The Final Years of Plains Television Partners and WICS
 

WICS continued to be owned by Plains Television Partners from its beginnings through 1986 and co-owned with sister station WICD in Champaign. The owners of Plains Television Partners were Harry and Elmer Balaban, the two younger brothers of Barney Balaban, who was the head of Paramount Pictures during the 1940s and '50s. Besides ownership of the two central Illinois TV stations, the Balaban brothers' company, H and E Balaban Corporation entered into a partnership in 1959 with Transcontinental Properties to purchase WNBC-TV, Channel 30 from NBC. The call letters of WNBC-TV were transferred soon after to NBC's network o-and-o in New York in 1960. At that time the station's call letters were changed to WHNB-TV.

Along with television, Elmer Balaban also owned a number of local radio stations in medium-size markets around the country.  By 1978, WHNB-TV was sold to Viacom, while the Balaban's retained their Plains Television Partners stations WICS and WICD.  Plains ownership of WICS would come to a close in 1986 when the NBC affiliate in the Illinois state capital city was sold to Guy Gannett Publications of Portland, Maine. 

It's unknown why the Balaban's held onto the Champaign property.  The relationship of the two central Illinois NBC affiliates was so intertwined that it would be questionable that either one could continue to be successful without the other.

Programming WICS from 1979 to 1986

By 1979, the WICS broadcast day began at 6:30 am and sign-off on weeknights followed the “Tomorrow” show hosted by Tom Snyder, at around 1 am. The Saturday morning sign-on was at 6:30 am as well with the syndicated “U.S. Farm Report.” The rest of the morning consisted of typical children's programming from NBC including more modern versions of classic fare like “Fred and Barney Meet the Schmoo” and the re-worked Warner Brothers cartoons with “Daffy Duck” and a modern rework of “Casper.”

On Saturday afternoon NBC would broadcast baseball during the major league season, while empty time slots were often filled with other off-network series reruns like “The Odd Couple.” The midday on Saturdays also included various locally produced and syndicated public affairs programs. The titles included “City Life,” “Advance Notice” and “Saturday Report.” All three of which were simulcast on sister station WICD in Champaign. There was no Saturday, 6 pm newscast, scheduled instead of the syndicated first-run comedy/variety show “Hee Haw” which would air from 5 to 6 pm. NBC filled the post late news time with sporting events, along with “Saturday Night Live.” WICS would follow “SNL” with a videotaped replay of its own 10 pm news. WICD would follow with a play of its public affairs program “Assignment 15.”

On Sundays, WICS would sign on at 6:30 am with a block of religious programming and public affairs. Some of the religious shows included “Jimmy Swaggart”, “Herald of Truth” and “Faith for Today.” Sometime in the 1960s, WICS began a tradition of airing a movie at 9:30 am. (see above) The movies included many of Hollywood’s classic films from the Warner Brothers and MGM libraries. It was sponsored by Railsplitters Lincoln-Mercury which would either do live or recorded commercials in the studio with featured vehicles both new and used. By the late 1970's most of the films were from a less than a classic package of films. Most were from the former ABC “Movie of the Week” TV movie catalog of films. There were some TV classics there, such as the acclaimed “Brian's Song” but most were very forgettable. That movie run would fill the 9:30 to 11 or 11:15 am time slot.

During football season, NBC would air the AFC early football game and WICS/WICD would follow with a replay of “Capitol Conference,” than a local movie insertion....yet another TV movie, usually. “Mutual of Omaha's the Wild Kingdom” would follow at 5 pm, then the NBC national newscast before prime time and “Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color.” After the 10 pm local newscast, both WICS/WICD would follow, more than likely, with the broadcast of yet another TV movie before sign-off.

Weekday programming in 1979 on WICS included the typical NBC daytime schedule of game and daytime dramas and locally originated off-network television series from the '60s and '70s. During the 1979-1980 TV season, the WICS weekday schedule followed “Today” at 9am with the first run weekday syndicated “Dating Game” followed by the NBC daytime schedule which was solid through3pm. The NBC lineup included “Hollywood Squares,” “High Rollers,” “Wheel of Fortune,” “Mind Readers,” “Password Plus,” “Days of Our Lives,” “Doctors” and “Another World.” By3pm, the lineup featured all syndicated off-network fare, including “I Love Lucy,” “Gilligan's Island,” “Batman,” “The Brady Bunch” and “Happy Days, Again"(the syndicated title of “Happy Days”). The syndicated block was followed by a “flip-flop” of local news and network news on WICS and sister station WICD.

I assume that because of the increased head-to-head competition with WCIA in Champaign, management at the time felt it beneficial to move the WICD local newscast to the 5:30 pm slot, while WICS would continue with the 6 pm slot, where it saw wide viewership. Both stations would air the NBC Nightly News but WICS would air it at its more traditional time at 5:30 pm, while WICD would follow its local news broadcast with the NBC news.

The prime-time access slot after the news block was filled by the weekday syndicated version of “The Newlywed Game” at 6:30 pm. The rest of the weekday schedule was filled with NBC programming, with a local newscast at 10 pm. “The Tonight Show” followed, then “Tomorrow” would end the broadcast day.