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The History of Television in Chapel Hill
by Charly Mann
The first television set in Chapel Hill was installed at the Martin Ivey Cafe on Main Street in Carrboro on September 27, 1949. The TV was a Philco and Chapel Hillians were amazed that much of the programming could be seen the same second it was happening. The biggest attraction in the restaurant was Tuesday night when the Arthur Godfrey Show was on. Televisions became commercially available in Chapel Hill during the summer of 1949 at Ogburn's Furniture store, but only a handful were sold. At that time only one station in Charlotte was broadcasting television in North Carolina, so the reception in Chapel Hill was exceptionally poor. By late September of that year WFMY in Greensboro began broadcasting television with a very weak signal, which meant that with a large antenna you could get a clear picture some of the time.
First store to sell televisions in Chapel Hill Ogburn Furniture, and their first ad for this new product, September 1950.
When people did watch television it was a family event. People only had one set which was in their living room, and it was most often used on Sunday night for no more than an hour. People did not eat meals or anything else in front of it. Once or twice a year, especially on New Year's day our fathers would get together with some of their friends and share a couple of beers while they watched one or more of the four bowl games then played every year – the Orange, Rose, Cotton, and Sugar Bowl.
Families ate dinner in a dinning room or area in the kitchen in Chapel Hill in the 1950's that did not contain a TV.
The main difference between life in Chapel Hill in the 1950s and 60s and now is time. In those days almost everyone had plenty of time, and now hardly anyone does. It was not that time moved slowly then, or we had less to do, it is simply we used time much better then.
Today the average person in Chapel Hill will spend almost 14 years of their life watching television. In the 1950s and 60s the quality of the programming for the most part was better than today, but we only occasionally watched it. I do not recall a single show that my family watched on a regular basis, except for the national news which was then only 15 minutes on CBS, and hosted by Douglas Edwards. Even in 1969, when I was 19 and owned a very small portable b/w television, the only time I recall using it was when a group of people came over to my apartment to watch the first landing of a man on the moon that July.
Johnson-Strowd-Ward furniture store began selling televisions in December of 1950
When I was about seven, in 1957, I remember an older friend of my family, Minnie Garner who lived on North Street, saying she was afraid TV viewing would become an addictive habit for most people, but I could not see that ever happening. By 1959 I heard a conversation at Max Snipes' Barber Shop on Franklin Street about the ill effects of television. Max and a customer were discussing how many of the people they knew were reading less and the social circle of family and friends that once gathered to talk, read, and play games in Chapel Hill's living rooms in the evenings had become a circle of spectators.
The art of conversation has significantly declined in Chapel Hill in the last 50 years, primarily due to television. There were many great storytellers in town in the 1950s and 60s, and most adults could easily express their ideas and beliefs so that even a child like me could understand them.
Wednesday night television for Chapel Hill September 1961
We need to remember that time is more valuable than money. We are squandering it today with our three screens - television, computers, and cell phones. Time cannot be replaced and using it well is our best investment and greatest asset for happiness.
Personal Disclosure: I played a part in the decline of quality time in Chapel Hill. In 1979 I co-founded North American Video with my friend Gary Messenger. It was the first, and for at least a decade, the dominant video rental chain in the Triangle. It became a huge success under the leadership of Gary and his brilliant wife, yet I regret that my concept accelerated Chapel Hill's addiction to television and passive entertainment.
Comments:
Penelope Miller
11:31 AM Fri 10/30/2009
I grew up in Chapel Hill in the 1980s and I don't recall ever eating a meal without the TV on in our house. We had six televisions for a family of four, and at least two seemed to always be on. Reflecting on this article makes me think how little I enjoyed most of what I watched, and what a waste of time it was.
Lavern M
4:03 PM Thu 10/29/2009
My family watched one sitcom regularly during much of the 1950s in Chapel Hill. It was called THE LIFE OF RILEY and starred William Bendix who played the only working-class lead character until Jackie Gleason in the Honeymooners.
We identified with this family as a minority family struggling to get by.
Sue W
3:59 PM Thu 10/29/2009
I can't believe the memorabilia that you have kept. I remember Buster Ogburn & his wife Marjorie & his daughter Kay Ogburn. We were holdouts & didn't get a tv for a long time. Little did I know at the time it was a more constructive habit. I rememeber listening to 45 records on my record player & singing along. Another thing I didn't realize at the time, was most of the singers on the 45's were black. We seldom saw them perform so didn't always know. I mention this because Chapel Hilll in the mid 50's was awfully white.
Nora Scott Jones
11:45 AM Thu 10/29/2009
Wonderful article that really captures this time well. I was surprised to see that even in 1961 there were really only two TV channels in Chapel Hill. I do recall having more time in those days, and now understand why.
Reed Gordon
9:40 PM Wed 10/28/2009
This is an an amazing piece. I'm surprised you had or were able to get all this information, and I totally agree with your conclusions.
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Investment strategies and advice about Apple Inc. and related technology companies by Charly Mann. www.appleinvesting.com
Investment strategies and advice about Apple Inc. and related technology companies by Charly Mann. www.appleinvesting.com
Chapel Hill is located on a hill whose only distinguishing feature in the 18th century was a small chapel on top called New Hope Chapel. This church was built in 1752 and is currently the location of The Carolina Inn. The town was founded in 1819, and chartered in 1851.
What is it that binds us to this place as to no other? It is not the well or the bell or the stone walls. or the crisp October nights. No, our love for this place is based upon the fact that it is as it was meant to be, The University of the People.
-- Charles Kuralt
Dark Side of the Hill -- Pink Floyd, the creators of the most popular album in history, Dark Side of the Moon, took the second half of their name from Floyd Council, a Chapel Hill native, and great blues singer and guitarist. He once belonged to a group called "The Chapel Hillbillies".
Check out Charly Mann's other website:
Oklahoma Birds and Butterflies
http://oklahomabirdsandbutterflies.com
Oklahoma Birds and Butterflies
http://oklahomabirdsandbutterflies.com
There would probably be no Chapel Hill if the University of North Carolina Board of Trustees in 1793 had not chosen land across from New Hope Chapel for the location of the university. By 1800 there were about 100 people living in thirty houses surrounding the campus.
The University North Carolina's first student was Hinton James, who enrolled in February, 1795. There is now a dormitory on the campus named in his honor.
The University of North Carolina was closed from 1870 to 1875 because of lack of state funding.
William Ackland left his art collection and $1.25 million to Duke University in 1940 on the condition that he would be buried in the art museum that the University was to build with his bequest. Duke rejected this condition even though members of the Duke Family are buried in Duke Chapel. What followed was a long and acrimonious legal battle between Ackland relatives who now wanted the inheritance, Rollins College, and the University of North Carolina, each attempting to receive the funds. The case went all the way to the United States Supreme Court, and in 1949 UNC was awarded the money for the museum. Ackland is buried near the museum's entrance. When the museum first opened, in the early sixties, there were rumors that his remains were leaking out of the mausoleum.
The official name of the Arboretum on the University of North Carolina campus is the Coker Arboretum. It is named after Dr. William Cocker, the University's first botany professor. It occupies a little more than five acres. It was founded in 1903.
Chapel Hill's main street has always been called Franklin Street. It was named after Benjamin Franklin in the early 1790s.
Chapel Hill High School and Chapel Hill Junior High were on Franklin Street in the same location as University Square until the mid 1960s.
The Colonial Drug Store at 450 West Franklin Street was owned and operated by John Carswell. It was famous for a fresh-squeezed carbonated orange beverage called a "Big O". In the early 1970s, I managed the Record and Tape Center next door, and must have had over 100 of those drinks. The Colonial Drug Store closed in 1996.
Sutton's Drugstore, which opened in 1923, has one of the last soda fountains in the South. It is one of the few businesses remaining on Franklin Street that was in operation when I was growing up in the 1950s.
Future President Gerald Ford lived in Chapel Hill twice. First when he was 24, in 1938, he took a law couse in summer school at UNC. He lived in the Carr Building, which was a law school dormitory. At the same time, Richard Nixon, the man he served under as Vice President, was attending law school at Duke. In 1942, Ford returned to Chapel Hill to attend the U.S. Navy's Pre-Flight School training program. He lived in a rental house on Hidden Hills Drive.
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This is fascinating. I had alway thought that the baby-boomer generation were TV addicts.