Something not so spooky, but pretty spectacular happened on October 31, 1949.\u00a0 Without a ribbon cutting or speeches, another brain child of B. J. Palmer (of chiropractic fame) came to life.\u00a0 On that day, a television signal from Palmer\u2019s WOC-TV was sent into an estimated 3500 television-owning homes and businesses in the region (including the largest television-owning market at the time in Peoria, Illinois; the Davenport area only had an estimated 400 sets).<\/p>\n
B. J. Palmer had successfully started the first television station in Iowa, creating another historic first for Davenport and the state.<\/p>\n
Already the owner of WOC-Radio (which has its own fabulous story we will explore in the future), Dr. Palmer invested an estimated $500,000 to bring his new venture to life.\u00a0 In 1948, he began work on the former Edgar Ryan residence, which had been previously converted into\u00a0an apartment house known as The Oak Apartments and was conveniently located at 805 Brady Street—right in the middle of the bustling Palmer School of Chiropractic campus. Inside this handsome, turn-of-the century structure, he moved both WOC-Radio and WOC-TV.<\/p>\n
B.J. Palmer remodeled and enlarged the structure to fulfill the needs of these industries of communication.\u00a0 805 Brady would be home to WOC-TV until a larger, modern building was built for the station in 1963 right next to the Ryan building. The former Ryan residence was then demolished, but the new station retains the same address of 805 Brady Street today.<\/p>\n
On October 31st<\/sup>, with two hours of television time to fill, WOC-TV began programming with the Kukla, Fran and Ollie puppet show at 6:00 p.m.\u00a0 A half an hour later \u201cSightseeing at Home\u201d took over air time for fifteen minutes.\u00a0 The night finished with the 1935 movie \u201cWaterfront Lady\u201d starring Ann Rutherford and Frank Albertson.\u00a0 By 8:00 p.m. television programming was over until the next evening.\u00a0<\/p>\n No live studio presentations took place that first week as newspapers reported the equipment needed to do such shows had not arrived in time.\u00a0 This meant live coverage of the Davenport High \u2013 Moline football game and Augustana versus Carthage football game could not take place as expected.\u00a0 On a brighter note, the Saturday, October 29 State University of Iowa versus Oregon football game had been put on motion picture film and was part of the Thursday, November 3 evening program schedule—in case you are wondering, Iowa came from behind to win 34 \u2013 31.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n A grand opening was eventually held with the public invited to visit the studio during a weeklong Open House from November 5 \u2013 November 13, 1949.\u00a0 Guided tours introduced visitors to the equipment and workings of the WOC television and radio studios.\u00a0<\/p>\n Live shows began airing on Sunday, November 6, 1949.\u00a0 Soon programs such as \u201cMimic the Music\u201d with local celebrity musician Marge Meinert and \u201cMr. Weatherwise,\u201d a puppet show that gave the local weather forecast in apparently humorous fashion, began to be put into regular scheduling.<\/p>\n WOC-TV originally carried programs from all networks, even though it was an NBC affiliate.\u00a0 In 1950 it began to carry NBC network programming.\u00a0 The Palmer family owned WOC-TV until it was sold in 1986.\u00a0 It was at that time the call letters became KWQC-TV, an NBC affiliate.<\/p>\n B.J. Palmer introduced his television station at the perfect moment.\u00a0 How could Dr. Palmer have known that the same week WOC-TV televised its first show that State of Iowa Attorney General Robert Larson would start an anti-gambling crackdown that hit Scott County hard?\u00a0 No longer were punchboards, barrels of fun, dice games and the like found in local taverns legally.\u00a0 What was a bar owner to do to retain customers?\u00a0 Many took to installing televisions and tuning into WOC-TV for sports coverage!<\/p>\n Happy 60th<\/sup> Anniversary to KWQC-TV (formerly WOC-TV)—still making history in the Quad Cities!\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n (posted by Amy D.<\/em>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Something not so spooky, but pretty spectacular happened on October 31, 1949.\u00a0 Without a ribbon cutting or speeches, another brain child of B. J. Palmer (of chiropractic fame) came to life.\u00a0 On that day, a television signal from Palmer\u2019s WOC-TV … Continue reading