When my family got our first television set back in 1955, I was a junior in high school and WBAY-TV (channel 2) was the only channel we could get. It was the second channel in Wisconsin when it opened in 1953. WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee is the only older channel in the state.
WBAY was originally owned by the Norbertine fathers, the priests who established and ran St. Norbert College in De Pere and who already operated WBAY radio in Green Bay and another station in Appleton.
In the early days of WBAY, because it was the only station in the market, WBAY carried programming from all four of the networks at that time. Channel 2 was a primary CBS affiliate with secondary affiliations with NBC, ABC and DuMont.
But by the time we got our set, Channel 11 (WLUK-TV from Marinette) was also operating, but our little rooftop antenna didn’t pull it in very well, so we were primarily a Channel 2 family.
And in those early years, the station wasn’t on all day and all night like TV stations are now. In our house at least, the TV would stay on for hours with nothing but what we used to call a “test pattern” on the screen. My grandpa lived with us, and he’d sit and stare at the test pattern all afternoon, fascinated by the “magic” of TV.
Grandpa never caught on to technology: he refused to talk on the telephone, another of the “new-fangled’ devices introduced into our home in the ’50s!
As a CBS affiliate, WBAY-TV benefited from that network’s coverage of National Football League games, primarily those of my favorite Green Bay Packers. So I saw my first Packers telecast in fall 1955, and I’ve been watching them ever since. In those days, though, the home games were not televised, only away games, and not all of those.
Before there were daylong network programming and syndicated shows on Channel 2, there was Charlie Hanson. Charlie was an all-around entertainer: a musician, a comedian and an actor, one of the funniest guys I’d ever seen.
When I’d get home from school in the late afternoon, there was Charlie Hanson. Each day, Charlie created a one-act play and provided an hour of live entertainment to our part of the state, sometimes teaming up with Packers players such as Ted Fritsch or Tobin Rote. It was all live; no videotape back in those days.
Charlie did lots of voices and had imaginary sidekicks; the most famous was Shaky, and he broke me up. There were many days when I’d procrastinate getting changed from my school clothes to my work clothes, and I’d hang around the TV until Charlie was done before I’d head out to the barn to get some chores done before supper.
I can’t remember many specific skits he did, but I’ll never forget one he did about TV weather reports. The “set-up” for the skit involved a station production staff getting ready to do the evening weather forecast. Charlie and 10 guys are in a small conference room. Charlie, the “news director,” says, “How many think it’s gonna rain?” Four guys raise their hands. “OK, 40 percent chance of rain!” Lots of goofy schtick like that. I loved it.
Charlie left WBAY in late 1956 to take a job on WISN radio in Milwaukee where he became the “morning guy” for about 45 years before he retired. He was inducted into the Wisconsin Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 1990. I wonder if he’s still alive. I couldn’t find any current information about him on the Internet.
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