July 21, 2023 • 16 mins
Ready to journey through time, and revisit the golden age of cable television when Disney Channel reigned supreme? We promise you an intriguing exploration into the origins and evolution of this beloved entertainment staple in today's podcast episode. Buckle up as we take you back to 1977 the channel was first proposed and follow its journey to its launch in 1983. We'll be lifting the lid on how the channel grew to run round-the-clock and transformed from a premium channel to a go-to entertainment source in nearly every American home.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's hard to comprehend now, but not too long
ago we were engrossed in adifferent way of consuming media
.
Cable television.
It ruled the American livingroom From humble origins in the
spring of 1948 to an all-timehigh of users in the late 70s.
Cable TV was king.
(00:21):
Anyone who was savvy enough tosee the writing on the wall that
the cable TV platform was goingto be the new medium for home
entertainment would see amonumental success, not being
one to miss out on being on thefrontier of new ventures or
being afraid of the unknown.
It wouldn't be long until themouse would make his way into
people's homes via cable box.
But how did it get to thatpoint?
(00:43):
Or movie theaters and themeparks not enough, or was it more
than that?
Was this a new way to be ableto tell stories?
A new format, a new audience, anew horizon, and it was all
contained neatly in yourtelevision set.
Since the inception ofDisneyland, we have had a steady
(01:20):
stream of Disney on thetelevision, from the Disneyland
ABC special to the wonderfulworld of color and beyond.
The Disney name is synonymouswith entertainment and with
family.
Disney was a sure bet that youand the entire family could
enjoy with no worry.
So the leap from the silverscreen to the little black box
made sense.
Cable was on the rise in theUnited States.
(01:42):
So, naturally, making a move tocable was logical for Disney.
Before the launch of what wouldbecome the Disney Channel in
1983, the project would get somestatic.
In 1977, jim Jimmerow wouldbring up the idea of a Disney
cable channel, but since thedevelopment of Epcot was
underway, the idea was shelvedby Disney Chairman Card Walker.
(02:04):
Instead, disney signed a dealwith HBO to air a selection of
Disney movies and cartoons.
A few years later, in 1981,disney would again consider
entering the cable TV marketwith the Group W.
Group W had recently soldshares of Showtime to Viacom and
was now needing a media companyto partner with.
That, however, did not pan outas expected, as Group W couldn't
(02:26):
come to agreements with Disneyover operating costs and
creative control.
Not all was lost, though.
Seeing the exceeding speed ofcable TV popularity, disney took
matters into their own handsand, with Alan Wagner, the first
CEO of the Disney Channel,announced the arrival of the
family-oriented channel in 1983.
With the date in mind, the teamat Walt Disney Productions got
(02:49):
to work, purchasing twotransponders on the Hughes
Communication Satellite namedGalaxy One, an investment
costing over $11 million.
Disney Productions would alsospend an additional $20 million
on developing programmingexclusively for the Disney
Channel A grand total of $31million, which would be
$94,658,002 in one cent today.
(03:13):
Not only was this a heavyinvestment for Disney that had a
high probability in paying off,but there was also an empty
space left when HBO's ventureinto the family-frontly cable
channel had failed.
Two years after its initialbroadcast, hbo's failure had
created a vacuum that Disney hadthe plans and the means to fill
.
Beginning on April 18, 1983,leading up to the debut and the
(03:37):
launch of the channel, disneyhad a preview showing Mickey and
his pals in a TV studio, aswell as a space station-like
room that would launch thechannel from space down to all
the set-top boxes.
The preview featured a ton ofpopular celebrities and actors
relevant to Disney at the time,and they explained to the viewer
what the Disney Channel was,the type of programming you
would see eventually, and acountdown.
(03:58):
At the end of the countdown,mickey would flip a switch that
sent a signal from aMickey-shaped satellite and
began the first-ever DisneyChannel broadcast.
At 7 am Eastern Standard Time,disney had launched the largest
family-oriented premium cablechannel in history.
Coinciding with the launch ofthe channel, the first show that
was aired was Good MorningMickey, which was old Disney
(04:21):
cartoons.
In comparison to other premiumcable channels like HBO or
Showtime that were on 24 hours aday, the Disney Channel was
only on from 7 am to 11 pmEastern Standard Time, but that
didn't stop people from gettingthe channel.
By the fall of 1983, there weremore than 530,000 subscribers.
That winter over 600,000.
(04:43):
So for some of the listeners youmay not remember cable or how
big of a deal it was.
So odds are you won't remembera thing called the TV Guide.
A quick rundown is this TVGuide was a magazine that came
out weekly that would show allthe times that shows and movies
would come on.
So if you knew that the episodeof Cheers that you wanted to
see was coming on and it wasgoing to be on at 8, you could
(05:06):
set your VCR for 8 pm, set itand not worry about it.
And with that I've now agedmyself horribly.
But with a new groundbreakingchannel like Disney being in the
TV Guide, it was simply notenough.
No, no, no.
They released a monthly, thenlater by monthly publication
solely for the channel, theDisney Channel Magazine, which
(05:27):
would have showtimes, interviewsand promotions for upcoming
shows, movies and park news.
Eventually the magazine wouldend and a new magazine would
take its place behind the ears,which I don't believe is the
best name, but it ran from 1997to 2000.
In the fall of that year,disney would debut their first
made for TV movie, tiger Town,which also snagged Disney their
(05:50):
first cable ace award.
Disney wouldn't air its firstoriginal classic until January
of 1984, which was Alice inWonderland.
The following year, disneywould reach another milestone of
nearly 2 million subscribers.
Then, in 1986, the DisneyChannel would start airing 24
hours a day, as well as a brieflogo update.
(06:10):
Over the next few years, disneyChannel would be practically in
every American home, presentingwholesome family-friendly
entertainment as well asbringing home a multitude of
awards.
Beginning in September of 1990,montgomery, alabama's TCI
System was the first cableprovider that offered the Disney
Channel as a basic cablechannel.
A year later, in 1991, eightadditional providers would add
(06:33):
the Disney Channel as a basicchannel.
During, the entirety of DisneyChannel's run up to this point
had been ad-free, since it was apremium channel.
With this hybrid model of basicand premium, customers were
worried that the beloved channelwould be riddled with
commercials.
Disney was quick to reply tocustomers' worries with the
assurance that the plan was tooffer the channel as both
premium and basic to maximizemarket size.
(06:55):
Almost 17 years later to theoriginal launch day in 1997,
disney would substantiallyrebrand the Disney Channel,
beginning with the name Disneywould drop the THEE and the
channel would simply be DisneyChannel, but often referred to
simply as Disney.
The second change would come asa change to the logo, from the
(07:16):
Mickey ears in the front of thecenter of the logo with
intersecting bars, to anentirely new design by Lee Hunt.
The new design was now a Mickeyshaped TV set.
The logo would on occasionchange color, shape or theme
depending on the programming.
During this time in the late90s, disney would continue to
shift from a premium channel tobasic, in addition to shifting
(07:40):
from the family format to kidsand young adults.
That would come in in the formof removing some of the concerts
and including artists that weremore relevant to a younger
crowd.
Disney would also air and editsome more mature content from
shows like Boy Meets World.
Disney would debut a dedicatedblock for different demographics
as well Playhouse Disney foryounger kids, zooog Disney, a
(08:02):
block for pre-teens and teens,which would comprise of original
programming, and finally, vaultDisney, a Sunday night block
that would show older Disneycartoons, specials and the Walt
Disney anthology from ABC andNBC.
All these new segments werevery popular and to aid making
such a large impact were showslike Bear in the Big Blue House
(08:24):
and Lizzie McGuire.
Zooog Disney would eventuallyspread and take over the weekend
spots as well, until VaultDisney took over Sunday nights
with all the great programmingand making a full push to basic
cable.
Disney would amass more than 35million subscribers by the end
of the 90s.
(08:45):
Disney would make one last bigpush in 1999 that would force
cable carriers to either switchDisney to the basic package or
drop the channel entirely.
The last two holdouts were TimeWarner, cable and Comcast.
They both ended up coming toterms and carrying the channel
as a basic channel, rolling intothe 2000s with a ferocity.
(09:06):
Disney would debut two of theirbiggest hit shows the Proud
Family and Kim Possible.
However, true to Disney fashionand always changing, in 2002,
disney would begin to change yetagain.
Zooog Disney would be phasedout as well as Vault Disney,
replacing it with just repeatsof the day's aired shows.
This would mark the final blowof being strictly a family
(09:29):
channel and pushing itself intothe kid and teen demographic.
The next update that would comewould be the logo and that would
also debut on September 30th2002.
Using an outline of Mickey'shead slightly tilted towards the
right, with Disney Channel inthe middle.
In addition to this new logo,there was a new mnemonic jingle
(09:51):
that would accompany the logo onbumpers.
That jingle was written by AlexLasarenko.
Quick side note that jingle hasits own incredible story behind
it and I simply could not do it, just as trying to cover it.
Luckily, one of my favoriteYouTubers, defunctland, has
covered it and it is one of thebest documentaries I have ever
seen.
Please go check it out.
(10:12):
A year later, in June, disneywould begin to air the Wand
Bumpers where Disney Channelstars would introduce themselves
.
Say you're watching DisneyChannel, then draw the logo with
a wand.
By 2004, the only block thatwould remain from the 90s
introduction would be PlayhouseDisney until 2011, where it
would be made into its ownseparate channel and renamed
(10:34):
Disney Junior.
At this point, disney was ontop in maintaining a massive
lead in the children'sentertainment department.
For Disney, the only way was up.
During this era, they wouldbegin to introduce multiple
live-action series that would begeared towards the young teen
demographic.
This would launch the career ofMiley Cyrus, further launch
(10:57):
Raven Simone into stardom andintroduce several new talents
and a few deeply belovedmade-for-channel movies and
original series.
For the next several years,disney would begin to drop large
portions of their acquiredprograms in favor of original
material.
The found success of theteen-oriented sitcom.
Disney Channel began to airless and less animated content.
(11:18):
That was until 2007, when twobrothers with a pet platypus
looking for ways to spend theirsummer vacation debuted.
Phineas and Ferb would maketheir debut and be the first
animated original long-formseries to debut in HD until
Disney Channel would have asimulcast channel in full HD in
(11:39):
the spring of 2008.
In a few short years, in 2012,disney would overtake
Nickelodeon's 17-year spot asthe number one cable channel in
the United States.
After overtaking Nickelodeon,disney would debut would be one
of the most beloved series inthe channel's history.
I mean, it's great, it's rightup there with Phineas and Ferb.
Gravity Falls would debut in2012 and introduce us to the
(12:04):
wonderful weirdness of thePacific Northwest with siblings
Mabel and Dipper Pines and theirgreat-uncle Grunkle Stan.
From 2013 onward, disney beganto make a big push for animated
content that would debut on itsDisney XD sister channel.
What's Disney XD?
Well, he skipped just a littlebit of history there.
In 1998, disney Channel had asister channel called Tune
(12:28):
Disney, aimed at airing wellcartoons.
That would get redeveloped intoJetix, with the idea being the
same cartoons just aimed at aslightly older demographic.
That turned out to be a hit,and the demographic would not
change.
After that, however, the namewould.
Jetix would become Disney XD,and remains that way until today
(12:51):
.
So Disney XD would pump outsome of the best animated shows
Disney had developed in recentyears.
2013 would also mark the startof the Mickey Mouse shorts that
we've grown oh so fond of andwatch on the resort TV at the
theme parks.
If you've done it, you knowwhat I'm talking about.
There would be two more logochanges in 2014 and 2017 until
(13:12):
the current logo, which is theDisney logo with Channel under
it and the dot in the eye inDisney is a Mickey head.
At this point, how do you stopa Titan?
Could another channel comearound and dethrone the mouse?
Well, the answer to that is no.
The only way Disney could loseviewership would be if Disney
decided to lower its viewership,and that's exactly what
(13:36):
happened when Disney debuted.
Disney Plus Viewership dropped33%, resulting in Disney having
to shut down the channel.
In some countries.
Disney Channel is still goingstrong, though, still debuting
some great cartoons andintroducing new generations to
the wonderful programming thathas been making for the last 40
years.
A few logo changes, dropping aword from its name, small
(13:59):
changes overall, but still thewonderful Disney Channel is here
to stay you.
It's hard to comprehend now, but not too long
ago we were engrossed in adifferent way of consuming media
.
Cable television.
It ruled the American livingroom From humble origins in the
spring of 1948 to an all-timehigh of users in the late 70s.
Cable TV was king.
(00:21):
Anyone who was savvy enough tosee the writing on the wall that
the cable TV platform was goingto be the new medium for home
entertainment would see amonumental success, not being
one to miss out on being on thefrontier of new ventures or
being afraid of the unknown.
It wouldn't be long until themouse would make his way into
people's homes via cable box.
But how did it get to thatpoint?
(00:43):
Or movie theaters and themeparks not enough, or was it more
than that?
Was this a new way to be ableto tell stories?
A new format, a new audience, anew horizon, and it was all
contained neatly in yourtelevision set.
Since the inception ofDisneyland, we have had a steady
(01:20):
stream of Disney on thetelevision, from the Disneyland
ABC special to the wonderfulworld of color and beyond.
The Disney name is synonymouswith entertainment and with
family.
Disney was a sure bet that youand the entire family could
enjoy with no worry.
So the leap from the silverscreen to the little black box
made sense.
Cable was on the rise in theUnited States.
(01:42):
So, naturally, making a move tocable was logical for Disney.
Before the launch of what wouldbecome the Disney Channel in
1983, the project would get somestatic.
In 1977, jim Jimmerow wouldbring up the idea of a Disney
cable channel, but since thedevelopment of Epcot was
underway, the idea was shelvedby Disney Chairman Card Walker.
(02:04):
Instead, disney signed a dealwith HBO to air a selection of
Disney movies and cartoons.
A few years later, in 1981,disney would again consider
entering the cable TV marketwith the Group W.
Group W had recently soldshares of Showtime to Viacom and
was now needing a media companyto partner with.
That, however, did not pan outas expected, as Group W couldn't
(02:26):
come to agreements with Disneyover operating costs and
creative control.
Not all was lost, though.
Seeing the exceeding speed ofcable TV popularity, disney took
matters into their own handsand, with Alan Wagner, the first
CEO of the Disney Channel,announced the arrival of the
family-oriented channel in 1983.
With the date in mind, the teamat Walt Disney Productions got
(02:49):
to work, purchasing twotransponders on the Hughes
Communication Satellite namedGalaxy One, an investment
costing over $11 million.
Disney Productions would alsospend an additional $20 million
on developing programmingexclusively for the Disney
Channel A grand total of $31million, which would be
$94,658,002 in one cent today.
(03:13):
Not only was this a heavyinvestment for Disney that had a
high probability in paying off,but there was also an empty
space left when HBO's ventureinto the family-frontly cable
channel had failed.
Two years after its initialbroadcast, hbo's failure had
created a vacuum that Disney hadthe plans and the means to fill
.
Beginning on April 18, 1983,leading up to the debut and the
(03:37):
launch of the channel, disneyhad a preview showing Mickey and
his pals in a TV studio, aswell as a space station-like
room that would launch thechannel from space down to all
the set-top boxes.
The preview featured a ton ofpopular celebrities and actors
relevant to Disney at the time,and they explained to the viewer
what the Disney Channel was,the type of programming you
would see eventually, and acountdown.
(03:58):
At the end of the countdown,mickey would flip a switch that
sent a signal from aMickey-shaped satellite and
began the first-ever DisneyChannel broadcast.
At 7 am Eastern Standard Time,disney had launched the largest
family-oriented premium cablechannel in history.
Coinciding with the launch ofthe channel, the first show that
was aired was Good MorningMickey, which was old Disney
(04:21):
cartoons.
In comparison to other premiumcable channels like HBO or
Showtime that were on 24 hours aday, the Disney Channel was
only on from 7 am to 11 pmEastern Standard Time, but that
didn't stop people from gettingthe channel.
By the fall of 1983, there weremore than 530,000 subscribers.
That winter over 600,000.
(04:43):
So for some of the listeners youmay not remember cable or how
big of a deal it was.
So odds are you won't remembera thing called the TV Guide.
A quick rundown is this TVGuide was a magazine that came
out weekly that would show allthe times that shows and movies
would come on.
So if you knew that the episodeof Cheers that you wanted to
see was coming on and it wasgoing to be on at 8, you could
(05:06):
set your VCR for 8 pm, set itand not worry about it.
And with that I've now agedmyself horribly.
But with a new groundbreakingchannel like Disney being in the
TV Guide, it was simply notenough.
No, no, no.
They released a monthly, thenlater by monthly publication
solely for the channel, theDisney Channel Magazine, which
(05:27):
would have showtimes, interviewsand promotions for upcoming
shows, movies and park news.
Eventually the magazine wouldend and a new magazine would
take its place behind the ears,which I don't believe is the
best name, but it ran from 1997to 2000.
In the fall of that year,disney would debut their first
made for TV movie, tiger Town,which also snagged Disney their
(05:50):
first cable ace award.
Disney wouldn't air its firstoriginal classic until January
of 1984, which was Alice inWonderland.
The following year, disneywould reach another milestone of
nearly 2 million subscribers.
Then, in 1986, the DisneyChannel would start airing 24
hours a day, as well as a brieflogo update.
(06:10):
Over the next few years, disneyChannel would be practically in
every American home, presentingwholesome family-friendly
entertainment as well asbringing home a multitude of
awards.
Beginning in September of 1990,montgomery, alabama's TCI
System was the first cableprovider that offered the Disney
Channel as a basic cablechannel.
A year later, in 1991, eightadditional providers would add
(06:33):
the Disney Channel as a basicchannel.
During, the entirety of DisneyChannel's run up to this point
had been ad-free, since it was apremium channel.
With this hybrid model of basicand premium, customers were
worried that the beloved channelwould be riddled with
commercials.
Disney was quick to reply tocustomers' worries with the
assurance that the plan was tooffer the channel as both
premium and basic to maximizemarket size.
(06:55):
Almost 17 years later to theoriginal launch day in 1997,
disney would substantiallyrebrand the Disney Channel,
beginning with the name Disneywould drop the THEE and the
channel would simply be DisneyChannel, but often referred to
simply as Disney.
The second change would come asa change to the logo, from the
(07:16):
Mickey ears in the front of thecenter of the logo with
intersecting bars, to anentirely new design by Lee Hunt.
The new design was now a Mickeyshaped TV set.
The logo would on occasionchange color, shape or theme
depending on the programming.
During this time in the late90s, disney would continue to
shift from a premium channel tobasic, in addition to shifting
(07:40):
from the family format to kidsand young adults.
That would come in in the formof removing some of the concerts
and including artists that weremore relevant to a younger
crowd.
Disney would also air and editsome more mature content from
shows like Boy Meets World.
Disney would debut a dedicatedblock for different demographics
as well Playhouse Disney foryounger kids, zooog Disney, a
(08:02):
block for pre-teens and teens,which would comprise of original
programming, and finally, vaultDisney, a Sunday night block
that would show older Disneycartoons, specials and the Walt
Disney anthology from ABC andNBC.
All these new segments werevery popular and to aid making
such a large impact were showslike Bear in the Big Blue House
(08:24):
and Lizzie McGuire.
Zooog Disney would eventuallyspread and take over the weekend
spots as well, until VaultDisney took over Sunday nights
with all the great programmingand making a full push to basic
cable.
Disney would amass more than 35million subscribers by the end
of the 90s.
(08:45):
Disney would make one last bigpush in 1999 that would force
cable carriers to either switchDisney to the basic package or
drop the channel entirely.
The last two holdouts were TimeWarner, cable and Comcast.
They both ended up coming toterms and carrying the channel
as a basic channel, rolling intothe 2000s with a ferocity.
(09:06):
Disney would debut two of theirbiggest hit shows the Proud
Family and Kim Possible.
However, true to Disney fashionand always changing, in 2002,
disney would begin to change yetagain.
Zooog Disney would be phasedout as well as Vault Disney,
replacing it with just repeatsof the day's aired shows.
This would mark the final blowof being strictly a family
(09:29):
channel and pushing itself intothe kid and teen demographic.
The next update that would comewould be the logo and that would
also debut on September 30th2002.
Using an outline of Mickey'shead slightly tilted towards the
right, with Disney Channel inthe middle.
In addition to this new logo,there was a new mnemonic jingle
(09:51):
that would accompany the logo onbumpers.
That jingle was written by AlexLasarenko.
Quick side note that jingle hasits own incredible story behind
it and I simply could not do it, just as trying to cover it.
Luckily, one of my favoriteYouTubers, defunctland, has
covered it and it is one of thebest documentaries I have ever
seen.
Please go check it out.
(10:12):
A year later, in June, disneywould begin to air the Wand
Bumpers where Disney Channelstars would introduce themselves
.
Say you're watching DisneyChannel, then draw the logo with
a wand.
By 2004, the only block thatwould remain from the 90s
introduction would be PlayhouseDisney until 2011, where it
would be made into its ownseparate channel and renamed
(10:34):
Disney Junior.
At this point, disney was ontop in maintaining a massive
lead in the children'sentertainment department.
For Disney, the only way was up.
During this era, they wouldbegin to introduce multiple
live-action series that would begeared towards the young teen
demographic.
This would launch the career ofMiley Cyrus, further launch
(10:57):
Raven Simone into stardom andintroduce several new talents
and a few deeply belovedmade-for-channel movies and
original series.
For the next several years,disney would begin to drop large
portions of their acquiredprograms in favor of original
material.
The found success of theteen-oriented sitcom.
Disney Channel began to airless and less animated content.
(11:18):
That was until 2007, when twobrothers with a pet platypus
looking for ways to spend theirsummer vacation debuted.
Phineas and Ferb would maketheir debut and be the first
animated original long-formseries to debut in HD until
Disney Channel would have asimulcast channel in full HD in
(11:39):
the spring of 2008.
In a few short years, in 2012,disney would overtake
Nickelodeon's 17-year spot asthe number one cable channel in
the United States.
After overtaking Nickelodeon,disney would debut would be one
of the most beloved series inthe channel's history.
I mean, it's great, it's rightup there with Phineas and Ferb.
Gravity Falls would debut in2012 and introduce us to the
(12:04):
wonderful weirdness of thePacific Northwest with siblings
Mabel and Dipper Pines and theirgreat-uncle Grunkle Stan.
From 2013 onward, disney beganto make a big push for animated
content that would debut on itsDisney XD sister channel.
What's Disney XD?
Well, he skipped just a littlebit of history there.
In 1998, disney Channel had asister channel called Tune
(12:28):
Disney, aimed at airing wellcartoons.
That would get redeveloped intoJetix, with the idea being the
same cartoons just aimed at aslightly older demographic.
That turned out to be a hit,and the demographic would not
change.
After that, however, the namewould.
Jetix would become Disney XD,and remains that way until today
(12:51):
.
So Disney XD would pump outsome of the best animated shows
Disney had developed in recentyears.
2013 would also mark the startof the Mickey Mouse shorts that
we've grown oh so fond of andwatch on the resort TV at the
theme parks.
If you've done it, you knowwhat I'm talking about.
There would be two more logochanges in 2014 and 2017 until
(13:12):
the current logo, which is theDisney logo with Channel under
it and the dot in the eye inDisney is a Mickey head.
At this point, how do you stopa Titan?
Could another channel comearound and dethrone the mouse?
Well, the answer to that is no.
The only way Disney could loseviewership would be if Disney
decided to lower its viewership,and that's exactly what
(13:36):
happened when Disney debuted.
Disney Plus Viewership dropped33%, resulting in Disney having
to shut down the channel.
In some countries.
Disney Channel is still goingstrong, though, still debuting
some great cartoons andintroducing new generations to
the wonderful programming thathas been making for the last 40
years.
A few logo changes, dropping aword from its name, small
(13:59):
changes overall, but still thewonderful Disney Channel is here
to stay you.
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