I should have known the last few minutes of that final episode would turn up on YouTube. The Clarabell moment takes place at around 1:45 in.

mace wrote:

RadioActive wrote:

78 Years Ago Today: Howdy Doody Show First Premiered on NBC

Being a TV Guide fan, I am guessing 2-Buffalo, 5-Syracuse, 12-Erie. Probably a Western NY State Edition?

Yes, Buffalo-Western New York.

mace wrote:

RadioActive wrote:

It was one of the pioneering efforts of early television and if you were raised in the 50s and had access to a set, you almost certainly saw it. It was "The Howdy Doody Show," a pioneering puppet effort featuring Buffalo's own Bob Smith and folks like Bob Keeshan as Clarabell the Clown, later to leave for his own Treasure House as Capt. Kangaroo. 

It was Dec. 27, 1947 that it first appeared on the tube, after a different version started on radio in the 40s. Back in those days, stations and networks didn't sign on until the late afternoon, which led to the creation of the Howdy Doody test pattern below, telling kids to stay tuned to the first show of the day. 



My how times have changed. My memory of the show doesn't go back all that far, but I do remember being told about the very last one, listed in the Dec. 24, 1960 edition of TV Guide. It was a long, long time ago, but the premise of that final episode was that Clarabell, the silent clown, had a big announcement. As the camera zoomed in at the last minute, it focused on his face and he spoke for the first time ever. 

"Goodbye kids," he said as a single tear rolled down out of one eye. 

And fade to black. It was quite a moment. 



78 Years Ago Today: Howdy Doody Show First Premiered on NBC

Being a TV Guide fan, I am guessing 2-Buffalo, 5-Syracuse, 12-Erie. Probably a Western NY State Edition?

Wasn’t WROC on channel 5 in Rochester back then? Wouldn’t make sense to include Syracuse in WNY edition and not Rochester.

Rochester is one of those markets that's seen a ton of change in its TV line-up over the years.

Check out this channel listing from 1956. You'll notice Channel 10 is a shared time station with two sets of call letters. As noted, Channel 8 was on Channel 5, and there was no Channel 13, which didn't sign on until 1962.

Since then, WROC and WHEC did a rare network swap, with the latter becoming the city's NBC affiliate and the former acquiring the CBS affiliate. That must have taken some time for local viewers to get their head around. 

Some other things I love about the page below: WGR was the ABC affiliate before WKBW came on the scene, WBUF was not yet WNED and was an NBC O&O, and most of the phone listings aren't even seven numbers, using the old letter combination for the first two digits, "(SUmmer 7115.)"

And perhaps my favorite - the phone exchange to reach the sole TV station in Watertown, N.Y. is "410." Reminds me of Andy of Mayberry. Now that is a small town.