11/06/2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVw1HUEipy4
50 Years Ago Today:
Not from Chicago, but definitely Chicago related (as we'll get to in a moment) - here's a rarity, transferred directly from a 2" quad videotape, an edition of the 11th Hour News on WPRO Channel 12 in Providence, Rhode Island (which, since 1967, has been known as WPRI-TV; except for the period 1977-1995 when they were affiliated with ABC, the station has otherwise been, and is today, a CBS affiliate).
The anchor is someone you likely know well - Bob Wallace, years before becoming a fixture at Chicago's own WBBM Channel 2 in the 1970's and '80's. Even here, he displays a flash of the avuncular charm and wit that would flow through, throughout his long run with WBBM.
Includes:
Station ID slide with '12' inside CBS eye and 'clouds' background ("See best CBS on Channel 12")
11th Hour News open (with teletype sound effect), revealing slide inside screen on news set next to anchor
Bob reads the following headlines:
At an Albuquerque, NM gathering of Republicans, 1964 GOP Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater says Democrats have become captive of the radical Left, and singles out Robert F. Kennedy (whom he did not mention by name) as a traitor to this country for his overtures to North Vietnam, including an offer to give blood
10 governors including Rhode Island's John Chafee (who was later a U.S. Senator from 1977 to 1999) travel to Vietnam on a fact-finding mission about the war; with him is Maine Governor John Reed and Georgia Governor Carl Sanders
FBI cameras record draft card burning demonstration in New York City; five of the demonstrators burned them in public, and one person doused both the fire and the protesters with a fire extinguisher
Area woodlands, due to dry weather and other factors, are in a position for forest fires; film of fire watchers all over New England is shown; Massachusetts Fire Chiefs Association President Francis McDonald of Fall River advises to close all woods in the area due to said conditions; "Save Water" notices are everywhere including on local TV station ID's); Bob promises a weather report from Howie Holland later in the broadcast
Speaking of fires - the greater Providence area is plagued by one at the Holy Trinity Church Community House on Cowden Street in Central Falls; the parish school next door wasn't even affected
Another fire around a fence that spread to an adjacent property at Ontario and Melrose Streets is attributed to children playing with leaves
38-year veteran of Providence Fire Department, 64-year-old Alfred E. Millard, dies in hospital after being run over by rear wheels of fire truck responding to a fire on the East Side on October 26th (of which, the fire was later described as "of no consequence")
"Bizarre and senseless shooting rampage" in Durham, CT claims third victim: 8-year-old Kim Cilley, at Hartford Hospital, from wounds inflicted by her father, 43-year-old Kenneth Cilley, an aircraft worker who then turned the gun on his wife, four children, and finally himself (he died the prior night, and 2-year-old daughter Karen Cilley died earlier); mother Shirley Cilley and two surviving children in serious condition
Still no sales tax in Massachusetts; Governor John Volpe's fourth sales tax plan is defeated; Senate President Maurice Donahue wants Volpe to join Democrats in drafting a compromise
The Northeast district of the Society for the Encouragement and Preservation of Barbershop Quartet Singing in America, Inc. holds its annual convention at Hope High School Auditorium in Providence this weekend; Channel 12's news photographer, Ed English, takes some film; the Attleboro Jewelry City Harmonizers placed 3rd in the chorus competition, and a segment of their performance is shown
With that, Bob uses Walter Cronkite's "That's the way it is" sign-off (with teletype sound effect)
This aired on November 6, 1965.
Not from Chicago, but definitely Chicago related (as we'll get to in a moment) - here's a rarity, transferred directly from a 2" quad videotape, an edition o...
