Hello everyone. I am writing today about a television guide published before the TV Guide. It was called Television Forecast, then later called TV Forecast. According to the website epguides.com, it was started by Mr. Les Viahon and three of his WW II veteran friends. Each chipped in $250 and started publishing the magazine in the basement classroom of Abbot Hall on the Northwestern University Campus. They were so broke that they bound their first issue with staplers borrowed from the professors upstairs!

They obtained (from a TV dealer’s association or such) a mailing address list of everyone in the area who had purchased a TV set. For several months mailed the publication free, as a “programming service”. This lasted until August 8th, when they began charging $3.00 per year (Charter members $2.00 per year). Prices for copies sold at newsstands were 15c. The first issue of distribution was 16,000 issues. As more people bought TVs the circulation went upwards into the tens to hundreds of thousands, but nearly all the copies were tossed out, once the next week’s issue became available. A couple of competing mags were also launched at some point.

By late 1952 the circulation of TV Forecast was almost 200,000. There were 4 TV stations in Chicago: WBKB 4 CBS, WNBQ 5  NBC, WENR 7 ABC & WGN 9 DuMont. Walter Annenberg bought out TV Forecast (that by that time already had editions in Minneapolis and the Quad Cities) along with TV Guide ( a local New York City magazine, that also had editions for Washington DC / Baltimore and New England) and TV Digest a local Philadelphia magazine. In March  1953, the last issue of all these publications came out. In April 1953, the first issue of the national magazine TV Guide came out. It had a cover and articles in color and local listings in B&W. This would continue into the early part of the 21st century.

I have created a video showcasing all the covers of Television Forecast provided background music of classic TV themes shows and commercials. Here it is:

Vanished Chicagoland: Television/TV Forecast TV Program Guide Video

I hope you enjoy my new video. Thank you, everyone! Pete Kastanes, Admin for Vanished Chicagoland Facebook Page.

Here is a list of all the issues of Television Forecast / TV Forecast, with the cover feature listed: