In 1958, the late Dorothy Hamill, Johnson City Press-Chronicle writer, interviewed the executives of Dale and Carroll Productions, a local animated cartoon production enterprise.
In September 1922, exciting news went out in the Johnson City Daily News that the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus was coming to Johnson City’s circus ground, the big rectangular lot located between E. Main and E. Market streets where the city municipal building is now located. Seventeen tents of various sizes were erected for the “amusement of the public and convenience of the employees.”
Tommy Church, a Johnson City resident, recalled when Homer Harris, a local cowboy star, performed at his school:
Between 1958 and 1961, listeners tuned to WETB AM-790 on their radio dials each weekday morning from 7 to 9 were treated to two young aspiring radio announcers, Joe Goodpasture and Merrill Moore.
Paul Gill sent me some material from his Weaver family genealogy that offered an insight into early Johnson City. His great grandfather, James David Weaver, was an influential builder in Johnson City. David, as he was known, was born on May 23, 1854 in Kingsport, Tennessee and later became an important businessman in Johnson City.
Lynn Williams, former WBEJ chief engineer, recently reminisced about local radio stations in the 1930s and 1940s, including his affiliation with the Elizabethton station.
My April 2007 article, concerning the J.J. Page Carnival that visited Johnson City each April between about 1930 and 1949, prompted a letter from a reader: “My name is Charles Howell. I now own the J.J. Page home place just off Watauga Ave. where Mr. and Mrs. Page lived when they operated the carnival in the 30s and 40s.”
Each April between about 1928 and 1949, an eagerly awaited event transpired in Johnson City; the J.J. Page Carnival had come to town. This popular mobile enterprise of exciting rides, exotic sideshows, tasty food and enticing games generated masses of people, as the show migrated to towns and communities throughout nine southern states.
Area youngsters who watched WJHL-TV in late 1953 should readily recall a handsome and immaculately dressed cowboy named Pecos Ben, the host of a 2-hour action-packed “shoot em up” western show each weekday at 4 pm.
A significant event occurred in Johnson City at 7 pm on October 26, 1953. On that day, home-based television arrived in Johnson City. Prior to that historic occasion, televiewers had to rely on sprawling antennas towering above their rooftops to capture faint image signals from distant stations such as WBTV in Charlotte.
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