WICS-TV/DT Channel 20/42 Springfield, Illinois History-Part 2

Page 2: WICS/Cook Street and becoming Full Color(1967-1978 )

	WICS Made Many Improvements during the 1960's WICS like other stations in the market made the complete change to color during the late 1960's.  Plains Television Partners made major investments in the physical plants at WICS as well as at WCHU/WICD in Champaign-Danville.  The Champaign-Danville signals which served as a satellite repeater for NBC programming would be combined with a new frequency at Channel 15, with the call letters of WICD.  After a rough start, when the broadcast tower at Fithian fell during an ice storm, it was going to be several more months before the new station would be broadcasting NBC in full color.  The WICS translator at Mattoon, on Channel 75 was shut down with the completing of the WICD facilities. When WICS moved from the former Leland Hotel studios, the station moved into a large facility which would house the station for many years to come.  It was spacious and allowed for cars to be driven into the studio, as well as for the many children's shows to include a studio audience as well as a panel of local kids.  Unfortunately, those local children's shows would end with the abundance of local sitcoms which filled the bill for younger viewers....as well as the syndication of more adult fare in the form of "The Mike Douglas Show" and "The John Gary Show" and "The Merv Griffin Show."
News anchors like Douglas Kimball would be replaced by Wayne Cox who would anchor throughout much of the 1970's.  Other weathercasters, sportscasters included Dale Coleman, Nick Alexander, Kyle Hill, Dave Lange, Tony Trent and others.  Most of the syndicated shows were of the video taped syndicated talk shows like "The Mike Douglas Show," "The John Gary Show," "The Merv Griffin Show."  One of the more interesting syndicated shows would fall into the sports category, with the broadcast of "Roller Derby" on Saturday afternoons outside of baseball season, then at 5pm during baseball season.  "Superman" would also show up to fill 30-minute holes in the schedule.  After WICS would not show "Star Trek" during the first season, it apologized to central Illinois viewers by bringing it back in syndication by 1971.  The NBC off network adventure show "Daniel Boone" would also end up in late afternoon syndication for a time in the 1970's. More about Pegwill Pete and other Children's Participation Shows During the 1960's kids TV was a staple, and most stations offered locally produced programs with one of the staffers as hosts, interspersed with cartoons and local kids in the studio participating in games to win prizes.  One's that come to mind at WICS was "Pegwill Pete's Circus"(sponsored by Pegwill Weiners---"We love Pegwill wieners...good ole' Pegwill wieners...they're the best in all the land....") hosted by Wild Bill Wingerter and Jo and Joey Mack.  The sponsor Pegwill Meats had proof of purchase seals on them, and each product had different point values.  A few times each year the Pegwill Auction would be held and kids could bid on toys and other merchandise based on the points they collected.  Other children's shows included Popeye and Kim Wilson, Bugs Bunny and Clickity T. Clack, the Funny Company and others.  WICS also had it's own dance party show with "Marty's Pepsi Dance Party" during the early-mid 60's.  During the 60's and 70's afternoon kids programming consisted of "The Three Stooges", syndicated off network programming such as "Gilligan's Island," "The Brady Bunch" along with games shows like "To Tell the Truth," "Wheel of Fortune," and talk shows like "Virginia Graham", "The Mike Douglas Show," "Merv Griffin," "Donohue."  (Check out pictures from WICS early children's shows below.) WICS' NBC Pre-emptions Frustrate Central Illinois viewers WICS pre-empted NBC programming and aired their own local programming, presumably to broadcast  more local commercials.  During the first season of Star Trek on NBC, WICS aired off network reruns of "Laramie."   WICS also preempted the first couple of seasons of "Saturday Night Live" to air movies.  WICS Sunday Morning and Sunday Night Movie One piece of programming which was unique was the "Sunday Morning Movie" which ran for many years, every Sunday morning at 9:30AM.  Commercials were done live, as the movie was sponsored for a time by "Railsplitter Lincoln-Mercury" and featured cars driven through the new WICS studios on Cook Street.  The Sunday night rerun of the "The Tonight Show" was also pre-empted by WICS's "Sunday Night Movie."  Acri Creature Feature Many might remember the "Acri Creature Feature" which ran late Saturday nights.  It was hosted by Chuck Acri, a businessman who also ran a home improvement company from the Quad Cities.  This popular horror movie feature was actually syndicated from WQAD-TV in Moline, Illinois and was syndicated to Cedar Rapids, Iowa and KCRG-TV, to Peoria, Illinois and WEEK-TV and across central Illinois on WICS and WICD.  Chuck Acri starred as himself with a cast of characters including Vincent Hedges(a vampire), Emmit(the hunchback), Beauregard(the werewolf), The Missing Link(the caveman) along with Bertie and Bernie(the skull).  The dog was played by Fang, the wonderdog.  A website has all the details about the Acri Creature Feature. Satellite TV Stations Extend the Coverage Area of WICS and NBC From 1959, WICS also fed local programming to it's sister station(s), WCHU, channel 33, Champaign and WICD, channel 24, Danville as well as a translator station W-75-AD in Mattoon by the early 1960's.  In 1967, WCHU and WICD were combined on channel 15 and retained the WICD call letters.  The stations in Champaign and Danville covered local commercials with their own from the east side of the market, as well as locally produced programming, such as the afternoon children's programming and local news.
(right): The new WICS studios constructed in the early 1960's and utilized by the station from the mid 1960's to the present day.  The main studio includes a couple of large overhead garage doors which opened the studio for vehicles and it's use for live TV commercials for local auto dealers. It was more generally used by Railsplitter Lincoln-Mercury which sponsored the Sunday morning movie and featured live commercials which featured new and used vehicles. The studio was also home to several local productions including the children's programming such as "Kim and Popeye" as well as "Pegwill's Circus."
	(left): A shot of the large studio of WICS right after moving to the 3680 East Cook Street location. Things to look for:  the teleprompter set up on camera one with the zoom lens and what appears to be a "shotgun" microphone mounted on the front of the camera. Camera two was less equipped with it's older style studio mount. The tall ceilings had fiberglass insulation attached to the sidewalls for sound absorption and insulation from the concrete and brick side walls. That same insulation is visible in some later studio shots from the late 1970's and early 1980's at the bottom of the History of WICS-Page 3. (photo courtesy of Randy Miller)
Below, a TV Guide Close-Up with details on a Motown Music NBC Special starring Diana Ross and the Supremes and the Temptations.  These "Specials" were frequently seen during ratings periods, pre-empting many regular series.  Since many TV series each year would produce up to 30+ episodes, by scheduling specials occasionally in various time slots, this would reduce the number of reruns each year.	"The following program was brought to you in living color on NBC."

"Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In" changed TV in a very big way.  All of a sudden, TV was grown up and worked at a lot of different levels depending on who was watching.  The humor was innovative, creative, slapstick, sophisticated, fast paced, contemporary and completely unstructured. It was topical much like NBC's former series "That Was the Week That Was" but was similar to the old Olson and Johnson movie "Helzapoppin.'" The cast was huge and launched the careers of many stars of the future, although many reached their professional peaks with this series. Some of the most successful cast members who came from R&MLI include: Goldie Hawn(movies), Judy Carne(TV "Love on a Rooftop", Eileen Brennan(movies-including"Private Benjamin"with Goldie Hawn), Henry Gibson(movie "Blues Brothers" TV "Boston Legal), Larry Hovis(Hogan's Heroes), Dave Madden(TV-"Partridge Family"), Teresa Graves(TV-"Get Christie Love"), Lily Tomlin(movies, TV), Richard Dawson(TV-"Hogan's Heroes", "Family Feud"), . Others included: Arte Johnson, Jo Anne Worley, Charlie Brill, Mitzi McCall, Alan Sues, Jeremy Lloyd, Pamela Rodgers,  Johnny Brown and many more. It ran on NBC Monday's from 1968 to 1973, when it simply ran out of steam.  The comedy variety show brought about many catch phrases of the day including, "Sock it me, sock it to me..." "Look that up in your Funk and Wagnalls," "Welcome to beautiful Downtown Burbank," and "Here come da judge" among others. Pictured above include a network promo slide for "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In",  (upper center:a shot from the opening monolog with Dick Martin and Dan Rowan, (upper right):  Arte Johnson as the dirty old man and Ruth Buzzi in an on-going, long running short skit (center lower): Goldie Hawn with one of many on-going routines (lower right): The show included many, many guest appearances, this time with former Vice-President, former California Governor Richard Nixon, whose one line consisted of "Sock it to Me?"  His cameo probably did more to boost his image more than any campaign appearance. The Anchor lineup for WICS/WICD from December of 1968 included Dale Coleman, Nick Alexander(weather) and Kyle Hill. (TV Guide ads from the Doug Quick collection) "The Mother's In Law" was produced by Desi Arnez and starred Eve Arden, Kaye Ballard, Roger Carmel and Richard Deacon(Carmel and Deacon played the same character in different seasons).  They were the in-laws, the married children were played by Jerry Fogel and Deborah Walley.   "The High Chaparral" was another of the high budget long form westerns which were on their way out by the time this one premiered in 1967, although it ran through 1971.  The western starred Leif Erickson, Cameron Mitchell and Mark Slade. From 1961 to 1981, Walt Disney Studios  had a spot on the prime time schedule on NBC.   In 1968 it was called "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color" and featured many theatrical films, documentaries, cartoons as well as made for TV features from the Disney Studios.  For most of it's NBC run , it was a Sunday night staple sponsored by Kodak, among other major sponsors.
"Bonanza" continued it's run on NBC through 1973.  The cast included Lorne Green, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker and David Canary(as "Candy").   The sponsor of the series was "Chevrolet" for most of it's run during the late 1960's and into the early 1970's.	By halfway into the 67-68 TV season, "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." had reached the end of it's run.  A last season attempt to bring some realism to the spy series, didn't work.  It was replaced on the schedule by Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In in January of 1968.	"I Spy" was another NBC spy series which was nearing it's end.  The Robert Culp and Bill Cosby spy adventure series would end it's run with the beginning of the 69-70 season.	A full 90-minutes of NBC prime time was occupied by this long running western series.  "The Virginian" ran for 9 years, ending it's run in 1971.	1968 was the last year for this long running NBC series.  "Run for Your Life" starred Ben Gazzara as a successful lawyer who found he had an incurable disease.  He was told he had two years to live....the series lasted three years.  He didn't die during the series run.
"Daniel Boone" was a legendary folk hero of the early United States.  Here he was played by Fess Parker.  The show also starred Ed Ames as Mingo(his native American friend), Patricia Blair(as his wife-Rebecca) and Darby Hinton as his son(Israel).  The show ran on NBC's primetime schedule at the same time for it's entire run from 1964 to 1970, Thursdays at 6:30pm on WICS.  "Daniel Boone" was also syndicated later, where it would be shown weekday afternoons for a time on WICS. (video is from an outside source and could be deleated without notice) Raymond Burr didn't sit idle for very long after the cancellation of "Perry Mason"  in 1966.  The next year he would return to network television as "Ironside."  Robert Ironside was a chief of detectives who was paralyzed by a bullet from an unknown assassin.  He would continue to solve crimes with the help of his assistants, played by Don Galloway, Barbara Anderson and Don Mitchell.  The roles of his female assistant would change over the run of the series to include Elizabeth Baur in 1971.  "Ironside" was from University Studios and would air from 1967 to 1975. "Dragnet" returned to NBC, having run from 1952 to 1959.  When it premiered again in 1967 it was called "Dragnet 1968" and starred Jack Webb in his original role as Sgt. Joe Friday.  His partner was played in this revival series by Harry Morgan.  Once again, as it was on radio in the late 1940's, and again on TV in the early 1950's, it was a hit.  Sometimes very "un hip" it was still great entertainment starring many of the original cast members featured in the original series from the 1950's.  It ran on NBC updating it's title each year through 1970.
By 1967-70 NBC's prime time lineup consisting of the following shows: Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color, Mothers-in-Law, Bonanza, High Chaparral, The Monkees, Man from U.N.C.L.E., Danny Thomas Hour, I Spy, I Dream of Jeannie, The Jerry Lewis Show, The Virginian, Kraft Music Hall, Run for your Life, Daniel Boone, Ironside, Dragnet, The Dean Martin Show, Tarzan,  Accidental Family, Bell Telephone Hour, Maya, Get Smart, The New Adventures of Huck Finn, The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show, Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, Julia, The Outsider, The Name of the Game, Star Trek(2nd season aired),  Adam-12, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Bill Cosby Show, The Bold One's(The New Doctors, The Lawyers, The Protectors, The Lawyers), My World and Welcome To It, The Debbie Reynolds Show, Then Came Bronson, Bracken's World, The Andy Williams Show, Wild Kingdom, The Red Skelton Show, The Don Knotts Show, Men from Shiloh, McCloud, San Francisco International Airport, Night Gallery, The Psychiatrist, The Flip Wilson Show, Nancy. WICS would often pre-empt network programming with locally originating programming in order to air more local commercials during prime time.  Those series listed above in red may not have appeared as they were often pre-empted.   The "Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show"  was pre-empted by WICS running the syndicated "John Gary Show."  The first season of "Star Trek" was pre-empted by syndicated off network reruns of "Laramie."
			"I Dream of Jeannie" was evolving with several changes during it's run.  Having premiered in 1965, it was needing an update.  Some of the changes included promotions for Tony(Larry Hagman) and Roger(Bill Daily).  Even a new "antagonist" was added in the form of Barbara Eden(Jeannie) playing her own evil twin sister.  "Jeannie" would end it's run in September of 1970....to live in syndication forever.
"The Dean Martin Show" was a Thursday night tradition on NBC having aired at 9pm CT on WICS.  The show's run would include the 1965 through 1974 seasons.  It's final year, NBC broke from tradition and moved it to Friday nights, having decided that it's audience was getting too old for the valuable Thursday night schedule.  The show featured it's star with a cast of supporting comedians including Kay Medford, Jou Jacobi, Tom Bosley, Dom DeLuise, Mipsey Russell and even Rodney Dangerfield.  His frequent musical guests included the "Ding-a Ling Sisters" and "The Golddiggers."  In fact "The Golddiggers" would host their own summer variety show during his time slot.  This was a terrificly entertaining show as Dean Martin really connected with the audience.  It was fun, surprisingly hip and one of the classic NBC variety shows. Universal Studios was producing many NBC programs during the late 1960's and early 1970's  including "Dragnet," "Adam-12," "Ironside," as well as the selection from the blanket series "The Name of the Game."  The series included three different series, each 90-minutes with three different stars in self contained episodes.  They included Robert Stack, Tony Franciosa and Gene Barry.  They were connected by being a part of Howard Publications, a publishing empire in Los Angeles.  In fact the office building shown as Howard Publications was actually the office building at Universal Studios!  This aired on Friday nights from 1968 to 1971.  Above are the opening titles to "The Name of the Game."  (The video is from an outside source and could be deleted without notice.) "McCloud" ran on NBC from 1970 through 1977.    Dennis Weaver starred as McCloud, a deputy marshal (sorta like Chester in "Gunsmoke").  Here he was on a mission to the big city to re-capture a prisoner he allowed to escape.   (The video is from an outside source and could be deleted without notice.)
"Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom" was a weekend animal show hosted by Marlin Perkins, curator of the St. Louis Zoo.  In this show, he was photographing the world's  beautiful animals in Africa, South America and other locations around the world.  He would always lead into the insurance company's commericals tying in some lesson in survival with Mutual of Omaha. (The video is from an outside source and could be deleted without notice.)
Ok, they weren't the Beatles, but it was the closest NBC could get.  They were "The Monkees" and included David Jones, Peter Tork, Micy Dolenz and Mike Nesmith.  "The Monkees" ran on NBC from 1966 through 1968.	With all of the spy TV shows, it was only time before a spy satire sit com would be developed.  This one was developed by the comedy genius of Mel Brooks and Buck Henry.  "Get Smart" starred Don Adams and Barbara Feldon as Agents 86 and 99.  The series also starred Edward Platt as "The Chief" as well as a cast of regulars including Dave Ketchum, Bernie Kopell, Dick Gautier, Victor French and Jane Dulo.	"Julia" starred Diahann Carroll and Lloyd Nolan as a nurse and doctor employed by a aerospace  factory in California.  Diahann Carroll thus became the first African-American female to star in her own series according to many.  (Although,  "The Beulah Show" ran from 1950-53 and starred Ethel Waters as Beulah.  This made Ethel Waters the first African-American female to star in her own series...most forgot this one!)	"Star Trek" aired on NBC from 1966 to 1969.  Unfortunately, the programming and sales departments at WICS/WICD determined that the show would not be a hit.  The stations would pre-empt the sci-fi series for reruns of "Laramie" in which the stations would insert local commercials instead.  It was a great way to get larger commerical rates from local advertisers plus run more of them to boot.  During the second season of "Star Trek" it finally appeared on the schedule having been moved by NBC to Friday nights at 7:30pm CT, and later to 9pm CT..	Bill Cosby, right off the run of "I Spy" starred in his own sit com, "The Bill Cosby Show.".  This time he played a character even more dangerous than an international spy....this time he was a high school coach.  Chet Kincaid was a P.E. teacher and coach of an intercity high school.  Lillian Randolph and later Beah Richards played his mother, Rose.  This half hour sit com would air from 1969 through April of 1971 and was a part of the Sunday night schedule for most of it's run.
WICS was big into syndicated talk shows, whether it was John Gary, Merv Griffin or Mike Douglas, there was a spot on the schedule for them.  Merv Griffin's show ran daily at 11:30am weekdays. "The Mike Douglas Show" was another syndicated talker, running at 3:30pm weekdays on WICS.  Pictured above are two of his many, many co-hosts which would do the honors with him for an entire weeks worth of shows.  One of the more famous weeks was with John Lennon and Yoko Ono.  Mike Douglas was a former big band singer during the early 1940's, nightclub entertainer and sometimes actor who had a successful daytime talk show for most of the 1960's and even into the 70's.   (Left): WICS as part of the St. Cardinal's TV Network ran a weekend scedule during baseball season.  This ad is from 1969 for a Sunday afternoon baseball game. The TV Guide ads shown include sister station WICD located in Champaign.  For more from this era and The History of WICD click here. (Left): The WICS/WICD News Team with Dale Coleman, Kyle Hill, newly added Wayne Cox, Nick Alexander and Dave Lange.  It appeared that at least part of the local newscasts originated at WICS.  Nick Alexander was the weathercaster, Dave Lange did sports.  Kyle Hill was a field reporter, probably at the Illinois State Capitol. (all TV Guide ads from the Doug Quick collection) More to Come
This series was loosely based on the work of James Thurber.  "My World and Welcome To It" starred William Windom as a cartoonist who would enter his own comic strip in which his family would also star.  The big difference was that he was actually rather wimpy, while his cartoon persona was king.  "My World..." ran on NBC on Monday's from 1969 to 1970.  It also ran on CBS in reruns during the summer of 1972.	Michael Parks starred as Jim Bronson in "Then Came Bronson" which ran on NBC from 1969-70.  Bronson head out on his motorcycle across the country after the death of his best friend.  Out there, he would enteract with various people across America.  For more see "The Fugitive," "The Invaders," "Run for Your Life," "Route 66," and any of several others with similar themes.	"Bracken's World" was one of network TV's first prime time soaps.  This time in the world of a movie studio.  The first episodes of the series didn't even star "Bracken" who was talked about, referred to, but never seen, just heard..  Eventually, the gag had to go, and Leslie Nielsen played the role.  In the early episodes, the voice of Warren Stevens was only heard.  Others in the cast included Peter Haskell, Eleanor Parker, Dennis Cole, Madlyn Rhue and Jeanne Cooper.  "Bracken..." aired on Friday nights at 9pm CT on WICS.	Dennis Weaver originally as "Chester" in "Gunsmoke" couldn't shed the cowboy hat even when he became a contemporary deputy Marshall, Sam McCloud.  "McCloud" ran on NBC from 1970 through 1977.    McCloud was a "fish out of water" police drama loosely based on the Clint Eastwood movie "Coogan's Bluf."  He was a southwestern Marshall who went to the big city to find an escaped prisoner who escaped from him.  It was part of the "Four in One" series which also included "San Francisco International Airport," "Night Gallery" and "The Psychiatrist."	"The Andy Williams Show" was one of NBC's longest running variety series, running from 1962 to 1971.  The variety series also co-starred a number of other singers, comedians and performers including Jimmy Gaines, Marian Mercer, The Osmonds, The Good Time Singers, the Mike Post Orchestra, Jonathan Winters, Ray Stevens, The Lennon Sisters and Charlie Callas.  During 1967, he would do specials, three times a year.  The other years he would do a complete season of shows.
"Jeopardy" was fast becoming popular during the 1960's while it was still on the NBC daytime schedule.  It aired at 11am CT on WICS.   (I continue to search for a color picture.)	Daytime serials were a daytime must for "housewives" of the late 1960's.  By 1968, NBC was airing the following "soaps:"  "Days of Our Lives"(1pm), "The Doctors"(1:30pm) and  "Another World"(2pm). Daytime game shows in 1969 include the following: (9:30am), "Concentration""Personality"(10am), "Hollywood Squares"(10:30am), "Jeopardy"(11am), "Eye Guess" 11:30am, "It Takes Two"(Noon-actually prerecorded from it's network time at 9am), "You're Putting Me On" (12:30pm), "You Don't Say"(2:30pm) and "The Match Game"(3pm).		Tom Kennedy was the host for the long running "You Don't Say."  This daytime game show aired at 2:30pm CT weekday afternoons on NBC and WICS.	For several years during the late 1960's and early 1970's "The Mike Douglas Show" was syndicated and aired weekday afternoons  for 90 minutes each day at either 3 or 3:30pm on WICS. (I continue to search for a color picture)  Here Mike Douglas is pictured with Stevie Wonder.
		"Sale of the Century" 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.	"The Bullwinkle and Rocky Show" was one of the syndication incarnations 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 a lot 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 WICS during the late 1960's and early 1970's.
The nighttime version of "The Hollywood Squares" hit prime time in 1968 hosted by Peter Marshall.  It also ran on the daytime schedule from 1966 to 1980.  It also continued in syndication with a variety of hosts thorugh the early 2000's.
"The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" began it's run in 1962 where it would stay through the rest of the 1960's and well beyond.  One of the most celebrated broadcasts occured on December 17, 1969 when Tiny Tim married Miss Vicki.  Tiny Tim is shown above right with Johnny. Early in the 1960's, "The Tonight Show" actually began at 10:15pm CT but by 1965, Johnny refused to do the first 15 minutes leaving that to Ed McMahon and orchestra leader Skitch Henderson.  Many stations pre-empted the first 15 minutes, like WICS did for local news from 10 to 10:30pm.  Johnny would begin at 10:30pm with his monolog.  By 1967, the first 15 minutes were dropped.  Keep in mind at that time, the show lasted until Midnight central time.
The Faces of NBC News during much of the 1960's included the anchor team of Chet Huntley and David Brinkley.  Frank McGee is pictured above right as he anchored the first manned moon landing on NBC in 1969.		As the decade of the 1970's were beginning the NBC prime time schedule included the following new programs from 1970 to 1978:   Men from Shiloh, Nancy, The Jimmy Stewart Show, Sarge, The Funny Side, McMillin and Wife, Columbo, Nichols, The D.A., The Partners, The Good Life, Hec Ramsey, Madigan, Cool Million, Banacek, Search, Sanford and Son, Little People, Ghost Story, Banyon, Emergency, Losta Luck, Diana, Chase, The Magician, Police Story, Madigan, Tenafly, Faraday and Company, The Snoop Sisters, Love Story, NBC Follies, The Girl With Something Extra, Needles and Pins, Brian Keith Show, Amy Prentiss, Born Free, Little House on the Prairie, Lucas Tanner, Petrocelli, Sierra, Movin' On, Chico and the Man, The Rockford Files, Police Woman, Family Holvak, McCoy, Invisible Man, Joe Forrester, Doctors' Hospital, The Montefuscos, Fay, Ellery Queen, Medical Story, Quincy M.E., The Big Event, Baa Baa Black Sheep, The Practice, The Quest, Gemini Man, NBC's Best Sellers, Van Dyke and Company, Serpico, Richard Pryor Show, Mulligan's Stew, CHiPS, Man from Atlantis, Rosetti and Ryan, My Friend Tony, Sanford Arms, Bionic Woman, Lifeline, Grandpa Goes to Washington, Dick Clark's Live Wednesday, Project U.F.O., W.E.B., Waverly Wonders, Who's Watching the Kids, Eddie Capra Movies and Sword of Justice. It's important to note that WICS would often pre-empt network programming with locally originating programming in order to air more local commercials during prime time.
"McMillan and Wife" was part of the rotating series under the title of "NBC Mystery Movie."  The series starred Rock Hudson and Susan Saint James.  This series shared the title with "Columbo" and "McCloud."  McMillan was the San Francisco Police Commissioner with Sally his wife until she was written out of the series after a contract dispute.  The series ran from 1970 to 1977 and was another of the Universal Studios produced series.			Although hosted by Gene Rayburn, this version of "The Match Game" is different that the one most often refered to today.  This version, produced by Goodson-Todman as well, featured two teams, each with one non-celebrity and two celebrities.  Each tried to match their team mates answers to questions.  It ran on NBC and WICS from 1962 to 1969.	"Hec Ramsey" was one fourth of the rotating series "NBC Sunday Mystery Movie."  Hec Ramsey was played by Richard Boone as a an aged gunfighter who used science to solve crimes in the old west.  "Hec Ramsey" aired on NBC from 1972 to 1974.
Bob Hope continued his many specials throughout the 60's and 70's including his Christmas specials in which he would visit U.S. military bases around the world, including ones in Viet Nam. I have tried to post video of clips from different examples of "The Bob Hope Show" always to have them challenged by Bob Hope Enterprises as a copyright infringement.  I guess they don't know the meaning of "fair use."   If Bob Hope Enterprises continues with these challenges, there will come a time, no one will even remember him or appreciate his comedic talents.  That's so sad.
By 1969 the anchor lineup at WICS consisted of News Anchor Wayne Cox, Nick Alexander(weather) and Dave Lange(sports).
				"Columbo" was another of the series under the heading of "The NBC Mystery Movie."  The series had one star, with Peter Falk as Lt. Columbo.  This series ran on NBC from 1971 to 1977.  It was revived by ABC in in 1989.
NBC's Saturday morning children's TV was never as attractive to kids as much as the programming on CBS or ABC.  It was obvious the commitment to kids programming wasn't that strong for the peacock network.   Here are some sample schedules from the late 1960's on Saturday mornings on NBC and WICS. From July 13, 1968:  "Super 6"(8am), "Super President"(8:30am), "The Flintstones"(9am), "Young Sampson"(9:30am),  "Birdman"(10am), "Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel"(10:30am), "Cool Mc Cool"(11am),.  WICS followed that with the syndicated "Superman." From May 24, 1969: "Super 6"(8am), "Cool McCool"(8:30am), "Flintstones"(9am), "Banana Splits" (9:30am), "Underdog"(10:30am), "Storybook Squares"(11am), "Untamed World" (11:30am).  "The Flintstones" and "Underdog" were both reruns of previously produced shows.  "Banana Splits" was a combination live action-cartoon series produced by Hanna Barbara. "The Adventures of Superman" ran whenever there was a hole in programming on WICS.  This would continue for years, even up into the 1980's!  It also appeared on weekday afternoons for a while during the early to late 1960's. This was the original TV version starring George Reeves as Clark Kent/Superman.  Both the B/W and color episodes were shown. "Roller Derby" was a Saturday afternoon regular series on WICS during the late 1960's.  The syndicated sports show primarily presented the "San Francisco Bay Area Bombers" facing other national teams such as the "Midwest Pioneers," "LA Thunderbirds" and others.  The stars of the SFBAB included Joanie Westen.
On Sunday mornings when other stations were offering religious programming WICS was giving us the "Sunday Morning Movie."  During most of it's run in the late 1960's and 70's it was sponsored by local Lincoln-Mercury dealer, Railsplitter Motors."  Most commercials were recorded live on tape or done live during the movie as cars would be driving into the new WICS studio where as up to 4 cars could be featured at one time!		"The GE College Bowl" was a weekend game show of sorts which presented representatives from Universities around the country competing by answering seemingly impossible questions based on literatures, mathematics, physics, science and psychology.  Here a local team from Millikin University was competing with the University of Colorado.   "Go Blue!"  I've never been able to determine who won, or who the participants were.  If you know, drop me an e-mail.  The names include: ?,  Terry Lass, Thomas ?, Brian ?
Even though the first season of "Star Trek" wasn't seen on WICS by the second sesason, after NBC moved it to Friday nights at 9pm CT it was finally seen by central Illinois sci-fi fans.  "Star Trek" in syndication came to WICS in 1971. Bob Hope specials were always good for great ratings during sweeps months.  This one was from November of 1968.  The show was sponsored by Chrysler, and supported by a Chrysler ad in most editions of TV Guide.  It is shown above right. (TV Guide Close-Ups from the Doug Quick collection)
"The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" began it's multi year run on NBC in 1968, where it ran for one season before moving to ABC the following year when it ran for two more seasons.  The show starred Hope Lange, Edward Mulhare and Reta Shaw....and for those of you who have wondered what Charles Nelson Reilly did other than "The Match Game", he played Claymore Gregg the nephew of the ghost.  It was based on the movie with Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison.	Roger Moore before he was 007, he was "The Saint" Simon Templar.  This modern day Robin Hood ran on NBC from 1967 to 1968.  The character of Simon Templar originated in the 1930's on radio and was played by among others Vincent Price on radio.  This British import was also rerun as part of the CBS Late Movie.	Robert Fuller, former star in "Laramie" was the star in "Emergency" which aired on NBC from 1972-77.  Also starring Julie London and real life husband Bobby Troup along with Kevin Tighe, Randolph Mantooth and others.  This show was produced by Jack Webb(who was the former husband of co-star Julie London, go figure!)	Anthony Blake was played by Bill Bixby.  Tony was an ex-con who spent time in prison for a crime he didn't commit, but now he was a professional magician(illusionist) and felt compelled to help others.  Interestingly enough, Bixby was an amateur magician and performed his own illusions.  "The Magician" ran on NBC from 1973 to 74.	This NBC series ran from 1973 to 1977, but could trace it's roots back to 1953 when an earlier show used the title of "Police Story" as well.  This police anthology was created by former LAPD Joseph Wambaugh.    This series also spawned the Angie Dickinson series "Police Woman."
"Little House on the Prairie" came from Michael Landon, right off of his run in "Bonanza."  The style of the show, the pacing, the music was all very similar to those last years of "Bonanza."  In fact many of the former guest stars of the long running TV western ended up as regulars on "Little House..." I probably don't need to get into the story of the series, as it's popularity continues today in syndicaton and on cable.  Michael Landon starred with Karen Grassle, Melissa Gilbert, Melissa Sue Anderson, Lindsay/Sidney Greenbush, Karl Swenson, Richard Bull, Katherine MacGregor, Alison Arngrim, Jonathan Gilbert, Kevin Hagen, Dabbs Greer, Victor French and many, many more. "Little House.." ran on NBC from 1974 to1983 when the title was changed to "Little House: A New Beginning" and starred the younger members of the Ingalls family. It also ran on WICS in syndication for a while in the early 1980s.			Barry Newman starred as "Petrocelli" a lawyer who settled in the desert southwest.  The series ran from 1964-76 and co-starred Susan Howard, Albert Salmi and David Huddleston.  The pilot show was called "The Lawyer" and was loosely based on the Sam Shepard murder case.	"Sanford and Son" starred long time comedian Redd Foxx with Demond Wilson as his son.  Fred and Lamont were a father/son partnership in the junk business in south L.A.. This was Norman Lear's second hit following "All in the Family."  At the end of the run of the series, the cast fell apart and the show was later called "Sanford Arms" after Red Foxx left the series in a contract dispute.
"Dinah" hosted by Dinah Shore was syndicated and included on the daytime schedule at WICS during much of the 1970's.  The TV Guide ad is from June of 1977.		Even though this series was a situation comedy, there wasn't much too funny behind the scenes after the suicide of it's star.  Freddie Prinze' death in 1977 could've meant the end of the series, but the character of "Chico" was sorta replaced by a younger character, also latino, who the old guy, Ed Brown(played by Jack Albertson) referred to as "Chico" as well. "Chico and the Man" ran on NBC from  1974 to 1978.  Other cast members included Bonnie Boalnd, Isaac Ruiz and Ronny Graham.  Later additions included Della Reese, Gagriel Melgar and even Charo.
			"The Sunday Cinema" was the blanket name of any movie shown on WICS on Sunday.  It could have been during the late afternoon, or most likely Sunday at 10:30pm.
"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.	"Quincy M.E." premiered on October 3, 1976 on NBC where it ran through May 11, 1983.   Jack Klugman starred as a crusading Medical Examiner in Los Angeles, who would find clues that everyone else would miss.   Other stars included James Watson, Jr., Robert Ito and Garry Walberg.	"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.	"The Bionic Woman" originally a spin off of ABC's "The Bionic Man" where it aired from 1976 to 1977.   In September of 1977 it moved to NBC where it aired for one season.	Vincent Baggetta starred as Eddie Capra on "The Eddie Capra Mysteries" which ran on NBC from September 1978 for one season before moving to CBS and where reruns aired during the summer of 1980.
More Coming Soon "The NBC Mystery Movie" was a blanket title for a mix of different series. By 1971, "The Mike Douglas Show" was history...as the long running daytime talker was replaced by "The David Frost Show."  Very similar in concept, but a bit more on the intelligent side....and David Frost didn't sing. The afternoon lineup on WICS/WICD was a bit different during 1971.  The biggest difference was the local news time.  The 90 minute newscasts of local news at 5PM, followed by the NBC News at 5:30PM, then more local news at 6PM, was replaced with two different newscasts for each of the two stations.  It appears that most, if not all of the local newscasts were simulcast, or at least partially simulcast.  The 5PM newscast ran on WICD in Champaign, with the 6PM newscast running on WICS.  When WICS was seeing "Dragnet", WICD was getting the news....and vice versa.  This left WCIA with the monopoly of news at 6pm for east central Illinois. "The Sunday Night Movie" ran at 10:30pm each Sunday. More Coming Soon
The NBC "snake" logo was replaced by the twin trapezoid "N" in 1976.  Unfortunately, a very similar logo was used by Nebraska Educational Television...and NETV sued.  A settlement was reached , while NBC updated the "N" with the most recognizable logo for NBC in 1979....the peacock, with 12 feathers....shown right.  More "proud as a Peacock logos in the next part of the History of WICS.		(Right): "The Men From Shiloh" was the new title for "The Virginian."  the series changed to a number of TV movie specials.
This was taken at WICS sometime during the late 1960's or early 1970's.  The purpose for the appearance of David Hartman is unknown, although he was starring in "The Men from Shiloh" which was airing on NBC and WICS through the 1968-69 season.  Pictured are WICS staff members Robert Wilson and John McKinney. (picture courtesy of Teresa Wilson Ericson, daughter of Robert Wilson) Note: Find Robert Wilson in WICS History Part 1 in which we was a cast member of "Pegwill's Circus."

thanks to Cindy Larson and others at WICS for help in getting WICS photos
thanks to Les Vann for details on the two WICS anchor pictures from the mid 1980's..
TV Guide ads are from The Doug Quick Collection.
thanks to Randy Miller for his picture contributions.

If you have any additional material or can identify any people not ID'd in pictures, please e-mail me at dougquick @ dougquick.com

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updated  11/11/2011 web master:  Doug Quick copyright © 2001-2012  Doug Quick