Page
3: The WAND LIN Broadcasting Years of 1978-1985
An Easter Disaster for WAND
Easter weekend and
the Easter morning of 1978 in central
Illinois was not your usual day of Easter church services and pastel
Easter outfits. Central Illinois was experiencing one of the
worst ice storms in a number of years with damage to area trees, power
lines and
structures. The storm damage reports began
on Good Friday with trees and power lines, then by Saturday afternoon
and early Easter morning the list of damaged structures would include
the loss of two TV broadcast towers in central Illinois.
One, was the former tower/antenna of WJJY-TV which
was licenced to
Jacksonville, Illinois during the very late 1960's and very early
70's. This station went on the air from a sixteen hundred foot
tower and antenna located on the bluffs of the Illinois River near
Meridosia, Illinois. By 1978, the former TV station was history
having left the air just a short time later in 1970.
WJJY-TV went on the air in 1969 broadcasting at 4.5 million watts of
power from one of the three highest structures in North America.
WJJY went dark within two years and the broadcast tower was only a
gravestone marking it's short history. Unfortunately, the tower
was constructed using the typical specs for a
much lighter antenna load. This high powered TV station was using
an experimental antenna which weighed much more than what was usual for
any UHF station. It was that extraordinary weight combined with
the additional weight of solid ice which was said to cover the antenna
and tower, some 3 feet thick, which took it down in the pre-dawn
hours of that Easter morning.
WAND
studios during the late
1970's or 1980's
photo courtesy of the
Bob Wilcott Collection
The Easter weekend of 1978, a central Illinois ice storm claimed
two central Illinois broadcast towers, coincidentally both supporting
similar RCA broadcast antennas. One tower in west central
Illinois, west of Jacksonville
took the former WJJY-TV 1,600 foot tower to the ground.
The same storm also destoryed the broadcast tower of WAND.
Above closest right: A picture of the ceiling and open roof, the result
of an
ice chunk which fell through the studio roof above the control room
from the
former broadcast tower behind the facilty at South Side Drive.
Upper left(long): Ice falling from the South Side Drive
tower which would be called back to service within days.
Left: WAND Station Manager Barry
Geoghegan holding a chunk of
ice which contibuted to the tower failure.
All photos above courtesy of the
Bob Wilcott Collection
Coincidentally WAND was utilizing a similar antenna as WJJY did with
it’s new transmitter location near Argenta, Illinois. Even
though, it wasn’t quite as large or heavy as the original antenna used
by WJJY-TV, as the frequency difference between UHF channel 14 and 17,
along with the difference in power, didn’t require such an antenna, it
was still, quite heavy and larger than most other antennas being used
on top of similar towers of the era. It was on that Saturday
before Easter that the 11-hundred foot steel tower of WAND crashed to
the ground. It was reported that one WAND official had gotten a
phone call shortly before 2 PM from a woman who said, “Oh my God, your
tower just went down!” The damage broke communication between at
least one person, an engineer at the transmitter site, and the
station. When the tower fell, it evidently took the phone lines
with it. Debris was said to have fallen through the roof of the
transmitter building, but the engineer on duty wasn’t injured nor did
the transmitter receive any damage.
The cause, obviously was the buildup of ice on the tower
and antenna, but certainly the additional weight of the experimental
antenna contributed to it’s own demise as well. The scenario was
very similar to the WJJY-TV failure of the next day, when it was
reported that two guy wires snapped and allowed the tower to buckle
near the top and fall, taking out the other guy wires and pulling the
rest of the tower down with it.
This was a trying
time for several central Illinois TV broadcasters as
well. WCIA, Channel 3 was off the air from Friday afternoon to
around 10 PM on Saturday due to a power outage at the transmitter
site. WICD was on the air, but had lost it’s microwave feed from
WICS. At that time, WICD did not have the ability to receive the
NBC network from coax, and satellite reception was still quite a few
years in the future. WICD solved it’s problem of not receiving
the network by quickly installing an antenna at the studio to receive
the off air signal of WTWO-TV, Channel 2 from Terre Haute, Indiana and
rebroadcasting the network signal. It’s interesting to note,
though, that WTWO was suffering from a related problem of not receiving
the network signal because of downed phone lines. The Terre Haute
station was receiving an over-the-air signal from the NBC affiliate in
Indianapolis and was rebroadcasting that to it’s viewers in the Terre
Haute area. I remember a description of the WICD tower which said
that the tower wasn’t straight up and down because of the ice load and
had a rather “S” configuration under the ice load.
The additional
weight of the ice was putting a great deal of stress on the guy
wires. I was at WDAN/WDNL in Danville at the time, and even
though the Danville area didn’t get the full brunt of the ice storm,
there was some ice build up on the 385-foot tower of WDAN and WDNL
which was the former WDAN-TV and WICD tower pre-1967. I remember
seeing a bit of a sway, along with hearing some really strange noises
coming from the newly formed ice sculpture.
No doubt about it, WAND was in deep trouble with no way to return to
the air quickly, but the station did have one ace-in-the-hole that none
of it’s competitors had. That unique advantage was in the form of
it’s former tower and antenna which stood at its studio’s back
door. The original WTVP tower could play a part of being a way to
get WAND back on the air....and soon. The station had two alternatives
to get back on the air, and only one way to solve it’s major problem
and that was to re-build the tower. The alternatives they were
faced with to get a signal on the air as quickly as possible were, to
build a temporary tower at the Argenta site which would be considerably
shorter than 11-hundred feet and limit it’s coverage area at least
until a new tower could be built. The second alternative was to
use the existing original 600-foot tower and antenna behind the
studio. It would be a taxing two weeks before WAND would return
to the air waves.
In an April 1st story in the Urbana Courier, Dick Westbrook, WAND News Director
reported that the station would be returning to the air by April 3rd
broadcasting from it’s original tower. He described what had been
occurring during the last two weeks. First, a plan was undertaken
to broadcast from a temporary antenna placed at the 250-feet level of
the existing tower. Engineers were unsure how far the station
would reach, and at that time, a decision would be made to perhaps
utilize the station’s former antenna at the top of the tower
later. There was also a plan to purchase a used UHF antenna from
a Channel 17 in Philadelphia in case the old antenna was unusable.
Westbrook said by mid-April, if the old antenna was still operational,
it would allow WAND to broadcast once again to the entire area.
This was a bit of an overstatment, since the original antenna would not
be able to handle any major power increases over what it was using
before 1966.
The total damage from the ice storm of Easter weekend 1978 was reported
at 1.5-million dollars! LIN Broadcasting had insurance enough to
handle a loss of 1.2 million dollars. It was also reported that
the construction on a new tower would take another six to eight months
to build, assuming it would be rebuilt at the site near Argenta.
There was also consideration of another unspecified tower site.
By April 13th, WAND was once again broadcasting from it’s original
tower and antenna located on Southside Drive on Decatur’s southwest
side. It seems that the original antenna abandoned in 1966, was
still operational again in 1978. During the clean up and
construction of facilities to contain a temporary transmitter at the
studio location, plans were being made by LIN Broadcasting to create an
even more powerful WAND to broadcast from an even taller tower! T.J. Vaughn, Vice-President of
Operations, stated that the company was “considering a substantial
increase in the size of the tower and an increase in the power.”
Plans being considered included a 2-thousand foot tower and an increase
of power to 3-million watts. Obviously, talk of 2-thousand foot
towers upsets the FAA which would need to approve of such a
structure. Ultimately, the FAA wouldn’t approve of such an
obstruction to the flight paths of local aircraft, and the tower height
of 13-hundred feet was all the governmental body was going to
approve. If there was going to be any increase in coverage area
of WAND, that increase was going to have to come from a power
increase.
Danville's Loss is Champaign-Urbana's Gain
Above
are ID
slides used by WAND, Decatur and translator W-68-AA in Champaign
The left one was created before Halloween 1978 Photo
courtesy of the
Bob Wilcott Collection
The one above was created
during the winter of 1978-79. Both slides/photos are courtesy of
the Bob Wilcott Collection.
With WAND being on low power, once again, WAND
lost many,
many households of viewing. One way to increases the number of
households able to view the station was to move the translator which
was serving no purpose in Danville. The translator in Danville
wasn’t able to receive WAND with a constant off-air signal for
broadcast anyway. I remember watching WAND from the translator at
the time, and the signal would drop in and out at random making viewing
near impossible. Moving the translator would take W-68-AA to
Champaign-Urbana. Once again, T. J. Vaughn made the announcement
that WAND would return to the Twin Cities by way of the
“translator.” This time, though, viewers in Champaign-Urbana
would receive WAND, not on channel 70 as it did before 1966, but would
be watching on channel 68. The translator found a new home on the
new 21-story University Inn located near the heart of the Twin
Cities. This would allow the station to re-broadcast WAND and ABC
to the viewers of Champaign-Urbana within a ten mile radius. The
equipment was delivered on May 24th and by May 29th W-68-AA went on the
air from Champaign-Urbana.
It didn’t take long to the complaints to come rolling in to the
management of WAND. It seems the signal for W-68-AA was not
reaching all points equally around Champaign-Urbana. The
complaints seemed to be coming from viewers from the east and west of
the transmitter/antenna. Larry
Katt, WAND General Sales Manager, stated that work was being
done to rectify the situation and that a better signal was promised to
the viewers of the area. I assume that the problem was eventually
solved.
ABC Alternatives for a few former WAND
viewers
With the ice storm failure of the tower in March 1978,
many households were left without any reception of ABC programming from
WAND. The Danville cable system, Warner Cable was forced to go
elsewhere for ABC programming, choosing to receive WTHR(now NBC) from
Indianapolis. Other cable systems in the area, which formerly
received ABC from WAND, were forced to go elsewhere as well. For
example, some to the south, picked up WBAK, Channel 38 from Terre
Haute(now FOX), others to the north were forced to pick up a scratchy
signal from WLS, Channel 7 in Chicago, WRAU(now WHOI), Channel 19 from
Peoria, or KTVI(now Fox) from St. Louis. Many viewers wouldn’t
have a choice for alternative ABC programming for several months.
The video left is from an outside source and may be
withdrawn without
notice.
This screen grab
is from July 4th, from what is believed
to be 1980. It features Karen
Konyar and long time
popular WAND reporter Doug Wolfe
filling in anchoring
on the holiday mid day news.
The mid day news ran from 11:30 to Noon, right before
"All My Children" on ABC.
Photo courtesy of
the Bob Wilcott Collection
Above left: The anchor team of
Bob Dolan(sports), Cathy Styles and Bob Cashin and Loren
Boatman(weather) from 1979-80.
In 1979 after the Argenta-Oreana transmitter site was rebult,
WAND built a new news set with a new anchor lineup. Bob Cashen
was joined by Cathy Styles.
Other publicity
shots of Bob Cashin(with an
unknown reporter in the back ground),
studio shots of Bob Cashin,
Cathy Styles and Loren Boatman.
Photos courtesy of
the Bob Wilcott Collection
Dick Westbrook, News
Director
Dick Westbrook
was WAND News Director during much of
the
1970's and 80's. He was also a sometime anchor, and anchor for
"Looking In," WAND's public affairs features which aired on weekdays.
It was the title of the station's mid day newscasts with
various local interviews and local events.
Westbrook was formerly News Director at WDZ(AM) in
Decatur during the mid to late 1960's.
Pictures above (top left) include a black and white publicity picture,
probably from the late 1960's or very early 1970's.
Station ID(top right) with Westbrook,
and some scenes
with Dick "Looking In."
Photos courtesy of the Bob Wilcott Collection
"Good Morning America"
premiered in 1976 on ABC to go head to head with
NBC's "Today Show." The show was somewhat unlike "The Today Show"
as the set used for the morning news/info program resembled someone's
living room, instead of a more traditional news room set. The
show was friendly, fast moving and included hosts actor, David
Hartman(top right)
and actress, Nancy Dussault(who would later star with Ted Knight on
"Too Close for Comfort" on ABC). Dussault was replaced the next
year by Sandy Hill. Throughout the late 1970's and 80's "Good
Morning America" continued to move up in the ratings and would
eventually overtake the long running NBC morning news program.
David Hartman would eventually be joined by Joan Lunden.
Hartman was host from 1975 to 1987, when he was replaced by Charles
Gibson. Spencer Christian was weathercaster for most of the run
through the 90's. Steve Bell was one of the early newscasters in
the late 1970's and early 1980's.. Meanwhile Lunden continued from 1980
to 1997 when she was replaced by Lisa McRee.
(pictured right-middle) is Barry Manilow, who was being featured as a
guest. This particular graphic was a bumper used between the
commericals and the program material.
"Donny
and Marie" was produced by Sid and Marty Kroft, producers of
many Saturday morning cartoon series. This starred 18 year old
Donny and his 16 year old sister(in the original season), Marie.
Guests included the other members of the Osmond family including the
younger Jimmy who was 12 at the time. It included a variety of
music, skits, comedy and fashion, as Bob Mackie was brought on board to
give Marie a more mature look. After 1977 the show was taped at
their own studio in Orem, Utah. It ran from 1976 to 1979 on ABC.
"Laverne and Shirley" was a spin off
"Happy Days" and premiered on ABC in 1976 where it became an instant
hit, following it's originating show. The show starred Cindy
Williams and Penny Marshall and their wacky neighbors Lenny and
Squiggy(played by Michael McKean and David Lander). Other
characters were brought in as the two lead characters matured and later
moved from Milwaukee to Burbank, California. The show ran on ABC
through 1983.
"The Bionic Woman" began a two year
run on ABC for one season(1976-77). It starred Lindsey Wagner
along with "Bionic Man" co-star Richard Anderson. It moved to NBC
during the 1977-78 season.
The
sometimes controversial "Three's
Company" was about as harmless as any controversial show can
get. It ran on ABC from 1977 to 1984. Stars pictured above
John Ritter and Norman Fell, also starred Joyce DeWitt, Suzanne Somers,
Jenilee Harrison and Pricilla Barnes.
"Charlie's
Angels" ran on ABC from 1976-1981. The original three
former police women who went to work for Charlie(voice played by John
Forsythe) were Kate Jackson, Jaclyn Smith and Farrah
Fawcett-Majors. Farrah got the most press, but all three were
attention getters in their own right. Later after Farrah left the
series, at least as a regular, the original two were joined by Cheryl
Ladd, and later by Shelly Hack and Tanya Roberts. David Doyle
played the assistant to Charlie and would sometimes get involved in the
cases the women were working on.
ABC's
urban sit-com "What's Happening"
ran on ABC from 1976 to 1979 and starred Ernest Thomas as Roger, Fred
Barry as "Rerun", Haywood Nelson as Dwayne, Mabel King as Mama and
Danielle Spencer as Dee.
ABC was big into comedy variety shows and one of the biggest was "The Captain and Tennille".
This one ran during the 1976-77 season. It was another of the
youth oriented variety hour long shows starring the married pop due
which had several top 10 hits during the 1970's. Toni Tennille
starred with husband, Daryl Dragon are shown right.
Mike Cheever
Mike Cheever was
the WAND Promotions Director /Manager
from 1970 to 1984.
Pictures: top left Mike at the
"Tales of Terror" set at WAND in which he starred as
Dr. Terror(pictured lower left in makeup), Mike behind the
WAND studios, 70's. There is another shot of Mike below on this
web page from a TV Guide ad for the mid day news program.
He took many responsibilities at WAND including that of
announcer, chief copywriter, producer, weekend weather,
worked in audio control and in his words, "everything in between."
Photos
courtesy of the Bob Wilcott Collection
He also kept an
on-air presence with several features. He
was host of "Looking In" the WAND public affairs
program for a time, as well as playing the part
of "Dr. Terror" on the Friday night movie series
"Tales of Terror." Mike also was the "voice" of
WAND doing voice over promotions for
local programming, movies, topical promos and
public service announcements.
Mike also was part
of the mid day news at WAND and host of
the "At Your Service" feature.
On a personal
note, Mike served as a model for my initial role of
Promotional Director at WICD, as I also
maintained an on-air presence during my early days at
WICD.
Supplemental Information:
I found Mike Cheever, via e-mail, and he sent me details about his time
at WAND. One thing he is espcially proud of is the creation of at
last two very successful television advertising campaigns for two local
car dealers. One of the most recognizable campaigns was for the
local Perry Thomas Lincoln Mercury. Mike writes, "Perry Thomas'
famous ending with Chauncey the Cougar growling began with a visit from
the cougar and his handlers. We got the critter to roam the
showroom and offices of Thomas' facility. Back at the studio we
got him to growl on a blue screen which we inserted over Thomas' logo."
"We successfully used the cat on the sign for several months.
Then the tape got mislaid and in a rush of frustration I got the bright
idea to put Perry on the sign and have him growl. Around this
time, Mary Tyler Moore and Bob Newhart were using kittens and humans to
close (ala MGM's Leo the Lion), so Perry Thomas' growl became a kind of
local phenomenon. Long after we both had left the limelight, I
ran into Perry and (while) we were talking some (people) went by and
growled. Perry said to me, "I sometimes wish you hadn't been
quite so successful with that growling! Everywhere I go, people
growl at me.""
Mike also writes about his creation of "Tales of Terror" the Friday
night feature from 1974 to 1978 on WAND. The idea began with the
title of the American International Pictures series starring Vincent
Price in features based on Edgar Allen Poe tales. He tried to
come up with the name of a character to introduce the movie series and
came up with "Dr. Terror."
He decided to wear a black turtleneck, black slacks and with the use of
lightling created the "spooky look." The character of "Dr.
Terror" went on to host the showing of many different horror and sci-fi
movies over the years on WAND. The character's laugh was inspired
by the laugh used in the classic radio shows, "The Shadow."
Now that I have made contact with Mike, I hope to add many of his
recollections to this site. Thanks so much, Mike!!
The daytime schedule during 1978-85 seasons included the
popular daytime serials "General
Hospital," "Ryan's Hope," "The Edge of Night" and "One Life to Live,"
During the 1977-1979 season "General
Hospital"went from being tied at number 8 in the ratings to
number one within 2 years. "General
Hospital" rode the number one position in all of daytime through
1988.
"Family"
star Kristy McNichol is pictured left . This ABC show ran from
1976-1980 and also starred Sada Thompson, James Broaderick and Meredith
Baxter-Birney.
"Eight
is Enough" was a
family one-hour comedy/drama which ran
on ABC from 1977 to 1981. "Personally it's one my favorites of
all
time." It featured the stories of a large family headed by a
newspaper
columnist played by Dick Van Patten. Among the family members
were Grant Goodeve, Willie Aames and Adam Rich as the three sons, and
the daughters were played by Lani O'Grady, Laurie Walters,
Susan Richardson and Dianne Kay. Adam Rich is pictured from a
Christmas episode putting a homemade ornament in memory of his mother
who passed away during the run of the series. This
video above is from the series 2nd season, and is from an outside
source and could be
withdrawn without notice.
"Operation Petticoat" was inspired
by the 1959 movie of the same name which starred Cary Grant and Tony
Curtis. Ironically the TV version starred the real life daughter
of Curtis, Jamie Lee Curtis along with John Astin, Richard Gilliland,
Yvonne Wilder, and many others. This was a World War II military
comedy set in the south Pacific aboard the Navy sub- The
SeaTiger. The sub was probably best known as the "pink
submarine." During it's second season run, many of the stars were
replaced. That's not a good sign, but even the cast change didn't
help. It only ran on ABC from 1977 to 1979.
"Family Feud" aired
on ABC in 1977 through 1985, in daytime, and also in syndication.
Former Hogan's Heroes star and Match Game panelist, Richard Dawson
starred as the host. He was probably best known for kissing the
female contestants.
This
very short lived ABC series "Blansky's
Beauties" ran from February to May of 1977. It starred
Nancy Walker (from the Bounty paper towel commercials, and Rhoda's mom
Ida) along with one of my personal favorites, Karen Kaye and former
Happy Days/Laverne and Shirley vets Lynda Goodfriend, Eddie Mekka,
Scott Baio, and Pat Morita among others.
The
movie Animal House was sure to inspire a TV series. During the
1979 season, there were three AH inspired series, one for each of the
three networks. ABC had "Delta
House" which ran from January to April of 1979. The ABC
version starred some of the original AH stars: John Vernon, Stephen
Furst, Bruce McGill, James Widdoes along with newcomers Josh Mostel,
Peter Fox and Gary Cookson along with future stars Michelle Pfeiffer
and Peter Kastner.
Lee
Majors straight off of "Big Valley" and "Owen Marshall" played Colt
Steavers, a famous Hollywood stunt man, who also solved crimes along
with his fellow workers and friends played by Douglas Barr, Heather
Thomas, Jo Ann Pflug and Markie Post. Lee Majors sung the title
theme, "The Unknown Stuntman." "The
Fall Guy" ran on ABC from 1981-86.
"Makin It" was inspired by the movie
Saturday Night Fever and starred the guy who did the Dr. Pepper
commericals, David Naughton. This one even starred Ellen
Travolta, instead of John Travolta and also used many of the Bee Gees
songs as background music. It ran on ABC from February to March
of 1979.
A
good looking star, playing a good looking rich guy who solved crime;
that was "Matt Houston."
Lee Horsley stared along with Pamela Hensley, George Wyner, and
eventually Buddy Ebson was brought in after "Barnaby Jones" ended it's
run. Here the former, Jed Clampett played Roy Houston, the father
of Matt. "Matt Houston" ran on ABC from 1982 to 1985.
"VEGA$"
starred
Robert Urich as a
P.I. in Las Vegas. Urich
starred as Dan Tanna along with his classic Thunderbird. Co-stars
included Phyllis Davis, Bart Braverman, Judy Landers, Naomi Stevens,
Greg Morris and Tony Curtis in a re-occuring role as Tanna's boss,
Philip Roth. "Vegas" ran on ABC from 1978 to 1981. The
video right, is from an outside source and could be withdrawn without
notice.
The critics loved this one, an ensemble
cast which would go on to see various levels of success once the series
ended. "Taxi" ran on ABC
from 1978 to 1982, then went to NBC during it's final season in
1982-83. The stars included: Judd Hirsch, Tony Danza, Danny
DeVito, Marilu Henner, Christopher Lloyd, Andy Kaufman, meff Conaway
and Carol Kane. The show won 14 emmys during it's five seasons,
and in spite of that, was cancelled twice by two different networks.
"Fantasy Island"
was an ABC classic which ran from 1978 to 1984. It starred
Ricardo Montalban and Herve Villechaize as hosts on an island in which
people could act out their fantasy in their careers, relationships and
love. It was an anthology series, one in which various guest
stars would be featured each week and the only regulars would be the
hosts. This video is from an outside source and could be
withdrawn without notice.
"Love Boat", was
another ABC antholgy series similar to "Fantasy Island" which featured
the personal stories of guest stars. This was another Aaron
Spelling production, one of many on ABC during the 1970's and
80's. The video above is from the 1982 season, and I include this
one because of Bobby Short. Bobby was a Danville, Illinois native
and one in which I would personally meet as he was a frequent guest
during a morning talk show on WDAN Radio, where I was employed for many
years. He was a terrific guy, and was always very friendly and
'down to earth.' He is also included in a radio aircheck from
WLRW in which he sang a jingle for Dr. Pepper back in the 1970's.
He also sang a famous TV commercial for "Charlie" a popular cologne
also from the 1970's. See more below....
This video is from an outside source and
could be withdrawn without notice.
A collection of
promotional graphics from the late 70's and early 1980's for nighttime
lineups, as
well as for specials("Let's Get Physical" with Olivia Newton-John) and
movies(like "Smokey and the Bandit").
"The
Love Boat" was described as a sit-com, but is probably best in a
catagory of it's own, a sort of "An Hour-Long Anthology Comedy/Drama
with Re-occuring Characters and a Laugh Track." This very popular
ABC series ran from 1977 to 1986 and was part of the Saturday night
lineup which also included "Fantasy
Island" which was "An Hour-Long Anthology Drama with Re-occuring
Characters without a Laugh Track." See Ricardo Montalban in a
"Fantasy Island" promo graphic above.
Above and below are a
series of ABC network graphics which were used for
promotion and branding during the early
1980's.
Right-A TV Guide ad for
the Saturday Night Live copycat show for ABC
called "Fridays." The
show was, in my opinion was very funny, but it's
probably best known for bringing
Michael Richards and Larry David together to help form "Seinfeld."
WAND IDs from the early 1980's featuring (left) Karen Konyar
Photo courtesy of the Bob Wilcott Collection
and (right) Mindy Mintz
Photo courtesy of the Bob Wilcott Collection
WAND IDs from the early 1980's featuring (left) Leadra Reilly, Reporter
Photo courtesy of the Bob Wilcott Collection
and (right) featuring the (film) camera work of Scott Torrens
Photo courtesy of the Bob Wilcott Collection
We don't know why this picture was taken, or exactly when, but it
includes Larry Rosenthal along
with Ed Mathias and WAND
Station Manager Barry Geoghegan. Note the
studio
camera, without a teleprompter. Also on the wall behind the trio
is the word "TEAM." Quite possibly from the old electronic store
chain Team Electronics. Decatur's Team Electronics was located at
the old Northgate Mall.
Photo courtesy of the Bob Wilcott Collection
This ID slide fetures WAND Sports Director Bob Dolan, and
presumably was used after the contstruction of the replacement
tower/antenna was completed in 1979. The use of "Get to Know Us"
and
"It's Where You Are!" could be a sign of the station trying to
re-market itself to viewers who couldn't receive the ABC station
for nearly a year.
Photo courtesy of the Bob Wilcott Collection
"Soap" was another
of the controversial ABC sitcoms of the 1970's. Even before it
went on the air ABC received thousands of letters of complaint, based
on rumors of infidelity of the characters, including the
sexual activities of a priest, gay characters and insane senior
citizens. Some ABC stations aired the series late at night, but
in spite of the pressure WAND aired the series at it's network
time. It did introduce Billy Crystal, Robert Urich, John Byner,
Diana Conova(Judy's real life daughter), Roscoe Lee Brown and others to
the public, many of which went on to star in other TV series and in
movies.
It was the "Star Wars" era, so ABC developed it's
own sci-fi franchise, in "Battlestar
Galactica" starring former Pondorosa "Pa" Loren Greene and a
young bunch of space refugees looking for another planet to call
home...called Earth. They included Richard Hatch, Dirk Benedict,
Herb Jefferson, Jr., Maren Jensen and many others. It was TV's
most expensive show to produce during it's time as special effects were
by John Kykstra(who also did "Star Wars"). It lasted one year,
then came back as "Galactica 1980"
having taken place 30 years later. It was still headed by Greene,
but new actors were used including Kent McCord(of "Adam 12" fame),
Barry Van Dyke(Dick's son), Robyn Douglas and others. The last
series ran from Jan through August of 1980.
ABC's committment to sports continued through the 1970's with "ABC's
Wide World of Sports." Jim McKay continued hosting duties with
others from the ABC Sports stable. Roone Arledge created and
produced the concept back in the 60's. He later became President
of ABC News in 1977. It's hard to feature anything about ABC
without including him. He brought many innovations to
network sports broadcasting, many of which he brought to "Wide World"
including the use of video taping obscure sporting events and bringing
a dramatic flair to covering those events, making it quite
popular to the public.
Arledge produced all 10 ABC Olympic broadcasts, created Monday Night
Football and wrote "the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat"
delivered by Jim McKay.
"The
Best of the West" was a western sit-com, and was one of my
personal favorites. It starred Joel Higgins as Sam Best, who was
a Civil War Vet who is hired to be a sheriff of a town that is in
control by Parker Tillman(played by Leonard Frey). The town's
doctor is played by the great movie comedy actor Tom Ewell. Sam's
wife was played by Carlene Watkins and son by Meeno Peluce. Tracy
Walker was also in the cast as a dumb hired hand of Tillman. It
ran from 1981 to 1982.
"Family
Feud" with Richard Dawson was a Goodson-Todman game show based
on, not correct answers, but the most likely answers to questions from
a polled audience. Richard Dawson, left the prime chair in the
"Match Game" to host this ABC and syndicated game show. His
trademark was kissing all of the female contestants. It premiered
in 1976 with Dawson as the host until 1985.
"T.J.
Hooker" starred William Shatner and James Darren, Adrian Zmed
and Heather Locklear as L.A. cops. It ran on ABC from 1982 to
1985. It's interesting to note that Heather Locklear was starring
in two ABC series at the same time. She also starred in Dynasty,
the prime time soap. It also moved to CBS as a late night entry
in a 90-minute format during it's final season.
"Too
Close For Comfort" starred Ted Knight(right after "Mary Tyler
Moore"), Nancy Dussault, Devorah Van Valkenburgh, JM J. Bullock and
Lydia Cornell. Pictured above is Cornell, Bullock and
Knight. This time Ted starred as a cartoonist with his two
daughters living in the apartment below his and his wifes.
Bullock was an aggrivation to Henry(Ted Knight).
"Who's
the Boss" starred Tony Danza(right off of "Taxi"), along with
Judith Light where it airred for eight seasons. In this one,
Danza played the part of a former baseball player with a daughter,
played by Alyssa Milano. He becomes a live-in housekeeper of
Lights. This one ran from 1984 through 1992.
"Father
Dowling Mysteries"was based on a British TV series. The US
version starred Tom Bosley and Tracy Nelson(Rick and Kris Nelson's
little girl) as a nun who with Bosley as a priest, went on to solve
crimes. It ran from 1987 to 1991.
This was an unlikely spin off of the
classic "Odd Couple" which
starred Tony Randell and Jack Klugman, only this one was played by
black actors. Ron Glass(from "Barney Miller") had the prissy
Randell role of Felix Unger while Demond Wilson(from "Sanford and Son")
played the Oscar Madison role in "The
New Odd Couple." It ran only for a short time, but was so
close to the original show, it couldn't be all that bad. In fact
out of the 13 episodes, 8 of those used scripts from the original
show. Unfortunately, the audience didn't buy it. It ran
from October 1982 through February 1983 on Friday nights.
(Left) Charles Gibson doing one of the ABC Network News Breaks during
prime time. This time he's promoting the late night airring of
"NightLine." This was from sometime in the early 1980's.
"Mork and Mindy" was a spin off of
sorts of "Happy Days" and used all of the formula elements which made
"Happy Days" a national TV hit. One of the cookie cutter ideas
was the use of catch phrases which seem to work themselves into
everyday use. In this case it was "Na-nu, na-nu." Mork was
played by Robin Williams who seemed to ad lib most of his dialog.
Mindy was played by Pam Dawber. Conrad Janis played her
father. The show was tampered with by some well meaning, but
stupid network bosses who made changes to the series such as the
location, cast and timeslot. The show lost half of it's audience,
and probably damaged the series for later syndication. It ran on
ABC from 1978 to 1982.
During the 1970's
into the 1980's, ABC offered a number of big budget mini-series and
programmed them during primarily during sweeps months to attract and
lock in viewers for an extended length of time, usually over a good
part of a week, and several nights in a row.
Among the
mini-series which attracted large audiences for ABC and WAND were: "Rich Man, Poor
Man," "QB VII," "Roots(pictured logo left)," "The Thorn Birds(pictured
below far right)," along
with the original "The Winds of
War" and the sequel "War and
Remembrance."
"Roots" was the big
winner in that it was one of the first, had an all star cast, based on
a true story and was programmed during a week which included a major
snow storm over much of the U.S.. This pretty much insured a
large audience, and it paid off....big!
"Bosom Buddies" was the beginning
for a major Hollywood star and power broker, Tom Hanks. His
co-stars were Peter Scolari(later of "Bob Newhart Show"), Wendie Jo
Sperber and Donna Dixon. Tom played Kip and his alter ego, Buffy,
in drag alon with Peter Scolari's Henry and alter ego Hildegarde.
A funny show which included the late Wendy Jo Sperber who was very
funny, and very talented.
Robert
Wagner(formerlly of "It Takes a Thief") joined with Stefani Powers to
star as Jonathan and Jennifer Hart in "Hart
to Hart." The Harts were rich supersleuths who operated
their own detective agency, solving murders along with crimes of all
sorts. Their chauffeur was played by former blacklisted actor
Lionel Stander.
A big
budget hour long TV series based on the Arthur Hailey book of the same
name, which was a land lubber version of "The Love Boat." This
time the "Hotel" staff were
the regulars with a cast of guest stars each week. Regulars
included Anne Baxter(as the owner), James Brolin, Connie Sellecca,
Heidi Bohay, Shari Belafonte, Shea Farrell and Nathan Cook, among
others.
"Jack and Mike" was a short lived,
but very hip young adult drama series with Shelly Hack as Mike
and starring as Jack, a
Chicago working couple. He a restauranteur and her, a newspaper
feature columnist. It aired during the 198
season.
"The ABC Sunday Night Movie" was a
staple on Sunday nights and included major Hollywood
blockbusters. They included all of the James Bond series films,
along with Patton, The Ten Commandments, and many others.
(Left) is a TV
Guide ad for the mid day show which included the WAND News Director
Dick Westbrook(right), the Promotions Director Mike Cheever(left) and
Audrey Shimp.
(Top) WAND studios
on
Southside Drive in Decatur from sometime in the early 1980's
"The Greatest American Hero"
starred William Katt, Connie Sellecca(pictured left), along with Robert
Culp and others. The theme became a hit song for Joey Scarury.
"Nightline" began in 1979 after the
Iran Hostage Crisis and continues to this day. The late night
news program aired opposite "The Tonight Show" and during it's time was
the only network news source after the 10PM(CT) news.
"The Ropers" was a
spinoff of "Threes Company" and starred the original landlords played
by Norman Fell and Audra Lindley. It aired from 1979 to 1980.
Pictured above is long time WTVP and WAND weathercaster Loren
Boatman.
Below is a series of screen shots taken off air from WAND local
newscasts of the era. The anchors were George Moyer and Kim
Sherwood. Of course, Loren Boatman did weather and Rick Zurak was
the Sports Director. Dana Wadell is the reporter from the
newsroom below.
The weekend anchors(pictured below far right) are Jeff Ruffner and Mike
Vaughn.
The poor quality of the pictures is because they were recorded
off air from over 90 miles from their transmitter site.
(Left) is a promo
graphic for the ABC daytime version of "Family Feud" with Richard
Dawson.
(Right) is a promo
graphic for the syndicated "Fame" based on the movie of the same
name. It aired Sunday's at 5PM on WAND.
There were several delays
in getting the tower built. Besides getting governmental approval
from the FAA, there was a matter of a power increase which took the FCC
some time to approve. There were also several equipment delays as
well as tower constructiion delays as well. The tower included
more guy wires for support and a new transmitter building as well.
By March of 1979, WAND was finally back on the air with
5-million watts of UHF power at channel 17, on a 1,314 foot tower in
the Argenta-Oreana area along I-72.
This
is an aircheck of WAND from 1985 and was taken during a
broadcast of "45/85" a production of ABC News looking at history
from the years 1945-85. There's not much program content here,
but it
skims the ABC Promos, WAND news ID/Promos and even an ABC
NewsBreak. It was recorded from September of 1985. Ernie
Anderson
who voiced ABC Promos for years is prominently featured here.
When
Loren Boatman passed away, WAND featured his video obit, years after
his "retirement." Keep in mind Boatman was the station's face and
voice for over 35 years, having began with WTVP in 1953. He was
the constant in an industry which features a revolving door of anchors,
sports anchors and reporters. It appears that they had very
little video of his work over the years, and only featured a short clip
from the mid 80's with Kim Sherwood at the anchor desk, along with a
piece of video from the 1978 ice storm which put WAND off of the air
for several weeks. This is a perfect example why local TV needs
to keep more of it's heritage! I probably have more video of Mr.
Boatman than the TV station that employed him for over 35 years!
The only real video of Boatman was
from a recent interview, and it wasn't all that compelling. It's
sad that his TV career was minimized by WAND to just a short package,
and an anchor staff that didn't have any idea of his significance to
the station they work for.
This video will be transferred to a future segment of the History of
WAND when it's completed.
thanks to Karen Barding for
her contribution
thanks to Mike Cheever for his contribution
