''Swing Into Sports'' was an early American television series which ran Sundays at 8pm ET from 1947 to circa mid-1949.
Production background
The series aired on New York City television station
WABD
WABD (97.5 FM) is an American radio station licensed to serve the community of Mobile, Alabama. The station, established in 1973 as WABB-FM, is owned and operated by Cumulus Media. Its studios are on Dauphin Street in Midtown Mobile, and its ...
, which at the time was the flagship station for the
DuMont Television Network
The DuMont Television Network (also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont Television, simply DuMont/Du Mont, or (incorrectly) Dumont ) was one of America's pioneer commercial television networks, rivaling NBC and CBS for the distinction of being ...
. The series is notable not just as an early example of sports-themed television programming, but for having a surviving episode from 1948 (see below).
The series featured Joan Arliss (per
Paley Center for Media
The Paley Center for Media, formerly the Museum of Television & Radio (MT&R) and the Museum of Broadcasting, founded in 1975 by William S. Paley, is an American cultural institution in New York City, New York with a branch office in Los Angeles, ...
) or Joan Kerwin (per ''Billboard'' magazine) and Chuck Tranum. Tranum is also known for having hosted ''
Manhattan Spotlight''.
''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' magazine (see below) listed the sponsor as Transmirra Image Definer (misprinted as Transmirra Imgea Refiner), and the producer as being Bob Loewi.
Reception
The 22 November 1947 edition of ''Billboard'' gave the series a mixed review. A writer for the magazine said "As a low-budget live production, the concept behind the show is a fresh one which should provide interesting and relaxing diversion for home viewers - the kind of program badly needed by video. Execution, however, falls somewhat short of concept, altho it has improved considerably in recent weeks".
Episode status
A single episode of this series is held by the
Paley Center for Media
The Paley Center for Media, formerly the Museum of Television & Radio (MT&R) and the Museum of Broadcasting, founded in 1975 by William S. Paley, is an American cultural institution in New York City, New York with a branch office in Los Angeles, ...
, listed as having aired August 29, 1948.
Paley Center for Media entry
/ref>
See also
*List of programs broadcast by the DuMont Television Network
This is a list of programs broadcast by the DuMont Television Network, which operated in the United States from 1942 to 1956. All regularly scheduled programs which were aired on the DuMont network are listed below, regardless of whether they orig ...
*List of surviving DuMont Television Network broadcasts
The DuMont Television Network was launched in 1946 and ceased broadcasting in 1956. Allen DuMont, who created the network, preserved most of what it produced in kinescope format. By 1958, however, much of the library had been destroyed to recover ...
References
Bibliography
*David Weinstein, ''The Forgotten Network: DuMont and the Birth of American Television'' (Philadelphia: Temple University Press
Temple University Press is a university press founded in 1969 that is part of Temple University (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). It is one of thirteen publishers to participate in the Knowledge Unlatched pilot, a global library consortium approach t ...
, 2004)
*Alex McNeil, ''Total Television'', Fourth edition (New York: Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.[Ballantine Books
Ballantine Books is a major book publisher located in the United States, founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. It was acquired by Random House in 1973, which in turn was acquired by Bertelsmann in 1998 and remains ...]
, 1964) {{ISBN, 0-345-31864-1
1947 American television series debuts
1949 American television series endings
Black-and-white American television shows
English-language television shows
American live television series
Sports television in the United States
Local television programming in the United States
DuMont sports programming