October 5, 2015

What's on TV? Monday, October 9, 1961

We took a good look at this TV Guide on Saturday, and now it's time to take a closer look at Monday's listings.  I didn't know a lot about Philadelphia television, other than that it's where Ernie Kovacs got his start, but as we get into it we get a glimpse of the city's rich broadcasting history, one of the most prominent in the United States.  So there's plenty to share this week, and this will just scratch the surface of it!


WRCV, Channel 3 (NBC)

Morning

05:50a
Farm and Market News

05:55a
News (local)

06:00a
Continental Classroom (Modern Algebra) (color)

06:30a
Continental Classroom (American Government) (color)

07:00a
Today (guest Paul Hoffman, head of UN special fund)

09:00a
Lee Dexter

09:30a
Exercise with Gloria

09:50a
What’s Doing

09:55a
News (Bob Bradley)

10:00a
Say When

10:30a
Play Your Hunch (color)

11:00a
The Price is Right (color)

11:30a
Concentration

Afternoon

12:00p
Truth or Consequences

12:30p
It Could Be You (color)

12:55p
NBC News (Ray Scherer)

01:00p
Award Theater

01:30p
World Series Spotlight (color)

01:45p
World Series Game 5 (Yankees vs. Reds) (color)

04:30p
Here’s Hollywood 

04:55p
NBC News (Sander Vanocur)

05:00p
Kukla and Ollie

05:05p
Five O’Clock Show – “The Little Rebels”

Evening


06:25p
Sports (Jim Leaming) (color)

06:30p
Local News (Vince Leonard) (color)

06:40p
Weather (Wally Kinnan) (color)

06:45p
The Huntley-Brinkley Report

07:00p
Death Valley Days

07:30p
Profile ‘61

08:00p
National Velvet

08:30p
The Price is Right (color)

09:00p
87th Precinct

10:00p
Westinghouse Presents (host John Daly, guests Art Carney, Vic Damone, Gogi Grant, Pat Harrington, Mahalia Jackson, Andre Previn, Tony Randall, Dore Schary) (special)

11:00p
News (Vince Leonard) (color)

11:10p
Weather (Wally Kinnan)

11:15p
Jack Paar (color)

01:00a
FBI Most Wanted

01:05a
Union Pacific

01:35a
Speak Up (color)

02:05a
News (local)

02:10a
Thought for Today

WRCV, then the NBC affiliate, is now KYW, the CBS affiliate, with a fairly interesting history of its own.  Philadelphia itself seems to have a pretty interesting TV history, which I'd like to explore at greater length someday; even working on this piece, it didn't take long to discover how many of the local personalities are legends of the scene.  Wally Kimm and Vince Leonard for example, are still fondly remembered in Philadelphia, and sportscaster Jim Leaming was a familiar voice on national television, narrating many NFL films presentations on TV, until another Philadelphia legend came along...


WFIL, Channel 6 (ABC)

Morning

06:30a
R.F.D. Six

07:00a
Breakfast Time (color, cartoons only)

07:30a
Rocky and His Friends

07:45a
Morgan in the Morning

09:00a
Happy the Clown

09:30a
The Texan

10:00a
Love That Bob!

10:30a
Triangle Theater

11:00a
Studio Schoolhouse

11:15a
University of the Air

Afternoon

12:00p
Camouflage

12:30p
Make a Face

01:00p
Day in Court 

01:25p
ABC News (Alex Dreier)

01:30p
Who Do You Trust?

02:00p
Number Please

02:30p
Seven Keys

03:00p
Queen for a Day

03:30p
American Bandstand

04:50p
American Newsstand (Roger Sharp)

05:00p
Popeye Theater (color)

05:30p
Yogi Bear

Evening


06:00p
Popeye Theater (color)

06:55p
Clutch Cargo

07:00p
News (Gunnar Back) (color)

07:10p
Weather (Dr. Francis Davis) (color)

07:15p
ABC News (Bill Shadel)

07:30p
Cheyenne

08:30p
The Rifleman

09:00p
Surfside 6

10:00p
Ben Casey

11:00p
ABC News

11:10p
News (Gunnar Back) (color)

11:20p
Weather (Dr. Francis Davis) (color)

11:25p
Sports (color)

11:30p
World’s Best Movies – “All Through the Night”

WFIL has now become WPVI, but it's always been a major part of the local scene.  At this point in time it was owned by Triangle Publications, which also owned TV Guide, so in a sense it's the magazine's home channel.  It's also where American Bandstand was created.  Perhaps one of the reasons we don't have very interesting programming on network television anymore is because there are no local stations developing shows for them.


WGAL, Channel 8 (Lancaster) (CBS, NBC)

Morning

05:55a
News (local)  

06:00a
Continental Classroom (Modern Algebra) (color)

06:30a
Continental Classroom (American Government) (color)

07:00a
Today (guest Paul Hoffman, head of UN special fund)

09:00a
Exploring with Science

09:15a
Concepts in Science

09:30a
Funny Manns

09:40a
Kukla and Ollie

09:45a
Debbie Drake

10:00a
Say When

10:30a
Play Your Hunch (color)

11:00a
The Price is Right (color)

11:30a
Concentration

Afternoon

12:00p
News (Nelson Sears)

12:05p
Personalities and Events

12:10p
Weather (Anne Herr)

12:15p
TV Farmer

12:30p
It Could Be You (color)

12:55p
NBC News (Ray Scherer)

01:00p
Crusader

01:30p
World Series Spotlight (color)

01:45p
World Series Game 5 (Yankees vs. Reds) (color)

04:30p
The Edge of Night

05:00p
Mighty Mouse

05:30p
Looney Tunes

05:45p
Texas Rangers

Evening


06:15p
News, Weather, Sports (local)

06:45p
The Huntley-Brinkley Report

07:00p
King of Diamonds

07:15p
Douglas Edwards With the News

07:30p
To Tell the Truth

08:00p
Pete and Gladys

08:30p
The Price is Right (color)

09:00p
Danny Thomas

09:30p
Andy Griffith

10:00p
Westinghouse Presents (host John Daly, guests Art Carney, Vic Damone, Gogi Grant, Pat Harrington, Mahalia Jackson, Andre Previn, Tony Randall, Dore Schary) (special)

11:00p
News, Sports and Weather (color)

11:30p
Jack Paar (color)

01:00a
News (local)

Interesting programming from WGAL, which still has the same call letters, and is now an NBC affilate.  The station broadcast NBC programming throughout the morning, then switched to CBS for the afternoon schedule.  (Were it not for today's World Series broadcast, the CBS programming would have started at 12:30pm.)  


WCAU, Channel 10 (CBS)

Morning

06:00a
College of the air (New Biology)

06:30a
Television Seminar

07:00a
Bill Bennett Show

07:30a
News (Crane, Hart, Leslie)

07:45a
Pixanne

08:00a
Captain Kangaroo

09:00a
Gene London

09:50a
News (Bob Collier)

10:00a
Calendar

10:30a
I Love Lucy

11:00a
Video Village

11:30a
Your Surprise Package

11:55a
CBS News (Harry Reasoner)

Afternoon

12:00p
Love of Life

12:30p
Search For Tomorrow 

12:45p
The Guiding Light

01:00p
News (Jack Whitaker)

01:05p
Burns and Allen

01:30p
As the World Turns

02:00p
Password (guests Chuck Connors, Arlene Francis)

02:30p
House Party

03:00p
The Millionaire

03:30p
The Verdict is Yours

03:55p
CBS News (Charles Collingwood)

04:00p
The Brighter Day

04:15p
The Secret Storm

04:30p
The Edge of Night

05:00p
Highway Patrol

05:30p
The Early Show – “Where Danger Lives”

Evening


07:00p
News (John Facenda)

07:05p
Commentary (Charles Shaw)

07:10p
Weather (Herb Clarke)

07:30p
To Tell the Truth

08:00p
Pete and Gladys

08:30p
Window on Main Street

09:00p
Danny Thomas

09:30p
Andy Griffith

10:00p
Hennesey

10:30p
I’ve Got a Secret

11:00p
News (John Facenda)

11:10p
Weather (Jack Whitaker)

11:15p
The Late Show – “The Mad Doctor”

01:00a
The Late, Late Show – “Madame Racketeer” (time approximate)

02:25a
News (local)

02:30a
Give Us This Day

Very interesting local personalities at WCAU, which continues to go by the same call lettters today but is now the NBC affiliate.  At 1:00pm Jack Whitaker gives the news; at 11:10pm he's back with the weather.  In neither case does he give the sports, although Whitaker would go on to become one of the most famous faces of CBS sports in the '60s and '70s.

And then there's the station's 7:00pm and 11:00pm newscaster - John Facenda, the "Voice of God," whose memorable voice provided the soundtrack for so many of the NFL Films features over the years.

***

The next four channels have only their network programming listed, so we really don't know much about the rest of their broadcast day.  WLYH is still around, as the CW affiliate;  WHP remains with CBS; WTPA is now WHTM, but is still affiliated with ABC; and WSBA is now WPMT, Fox-43.  While we're here, we might as well see what network shows they carried.


WLYH, Channel 15 (Lebanon)

Afternoon

12:00p
Camouflage

12:30p
Make a Face

01:00p
Day in Court

01:25p
ABC News (Alex Dreier)

01:30p
Who Do You Trust?

02:00p
Number Please

02:30p
Seven Keys

03:00p
Queen for a Day

03:30p
American Bandstand

04:50p
American Newsstand

Evening


07:15p
ABC News (Bill Shadel)

07:30p
Cheyenne

09:00p
Surfside 6

10:00p
Ben Casey

11:00p
ABC News



WHP, Channel 21 (Harrisburg)

Morning

10:00a
Calendar

10:30a
I Love Lucy

11:00a
Video Village

11:30a
Your Surprise Package

11:55a
CBS News (Harry Reasoner)

Afternoon

12:00p
Love of Life

12:30p
Search For Tomorrow

12:45p
The Guiding Light

02:00p
Password (guests Chuck Connors, Arlene Francis)

02:30p
House Party

03:00p
The Millionaire

03:30p
The Verdict is Yours

03:55p
CBS News (Charles Collingwood)

04:00p
The Brighter Day

04:15p
The Secret Storm

Evening


07:15p
Douglas Edwards With the News

07:30p
To Tell the Truth

08:30p
Window on Main Street

09:00p
Danny Thomas

09:30p
Andy Griffith

10:00p
Hennesey

10:30p
I’ve Got a Secret



WTPA, Channel 27 (Harrisburg)

Afternoon

12:00p
Camouflage

12:30p
Make a Face

01:00p
Day in Court

01:25p
ABC News (Alex Dreier)

02:00p
Number Please

02:30p
Seven Keys

03:00p
Queen for a Day

04:50p
American Newsstand

Evening


07:30p
Cheyenne

08:30p
The Rifleman

09:00p
Surfside 6

10:00p
Ben Casey



WSBA, Channel 43 (York)

Afternoon

12:00p
Camouflage

12:30p
Make a Face

01:00p
Day in Court

01:25p
ABC News (Alex Dreier)

02:00p
Number Please

02:30p
Seven Keys

03:00p
Queen for a Day

04:50p
American Newsstand

Evening


07:30p
Cheyenne

08:30p
Window on Main Street

09:00p
Surfside 6

10:00p
Ben Casey

11:00p
ABC News

TV  

3 comments:

  1. "Password" premiered a week before, and immediately became a smash. The original version would run for six very successful years.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I lived in Riverside CA when this schedule came out and I had just turned five years old, but boy do I remember a lot of this. On Monday nights, I'd sneak out of bed and watch the nighttime Price Is Right with mom and dad.

    Could WGAL's telecast of Mighty Mouse (5 PM) be a delay from Saturday? I don't recall it being on weekdays in 1961.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Finally, you use an issue that I've got. and you pick the wrong day.

    Wednesday was way more interesting than Monday.

    Examples follow:

    - Wagon Train had Barbara Stanwyck leading an all-woman wagon train, trying to hire Robert Horton away from John McIntire (this may have been a 'backdoor pilot'; Stanwyck was always coming with series ideas, and particularly wanted a Western).

    - Meanwhile, at ABC, Steve Allen's new show was presenting the Smothers Brothers at the onset of their career (one of the first times, if not the absolute first); this was about the time that Allen first brought on a TV director from Cleveland who was then called Tom Conway (it was Steve's idea for Conway to "... dot the O ...", in deference to George Sanders's brother).

    - Checkmate had a story about an advertising man who kills his boss for a promotion.
    The homicidal MadMan was played by Tony Randall, who was phasing himself out of TV at this point.
    (The original story was credited to a Canadian actor who'd just started working in the USA: William Shatner.)

    - Meanwhile, at NBC, Joey Bishop's show had him helping to set up a This Is Your Life appearance for Danny Thomas - or rather, for Danny Williams. The whole CBS family appeared on an NBC show, demonstrating how much power Thomas and Sheldon Leonard had back then.

    - Mrs. G. Goes To College, Gertrude Berg's comeback vehicle, which co-starred Sir Cedric Hardwicke as a professor, added a recurring character, another professor, played by Peter Lorre.
    (I mention this one because I'm about to add this series to my DVD wall; details on request.)

    - Bob Newhart's new show was a favorite in our house, largely because of the presence of Dan Sorkin, the Chicago DJ who essentially godfathered Newhart's career.
    The Four Preps were having hit records in those days; one of the Four was Glen Larson, who went on to produce a whole gang of hit shows in the '60s and '70s.
    Years later, Larson would appear with the other Preps on PBS beg week specials.
    He'd be third in line, a fat guy with a waist-length ponytail.
    Together, they all looked more like The Four Perps.



    ReplyDelete

Thanks for writing! Drive safely!