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Welcome to Central Illinois' On-Line Broadcast Museum. This website documents the history of each viewable TV station, past and present, across mid-Illinois through text, photos, testimonials, and videos, along with each station's current status. This site also includes local radio history and automated analog formats, again told in pictures, videos, and text, along with personal postings by Doug Quick, the host and creator of this site.
This website displays best on a full-size monitor, desktop, or laptop computer. If you're watching on your mobile phone, you can zoom in on the page if needed. Also, you may have to sign in to YouTube to view some videos. Some browsers do not allow some embedded videos to play, so click on the "YouTube" logo on the video to view it on YouTube.
Featured Videos
An Early Multimedia Crime Fighter, A Villain with a Notorious Name, and a Cartoon Montage
Welcome to a group of videos, many thinly connected in one way or another. Either way, it’s a unique collection. For the first time, I’m also including a related theatrical movie serial as a companion piece to a TV series and Radio series of the same characters and name. “The Green Hornet” was created in Detroit, Michigan, for WXYZ Radio by George Trendle, who was also part of the team that created “The Lone Ranger.” In fact, the “Green Hornet’s” alter ego was described in the radio series as the nephew of “The Lone Ranger.” Below are examples from the 1966 TV series and the 1940 movie serial, along with 27-30 minute episodes from the classic radio era!
The 1966 “Green Hornet” episode and an episode of “Trackdown,” a TV western series from nearly a decade earlier, both feature a “bad guy” with the same name. That name could be synonymous with “bad guys.” You be the judge.
We also feature an installment of “The Frank Sinatra Show” from 1958, “Blue Eyes,” the second attempt at a TV variety show. It features an incredibly talented singer named Pat Suzuki, who really commands the show, even against Sinatra. This series also has a “connection” to “The Green Hornet” TV series! Check it out below.
Also, the “Green Hornet” episode features a “bad guy” with the same name as another “bad guy” in a “Trackdown” episode starring Robert Culp. The name still resonates today. Watch the videos to discover what it is!
One of the last TV westerns, as they began to dwindle in the early 1960s after peaking during the “Trackdown” era shown below, starred one of the major stars of the long-running “Wagon Train.” Watch Robert Horton in “Shenandoah,” an ABC series from 1965.
Watch the final installment of “The Price is Right” as it was moving from NBC to ABC within days. Plus, you’ll see longtime “Saturday Night Live” announcer Don Pardo say goodbye to the series. Find out why he was leaving in the video below.
If you liked the TV cartoons of the 1960s, you’ll love this review of the shows you probably watched on Saturday mornings. It even mentions that one cartoon series' narrator also narrated the next show featured below. It was one of the most-watched endings of an episodic TV “chase” series ever, produced by QM Productions, and it was narrated by the same guy who also narrated a famous cartoon series. Check it out now at the Museum.
Also on Classic Radio, a 27-episode recording of “The Green Hornet” radio series on which a TV series, a couple of comic book series, and a movie serial (seen below) were based. It’s all now at Central Illinois’ On-Line Broadcast Museum!
Classic Television
Click on the image on the left to watch the video directly from YouTube
Trackdown (1958) CBS “The End of the World”
Robert Culp starred in “Trackdown,” a CBS half-hour western series that aired from October 4, 1957 through September 23, 1959. He played Texas Ranger Hoby Gilman. In this story, a con man journeys into a Texas town. He tries to extort money from gullible townspeople by offering to tell them how to avoid an astronomical event that will end the town’s existence and kill its citizens. This episode is best known for the conman’s name, but his threats still sound a little familiar today. You’ll have to watch the video to get the “bad guy’s” name. He’s played by Lawrence “Larry” Dobkin.
This video has a short muted segment, but closed captions fill in the silence around 18:55. The audio continues soon after.
“Trackdown” aired on WCIA, WMBD-TV, WTHI-TV, KHQA, and KMOX-TV on May 8, 1958. It was the first season, episode number 30.
Dabbs Greer as one of the "gullible" townspeople; Robert Culp as Hoby Gilman, a Texas Ranger; and Lawrence "Larry" Dobson as the con man.
(YouTube screen grab)
Click on the image on the left to watch the video directly from YouTube
The Frank Sinatra Show (1958) ABC
This 30-minute live edition of “The Frank Sinatra Show” aired on ABC on May 23, 1958, from the El Capitan Theater at 6840 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood. That's part of the same entertainment complex used for “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on ABC today.
“The Frank Sinatra Show” aired on WTVP, WTVH, and KTVI across mid-Illinois. This version of his musical variety show was his second attempt in television, after failing in 1951-52 on CBS, having been placed in competition with NBC’s Milton Berle and “The Texico Star Theater.”
Pat Suzuki and Frank Sinatra as shown on "The Frank Sinatra Show" in 1958.
(YouTube screen grab)
This version of “The Frank Sinatra Show” premiered on October 18, 1957, airing through July 27, 1958, on ABC. In fact, the network gave Mr. Sinatra $3 million and free rein. This version included dramatic stories and musical variety shows. The installment featured singer Pat Suzuki, who stole the show (and whose husband was President Kennedy's White House photographer), and Natalie Wood. It also includes the original commercials, which are as significant as the actual program!
William Self produced this version of the “Sinatra Show,” as well as “Adventures in Paradise,” “The Time Tunnel,” “The Green Hornet” (see below), and many others. Other faces and voices include Bob Lemond as the show announcer; Bud Collyer (game show host and voice of Superman for the radio series) for Bulova Watches; and Jackson Beck (announcer voice for the “Superman” radio series) for Chesterfield Cigarettes.
This fabulous print is actually a film restoration by SabuCat Productions, which has restored many films from the past, including theatrical films, trailers, educational films, historical films, and, yes, TV shows. To reach SabuCat's YouTube channel, click here.
Click on the image on the left to watch the video directly from YouTube
Do You Remember These Cartoons (1960s-70s)
From YouTube: “Do you remember the strangest kids’ shows that actually aired?
In this video, we go back to Saturday morning television and revisit 21 cartoons and kids’ shows that were stranger than we realized.
“From a horse who fought criminals with a guitar to a superhero in diapers, a penguin who learned science the hard way, a family trapped among dinosaurs, and a talking island with a witch chasing a golden flute, these shows made our childhoods unforgettable. Some lasted only a handful of episodes. Others stayed with us for decades through reruns, familiar voices, and theme songs we can still sing today."
By the way, The Quick Draw McGraw series is being released for the first time as a 6-disc Blu-ray collection by the Warner Archive Collection on October 20, 2026. It can be preordered on Amazon and the MovieZyng Product. I include this for your information and do not receive any compensation for the post here.
"George of the Jungle" just one of the featured cartoons in this collection from th 1960s and 70s
(from the Doug Quick Collection)
“Woody Woodpecker (1940 theatrical debut)
The New Casper Cartoon Show (1963)
Quick Draw McGraw (1959)
Rocky and Bullwinkle (1959)
Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales (1963)
Super Chicken (1967)
George of the Jungle (1967)
Milton the Monster (1965)
Dino Boy (1966)
The Flash (1967 animated shorts)
Green Lantern (1967 animated shorts)
Aquaman (1967 animated segments)
The Adventures of Batman (1968)
Spider-Man (1967)
Wacky Races (1968)
Frankenstein Jr. and the Impossibles (1966)
The Herculoids (1967)
The Mighty Heroes (1966)
The Brown Hornet (1979)
Land of the Lost (1974)
H.R. Pufnstuf (1969)”
Click on the image on the left to watch the video directly from YouTube
The Price is Right (1963) NBC Host: Bill Cullen
This program aired on September 6, 1963, ending NBC's original “The Price is Right” nighttime game show. The show moved to ABC three days later, on September 9, 1963, where it ran through September 3, 1965. The original program was broadcast in color, but only a black-and-white kinescope exists. That's what you see here.
The show title didn't return until 1972, when it returned to CBS daytime on September 4, 1972, in a new format hosted by Bob Barker. Goodson-Todman Productions also syndicated it to local stations at that time, where Dennis James hosted it.
A behind-the-scenes shot of "The Price Is Right" shows the set's color and a huge RCA TK-41 color camera.
(Doug Quick Collection)
As you’ll see in this final NBC episode, announcer Don Pardo stayed with NBC and didn't move to ABC for the series. Don Pardo was under contract with NBC, which allowed him to work for G-T Productions as long as the series aired on NBC. His “non-compete” contract kept him from moving to ABC with the show.
Originally, it was seen on NBC stations WICS, WCHU, WICD, WEEK-TV, WGEM-TV, and KSD-TV.
Click on the image on the left to watch the video directly from YouTube
A Man Called Shenandoah (1965) ABC Pilot Episode
After his run on “Wagon Train,” Robert Horton continued acting in westerns. This half-hour western series, “A Man Called Shenandoah,” aired on ABC from September 13, 1965, through September 5, 1966.
In the series, he played a man who suffered severe injuries after bounty hunters misidentified him. He has amnesia from his injuries and roams the West trying to find someone who may give him details about his identity and his past. The theme song was sung by its star, Robert Horton.
The series was created by E. Jack Neuman, who was the executive producer, and produced by Fred Freiberger for MGM-TV. “A Man Called Shenandoah” was seen on WTVP, WTVH, and KTVI.
Robert Horton, the star of "Shenandoah" for ABC.
(YouTube screen grab)
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New Stuff at the Museum
New Look for the Home Page
and Offering 2026 Time Capsules for Permanent Viewing
POSTED 2026-1015
New paint job and remodel to the Home Page to include the now permanent TV Time Capsules and Highlights on the Main Menu
Added Old Airchecks to the History of WDNL Page
POSTED 2026-0914
Re posted a large selection of vintage airchecks from the 1980s of the station plus spotlights on two of the most popular RKO syndicated shows of the station, Night Time America and Solid Gold Saturday Night, including airchecks of both shows.
Latest TV
Radio
Headlines
UPDATED 2026-1012
ABC in its latest filing in its First Amendment suit against the FCC asserts that the agency's request for early renewal of its local TV station licenses was structured in such a way as to avoid judicial review.
On 18 August ABC sued the FCC and Chairman Brendan Carr (a Trump loyalist) alleging the Commission was conducting an 'extraordinary assault' on its First Amendment rights by the threat of taking away its broadcast licences for eight of its owned and operated stations. The FCC maintains that its order requiring ABC to apply for early renewals of its licences was part of the Commission's investigation into the alleged DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) employment practices at Disney and ABC.
At a hearing on Oct 6, Judge Loren AliKhan (U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, presiding over the case) told the FCC to file a supplemental submission on the list of alternative tools to compel discovery in the DEI investigation of Disney and ABC (other than early license renewals).
On Monday ABC issued a response to the FCC's filing. The FCC had at the hearing contended that "the license renewal process is not about the licenses, it's an attempt to deal with what they claim to be a discovery deficiency" in the DEI investigation, according to ABC's response. "Their supplemental briefing merely confirms what they admitted at the hearing: there are 'a number of different tools' the agency could have used to deal with the purported discovery deficiency."
ABC continued: "These are not just 'theoretical' tools. They have been used by the agency for decades. The agency did none of those less intrusive tools here, instead going to the extraordinary step of seeking early license renewal of all eight ABC owned stations at the same time. The defendants' own admissions make it abundantly clear why they did this: they were seeking to apply maximum coercive pressure on the media company whose speech the Administration was attempting to suppress, while at the same time deliberately attempting to escape judicial review."
--from Variety
FCC Plans to Auction FM Radio Construction Permits to
Perspective Radio Owners
POSTED 2026-0512
The Federal Communications Commission plans to auction FM radio construction permits beginning in February 2027.
“Auction 114 would make available for bidding construction permits for vacant FM radio channels,” it said in the announcement.
It will offer 132 CPs, including 99 not previously offered; 33 of them were offered at auction before but unsold.
Most are Class A or Class C; there is a Class B1 in Illinois. That is for 96.9FM licensed to Mattoon, IL. Save your money, though, the bidding begins at $25,000.
Now Streaming Nationally
Click on the image above to listen to MeTVFM. It's the popular music companion to MeTV, Memorable Entertainment Television, America’s #1 all classic television network. Launched at 87.7FM in late February, 2015, MeTVFM features a unique mix of timeless and memorable music incorporating a wide variety of classic hits, deep tracks and softer sounds spanning several decades of popular music.
Click on the image on the left to watch the video directly from YouTube
The Green Hornet (1966) ABC First Episode
Read about the origin and background story of “The Green Hornet” below under the radio series presentation.
This TV version was a companion series to ABC’s “Batman,” also from 20th Century Fox. The concept was updated, as Britt Reid now owned a television station. He was played by Van Williams (formerly “Surfide Six”), while Kato was played by the legendary Bruce Lee. Other cast members included Walter Brooke as Frank Scanlon, the district attorney, and Wende Wagner as Lenore Case (Casey), both of whom knew the Hornet’s true identity. Lloyd Gough was a former cop who now worked as a reporter on the newspaper and television station staff.
Van Williams as "The Green Hornet" above and as Britt Reid in the ABC series from 1966.
(Doug Quick Collection)
Bruce Lee in his breakout role as "Kato" in "The Green Hornet" from 1966. This is an ABC promo slide from the era.
(Doug Quick Collection)
William Self produced this series along with “The Frank Sinatra Show” (above). This episode featured a couple of “bad guys,” including Dan Carley, played by Lloyd Bochner. The other “bad guy” was played by Charles Francisco. His name is more significant. His last name matches the villain in the “Trackdown” video above. You’ll have to watch to learn his name; the same name as an arguably “bad guy” now.
This is the first episode of the series, airing from September 9, 1966, through July 14, 1967. It would have been seen over Mid-Illinois on WAND, WIRL, and KTVI.
"The Green Hornet" TV series, just like the movie serial and the radio drama all spawned comic books for kids. It was similar to puchasing VHS or DVD copies of the actual live action shows.
This is one from 1966 published by Gold Key, which did companion comices for many TV shows and movies of the 1950s and 60s.
(picture from the Doug Quick Colleciton)
Click on the image on the left to watch the video directly from YouTube
The Fugitive (1967) ABC “The Judgment” Parts 1&2, Final episodes
This note from the Nostalgic PodBlasts YouTube Channel: "From my 16mm film collection comes the original commercials from the original 1967 airing of the final 2 episodes of “The Fugitive” starring David Janssen from Tuesday, August 22nd and Tuesday, August 29th, 1967 at 10 pm (ET) on ABC TV.
The episodes come from a Canadian VHS from GoodTimes home video in 1986 (using the Canadian airing, a week after the U.S. airing, as the source), with commercials edited in from my 1967 film prints. At the very end of this presentation, the correct “day the running stopped” of “Tuesday, August 29th, 1967” is heard and seen from a rare March 1993 NBC primetime rerun of “The Fugitive” series finale, which was aired in conjunction with the 1993 theatrical release of the feature film that starred Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones, among others. Enjoy!"
To visit The Nostalgic Pod Blast YouTube Channel, click here.
The hunted and the hunter shake hands in the final scene of the 1967 film "The Fugitive." Barry Morse (Lt. Gerard) and David Janssen (Dr. Richard Kimball), with Diane Baker (Jean Carlisle).
(YouTube screen grab)
Classic Film
Click on the image on the left to watch the video directly from YouTube
The Green Hornet (1940) 13-Chapters of the Movie Serial
From The Sprocket Vault YouTube Channel:
"The Green Hornet is a 1940 black-and-white 13-chapter movie serial from Universal Pictures, produced by Henry MacRae, directed by Ford Beebe and Ray Taylor, starring Gordon Jones, Wade Boteler, Keye Luke, and Anne Nagel. The serial is based on The Green Hornet radio series by George W. Trendle and Fran Striker.
“Plot
Britt Reid, the new publisher of The Sentinel newspaper, secretly becomes the vigilante crime fighter The Green Hornet. Backing him up is his Korean valet and inventor Kato. Together, they investigate and expose several separate underworld rackets. During the course of 13 serial chapters, these high-profile events lead the Hornet and Kato into continued conflict with the henchmen of “The Chief”, the hidden mastermind behind a 12-person criminal syndicate controlling those rackets.”
Cast
“Gordon Jones as Britt Reid and The Green Hornet
Al Hodge as the (uncredited) voice of the Green Hornet (from the radio series)
Wade Boteler as Michael Axford
Keye Luke as Kato. Kato is Korean in the serial, rather than the original Japanese character from the radio series, because of rising anti-Japanese sentiment worldwide during and after WWII. This was two years before Japan’s December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States’ entry into World War II. The radio show dropped Kato’s nationality from the opening sequence, included passing references in dialogue to his Filipino character, and, years later, after the war, returned to the standard show introduction.
Anne Nagel as Leonore Case”
Britt Reid played by Gordon Jones and Anne Nagel as Leonore Case.
(YouTube screen grab)
The Green Hornet played by Gordon Jones and Keye Luke as "Kato" in a scene from the movie serial shown above
(YouTube screen grab)
This is the original movie poster for the movie serial above. It was produced by Universal Studios in 1939-40.
(unknown source)
As shown above with the TV version of "The Green Hornet" it also was accompnied by a companion Comic Book. Here is a cover from one from the 1930s.
(picture from the Doug Quick Collection)
Classic Radio
Click on the image on the left to watch the video directly from YouTube
The Green Hornet (1947-48) WXYZ-Radio, ABC Radio Network, Episodes 1-26
George Trendle created The Green Hornet in the 1930s as a kids’ radio series that premiered on January 31, 1936, on WXYZ Radio in Detroit, MI. Several actors portrayed the crime fighter on radio, including Hal Hodge (1936-1941), Donovan Faust (1943), Bob Hall (1944-1951), and Jack McCarthy (1951-1952). Tōkutarō Hayashi (also known as Raymond Toyo) played Kato, the Green Hornet's Filipino valet (originally called a Japanese valet early on, using a racial slur; see the newspaper ad below).
The Green Hornet was actually Britt Reid, a newspaper publisher by day; by night, he was the Hornet, capturing criminals, but police and criminals both believed the Hornet was a criminal himself.
From Infinity Radio YouTube Channel: "The series… originated on WXYZ, the same local Detroit station that broadcast its companion shows “The Lone Ranger” and “Challenge of the Yukon.” Beginning April 12, 1938, the station supplied the series to the Mutual Broadcasting System radio network, and then to NBC Blue and its successors, the Blue Network and ABC Network, from November 16, 1939, through September 8, 1950. It returned from September 10 to December 5, 1952. It was sponsored by General Mills from January to August 1948 and by Orange Crush in its brief 1952 run.
“Distinguished by its use of classical music for themes and for bridges between scenes, The Green Hornet was “one of radio’s best-known and most distinctive juvenile adventure shows.” The series detailed the adventures of Britt Reid, debonair newspaper publisher by day, crime-fighting masked hero at night.”
Leift is a copy of the original newspaper ad promoting "The Hornet" when it premiered on WXYZ Radio, Detroit, MI in 1936.
(unknown source)
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 written narrative to go along with each. You have to visit each week for that.
Jack Benny Program Segment (1957) Mel Blanc
Mel Blanc the Man of a Thousand Voices-Documentary
37 ABC Shows from the Fall of 1961
Route 66 (1963) But What Do You Do in March?
Alcoa Premiere Presents:
“Million Dollar Hospital” (1963) ABC William Shatner
American Bandstand (1964) Dick Clark
American Bandstand (1969) Dick Clark
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1968) NBC original broadcast
Classic Radio
WIL Radio-St. Louis (1963) Ron Lundy
Other selections include those on Select Area Radio Stations from
WDBR, WLRW, WBNQ, WWTO, and KGRS
WHTT (1976) Drake-Chenault "Contempo 300"
WKDQ-FM (1977) Drake-Chenault
"XT-40"
Demo for Great American Country on WIL-FM
Patty Duke Show (1964) ABC open/closing credits
The Avengers (1967) ABC "The Living Dead"
The Partridge Family (1972) ABC "You're Only Young Twice"
Match Game '73 (1973) CBS Host: Gene Rayburn First Show
The Burt Reynolds Late Show (1974) NBC
Starsky & Hutch (1975) ABC "The Fix"
Police Story (1978) NBC Guest: Glen Ford
30 Minutes of Commercials from the 1970s
CLASSIC RADIO
All are available on the Radio History Pages
Next Regular Update Comes November 5
To Be announced...
So, what does Doug Quick's Golden Classics sound like? Click on the Video above for a sample!
This is a two-hour sample of "Golden Classics" with complete songs, and only the commercials are edited out. The call letters and the radio station are for demonstration purposes only and does not exist.
Central Illinois On-Line Broadcast Museum and dougquick.com supports the work of the St. Louis Media History Foundation.
Visit their website at:
Awards
National Academy
of Television Arts
and Sciences
Mid-America Chapter
Silver Circle Award
Winner 2013
Doug Quick, the 2017
Medium market TV
Best TV News Anchor Sliver Dome Award from the Illinois Broadcasters Association
for his work with WCCU-TV
TV Time Capsule October 2026
In October, I opened the TV Time Capsule and shared the story of Television from 1953 to 2026.
I cover the technical changes in TV from its early days to today.
I share my own experiences and my family's about what influenced my interest in Television and, ultimately, broadcasting.
Check out how television has evolved over the last 70+ years! I also include many pictures of TV set advertising from the very early days, when TVs cost about half the price of a new car, through the 1990s. I also cover videodiscs, VTRs, laserdiscs, and streaming services. I cover how TV reception has moved from home antennas to community antennas, cable, satellite, and streaming, and the future of NextGen TV.
It's all this month, October, here at Central Illinois' On-Line Broadcast Museum! Enjoy!
Click on the picture above to open up the October TV Time Capsule!