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Welcome to Central Illinois' On-Line Broadcast Museum. This website documents in detail the history of each of the viewable TV stations, past and present, across mid-Illinois in text, photos, and videos, as well as each station's current status. This site also includes some local radio history, along with automated analog formats, again told in pictures, videos, and text.

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Doug Quick
Radio/TV Broadcaster/Historian, Author, Webmaster
complete bio available here.

Videos of the Week

We all know how NBC seemed to control the late-night schedule with "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson." From April 17, 1967, through December 26, 1969, ABC tried to compete with another late-night talker, "The Joey Bishop Show."

After the failure of that programming, the network appeared to groom viewers to " The Dick Cavett Show" during prime time from 9 to 10 pm on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays beginning on May 26, 1969, through September 1969.

Soon after the initial prime time run, Cavett would move to nighttime late night with a 10:30 pm CT show that would compete directly with "The Tonight Show." Beginning in December of 1969, the late-night show began airing in December of 1972.

This week, I feature samples from both talkers and give you a taste of what would follow as ABC recycled some of the lighter prime-time shows for late night. That group of syndicated shows from all three networks were under the umbrella name "ABC Late Night," which aired from January 1, 1973, through October 21, 1982. Among the shows included were "The Streets of San Francisco," "Police Story," "Barney Miller," "Fantasy Island," "Soap," "The Rookies," "The Love Boat," "Mannix," "Vegas," "Longstreet," "Police Woman," and a few of the former "ABC's Movie of the Week."

So below are a few samples of "The Joey Bishop Show," "The Dick Cavett Show," and "ABC Late Night."

Click on the photo above to go directly to the YouTube Video

The Joey Bishop Show (1968) Guests: Sammy Davis Jr. and Peter Lawford

This installment of "The Joey Bishop Show" was from February 2, 1969, a day before his birthday when he would reach 51 years old. Watch for Johnny Mann's Ochestra (best known as the leader of The Johnny Mann Singers), and Regis Philbin as his announcer and co-star.

Joey's guests include his former Rat Packer friends Sammy Davis Jr. and Peter Lawford. They are on to promote their new motion picture called "Salt and Pepper," a comedy-mystery film released in 1968. It was directed by Richard Donner, who would go on to direct "The Omen" in 1976 and "Superman" in 1978 with Christopher Reeve and many more through the 1990s. Early on during the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s, he would direct many TV shows, including "Wanted Dead or Alive," "The Fugitive" and many more, including the iconic "Twilight Zone" episode with William Shatner titled "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet."

This show includes a dance-off that includes the father of Sammy Davis Jr. and Joey's brother. A birthday cake is rolled out to celebrate Joey's birthday, which will occur the following day. The cake is used to stage a "cake fight" instead of a "pie fight."

This was broadcast over mid-Illinois on ABC affiliates WAND, WIRL, and KTVI.

Joey Bishop Show (1969) First Half Hour
Guests: Carol Burnett, James Stewart

This special episode announced the 1969 Photoplay Magazine Awards. Carol Burnett and James Stewart were two of the winners. It was broadcast on June 26, 1969, as one installment of "The Joey Bishop Show." Unfortunately, it's only the first 30 minutes of the 90-minute show and is a black-and-white kinescope.

This was seen over mid-Illinois on WAND, WIRL, WJJY-TV, and KTVI.

More about Joey Bishop

From Deadline: "Joey Bishop's Stage, TV, Film Career and His Rat Pack Days are within "Deconstructing the Rat Pack: Joey, the Mob, and the Summit" in a scathing new Book by Bruce Haring.

Joey Bishop was a member of the Rat Pack, one of the most iconic acts of all time. He had a TV sitcom that evolved over several years, changing formats and TV networks twice. He was a host of the Emmy broadcasts for multiple years and was included in more than a dozen movies and countless TV shows, including his own ABC network talk show. He then filled in on "The Tonight Show" for Johnny Carson for many years during the 1970s.

Even with his resume, according to Richard Lertzman, author of Deconstructing the Rat Pack, Joey Bishop was apparently the most hated guy in show business!

Dick Cavett Show (1972) Guests: Mel Brooks, Robert Altman, Peter Bogdanovich, Frank Capra

Dick Cavett began his talk show as a daytime show, then moved to a prime time show that aired at 9 - 10 pm CT from May to September 1969 as a Summer series. Hoping to gain an audience during the Summer, it was moved to the 10:30 - Midnight CT slot beginning in December 1969 and continuing through December 29, 1972.

Up against "The Tonight Show," Dick Cavett's approach was much different than that of its NBC competition. It would oftentimes not include a monolog and would take a more intellectual, witty, intelligent format, sometimes only featuring one guest for the entire show.

It was inventive, sometimes controversial, and attractive to a small but very vocal audience—so much so that ABC received a barrage of letters of support for Cavett when it was mandated to improve ratings or be canceled. The series received a short extension but never achieved the ratings success it was challenged to reach.

It was seen over mid-Illinois on WAND, WRAU-TV, and KTVI.

Dick Cavett Show (1973) Guest: Paul Newman

From January 22, 1973, this installment of "The Dick Cavett featured a single guest, Paul Newman. He discussed the risks of receiving injuries during the production of a movie. He talks of producers having insurance to reduce the financial risk of losing the benefits of a star or having some other type of setback in production.

Newman also talks of his new passion for racing and his latest movie, "The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean."

This was seen on WAND, WRAU-TV and KTVI.

ABC Late Night (1980) ABC Opening Titles

This short video led to a nightly rerun festival of ABC's original prime time shows recycled into the late night after the 10 pm CT newscasts.

This was the weekly variety of shows that would lead into the shows mentioned. I assume it ran mostly Monday through Thursday.

This was seen on all ABC affiliates serving mid-Illinois, including WAND, WRAU-TV, WBAK-TV, and KTVI.

ABC Late Night-Vegas (1982) ABC Aircheck/Breaks

This features just the opening of Vegas and what's around the commercial breaks as broadcast on WAND on a Thursday night in June 1982. The main ABC Promo announcer was Ernie Anderson. You'll see a promo for Fridays (the late-night show from ABC spotlighted last week).

The Theme from Vegas was from The Spelding's Jazz Orchestra-Generation, Vol 2. It was written by Dominic Frontiere and Dicky Hazard. It was released on September 17, 2012.

This is from the Doug Quick Collection. It was also seen on the other ABC affiliates, WRAU-TV, WBAK-TV, and KTVI, which have their own local commercials.

The Love Boat (1983) ABC Guests: Barry Van Dyke, Dick Van Patten, Stiller and Meara

ABC initially showed this on April 2, 1983. One of the guest stars is the son of Dick Van Dyke, Danville's Favorite Son, Barry Van Dyke.

This was one of the 90-minute special episodes and more than likely appeared as part of ABC's Late Night Specials.

This series was featured on "ABC Late Night" from September 1979 through October 1982 and would have been seen on WAND, WRAU, WBAK-TV, and KTVI.

Police Woman (1974) ABC Angie Dickinson

"Police Woman" starred Angie Dickenson as Sgt. Suzanne "Pepper" Anderson is an undercover agent for the Los Angeles Police Department. She was part of a team that included Lt. Bill Craowley, played by Earl Holliman, and Detective Pete Royster, played by Charles Dierkop.

This is the pilot show of the series that aired originally on NBC but would become part of the rotation umbrella series "ABC Late Night." The pilot aired on NBC on September 13, 1974, and the series continued on NBC through August 30, 1978. Earl Holliman was added after the initial pilot.

Off-network reruns aired on ABC Late Night from September 1978 through February 1981.

(Source: YouTube and various posters and contributors.

They may be removed without notice)

Classic Radio

KXOK (1967) Johnny Rabbitt Show with Bruno J. Grunion

This aircheck, from what is believed to be January 25, 1967, features Don Pietromonaco as Johnny Rabbitt. The name Johnny Rabbitt was actually owned by Storz Broadcasting and KXOK, and over time, at least one other Disc Jockey was featured as the iconic nighttime character. Ron Elz was the first to play the part and now does again with a weekend show on KMOX-AM in St. Louis with his "Route 66" program.

Don Pietromonaco, a gifted entertainer, was the favorite Johnny Rabbitt from 1964 to 1969 with his alter ego Bruno J. Grunion. It's reported that KXOK during his shift each weeknight and Saturday would bring the highest ratings for KXOK ever seen in the St. Louis Market by any radio station. He also helped to raise several million dollars for medical research. Pietromonaco left the station in 1969 and died in 1997.

In 2001, Don Pietromonaco was inducted into the St. Louis Radio Hall of Fame.

(Source: YouTube and various posters and contributors.

They may be removed without notice)

Click on the photo above to go directly to the YouTube Video

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Memories of the Capitol Theatre and Frisina Drive-In Theatre

Previously on Videos

of the Week...

If you've missed any of the "Videos of the Week" or "Classic Radio" recordings, you'll find them here. Unfortunately, there's no narrative to go along with each. You have to visit each week for that.

The Howdy Doody Show (1958) NBC

Popeye Cartoons (1938) WCIA Paramount Studios

The Three Stooges Film Festival (televised 1960s) WICS/WCHU/WICD

Hercules Cartoons ()1960s) WTVP(later WAND)

Bugs Bunny (1943) WICS/WCHU/WICD

Popeye Cartoons (1960s) WICS/WCHU/WICD

DIck Tracy Show Intro (1960s) WTVP(later WAND)

Dick Tracy Cartoon (1960s) WTVP(later WAND)

Space Angel (1960s) WTVP(later WAND)

Woody Woodpecker (1960) ABC/Syndication

Huckleberry Hound Show (1958-62) Syndicated

Deputy Dog (1960-62) CBS/Syndicated