What date in 1961 did the richard hittleman yoga television show first
go on the air in los angeles?

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Request for Question Clarification by websearcher-ga on 31 Mar 2005 05:58 PST

Hello dennisj2:

Thanks for the very interesting question. 

As of yet, I have not been able to find the exact date that Richard
Hittleman's "Yoga for Health" program aired in Los Angeles. I have
sent around queries to the major TV stations that were in existence at
that time. I am hoping to get responses soon.

In the meantime, here's some data I found about the show:

Richard Hittleman YogaTV Videos and DVDs 
URL: http://richardhittlemanyogatv.com/

Swamis, Hippies and Hollywood - An LA Yoga Retrospective
URL: http://www.layogamagazine.com/issue1/feature/feature.htm
Quote: "Richard Hittleman also had early success intermingling
Hollywood with Hatha yoga. His mission was to dispense "yoga insights
in terms and practices acceptable to Eisenhower-era Americans," writes
Richard Leviton in his 1993 article, Celebrating 100 Years of Yoga in
America. Hittleman did so through the development of the first yoga
television program, filmed and aired in Los Angeles in 1961. His
program emphasized the physical health benefits of yoga without
delving into spirituality. The show's success paved the way to further
explorations of televised instruction. It inspired Lilias Folan's
long-running PBS yoga series, and should be considered the grandfather
to today's yoga video."

I'll let you know as I find out more. 

Thank you. 

websearcher

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Request for Question Clarification by websearcher-ga on 04 Apr 2005 07:18 PDT

Hello dennisj2:

I have not heard back from any of the Los Angeles TV stations at this
time. Looks like they don't answer programming enquiries.

I've done some further searching, but have been unable to come up with
a definitive month/day in 1961 when "Yoga for Health" first appeared.

Maybe another researcher will have better luck. 

I will let you know if I get any responses - but I'm not holding my
breath at this point.

websearcher

Dennis,

Hittleman's show first appeared on TV in Los Angeles on July 2, 1961.


I searched a newspaper database for Hittleman's name and came up with
the following entry, which appeared on the TV listings page (J12) of
the Los Angeles Times for Monday, July 2, 1961:


9:30 am on channel 11:

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Yoga for Health (30 min.)
DEBUT -- Richard Hittleman hosts Monday-Friday show featuring Yoga exercises.
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In addition, the LA Times ran a series of articles on yoga in January
of 1961 in which Hittleman was prominently featured.


I trust this information fully answers your question.  But before
rating this answer, please let me know if there's anything else I can
do for you.  Just post a Request for Clarification, and I'm at your
service.


Cheers,

pafalafa-ga