This Was Television On December 1
1977: The precursor to Nickelodeon is born
An early interactive cable system called QUBE, based in Columbus, OH, launched a channel devoted to children’s programming called The Pinwheel Network. The interactive elements never caught on, but the channel, owned by Warner Communications, hung around long enough to be rebranded as Nickelodeon in 1979. Dedicated to shows aimed at kids of all ages—as well as at their parents, in the nostalgic Nick At Nite evening bloc—Nickelodeon became a mainstay in the expanding cable TV systems of the 1980s. -A.D.
Today’s Birthdays: Woody Allen, comedy scribe (77); Nestor Carbonell, immortal (45); Bob Goen, emcee (58); Emily Mortimer, news producer (41); Jeremy Northam, Catholic councilor (51); Paul Picerni, G-man (d. 2011); Richard Pryor, stand-up (d. 2005); Sarah Silverman, comic (42); Robert Symonds, character actor (d. 2007); Charlene Tilton, Ewing kin (54); Treat Williams, small town doc (61).
This Was Television 
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