Starter of this subject: Brandon
Last post in this subject: 5/22/2002
Messages in this subject: 1
| Brandon | 5/22/2002 1 replies |
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I can understand that collectors want to have broadcast dates for the shows in their collection, because I want dates myself whenever I can get them. I don't really understand dates on syndicated shows, though. I mean, the nature of syndication meant that a show aired on different days all over the country. And since some syndicated old radio shows remained available for years, all any date on a syndicated program really means is that the program aired on one station somewhere on that particular date. It might just as well have aired on another station earlier and on other stations later. For example, I've seen dates on the same WEIRD CIRCLE episodes ranging from as early as 1943 on into the late '40s.
I guess what I'm asking is, what's the point of fixing a date on a syndicated show when that date really doesn't mean anything except that, for example, some station somewhere in the United States aired this particular episode of BOSTON BLACKIE on September 11, 1947. |
| Harlan Zinck | 8/29/2002 0 replies |
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I sort-of agree with you, Brandon. It's impossible to assign a single broadcast date to a syndicated program. The best you can do is research and find out the *recording* date.
However, there were some syndicated programs that also aired on a network. In these cases, you can assign a *network* broadcast date even if the show later aired in local markets on many different dates. An example of this would be "Great Scenes from Great Plays," which aired on Mutual and was also syndicated to local stations. Broadcast dates assigned to this series are normally network broadcast dates, which gives them some validity. Public service shows such as "Guest Star" can also be assigned semi-accurate broadcast dates because they were supposed to air only within a specific week. Thus, for example, show #33 with Ginny Simms was released November 9, 1947 and can be presumed to have *first* aired on that date - even though it certainly aired other dates as well. Here's a scan of that "Guest Star" label:
(Be careful, though, of trusting broadcast dates for *all* public service programming. Through the years, many people have recorded whatever date was scribbled on the label by a local station as being the "official" broadcast date. Since many of these shows were considered filler in their time, the disks were sometimes aired *years* after they were first release |