The Kansas City Star from Kansas City, Missouri • 135

Television And Toothpaste Bridge History Together to an abundance of medical series 'Ben Casey Dr Kildare) full coverage of man's flight to the moon and Dr Martin Luthei King's March on Washington as well as John Kennedy's funeral procession and the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald all brought to 50 million television homes in living color The Untouchables had been boycotted by Italian Americans The Beverly Hillbillies had become one of television's most popular series Johnny Car-son had taken over the Tonight Show Bonanza the Fugitive Petticoat Junction the Farmer's Daughter My Favorite Martian Bewitched Gomer Pyle and The Man from UNCLE were either retired or in reruns and Newton Minovv had nicknamed television a "vast wasteland" By the mid-1960s a new age had begun to dawn on the molar landscape It started with an attrae tive blonde on a sled the snow a large smile concealing her slight overbite pushing Macleans the toothpaste that made teeth whiter whiter WHITER' She was the vanguard of things to come like Ultra-brite and Vote In a total reversal of all the dental hygienics of preceding eras viewers were asked to ignore those nasty cavity-producing enzymes and bad breath and concentrate on gleaming white choppers Bad breath sufferers were pointed in the direction of Listerine and Scope Dentine and Doublement and if all else failed Certs The sixtjj and so far last television station to go on the air here was KBMA TV channel 41 which launched its first full -color transmission the afternoon of Sept 29 1970 Operating out of offices on the 18th floor of the BMA building 31st and Southwest Trafficway and a studio housed in a small building at 3017 Bellevievv KBMA managed to prove that a UHF station in Kansas City could be successful even with the programing limitations of being an independent non-network affiliated operation By the time KBMA came into existence most of the glamour and excitement of television had worn off Viewers had come to accept the medium's commercial message as the price one paid for home entertainment and toothpaste had suddenly taken a backseat to deodorants shampoos soaps and shaving lotions Personal hygiene had become the name of the game for any viewer who wanted to achieve one or more of seven basic wishes Katie W'inters continually popped on to the small screen to discuss her inordinate worries about body odor Louise Hexter constantly was being told to "start wearing cleaner blouses" while a chorus of snotty friends sang "Ring around the collar ring around the in the background And all of America began worrying about "That greasy kidstuff" ugly underarm perspiration stains and "The heartbreak of In a quarter of a century commercial television had indeed become a reality confessed that they had been coached before show time Ten persons were indicted for perjury several emcees disappeared from view and the scandal became daily newspaper fodder for months Fluoride Era Begins That same year Stripe toothpaste with its red and white squiggles sent out the message "Looks hke fun cleans like crazy keeps your mouth fresh as a daisy" It was the beginning of the fluoride era a 10-year period of toothy cleanliness In Kansas City WDAF-TV which had been ow ned and operated by The Star since its inception was sold to National Theaters Inc Tuoyears later the station again was sold this time to Transcontinent Telev ision and in 1964 WDAF was purchased by its current owners Taft Broadcasting for $38-500000 The sale of WDAF by The Star in 1958 marked the beginning of total outside ownership of tht' community's television stations until 1969 when KCIT-TV channel 50 made its debut as Kansas City's third UHF station Operating from an unfinished building and an unheated studio KC1T went on the air Oct 29 1969 with a brief message from Bill Wormington general manager and a 3 pm telecast of Letters From Laugh-In an NBC daytime series preempted by WDAF-TV the NBC affiliate The station managed to survive less than two years It went dark on July 9 1971 and 10 days later Allied Broadcasting an organization formed in 1967 bv 23 local stockholders filed a bankruptcy notice The equipment and building later were auctioned off with both going to Community Service Broadcasting of Mid-America Inc a nonprofit group dedicated to public television and the development of KCSD-TV channel 19 Licensed to the Kansas City School District KCSD TV went on the air March 29 1961 with a schedule of instructional programs for classroom use Less than a year later on Feb 5 1962 the station began telecasting noncommercial programing during prime time as an affiliate of the National Educational Television (NET) network Beset by financial difficulties from the beginning the station struggled along until early 1971 when CSB was created to develop and support public television here Within a year the nonprofit group had negotiated a transfer of license from the Kansas City School District and had purchased the bankrupt facilities of KCIT And bv the end of 1972 the station's call letter had been changed to KCPT and the PBS outlet wa operating from facilities at 2300 Stark with an improved signal full color and an increased program schedule Medical Series While all of this was going on in Kansas City the nation's television viewers had been subjected Front PRr sf iron id eas' mg a local company owned Tom 1 Evans and Lester Cox for $2 million ieednu still is he o'a ner of KCMO-TV and radio With advent i KCMO-TV the Kansas City it- market stabilized It would beeighl rela- -miooih and profitable years before the local id -rv would vein no KCSD-TV channel 19 on to I'm air and a i most IB years before a new com-m vial station would add its tall tower to the sli ime Ar ny-McCorthy Hearing Th iiggvs! excitement on television in 1954 vc'h i onallv televised Army McCarthy hear i llow'ver it also was the year that Steve Alien t-'il- n-i the Tonight Show that Lassie and Rin Tin fin a ed their way into the ratings and that the Storm first roared into view li also was the that marked the first telecast of the Miss America pageant The following year 1955 was equally uneventful it the national and local level Not even a new iii paste uas on ihe horizon However Mary Martin through a network special "Peter Pan" ami ntraeted the largest audience 65 million viewers! in the history of television And Wyatt ami Gunsmoke blazed onto the small screen it a -so was the year that Lawrence Welk first hnbbled into view and the Millionaire began hand iiL cheeks to the worthwhile but needy li also was the year that big quiz shows like tb- '44 mw Question began to flourish in what -1 i turn out to be an ominous trend Humors that the show was rigged were vehement denied in and the big-money shows continued to boom with Twenty-One and the $64-Ooo i haiienge making their debut That same year Elvis Presley was introduced it the waist up i to viewers on the Ed Sullivan show Chet Huntley and David Brinkley teamed up a- rn anchormen ot the night 1 NBC news Tennes-sn Emie Ford parlayed "16 Tons" into a TV varied -how And Clint Walker moseyed into view as Cheyenne The following year 1957 stories of quiz show option continued to be denied Dinah Shore i Boone and Dick Clark became TV personalities -1 Jack Pa ar took over the Tonight Show It also was the year that Perry Mason: Wagon ft in Have Gun Will Travel: the Real McCoys: Maverick and Leave It to Beaver made their debuts And Crest toothpaste commercials were hi into 45 million TV homes with the mes- siuc clean your breath while it cleans your teeth while the Tv industry buzzed with talk of subliminal advertising The world of big money quiz shows ended with a bang as well as considerable himpering in 1956 i5'n former contestants on Dotto and Twentv-One.