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| WKAR’s First Fifty: Mid-Michigan’s
Broadcast Pioneers first aired Jan. 14, 2004 2009 encore broadcast Tuesday, Jan. 13 at 11pm This special program was selected to air during the final hour of 55 years of analog broadcasting from WKAR-TV -- 11pm-midnight on January 13, 2009. As of January 14, all WKAR-TV broadcasts are digital-only. Are you ready for Digital TV? This 2004 special looks at WKAR’s history, at the station’s role in the Greater Lansing community, and at its impact on area residents. “It's amazing how much the region and the station have changed over fifty years,” says producer Joe Barnhart. WKAR’s First Fifty is hosted by Adela Uchida, news anchor for WILX-TV. WKAR shared broadcast time with the NBC affiliate from 1959 to 1972. The program features rarely seen archival footage from WKAR’s early years of broadcasting, plus interviews with station and community leaders. Among those appearing are Lyman Bodman of the Beaumont String Quartet; Hortense Canady, a Lansing-area resident since 1947 and former member of the Lansing School Board; Bruce Gillespie, a childhood co-host of Culver’s Clubhouse in 1962-63; David Hollister, Lansing’s former mayor and state legislator, currently serving in the Granholm administration; Whitney Miller, archivist at Michigan State University; Stuart L. Dunnings, Jr., a Lansing resident since the 1950s; John Schneider, a daily columnist with the Lansing State Journal; David Paradis, a Lansing area resident since 1966; and Kirk Vernier, a Lansing resident since 1976. Current and former WKAR staff who share their memories of being part of a new industry and reflect on how things have changed in the following 50 years include Jim Adams and Terry Braverman, best known for their weekly program Spartan Sportlite and coverage of MSU sporting events; former WKAR art director Jack Dunlevy, who started with WKAR in 1953, prior to the station’s sign-on; former program manager Kay Ingram, who began her 33-year career at WKAR in 1955, after being a student employee; former general managers Bob Page (1954-1987) and Steve Meuche (1988-2004); capitol correspondent Tim Skubick; former fine arts producer Tom Turk; Kay Eyde Palinski, who hosted several programs on WKAR between 1954 and 1964, and Jim Culver, host of Culver’s Clubhouse. Other former staff include Jack Caldwell, Gaylord Creedon, Bill Ludwig and Carl Musson, who, like Dunlevy, started with WKAR in 1953 before the station signed on the air. "It was wonderful,” recalls Jack Caldwell, who was with the station from 1955 through 1962. “There were no errors; you couldn't make a mistake. You couldn't fail because nobody was in front of you doing it better. It was a chance to experiment and we did a pretty good job." WKAR-TV went on the air on January 15, 1954. Between 1959 and 1972, it operated as WMSB-TV in a shared-time arrangement with WILX. With the advent of the Public Broadcasting Service in 1969, the station prepared for its 1972 return to sole operation. WKAR is licensed to the Board of Trustees of Michigan State University. WKAR’s First Fifty is underwritten by Meridian Screen Printing and Design. |
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