Doug Quick Downstate IBA Pioneer

(August 29, 2022) Doug Quick, retired TV weathercaster/news anchor, broadcaster, author and museum curator has been named Illinois Broadcasters Association's 2022 W. Russell Withers Jr. Downstate Broadcast Pioneer.

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At the time of his retirement in September 2021, Quick was deemed the longest-tenured central Illinois weathercaster following a career that began in 1974 on his hometown's (Taylorville) radio stations, WTIM/WTIM-FM. That was followed by stops in Springfield at WTAX/WDBR, Decatur WDZ/WDZQ, with most of his radio career being at Danville's WDAN/WDNL/WWDZ(FM).

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Quick added television to his resume in 1994, joining WICD-TV in Champaign as the station promotions director. Soon after he added the title of weekend weathercaster to his responsibilities and in 1998 became the weekday morning weathercaster and news co-anchor for NewsChannel 15.

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His radio and television work continued simultaneously until 2002 when he left Danville's radio stations and became a news/weather anchor on WICD-TV. Later he would shift over to WCCU, FOX-Illinois as a news/weather anchor, in addition to occasionally filling in on NewsChannel 15/20-Springfield as part of the STORM TEAM.

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Quick's resume includes a 40-year career as a commercial and industrial video voice-over talent, an author (Pictures on the Prairie: The First Ten Years of Mid-Illinois Television History), and created an online museum, Central Illinois' On-Line Broadcast Museum where he continues to be the curator at dougquick.com.

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“To be chosen for the IBA Downstate Broadcast Pioneer Award is a tremendous honor and is a great ending for my nearly 48-year career in broadcasting,” Quick remarked upon learning of his selection as IBA's 2022 “W. Russell Withers Jr., Downstate Broadcast Pioneer.”

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Quicks' past awards include receiving the Silver Circle Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the 2017 Silver Done Award from the Illinois Broadcasters Association for “Best Medium Market News Anchor.”

“Doug's nearly 48-year-run in central Illinois is a remarkable feat,” said Dennis Lyle, president, and CEO of Illinois Broadcasters Association. “He's the epitome of the broadcaster who wants to make a difference yet stay close to home. Not many can do it, but Doug did, and he certainly did it well!”

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Videos of the Week

Promo Palooza continues this week as we spotlight season premiere videos from CBS and NBC. 

Season Premiere (1966) CBS

Gary Moore, the 1950s heartthrob of your granny, introduces the CBS schedule for 1966 and 1967. Along with "Pistols and Petticoats," "Run Buddy Run," "Family Affair," featuring Buffy, Jodi, and Mr. French, "The Jean Arthur Show," and a few other promos were shown when astronauts traveled back in time in "It's About Time" and the cave people spoke broken English. What percentage of these are considered "classics"?

"Reach for the Stars" (1981) CBS Feed

The majority of folks don't get to see this. Only local CBS stations are permitted to view this brief presentation. Here, he equips those in charge of local promotions with the resources they need to create adaptations of ads like the one below.

Network/Station Promo (1981-82) WCIA 

So, with all of the equipment mentioned in the aforementioned video, what was produced by one local station? Check out this illustration from Champaign, Illinois' WCIA, Channel 3.

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Check out the CBS shows from the fall of 1981 in their take on those slice-of-life ads. With shows like "Dallas," "The Dukes of Hazard," "60 Minutes," "M*A*S*H," "The Jeffersons," "Alice," and "Housecalls" all ranking in the top 10 that season, CBS was once again in the lead. The campaign's tagline was "Reach for the Stars on CBS."

CBS Shows (1983) Spring lineup

There were few CBS fall preview programs. I therefore have to rely on other YouTube users to produce content that is comparable to the ABC premiere specials. This time, we take a look at the CBS Springtime schedule for the 1983 calendar year. The list includes a number of well-known television shows, such as "Newhart," "The Jeffersons," "Alice," "Trapper John MD," Archie Bunkers Place,"M*A*S*H," "One Day at a Time," "Cagney and Lacey," "Square Pegs," "Magnum PI," "Simon and Simon," "The Dukes of Hazard," "Dallas," and many others.

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The 1983–84 season saw seven CBS series rank in the top 10. Many of the aforementioned were among them.

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The nearby CBS affiliates were WCIA, WMBD, WTHI, KHQA, and KMOX.

Season Premeire (1969) NBC

This is one of the worst season premiere specials ever as Hugh Downs gives a polished performance that almost puts us to sleep and Joe Garagiola, who was out of his league (pun intended), fumbles through with a few remarks about his baseball gear.

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Nevertheless, the season did give us some noteworthy television programs, like "My World and Welcome to It," "Then Came Bronson," "Bracken's World," "The Andy Williams Show," and can I even mention "The Bill Cosby Show."

Season Premiere (1978) NBC

This season, NBC's ratings were among the lowest ever, and the network came dangerously close to going offline. Little House on the Prairie was the most popular program, coming in at number 14, followed by "Monday Night Movie" at number 21, "CHiPS" at number 25, and "Stockard Channing in Just Friends" at number 26.

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By the way, ABC took first place with 9 of the top 12 shows. NBC was seen on WICS, WICD, WEEK, WTWO, WGEM-TV, and KSD-TV in 1978–1979

(Source: YouTube and various posters and contributors.

They may be removed without notice)

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