Move over, cable cartoon giants, here comes WHSE-TV!

[Geezil]

Yes!! From Newark, New Jersey via NYC to the cable universe comes WHSE, an honorable old independent station that's said a well-deserved goodbye to the Home Shopping Network and hello to a new life as an Old School indie. It's found all around in NY/NJ/PA ... and farther down the road, who can tell?

Now, where are the toons? Thus far, they can be found Monday through Friday on two half-hours packaged by the AIN Network: "Cartoon Arcade" at 3:30 p.m. (devoted to late '70s/early '80s made-for-TV fare) and "Cartoon Junction" at 4:00 p.m. (where one can count on anything from Popeye to Van Beuren's Felix the Cat to Noveltoons to Bosko -- yes, really!)

(BTW, I mistakenly reported over in the AniGen forum that the second half-hour aired at 4:30. No self-respecting true indie station would ever create that kind of suspense!)

Stay tuned for my first program summary ... !!

[Matthew Hunter]

Now I almost wish to brave my 82-year old grandmother from Pennsylvania...They aired "Hollywood Capers"? I've never seen that one...didn't know it was public-domain either.
-Matthew

[Jack]

Originally posted by Matthew Hunter
Now I almost wish to brave my 82-year old grandmother from Pennsylvania...They aired "Hollywood Capers"? I've never seen that one...didn't know it was public-domain either.
-Matthew
It is, I once got it on a Public Domain video from a video store, though it's in sepia tone. I didn't find it as interesting as the other Beans cartoons (all beans seemed to do is say "Hi, I'm Beans, one of the Boston Beans" or something like that).

I remember when there were a lot more cartoon shows, I recall seeing cartoons with Little Lulu, ans such.


Jack:D

[Argus Sventon]

I checked the network's site, and it appears to be out of service. You keep posting.

[Nelson]

Hey Geezil,

I live in queens and I have ditigal cable...What channel is this network on? and would I be able to get it on my cable system, which is Time Warner?

[Geezil]

Originally posted by Argus Sventon
I checked the network's site, and it appears to be out of service. You keep posting.

That'd probably be a temporary by-product of the post-Home Shopping Network retooling. And now that I've looked into this further still, it seems they have yet to secure a regular program listing in the NYC daily newspapers. Wait 'til they really build up that head of steam ... !

And you'd better believe I'll keep posting!! In this age of conglomerates eating conglomerates, it's the only thing to do.

[Geezil]

Originally posted by Nelson
Hey Geezil,

I live in queens and I have ditigal cable...What channel is this network on? and would I be able to get it on my cable system, which is Time Warner?

Well, hey, Nelson! It seems we're neighbors, then, and both on B/Q TWC, where WHSE is on channel 68. Enjoy!!

[Nelson]

Channel 68? I'll check it as soon as I get home tonight...Thanks Geezil.:)

[Glenn]

Would this happen to be on Satellite?

Glenn

[Geezil]

Originally posted by Glenn
Would this happen to be on Satellite?

Glenn

Well, so far tonight I've checked four or five possible sources via the HotBot search engine and come up empty. My apologies. But maybe one of our satellite-savvy friends has a more satisfying answer for the sharing, eh? (And if you do, you have my heartiest thanks in advance.)

[BobChief]

AIN (American Independent Network) currently is on GE-3, but requires MPEG-2 decompression which is not cheap; this from www.lyngsat.com and www.sat-address.com.

[J Lee]

Ahh, poor Channel 68, the station that's been trying for a quarter century to figure out its mission in life for the New York metropolitan area. Hopefully, they'll have better luck with this change than with their last 1,000 or so formats.


Back in the late 1970s when it first went on the air (as WWHT, I believe, though that may have been its later call letters when they tried a UHF subscription TV format), Ch. 68 had the full NTA Paramount/Fleischer package, though unfortunately, they chose to air the redrawn Betty Boop cartoons instead of the black & white ones. They were paired in the afternoons as part of a one-hour block of cartoon, with the old Linus the Lionharted Show making up the second half hour. But Ch. 68's biggest claim to fame was the "Uncle Floyd Show" which was supposed to be directed at kids but quickly attracted a cult adult audience.

[Bobby B]

Originally posted by J Lee
They were paired in the afternoons as part of a one-hour block of cartoon, with the old Linus the Lionharted Show making up the second half hour.


I thought Linus the Lionhearted got banned from the airwaves back in 1969...

[mmv3000]

hope this is a good sign and not a bad one...down here where I live, there's a station that just recently gave up it's regular programming and is showing nothing but old movies and tv shows that most people dont even remember. This is good, except for the fact that the only reason they're doing so is that they are about to change over to an all-Spanish format, and this is all they have in their vaults to use before that change takes place....

[Geezil]

Originally posted by mmv3000
hope this is a good sign and not a bad one...down here where I live, there's a station that just recently gave up it's regular programming and is showing nothing but old movies and tv shows that most people dont even remember. This is good, except for the fact that the only reason they're doing so is that they are about to change over to an all-Spanish format, and this is all they have in their vaults to use before that change takes place....

...bummer. Especially if you lose those "TV shows that most people don't even remember," which can be just as much pure gold as a Bosko or Flip the Frog toon newly unearthed.

But Out Here, I'm hopeful that we won't have a problem, since NYC already has two thriving Spanish TV channels, both also on cable. Damned if I can figure out why either one would now proceed to cannibalize its own audience...

[J Lee]

I thought Linus the Lionhearted got banned from the airwaves back in 1969...

Nope, the ban was on cartoon shows with characters plugging products within the show. When Ch. 68 showed the episodes there were no ads for Post cerials, so there wasn't a problem (of course, by 1978 only Sugar Bear among the Linus characters was still being used by Post, which also lessened the problem).