Moline Memories

Wednesday, August 12, 2026

Saturday, March 27, 2010 David Coopman's Book Coming Soon: May 10, 2010,

Saturday, March 27, 2010

David Coopman's Book Coming Soon:
May 10, 2010

Dave Coopman is the media historian of the Quad-Cities.

Captain Ernie

To discuss his book - Davenport's WOC AM-FM-TV

Book Description:
Beginning in 1922, Davenport's WOC has charted an impressive list of broadcasting firsts: the first licensed commercial radio station west of the Mississippi River; first station to establish logging, the practice of recording program schedules down to the minute and second; the use of time signals at the beginning of programs; first to build and use audio mixing controls that allowed multiple microphone usage; first to broadcast from a state legislature; and first to broadcast programming meant specifically for children. WOC-TV was the first television station in Iowa on the air when it began regular programming in 1949. This volume of images presents an overview to the history, facilities, programming, and technology of the WOC stations and provides a glimpse at the stations today, as new ownership carries on an outstanding tradition in Quad City broadcasting.

ISBN: 9780738577807

# of Pages: 128
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
On Sale Date: 05/10/2010

Author Bio: David T. Coopman is a former employee of the WOC stations, a former teacher, past president of the Rock Island County Historical Society, and a local history buff. He has authored two books on the history of local broadcasting and Rock Island County in the Images of America series.

Coopman's WQUA book.

John Deere Junior High, Tomahawk Staff

Saturday, March 20, 2010

John Deere Junior High, Tomahawk Staff

Tuesday, August 11, 2026

Monday, January 25, 2010, Leave It To Beaver

Monday, January 25, 2010

Leave It To Beaver

Eddie Haskel, Beaver Cleaver, Wally Cleaver
Ken Osmond, Jerry Mathers, Tony Dow
1957 - 1963

This show has endured because of its classic situations, based on the experiences of the writers.

"Leave It To Beaver" brings back memories of Moline situations. Here is one:

Wally: "Beav. You didn't brush your teeth."
Beaver: "How did you know?"
Wally: "Your toothbrush is still dry."
Beaver: "OK. I will go back and get it wet."

The demonstration on how to make the tube dirty, to fake a bath, was another classic, and taken right out of the Jackson playbook. I wondered at the time, "Who told?"

Mathers is still collecting from the show.
He cut a deal to share in the merchandising.
Lumpy is his investment advisor!

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Must See TV in the 1950s

George Reeves was stopped by a bullet.

TV was pretty limited in the 1950s. We had to wait for the stations to go on the air Saturday morning, so we waited, watching the test pattern.

Black and white was the only choice for many years, and we had two TV stations to watch.

The kids had to watch these shows:

Superman

Howdy Doody

Lassie

Disney

The parents had to watch:

Lawrence Welk

Ed Sullivan

Milton Berle
Syd Caesar

The Milton Berle show made us kids uneasy. He was almost funny. Syd Caesar was funnier than we realized. If we complained about a show, the response was short and quick, "You kids are spoiled rotten."

We were the first generation to reach a zombie state in front of an electronic device. My parents spent a lot of time sending us outdoors, "to blow the stink off." They were worried about the effects of passive watching. We could go outside and play all over the neighborhood. We were not warned about adults, because all our neighbors were part of an informal neighborhood watch group that ratted us out for anything we did. Experience taught us that the least infraction would be reported before we got home. So we played outside until dark or came home when my mother's whistle sounded.

Moline was safe for kids, and we had plenty of things to do outside.

Ninth Graders at Coolidge

Monday, August 10, 2026

M's from the Picture Gallery

Medal of Honor, MHS 66

Come for the supper, leave for the cacophony.

Saturday, August 8, 2026

Adam Jones, WQUA Radio and very popular.

Adam Jones and Melo Cream

"Last month I heard from Greg Jackson. His father Homer was a friend of mine when Bob and I (and later, Dale) worked in Moline, Illinois. Homer was a swell guy, a real Cubs fan (win or lose), and the best donut maker in the history of the world, BC and AD. Forget about loose-meat sandwiches, the best thing about living in the Quad-Cities was Melo-Cream Donuts! Does anyone remember "Adam Jones Dilly Bread?" Homer did that for me. He even had bags printed with that on them. The bread was really good – yum! Not quite as good as the Jack Barlow Donut, but very few things are. They were covered in peanuts and if you ate them frozen they tasted like ice cream! Greg has a blog about Moline: http://molinememories.blogspot.com. It was nice to hear from him. (It must be spring; my taste buds are blooming.)"