Most of my blog posts have so far dealt only with Bob Wilkins tenures on both KCRA Channel 3 Sacramento and KTVU Channel 2 Oakland. Now, I believe it is time to mention his KTXL TV 40 tenure, Most of what I saw when I was younger was when Bob was on KTXL. But I have yet to crack a mystery, When did Bob first start at KTXL? Bob Wilkins can't recall, Tom Breen is sure Bob continued for a little while longer at KCRA Channel 3 at the same time he started at KTVU Channel 2 with "Creature Features" in 1971. Jack Matranga (Owner/GM KTXL)claims that KCRA had cancelled Bob's show as retaliation of him starting a similar show on KTVU and Jack offered Bob at KTXL to host Horror/SciFi Movies. Bob Shaw (Bob's Friend/Protege/Coworker/Man behind the scenes at Creature Features/Movie Critic) claims that Bob initially hosted a mix of movies at KTXL (Comedies/Musicals/Dramas) before he settled to the back to the usual Horror/SciFi Genre. However When I was looking at the TV Guide Microfilm and I found that on Late Saturday Nights at 11:30PM ((at least from 1969 onward), KTXL aired European Art Films of the 50's and 60's (i.e. "The Red Lips", "The Truth", "Anatomy Of A Marraige" and Roman Polanski's "Repulsion"). Now I am not saying that Bob Shaw is wrong, maybe Bob Wilkins hosted these movies on a different evening other than Saturday Nights? Maybe it was Bob who hosted those European Art Films? Apparently he must have left KCRA on very good terms in order to do an appearance on Geoff Wong's First Charlie Chan Show on October 2, 1971. Anyway according to the TV Guide microfilm, the first Horror Movie shown was on September 18, 1971 with "The Black Room (1935) starring "Boris Karloff" and with the exception of a month long stretch of "Mr. Moto" films in February of 1972, All Films were of the Horror/SciFi Genre.So I decided just to trace the history of KTXL's "The Bob Wilkins HORROR Show" which I now believe started on September 18, 1971 and it ended on February 14, 1981. I will write later on the amount of movies, the movie titles as well as which title was shown the most on KTXL-TV 40.
1 comment:
I remember when channel 40 started around 1970-71. My grandparents just got back from Japan around that time and they got a UHF rotor antenne for their new color TV so it picked up channel 40. Cap'n Mitch jumped ship from KOVR 13 to 40 too.
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