We know what happened when channel
line went on the air for the
first time October 12th, 1952.
We know the power of the stations,
transmitter, the hours that we broadcast,
the lineup of the shows,
but the archives from that day are,
well, nonexistent.
How is this possible?
We have footage of that newscast.
Kevin Vaughn and Anna Houston
from our nine wants to know team
set out to tell the story of our
first day on the air and they did
this with a newscast 1952 style.
Good evening from Channel 9 broadcast
headquarters in downtown Denver.
Here's a recap of the news on
this Sunday, October 12th, 1952.
A historic day in the life of
this city and state as we went
on the air here at KBTV at 2:15
PM. Our test pattern your signal to stand by.
Then, just 15 minutes later,
it's time to have fun with the quiz kids.
The first of 13 programs from the
ABC and CBS Networks. 8 full hours
of television in a single day.
There were feats of skill.
Q&A You asked for it. Games.
And now what's my line brought to
you by stop at spray deodorant poop.
There goes perspiration.
And music. Here's your host for
General Electric, Fred Waring. Getting
to be Denver's second television
station and the 111th in the nation
was more than a year in the making.
It began with the formation of the
Colorado Television Corporation and
culminated in the delivery of KBTV's
temporary 12,000 Watt transmitter,
powerful enough to beam our signal
all the way to Cheyenne, WY.
And there's more power to come.
In the months ahead,
it'll be boosted 20 times,
all the way to 240,000.
Thoughts by June 1953,
Welcome News for the People Living
in the estimated 40,000 Denver
homes that already have television.
And as our power grows,
so will our news report.
It's time, America.
Time for Walter Winchell.
Walter Winchell on the weekends
New York City the police in
New York have a new hot lead on
the murder of a Bronx mobster.
Our own bill Michaelson.
Weeknights with 15 minutes of news
at 10:00 PM Monday through Friday,
followed by Vince Monfort's comprehensive.
Weather report.
Thank you for joining us.
The future awaits. We hope you'll
be back tomorrow for channel 9.
Second day of operations,
Monday, October 13th, 1952.
Programming starts at 2:45.
I'm Kevin Vaughn.
For all of us at KBTV,
Denver's better television station.
Good night.
What a flash.
Do you remember when they used to go
off the air and put that up at night?
That's annoying. Sound ever.
That was just wild.
So two questions, several questions.
Where did you find the typewriter
that you had on the desk?
Craigslist.
Wow. And this is the microphone
that we used at some point,
the microphone that we found in the building.
We don't really know how old it is,
but it fit the motif of 1952.
This is our original logo,
which we reproduced for Mike Flag there. So
and you and I have talked
before the original station.
We've been in three different
locations since 1952.
But the original was down there
where the Convention Center is now,
right? It was right behind that.
What's now that fire station at Colfax
and Spear next to the Convention Center,
and there we can't even find
a picture of that building.
Yeah. And you start high and low
and you can't even find anything.
From our first newscast,
nothing really. From the 1950s,
one real we found one reel of
advertising from like 1956,
but it we don't know if it
wasn't recorded back then
or if they didn't keep it.
They recorded it didn't keep it.
Something went wrong.
We just don't know it doesn't exist.
We found the spray deodorant
commercial that was awesome love that
could have used a Plaid Sport coat,
but other than that it was because
that was the thing that cigarette.