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Welcome to Central Illinois' On-Line Broadcast Museum. This website documents in detail the history of each of the viewable TV stations, past and present, across mid-Illinois in text, photos, and videos, as well as each station's current status. This site also includes local radio history and automated analog formats, again told in pictures, videos, and text.
Note that this website displays best on a full-size monitor, desktop, or laptop computer. If you're watching on your mobile phone, the mobile phone view has been replaced by the desktop view throughout this site. You can zoom in on the page if needed. Also, you may have to sign in to YouTube to view some videos. Some browsers do not allow some embedded videos to play, so click on the "YouTube" logo on the video to view it from YouTube.

Me at my home studio in August of 2025.
Doug Quick
Radio/TV Broadcaster/Historian, Author, Webmaster
complete bio available here.
TV Time Capsule
The TV Time Capsule is taking the summer off. It will return in the Fall.
Featured Videos
It's that time of year when the TV networks kick off a new season with exciting shows and the return of our favorites. For some of us, it was sad, as a few of our favorites would be dropped from the schedule.
The Featured Videos below will be on this site through September 20. In alphabetical order, we begin with ABC.
For at least a couple of reasons, there are more of the ABC Season premiere shows and promos available on YouTube than on any other network. ABC led the other networks in bringing a more contemporary look and feel with its use of modern music, graphics, and an emotional appeal to attract an audience from the all-important 18-49 year old audience during the late 1960s and early 1970s. I include four ABC fall preview videos, including one written by Mel Brooks! You'll also hear the narration of William Schallert ("The Patty Duke Show" and as a guest star on many shows from the 1950s through the 1980s).
The CBS group only includes one premiere program, from 1961. CBS was the "old folks" network, and the use of some of the CBS stars who were with CBS from the late 1940s through the early 1960s, and appealed to the older demographics, is evident on that promo show. The other CBS Featured Videos are short promo collections of upcoming shows from seasons after 1970, during, and after the "rural purge" that took place in the early 1970s. The new CBS included "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," "Maude," "Good Times," "M*A*S*H," "Cannon," and others.
NBC also only offers one 30-minute preview special from a color kinescope, and it's probably one of the worst I've ever seen. It's a low-energy presentation, and it would appear to be a last-minute rush job, featuring two of the only available "stars" who happen to be anchors from "Today," Hugh Downs and Joe Garagiola. All of the other NBC videos, and there are many, are collections of fall premiere promos.
In the years of the promos above, we generally had only three networks, each offering three channels of new programming. The TV Fall seasons were something we all looked forward to. Now, not so much, as we have dozens of programming choices, and the networks don't invest in as many scripted shows as reality shows, and recycled game shows are much cheaper to broadcast. That's why I'm presenting these videos again, as many have been included on this site in previous years.
If you were around when these were first seen, you're lucky. You remember how thrilling it was!
Click on the image to watch the video directly from YouTube.




ABC Fall Preview 1963

ABC Fall Preview 1969
Click on the image to watch the video directly from YouTube.
ABC Fall Preview 1970
Click on the image to watch the video directly from YouTube.
ABC Fall Preview 1974
Click on the image to watch the video directly from YouTube.
Click on the image to watch the video directly from YouTube.
ABC Fall Preview 1979







Above are several other ABC promotional themes from seasons past.
(YouTube screen grab)










Above are several other CBS promotional themes from seasons past.
(YouTube screen grab)









Above are several other NBC promotional themes from seasons past.
(YouTube screen grab)
Classic Radio
Click on the image to watch the video directly from YouTube.
KXOK (1961) Aircheck
Go back in time, to February 3, 1961, and enjoy a complete recording taken from KXOK, 630AM, St. Louis. Listen for the very dated early '60s jingles, music, and commercials. Unfortunately, the name of the DJ is unknown. I've listened to him say his name every time, but it's so fast that it's not legible. I also don't see any name on the playlists or in the ads in my collection that sound close to what he says. I remember all of them at the time, and he doesn't sound familiar. If you know, drop me a message using the form below!
You'll hear lots of reverb and jingles for everything, including news and contests, which is typical of the "sound" associated with Storz Broadcasting. You'll listen to many of the mandatory elements established by the programmers of the Storz stations that took many of the stations to number one in their markets, including KXOK.
If you're curious about the history of Storz and KXOK, visit the YouTube video "The KXOK Radio Story" by Richard Ward Fatherley by clicking here.
I also recommend the book, "The Birth of Top 40 Radio, The Storz Stations' revolution of the 1950s and 1960s" by Richard Ward Fatherley and David T. MacFarland.
The Weather for
East Central Illinois
will appear here soon.
Click on the NWS logo above to get the Lincoln, IL site and/or
click on the links below the logo for the latest weather story and current radar view of Mid-Illinois.
Support the National Weather Service! Contact your Congressional Representatives
Latest Updates to the Museum
2025-0824- Many more pictures have been added to my bio page from my nearly 50 years of broadcasting. To visit the page, click here.
PLease SUBSCRIBE to my
YouTube Channel
Click on the picture above of my Facebook Channel Home Page and click on the Subscribe button like the one below.

Much of the information on the history of TV pages on this site comes directly from my 2016 book "Pictures on the Prairie: The First Ten Years of Mid-Illinois Television." There are many more pictures on this site than in the book as space was limited.
Latest TV
Headlines

2025-0909 The Weigel Broadcasting-owned digital multicast network MeTV is now on DISH satellite's channel lineup.
Users of DISH satellite service can access MeTV Network. It is only available, though, as a streaming channel (and possibly only on select packages). The good news is that it is available in high definition, which improves the look of many of the "filmed" programs in which the master 35mm films were digitally recorded and used in the playback of the shows. In fact, viewers now can watch many of the vintage shows on the schedule with better video quality than they were initially seen on network TV!
"We are always pushing to make MeTV as accessible to as many viewers as possible. We are happy to partner with Dish on this carriage and pleased that millions of Sling TV customers will now be able to watch MeTV's memorable entertainment programming," said Neal Sabin, vice-chairman for Weigel Broadcasting.
MeTV continues to be seen on subchannels of stations in each market in mid-Illinois. For most here in central and east central Illinois, it's available on WAND-TV's main channel and translators (Jacksonville, Effingham, and Danville) on subchannel 17.6 in standard definition.
Previously on Videos of the Week...
If you've missed any of the "Videos of the Week" or "Classic Radio" recordings, you'll find them here. Unfortunately, there's no written narrative to go along with each. You have to visit each week for that.
Johnny Staccato (1959) NBC Pilot Show
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show (1960) NBC
The Untouchables (1961) ABC "The Loophole"
The Untouchables (1994) Syndicated Pilot Part 1
The Untouchables (1994) Syndicated Pilot Part 2
Danny Kaye Show (1964) Hillbilly Sketch
The Ed Sullivan Show (1964) CBS The Beach Boys
Donna Reed Show (1965) ABC "The Tree"
Classic Radio
See It Now (1954) CBS Edward R. Murrow
See It Now (1954) CBS Reply to Sen Joseph McCarthy
McCarthy (2020) PBS "Have You No Decency?"
Ben Casey (1962) ABC "A Story to be Softly Told"
Fridays (1981) ABC Guest: Andy Kaufman
Fridays (1981) ABC segment with Andy Kaufman Apology
Fridays (1981) ABC Guest: Andy Kaufman with Kathie Sullivan
Classic Radio
Tube Trip (1971) KSHE (FM)/KDNL, TV-30
______________________________________
Sunday nights Nov 1959-Jan 1960
Sunday Showcase (1959) NBC Jimmy Durante
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show (1960) NBC
The Loretta Young Show (1960) NBC
______________________________________
Here Comes the Brides-Open (1968) ABC Co-Star Bobby Sherman
Bobby Sherman Special (1971) ABC
Bosom Buddies/Mama's Family Intros (1984) ABC/NBC
Classic Radio
Night Time America (1982) WDNL Danville, IL
TM Stereo Rock (1975) WHBF-FM Quad Cities
The Dating Game (1967) ABC Host: Jim Lange
Love American Style (1969) ABC Ted Bessell, John Beck
The Gong Show (1977) NBC Host: Chuck Barris
Vegas (1978) ABC Robert Urich
Classic Radio
WDNL(FM) (1991) Aircheck with Doug Quick
Saturday Morning TV (1978) NBC
WKRP in Cincinnati (1981) CBS "Daydreams"
Classic Radio
WLS AM/FM (1985) Fred Winston
I Dream of Jeannie (1965) NBC Pilot Show
Dusty's Trail (1973) Syndicated
Pryor's Place (1984) CBS Episode 1
T.J. Hooker (1985) ABC William Shatner
Classic Radio
WDNL(FM) (1981) Danville, IL
Classic Radio
KXOK (1961) Complete Air Check
Next Regular Update Saturday Evening Sept 20
Starting Saturday evening, September 20, get ready for an incredible collection of Featured Videos!
The group includes a 1962 TV special starring a popular radio/TV comedian with a guest star who is a University of Illinois alum.
Speaking of local mid-Illinois natives, watch a 1962 episode of a sitcom pilot that stars an actress from a central Illinois city and an actor from a western Mid-Illinois city! The director also has a brief connection with an eastern Mid-Illinois city!
The animated file features a complete group of 19 animated episodes, voiced by a collection of famous voice-over artists. Another animated series is one of my favorite episodes, set in the future (hint).
I include the pilot episode of one of my favorite "guilty pleasure" series of all time, with a co-star who was featured in a series that was cancelled by a Cleveland TV station 15 minutes into the premiere, which led to a network cancellation. Plus, the show's star was FROM the Cleveland area!
Discover how the program's objection spread among other network affiliates, leading the host network to cancel the series. At the time, three episodes were ready to air. Watch them all for the first time together!

Central Illinois On-Line Broadcast Museum and dougquick.com supports the work of the St. Louis Media History Foundation.
Visit their website at:
Click on the image to watch the video directly from YouTube.
KXOK (1966) Nick Charles
Here's another KXOK gem from July 29, 1966, with Nick Charles. Listen for Bob Shea and Bill Addison with the news, a KXOK Community Billboard, lots of great commercials from the era, along with a Chickenman promo.
The St. Louis Media History website has a profile of Nick Charles. He was with KXOK from 1962 through 1983. He originally was a singer and disc jockey in Memphis, Tennessee. When KXOK hired him, he brought with him experience with record companies and even live concerts. He was given credit for arranging for KXOK a connection with the Beatles and for the group's appearance in St. Louis at Busch Stadium in August of 1966.
He also hosted many live performances, called "Shidig" appearances in Belleville, Illinois.

Nick Charles was a mainstay at KXOK from 1962 through 1983.
(YouTube)