WICD Champaign

WICD, Channel 15, Champaign, Illinois

Part 2: The Plains Television/WCHU-TV/WICD-TV Years (1960-1967)

Here's an ad in a TV Guide from 1958 announcing the new WICS broadcast tower which made the prospect of adding a satellite television station in Champaign a possibility. It would "infringe"on the Champaign-Urbana market and WCIA. It wasn't for another 6 years before WCIA would do likewise and add W-49-AA to broadcast WCIA's signal in Springfield. WCHU would re-broadcast the off air signal of WICS from it's 800 foot tower east of Springfield near Mechanicsburg, Illinois.

WICS-TV originally went on the air in 1953 with studios at the LeLand Hotel in downtown Springfield and transmitter sight located at the WCVS radio transmitter sight on South Fourth Street in Southern View, a suburb south of Springfield. The original broadcast antenna for WICS was located on top of a 400-foot self supporting three legged tower which served as the antenna for WCVS radio. A new 900 foot tower/transmitter sight at Mechanicsburg, Illinois completed in 1958 made it possible to construct a satellite station in Champaign, Illinois. That satellite station, some 90 miles east, would rebroadcast WICS-TV and bring Champaign-Urbana television viewers NBC programming from a primary NBC affiliate.

Construction on WCHU began in November of 1958, and the station originally went on the air in September of 1959 as a low power UHF station and a translator of WICS. The original coverage of area of WCHU was estimated to be no more than 15 miles from the transmitter site at the Inman Hotel in downtown Champaign. The power output on the new WCHU was 5.5 kilowatts visual and 2.96 kilowatts aural from a short antenna mounted on top of the Inman Hotel in downtown Champaign, the corner of Neil and University. WCHU was to receive an off air signal of WICS for rebroadcast from a receiver also located on the roof of the Inman Hotel. It didn't take long to see that the assumption of getting an airable signal from WICS all of the time was a mistake. Weather conditions, the time of day and other bouts of interference from the downtown area contributed in a less than reliable signal from WICS.

(Left) The full page ad in the Champaign-Urbana Courier which announced the "Broadcast in Earnest" of WCHU, Champaign-Urbana's first UHF TV Station. This was in Ocober of 1959, when the station originally signed-on with a limited schedule on April 25th, 1959.

(Above) The Courier newspaper section which included the information about the new station told of "Four Years of Dreams, Planning Preceded Opening of Channel 33."

WICS beginning in 1958 was on it's 900-foot tower at Mechanicsburg broadcasting at 500 kilowatts. To expect a good broadcast quality signal all of the time from 90 miles was a stretch even in the best of circumstances. The receiving antenna on top of the Inman Hotel was a large parabolic style antenna with signal amplifiers, but it just didn't work. Later in the year an application was filed for, and permission was granted by the FCC for the construction of a receiver on the north west side of Champaign along U.S. 150. This receiving antenna would be on a 150-foot tower which would receive WICS then microwave the signal to the studios at the Inman Hotel.

On September 13th, 1959 WCHU was ready to expand it's broadcast day with the construction completed on the microwave link from it's new receiving antenna north west of Champaign. It was reported the station now began to broadcast "in earnest." A special insert in the Champaign-Urbana Courier the following month featured the programming and details on the future plans of the station to include some local origination with a newly constructed studio on the second floor of the Inman Hotel.

The original staff at WCHU included Vice President Milton Friedland who was with WICS since 1953 and would oversee the operation at WCHU as well. Jerry Merrit was Chief Engineer and Jack Hoskins was Program Director. All of those personel would be located at WICS. At WCHU the staff conisisted of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Eskew. Mr Eskew was from technical services at WICS and would oversee the new station in Champaign. His wife was a former Traffic Manager and would serve as Office Manager at the station. Meanwhile Jerry Dodds was serving as Account Executive and Bob Daniels was serving as Announcer. Other Engineers on staff included Roger Thorp and Glen Horton.


This ad from a local TV store welcomed WCHU to the air by encouraging viewers to check out the DuMont TV's and the programming on WCHU which would include "a host of stars, 23 of America's greatest TV shows and 17 1/2 hours of top programming on NBC-33.	The landlord took out an ad in the Champaign-Urbana Courier to welcome WCHU to the secondfloor of the hotel and the antenna atop the Inman Hotel.	Here are people in charge, Mr. and Mrs Harry Eskew who were placed at the helm of WCHU. Harry was formerly at "technical services" at WICS while Mrs. Eskew was the former "Traffic Manager" at WICS. She would now be Office Manager at WCHU.

In July of 1960, the license holder for WCHU, WCHU, Inc., went through a name change. The original corporation was dissolved which according to a newspaper account in the Champaign-Urbana Courier, would permit "the consolidation of interest by it's present company" Plains Television Partners. By that time the Danville Commerical-News parent company Northwest Publishing was ready to dump it's local television property, WDAN-TV.   The ownership of yet another television station in the market was a natural to expand the reach of WICS. This would allow WICS to meet or exceed the coverage area of competitor WCIA in getting the ad dollars of regional and national advertisers. With the change in the license holder name it would allow all three stations to operate under the Plains Television name. Remember now, that Champaign's WCHU was a translator of WICS, and was an NBC affiliate. WDAN-TV was operating as an ABC affiliate in Danville. The idea of having ownership of more than one station, with separate network affiliation in the same market was unheard of at the time. In spite of that, the press release stated that Plains having ownership of the two stations, WCHU and WDAN "would have no effect on the operation of the TV stations in Champaign or Danville." That was a total un-truth. The writing should have been on the wall, since the coverage area of both stations, had very little overlap, it should have been obvious that now both stations would be used as translators for WICS.

Late in 1960, the exact date is unclear, but Northwest Publishing, owner of WDAN-TV sold the station to Plains Television Partners which then renamed the station WICD-TV to become a satellite station of WCHU which was a satellite of WICS in Springfield. The General Manager of WICD was Ralph Johnson. The original WDAN-TV studios on North Washington Street in Danville after the sale, was leased from Northwest Publishing. The original facility also housed the WDAN-AM studio and transmitter while the television station was located there. Later during the early and mid 1960's Champaign's WCHU did originate local programming which was simulcast on WICD-TV, including local news, children's programming and local commercials.

By August of 1960 it was announced that WCHU should be able to broadcast in color, perhaps by the time of the telecast of the 1960 World Series. Milton D. Friedland made the obvious statement that "color is here to stay....RCA and NBC have made tremendous investments in developing color TV and will be transmitting every color show they have." The investment in colorcasting at WCHU was in the $15-20,000 range. Friedland went on to announce some of the shows that would be broadcast in color by WCHU including, "Jack Paar, Perry Como, Dinah Shore will all be in color." By then, though, WICS had been broadcasting in color for three years. Unfortunately, WICD, the Danville sister station would not be broadcasting in color....yet.   It's apparent that the vintage 1953 transmitter of WICD was not capable of being retrofitted to accomodate the addition of the equipment needed to colorcast. I would asssume that the investment in colorcasting for the Danville station was simply not financially practical as a complete new transmitter would have been required.

With the ability to broadcast in color, it must be said that the only programming which was broadcast in color came from NBC. A very similar situation which exists today with the broadcasting of high definition digital video. It was going to be 10 more years before the facility would be broadcasting local shows, other than movies, in color.

Not one to be upstaged by the announcement of the telecasting of the more colorful NBC programming schedule, WCIA's August C. Meyer stated that WCIA-TV had been able to broadcast the network color shows since 1954. He went on to say that CBS had a limited amount of color shows available. Actually, CBS had no regular color shows, and wouldn't have until 1966. In fact, CBS was the last of the three networks to have a prime time schedule with any color programming. This fact had to frustrate the owners of WCIA a great deal. So much so, that they would be the first to broadcast their local news in color just a few years later.

Part of CBS reluctance to broadcast in color came from the fact that the color studio equipment had to be purchased from competitor RCA/NBC which were the patent holders of the technical color standards. It all goes back to the early 1950's when the color TV standards were being decided by the FCC. The CBS color system was reported to be better in quality, but was not compatible to the millions of TV sets which were in use even in the early 1950's. The RCA/NBC system was compatible, and after many years and months of hagling by the technical wizards at both companies, the FCC made a decision, then overturned their decision to favor the RCA compatible format. That set the stage in the reluctance of CBS to purchase equipment from the competitor.

During the late 1950's, the ownerships of WTVP and WICS petitioned the FCC for the elimination of WCIA's broadcasting as the only VHF station in the central Illinois market. At that time, many TV markets were designated as either VHF(major markets) or UHF(smaller centralized markets). WCIA continued to fight for years to maintain their dial position, threatning that a move to UHF would eliminate many square miles of their coverage area and seriously hurt the the stations econimic success. It would also have in all likelihood split the central Illinois market into two, leaving it with 2 small markets, instead of one geograhically large market. Being able to maintain one market brought more prestige to WCIA, more programming(which was owned by advertisers in the beginning), and higher local/regional/national ad rates. It wasn't until 1962 that the threat went away by an act of Congress. In what was good news for WCIA became a struggle for all other UHF broadcasters in the central Illinois market.

The only way to even come close to competing against WCIA for national and regional ad dollars was for WICS to establish two stations to cover the market. That set the plan during 1962 in motion for two full power UHF stations to cover the market by 1967. That plan was announced when a request was submitted to the FCC in January of 1965. In June of 1966 the plan was announced which would replace channels 24 and 33 with a full power station at channel 21by 1967.

The control room at WCHU. It simply was to insert local ID announcments, and perhaps a few local commericals at some point. The transcription table(turn table) recorded and played back commercial messages. There was also a Magnicord reel to reel
deck there as well along with the audio and video control boards.


Peter Gunn, the Blake Edwards creation starred Craig Stevens, Lola Albright and Hope Emerson. Edwards was also responsible for the Pink Panther movies later. Peter Gunn was on NBC from 1958 to 1960, before it went to ABC in 1960.	Sports was going to be a big draw in the pre-ESPN world the selection was rather skimpy. It didn't matter who played.....it was sports.....and that's all there is....	The first incarnation of "The Price is Right" was hosted by Bill Cullen. The announcer was Don Pardo who later became the announcer for "Saturday Night Live."

During that time of the early to mid 60's, the stations broadcast programs from NBC including "The Dinah Shore Chevy Show", "The Loretta Young Show", "Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall", "The Defenders", "The Virginian", "Sing Along with Mitch", "Bonanza", "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color", "Bell Telephone Hour", "Bob Hope Show", "Jack Parr Show", "The Today Show", "The Tonight Show", "Daniel Boone", "I Dream of Jeannie", "Get Smart", "Andy Williams Show", "Star Trek" and "The Man from UNCLE". Almost all of these shows were broadcast in color by WCHU, but not WICD.

		Local origination was split between WICS and WCHU/WICD and featured newscasters such as Douglas Kimball and the "Standard Oil News at 6PM and 10PM" from WICS-TV. The need for local origination became obvious and the construction of studios were completed within the small confines of the Inman Hotel in downtown Champaign.
Here's Douglas Kimball in a closeup from the ad to the right. He was actually in Springfield, but it appears that at least part of the newscast originated in Champaign with local news and weather .	Here's the ad from a 1964 Urbana Courier newspaper which invited viewers in on "The Big Switch." WICS anchor Douglas Kimball was the main anchor pictured in front of a WCHU michrophone flag.

By localizing the WCHU product it could better attract a Champaign-Urbana audience to add to the audience of WICS in Springfield and help to the total audience of the NBC affiliates. Local News at WCHU/WICD was provided by the Dunkel/Eaton Report which originated in both Danville and Champaign. Dunkel was in Danville and Eaton was in Champaign. It was a local version of NBC's Huntley/Brinkley Report.

Children's shows of the era included "Clickity Clack and his Friends" and "The Funny Company" on WICS which included a panel of kids from the Springfield area and a staple of Warner Brothers cartoons. At WICD it was Uncle Otto's General Store with David Otto.

Keith Page, long time weather caster, began at WCHU as a puppeteer on Uncle Otto's General Store and alter egos of "Honk and Toot." Keith was also a booth announcer at the station and pre-recorded all of the commercial station breaks, and became a weathercaster when weather "girl" Carol Fisher left the station in 1964.

The 5 O'Clock report as broadcast on
WICS/WCHU/WICD and W-75-AD in the mid 1960's.
Nick Alexander, Dale Coleman and Wayne Cox anchored the Springfield newscasts while Alan Crane and Joe Thompson did the Champaign-Danville newscasts. This ad from TV Guide.

In January of 1965 Plains Television Corporation filed with FCC for a license to broadcast on Channel 21. That Channel 21 signal would have replaced those on Champaign's Channel 33 and Danville's Channel 24. It would also eliminate the need for the translator at Channel 75 in Matton which re-broadcast WICS. This new facility would be able to broadcast a signal with a 50 mile radius from a tower midway between Ogden and Fithian, 2 1/2 miles south of Interstate 74. The station would have a maximum height of 1,349 feet with a power of 225 kilo-watts. Plus, the new station would be able to broadcast NBC shows in full color to the entire area!

After a holdup, for an unknown reason, the filing finally was sent to the FCC for consideration during March of 1965. A press release at the time said that if the FCC approved the license within 60 days, a new tower and facility could be operational by the fall of 1966.

Finally in June of 1966 the announcement was made that what was originally Channel 21, would now be Channel 15, a joint operation of stations WCHU and WICD and would be on the air by late 1966 or early 1967. It was promised that viewers would have better reception from the new tower which would be the tallest structure in Illinois and Indiana. The tower site would be near Homer, 17 miles east of Champaign(actually Urbana), and would be 1, 345 feet tall and the station would broadcast a power of 55 kilo-watts(a little short of the original plan). Sometime along with the filing, a change was made to the specs to include a high gain antenna with a corresponding increase in power to 1 1/4 million watts. WCHU General Manager, James T. Kelly once again promised a stronger signal to the rural areas and many towns including Rantoul, Paris, Paxton, Charleston and Monticello.

Why was the broadcast channel 21 changed to channel 15? It's unknown, but it was a wise decision ultimately. Some of the factors could have been, since WCHU would received an off air signal of WICS at Channel 20, some co-channel interference would have been experienced. Another reason could have been the confusion of viewers between the transmitter points who would have had a difficult time tuning each station in with the slide-rule UHF tuners prevalent on sets of the era. The original allocation of channel 15 was set in Bloomington. WBLN which operated at channel 15 during several years in the 1950's was no longer on the air, and the license appeared to have been surrendered to the FCC. No other filing for the license was ever made. The change to request channel 15 would eliminate much of the interference of the nearby stations, plus give the new station a much better lower dial position. From a marketing standpoint the use of 15 and 20 made perfect sense while the call letters were similar for WIC....S for Springfield and D for Danville, which was the county seat for Vermilion County which hosted the transmitter and broadcast tower.

WCHU and WICD logos from the mid 1960's. WCHU was located in Champaign, while WICD was located in Danville.

Since the FCC allocation table spaced UHF stations in the same metro areas at 6 channels apart, it seemed like more than a coincidence that 15 was 6 away from 21. In fact the allocation table for Champaign-Urbana had 21, 27, 34, 40, 46, 52, 58 as possible channels for full power stations. It many have been that the allocation for channel 15 was originally assigned to Champaign-Urbana. In order to squeeze more channels in, it became obvious that not all allocations would be filled by most communities. For example, Lafayette, Indiana had the allocation channel numbers 18, 24, 30, 36, 42, 48 and 54. WFAM, which is now WLFI originally broadcast on channel 54 during it's early days, later going to the more preferable lower dial position of channel 18. Meanwhile, the Lafayette allocation for channel 24, was moved to nearby Danville, Illinois where it was used by WDAN-TV and WICD from 1953 to 1967.

More on the operation of the new Channel 15 in Part 3: The WICD-TV Plains Television Years....

This is the way the NBC color peacock appeared on WCHU, channel 33 when it went on the air in September of 1959. The station was not originally equipped to broadcast in color. It wasn't until the Fall of 1960 that WCHU was able to broadcast NBC shows in color, although it would be years before it was able to broadcast anything of local origination in color. It was still 7 years before WCHU and WICD would be combined to a high power facility to broadcast on channel 15.

"The Dinah Shore Chevy Show" ran on NBC from 1956 through 1963 which made her one of very few women with success as a variety series host on TV. It ran on WCHU on Sunday nights at 8PM CT until the 1961 season, when it vacated the timeslot for Bonanza. Chevrolet owned that hour, so the sponsorship of Chevrolet went to Bonanza and the name of the Dinah Shore series changed to "The Dinah Shore Show" when it aired on Friday nights at 8:30PM CT. It was not seen on WICD until July of 1960 when the stations were consolidated. It was one of the NBC shows which were the first to be seen in color on WCHU.

"The Loretta Young Show" was already a staple on NBC since 1953, when it aired on the new WCHU beginning in September of 1960. It lasted thorugh September of 1961. WICD aired the series from July of 1960 to September of 1961.

"Alfred Hitchcock Presents" bounced around between CBS and NBC for most of it's series life. It was on NBC in the 1960-62 season and again in the 1964-65 season. The dramatic anthology ran on Tuesday nights at 7:30-8PM CT during the 60-62 run.

"Wagon Train" ran on NBC from 1957 to 1962, after which it ran on ABC from 1962-1965. Even though the series had regulars, it was pretty much an anthology western series which focused on guest stars and their stories along the way out west. Regulars included movie veteran Ward Bond, along with Robert Horton, Frank McGrath and Terry Wilson.

"The Price is Right" was part of the daytime schedule on NBC during the late 50's into the early 60's, but it also ran in prime time during the entire run. WCHU and WICD featured the show in prime during the 1961-1963 seasons. It was another of the Mark Goodson and Bill Todman productions. It ran in prime time when WCHU first went on the air on Wednesdays at 7:30pm.

Sponsored by Kraft, it was called "Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall" and ran on NBC from 1959 to 1963. It aired on WCHU from September of 1959 to July of 1960 when WCHU and WDAN-TV(WICD) were consolidated.

The lawman, Indiana fighter and professional gambler "Bat Masterson" was played by Gene Barry(later "Burke's Law" and "The Name of the Game"). It aired on Thursday nights from 7:30 to 8PM CT on NBC during the 1960-61 season. It was seen only on WCHU from September of 1960 to July of 1961. After that it was seen on both WCHU and WDAN-TV(WICD) after the stations were consolidated into one.

"Bachelor Father" bounced around between all three networks during it's run. Premiering on CBS in 1957, it ran on NBC from1959-61 before moving to ABC until late 1961. It was on NBC Thursday nights from 8-8:30PM CT. John Forsythe was the uncle who was forced in adopting his neice Kelly played by Noreen Corcoran. His housekeeper was Peter played by Samee Tong.

"You Bet Your Life" finished it's run during the 1960-61 season. Starring Groucho Marx it was a quiz show, in which the big prize wasn't the money, it was a chance to be interviewed by Groucho. It also included a "secret word" which if it was said by a contestant, they would win an extra $100. It ran on Thursday evening from 9 to 9:30pm CT.

The NBC peacock color logo ran for 10-seconds at the beginning of all NBC color programs. It was updated in the mid 1960's, but here is how it appeared up to that date. Not seen in color on WCHU until September of 1961 and never on WICD, channel 24. It wasn't until 1967 when both stations became channel 15, WICD, did the entire east central Illinois area would see a real "color" peacock.

Ralph Edwards who created "Truth or Consequences" for NBC also created this this long running show which would bring people of the past into the studio to deliver a testimonial to some unknowing celebrity guest, or just an ordinary individual. It also finished up it's run during the 1960-61 season. It had run on NBC since the 1952.

This was the first western to be seen in color. "Bonanza" premiered on Saturday nights in 1959, but moved to Sunday night 8PM CT where it remained for a number of years. The story lines of this series didn't lend itself to be described as an advernture or action series, instead relying on the stories of various characters which came and went through the Virginia City, Nevada area and that of the spread called "The Pondorosa" owned by the all male family, the Cartwrights. The cast included Lorne Green as the father, Ben, sons Adam, played by Pernell Roberts, Eric "Hoss" played by Dan Blocker and Michael Landon as "Little Joe." Not seen in color on WCHU during the first year of operation, it finally was seen in color in September of 1961. WICD-TV, channel 24 never colorcast..

Henry Fonda played Chief Marshall Simon Fry and Allen Case played Clay McCord who was a storekeeper, but sometimes would become "The Deputy." The Deputy was opposed to violence and the use of weapons which would conflict with Marshall Fry. This one lasted a couple of seasons from 1959 through 1961 and was one of many, many westerns on network TV at the time. Henry Fonda narrated the episodes, but only appeared in a few of the episodes.

"Howdy Doody" originated at WNBT in New York and was passed along the network as a Saturday morning children's show as early as December 1947. It aired at 5PM and was the first network show of the day. Later it went to being on three times a week, right after the NBC broadcast of a test pattern. It's first title was "Puppet Playhouse" until 1949. The role of Clarabell the Clown shown above was played by Bob Keeshan(later Captain Kangaroo) although the actor above is actually Lew Anderson. It was NBC's first regular color program beginning in 1955. After the premiere of "The Mickey Mouse Club" the drop in popularity sent "Howdy Doody" back to a Saturday morning time slot where it remained until it's last network broadcast in the early 1960's. It's unknown whether WCHU ever broadcast this TV classic, as it's normal sign-on wasn't until later in the afternoon.

Jay Ward was the creator and producer of the animated "Bullwinkle" Show which ran in prime time during the 1961-62 season on NBC. The show included satire whcih appealed to adults, as much as the cartoon appealed to the kids. The voices were provided by many of the voices from the Stan Freeburg network radio show: Bill Scott, June Foray, Paul Frees, Hans Conried. Others included long time movie actor Charlie Ruggles and long time radio actor Walter Tetley. This was originally part of the Rocky and His Friends series which ran on ABC during the 1959-60 season. It later ended up on ABC where it ran until 1973, now in syndication.

"The Shari Lewis Show" was another of the Saturday monring NBC shows for kids in 1960-63. Her puppets were Hush Puppy, Charlie Horse and Lamb Chop(shown above). She was also an actress having appeared on "The United States Steel Hour," "Car 54 Where Are You,"(right) "Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theater," and "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." among others.

"Car 54 Where Are You" featured a "Mutt and Jeff" cast of Joe E. Ross and Fred Gwynne(Officers Toody and Muldoon) as patrol car officers in New York. The cast also included Bea Pons(Mrs. Toody), Nipsey Russell(and you thought he only did game shows!), Al Lewis(later of "The Munsters" with castmate Fred Gwynne) and many others. The creator was Nat Hiken of "The Phil Silvers Show" who also produced and wrote the series.

"The Tonight Show" starring Jack Paar ran on NBC from 1957 to 1962 when he left the series. His second in command was Hugh Downs. Paar's terrific interview skills made him rather highbrow as opposed to Steve Allen who hosted before 1957, or Johnny Carson who followed in 1962. He had famous authors and politicians along with the usual list of celebrities. He was highly emotional and even stormed off the show not to return for an entire month, when NBC censors ordered the removal of the famous "water closet" joke. The show was originally produced live, then later live on tape which allowed NBC censors ultimate control.

One of several TV variety specials hosted by long time movie dancer Fred Astaire. This one sponsored by "The Forward Look of the Chysler Corporation" was videotaped in color. It aired in 1959 as a followup to his original NBC color special "An Evening with Fred Astaire" which aired across NBC on October 17, 1958. The first Fred Astaire special was called "The Edsel Show" and aired on CBS on October 13, 1957 in black and white. It's assumed that it aired on WCHU during the first month of operation, and not in color as the station wasn't able to broadcast in color until September of 1960.

The WCHU logo from the mid 1960's.

From October 1956 to 1970, the Huntley-Brinkley Report, initially 15-minutes, then taken to 30-minutes in 1963 were the primary newscasters for NBC. Chet Huntley from New York, and David Brinkley from Washinton.

Here is David Brinkley taken from the 1960's with news of the Viet Nam War. The Huntley Brinkley Report ran on NBC for 14 years and became an institution.

Chet Huntley from New York with a story of the Middle East during the 1960's. Somethings never change! Chet Huntley retired in July of 1970.(right) is Hugh Downs and Barbara Walters who fronted "The Today Show" for NBC during most of the 1960's.

It all began with a series of low budget movies in the 1940's. By 1961, "Dr. Kildare" became a heartthrob in the person of Richard Chamberlain. Kildare was the intern while Dr. Gillespie played by Raymond Massey was the father figure at Blair General Hospital. It began as an hour long series, but interesting enough, by the 1965 season it was airring twice weekly in 30 minutes installments, and took on a serial quality. The good doctor ran on NBC from 1961 to 1966.

"Hazel" was one of those seemingly transient series which made the journey from one network to another. It originally began on NBC in September of 1961 and ran on NBC until September of 1965 when it jumped to CBS. "Hazel" was sponsored by the Ford Motor Company and featured Ford vehicles in many product placement situations. Hazel drove the Falcon, Mr. Baxter drove the LTD and Mrs. Baxter drove the Mustang(at least after 1964, before it was a Fairlane). Cast members included Don DeFore(from "Ozzzie and Harriet"), Whitney Blake(director/producer) and son Bobby Buntrock as Harold while Shirley Booth played Hazel.

Bob Hope was Mr. NBC during the 1960's and 70's. His many TV specials were indeed special. Even though the format of the shows were nothing short of routine, having been formulated during his NBC radio network run during the 1940's. His monologue, his short conversation with each of his guests, a comedy skit or two involving his guests and a musical number or two with at least one being a duet with Hope.

His guests were the "who's who" of show business, but occasional there would be a star or two who made frequent guest appearances on his speicals. Above left is Frank Sinatra, above is Jack Benny and above right is Lucille Ball in w he made at least a couple of movies with.

Bob Hope's sponsors included Texico, Chrysler and Kraft. over the years. Every one of his speicals, its a safe bet, was seen on WICS/WCHU/WICD.

"The Virginian" was an epic big budget TV western series(1962-1971), in that it was a 90-minute weekly series, produced in color on the backlot at Universal Studios. It also had a cast of regulars, but each episode concentrated on one of the regulars each week. I assume the show was produced by a rotating production team. The stars included: Lee J. Cobb, James Drury, Doug McClure, Clu Gulager, David Hartman, Tim Mathison, Stewart Granger and Lee Majors.

This comedy featured two college students played by Glen Corbett and Ted Bessell along with Mike Burns and Randy Boone. "It's a Man's World" took place at a small midwestern college and ran on NBC from 1962 to 1963.

This was another series with an educational setting. "Mr Novak" took place at a high school and starred James Franciscus, Dean Jagger, Jeanne Bal, Burgess Meredith and (before "Happy Days") Marion Ross. This one ran on NBC from 1963-1965.

"Richard Boone Show" was his followup series from "Have Gun Will Travel." It was unusual, as the stars in this anthology series played different characters in different plays. Richard Boone starred in about half of them and narrated most. It ran on NBC one year from 1963 to 1964.

Like many TV stations in which ownership has changed many times since it's initial broadcasts, WCHU and WICD has virtually no video record of any local newscasts, other than news file footage. Much of the news file footage is on film and very few TV stations even have the ability to view or televise 16mm film. No recordings exist of actual newscasts, records of news anchors(other than what was in the form of a press release to the local newspapers), no pictures from the 1950's-60's exist, and only a couple from the 1970's. The only images which exist are in the memories of those who either participated or watched. If you have any photos, film, video tape or any other items which would be associated with WDAN-TV, WCHU or WICD please contact me. I will photograph, scan or dub any material to be returned to you. You will be given credit.
E-mail me at: dougquick @ dougquick.com

Andy Williams after having shows on ABC and CBS in the late 1950's, he returned to TV in 1962 on NBC, Thursday nights at 9PM CT. It was his first big budget variety show which eventually included a young barbershop harmony group from Utah. They were the Osmonds who became a staple of "The Andy Williams Show." The variety show ran on NBC from 1962 through 1971.

"G.E. College Bowl" quiz show featured teams from the nation's colleges against each other in a quiz show like no other. Subjects included mathematics, literature, science, engineering and philosophy. The show originally ran on CBS in 1959, but the show made the move to NBC in 1963 when it was broadcast in color. This particular graphic above was probably seen by many in central Illinois as it included a team from Millikin University in Decatur. It's not known which team won. The show was hosted on NBC by Robert Earle. It became a regular Sunday late afternoon series.

Above are two scenes from "Uncle Otto's Talking Pictures." I'm not sure of the subject matter since it's reported to have been broadcast on Sunday night at 10:30pm. Since Uncle Otto was the host of "Uncle Otto's General Store" which was for the kids, research will continue what "Talking Pictures" was all about. Stay tuned.

Here's Keith Page from the early 1960's with what was probably a posed picture for a live TV commerical for TEEM soda. TEEM was a 7-UP knock-off from Pepsi-Cola. It was introduced in 1962.

The WCHU VW Microbus which was used to tow "Uncle Otto's General Store" Float during a parade in Champaign, sometime during the 1960's.

Three poses with Uncle Otto, Hook and Toot with an unidentified participant.

"Uncle Otto's General Store" was the WCHU/WICD local children's show which ran on weekday afternoons on Channels 33 and 24. Dave Otto was the star with the puppets of "Honk" and "Toot." The puppeteer was none other than WICD's Keith Page in his early days of broadcasting. Keith also supplied the voices of the puppets. The show also included a studio audience of local kids and a mixing of Warner Brothers cartoons. Shows like this one, helped establish the habits of the younger audience to watch local television stations.

The animated NBC "snake" and chimes were used to finish out the network program and to cue local stations to run commericals.

Here's how the newer style peacock appeared at the beginning of all NBC color programming. The 10-second animated logo was used until the early 1970's after virtually all network programming was produced and aired in color. The end of the graphic looked like the graphic to the upper right. The tips appeared more like paint brushes as opposed to diamonds.

Johnny Carson took over the hosting duties of "The Tonight Show" on October 2nd, 1962 from Jack Paar. With his taking the lead, the mood of the show changed considerably. His use of comedy, and not taking on serious subjects made his show an NBC staple for 30 years. Other cast members included Ed McMahon, along with band leaders Skitch Henderson, Milton Delugg, Doc Severinson and Tommy Newsom.

Here is Johnny chatting with comedian Richard Pryer in the 1960's. Many of the recordings of the earliest shows were destroyed to make way room for the storage of other TV shows. This is a black and white clip of an early Tonight Show with Richard Pryor.

Jack Benny was original an NBC network radio star until the late 1940's when he moved to CBS during William Paley's talent raid which brought many of the NBC talent pool to CBS to take advantage of a tax loophole which saved them millions in taxes. By 1964, CBS had cancelled Jack, and the move was on back to NBC. Jack continued with his sit com/variety show format for one more year from September 1964 to September of 1965. It was TV's original "show about nothing." It aired on NBC and WCHU/WICD on Friday nights at 8:30PM CT.

"I Dream of Jeannie" premiered in September of 1965 on NBC and WCHU/WICD. The story revolved around an astronaut finding a bottle with a genie. The stars included Larry Hagman(pre "Dallas"), Barbara Eden, Bill Daily and Hayden Rorke. The first season was in black and white with the second season on being produced and aired in color, at least on WCHU. WICD didn't colorcast.

"The Three Stooges" ran on WCHU and WICD as a weekday and weekend children's TV regular. It's hard to believe that the stooges, couldn't even come close to being considered children's programming today. It was one my favorites!

WICS preempted NBC programming on Friday nights for several years in the 1960's to air "The Cisco Kid." Pre-empted shows included "Camp Runamuck." "The Cisco Kid" was produced from 1950 to 1956 in color and starred Duncan Renaldo and Leo Carrillo. By preempting network programming, the stations could run more local commercials and get a prime time ad rate for the spots.

Another late afternoon after school program syndicated and running on WICS/WCHU/WICD during the 1960's. It mostly ran beginning at 5pm, although there was a time it ran at 3:30pm. This is back when local stations ran children's programing during the late afternoon. Other programs included "Popeye and Kim (Wilson)," and "The Funny Company" along with "Clickity Clack." on WICS. WCHU/WICD's local kids programming included "Uncle Otto's Store." To my knowledge no pictures exist of these locally produced programs.

Another off network series which was syndicated and run on WICS/WCHU/WICD included "Bilko" as it was called in syndication. "The Phil Silvers Show" ran on CBS during the 1950's. It ran several years from 5 to 5:30pm on the stations. This graphic includes Danville's own Dick Van Dyke in an episode.

The Mike Douglas Show aired on WCHU and WICD on weekday afternoons from the late 60's through the 70's

Game shows were a huge part of daytime television on all three networks. From those simple Goodson-Todman shows which showed up on CBS to the flashy Vegas style studio games of the 70's and 80's which aired on NBC during the period, game shows brought riches(or seemingly riches) to contestants-people just like all of us. It was also a chance to see your favorite celebrities just being themselves.
(above) Art Fleming hosted "Jeopardy" in the early years. "Jeopardy" ran on NBC from 1964 to 1975 and again from 1978 to 1979.

Comedy was a major part of most of the shows, although many were quite serious in testing the knowledge of contestants and celebrities alike. Unfortunately, many of those shows have been lost to the ages, as the networks erased video tapes of these shows or threw them away to make room for other shows on valuable storage shelves.
Here are a few from the era which aired on NBC and WCHU and WICD. "The Match Game" aired on NBC daytime from Deceber 31, 1962 through September 26, 1969. "Let's Make a Deal" ran on NBC from December 30, 1963 to December 28, 1968 when it went to ABC.

It was called "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis" when it ran on CBS during the 1950's. As an off network syndicated series it was called "Dobie Gillis" when it ran on weekday afternoons and weekends on WICS/WCHU/WICD. Here is the star played by Dwayne Hickman along with Bob Denver(later Gilligan of "Gilligan's Island"). Denver played Maynard G. Krebs. Dobie was an everyman teenager with crushes on beautiful girls and no money. He addressed the audience throughout the series to explain situations which arose.

For 20 years beginning in Cleveland in 1961 "The Mike Douglas Show" aired in syndication and became the model for all future entertainment talk shows of the type. By 1967 it was syndicated across the country and aired on WICS/WICD. The show featured all kinds of entertainers, politicians, sports figures, even rock stars like Stevie Wonder above. The show was broadcast live until 1965 when an off color remark made by Zsa Zsa Gabor to Morey Amsterdam(she called him an SOB) forced the show to go pre-recorded. Probably, one of the most notable weeks occured in February of 1972 when an entire weeks of shows were co-hosted by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Imagine that, a former big band singer teamed with an ex-Beatle! The show originated in Philadelphia from 1965 to 1978, then moved to L.A..

"The Merv Griffin Show" aired on WCHU/WICD via NBC from 1962 to 1963. Then from 1965-1969 in syndication on WCHU/WICD. It was a weekend, nightly entertainment talk show much like the "The Tonight Show."

For at least one season the only Saturday night series in color on NBC was "Flipper." Based on the movie of the same name which starred Chuck Connors, this one had Brian Kelly as Porter Ricks and his sons played by Luke Halpin and Tommy Norden. It ran on NBC from 1964 to 1968. By the way, the role of Flipper was played by a dolphin named Suzy.

"The Man from UNCLE" ran on NBC from 1964 to 1968 and capitolized on the secret agent craze after the success of the James Bond movie series. Robert Vaughn played Napolean Solo and David McCallum was Illya Kuryakin. The show also included a merchandising campaign selling secret agent guns and other "secret agent" tools to kids. At least the first season was produced in black and white. It also spun off a compainion series "The Girl from Uncle" which ran from 1966-67 which starred Stefanie Powers and Noel Harrison along with Leo G. Carroll who was on both.

From November 8, 1965 to today, "Days of Our Lives" is a major part of NBC's daytime programming. It involved the family members of Tom and Alice Horton pictured above with son Mickey. Mickey and his brother Bill fought for the love of Laura Spencer. Meanwhile Bill's daughter Julie had an affair with her mother's suiter, conman Doug Williams. Gee....it's been quite a ride for this long time NBC daytime serial.

From 1966 to 1974, NBC aired a daytime version of "Truth or Consequences" with host Bob Barker. The show was also in syndication during that network run and WICD aired the show at least from the late 1960's through the early 1970's.

"My Mother the Car" starred Danville's own Jerry Van Dyke in a sit com in which he was the owner of a 1928 Porter which was the host of the spirit of his dead mother. The car talked to him and only him(see Mr. Ed). The villian of the series was a car collector who was always trying to get the car for his collection. He was played by Avery Schreiber. The show, was blasted by the critics, but frankly wasn't as bad as others on the networks at the time lasting from 1965-66.

"Hullabaloo" was NBC's attempt to do a rock and roll show to appeal to the youth of the US. It was also designed to go up against ABC's "Shindig." This show missed the mark miserably. It was as if your grandmother designed the concept and picked most of the talent. Most shows featured a guest host, many times NBC stars, who would try to act hip and come off looking very silly. Even the dancers go-go dresses were too long! It was produced in color, except when the "Hullabaloo-London" segment was featured. Some of the worst guest hosts were Michael Landon(dressed as Little Joe) and Jerry and Gary Lewis.

Bill Cosby was the first black performer to have a starring role in a regular dramatic series on American TV. His character, Alexander Scott was a secret agent along with Kelly Robinson, played by Robert Culp. It was a modern style show about espionage with two unlikely secret agents as they didn't seem to take their jobs very seriously. "I Spy" ran on NBC from 1965 to 1968 and was produced by Sheldon Leonard.

After the success of the Beatles movies "Hard Days Night" and "Help" it was only a matter of time before the free form style would be duplicated on TV. In 1966 "The Monkees" premiered on NBC Monday nights at 6:30PM CT. The series starred former "Circus Boy" star Mickey Dolenz, along with Davy Jones, Peter Tork and Mike Nesmith. The show also supported the musical careers of the stars who had several Top 40 hits. The series lasted on NBC until 1968, but not without controversy, when it was reported that the group didn't play their own instruments. The show would later show up on CBS Saturday mornings in the 70's.

As it says in the title graphic from "Please Don't Eat the Daises", it was based on the book by Jean Kerr, and later a movie which starred Doris Day. This NBC series ran from 1965 to 1967. Just like "Run for Your Life", this was one of the nightly color series of the 1965-66 season. This TV adaption starred Patricia Crowley(who became a successful TV Director), Mark Miller(a former radio actor and announcer), along with some cute kids: Kim Tyler, Joe and Jeff Fithian and Brian Nash. Others with regular roles included King Donovan, Dub Taylor, Ellen Corby and Bill Quinn.

"The Rogues" was another of the rotating cast series which fell under the same title. This one starred Gig Young, DAvid Niven and Charles Boyer. It was produced by 4 Star Productions for NBC which ran from 1964-65.

What if you found out you only had a few months to live, and money was no object? That's what happened with Paul Bryan, played by Ben Gazzara in "Run for Your Life" which ran on NBC from 1965-1968. This was one of the early NBC modern day color series, back when NBC only featured one color show an evening.

"The Dean Martin Show" was a long running NBC variety show running from 1965 to 1974. The show featured guest stars such as Frank Sinatra shown above in skits, musical segments and conversation. The show also starred pianist Ken Lane and a group of young female dancers called "The Golddiggers." In 1973 the name of the show was changed to "The Dean Martin Comedy Hour."

"The Dean Martin Show" included many comedians and up and coming stars such as Kay Medford("The Mothers in Law"), Lou Jacobi, Marian Mercer, Tom Bosley("Happy Days"), Dom DeLuise, Nipsy Russell, Rodney Dangerfield. His band director was one of the best, "Les Brown and His Band."

Dean Martin had a contract which would allow him to walk onto the show the same day as taping and not force him to rehearse. He wanted to keep the show fresh and informal. There was also a segment in which there would be knock at the door, he would answer to be surprised by some celebrity guest. Above he is seen being met by one of the many characters of Red Skelton. The show ran on Thursday nights for most of it's run, at 9PM CT. During the 1973-74 season it ran on Friday nights at 9PM CT.

"The Saint" was based on a series of books and network radio shows(staring Vincent Price). This TV version was drawn from a syndicated version which began in the early 1960's. By 1967 it was added to the NBC programing schedule through 1969. Roger Moore played Simon Templar, "The Saint."

Diahann Carroll played "Julia." Carroll was the first black female to star in her own comedy series in what was called a "prestige role" in that of a nurse. She was a Viet Nam war widow who moved to L.A. to work in a medical office with Dr. Chegley, played by Lloyd Nolan. Her son, Corey, was played by Marc Copage. It aired on Tuesday nights from 1968 to 1971.

"The Huntley-Brinkley Report" continued through 1970 with the final years being broadcast in color. Here Chet Huntley reports on the killing of Martin Luther King, Jr..

Monty Hall hosted one of the most popular daytime and prime time game shows ever, "Let's Make a Deal." It showed up on both NBC and ABC during it's run from the early 1960's through the 1970's. Here is a graphic from a typical show in which contestants would dress up to catch the attention of Hall as he would try to trade items they brought to the show for what was behind curtain #1, #2 or what was in the box. I had relatives in L.A. who waited for months to get tickets and participate in the show.

"Dragnet" returned to network television 8 years after it's initial run ended in 1959. By 1967 we were ready again to hear the catch phrases and style which made it such a hit the decade before. Jack Webb, created, starred and directed many episisodes of the series which ran again on NBC from 1967 to 1970 on Thursday night from 8:30 to 9PM CT, right before "The Dean Martin Show." The show also starred Harry Morgan(later in "MASH" as Officer Bill Gannon.

"Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theater" was a dramatic anthology show, but also included his own variety show and his "Bob Hope Christmas Shows" filmed before a military audience in Viet Nam. These specials became January specials from the 60's into the 70's.

"The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson" became a national institution throughout the 1960s', so strong that no other nighttime talk show was ever able to compete against him. In 1962, when Carson took over, the show ran from 10:15pm to Midnight CT. In 1967, the first 15 minutes were dropped as many stations(including WICS/WCHU/WICD) were airing 30-minute newscasts at 10pm. The monologue began at 10:30pm. Here Carson is pictured with Tiny Tim on one of many visits to Burbank("Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In") and "The Tonight Show."

"Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In" was a one time special in 1967 and proved to be such an enormous hit,that a series followed by 1968. It was a show of edited short segments, short skits and sometimes just someone saying "Sock it to Me." Try to explain it to someone who has never seen it and they just won't understand. You had to be there!

Goldie Hawn, one of the many regular cast members of "Laugh-In." Others included Gary Owens, Ruth Buzzi, Judy Carne, Eileen Brennan, Arte Johnson, Henry Gibson, Jo Anne Worley, Larry Hovis("Hogan's Heroes"), Alan Sues, Dave Madden("The Partridge Family"), Lily Tomlin and many more.

One of the most popular skits on "Laugh-In" was the one with the old bag lady played by Ruth Buzzi and the old man played by Arte Johnson in which we would try to proposition the old lady. He would then be met with her swinging her bag to injure the old man Again, you had to be there. It was funny! "Laugh-In" began it's regular run in 1968 after WCHU was history and WICD became channel 15.

"Sock it to me?" President Nixon trying to come across to the US as having a sense of humor. He didn't, but it was rather funny.

With the building and re-building of the 1388 foot tower near Fithian, Illinois, WICD moved from channel 24 to 15 to broadcast with 1-million watts of power and in full NBC color!
This was the second tower which was constructed after an ice storm during the Winter of 1966 toppled the first tower as it was under construction. The new tower wasn't completed until July of 1967. WCHU, channel 33 and W75AD were no more.

Seemingly an example of bad programming judgement, or "it seemed like a good idea at the time!" The managment of WICS/WCHU and WICD in an effort to sell more prime time commercial time, preempted the new science fiction show "Star Trek" to show the off network syndicated show "Laramie." Well, at least "Laramie" was in color!

Milton Friedland, Vice President and General Manager of the Plains Television Stations announcing in a TV Guide ad, that construction was once again underway on the new Channel 15 broadcast tower after an ice storm took the first one down early in 1967. More about that in the next chapter of this site, Part 3.

With the low power of both WCHU and WICD, neither station was able to reach much more than 25 miles from their home cities, leaving much of the area without NBC programming. The Mattoon area was served for a short time in the mid 60's by a satellite translator W-75-AD, which rebroadcast WICS-TV. It is assumed that Charleston was served by WTWO, the Terre Haute NBC affiliate, which was also a secondary affiliate of ABC.

Click HERE to continue to Part 3

TOP

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

HOME