news was so different than it is now.

I’m a channel 5 girl at night but enjoy channel 4 in the morning.

I love Eric Fisher. The way he explains weather trends and models online makes my inner weather nerd happy.

I'll watch their 9pm news cast but I am a channel 5 gal through and through.

 

[McGarnagle]

I've always been fascinated by early television. Since so much of it was unsaved or overwritten, the few programs we do have are really intriguing as a time capsule of what life looked like in the late 40s/early 50s.

 

[Babajingo]

I love Eric Fisher. The way he explains weather trends and models online makes my inner weather nerd happy.

I'll watch their 9pm news cast but I am a channel 5 gal through and through.

Loyal BZ guy. Goes back to Liz and Jack and Lobell and Newmie. I know that Ch 5 had Natalie and Chet but I loved Liz.
I think I'm too loyal. Not a fan of the current BZ sports people.

 

[BMC]

For the most part we watched the Providence stations (WJAR, WPRI & WLNE) instead of the Hartford stations (who to this day mainly cover Hartford, the state east of the CT River doesn't exist unless there's a murder, huge fire or some other catastrophe ) as my little village is only about a mile from the RI border.

I grew up watching Doug White, Patrice Wood, Walter Cryan, Art Lake, Truman Taylor and a weekend sports anchor fresh out of college named Jack Edwards (yes, our Jack!)

Couldn't always get the Boston tv stations (forget 38 & 56) but I remember Jack & Liz, Bob Lobel, Chet & Natalie & Shelby Scott when the weather was raising hell.

 

[McGarnagle]

I used to watch WB56(I think that's what it was) the one with the big clock in the intro all the time with my mom. Then they stopped airing. I remember the last broadcast. I think my mom got sad. We definitely have it on tape somewhere.

I go back and forth with the stations now.

Love Maria Stephanos on Channel 5.

Havey Leonard was a staple in my house.

We've got some great newscasts here in Boston.

I totally remember that clock. The WLVI56 (even before it became a WB affiliate) news intro. I was maybe 7 or 8 years old but it felt like something serious and scary was going down when I saw that intro. I think they also did the DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR CHILDREN ARE warning too.

Funny enough, I don't really remember too much about other stations' news broadcasts back then, though during summertime when I was home I watched a lot of network tv. Usually just Happy Days and Cheers reruns in syndication, and felt the news was boring when they interrupted old tv shows at noon to talk about news shit.

 

[Gordoff]

A venerable institution.

We've been pretty lucky around here relative to local broadcasting and news.

TV38. Bruins. The Movie Loft. Ask the Manager.

"Living 56." ("It's 10 o'clock. Do you know where your children are?") I used to watch Jon Keller's Talking Politics every week.

Jack and Liz and the two Bob's. Joyce Kulhawik. Sports Final.

Chet and Nat and Susan Wornick. Martha Bradley. Paula Lyons. Chronicle.

Channel 7 always brought up the rear. Then the guy from FLA bought it and "If it bleeds, it leads" & non descript, interchangeable anchors came along.

That's just off the top of my head.

Jack Williams & Tony Pepper...

 

[GordonHowe]

Loyal BZ guy. Goes back to Liz and Jack and Lobell and Newmie. I know that Ch 5 had Natalie and Chet but I loved Liz.
I think I'm too loyal. Not a fan of the current BZ sports people.

I actually haven't watched local news in a while, though David Wade is solid.

 

[ProdigalFan]

My ex worked at BZ for almost 40 years. He used to bring me to their fancy schmancy Christmas parties back in the '80's so I could meet all the anchors and his co-workers.

 

[Fenway]

I totally remember that clock. The WLVI56 (even before it became a WB affiliate) news intro. I was maybe 7 or 8 years old but it felt like something serious and scary was going down when I saw that intro. I think they also did the DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR CHILDREN ARE warning too.

Funny enough, I don't really remember too much about other stations' news broadcasts back then, though during summertime when I was home I watched a lot of network tv. Usually just Happy Days and Cheers reruns in syndication, and felt the news was boring when they interrupted old tv shows at noon to talk about news shit.