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Finally after the
setback of the tower collapse in January
of 1967, it was June of 1967 when WICD, Channel 24 and WCHU, Channel 33
were replaced with a full power station at channel 15 which could
colorcast the NBC programming lineup which by then was nearly 100%
color!
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In 1962 the Jack Paar era was over and the Johnny Carson era
was in place to entertain night owls through 1992. It's unknown
when the show was finally broadcast in color, but Carson helped NBC and
RCA sell many color TV's during the 1960's, many of which ended up in
the bedroom as "second" sets in households.
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One of the big events in the late 1960's was the appearances
of "Tiny Tim" on "Rowan and Martin's
Laugh In" and eventually on "The
Tonight Show with Johnny Carson." One of the highlights
was the
mariage of Tiny Tim and Miss Vickie. It was critisized at the
time of making a mockery of the institution, but it was real, even
though it didn't last all that long, but just how many do?
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Singer Diahann Carroll was the first black femail to star in
her own comedy series in what was called a "prestige role." That
is, she didn't play a housekeeper, like Buleah, or play in a supporting
roll. She was a young widowed nurse whose husband was killed in
Viet Nam. How's that for being topical? Her boss was played
by long time movie heavy Lloyd Nolan. "Julia" aired on NBC and
WICD from 1968 to 1971 on Tuesday nights.
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"The High Chaparral" ran on NBC from
1967 to 1971 and starred Leif Erickson, Cameron Mitchess, Mark Slade,
Linda Cristal and Frank Silvera. It was named for the ranch which
was owned by the Cannon Family. Erickson played "Big John Cannon"
and was the patriarch of the family. This hour long color western
followed Bonanza during it's first season.
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"Ironside" starred former "Perry
Mason" star, Raymond Burr as Chief Robert Ironside who was paralyzed
from the waist down by a bullit from a would be assassin. This
Universal Televison production also starred Don Galloway, Barbara
Anderson and Don Mitchell. IT ran from 1967 to 1975.
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Buck
Henry was the creator and writer for "Get Smart" as well as later a
re-occuring star on "Saturday Night Live" during it's
Not-Ready-for-Primetime Players day. This time Henry was behind
this parody of superheroes.
"Captain Nice" starred William Daniels, Ann Prentiss and Alice
Ghostley and ran for the NBC "second season" in 1967, from January to
August.
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"Bracken's World" was based on the
workings of Century Studios, a fictional studio that was ran by one
John Bracken. It wasn't till the second season that Bracken was
shown, when he was played by Leslie Nielson. Other stars included
Eleanor Parker, Peter Haskell, Dennis Cole and a cast of others.
This early prime time continuing story line series only lasted 4 months
more than one season, from 1969 through December of 1970. Frankly
it was one my favorites!
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The
Huntley-Brinkley Report continued to bring us the news of the
day,
including that of the assasination of Martin Luther King Jr.
Above Chet Huntley tells of the killing of the civil rights activist.
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"Flipper" was now
seen in color throughout the entire
central Illinois area, for at least one year. It completed it's
run in 1968, finishing up on Sunday night from 6 to 6:30pm CT on NBC
and WICD.
"I Dream of
Jeannie" would end it's run on NBC in
1970, the year after the series "jumped the shark" when Tony and
Jeannie married.
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No Trekking allowed....."Star
Trek" was not shown by
WICS/WCHU/WICD at least through the first season, but I believe that it
was by 1968 seen on the stations.
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Bob Hope's Christmas Shows
were an NBC after the Holidays
Tradition in January. All of the clips of his Holiday Tours were
edited and narrated by Bob Hope showing his many monologues, and
segments from performances of the many stars he took along to entertain
troops from South Korea to Viet Nam and in Europe.
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Bonanza, probably
sold more Chevrolets for GM than any show
sold cars for any maker. It was during the run of this NBC color
adult western, in which Chevrolet had the largest sales figures in it's
history. Bonanza ran on NBC from 1959 to 1973. During
one season in the early 70's, reruns were aired at a different time
period under the name of "Pondorosa."
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This
is the cover of a direct mail piece which was mailed to viewers in the
Champaign and Danville area with information about the "new" station at
Channel 15. It also contained ads, coupons and descriptions of
all of the NBC shows of 1967 and information about local personalities.
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This is a messege from James T. Kelly, the Station Manager of WICD in
1967.
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This is from the direct mail piece of 1967 with a listing of NBC
special programming for the 1967-68 season.
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For
enlargements of all of the images on the WICD 15 Magazine from 1967,
just click on the image.
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Here is a listing of the Weekday schedule of WICD which includes the
terrific NBC lineup at the time. It's never been better!
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Dale Coleman was the News Director/Anchor of WICS in Springfield and
was seen on both WICD and WICS in 1967.
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Here's the anchor/reporter lineup at WICD in 1967. It was led by
WICD News Director Wayne Weber and reporter Nancy Martin.
This feature also included the Public Affairs Reporter Raphalini
Brightbill (how's that for a name!).
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Keith Page was several years as a weathercaster for WICD by 1967 and
brought viewers the "Window on the Weather" an early version of the
Tower Cam, from the window at the studio several stories above the
street at the Inman Hotel. Tom Trent was the Sports Director who
covered the late 1960's Fighting Illini.
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"Rowan and Martin's
Laugh-In" was one of NBC's classic
shows. It began as a comedy special, and was met with such
success, it bacame a series in January of 1968 and continued as a
Monday night regular series until 1973.
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Goldie Hawn was one of the regulars who met with tremendous
success in television and movies from exposure, and plenty of it,
on "Laugh-In" Here she's featured on the "Sock it to Me"
short sketches. Other cast members included, and there were
many.....Eileen Brennan, Judy Carne, Ruth Buzzi, Arte Johson, Henry
Gibson, Jo Anne Worley, Larry Hovis, Chelsea Brown, Alan Sues, Dave
Madden, Teresa Graves, Lily Tomlin, Richard Dawson and many more....
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Here's another of the regular sketches with Ruth Buzzi as
the old lady who was constantly put off by the advances of the dirty
old man played by Arte Johnson. Many catch phrases came from the
show besides, "Sock it to Me" there was "You bet your sweeet bippy!"
"Look that up in your FUnk and Wagnalls" "Beautiful Downtown Burbank"
and "Here Comes the Judge." "Laugh-In" went to the top of the
ratings during it's first two years, then as the regulars left the
show, it began to tumble, ending it's run in 1973.
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"Gilligan's Island"
ran in syndication on WICS/WICD during
the 1970's. It was a staple for after school viewing in the
late afternoons. "Gilligan's Island" was the off network
CBS series which ran from 1964 to 1967.
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Inspired by the antics of the Beatles in the movie "Hard
Days Night", "The Monkees" was
a seemingly free form sit-com which ran
on NBC and WICD from 1966 to 1968.
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In 1967, the classic NBC half-hour crime series which ran
from 1952 through 1959 returned to NBC, this time in color.
Starring Jack Webb once again in Dragnet,
it was produced in documentary
style. This time, his co-star was long time movie and TV
character actor Harry Morgan, before his days on MASH.
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The show dealt with topical issues, but in a very
conservative way. Hippies, smoking pot and protesting were all
subjects touched on by Webb as he continued to fight crime in Los
Angeles. The show, though, had a slightly softer edge to it,
showing the behind the scenes efforts of the LAPD.
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This show was produced by the guy in the upper left
picture....once again Jack Webb. Webb set this show to show the
daily grind of the patrol officer, or in this case a pair of officers
who were played by Martin Milner(who starred in several of the radio
Dragnet episodes with Webb), and Kent McCord. Others in the cast
included Gary Crosby(Bing's son).
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Where's officer Jim Reed? Ok, Kent McCord is missing,
but driving is Martin Milner. He formerly was a star on "Route
66" for CBS, but had several years experience with Jack Webb with Dragnet on network radio
and was in a few of the early TV episodes as
well.
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WICS/WICD aired reruns of "Dobie
Gillis" during the late
afternoons in syndication. "Dobie Gillis" was the offnetwork
title of "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis." It aired weekdays at
5PM CT.
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A
series of ads from TV Guides of the period. (Left) "The Action
Men" a rather sexist ad with the names of the anchors---Bob
Miller(News), Loren Tate(Sports) and Keith Page(Weather)., (Center)
Anchors a little later included Roger Allen(News), Loren Tate(Sports)
and Keith Page(Weather). The last one is with Harv Schmidt, a
head coach of the Fighting Illini, and his program which aired on
Sunday's at 11:30am.
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The Faces of NBC News in
the late 1960's:
The Huntley-Brinkley Report continued through 1970 when Chet
Huntley called it quits. The duo was the cornerstone of NBC news
from 1956 to 1970. They were replaced by John Chancellor who
continued well into the 1980's. (Above
Left) Frank McGee anchoring the Moon
Landing in 1969.
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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
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He began his last variety show, The Andy Williams Show, in
1962, but it lasted until
1971. Guests included many big name stars, but rock acts were
very rare. He was the one who rescued the Osmonds from Disneyland
to bring the young lads barbershop quartet act to network
television. Donny Osmond made his debut with his brothers on
December 10, 1963. From 1967 to 1969, he backed down to just a
few specials each year, but by 1969 he was back in a weekly series,
this time more contemporary, featuring a few rock acts and more comedy.
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This popular NBC daytime game/entertainment show premiered
in 1966, but also was featured as a nighttime series as well.
Hosted by former film comedian, actually one half of the duo Noonan and
Marshall, Peter Marshall would read questions to the celebrities in the
tic-tac-toe grid. The contestant would decide if the answer
provided by the celebrity in the square was right or wrong. If
the contestant was correct, he/she would get that square as an "X" or
an "O."
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"Sale of the Centrury"
was one of the game shows produced by
NBC in color which helped to sell color TV's to the masses for
RCA. It seems that an emphasis was made to make sure the daytime
schedule was in color, so retailers could demonstrate color TV's to the
buying public while most stores were open.
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(Left) McCloud
starred Dennis Weaver who left "Gunsmoke" in
the early 1960's. His role would be much different, as now he's a
western lawman, in the big city. This one ran on NBC from 1970 to
1977.
(Above) Jack Benny's variety shows ran on NBC in the late 1960's until
his death in 1974 as a 3-4 times a year special. Here he's
pictured with Gregory Peck(left).
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"Columbo" began on
NBC in the Fall of 1971 and would begin a
franchise which would continue well into the next century! Peter
Falk starred with the crumpled raincoat in 6 seasons of the
series. It ran on NBC, most of the time on Sunday nights.
It later moved to ABC as an occasional TV movie.
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Another of the Jack Webb produced series for NBC, this one
was called "Emergency."
Pictured is Robert Fuller(formerly of
Laramie), along with Webb's former wife Julie London and her new
husband Bobby Troup. Dr. Kelly Brackett was played by Fuller,
with Paramedic John Gage played by Randolph Mantooth and his partner
Roy DeSoto played by Kevin Tighe. It ran on NBC from 1972 to 1977.
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Here's another of the former CBS radio and TV stars who
somehow got away from the eye network to the peacock network.
Along with Jack Benny, Red Skelton
became an NBC series regular from
1970 to 1971. Alot of the same kinds of sketches and
pantomime. I saw him live and met him when he appeared in
Danville in the late 1980's. There was only one Red and he is
missed to this day. To use his sign-off "....God Bless."
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Michael
Parks hit that "long lonesome highway" in this NBC one season cult
favorite, "Then Came Bronson."
It ran from 1969 to 1970. The series theme became a semi-hit on
AM radio Top 40 stations during it's run.
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After
the cancellation of "Get Smart" what's a secret agent to do?
Become a detective....with a partner in "The Partners." This one
season entry for NBC ran from September 1971 to the following
September. Don Adams was joined by Rupert Crosse, John Doucette
and Dick Van Patten.
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I
think this was the third TV series which Richard Boone had something to
do with. This time, he back in the westerns as Hec Ramsey a
former gunfighter living back around the 1900's. "Hec Ramsey" also starred Richard
Lenz, Harry Morgan and Dennis Rucker. This late TV western aired
from 1972 to 1974, just about the time the genre was coming to a close.
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Tony
Blake was a former convict who was now released from prison for a crime
he didn't commit. Now he's a crime fighting magician, who
tries to prove the innocent not guilty. Bill Bixby played Blake
in "The Magician" which ran on
NBC from 1973 to 1974. It also starred Keene Curtis, Todd Crespi,
Jim Watkins and Joseph Sirola.
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Finally,
a realistic TV series about police work. "Police Story" starred a number of
contributing leads, played by Angie Dickinson(which became a pilot for
"Police Woman"), Lloyd Bridges(which became a pilot for "Joe
Forrester"), Tony Lo Bianco and Don Meredith and a collection of guest
stars. It ran on NBC from 1973 to 1977.
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"Tic Tac Doe"
another of the daytime game shows of
NBC. It was hosted by Wink Martindale from 1978 to 1985 and also
featurd Jay Stewart as staff annoucner.
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"The Gong Show" was
a daytime TV classic. It probably
would have been better as a late night series, but it was also seen in
syndication as an early evening program. Produced by the
legendary Chuck Barris with the announcer Gary Owens. It ran from
1976 to 1980. Panelists included Jaye P. Morgan, Jamie Farr, Rex
Reed, Phyllis Diller, Arte Johnson, Rip Taylor, Ken Norton and Dr.
Joyce Brothers.
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"The Bullwinkle and Rocky
Show" was one of the syndication
encarnations of "Bullwinkle." This of network prime-time series
found it's way to being a kids classic, with an adult edge. The
Jay Ward produced cartoon series contained alot of cold war satire from
the early 1960's and included voices from the days of network radio
including Bill Scott, June Foyey, Paul Frees, Charles Ruggles, Hans
Conried, Walter Tetley and Edward Everette Horton. This ran in
syndication from time to time on WICD during the late 1960's and
early 1970's.
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The Bob Hope
specials featured many of the entertainers of
the day, at least the one's that appealed to the older
generation. This time it's Sammy Davis, Jr..
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The daytime schedule of NBC included the seriel "Days of Our
Lives" throughout much of the 1960's, all of the 1970's through
today.
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"The Brady Bunch"
was aired weekday afternoons by
WICS/WICD for awhile in the mid 1970's after it's network run on
ABC. It ran on ABC from 1969 through 1974. Cast included:
Robert Reed, Florence Henderson, Ann B. Davis and the kids Maureen
McCormick, Eve Plumb, Susan Olsen, Barry Williams, Christopher Knight
and Mike Lookinland. "The Brady Bunch" was a late afternoon
Monday through Friday feature broadcast from 16mm film prints.
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The former ABC series ended up as late afternoon fare for
the kids in syndication. WICS/WICD aired "Batman" for awhile in
the 1970's. "Batman" aired on ABC from January 12, 1966 through
March 14, 1968. The TV version of the comic book characters
created by Bob Kane in 1939. This campy version of the Batman
story was quite a popular series when it premiered. Major stars
were lining up to guest star as one of the wierd criminals who fought
Batman and Robin.
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It seems like former ABC off network series in syndication
did pretty well on WICS/WICD during the 1970's. This was a 5PM
feature for quite a while during the period. "Happy Days" could
be considered a classic, as it a very successful series when it aired
on ABC from January 15, 1974 based on a short act of "Love
American Style" called "Love and Happy Days" It ran through
September 24, 1984. Once again presented from 16mm film prints.
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Desi Arnez produced this sitcom about a young couple whose
parents were "best friends," similar to Lucy, Ricky, Fred and
Ethyl. The big differences were that it this time the stars had
two adult children....and it didn't star Lucy. "The Mother's in Law" did star long
time Desi-Lucy friend Eve Arden along with Kaye Ballard, Roger
Carmel(later by Richard Deacon) and Herbert Rudley.. The young
couple were played by Jerry Fogel and Deborah Walley. This ran
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Even the Viacom property "The
Andy Griffith Show" ran for
while on WICS/WICD during the 1970's.
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From October of
1962 to May 1992 Johnny Carson hosted "The
Tonight Show." His
band leaders were Skitch Henderson through 1966, followed by Milton
Delugg in 1966-67 then Doc Severinson from 1967 to 1992. Here is
a group of pictures from the 70's including one with guest James
Stewart. Characters pictured include Carnac the Magnificent,
(lower left) The Tea Time Movie with Art Fern and (lower right) Aunt
Blabby.
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From the Fall of 1969 through 1977 the syndicated version of
"To Tell the Truth" aired
on WICS/WICD. Gary Moore, pictured
above, was the host along with panelists Bill Cullen, Peggy Cass
and Kitty Carlisle along with various other guests.
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Here's the panelists: Bill Cullen, Peggy Cass and Kitty
Carlisle is on the far right. It's unkown who the third panelist
is.
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Joe Garagiola took over the roll of the host from ailing
Gary Moore. The many years of smoking took Gary Moore off the
show. Garagiola hosted the show during it's final year in late
1976-1977.
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Here's the set where the three guests would stand and all
declare themselves to be the same person before retreating to their
position behind the desk.
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Probably the most unprobable teaming of all time. You
have to know that Bing Crosby was about as conservative is you can
get. To team him with the former "Ziggy Stardust" was pure
genius. Here they sing "The Little Drummer Boy" during one of
Bing's final Christmas Specials on NBC. I believe this is from
1971. You'll hear this song during the Holiday Season.
Actually it's one of my favorites!
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"Chico and the Man" was set in East
Los Angeles and starred Freddie Prinze and Jack Albertson.
Chico(Prinze) and (the Man) Albertson were partners in a car repair
garage business. During the run of this 30-minute sit com, the
star Freddie Prinze committed suicide in 1977. In spite of that,
the show continued explaining that Chico had moved away to partner with
his father in a garage. Then a replacement was found in the form
of a 12 year old boy who took "Chico's" place. In spite of losing
the star, Chico began it's run in 1974 and continued through 1978.
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Adventure/crime
series were everywhere on the NBC schedule
during the 1970's. Many of these were produced at Universal
Studios. "Ironside," "Adam 12," "Night Gallery," "The Bold
One's," "Banyon," "CHiPs,"(pictured left), "Knight Rider,"(pictured
above left), "The Magician," "Lucas Tanner," "Sierra," "McMillan and
Wife"(pictured above right), "Petrocelli," "Police Story," "Joe
Forrester," "Ellery Queen," "Rockford Files," "Police Woman," "Baa Baa
Black Sheep," "Police Story," "Gemini Man," "Oregon Trail," "Quincy
M.E.," "Bionic Woman," "Project U.F.O.," "Little House on the
Prairie," and "Buck Rogers of the 25th Century" were all featured
during the 1970's on NBC.
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In 1975 the NBC logo was updated to a simple "N"
actually two trapezoids. Then in February 1976 was NBC was sued
by the Nebraska ETV Network which used an almost identical logo.
An out of court settlement was met in which the Nebraska ETV Network
received some new equipment valued at around $800,000, plus the cost of
a redesigned logo.
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By 1979 the peacock logo returned along with the "N"
which quickly made the NBC logo as one of the most recognizable logos
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It was originally
called "NBC's Saturday Night Live"
and premiered on
October 11, 1975. The situation with WICS/WICD was rather unique
when it came to Saturday Night Live. It seems that Saturday Night
Live replaced a time period in which local stations programmed it to
air movies and other syndicated programming. In the case of
WICS/WICD, it was a late movie. It was felt by the managment of
the time that WICS would be better served by keeping the the late movie
and airing the local commericals. It was simply more profitable,
since airing the NBC show would limit the time available for local
commercials. It was also known that the show would probably rile
some advertisers which would make it difficult sell to local ad
buyers. WICD being under separate ownership at the time decided
to air the 1970's version of SNL. A few years into the split
schedule between the two stations, it was decided by WICS that WICD
should drop "Saturday Night Live" and air the WICS late movie. It
appears to have been a decision of new WICD Station Manager Joe
Norris. That was in April of 1978. Local SNL fans objected
in a big way.....in fact the backlash was huge! Local pickets,
letters, boycots and threats were made.....and the decision was
reversed in a matter of a couple of weeks. By early May of 1978
"Saturday Night Live" returned to WICD, while WICS continued it's
airing of their own "Saturday Night Movie" at least for awhile.
It's unknown when WICS finally signed on with Saturday Night Live, but
it was AFTER 1979.
Pictued above is a
graphic from the show along with Chevy Chase who was
only there during the 1975-76 season, but he's probably one of the best
known alumnus of the show. Just to the right is John Belushi who
was with the show from 1975 to 1979, Gilda Radner who was there from
1975-1980. She's pictured in the far right picture with Jane
Curtain who was there during the same period. Others who have
spent time there included Garrett Morris, Laraine Newman, Bill Murray,
Albert Brooks, Don Novello, Paul Shaffer, Al Franken, Tom Davis,
Gilbert Gottfried, Joe Piscopo, Charles Rocket, Eddie Murphy, Robin
Duke, Tim Kazurinsky and Denny Dillon. All of these stars were
there before 1982.
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The three graphics to the left are from the WICD collection of
promotional slides for NBC's Saturday Night Live.
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| More Coming Soon |
"Password" a daytime
TV staple which evolved to be much more
than it's original CBS version with Allen Ludden. This one was
hosted by Burt Convey" and ran on NBC during the 1970's and 80's.
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"Quincy M.E."
premiered on October 3, 1976 on NBC where it
ran through May 11, 1983. Jack Klugman starred as a
crusading Medical Examinaer in Los Angeles, who would find clues that
everyone else would miss. Other stars included James
Watson, Jr., Roert Ito and Garry Walberg.
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"The Rockford Files" was
a modern day continuation of the
1950's "Maverick" series. James Garner played Jim Rockford, a
P.I. who had the same attitude as his original character.
Rockford was an ex-con who was sent up for armed robbery he didn't
commit. He lived ina trailer, drove a Firebird and used an
answering machine. It premiered on September 13, 1974 and ran
through April 20, 1999. OK, it was a revival series. The
original ran through July 25, 1980.
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"The Richard Pryor Show"
pushed the envelope. That's
probably why it lasted only one month. It began on September 13,
1977 and ended one month later on October 20, 1977. After his
success in movies, it seemed a natural to be on TV, unfortunately, he
began by appearing total nude except for a body suit that basically
gave him the properties of a Ken doll. He opened the show saying
that he didn't have to give up anything by doing this show for
NBC. The censors did more battle with him....eventually
contributing to his cancellation. Of course, being on
opposite "Happy Days" on ABC didn't help either.
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"Sanford and Son"
ran on NBC mostly on Friday night from
January 14, 1972 through September 2, 1977. Fred Sanford, played
by Red Fox, was a mid 60's junk dealer whose mid 30's son lived with
him. His son Lamont was played by Demond Wilson. Of
course, Lamont wasn't happy living with his Dad, especially since his
Dad was doing everything in his power to keep his son living with
him. This was Norman Lear's second major hit. "All in the
Family" for CBS was his first. "Sanford and Son" was based on a
British TV comedy.
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"The Today
Show" in the 1970's. Hosted by Jim Hartz (1974-76) he's
shown
above with Jane Pauley who was with the show from 1976 to 1989.
Below it's Hartz with movie critic Gene Shalit and an unidentified
female co host.
Above right: An ad from TV Guide, 1976 for "The Brady Bunch" and "To
Tell The Truth" two syndicated shows shown on WICD.
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NBC
Slogans during the 1967-1979 period
1969-
"We're Alive in the Air"
1970-
"America Watch Us First"
1971-
"First in America"
1972-
"Always First in America"
1973-
"Come and See NBC '73"
1974-
"Better Than Ever"
1975-
"You're Gonna Like it Alot"
1976-
"The Network of America"
1978- "NB
See Us"
1979-
"Proud as a Peacock"
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"The Sunday Cinema"
was the cover name for the late Sunday
night movie on WICS/WICD. It aired beginning at 10:30pm for much
of the 1970's and 80's. Features were generally poor quality 16mm
prints of off network TV movies, such as "Charlies Angels" the pilot of
the ABC series. The bad movie prints, the poor quality tube
in the camera in the film chain made watching these movies as
unbearable as the quality of the titles. Many times the movies
were not stopped during commericals, and joined in progress.
Obviously the master control operator wanted to go home early!
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Here is a slide which ran as a buffer for the "Sunday
Morning Movie" which aired on WICS/WICD for many years during
the
1960's-1980's as an alternative to the religious shows on Sunday
Morning. It aired from 9:30, usually, to 11pm when "Meet the
Press" aired on NBC. The loca sponsor for years on WICS was
Railsplitter Motors who did commericals in front of featured
cars. It's unkown who sponsored the show on WICD.
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This ID slide was produced just after WICD obtained a color
camera and equipment to finally produce local programming in
color....probably sometime around 1969. It proclaimed "Color
Studios in the Inman Hotel" and the ID listed both Champaign and
Danville.
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Inside the WICD studios at the Inman Hotel. Not
exactly a luxury suite. In fact, it was downright seedy...and
small. There are stories about the employees running into the
"working ladies" in the hallways in the evenings. The offices
were in converted hotel rooms with plain colored plastered walls with
multi layers of paint, old painted and rusted radiators and rippled,
broken old tile floors or stained and worn old carpet. |
(Above) The WICD 15 newsdesk with Keith Page and Loren
Tate(sports), and an unidentifed floor director. (Below) a look
at the cramped corner of the Inman Hotel studios where Kieth Page did
his weathercasts. I'm sure it looked alot bigger on the air.
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| More Coming Soon |
"Little House on the
Prairie" ran on NBC beginning on
September 11, 1974 through February 6, 1984. It was almost a
continuation of the last year of "Bonanza" in story patterns, music and
style. Michael Landon's influence on those last years of
"Bonanza" were evident, as he carried over the same style in this
series in which he played a poor farmer raising a family on the
Minnesota prairie. Based on the Laura Ingall's books it was a
story of a loving family in bad times. It starred Michael Landon,
Karen Grassle, Melisaa Gilbert, Melissa Sue Anderson and the cast of a
small town. It runs in syndication today and has proven to be a
popular series to younger generations.
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"The Tomorrow Show"
ran on NBC after "The Tonight
Show." It starred Tom Snyder beginning in October 15,
1973. It began as a 60 minute show and later expanded to
90-minutes. Snyder would often time have just one guest for the
entire show. Tom Snyder was probably one of the last of the TV
stars who smoked on the air and made no secret of it(like Johnny Carson
did). By 1980-81, the show was changed to include Hollywood
gossip columnist Rona Barrett with a new title, "Tomorrow Coast to
Coast." In February 1982, it was replaced by "Late Night with
David Letterman." Tom Snyder passed away in 2007.
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News-Gazette sports editor and sometimes TV sports anchor
Loren Tate. Here he is pictured in the 1970's with his own sports
production "Tate Lines" which was broadcast on Sunday mornings.
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It was WICD's version of "Dialing for Dollars Early Show" on
WCIA. During the movies commercial breaks, phone calls were made
to homes to see if they were watching the movie...and would win
prizes. It's unknown when this feature aired, most likely though,
the weekends. |
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The big move was on....the Inman was no longer capable of
housing WICD-TV, and the station was seeking another location.
This time, on the west side of Champaign to increase the chances of
receiving a better signal from WICS and avoiding the interference of
being downtown. The small cramped studios had to be
replaced. These two scenes are from a promo staged to show the
anchors picking up the set and moving to the new studios at 250 South
Country Fair Drive in Champaign.
Keith Page and Ron Davis are shown with two other unidentified behind
the scenes people.
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| It was the
sight of a former S&H Green Stamp store
and a slot car track during the 60's and 70's. By 1978 it would
become
the location of WICD, Channel 15. Here is a shot of the building
with
the entire front missing. The floors were dug up, and replaced;
walls
were constructed and equipment moved in to create a much more spacious
and efficient studio location. The office area was at the far
east end
of the open air courtyard to the left. In the next section you'll
see
pictures of the facility under construction, the new master control
room, production center and news set. |
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Another major change
was coming for
WICD in 1979. More on the stations during the late 1970's and
1980's in Part 4 of WICD.
(Above) The twin logos of WICD/WICS from the mid 80's....
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The syndicated "Dinah!"
aired on WICS/WICD during the 1970's. The show experienced a jolt
of popularity when Burt Reynolds guested and sparks flew with the much
older Dinah Shore. Their romance was the subject of much
attention by the tabloids of the time.
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