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Lawrence Welk…Television’s First “Stereo” Sound Show

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Eyes Of A Generation.com

Lawrence Welk…Television’s First “Stereo” Sound Show

Twenty years before television was able to broadcast high quality stereo sound, ABC had broadcast ‘The Lawrence Welk Show’ in “stereo”…sort of.

The year was 1958. Now, due to the fact that stereophonic television had not yet been invented you would think this was impossible, but if you have your own radio and television networks…you can do it. I’m surprised NBC or CBS didn’t beat them to it.

Here’s the way it worked…ABC simulcast the show on its radio and TV network, with the TV side airing one mono channel, and the radio side airing the other; viewers would tune in both the TV and the radio to achieve the stereophonic effect. Each channel miked the instruments differently. At the link is a Billboard Magazine advertisement of the process.

https://books.google.com/books?id=-QoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA23&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false

The show debuted on ABC Television on July 2, 1955 and this photo is from a few weeks after the network debut. It was taken on the first night at the show’s new home at ABC Studios at Prospect and Talmadge in Hollywood.

Welk’s shows actually started in 1951 on KTLA and originated from the Aragon Ballroom at Venice Beach. In 1954, it moved to The Hollywood Palladium where the first few ABC shows were done. By 1957, the show was so popular, it overwhelmed the perennial star of Saturday nights, Sid Caesar. Enjoy and share!

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10 responses to “Lawrence Welk…Television’s First “Stereo” Sound Show”

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    […] Jul. 2 – The Lawrence Welk show premiered on television on July 2, 1955.* […]

  2. Mark Tipton

    Disney did the very same thing, with the abc local radio affiliate and the abc tv network. I believe this is a still from that broadcast, with Uncle Walt explains how it was going to work. Correct me if I’m dreaming.

  3. David Weiner

    I remember watching a PERRY COMO SHOW in 1959 in stereo where your radio had the left channel and the TV speaker the right.

  4. William Bermudez

    WTTW in Chicago did stereo television in the 70s with Soundstage. WXRT broadcast the stereo simulcast.

  5. Jeff Moulton

    NBC tried simicasting some shows on their radio network, in the same way in the late 50’s. I was going to say since broadcast TV is on a FM carrier stereo was possible. However, FM stereo on the radio really didn’t become feasible until the early 60’s.

  6. Gary Walters

    NBC did that with Perry Como for a hi-fi sound.

  7. Art Hackett

    KODA AM and FM in Houston did the same multi band split-

  8. Eyes Of A Generation.com

    This is the very first ‘Lawrence Welk Show’ to air on ABC, July 2, 1955. http://youtu.be/q8XGAtm1xXA?t=50s

  9. Wally Roper

    I love Jerry Burke! He was so non chalant!

  10. Dave Laing

    As a child I owned a “record player” in which you could play the AM band on the left speaker and the FM band on the right speaker. Some radio stations experimented with early stereo broadcasts by splitting the two channels between the two bands, similar to the Lawrence Welk show.

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