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Wrestling References on the
BT
Memories Website
BT Memories is a
wonderful website published and edited by Reno Bailey dedicated to
history and memories of WBT and WBTV in Charlotte. There are several
references to wrestling being taped at WBTV in the 1950s-1970s in
various locations on the site. Each of them revealed a little slice of
knowledge we would have never known otherwise. I thought I would collect
links to those references here, as they help paint a more complete
picture of wrestling in the TV studio, one of my favorite subjects. -
Dick Bourne
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The Mid-Atlantic
Wrestling Gateway
BT
Memories is published and edited by Reno Bailey
Other resources:
Studio
Wrestling
An in-depth look at Mid-Atlantic Wrestling being taped at various
television studios in the Carolinas, including WBTV-3 in Charlotte.
The Birth of
Televised Wrestling in Charlotte
A look at the origins of TV wrestling in Charlotte at WBTV.
Gene Birke
Director of "Championship Wrestling" for
many years.
Photo from
B.T. Memories.
TEN POUNDS OF GOLD
A Close Look at the NWA
World Championship Belt
by Dick Bourne and Dave
Millican
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TV
Wrasslin' by Gene Birke
Director Gene Birke talks about his experience directing wrestling on
WBTV, and the mixed reaction others at the station had about the highly
rated show. (The Gateway was honored to provide a few images for Reno Bailey
to be appended to the article.)
Big Bill Ward by Mike Cline
Mid-Atlantic Grapplin' Greats publisher Mike Cline (also a
occasional contributor to the Gateway) submitted this piece on
Mid-Atlantic Wrestling legendary announcer and personality Big Bill Ward
to BT Memories in January of 2006. It was also published on the
Mid-Atlantic Gateway as part of
a
larger feature on wrestling at WBTV, as well as other TV studios.
BT Flashbacks by Reno Bailey
Bailey talks about his stint as a weekend announcer on the breaks
between shows on WBTV where he would occasionally update fans on the
results of a wrestling match that ran long. (Look for the paragraph that
begins "In 1962 and '63, in order to augment my $80 per week income...")
BT Memories
Feedback
Several letters to the website reference wrestling at WBTV, including a
letter from John Hutchinson that illuminates some interesting details
about the production of wrestling at the channel 3 studios. Check out
all the wrestling references in sections dated March 11, 2008 (John
Hutchinson), December 7, 2005 (Mike Cline), and September 28, 2004 (Dick
Bourne).
Pictures Worth a Thousand Words
A beautiful Gene Gordon photograph of Big
Bill Ward and Jerry Brisco in Studio A at WBTV-3 in Charlotte,
accompanied by excerpts from an interview with Mark de Castrique, a
director of "Championship Wrestling" for a couple of years at WBTV.
Passing References:
Floor Crew-alty by Clint Pressley, worked camera on Championship
Wrestling
BT Flashbacks: Tom Camp
"Life would have been less without . . . Big Bill Ward and wrestling
taping . . .My life was enriched then and is enriched now with such
memories!"
BT Memories Video Center Look for the clip of Big Bill Ward
NEW!
Rear View: Tom Camp "...and working alongside Big Jim Crockett and
Paul Buck at the then new coliseum (both also geniuses at their work.)"
-- from a paragraph about the great promotional talents of Jim Cremins,
by Tom Camp. (Scroll through the various entries until you find the
entry by Tom Camp.)
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