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NBC/RCA had other uses for color before television.

At one time NBC operated two radio networks called "red" and "blue." "Blue" evolved into today's ABC.

Also, in the early days of 45 RPM records, RCA used color-coding for the various musical formats/genres. You won't believe this - the label ...

First Choice was seen in several eastern provinces, which is why they used ratings most likely to cover an entire region.

On the backs of DVDs one national rating and symbol for the Canadian video market (and sometimes a separate rating from Quebec) is used.

Not only that, but ABC kept the same Tuesday-night lineup intact for a third consecutive season: "Mod Squad" at 7:30/6:30 CT; "Tuesday Movie Of The Week" at 8:30/7:30 CT and "Marcus Welby M.D." at 10:00/9:00 CT. Try doing that today.

Yes, all three networks still went on-air in prime-time at 7:...

ABC signed on a new affiliate, WKPT-19 in Kingsport, Tennessee (Tri-Cities) in time for this new season. Prior to Fall 1969 ABC programming was split between the other two stations in the area, WCYB-5 (NBC primary) and WJHL-11 (CBS primary); also, the nearest pre-WKPT ABC outlets were WTVK-26 in ...

NBC was treated by RCA as a guinea pig for their various experiments in television broadcasting. CBS succeeded because they could focus more on the programming and the star quality. ABC took up the rear but made up for it with innovative concepts. That was how each of the networks gained their re...

Burton wanted this song and its accompanying album, "Woman Love", released in the US, but CBS Records Canada Ltd. said no, and most Americans would have to wait until 1994 and a best-of compilation on Rhino to finally hear "Fine State Of Affairs".

Burton Cummings has one of the most interesting vocal fluctuations of any singer, and it shows in this, his first solo single (he announced his departure from the Guess Who in '75).

He had several other big hits in his native Canada ("Fine State Of Affairs" was noticeably omitted from the US ma...

This being a Warner Bros. release in North America one would think this is about Sylvester & Tweety.

In Fred's time it would have been Win"stone" cigarettes.

Because ABC would not begin colorcasting until 1962, every episode was presented in black & wite despite being filmed in color. But down the line it was a very smart move.

Did you know Bo Jackson's mother loved this show so much, she named her famous son after Vincent Edwards?

...goes to show you that the climate isn't always warmer when it comes to NHL hockey in the Sun Belt. Then again, Atlantans have been passive at best in regards to fan support. Winnipeg is a much-more NHL-ready town than Atlanta will ever be.

Hartford was caught geographically and figuratively between two larger and more traditional sports cities - New York and Boston - and it's a city where loyalties are divided even when the Whalers were there. It had some Bruin fans (the Celtics played some home games at the Civic Center, too) and ...

...and today we learned of the passing of one of the all-time greatest Expos, Gary Carter.

A snippet of this song (on loan from Dr. Demento) was played by Casey Kasem on the "American Top 40" broadcast of January 11, 1975.

One of the few things that has not changed in prime-time TV was the Monday-night CBS sitcom. Season 12 was the last and CBS placed "My Three Sons" on Mondays at 10 PM ET & PT/9 PM CT, preceded by Marshal Dillon, Lucy and Doris and followed by the voice of Charlie The Tuna.

My cat holds out for sports, especially the feline teams.

Use of a tuxedo cat that looked like Sylvester would have brought forward a lawsuit from Warner Brothers.

There was a two-page magazine ad with an orange-and-white cat leaping towards the screen also thinking the bird was real. Ebay ha...

Donnie Moore lost just a game that day. A year later he threw that fateful pitch that changed the course of the 1986 ALCS and ultimately his career and life.

That was the play that changed the fortunes of entire franchise. Up until that point the Steelers were an almost nothing ballclub. But from 1972 onward, they were awesome.

Part 1 of The Bay Area Bummer. Part 2 was later in the day when Dallas rallied from a 28-13 4th-quarter deficit to take dow...

I was surprised that with all the other programming changes CBS made in 1971 they would keep "My Three Sons" around for one last season.

Reruns from past seasons were also shown on CBS daytime for most of 1972.

This was taped on a SUNDAY? It was opening day in the NFL; the Rams played host to the New Orleans Saints over at the Coliseum. Also: the series premiere of "M*A*S*H".

I still can't believe the pristine quality of these tapes! As close to HD as 1972 got.

Notice how different the living room looked in the beginning of the series? The wood chair with the plaid cushion that was Fred's favorite seat was in the back towards the stairs. Early in season 2 it was just to the viewer's right of the sofa where it stayed until the end.

Visit the Vintage Tol...

Does anybody remember when Colts or Orioles games could not start earlier than 2:00 PM on Sundays due to since-repealed "blue laws"? That went for their '76 playoff game with the Steelers, the '70 AFC Champsionship, 1969 World Series Game 2, 1971 World Series Games 2 & 7 plus any American League ...

No Fred + no Lamont + NBC in third place + Donny & Marie and Wonder Woman = a spinoff in the scrap heap of television, along with "Chico And The Man - Chico" which followed.

Isn't Seattle where Utilikilts (unbifurcated garments for men) are made? And isn't Seattle supposed to be a progressive, open-minded city?

There shouldn't be a rule against boys dressing as girls. The opposite happens a lot and it's not as controversial. I have two daughters and a son and they ...

Experimentation + expression + intrepidation + courage = a human being.

Let's make this a non-issue someday.

The Bills' last-ever game at War Memorial Stadium. O.J. finally lived up to his Heisman-winning potential thanks to coach Lou Saban and a grately improved offensive line that would become co-stars, not just a supporting cast.

Where Wile E. Coyote does his grocery shopping. I saw him there the other day in HBA buying up every last aspirin and bandage for all those gargantuan falls of cliffs.

This would be New England's 14th consecutive loss at the Orange Bowl. They won there in '66 but not again until the 1985 AFC Championship game.

In those days WXON was two stations in one: a typical UHF independent by day and a subscription service known as ON-TV at night. Every evening at 8 PM the signal was scrambled and a converter/decoder was needed to watch ON-TV's movies, sports and concerts.

No way!!!! Union Carbide had Eveready batteries, Glad sandwich bags, Prestone antifreeze, Simoniz car wax AND diamond rings? Some product portfolio!

As in YTV Canada? Possibly because Thanksgiving is in mid-October. But if you had access to a CBS station from the U.S. (WJBK-Detroit, for instance) you might have been able to catch it on its premiere night, November 22, 1989.

Wait till you hear their follow-up - a reworking of another Temptaions hit, "(I Know) I'm Losing You."

Listen, I appreciate your holding up the records as an introduction to the song, the credits and label designs. Makes me wish I had a turntable myself, especially the pro-quality kind with vari...

No surprises here - McLean joined NBC at one of the worst possible times in network history. This show was shot down in a sea of low ratings after just four months.

No surprise that Mac Ferguson was a grandfather. McLean was 47 at the time and there are quite a few grandpas (and grandmas) at th...

First aired December 10, 1994. Two longtime CBS affiliates said farewell after this very show -Detroit's WJBK and Atlanta's WAGA, both of whom switched to Fox the very next day.

Visit the Vintage Toledo TV website to find the TV Guide listings page from the Detroit edition mentioning this episo...

That first slide was seen on the TV in Kelcy's bar during the "All In The Family" episode titled "The Man In The Street".

"JCPenney sold appliances in those days? Wow! I thought they were jut clothes", says today's generation. But it's true - up until the early 1980s JCPenney was very much like Sears in terms of merchandise selection and services. Principal difference: smaller Penney stores had just clothes; smaller...

NBC was in desperation mode in the early 1980s, so much so that they brought back Redd Foxx as Fred Sanford and also put "Sanford" on Friday nights, just like the original. But as with most everything else on Nobody's Broadcasting Company, it failed.

Notice the "4707" on the door? On S&S the ho...

TA is Talent Associates, the people behind "Get Smart".

February 6, 1981 was when it happened.

How about that? An X-rated instrumental! Made Top 10 in the U.S.

Believe it or not, Melanie had THREE top-40 songs on Billboard's Hot 100 in the issue of February 26, 1972. Her only #1 hit, "Brand New Key", was #24 that week, "Ring The Living Bell" was #34 and "Nickel Song" was #36.

Doubt me? Look it up.

...now there's no more Exxon-branded motor oil. ExxonMobil decided since Mobil was the stronger of the two lubricant lines they decided to phase out the Exxon consumer/commercial oil line and focus strictly on the Mobil consumer/commercial oil line.

In other words, no more putting a tiger in yo...

Actually, there was no need to wait on CBC and CTV to go color because many Canadians could already watch color shows from U.S. networks on stations and cities near the border. RCA and others were already marketing color sets in Canada long before Autumn 1966.

The Super Bowl was not quite ready yet for rock 'n roll; it would have offended many viewers especially given controversies on variety shows of that era.

I'm just disappoined this year's game won't have John Mellencamp. It's in Indianapolis, he's from Indiana, would have been my one and only cho...

Archie Bunker's response (from the All In The Family episode titled "The Commercial" which aired midway through the eighth season):

"Do you think John Wayne takes them aspirin there? No, when a guy like the Duke gets a headache he just takes his pistol and shoots it right out."