WTVP grows up, becomes colorful, expands
and gets a new name
under a new owner
On December 23, 1965 Frederick Gregg Jr., President of
LIN
Broadcasting, announced the future expansion of WTVP. The
announcement
also came with the announcement of the ownership change of WTVP to the
Nashville, Tennessee based company on December 15, 1965. The
purchase
price was listed as $2-million.
The $800,000 expansion plans would involve a power increase of almost
“five fold” and a doubling of the height of it’s tower. The plans
also
included the conversion to a color TV studio and color broadcasting
which would begin during 1966. The W-70-AF translator wasn’t
included
in the briefing, but according to the Urbana Courier, “others familiar
with the station’s capabilities feel it can be eliminated.”
In late 1965, WTVP was stated as having a Grade B signal over 45% of
Champaign-Urbana. With the tower/antenna and transmitter upgrade,
it
was felt that WTVP would have a Grade A signal over the Twin Cities.
In February 1966 a press release read that
all TV owners should be able
to receive ABC programming from WTVP by May of that year. The
final
engineering plans were completed and submitted to the FCC for
approval. WTVP Station Manager Len
Carl stated that the station
upgrade would include a new 1-million watt transmitter to be located
near Argenta, Illinois. Some communities, which would now be
included
in the coverage area, were to be Melvin, Loda and Rankin to the north,
Ashland to the west, Danville to the east and Mattoon to the
south. It
was also revealed on February 10th that WTVP would become WAND on the
following Monday.
The plans began for building of a tower and transmitter that would
eventually be destroyed by an ice storm. That weather-related
event
would ultimately bring down the 1,135-foot structure during the late
70's...more on that later.
In the meantime, the Macon County Zoning Board approved the
construction of the tower and transmitter building on a one-acre tract
of land located 2 miles northeast of Oreana, Illinois before the final
FCC approval was granted.
WAND
Broadcast Schedule
from May 30, 1966, Monday
6:30 AM Farm Show-Bob Schneider 7:30 AM Kartoon
Kampus-children 8:30 AM Romper
Room-children 9:00 AM Movie-to
be announced 10:30 AM Dating
Game-ABC 11:00 AM Donna
Reed-ABC 11:30 AM Father
Knows Best-ABC 12:00 PM Ben
Casey-ABC 1:00 PM Confidential
for Women-ABC serial 1:30 PM A
Time for Us-ABC serial 2:00
PM General Hospital-ABC serial 2:30 PM Nurses-ABC
serial 3:00 PM Never
Too Young-ABC serial 3:30 PM Catain
Scotty-WAND originated children's participation/cartoon show
4:00 PM Davey's Locker-WAND
originated children's particpation/cartoon show 4:30 PM Where
the Action Is-ABC Music variety show 5:00 PM Soupy
Sales-syndicated children's comedy show 5:30 PM Leave
It to Beaver-syndicated off network sit-com 6:00 PM News-Peter
Jennings 6:15 PM
News, weather, sports
6:30
PM Twelve O'Clock High-ABC WWII drama(see Part 1) 7:30 PM
Legend of Jesse James-ABC western 8:00 PM Shenandoah-ABC
western 8:30 PM
Peyton Place-ABC serial 9:00 PM
Avengers-ABC adventure 10:00 PM
News, Weather, Sports-WAND originated 10:30 PM
Nightwatch-WAND originated movie
"Five Gates to Hell" (1959) Meville Brand (1:50)
Before the new transmitter and tower were installed, WAND went on line
on July 1st, 1966 with a new film chain with color capabilities, and
color VTR’s. It seems that WTVP had capabilities to broadcast the
network in color as early as 1965. Live studio color broadcasting
was still being planned for October of 1966, several months in the
future.
In August of 1966 construction was begun on the new tower for
WAND. Weather delays continued to plague the construction
schedule for the new high-powered facility. By August 16th, the
tower concrete forms began to be placed and readied for the foundation
of the tower. The construction of the new concrete block style
transmitter building was underway as well. Stainless, Inc. was
the manufacturer and assembly contractor for the tower (being the same
company, which built the WILL-TV/FM tower just a few miles to the
northeast of the WAND tower).
.
WAND sponsored "The Houswife Club" in which viewers could win prizes
and such. You had to send in an entry, like the one pictured from
newspaper ads published at the time. They also asked for
reception reports with the actual entry, although it wasn't included in
this representation. Also, note the logo for LIN Broadcasting,
the new owner of Channel 17, now called "Magic WAND." The Feb 20,
1966 newspaper ad in the Urbana Courier is below....
Further information on the subject of the antenna comes
from the WJJY-TV
web site. The
WAND antenna along with the antenna of the ill-fated Jacksonville,
Illinois station were manufactured by RCA. The WJJY-TV antenna
was slightly larger because of a higher power level but wasn’t used
until August of 1969. According to the site listed above “to gain
such incredibly high power levels, WJJY-TV utilized an experimental
antenna manufactured by RCA and only three were ever constructed.
Because the station operated on channel 14, the lowest possible UHF
frequency, the physical dimensions of the radiator elements were very
large making the antenna the most massive ever constructed for the
commercial UHF market.” “WAND-TV in Decatur, Illinois purchased
the second smaller unit. The third antenna remained unsold and
stayed on the ground at the RCA test facility in Camden, New
Jersey. No one trusted such a large, heavy antenna. Those
fears would later be realized.”
“The complete antenna (for WJJY-TV) was so massive that it had to be
manufactured and shipped in three separate sections on three separate
trucks. Each part was lifted to the top of the tower individually
and stacked by the tower riggers. The average antenna weight for
a UHF antenna at that time was between two and nine tons. The RCA
“Vee-Zee” panel antenna weighed in at 26-tons, not counting the
transmission line, radome covers and mounting plates.” The story
of the antenna for WJJY would come to an end the same weekend as the
story of the new antenna for WAND. The story of the tower failure
on the day before Easter 1978 is coming later on this site.
Here's
another of the ABC shows that was originally produced in black and
white, then was shifted to color when the ABC TV Network went to a
nearly full color schedule. "The
Big Valley" ran from 1965 to 1969
and starred Barbara Stanwyck, Richard Long(later of "Nanny and the
Professor"), Peter Breck, Lee Majors(later of "The Six Million Dollar
Man"), and Linda Evans(later of "Dynasty")
The
ABC Color Logo of 1965 as broadcast on WAND. WAND was able to
pass the ABC Color signal to their transmitter perhaps two years before
any
locally origination of color was possible.
"The FBI" premiered on ABC and WTVP
on September 19, 1965 where it
remained until 1974. It was sponsored by the Ford Motor Company
which held prominent product placement of Ford cars throughout,
including the Mustang or Thunderbird driven by the star of the series,
Efrem Zimbalist Jr.. The show also starred Philip Abbott, Lynn
Loring, Stephen Brooks and William Reynolds. The show was
endoresed by J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI Director. "The F.B.I." was
a Quinn Martin Production.
"Peyton Plac"e continued from it's
1964 premiere on ABC where it ran until
1969. It was now produced in color. Ryan O'Neil continued
to star as Rodney Harrington for the series entire run.
Sure,
it was cheaper to produce a series in black and white, but even some
pioneer TV producers saw the value in filming in color for future
syndication . Quinn Martin, wasn't one of them. He produced
"The Fugitive" originally
in black and white, but by the 1966 season,
it was finally in color. The show ended it's run on August 29th,
1967
to the largest TV audience of any TV series ever, with a 72 share of
all TV's in use! "The Fugitive" also ran on weekday afternoons on
ABC from 1967 to 1968 where it aired on WTVP/WAND.
ABC Shows from the
years of 1965 to 1969 include: Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea,
The F.B.I., ABC Sunday Night Movie, Twelve O'Clock High, Legend of
Jesse James, Man Called Shenandowh, Farmer's Daughter, Ben Casey,
Combat, McHale's Navy, F-Troop, Peyton Place, The Fugitive, Adventrues
of Ozzie and Harriett, Patty Duke Show, Gidget, Big Valley, Amos
Burke-Secret Agent, Shindig, Donna Reed Show, O.K. Crackerby,
Bewitched, The Long Hot Summer, The Flintstones, Tammy, Addams Family,
Honey West, Jimmy Dean Show, King Family, Lawrence Welk, Hollywood
Palace, Iron Horse, Rat Patrol, Felony Squad, The Rounders, Pruits of
South Hampton, Love on a Rooftop, Batman, The Monroes, Man Who Never
Was, ABC Stage 67, Tammy Grimes Show, That Girl, Hawk, Green Hornet,
Time Tunnel, Milton Berle, Shane, Cowboy in Africa, Garrison's
Gorillas, The Invaders, N.Y.P.D., Legend of Custer, Second 100 Years,
ABC Wednesday Night Movie, Flying Nun, Good Company, Off To See The
Wizard, Hondo, Guns of Will Sonnett, Judd for the Defense, Dating Game,
Newlywed Game, Land of the Giants, TheAvengers, The Outcasts, Mod
Squad, It Takes a Thief, That's Life, Here Comes the Brides, Ugliest
Girl in Town, Journey to the Unknown, Operation: Entertainment, Felony
Squad, DonRickles Show, Music Scene, The New People, Harold Robbins'
The Survivors, Love American Style, Marcus Welby M.D., Courtship of
Eddies Father, Room 222, Ghost and Mrs. Muir, This is Tom Jones, Let's
Make a Deal, Brady Bunch, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Jimmy Durante
Presents: The Lennon Sisters.
"Gidget" starred
Sally Field in her first TV effort...little did she know that 40 years
later she'd return to the ABC prime time lineup. "Gidget" was
based on the movie series of the same name and lasted through the
1965-1966 seasons. Along with an incredibly cute Sally Field the
show starred Don Porter as her dad, Professor Russel Lawrence, a
widower. Sally was only 18 when the show began production.
The show would return in the 1980's in which the character would be
played by Caryn Richman, and William Schallert(of the "Patty Duke
Show"). The sequel was a syndicated series which ran from
1986-1988.
In
1966, WAND was passing most of the ABC schedeule of programs, and the
following syndicated shows Soupy
Sales Show, Tennessee Tuxedo and his Friends, Cameo Theater, Death
Valley Days, Sergeant Preston of the Yukon, Tales of Wells Fargo, The
New Breed, Detectives, Zoro, Court Marshall and Hopalong Cassidy.
ABC offered the following
children's shows either on Saturday or Sunday mornings: Porky Pig(c), Beatles(c), Casper(c),
Magilla Gorilla(c), Bugs Bunny(c), Milton the Monster(c), Hoppity
Hooper(c), American Bandstand, Beany and Cecil(c), Peter
Potamus(c) and Bullwinkle(c).
All programs with a (c) were broadcast in color on WAND.
Also on weekends, the network offered ABC's
Wide World of Sports on Saturday afternoons at 4PM....in black
and white.
"Father Knows Best" was part of the
ABC daytime schedule from 1962 to 1967 in reruns. In 1966, as
seen in the schedule above it aired at 11:30am
Also
a a part of the daytime schedule, "Ben
Casey" was seen in reruns at Noon from 1965 to 1967.
"The Donna Reed Show" was rerun as
part of the ABC daytime schedule from 1964 to 1968.
Nick Adams starred as "The Rebel" the off network show in
syndication on shown weekends on WAND in the late 60's.
"American Bandstand" with Dick Clark
and announcer Charlie O'Donnell continued as a Saturday mid day feature
where it would remain through the early 80's.
"Gilligan's Island" the CBS off
network series was a part of the weekday afternoon schedule of WAND in
1968. The black and while episodes were shown along with the
color episodes.
"I Love Lucy" was scheduled to air
opposite WCIA's local news at 6PM, as the WAND local news ran at 5:30PM
for a time in the late 1960's.
ABC couldn't get the real thing, so they got the cartoon characters for
the Saturday morning lineup. These rather cheesy imitations of
the "Beatles" had other actors do the voices, with stupid situations
and music video like sequences featuring the real Beatles songs from
the 1964 to 65 era. King Features Syndicate produced the series,
that later produced the "Yellow Submarine" movie a couple of years
later.
"The
Time Tunnel" was another one of my
personal favorites. This series was another of the sci-fi series
of the late 1960's....and another one from Irwin Allen's Production
unit. "The Time Tunnel" starred James Darren(later of "TJ
Hooker") as Dr. Tony Newman and Robert Colbert(later of "The Young and
the Restless") as Dr. Doug Phillips, scientists who were forced to
enter the Time Tunnel, a top secret US government project which was
about to lose funding. They became time travelers to prove to a
visiting senator that the project was worth keeping.
Unfortunatley, they couldn't return and was forced to bounce around in
time aided somewhat by the other scientists who were at the
controls. This series featured huge sets, or at least it appeared
so due to the imagination of Irwin Allen. It also appeared some
of the same props were used in "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea."
One of my favorite episodes was one in which our heros traveled back to
Pearl Harbor and James Darren's character ran into himself as a young
boy.
"The Time Tunnel" aired on ABC from September 1966 through September of
1967. Since the series was a serial of sorts....each episode was
connected to the next as they traveled from one time setting to
another... you would expect that the series would have an ending.
Wrong....the series didn't end...they didn't find their way back to the
1970's, the original setting of the series.
This was probably the most popular, most imitated and most paradied
show of the era. "Batman"
premiered on January 12, 1966 on ABC
and WAND and took the viewers by storm. It's campy style
attracted audience members of all ages. It aired on two parts
airing on ABC on Wednesday and Thursday nights at 6:30PM CT. On
Wednesday, the show ended with some kind of cliff hanging impossible
situation for our heroes....and the announcer would recap the situation
and tell us to watch tomorrow night...."same Bat time, same Bat
channel..." Adam West and Burt Ward as Bruce Wayne/Batman and
Dick Grayson/Robin were joined by Alan Napier as Alfred, the butler,
Madge Blake as Aunt Harriet, Neil Hamilton as Police CommissionerGordon
and Stafford Repp as Chief O'Hara. Later in the shows run they
were joined by the Commissioner's daughter Barbara Gordon/Batgirl
played by Yvonne Craig(who was from my hometown of Taylorville,
Illinois!) The show's villians ended up being a "who's who" of
actors/actresses who often time asked to be featured as part of the
show. By March 14th, 1968, the show would air it's final
episode. It seems the public just tired of the formula.
"Batman" also brought about a theatrical movie which starred most of
the original villians together against the "caped crusader." The
stars later furnished the voices of several animated spin-offs, most of
which ended up on the CBS Saturday morning schedule.
Click
on PLAY to hear actual audio taken from WAND and ABC. This
one is a network promo for "Batman." This was
recorded on Thursday January 12, 1967 from
WAND/ABC. You'll need Real Audio.
Click
on PLAY to hear actual audio taken from WAND and ABC. In
January of 1967, "The Pruitts of South Hampton" show which starred
Phyllis Diller went through a slight format change and a title change
to "The Phyllis Diller Show." This is an ABC network promo which
aired on the night show began it's new title, January 13,1967.
You'll need Real Audio.
Click
on PLAY to hear actual audio
taken from WAND and ABC for the ABC
"Second Season" of Janury 1967. The promo features a very modern
music background with a list of the new ABC shows which will premiere
for the second half of the TV season. You'll need Real Audio.
These
pieces of audio gold were recorded by me, after I received my first
reel to reel tape recorder for Christmas 1966. This Christmas
gift, probably set the path for my broadcast career. The moral to
the story: Be carefull what you get your kids for Christmas.....it may
just change their life! These and other sound clips which will
show up on the WCIA and WICS sites were recorded by a Montgomery Ward
5" reel to reel tape recorder with a michrophone held up in front of
the speaker of a 1950's vintage Philco VHF console which I had in my
room. It had a UHF slide rule tuner converter box sitting on
top. I only wish I had it today! It had great audio with a
large cone speaker, the set was really sensitive when it came to
bringing in distant signals from St. Louis.....and Champaign....and it
did so much better than my parents living room G.E. at the time.
Click
on PLAY to hear the ABC
Sounder
which the network used to begin various network promos and
announcements during the mid to late 1960's.
Click
on PLAY to hear a short ABC
billboard promo for "F-Troop" with Ken Berry
Click
on PLAY to hear a short ABC
billboard promo for "The FBI" with Efrem Zimbalist Jr..
Click
on PLAY to hear Jim Clayton,
News Director/Anchor do a station ID for WAND.
From
the studio which brought us "Batman", 20th Century Fox,....it was
another superhero of sorts...."The
Green Hornet." This series
premiered on September 9th, 1966(in color) where it ran until
1967. This was a great Friday night series, for the kids(and
adults alike), and starred Van Williams(from the Warner Brothers series
"Surfside Six"), Bruce Lee, Wende Wagner, Lloyd Gough and Walter
Brooke. The concept was created by George W.Trendle, the creator
of "The Lone Ranger." The character of Britt Reid/The Green
Hornet was the great grand nephew of The Lone Ranger and fought for
justice as well. This time Britt Reid was the publisher of the
Daily Sentinel and the owner of the newspaper's TV station. He
would often use the TV station by going on the air for some kind of
statment warning the public of a law breaker. By the way, the
Black Beauty(his car) was a 1966 Chrysler Imperial customized by Dean
Jeffries. The show also featured product placement for
Chrysler
"Bewitched" was
another of ABC's hit shows of the 60's. This one
was quite creative, with a concept which was totally original but one
which was to be copied over the next couple of seasons by at least one
of the other networks(NBC-I Dream of Jeannie). This one starred
Elizabeth Montgomery(daughter of movie actor George Montgomery)as
Samantha Stevens, Dick York, later Dick Sargent as husband
Darrin, veteran radio/movie/TV actress Agnes Moorehead as Endora,
Samantha's mother, David White as Larry Tate, Darrins boss, and many
other regulars including veteran actor George Tobias, Alice Pearce,
Marion Lorne, Paul Lynde, Alice Ghostley, Bernard Fox, Maurice Evans,
and Erin/Diane Murphy(as daughter Tabitha). The show lasted on
the ABC primetime schedule from 1964 to 1972 and on the daytime
schedule from 1968-1973 and continued for several years in local
syndication then later on several cable networks. It was recorded
and delayed until 3:30PM for time on WAND. It's sad to
think that virtually all of the stars of this series are no longer with
us.
"The
Dating Game" was created by Chuck Barris for the ABC daytime
schedule
in 1965. It then popped up in prime time to replace "The Tammy
Grimes Show" after it was the first series cancelled in the 1966
season. So on October 6th 1966 "The Dating Game" with it's Herb
Alpert theme song ended up in prime time. The show was hosted by
Jim Lange and featured a guest choosing from three other guests of the
opposite sex. Imagine doing this one today! The risque
questions were written by the staff. After a date was chosen they
were chaperoned to some vacation spot for a weekend of fun. "The
Newlywed Game" also began on ABC daytime, in 1966. It ended up
being a "sister" show along with "The Dating Game" on the Saturday
night ABC schedule. "The Dating Game" was hosted by Bob
Eubanks. The daytime version ran from 1966 to 1974, later in
syndication until 1980, and later in 1985. It ran in prime time
until 1971.
ABC's
"Hollywood Palace"
was a
big budget, formal variety show produced at
the ABC Palace Theatre-formerly the El Capitan Theatre on Hollywood
Boulivard in Hollywood. It was produced live on the network,
originally in black and white in 1964 when it began, then later in
color. Guest hosts included Bing Crosby, Fred
Astaire, Milton Berle, Jimmy Durante(pictured above),
Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Sammy Davis Jr. and Don Adams among others. Acts included
Mickey
Rooney, Bobby Van, Nancy Wilson, Bob
Newhart, Ed Wynn, Frank Sinatra, Groucho Marx, Judy Garland, The
Rolling Stones and many other popular performers of the day. The
show was produced as a major TV event and lasted on ABC from 1964
through 1970 seen for most of it's run on Saturday nights. The
Hollywood Palace Theater is now the home of "The Jimmy Kimmell Show" on
ABC currently.
"The
Invaders" was the original
show about extra-terrestrials who landed on earth to take over.
It premiered on ABC in January 1967 as part of ABC's Second
Season. Roy Thinnes starred as Archetect David Vincent who went
on a quest to warn us that the "invasion had already begun." He
stumbles on a UFO and learns the secret one night one night on the way
home from a meeting. Do you remember how you could spot an
alien??? ...they were the one's with the crooked little
finger. Another Quinn Martin Production.
Click
on PLAY to hear actual audio
taken from WAND before the premiere of "The
Invaders." This network promo was recorded on January
10, 1967 from WAND/ABC. You'll need Real Audio.
Click
on PLAY to hear actual audio
taken from WAND on the premiere of
"The Invaders." On this one you'll hear the opening
credits of the show. This was recorded on January 10, 1967 from
WAND/ABC. You'll need Real Audio.
"The Invaders" and "The Avengers" were two of the first
ABC series
which by adding the short title graphic before the show, would read "IN
COLOR." This was paradied, you might remember with the opening of
the"Police Squad" series of the 1980's as all of the ABC shows that
were broadcast in color featured a similar open. This practice
was eliminated within a couple of years, when virtually all of the
shows produced were in color.
"The Avengers"
began on British TV in 1963 and appeared on ABC with black and white
episodes in March of 1966 where it continued until September of
1967. After it was cancelled, it generated a letter writing
campaign to bring it back.....ABC listened and returned the series as
part of the ABC Second Season of 1967....this time in color.
Patrick Macnee and Diana Rigg starred as John Steed and Emma Peel who
as secret agents battled diabolical fiends of all sorts with a dash of
class, champaign and their fashion setting wardrobes. This series
spawned a spin-off called "The New Avengers" which later showed up on
CBS late night(see WRSP). It also inspired a really bad movie
"The Avengers"....don't waste your time on the movie.... Check out "The
Avengers" on BBC-Americal where it shows up on the schedule from time
to time. By the way, Diana Rigg left the series with the episode
called "The Forget Me Knot" when she was replaced by Tara King, played
by Linda Thorson. Another character was added....a boss for the
Steed played by Patrick Newell called "Mother." The series
continued it's run through September of 1969, when it was cancelled by
ABC.
Click
on PLAY to hear actual audio
taken from WAND and ABC. This
one is a network promo for the return of "The Avengers" to the ABC
prime time schedule...."good show!" This was recorded on the
same
date as the "Invaders" intro above, January 10, 1967. You'll need
Real Audio.
"The Lawrence Welk
Show" was a favorite of the "old folks" from 1955 to
1971 on ABC...and later in syndicated through 1982! WTVP/WAND
aired the show during the entire run of the show. ABC cancelled
the show, simply because the demos were "too old." The show
featured his cast of singers, dancers and musicians with shows often
time centered on a theme....or holiday. Many performers went on
to successful careers of their own including The Lennon Sisters, Pete
Fountain and Lynn Anderson. This show went color in 1966 along
with most of the ABC schedule.
"The
King Family Show" premiered on ABC in 1965 where it ran until
1969. This show was a spin-off from an apperance on "The
Hollywood Palace" during 1964. The family included nearly 40
members, all musical, but centered on the six King Sisters, a singing
group from the 1940's when they were part of the Alvino Rey's
Orchestra. Music ranged from semi-classical to contemporary with
some family comedy thrown in. The popular family show lasted but
one season on ABC.
This
is a strange one....yes it's a picture of a kangaroo....but not just
any kangaroo....it's "Skippy the Bush
Kangaroo." A syndicated
half hour Austrailian version of "Lassie." This TV series ended
up as part of the WTVP/WAND weekend schedule during the 1960's.
It at least appeared during the years of 1967-69.
You might not remember this
one..."Love on a Rooftop" ran
on ABC from 1966-67 with reruns during
1971 and starred Peter Deul(later "Alias Smith and Jones") and Judy
Carne(pre "Laugh In"). This was a show with a young married
couple in San Fransico and costarred Rich Little, Barbara Bostock and
Sandy Kenyon. The reruns were added to the 1971 summer season to
profit from the popularity of Judy Carne of her "Rowan and Martin's
Laugh In" run. Peter Duel showed up in January of 1971 in "Alias
Smith and Jones" before his suicide in December of 1971
"ABC Stage 67" was the title for a
number of specials offered by the network. Most of the "Stage 67"
installments were variety specials hosted by Jack Paar, David Frost and
others. It ran from September of 1966 through May of 1967.
The Bullwinkle Show was a regular
Sunday morning feature along with other kdis shows during the late
1960's
Danny Thomas'
little girl, Marlo starred as struggling actress Ann Marie in "That
Girl." It was a trend setter for a bunch of independent
woman"
series to come such as "The Mary Tyler Moore Show." "That
Girl" premiered on September 8th, 1966 and ran unitl September 10, 1971
on ABC. The show co-starred Ted Bessell (later TV director), Lew
Parker (radio's "The Bickersons"), Rosemary DeCamp (TV's "The Death
Valley Days") and Bernie Kopell (later "The Love Boat"). Other
regulars included Ronnie Schell, Ruth Buzzi, George Carlin, yes the
comedian. Danny Thoms made several cameo appearances, as did her
siblings, Tony and sister UNKNOWN. Marlo Thomas as the
distinction as being the first TV series actress to appear
bra-less....really. This series had a unique intro in which guest
stars would would talk about Ann and end their conversation with the
phrase "....that girl." The theme song, very New York-ish
and opening titles were very similar in concept to that taken by Mary
Tyler Moore.
"The
Ghost and Mrs. Muir" was based on the 1947 movie starring Gene
Tierney
and Rex Harrison. The TV series starred Hope Lange and Edward
Mulhare(later of "Knight Rider"), Reta Shaw, Kellie Flanagan, Harlen
Carraher and Charles Nelson Riley("The Match Game"). "The Ghost
and Mrs. Muir" premiered on ABC on September 21, 1968 where it
continued through September 18, 1970.
"The Joey Bishop
Show" was a late night talker
designed to compete with the King of Latenight, Johnny Carson.
Needless to say, it didn't compete very well. It began in April
17, 1967 and ran until December 26, 1969. Joey Bishop actually
acted as a substitute for Johnny Carson on "The Tonight Show" when ABC
tagged him to host the late night show. It was produced
live....which ended up being a problem as guests often time turned up
late....or missing their cues. His side-kick was Regis
Philbin(pictured with Joey above). WAND ran Joey Bishop via tape
delay after the 10:30 Movie "Nightwatch" at least for while, although
it did air at it's network time for a time. It aired after
midnight
on most nights, certainly contributing to it's failure. There
were probably many ABC affiliates doing a similar tape delay, as they
would make more money selling as many commericals as they could cram
into a late night movie, while the local avails were limited in the
network fare.
"Dark
Shadows" the
daytime drama continued and was by the late 1960's
produced in color. Here Barnabas Collins prepares to put the bite
on some unsuspecting daytime drama actress. Believe it or not,
NBC actually revived the daytime drama in 1991 as a prime time
series. It lasted 3 months.
"The Monroes" premiered in
September of 1966 and ran for one season. The western starred
Michael Anderson, Jr., Barbara Hershey, Ben Johnson and Buck Taylor
among others.
Take
a hit movie, "The Dirty Dozen" and create a TV series with a similar
set up. It was called "Garrison's
Gorillas" which ran during the 1967-68 season. The stars
included Ron Harper as Lt. Craig Garrison, along with Cesare Danova,
Rudy Solari, Christopher Cary and Brendon Boone.
ABC was continuing a network theme in 1968 based on attractive
programming to the youth of the country. This crime drama starred
three young undercover cops played by Michael Cole, Clarance Williams
III and Peggy Lipton. The police Captain in charge of our young
heroes was played by Tige Andrews(formerlly known as Tiger Andrews).
Clinton
Judd was played by former Donna Reed Show star Carl Betz and in an
effort to keep that youth theme going, Steven Young. "Judd for the Defense" was a part of
the Friday night schedule in 1967 to 1969. This was one of my
personal favorites.
The
youth theme was part of "It Takes a
Thief" which ran from 1968 to 1970. Young Robert Wagner
starred as young Alexander Mundy, a theif recruited to work for the
government in the form of Noah Bain, played by Malachi Throne.
Fred Astaire joined the production as Alister Mundy, father of Wagner's
character.
The
opening credits of this ABC series from the 1967 to 69 seasons, was
paradied on the "Police Squad" series of the 1980's. The original
"NYPD" starred Jack
Wardon, Frank
Converse and Robert Hooks. Probably the most interesting thing
about this crime drama, was it's length, only 30 minutes.
In 1967, the WAND schedule was starting to see more contemporary off
network TV shows. From the older 1950's series listed as part of
the 1966 schedule, LIN Broadcasting seemed to take WAND into a new era
with some of the more recent network shows, like "McHale's Navy" and "Twilight Zone." The Bowery
Boys movie series ran as a filler during weekday mornings.
"McHale's Navy" was in syndication
in by the fall of 1966, and it ended up on the weekday schedule at 4:30
PM on WAND and later part of the weekday morning schedule in 1969.
The
off network syndication rights to "The
Twilight Zone" was on the WAND weekday schedule at 5 PM.
"The Bowery Boys" ran on weekday
mornings at 7:30 AM as well as weekend afternoons on WAND.
"The ABC
Movie of the Week"
was a very ambitious series of
90-minute TV movies with major stars airing on Tuesday nights from 7:30
to 9:00 PM CT. Two of the more famous products of the series were
"Brian's Song"(pictured above) and "Duel"(the first major film of
Steven Spielberg). Stars featured on other films include Fred
Astaire, Brian Keith, Milton Berle and others. This series of TV
movies still end up on local stations from time to time and cable
channels occasionaly.
One of the
series which ABC introduced with a youth appeal. "Room 222" was a drama-comedy set in
the classroom of an integrated LA high school. It starred Lloyd
Haynes, Denise Nicholas, Michael Constatine and Karen Valentine as
teachers, principal and student teacher. The students were played
by Howard Rice, Judy Strangis, David Jolliffe, Ta-Tanisha and
others. The series ran on ABC from 1969-1974.
Click on the "ABC" at left to hear the ABC color
presentation logo as recorded from WAND in January of 1967.Cli
"Love American
Style" was a romantic comedy anthology which starred most active
actors
on TV at the time. The list of guests include: Ann Southern, Paul
Ford, George Gobel, Tony Randall, Burt Reynolds, Harry Morgan, Paul
Lynde, Rich Little, Sid Caesar, Imogine Coca, Bob Cummings, Michael
Callan, Flip Wilson, Jane Wyatt, Ronny Howard, Anson Willaims, Martha
Raye, Sonny and Cher, Phyllis Diller, Nanette Fabray, Milton Berle,
Harrison Ford and many more old timers, and up and coming actors.
The series also included a series of short skits with the centerpiece
prop being a brass bed. The repertory company included: Stuart
Margolin, Tracy Reed, Phyllis Davis, Jim Hampton, Clifton Davis and Jed
Allan. "Love American Style" also spawned the ABC hit show
of the 1970's, "Happy Days" with it's pilot show called "Love and Happy
Days."
ABC News
experienced much turnover during the period. Ron Cochran was
anchor in 1963 for a short 15 minute network newscast. He was
replaced by a very young, 20 something Canadian, Peter
Jennings. Jennings was the anchor when during the Winter of 1967,
the 15-minute cast was expanded to 30 minutes as part of ABC's "Second
Season." A year later, Jennings went on the road as middle east
reporter and was replaced by Bob Young. By May of 1968, Young was
replaced by Frank Reynolds, then Reynolds was joined by Howard K.
Smith(pictured left). By 1970, the ABC network news became "The
ABC Evening News with Howard K. Smith and Harry Reasoner."
Reasoner was recruited by ABC from CBS and brought tons of credibility
to the ABC News Department. This team lasted five years when
Howard K. Smith left ABC.
In
spite of the constant turnover of staff at most local TV stations
through the country, one thing remained constant at the central
Illinois TV stations WCIA and WTVP(WAND), and that was the role of the
nightly weathercaster. In the case of WAND it was long standing
meteorologist Loren Boatman. The veteran Decatur teacher and
weatherman was the first to occupy that position at WTVP in 1953 and he
continued through most of the 1980's. His relatively dry but
no-nonsense presentation was right on and just what the market needed
during the early years. His marking pen was his trademark as he
drew the position of frontal boundarys and wrote current temps of
cities across the country.
ABC
Shows from 1970 to 1975 include: The Young Rebels, The F.B.I., ABC
Sunday Night Movie, Young Lawyers, Silent Force, ABC Monday Night
Football, The Mod Squad, ABC Movie of the Week, Marcus Welby M.D.,
Courtship of Eddie's Father, Make Room for Granddaddy, Room 222, Johnny
Cash Show, Dan August, Matt Lincoln, Bewitched, Barefoot in the Park,
The Odd Couple, The Immortal, The Brady Bunch, Nanny and the Professor,
Partridge Famly, That Girl, Love American Style, This is Tom Jones,
Let's Make a Deal, The Newlywed Game, The Lawrence Welk Show, Most
Deadly Game, The Smith Family, Shirley's World, Man and the City, Alias
Smith and Jones, Longstreet, Owen Marshall, Getting Together, ABC Movie
of the Weekend, The Persuaders, The Rookies, Temperatures Rising,
Tuesday Movie of the Week, Paul Lynde, Wednesday Movie of theWeek,
Julie Andrews Hour, The Men: Assignment Vienna-Delphi Bureau-Jigsaw,
Streets of San Francisco, The Sixth Sense, Bob and Carol and Ted and
Alice, Toma, Kung Fu, Adam's Rib, ABC Suspense Movie, Griff, Sonny
Comedy Revue, Happy Days, That's My Mama, Get Christie Love, Paper
Moon, Harry-O, Kodiak, Six Million Dollar Man, Texas Wheelers, Kolchak:
The Night Stalker, The New Land and Nakia
"The Flying Nun"
began the Thursday night lineup in
September of 1967. This was the most preposterous series
ever....even including "My Mother the Car." Sally Field as Sister
Bertrille a novice nun in Puerto Rico who flew whenever the winds were
active enough to lift the 90 pound Sally Field into the air. Her
cornette with the wings would allow her to fly. How disappointing
to have Sally Field, formerly of "Gidget" from bathing suit to a nun's
habit. This sit com also starred Marge Redmond, Madeleine
Sherwood, Shelly Morrison, Linda Dangcil as nuns, and the rich playboy
Carlos Ramirez played by Alejandro Rey. The Sister was always
using Carlos to fianance some project of hers to improve conditions on
the island for kids or to improve life in the convent. This
unique series lasted through 1970.
ABC during the mid to
late 1960's did a revolutionary thing on the Friday
after Thanksgiving holiday. It was called
"Turkey Day on ABC" and the regular daytime schedule was replaced with
a lineup of the Saturday morning chidlren's TV fare. At the left
are three examples of ABC's Saturday morning linup: "The
Fantastic Four," "Lance-a-Lot Link" and "Motor Mouse." My
favorites included: "George of the
Jungle," "Hoppity Hooper" and the Bugs Bunny Warner
Brothers cartoons.
Robert
Young, after being the father on "Father Knows Best" during the 1950's
on both radio and TV, now graduates from medical school and becomes
Marcus Welby, for ABC. This was one of the most successful series
in the ABC programming collection. Robert Young came out of
retirement at the age of 62 to play one of the rolls of his
lifetime. "Marcus Welby, M.D."
was a staple of Tuesday nights at 9pm CT from 1969 to 1976. Along
with Young, the series starred James Brolin as young relevant Dr.
Steven Kiley and Elena Verdugo as Nurse Lopez. Fans of other
Universal Studio series will recognize the home/office of Dr. Welby as
being the Cleaver's second home on "Leave it to Beaver" and one of the
homes of the housewives on "Desparate Housewives." Interestingly
enough, it was also used in another vehicle with the word "desparate"
in it. Movie fans of Humphrey Bogart will recognize the home as
being the one occupied by desparate criminal Bogart in the movie
"Desparate Hours" made back in the early 1950's. There were also
some cast swapping done with sister series "Owen Marshall Councelor at
Law" (see below).
The
Lennon Sisters began a long association with Lawrence Welk as a
quartet of young ladies who remained with the mystro through the 50's
and 60's. By 1969, though, they were on their own and hosting
their own hour long musical variety show with many big name guests like
Jack Benny, Glen Campbell, Bob Hope and Phyllis Diller....and of course
Jimmy Durante. That's why this ABC variety show was called "Jimmy Durante Presents the Lennon
Sisters." It ran on ABC from September 1969 to July of
1970.
This
was another program with ABC youth appeal, and set for the high school
set. "Room 222" starred
Lloyd Haynes, Denise Nicholas, Michael Constatine and cute newcomer
Karen Valentine. This half our drama/comedy premiered in 1969 and
ran through 1974, mostly on Wednesday nights until it's last season
when it moved to Fridays.
"The Music Scene"
was hosted by David Steinberg, for the most part, although the series
was to draw the hosting talents from 5 other part timers, whose names
have been lost to time. Among those appearing on this series
during it's short run were The Beatles, Three Dog Night, Oliver, James
Brown, Crosby Stills and Nash and Tom Jones among many more. Even
Groucho Marx appeared! A comedy group also were part of this
modern variety show. "The Music Scene" ran from September 1969 to
January of 1970, and yes, was only 45-minutes in length. It was
followed by "The New People" described to the right.
If you're a fan of
the current ABC series "Lost" you would have
loved this one. "The New People" was a fantasy drama entered on a
group of 40 young Americans stranded on a South Pacific island
after a
plane crash. The island was an abandoned US atomic test site,
which
meant that there were buildings, supplies, and other "normal" items
which allowed the residence to live just like they were home, but alone
on an island. Stars included Tiffany Bolling, Zooey Hall, Jill
Jaress,
Dennis Olivieri, David Moses and Peter Ratray. One of the most
unique
things about this series, is that it was only 45-minutes long, running
as the second part of a block of programming 90 minutes long. The
first 45-minutes were taken up by the program described to the
left....."Music Scene."
This
more traditional TV legal drama starred Arthur Hill as "Owen Marshall, Councelor at Law"
with young law partner Jess Brandon played by Lee Majors(of The Big
Valley). This was a very similar set up as "Marcus Welby M.D."
but
played thorugh the legal world, instead of the medical world.
This was
another vehicle from Universal Studios, which would sometimes combine
forces and Robert Young would play Marcus Welby within the confines of
this show. Sometimes Arthur Hill would return the favor and
appear on
"Marcus Welby." Obviously a great sweeps ploy for additional
viewers.
Handicapped characters were poplular during the era. NBC had "Ironside"
in a wheelchair and ABC had "Longstreet"
which ran from 1971-72. This time James Franciscus played Mike
Longstreet, who was blinded by his wife's killer, who didn't want to be
identified. Longstreet was an insurance investigator in New
Orleans, who refused to quit after being blinded. Here's a
great bit of trivia for you....the name of his seeing eye dog:
"Pax." The series also starred Marlyn Mason, Peter Mark Richman
and Ann Doran. Another bit of trivia....who played his self
defense instructior? Bruce Lee.
Juliet
Mills starred as Phoebe Figalilly, the nanny hired by one Professor
played by Richard Long(of The Big Valley). Phoebe was from
England and had special gifts.....like ESP, and was able to talk to
animals and the like. She was the 5th housekeeper and nanny in
the household in a year, because of some unruly kids played by David
Doremus, Trent Lehman and Kim Richards. "The Nanny and the Professor" ran on
ABC from 1970 to 1971, at at least three different days and time
periods.
Another
relevant hour long drama, with a well known actor playing the old guy,
and a number of young actors to attract those important younger
demos. This time Lee J. Cobb played old Attorney David Barrett
and the young law students were played by Zalman King, Judy Pace and
later Philip Clark was added. "The Young Lawyers" ran on ABC from
1970 to 1971.
"The Lawrence Welk
Show" was about to end it's network run by 1971. It had been a
Saturday night fixture on ABC since 1955. Here is a publicity
picture celebrating it's 16th, and final, season on ABC. It
wasn't all over yet, though. The show continued to be popular
with the "older set" and went into syndication, on many of the stations
which originally ran the show while it was on ABC. WAND continued
to air it earlier on Saturdays for several years through the 1970's.
Based
on the 1963 Glen Ford and Ronny Howard movie, this very hip TV series
starred Bill Bixby(from "My Favorite Martian"), and Brandon Cruiz
in "The
Courtship of Eddie's Father."
This ultra hip, ultra
modern series featured music from one of my favorite
songwriter/performers, the late Harry Nilsson. The theme song was
"Let Me Tell You 'Bout My Best Friend." "The Courtship of Eddie's
Father" ran on ABC from 1969 to 1972. also featured James Komack, and
Miyoshi Umeki as Mrs. Livingston,
the housekeeper and nanny to Eddie.
"The Brady Bunch"
began as a family sit com, no
messages, just good old fashioned simple situations and everyday
problems of being a kid, and having kids. This one ended up being
a classic from the Sherwood Swartz production factory, who brought us
"Gilligan's Island." "The Brady Bunch" premiered on September 26,
1969 and ran on ABC until 1974. It could've run longer...and in
fact did in different forms....as a seriesof variety shows....and TV
movies. The cast included Robert Reed ("TheDefenders"), Forence
Henderson, Ann B. Davis ("Bob Cummings Show") and the kids: Maureen
McCormick, Eve Plumb, Susan Olson, Barry Williams, Christopher Knight
and Mike Lookinland. Reruns were aired on weekdays from 1973 to
1975 and also spawned an animatd series which ran on ABC Saturday
mornings from 1972-1974.
More ABC/WAND
video coming soon
Another one of the
hip family sit-coms "The Partridge
Family" was based
on the "Cowsills" a family pop group of the late 1960's. This one
starred the "family" of Shirley Jones and her step son David
Cassidy. Also Susan Dey("L.A. Law"), Danny Bonaduce(of radio) and
Dave Madden(of "Camp Runamuck"). The other kids were played by
Jeremy Gelbwaks/Brian Foster, Suzanne Crough and later Ricky
Segall. This series aired on ABC from September 1970 to August
1974. David Cassidy became a teenage idol during the run of the
series and actually had several top 40 hits in the early 1970's.
Most weren't really that bad...in fact they were pretty good,
unfortunately, the teeny bopper label was one to escape for Cassidy and
helped to wreck any possibility of a legitiment music career.
"The Partridge Family" ended up in syndication and was a staple of late
afternoon TV stations during the 1970's and early 1980's. Just
like the "TheBrady Bunch" this one also spun off an animated version
for Saturday morning TV.
The
Dick Cavett Show came after
Joey Bishop as ABC's answer
to Johnny Carson, and probably had the most success....but still not
enough to satisfy ABC. Cavett was incredibly smart, witty and the
critics loved him. Some of his one guest shows were historically
superb and became great studies of the personalities of his
guests. People like Groucho Marx (pictured), Fred Astaire, John
and Yoko Lennon (pictured), Jack Lemmon and
Woody Allen among others were interviewed for the entire show.
The late night version aired from 1969 to 1972, and later he came back
in prime time as a two night a week series during the summer of 1975.
Based
on the Neil
Simon play and movie, the TV version of "The Odd Couple" was less dark
with the casting of Tony Randell nd Jack Klugman as the Felix and Oscar
characters. This was actually a great series and included a great
ensemble cast including Al Molinaro (later of "Happy Days"), Gerry
Walberg, Larry Gelman, Archie Hahn, Ryan McDonald, Monica Evans, Carol
Shelly and sister of the producer, Penny Marshall (later of Laverne and
Shirley). This show was produced in part by Gary Marshall who
later produced "Happy Days" and "Laverne and Shirley" for ABC.
"The Odd Couple" ran on ABC from 1970 to 1983. It also spun off a
twin series called "The New Odd Couple" several years later. See
the further history of WAND for details...
In 1971, Bobby Sherman, off of his success being a teen heart throb on
the ABC series "Here Come the Brides" which ran on ABC from 1968 to
1970 hosted his own musical variety special. His original series
starred Robert Brown, David Soul(pre Starsky and Hutch), Joan Blondell,
Bridget Hanley, Mark Lenard, Bo Svensen, Susan Tolsky, Henry Beckman
and many others. The show took place in 1800's Seattle, in which
the male loggers sent for a number of mail order brides for
wives. It's the story of the Bolt Brothers who owned the mountain
and the battle to keep their "mountain." Bobby Sherman also had a
couple of hit records during the late 1960's and early 70's and hosted
his own variety special with the Fifth Dimension. If anyone has a
copy of this special on VHS or DVD, please e-mail me!!!
dougquick @ dougquick.com
More Video to come later
This is the open/close to the first version of
"Temperatures Rising"
an ABC series which aired from 1972-74 The first version here stars
James Whitmore, Cleavon Little and Joan Van Ark, which ran from
1972-73. It was produced by William Asher who also brought
"Bewitched" to TV and a bunch of beach movies in the early 60's.
One of the hip cop shows of the 1970's, "The Streets of San Fancisco" was
one of the first....as
Michael Douglas the young hip cop starred with Carl Malden, the old
experienced cop in San Francisco. Michael Douglas played
Inspector Steve Keller from 1972-1976 then left the series and was
replaced by Inspector Dan Robbins played by Richard Hatch. This
was another of the Quinn Martin series produced for ABC.
For a listing of
network Prime TimeSchedules from 1969-1980 click HERE
This
one is about obscure as it gets....."Bob
& Carol & Ted &
Alice" premiered on ABC in September of 1973 and by November it
was
history. But this series starred some up and coming stars of the
future....Robert Urich("Vegas""Spensor for Hire"), Anne Archer, David
Spielgerg, and Anita Gillette. Jodie Foster starred as Ted and
Alice's daughter Elizabeth. This was based on the movie of the
same name.
"Kung
Fu" was a cult favorite series...starring
David Carradine as Kwai Chang Caine. It also starred Keye Luke as
Master Po. Caine was a Buddist monk, who ended up in the American
west because he killed a member of the Chinese royal family and fled to
America. The show was paradied many times and was given credit
for creating the "Kung Fu" rage of the 70's and early 80's.
"American Bandstand" continued as a Saturday late morning entry on the
ABC network schedule through the 1970's. "AB" survived through
the disco era, having brought the show up to date. "America's
Oldest Teenager," Dick Clark expanded his empire as producer of many
music specials, as well as the host/producer of "New Year's Rockin'
Eve" specials for ABC.
The pilot for "Happy
Days" was featured as part of "Love American Style" and is given
the
credit for creating the phrase "jumping the shark." "Happy Days"
was actually the second series with the same title....the first was a
variety show which featured Louis Nye, Bob and Ray and a large cast of
singers and dancers and aired on CBS during the summer of 1970....but
that's not the series we're talking about here. The second "Happy
Days" premiered in January of 1974 and continued for ten years on
ABC. The show starred Ron Howard, Henry Winkler, Tom Bosley,
Marion Ross, Anson Williams, Donny Most, Erin Moran and a cast of what
seemed to be hundreds over the ten years. This show helped
establish ABC as a network power during the 1970's. Nostalgia was
big in the 1970's....and this one was kind of an extension of the hit
movie "American Graffiti"....and the broadway show "Grease" and took
"TheAdventures of Ozzie and Harriet" into the 1970's while keeping the
50's alive as well. The show, though, changed over it's
run....starting out as a high school sit-com based on friends growing
up in Milwaukee, it became a parady of itself later. With the
addition of Henry Winkler as "Fonzie" the show took off....and became a
huge hit for ABC. The show took a turn downward in popularity and
credibility when the character of Fonzie as a stunt planed to jump a
shark invested pool on his motorcycle....hence the phrase "jump the
shark." This series also ran in syndication for many years....but
it's been awhile since it's shown up..... The show also spun
off several other series including "Joanie Loves Chachi" and "Laverne
and Shirley."
"The
Six Million Dollar Man"
starred former Heath Barkley of Big Valley as Col. Steve Austin an
astronaut who had been critically injured when the moon lander he was
in crashed in the desert. The government doctors rebuilt him
using atomic powered parts. It began as a series of 90 minute
movies on ABC under the heading of "The ABC Suspense Movie", and later
a regular hour long series. It also starred Richard Anderson as
Oscar Goldman his boss. The series spawned the spin-off "The
Bionic Woman" which starred Lindsey Wagner. This series ran from
1974 to 1978.
"Welcome Back
Kotter" was another of the ABC hit sit-coms of the
1970's.... and
this one sold records for the performer and writer of the theme show,
John Sebastian. "Welcome Back..." premeired on ABC on September
9, 1975 and ran through August of 1979. Kotter, played by Gabriel
Kaplan was a Brooklyn, New York teacher who returned to teach at his
old high school. His students known as "the Sweat Hogs" included
John Travolta as Vinnie Barbarino, and Robert Hegyes, Lawrence-Hilton
Jacobs, Ron Paillo. Other students included Debralee Scott,
Vernee Watson, Helaine Lembeck and others. Gabe Kotter's wife was
played by Marcia Strassman. The series was created by Gabe Kaplan
and Alan Sacks. The theme song, by the way, went to number one on
the Top 40 charts....the show did pretty well as well.
"Starsky and
Hutch" premiered in September 1975 and ran through the end of
the 1979
season on ABC. This was yet another of the hip cop shows with
Paul Michael Galser as Detective Dave Starsky and David Soul as
Detective Ken "Hutch" Hutchinson....and of course the Ford
Torino. These two plainclothes cops were two free and easy
bachelors who took on the toughest cases in L.A. with the help of Huggy
Bear played by Antonio Fargas. The show included lots of car
chases with the Torino always being challenged by their hot tempered
boss Captain Dobey played by Bernie Hamilton. The show would
inspire a comedic parady in the early 00's.
This ensemble cast were featured in "The
Life and Times of Barney
Miller" as part of a summer anthology called "Just for Laughs" and
returned, in a slightly different form and a new title: "Barney Miller"
in January of 1975. The cast included left to right: Maxwell Gail
as Det. Stanley "Wojo" Wohohowicz, Hal Lindon as Captain Barney Miller,
Ron Glass as Det. Ron Harris, Abe Vigoda as Det. Phil Fish and Jack Soo
as Det. Nick Yemana. The show ran most of the time on Thursday
nights through September 1982. Other cast members included
Barbara Barrie, Linda Lavin, and Steve Landesberg.
"NFL
Monday Night Football" later became "ABC's Monday Night Football" and
ran on Monday nights from 1970 to 2006 in it's regular 8-11pm CT spot
during the NFL season. It's announcers became household words,
especially Howard Cosell pictured above. Others included Kieth
Jackson, Don Meredith, Frank Gifford, Fred Willaimson, Alex Karras
during 1970 to 1975, the years covered on this page.
Since we've got Howard
Cosell pictured above, we have to bring up his try at hosting a variety
show. It was called "Saturday
Night Live with Howard
Cosell." He was one of the best known TV personalities
ever....unfortunately he wasn't a likeable person and viewers stayed
away from what could have been an entertaining show. It was
similar to "The Ed Sullivan Show" but Howard was very ill at
ease. Some of the guests included the premiere of The Bay City
Rollers along with veterans like Sinatra, John Wayne, John Denver and
other sports personalities as well. It lasted from September 1975
to January 1976 on Saturday's from 7-8pm CT.
WAND becomes a Big Central Illinois
Broadcaster
On October 3rd of 1966, WAND General Manager Len Carl announced that the new
WAND transmitter and antenna was to be operational on Wednesday,
October 5th. It was also stated that the translator for WAND,
W-70-AE would be taken off the air from it’s location in Champaign,
since it was projected that WAND would throw a class A signal into the
Champaign-Urbana area. It also appears that after tests were conducted
about the signal strength of the new transmitter and antenna, that the
translator would be moved to Danville. Channel 70 would be used
to “fill in” the signal to a populated area which was located just
inside the coverage area but had a questionable ability to receive the
signal from channel 17. Channel 70 was able to get a class A
signal over Danville along with the channel 17 class A signal over
Springfield, Decatur and Champaign-Urbana. The achievement gave
WAND the ability to pitch it’s 100-percent class A coverage area to
buyers of national and regional advertising. This was necessary
in order for the station to maximize potential households reached and
hopefully WAND’s ratings. This new situation would increase the
chance to pick up it’s share of that all important advertising market.
There was a delay in the initial broadcast from the new
site, but it was only for a couple of days. On Saturday morning,
October 8th, 1966 at 6:40, WAND began to broadcast it’s 2-million watt
signal from it’s new tower and transmitter located near Argenta,
Illinois. Reception reports were favorable for the most part from
all over the area. The only exceptions were complaints from
viewers in Decatur, who failed to compensate for the new transmitter
location and to re-direct their antennas toward the new broadcast site.
At least WAND is on the air.....
Central Illinois experienced an ice storm on
January 26th of 1967, which caused the collapse of the newly
constructed 1,335 foot tower of WICD between Homer and Fithian,
Illinois (See WICD). This may have coincided with an ice
storm which affected WAND as well. I remember an ice storm, from
about that time, which took WAND off the air with a power failure
and/or damage to the stations studio-transmitter microwave link.
WAND scrambled to return to the air with a temporary arrangement which
caused them to abandon their studio and move to the newly constructed
transmitter building at the tower near Argenta, Illinois. I assume
either that location had power, or a back up generator was used to keep
the station on the air. Unfortunately, there was probably no
switching equipment, or a network feed to keep the station with the
look of normal programming.
Instead, the engineering staff had wired in a camera, maybe a studio
camera, along with a couple of microphones wired into the transmitter
to broadcast on-going news news and ice storm reports and weather from
inside their transmitter building! WAND also used a 16 mm movie
projector to show movies, cartoons and syndicated programming on the
wall of the building and simply stuck a mike in front of a speaker of
the projector. The shows were “video jocked” by on-air staffers,
of which I remember Bob Billman
and Bill Wohlfarth doing at
least one shift. The two VJ’s would sit at a table with chairs
and when it was time to go back to “programming” you could hear the
projector start up and the studio camera would pan up to the wall and
then focus in on the projected image of a movie, or whatever program on
the wall.
This was the arrangement for at least a couple of days as the station
would show countless old westerns, cartoons and other movies and
programs which came from the WAND film library. I also remembered
being disappointed when the station regained power and once again
resumed normal broadcasting. I was so impressed with the way the
staff handled the situation and the ingenious way they solved a problem
which would probably take most stations off the air during that period
of time. I wonder how stations now would handle such an event, as
most wouldn’t have a library of programs to air in case of an emergency.
The WAND General Manager Merry-Go-Round
The names of the various General Managers of WAND seemed
to change quite often during it’s history. As told earlier, the
first GM, Howard“Harry” Cowgill(1953-1954) was
replaced by Steve Pozhay(1954-1959).
Pozhay was followed by Bob King(1959-1965),
LenCarl(1965-?), Fred Grezy(?-1969), and Decatur
native and Channel 17 veteran, Jack
P. Kussart who also earned the title of Vice President(1969-
). His appointment was announced on January 26th of 1969 by
Martin Ackerman,
President of LIN Broadcasting.
The Turbulent era of the late 1960's and
early 1970's
In seems that a WAND reporter reported more unrest than what the
Champaign mayor thought it should have. Champaign Mayor Virgil
Wikoff in a letter to the FCC asked for an investigation of WAND’s
coverage of the “recent racial problem in Champaign.” He wrote
that WAND issued a false news report on May 2nd, 1970, then failed to
make an adequate retraction on that alleged false report. He
noted that WAND showed film of disorders taken the previous day and
stated that “helmeted troops were patrolling the city, tear gas was
being used and that there were unconfirmed reports of grenades being
used.” Wikoff said that by the time the report was made, that it
was calm in Champaign-Urbana.
The incident did draw National Guard troops into Champaign a few days
after the incidents to deal with disturbances on the University of
Illinois campus, but the Guard was not activated during the night in
question. The mayor said he called WAND and had the story read to
him as it was broadcast, then called the news director at home to
complain. Mayor Wikoff said he, “received no satisfactory
explanation for this irresponsible report.” After his phone
calls, WAND, according to his letter did another news report about an
hour later stating that everything was now calm in Champaign, but did
not retract the previous report that aired during the newscast.
Wikoff complained “none of the news reports were true, the situation
was calm and relatively quiet that night, as both the other TV
stations(WCIA and WICD) were reporting.” The reporter in question
was not named in the letter, nor was the news director.
This incident would also cause problems for WAND at the next licence
renewal time. In December of 1970 most of the other broadcast
properties in the area had automatic renewals of their three year
licenses, but the permit of one central Illinois TV station was held
up. The license to operate WAND by LIN Broadcasting was delayed
because of the letter that Champaign Mayor Wikoff filed with the
commission earlier that year. It was reported that the FCC
contacted both Wikoff and WAND for an explanation. The Mayor
explained at that time, he had decided to let the matter drop, although
he didn’t get “satisfaction” from either WAND or the FCC. In a
press release from the station it later says, “the matter was cleared
up” and the FCC would take action soon on the renewal. The
licence was later renewed for another three years.
(Left): WAND news ad from around
1968 with at top left, Bob Billman, right Jim Clayton, 2nd row left:
Loren Boatman, right: Bill Jones, 3rd row left: Fred Straub, right
George Thompson, bottom row left: Lowell Davis, right: Don
Shroyer.
thanks to Bruce
Frey
for his contribution
More Children's Programming.....or is a
syndicated game show enough?
In January of 1971 local TV stations and their affiliated
networks were faced with an FCC ruling which required networks to give
more time back to the local stations so they could program more
educational programming or more children’s programming. Barry Geohegan, WAND’s General
Manager at the time, in a press release told of the plan by ABC to give
up 9:30 to 10 PM Thursdays, 8:30-9:30 PM Saturdays and 6 - 7PM Sundays
to the local stations to air local programming, ideally for educational
or children’s programming, but certainly something with a local
flavor.
NBC gave up the 6:30 to 7 PM time slot Monday through Saturday for the
local stations. CBS was undecided on the issue.
The plan as stated by Geohegan
was to redistribute some network programming to allow for a showing of
a feature film on Wednesday evenings to fill the time. He said
that, “people go to the entertainment programs as opposed to the
educational” and that WAND didn’t have the resources to do local
programming as was the original plan set forth by the FCC. He
said that most stations would fill with reruns, movies, special
syndicated shows or programming from other networks. Ultimately,
he was right, as no local stations filled the time on a regular basis
with any local productions, and certainly no educational or children’s
shows.
The economics of the local stations prevented the production of local
programming, while ABC in particular was suffering from an advertising
slowdown and reportedly embraced the cutback in programming as a cost
savings. The reason for the ad slowdown was the elimination of
cigarette advertising in January of 1971. This sent the networks
reeling from the loss in revenue, and probably hurt the ad sales of
local TV as well, as many companies bought ads on local stations as
well.
Is anyone watching???? Late
Night Programming Changes in the mid 70's
By 1974, ABC wasn’t quite in the ratings basement, as that
era saw NBC with that honor. But the 1973-74 season didn’t
find any of ABC’s programs in the top 10. In fact the highest
rated ABC show “The Six Million
Dollar Man” which landed in 11th place. The only other ABC
shows in the top 25 were Happy Days(#16),
Monday Night Football(#19),
Tuesday Movie of the Week(#21),
The Streets of SanFranciso(#22), The ABC Sunday Night Movie(#24) and The Rookies(#25). The tally
saw CBS with 14 shows in the top 25, while ABC had 7, NBC had only
4. It was definitely was one of CBS’s great years. These
network numbers can also be translated to just how the local ratings
puzzle came together as well. Even though, now virtually all of
the market could receive all three networks, the local news audience of
the Decatur area still belonged mostly with WAND, with WCIA being the
second choice. While probably, most of the prime time viewing
went with the network leader CBS and WCIA.
The late night, though, belonged to NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson”
with still a strong local audience for the programming of WCIA.
WCIA during the early to mid 1970's was airing a late movie under the
heading of “The Late Show”
with various nightly themes. ABC was trying new things with it’s
post late news time period, but unfortunately, wasn’t gaining much
ground or audience for WAND. After the years of Les Crane, Joey Bishop and Dick Cavette, ABC tried diversity
with a lineup of talk shows with Dick
Cavette or Jack Paar,
but also reruns of the ABC Movie of
the Week, variety shows entitled Let’s Celebrate, The Roger Miller Show and even Truman Capote hosted an interview
show with prison convicts. ABC’s late night package was called “ABC’s Wide World of Entertainment.”
During the Spring of 1974, T.J. Vaughn,a
former director at the station, who was now the Program Director
announced a programming strategy which would put WAND back into a
competitive situation with the other local stations. He said that
the ABC late-night lineup wasn’t “doing the job” of bringing viewers to
the late night. He also admitted “the ratings aren’t that
good.” It was very likely that WAND had virtually no audience
after their local newscast. So, that program strategy could bring
back what made late night TV viewing popular from the very beginning of
Channel 17 with the return of the “Nightwatch”
late movie. Vaughn expected the movie to capture a “bigger slice
of the ratings.” More on that in a later section....
Norman Lear makes waves on ABC and WAND
At the premiere of Norman Lear’s “All in the Family” on CBS in 1971,
TV grew up. But, sometimes the audience didn’t. ABC
premiered a new sit-com also produced by Norman Lear based on an award
winning off-Broadway play, Hot-L
Baltimore. The show brought all kinds of racy dialog and
sexual innuendo to prime-time TV. The characters included a
strange combination of off beat people who lived in a dilapidated hotel
in Baltimore, Maryland. The show was to premiere at 8 PM on
Friday, January 24, 1975 on ABC and WAND. Viewers of the station
on that night instead saw alternative programming. Program
Director T.J Vaughn had to
release a statement that the show was deemed unsuitable for WAND’s
prime time audience. A decision was made to delay showing the new
ABC series until the next night, Saturday at 10:30. The
management of WAND previewed the first two episodes of the new series
on closed circuit from the network and said, “the language was not good
and the subject matter would be difficult to explain to a child.”
The decision to air Hot L Baltimore on Saturday night was made because
kids stay up to watch the Friday night “Creature
Feature” movie, and Saturday night didn’t normally consist of an
audience of children. Ultimately, the ratings of the series did
it in, as it ran it’s last network episode on June 6th of 1975.
WAND gets beaten not TO the Curb.....but by
CURB
The precedent of WAND being rather sensitive to what would
be questionable programming came from two different sources.
First of all, Decatur is home to a very strong religious
community. The early schedules of WTVP and WAND were weighted
very heavily with religious programs either nationally produced or
local. Weekly shows about and for the Decatur churches were a
part of prime-time during the 1950's, Revivalists Oral Roberts, A.A.
Allen, Rex Humbard and others have always been a part of at least
Sunday morning programming. Later in the 1970's, Jim and Tammy
Bakker’s The PTL Club ran in
late night and early mornings. The FourSquare Church was the
original license holder of a cable channel during the 1970's and 80's
in Decatur, and eventually developed WFHL, Channel 23, a full powered
station which later would become a PAX net affiliate before being sold
to ACME Broadcasting and made into the market’s WB affiliate in the
late 1990's. The religious community had an extraordinary strong
voice in Decatur and central Illinois broadcasting.
WAND was also
getting a barrage of protests by a newly formed citizen’s
group, Citizens Urging Responsible Broadcasting(CURB). The
spokesperson of the group, who ironically had the same last name as a
rather famous X-rated movie star of the mid 70's, Mrs. Adrainna
Lovelace. In an interview which appeared in the Urbana Courier,
she said she, “became upset over the X-rated movies being shown in the
home and protested to both WAND and WICS.” She formed a group to
protest to the FCC and to the stations as well as sponsors.
She didn't specify which X-rated movies were showing up on either
stations schedules. The only rather questionable movie which ever
ended up being scheduled in central Illinois was a late night airing of
"The Magic Christian" which starred Peter Sellers, Ringo Starr and
Raquel Welch. How much of the original movie presentation was
edited, is unknown. This movie wasn't listed specifically.
She was asked about the option of just “tuning out”
the offensive
programming, and she said, “When you pay $500 for a set, you have the
right to see decent programs in the home. I don’t want to sit and
watch people taking off their clothes, and going to bed in my living
room. I feel ths is an invasion of privacy.” I guess
no one made the argument the other way to her, that if some one pays
$500 for a set, you should be able to watch what you want....”
It appears though, she wasn’t offended by the amount
of violence on TV
as she continued, “I feel violence is handled more humanely on the
detective shows. What I am primarily objecting to is the dirty
movies.” The group also made statements about the local TV
stations airing X-rated movies. Since, no central Illinois TV
stations ever aired an MPAA X-rated movie during the 1960's and 70's,
one can only assume she based that statement on her own ratings
criteria. Also, based on what she describes as being offensive,
the daytime dramas, even in that era, would have been considered
X-rated in her judgement. Others in CURB included the co-chairs
Dwight Cribe and Mrs. Margaret Cognace. The newspaper story said
the group would continue to monitor programs on Channel 3, 17 and 20.
Personalities of the mid 70's....
Jerry Slabe is
pictured from the mid 1970's. His broadcast
history began in Wisconsin and Illinois radio, eventually
becoming part of the staff of the ill fated WJJY-TV in Jacksonville,
Illinois
before moving to WAND in Decatur. He eventually
made the move to WCIA where he remained until the
ownership change from Midwest TV to Nexstar. His leaving
brought quite a controversy to WCIA. See the History of WCIA
for more details.
Publicity photo courtesy of the Bob Wilcott Collection
Jane Bigelow was
the Illinois State Capitol Reporter
for WAND during the mid 1970's.
This WAND publicity shot is courtesy
of the Bob Wilcott Collection
The graphic at right, was from
a publicty shot or slide for air which
promoted the WAND news at 5:30pm.
Some explanation for the time of 5:30pm: all of the
other local stations at the time were broadcating
local news at 5 and 6pm. This would put
WAND between the other local newscasts
which would allow viewers in Springfield and
Champaign to watch their own stations
local news and still see the WAND local news.
Pictured is an unknown floor director with
anchor Jerry Slabe.
Courtesy of the Bob Wilcott Collection
By 1976 the news
theme was “Bring the News into
Perspective with Scene 17.” The main anchor continued to be Jerry Slabe with Jeff Beimfohr(sports), Loren Boatman(weather), Jane Bigelow(legislative
reporter-Springfield) along with Dan
Medina, Lance Standstead,
Don Bradley, Lynn Fellows and Dan Bowman. The News Director
was Dick Westbrook. It
appears that a change was on the way by 1977 as Jerry Slabe was making plans to make
a move to replace out-going Paul Davis
as main anchor at local competitor WCIA.
In September of 1977 the employee roster included
the names of Bob Cashen as
Anchor, who previously
was at WPTA-TV in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he was the morning and
weekend anchor. The Peoria native was also a news director at
KVIQ in Eureka, California.
From a 1976 TV Guide, pictured left to right is Jane Bigelow, Loren
Boatman, Jerry Slable(in a leather sport coat.....how cool is
that!) and Jeff Beimforh. WAND was then "Scene 17."
A former radio newscaster John Wingate,
joined the staff during the fall of 1977 as well. He was formerly
with WJBC/WBNQ radio in Bloomington, Illinois. It was also at
this time that reporter Jane Bigelow
was moved from her Illinois State House Legislative Reporter position
to that of a Producer. Also, Scott
Lynn Betzelberger was named Sports Director of the
station. He was a graduate of SIU-Edwardsville. Meanwhile, Perry William Ergang was named
reporter for WAND. He was a native of Highland Park, Illinois and
a U of I grad.
Programming from the mid to late 1960's and
very early 1970's
Western movies, western TV series along with other off
network shows filled the non-network schedule of WAND from the mid to
late 1960's. The station continued to include religious
programming as well, especially on Sunday morning. Local news saw
the technical improvement of broadcasting in color during the period
with some expansion of newscasts from fifteen to thirty minutes.
Some of the syndicated shows appearing on the schedule of WAND included
The Texan, an off network
CBS show with Rory Calhoun from 1958-1960. This TV western was on
the Saturday morning pre-cartoon schedule in 1966. Earlier in the
morning if you were watching at 6:30 you would see Industry on Parade followed by Senator Dirkson and the Farm Show, for one hour hosted by
WAND Farm Director Bob Schneider. The 1966 ABC Saturday morning
schedule, included Porky Pig, The Beatles, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Magilla Gorilla, BugsBunny,
Milton the Monster, Hoppity Hooper and American Bandstand. The rest
of the afternoon included reruns of the syndicated Sargent Preston of the Yukon, the off
network syndicated reruns of Tales of
Wells Fargo with Dale Robertson, The New Breed a police drama
starring Leslie Nielson and The
Detectives starring Robert Taylor.
ABC wrapped up Saturday afternoon in 1966 and beyond with the ever
famous Wide Wide World of Sports.
At
5:30 the station aired a local newscast with news, weather and sports. Then
at 6, it was Zorro, the long
running Disney ABC off network western series in syndication, and ABC’s
prime time schedule of Ozzie and
Harriet (in color), Donna Reed,
Lawrence Welk(in color)
and The Hollywood Palace(in
color) which ended at 9:30pm. ABC left the final half hour of
prime on Saturday night for local programming. WAND filled that
time with The WilburnBrothers country-western show which
continued the role of Channel 17 keeping the country music TV tradition
alive. It is assumed The WilburnBrothers was a syndicated first run
music variety series.
Sundays included religious programming such as A.A.Allen, Oral Roberts, This is the Life, Revival Fires, Rev. Schwambach and RexHumbard.
Public affairs/documentary shows were aired on Sunday’s as well, from
ABC such as Discovery.
Sundays were also big sports days for ABC with the airing of various
golf tournaments and other sporting events. Syndicated shows did
show up on Sundays, though. At least in 1966, the schedule
included Sargent Preston of the Yukon,
Tales of Wells Fargo, and
the syndicated first run western anthology series TheDeath
Valley Days along with the western movie/TV classic Hopalong Cassidy.
Weekday afternoons included Captain
Scotty and Davey’s Locker,
two locally produced kids shows with a studio host and cartoons.
It’s unknown who actually hosted these shows, although I remember
watching them at the time. I do remember Jim Clayton, who was also a
WAND news anchor at the time hosting at least for a while. It
also appears that 1966 was the final year of the locally produced kids
shows for WAND. At 4:30pm weekdays it was the Dick Clark produced
filmed music series Where the Action
Is followed by Soupy Sales-the
syndicated adult/kid show at 5, then at 5:30 it was the off network
series Leave It to Beaver.
At six it was 15-minutes of ABC News
with Peter Jennings and 15-minutes of local news, weather and sports. The
late night programming after the 30-minute local news was Nightwatch with a locally run movie.
In 1967, Saturday morning looked somewhat different as the Farm Show was dropped and the
morning’s entertainment programming began with Hopalong Cassidy. On Saturday
afternoons, the lineup included once again, Sargent Preston of the Yukon then
ABC Sports programming including Wide
Wide World of Sports wrapping up the day. Once again the
ABC schedule allowed for local programming at 9:30, and this year it
was the black and white 1950's western Tales
of Wells Fargo.
Sunday included a show entitled Just
For You with Bill Ellis, but unfortunately, information on this
listing is lost in history. Cameo
Theater, the NBC off network series from 1950-55 ran late on
Sunday afternoons along with Death
Valley Days.
The weekdays in 1967 included an early morning Farm Show which ran at 7:20 with Bob
Schneider followed by The Bowery Boys-an
hour long edited version of the Monogram Pictures movie series, then a
collection of cartoons at 8:30 and Romper
Room with Miss Martha at 9. Weekday mornings at 11:30
included a half hour locally produced Farm
and Home Show-probably hosted by Bob Schneider and others from
the news department. The late afternoons included Where the Action Is at 3:30,
followed by a collection of cartoons, Cartoon
Cutups, along with the off network syndicated reruns of McHale’s Navy and The Twilight Zone.
In January 1967 with “ABC’s Second Season”(see audio
from a promo of
ABC’s Second Season from January of 1967 on this site) ABC expanded
network news coverage to 30-minutes with Peter Jennings at 5:30, then a
half hour of local news, weather and
sports. It’s also important to note that local news,
weather and sports were still being broadcast in black and white, as
Midwest Television’s WCIA and WMBD(Peoria) were the only stations
broadcasting local news in color.
Later in 1968, scheduling changed to include a
Saturday morning series
called Panarama Showcase with
an unknown source, format and subject to replace Hopalong Cassidy. A Dick Clark
produced variety series for young people followed American Bandstand on Saturdays
called The Happening. One episode in
July
of 1968 was hosted by Dick Cavette and Frank Sinatra Jr. and included
the bubblegum rock group The Peppermint Trolly Company and Olympic
swimmers Mike Burton, Debbie Meyer and Ken Merten. That show was
followed by a Saturday afternoon movie.
By July of 1968, it appears that WAND along with WICS and the
Peoria stations WEEK and WIRL were also broadcasting local news in
color. The two Terre Haute TV stations WTWO and WTHI along with
WICD were still
broadcasting local news in black and white, and would continue for at
least several more years even into the 1970's.
Rod Serling's Twilight Zone aired from 66-67 weedays at 5.
Weekdays during the Summer of 1968 included the
15-minute color
syndicated cartoon series The King
and Odie, characters from the Tennessee
Tuxedo CBS cartoon series of the 1960's running at 7:45.
At 8 it was the British off network series Ivanhoe which starred a pre-James
Bond Roger Moore as the legendary knight. Weekday afternoons had
a slightly different look with the elimination of cartoon kids shows
and the airing of off network and first run syndicated programming such
as Divorce Court at 3:30,
followed by McHale’s Navy, Gilligan’s Island, then the first
run Ralph Edwards production of the first run syndicated quiz show Truth or Consequences hosted by long
running game show MC Bob Barker. By then, the ABC News was now
anchored by Frank Reynolds, followed by local news, weather and sports broadcast
in color on WAND. Nightwatch was
now more like the Over-Night Watch as WAND began to air ABC’s The Joey Bishop Show at 10:30,
followed by the late movie at Midnight.
By the Fall of 1968 the schedule was shuffled to include the ABC public
affairs documentary Discovery
early on Saturday morning at 7:30. Local news was cut back on
Saturday evenings as the early news was eliminated and replaced by The Bobby Lord Show. The
source, content, or talents of host Bobby Lord is unknown. ABC
continued to end it’s programming on Saturday at 9:30pm, and WAND kept
up it’s connection to country-western music with the local production
of Cornbelt Country Style
hosted by Uncle Johnny Barton from WHOW, Clinton, Illinois’ local
country music radio station. I remember a yearly holiday show of
the Cornbelt Country Style
would include an installment recorded at the Veterans Hospital in
Danville, Illinois. The
Untouchables continued at 10:30 on Saturday night followed by Nightwatch.
Meanwhile, the late afternoon was shuffled again with Truth or Consequences at 3:30,
followed by the off network series in reruns, Dennis theMenace and Gilligan’s Island. There was a
major move of the WAND’s local news time, perhaps to bring about a more
favorable viewing audience to the station and to eliminate viewers
having to make a choice between Channel 3 and 17. ABC News with Frank Reynolds ran at
5pm, followed by WAND’s local news,
weather and sports at 5:30. At six, it was the CBS off
network classic series I Love Lucy,
which ran as lead in to ABC’s prime schedule.
The only change by April 1969 was the
Saturday morning addition of 4-H
Science Club. It’s unknown
where the source, host, or format of this series was as it appeared
previously on the WICS schedule in previous years. WAND also
began Community 17 a locally
produced public affairs show. This was also the year that
two additional off network series were added to the schedule. On
Sundays The Rebel-with Nick
Adams, the off network reruns of the former ABC and CBS series ran at
Noon, then later in the day the off network CBS anthology series Herald TheaterSuspense was added at 5PM.
Another unique syndicated show on the schedule in 1969 was Skippy the BushKangaroo, an Australian produced
adventure show for kids, in the style of Lassie, except with a
Kangaroo. This Aussie series would continue for several years on
WAND.
On weekdays in 1969 an interesting country music artifact was broadcast
at 7:30 each weekday morning. For country music fans, this was
quite a find! Ranch Party
was a filmed full color variety series from the mid to late 1950's with
stars of the Grand Ol’ Opry. The series featured early
appearances of Johnny Cash, Minnie Pearl, Earnest Tubb, Webb Pierce and
many other, now, legendary country music artists. I was not a fan
of country but this show did catch my attention, simply because it was
in color and very old. I developed an appreciation of the
series, and even now, I recognize this would be an incredible DVD
collection for real country music fans today or a great series or a
country video channel! Meanwhile, another half hour of
locally produced country music was added to the weekennds with the
title of Midwest Hayride.
This show, with host and musical regulars unknown, is assumed to have
been produced at WAND.
By Spring 1969, WAND made the shift to move the early evening local
news back to 6PM. (Note that WAND returned to the 5:30pm local
news time during the 1970's) The late afternoon schedule was
changed to add Bewitched-recorded
from 11am on the
ABC network feed and played back at 3:30. This was because of the
scheduling of an early morning local movie which ran from 9:30 to
11:30am. The Munsters
ran at 4, followed by Gilligan’s
Island, Dennis the Menace
and I Love Lucy. At 6,
it was the syndicated commentary of Paul
Harvey followed by 25-minutes of local news, weather and sports. Late
nights still consisted of Joey Bishop
followed by Nightwatch.
Also being broadcast during 1969 were the Sherlock Holmes movie series,
although edited down to fit a 60 minute slot on Saturday
afternoons. The afternoon included Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, followed
by The Bowery Boys, The Rebel and a locally originated
movie. It appears that The
Untouchables ended it’s run on Saturday night as Nightwatch followed the late news on
Saturday night.
WAND’s religious programming of the era included the broadcast of the Billy Graham Specials about four
times a year. These would pre-empt network programming usually
just before or just after a ratings period. WAND, as well as
other network broadcasters would tape a the network show for showing
later, perhaps during a weekend afternoon or late night. That
way, the station could still collect the network fees, plus make money
on the Graham special in prime time, as the religious group sponsoring
the broadcast would actually purchase the time on the station. This was
quite an income producing opportunity for the station, and did little
harm to the ratings of the station, as it would fall outside the
ratings periods.
In February of 1971, WAND was broadcasting a half hour morning news
broadcasts at 7am, followed by Dennis
the Menace, Jeff’s Collie,
Cartoons, Romper Room, McHale’s Navy and The Movie Game before joining the
network for mid day programming. The late afternoons included Mr. Ed, the CBS off network sit com,
Daniel Boone the
hour
long NBC off network adventure series in syndicated reruns, The BigValley the hour long ABC off network
adult western in reruns, The 6PM
local news, weather and sports followed by ABC prime time.
Late night news was followed by ABC’s The
Dick Cavette Show, a short 5 minute news summary at midnight and Nightwatch.
Weekend programming by 1971 included The
Three Stooges early Saturday mornings. Since WAND ran the
Three Stooges cartoon segments during some of it’s generic cartoon time
slots, I assume this was simply several of those short 5 minute
features back to back and not the classic 20 minute features.
Other shows included Nashville
Music, a syndicated country music variety show of unknown format
and Untamed World, a nature
animal documentary show of unknown source. Sundays also included
the locally produced public affairs program Community 17 at 11:30am followed by
a short 10 minute local news summary of news, weather and sports. This
short news summary, probably was recorded the night before as it seems
unlikely to have been a live production. The Sunday night news
was abbreviated in 1971 and continued to be for a number of years, as
WAND ran the ABC late night 15-minute newscast which in 1971 was
anchored by Bill Beutel and then followed by the local newscast.
The ABC off
network series, adult western The Big Valley became a part of weekday
afternoons during 1971.
Detailed
program listings from 1972 through 1976 are not available any longer
from any source obtainable in east central Illinois. The research
will continue and when a source is found for these listings, the
information will be added to this text.
So, we’re jumping
ahead to November of 1976. ABC
began it’s Saturday morning programming at 7am, so WAND didn’t have to
program anything earlier than that. On this November 13th of
1976, ABC was showing two college football games which began at
11:30am. The Alabama/Notre Dame game was followed by the Texas
A&M/Arkansas game. At 6PM WAND broadcast Ara’s Sports World, hosted by Ara
Parseghian-presumably from ABC. This was also a night which ABC
broadcast the often joked about Battle
of the Network Stars, featuring stars of ABC, CBS and NBC
competing in bazaar competitive events for the prize at being number
one. It was lovingly hosted by Howard Cosell. The 15-minute
local news was followed by the ABC late night 15-minute newscast.
WAND followed the news with the 90 minute firt run syndicated Peter Marshall variety show, which
in on this date included Betty White and Allen Ludden, Country Joe
McDonald and Harry James. The show included a wide variety of
musical acts, as you can image with the Woodstock performer of the late
60's and early 70's and the Big Band Leader of the 1940's, along with
some comedy sketches. The Peter
Marshall Show would continue for several years. Keep in
mind the local competition at the time included a late movie on WCIA
and WICS, and Saturday Night Live
on WICD. A short local newscast finished off the broadcast day.
Sunday’s day didn’t begin until 8am with the
religious show Christian Viewpoint-source
unknown, Have You Met Jesus?,
both of unknown
source, Rex Humbard, The Way The Truth The Light, The Methodist Church Service and Good News. It appears as
though, either ABC had quit the tradition of airing kids cartoon shows
on Sunday, or WAND decided not to clear those ABC kids shows and
instead ran an overabundance of religious programs. By the mid
70's, ABC’s Issues and Answers
was a part of the Sunday news interview shows in the style of NBC’s Meet The Press. Community 17 continued to fill a
slot of early Sunday afternoon. WAND also ran a locally
originated movie series with the theme of “The Million Dollar Movie.” On
November 14th of 1976 the movies were “Blue Hawaii” and “If It’s
Tuesday, This Must be Belgium.” These two films would have
probably been considered above average in attracting an audience.
After ABC purged The LawrenceWelk Show from the network schedule
in the early 1970's, it ended up in syndication and WAND ran it,
Sunday’s at 5pm. After a late running of the ABC Sunday Night Movie of “Patton”,
WAND followed it with the 15-minute edition of local news, weather and sports, then ABC’s
late night news with Bill Beutel and a showing of The PTL Club, hosted by the soon to
be controversial Jim and Tammy Bakker. After the PTL Club, it was a re-showing of Community 17 and a rebroadcast of
the late news.
Weekday mornings began rather late, at 6:50 with more
religion and Closer To God Today,
followed by the syndicated Bozo’s Big
Top. It’s unknown where the children’s show Bozo
originated, but it wasn’t the same as WGN’s version of the famous
clown. This show was much more generic in it’s approach and had
no local flavor to it, as did the Chicago version. The half
hour kids show was followed by Lassie,
the newer first run syndicated version starring Robert Bray as Corey,
the forest ranger, then 90-minutes of Good
Morning America with David Hartman beginning at 8. The
WAND public affairs program Looking In
followed at 9:30am, then the ABC daytime schedule of Edge of Night, HappyDays,
Don Ho-variety show with
the famous Hawaiian host, Ryan’s Hope,
Family Feud, $20,000 Pyramid, One Life to Live(45-minutes) and General Hospital(45-minutes).
At 3pm, it was the syndicated long running Mike Douglas Show, Andy Griffith Show, the syndicated
off network CBS classic, the ABC News
anchored by Harry Reasoner and Barbara Walters, then local news, weather and sports.
Since prime time was rolled back to 7PM, it allowed WAND to air Gunsmoke-the CBS off network adult
western classic syndicated color reruns at 6-7PM. The late local
news was followed by the Nightwatch
late movie, The PTL Club and
the rebroadcast of the late local newscast. It was also the first
time that the station ran it’s 10 PM newscast at 35 minutes, a common
occurrence today.
1976 also included the broadcast of WAND’s late Friday night movie
feature “Tales of Terror”
local creature feature movies. It was rather off the genre on the
night of November 19th, as the station ran “The Return of Dr. X” with
Humphrey Bogart. Although, it’s known that during at least part
of
his tenure at WAND, former Promotion Director Mike Cheever would don make up and
dress the part of a vampire like character to host the movie.
More on that, within a special section featuring Mike Cheever.
The WAND news set with staff from around 1977. Included in the
picture left(left to right) is unknown, Loren Boatman(weather anchor),
unknown, George ?, Dick Westbrook(News
Director), Dan Medina?(Main
Anchor), Jane Bigelow and
unknown.
Names of that era include John
Wingate, Scott
Lynn Betzelberger, Perry William Ergang, Dan
Medina, Lance Standstead, Don Bradley, Lynn Fellows and Dan Bowman. Help me match
names with
faces....contact me via e-mail.
The picture at right is with Loren Boatman
and Bob Cashen.
Both pictures courtesy of the Bob Wilcott Collection
Nick Adams starred as "The Rebel" the off network show in
syndication on shown weekends on WAND in the late 60's.
