December 10, 2013

The day in TV: December 12, 1966

As I mentioned last week, RadioDiscussions.com is no more.  It had a great classic TV discussion board (which I hope will be resurrected at another site in the near future), a place where TV nerds like me could compare notes on things like old television programming listings.  Whenever I linked to one of my TV Guide pieces, I'd always include the listings from a typical day, as a snapshot of what was going on that week.

I don't know if I'll continue to do that here on a regular basis, but the week seems kind of empty otherwise, so here's the schedule from last week's TV Guide - the date is Monday, December 12, 1966*, and it's the Minnesota State Edition of TVG, which includes listings from stations in outstate Minnesota.  Posting it here also gives me a chance to provide some more in-depth comments on various programs and personalities - it's from my TV viewing lifetime, so I know the time well.  So here goes!



KTCA, Channel 2 (Educ.)
Morning
09:00a Classroom
Afternoon
05:00p Kindergarten
05:30p Children’s Fair
Evening
06:00p Now See This
07:00p Holiday Festival
08:00p Profile (Henrik Ibsen)
08:30p Hamline University
09:00p Choosing Your Career
09:30p Folio
10:00p Monday for Medicine

As you can see, educational television really was that, back in the mid 60s.  Classroom ran throughout the school day, not giving way to other programming until 5:30.  KTCA was not officially listed as an affiliate of NET (the precursor to PBS), so almost all of the programming here is locally or regionally produced.  

KDAL, Channel 3 (Duluth) (CBS)
Morning
07:35a Farm and Home
07:45a Treetop House
08:00a Captain Kangaroo
09:00a Candid Camera
09:30a Beverly Hillbillies
10:00a Andy Griffith
10:30a Dick Van Dyke
11:00a Love of Life
11:25a CBS News (color)
11:30a Search for Tomorrow
11:45a Guiding Light
Afternoon
12:00p Town and Country
12:30p As the World Turns
01:00p Password (Jim Backus, Elizabeth Montgomery) (color)
01:30p House Party (William Demarest, Elaine McKenna) (color)
02:00p To Tell The Truth
02:25p CBS News (color)
02:30p The Edge of Night
03:00p The Secret Storm
03:30p Mike Douglas (Ann Sothern, Gary Crosby, Buddy Rich, Flip Wilson, Constance Towers, Anne Schuster)
05:00p Leave It to Beaver
05:30p CBS News (Harry Reasoner) (color)
Evening
06:00p News (local)
06:30p Gilligan’s Island (color)
07:00p Run, Buddy, Run (color)
07:30p Lucille Ball (color)
08:00p Andy Griffith (color)
08:30p Family Affair (color)
09:00p To Tell The Truth (Orson Bean, Peggy Cass, Tom Poston, Kitty Carlisle) (color)
09:30p I’ve Got a Secret (Victor Borge, Henry Morgan, Bess Myerson, Bill Cullen, Betsy Palmer)
10:00p News (local)
10:15p Movie – “The Young Stranger”

One of the nice things about a TV Guide with multiple network affiliates is that you can find out what programs weren't carried by your own local channel.  WCCO, for example, never carried the CBS Morning News, here hosted by Joseph Benti.  In the 70s you could see it on Channel 9, the independent station.  

The Mike Douglas Show, as was the case with many syndicated shows, ran on different schedules depending on the station you watched it on.  On KDAL, you see a completely different lineup than you will on WCCO.  

WCCO, Channel 4 (CBS)
Morning
06:00a Sunrise Semester
06:30a Siegfried and His Flying Saucer
07:00a Clancy and Company (color)
08:00a Captain Kangaroo
09:00a Dr. Reuben K. Youngdahl (color)
09:05a News (local) (color)
09:10a Hi Neighbor (color)
09:30a Beverly Hillbillies
10:00a Andy Griffith
10:30a Dick Van Dyke
11:00a Love of Life
11:25a CBS News (color)
11:30a Search for Tomorrow
11:45a Guiding Light
Afternoon
12:00p News (local) (color)
12:20p Something Special (color)
12:30p As the World Turns
01:00p Password (Jim Backus, Elizabeth Montgomery) (color)
01:30p House Party (William Demarest, Elaine McKenna) (color)
02:00p To Tell The Truth
02:25p CBS News (color)
02:30p The Edge of Night
03:00p The Secret Storm
03:30p Candid Camera
04:00p Mike Douglas (Allan Sherman, Elsa Lanchester, Shani Wallis, the Royal Showband, Natalie Keaton)
05:30p CBS News (Harry Reasoner) (color)
Evening
06:00p News (local) (color)
06:30p Gilligan’s Island (color)
07:00p Run, Buddy, Run (color)
07:30p Lucille Ball (color)
08:00p Andy Griffith (color)
08:30p Family Affair (color)
09:00p To Tell The Truth (Orson Bean, Peggy Cass, Tom Poston, Kitty Carlisle) (color)
09:30p I’ve Got a Secret (Victor Borge, Henry Morgan, Bess Myerson, Bill Cullen, Betsy Palmer)
10:00p News (local) (color)
10:30p Our Men in Vietnam (color)
10:40p Merv Griffin (John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Hugh O’Brian, Howard Keel, Sloane Simpson, Rufino Tamayo, Warren Avis)
12:10a Movie – “The Amazing Transparent Man”

Siegfried and His Flying Saucer was a local cartoon program that featured Wallace the Weather Bear giving kids the day's forecast.  Both Siegfried and Wallace were unanimated line drawings.  Siegfried was followed by Clancy the Cop, itself the successor to Axel's Tree House,and the reason you didn't get to see Joe Benti and the news.

By the way, did you see that lineup on Merv Griffin's show?  This isn't the CBS version, although it's airing on a CBS affiliate, but Merv's syndicated chatfest.  It should be noted that the first four stars were interviewed together in Mexico, where they were working on a movie.

KSTP, Channel 5 (NBC)
Morning
06:00a Continental Classroom – “The Constitutional Convention”
06:30a City and Country (color)
07:00a Today (Minnesota Fats, Justino Diaz, Wendy Hiller, Dr. Michael de Bakey, Dr. Adrian Kamtrowitz) (color)
09:00a Eye Guess
09:25a NBC News (color)
09:30a Concentration (color)
10:00a Pat Boone (Margaret Whiting, George Lindsey) (color)
10:30a Hollywood Squares (Glenn Ford, Michael Landon, Judy Carne, Peter Deuel) (color)
11:00a Jeopardy (color)
11:30a Swingin’ Country (Leslie Uggams) (color)
11:55a NBC News (color)
Afternoon
12:00p News (local) (color)
12:15p Dialing for Dollars (color)
12:30p Let’s Make a Deal (color)
12:55p NBC News (color)
01:00p Days of Our Lives (color)
01:30p The Doctors (color)
02:00p Another World (color)
02:30p You Don’t Say! (Keely Smith, Mel Torme) (color)
03:00p The Match Game (Henry Morgan, Vivian Vance) (color)
03:25p NBC News (color)
03:30p Dialing for Dollars (color)
04:30p Of Lands and Seas
05:25p Doctor’s House Call (color)
05:30p NBC News (Huntley/Brinkley) (color)
Evening
06:00p News (local) (color)
06:30p The Monkees (color)
07:00p I Dream of Jeannie (color)
07:30p Roger Miller (Frank Gorshin, Brothers Castro) (color)
08:00p The Road West (color)
09:00p Run For Your Life (color)
10:00p News (local) (color)
10:30p Johnny Carson (Woody Allen) (color)
12:15a M Squad

I don't know who hosts City and Country, but KSTP had a tradition of local programming in the morning; David Stone hosted a short music program for many years prior to the Today Show. Speaking of variety, I find it interesting how many variety shows NBC had on their daytime lineup - Pat Boone and Swingin' Country.  Beats what they put on the air nowadays.  

I don't suppose there was a market anywhere that didn't have some version of Dialing For Dollars, often included as part of an afternoon matinee movie.  

KMMT , Channel 6 (Austin) (ABC) 
Morning
10:00a Market Sweep
10:30a The Dating Game
11:00a Donna Reed
11:30a Father Knows Best
Afternoon
12:00p Ben Casey
01:00p The Newlywed Game
01:30p Time For Us
01:55p ABC News (Marlene Sanders)
02:00p General Hospital
02:30p The Nurses
03:00p Dark Shadows
03:30p Where the Action Is (Peter and Gordon, Keith Allison)
04:00p Movie – “Man Without a Body”
05:30p Trails West
Evening
06:00p ABC News (Peter Jennings)
06:15p News, Sports, Weather (local)
06:30p Iron Horse (color)
07:30p The Rat Patrol (color)
08:00p Felony Squad (color)
08:30p Peyton Place (color)
09:00p The Big Valley (color)
10:00p News (local)
10:30p Movie – “Man Without a Body” (rerun)
12:00a News (local)

KMMT is now KAAL, and it's still the ABC affiliate in Austin.  It's strange to think of a station that doesn't start airing until 10am, but that was the case back then.  

ABC does not have a particularly impressive daytime lineup, but compared to where it was a few years previously, it's grown by leaps and bounds - The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game are big hits, Dark Shadows remains a cult favorite, and General Hospital is one of the few programs from this listing that is still on the air.  But, like CBS, the lineup includes reruns of old series.  When Ben Casey finishes its run, it's replaced at noontime by The Fugitive.

KCMT, Channel 7 (Alex) (NBC/ABC)
Morning
07:00a Today (Minnesota Fats, Justino Diaz, Wendy Hiller, Dr. Michael de Bakey, Dr. Adrian Kamtrowitz) (color)
09:00a Eye Guess
09:25a NBC News (color)
09:30a Concentration (color)
10:00a Pat Boone (Margaret Whiting, George Lindsey) (color)
10:30a Hollywood Squares (Glenn Ford, Michael Landon, Judy Carne, Peter Deuel) (color)
11:00a Jeopardy (color)
11:30a Swingin’ Country (Leslie Uggams) (color)
11:55a NBC News (color)
Afternoon
12:00p News (local)
12:20p Trading Post
12:30p Let’s Make a Deal (color)
12:55p LNBC News (color)
01:00p Days of Our Lives (color)
01:30p The Doctors (color)
02:00p Another World (color)
02:30p You Don’t Say! (Keely Smith, Mel Torme) (color)
03:00p The Match Game (Henry Morgan, Vivian Vance) (color)
03:25p NBC News (color)
03:30p General Hospital
04:00p Welcome Inn
04:30p Beatles
05:00p St. Benedict High School Choir
05:30p NBC News (Huntley/Brinkley) (color)
Evening
06:00p News (local)
06:30p The Monkees (color)
07:00p I Dream of Jeannie (color)
07:30p Roger Miller (Frank Gorshin, Brothers Castro) (color)
08:00p The Road West (color)
09:00p Run For Your Life (color)
10:00p News (local)
10:30p Johnny Carson (Woody Allen) (color)

I could fill volumes writing about KCMT, a station which no longer exists.  It was the station I was stuck with after we moved to the world's worst town when I was a teenager.  It was a dual NBC/ABC affiliate, with most of the daytime and primetime programming belonging to the Peacock Network, and the ABC shows (such as General Hospital and the animated Beatles) appearing during local hours. You could see more of this alternate programming during the weekend, when KCMT would occasionally pick up college football and other sporting events.

Welcome Inn was a local variety show, co-hosted by the station's weatherman.  Out of charity, I'll refrain from further comments.  I love the high school choirs singing Christmas music in the afternoon, though.  My high school was on there once - the show ran short, and to fill the time the music director asked them to sing three verses of a song to which the choir only knew the first verse.  It was so typical.

KMSP, Channel 9 (ABC)
Morning
07:30a Soupy Sales
08:00a Linus the Lionhearted (color)
08:30a Romper Room
09:30a Jack LaLanne (color)
10:00a Market Sweep
10:30a The Dating Game
11:00a Donna Reed
11:30a Father Knows Best
Afternoon
12:00p Ben Casey
01:00p The Newlywed Game
01:30p Time For Us
01:55p ABC News (Marlene Sanders )
02:00p General Hospital
02:30p The Nurses
03:00p Dark Shadows
03:30p Where the Action Is (Peter and Gordon, Keith Allison)
04:00p Route 66
05:00p ABC News (Peter Jennings)
05:15p News (local)
05:30p Leave It to Beaver
Evening
06:00p Northwest Passage (color)
06:30p Iron Horse (color)
07:30p The Rat Patrol (color)
08:00p Felony Squad (color)
08:30p Peyton Place (color)
09:00p The Big Valley (color)
10:00p News (local)
10:30p Movie – “Captain Horatio Hornblower” (color)

You notice that Peter Jennings and the News is still only 15 minutes long - it won't expand to a full half-hour until next year.  Later that week, Jennings and the rest of ABC's major correspondents appear at a luncheon/news symposium at the Leamington Hotel in downtown Minneapolis.  Only $3.75 per person.  It looks as if it would have been pretty interesting - Vietnam correspondent Lou Cioffy, White House corrspondent Bill Lawrence, John Scali from the State Department, Louis Rukeyser from London, and others.  I wonder who was left to host the national news that night?

ABC's afternoon programming does run longer than that of the other networks, bidding to capture the after-school teen audience with Where the Action Is.  You see that it's followed by Route 66, which was in syndication back then.  No wonder I always thought it was an ABC show, rather than CBS.

KROC, Channel 10 (Rochester) (NBC)
Morning
07:00a Today (Minnesota Fats, Justino Diaz, Wendy Hiller, Dr. Michael de Bakey, Dr. Adrian Kamtrowitz) (color)
09:00a Cartoons
09:30a Concentration (color)
10:00a Pat Boone (Margaret Whiting, George Lindsey) (color)
10:30a Hollywood Squares (Glenn Ford, Michael Landon, Judy Carne, Peter Deuel) (color)
11:00a Jeopardy (color)
11:30a Swingin’ Country (Leslie Uggams) (color)
11:55a NBC News (color)
Afternoon
12:00p News (local)
12:20p Memos From Mary Bea
12:30p Let’s Make a Deal (color)
12:55p NBC News (color)
01:00p Days of Our Lives (color)
01:30p The Doctors (color)
02:00p Another World (color)
02:30p You Don’t Say! (Keely Smith, Mel Torme) (color)
03:00p The Match Game (Henry Morgan, Vivian Vance) (color)
03:25p NBC News (color)
03:30p Sergeant Preston
04:00p Mister Ed
04:30p Leave It to Beaver
05:00p Cisco Kid
05:30p NBC News (Huntley/Brinkley) (color)
Evening
06:00p News (local)
06:30p The Monkees (color)
07:00p I Dream of Jeannie (color)
07:30p Barn Dance (color)
08:00p The Road West (color)
09:00p Run For Your Life (color)
10:00p News (local)
10:30p Johnny Carson (Woody Allen) (color)

Definitely kid-centric programming on KROC, which since 1976 has been known as KTTC.  It's still the NBC affiliate, though.  Interesting how the station substitutes Barn Dance in place of Roger Miller at 7:30.  I wonder if they aired Miller at another time?

Unlike KSTP, KROC and KCMT both carried the 90-minute version of Carson.  KSTP carried the full hour and 45 minutes.

WTCN, Channel 11 (Ind.)
Morning
09:00a Casey Junior
09:05a Hank and Casey
09:20a News, Weather, Sports (local)
09:30a Exercise With Gloria (color)
10:00a Girl Talk (Aline MacMahon, Paula Trueman, Velma Royton)
10:30a Movie – “Pharaoh’s Curse”
11:55a News (local)
Afternoon
12:00p Lunch With Casey
01:00p Movie – “Guns Don’t Argue”
02:40p Mel’s Notebook
02:55p News (local)
03:00p Alfred Hitchcock Presents
03:30p Mister Ed
04:00p Popeye and Pete
04:30p Casey and Roundhouse
05:30p The Flintstones (color)
Evening
06:00p The Rifleman
06:30p Patty Duke
07:00p The Twilight Zone
07:30p The Addams Family
08:00p Movie – “Two Women”
10:05p News, Weather, Sports (local) (time approximate)
10:35p Movie – “Flight of the Lost Balloon” (time approximate)

WTCN, now known as KARE (and an NBC affiliate), was the big local independent station.  This is perhaps an unfortunate snapshot of the station's programming; WTCN carried most of the local sports teams, including the Twins, the North Stars (starting in 1967), and the University of Minnesota.  Without them, their schedule looks kind of bare.  

The 9:30am show, Exercise With Gloria, was an exercise program; Gloria was the distaff version of Jack LaLanne.  Many people had fond thoughts about her.  The "Mel" in the 2:40pm show, Mel's Notebook, was Mel Jass, who hosted the matinee movie.  I mean this with all affection when I say that Mel Jass was the kind of guy who really, really got on your nerves when you watched him, but after matinee movies became a thing of the past you realize you actually kind of missed him. 

KEYC, Channel 12 (Mankato) (CBS)
Morning
07:30a CBS Morning News (Joseph Benti) (color)
07:55a Film Short
08:00a Captain Kangaroo
09:30a Beverly Hillbillies
10:00a Andy Griffith
10:30a Dick Van Dyke
11:00a Love of Life
11:25a CBS News (color)
11:30a Search for Tomorrow
11:45a Guiding Light
Afternoon
12:00p News (local)
12:30p As the World Turns
01:00p Password (Jim Backus, Elizabeth Montgomery) (color)
01:30p House Party (William Demarest, Elaine McKenna) (color)
02:00p To Tell The Truth
02:25p CBS News (color)
02:30p The Edge of Night
03:00p The Secret Storm
03:30p Sounds of Christmas (Mankato High School Choir)
04:00p Bart’s Clubhouse
04:30p Rocky and His Friends
04:45p Bart’s Clubhouse
05:00p Sounds of Christmas (Springfield High School Choir)
05:30p CBS News (Harry Reasoner) (color)
Evening
06:00p News (local)
06:30p Gilligan’s Island (color)
07:00p Run, Buddy, Run (color)
07:30p Lucille Ball (color)
08:00p Andy Griffith (color)
08:30p Family Affair (color)
09:00p To Tell The Truth (Orson Bean, Peggy Cass, Tom Poston, Kitty Carlisle) (color)
09:30p Bandwagon
10:00p News (local)
10:30p I’ve Got a Secret (Bud Collyer)
11:00p Film Feature

More high school choirs - do they even broadcast these kinds of programs anymore?  More than that, I wonder if high school choirs are allowed to sing religious Christmas carols nowadays?

Note that I've Got a Secret doesn't air in the 9:30 timeslot - another local music program, it looks like. And the episode that does air at 10:30 doesn't look like the same one that was on the other CBS affiliates - probably the previous week's episode.

For any of you out there who happen to have this TV Guide from another market, I'd be interested to hear from you with any differences in the kinds of local programming! TV  

7 comments:

  1. I've got this one at home, and I'll bring it in tomorrow for a Chicago report.

    But one show you mentioned in passing ...

    I was home from high school with the flu one day, during the short run of Swingin' Country - the only time I got to see this show.
    As the title indicates, this was a half-hour devoted to country & western music, hosted by Rusty Draper and Roy Clark, roughly alternately.
    On the day I saw the show, the guest was a real down-home good ol' boy - Theodore Bikel.
    Bikel was in good form that day, performing a fractured-Viennese rendition of "Ghost Riders In The Sky", from which I learned that it's not a good idea to laugh too hard when your stomach is unsettled.
    Theo also sang a western ballad, and joined Rusty Draper in the show's theme song, which is why I think of this program as Svingin' CONtry! to this day, after Bikel's Yiddish accented rendering of same.
    In the years since, I often wondered if Roy Clark had worked that episode - do you think he might have gotten Theo Bikel on Hee Haw, a few years down the line?

    Anyhoo, tomorow I bring in the Guide, and we'll see what was on in Chicago ...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah, Theodore Bikel. Such an underrated actor, too. I recall seeing him in an episode of Route 66, I think. Reminds me of Burl Ives in that he is a man of many talents. I would have loved to see him on Hee Haw!

      Looking forward to the Chicago report!

      Delete
  2. Chicago, 12/12/66:

    Eight stations in Chicago, which crowded out the outliers from Rockford and South Bend the year before.

    WBBM ch 2, CBS:
    5:40 am: News
    5:45 : Sunrise Semester
    6:15: Seminar '66
    6:45: Farm Report (I'm guessing you can figure the content here on your own)
    7:00: News (five minutes local, then Joe Benti at five after)
    7:30: Clown Alley, local kid show with Bill Jackson as 'Freckles'.
    (Several years on, Jackson became popular as himself on other stations.)
    8:00 - 12:00pm: CBS network programming as above (trying to save characters)
    12:00: Local news
    12:15: Lee Phillip, local talk show (Lee Phillip was married to Bill Bell, with whom she created Young and the Restless some while later - but that's another story).
    12:30 -3:30: CBS programs as above.
    3:30: Early Show, movie: "Whispering Smith" , with Alan Ladd.
    5:00 - 6:30: News (CBS network at 5:30)
    6;30 -10:00: CBS primetime as above.
    ( was returning to prime as replacement for Jean Arthur's short-lived sitcom.)
    10:00: News
    10:30: Late Show, movie: "Women's Prison" with Ida Liupino.
    12:05: Comment by Tom Hall.
    12:10: Late Late Show, movie: "To Mary - With Love" with Warner Baxter (1936).
    1:55: News and signoff.

    WMAQ ch 5, NBC:
    5:45 ; Town And Farm
    6:00 : Education Exchange
    6:30 : Today In Chicago
    7:00 - 12:00 : NBC programming as above.
    12:00 : News
    12:30 - 3:30 : NBC programming as above
    3:30 : PDQ, syndicated game show
    4:00 : Merv Griffin
    5:00 - 6:30 : News (Huntley/Brinkley at 6:00)
    6:30 - 10:00 : NBC primetime as above
    10:00 : News
    10:30 : Johnny Carson
    ( This was when Johnny stopped doing the first 15 minutes of the show; ch5 delayed that segment to play at midnight.)
    12:15 : Join In , 15-minute local talk, and signoff
    (This slot was a different show each night.)

    WBKB ch 7 ABC:
    6:30 : Project 7 Communications
    7:00 : The Three Stooges (the cartoons with Curly Joe)
    8:00 : The Morning Show, local talk with Jim Conway
    9:30 : Gypsy Rose Lee, syndicated talk
    10:00 - 4:00 : ABC programming as above
    4:00 : The Big Show, movie: "Dementia 13".
    5:30 : News (Peter Jennings at 5:45)
    6:00 : Passage To Adventure, local travel show with Jim Stewart.
    (This one ran for years, even after ABC expanded its news.)
    6:30 - 10:00 : ABC primetime as above
    10:00 : News
    10:30 : Movie : "Sea Devils" with Yvonne DeCarlo and Rock Hudson
    12:20 : News
    12:25 : 77 Sunset Strip, followed by signoff.

    I decided to skip the two educational stations, WTTW ch11 and WXXW ch 20, because they wre only doing classroom shows then.

    Since I don't have a character count, I'll put up the independent stations separately.
    Till then ...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Part II:

    WGN, ch 9 (Tribune Company):
    6:15 : News
    6:30 :Five Minutes To Live By (sermonette)
    6:35 : Top O' The Morning, farm report
    7:00 : Ray Rayner & His Friends, live kid show (but grown-ups got a kick out of it too).
    Ray did comedy bits, record pantomimes, DIY where everything went wrong, animal segments (see DIY above), kidded with the crew (all of whom he called Chauncey) - a Chicago institution for decades.
    8:15 : The King And Odie, cartoons
    8:30 : Romper Room
    9:00 : Exercise With Gloria
    9:30 : Loretta Young, rerun
    10:00 : Girl Talk with Virginia Graham
    10:30 : People In Conflict, dramatized counseling sessions
    11:00 : Hawaiian Eye (Monday and Thursday; different shows on other days)
    11:55 : News
    12:00 : Bozo's Circus, live variety with full band, circus acts, clown comedy, and audience participation by kids; ran even longer than Ray Rayner.
    (And for a while, Ray was on both shows!)
    1:00 : Mike Douglas
    2:30 : Truth Or Consequences, first-run syndication
    3:00 : Dobie Gillis
    3:30 : The Three Stooges, the old shorts, hosted by Bob Bell (after he finished the day as Bozo, op cit.)
    4:00 : Gigantor, rotating with other kid adventure shows (the old George Reeves Superman on Wednesdays)
    4:30 : Timmy And Lassie
    5:00 : Garfield Goose, kid show with fat, friendly Frazier Thomas and a very talented artist/puppeteer named Roy Brown; humor was dry and subtle for a kid show
    5:45 : News
    6:00 : Huckleberry Hound (rotating with other cartoons; Rocky And Bullwinkle on Wed. and Fri.)
    NOTE: Channel 9 didn't strip shows back then; this schedule is Monday only.
    6:30 : Marvel Superheroes, cartoon
    7:00 : Outer Limits
    8:00 : My Favorite Martian
    8:30 :Alfred Hitchcock Presents
    9: 00 : Perry Mason
    10:00 : News
    10:20 : Movie: "Sweet Smell Of Success"
    12:15: News
    12:35 : Naked City, to signoff

    WCIU ch26:
    On the air for a little over a year with no budget; test pattern most of the day.
    4:00 pm: Mulqueens Kiddie-A-Go-Go, dance party for little kids; live from the smallest studio imaginable.
    5:00 : Our Miss Brooks
    5:30 : December Bride
    6:00 : Un Largo Amor (telenovela)
    7:05 : Canadian pro football
    9:00 : Wrestling (three times a week)
    10:00 : Four Star Theatre, ancient rerun (Monday; different stuff each night)
    10:30 : Big Story,as above; signoff at finish

    WFLD ch 32 (owned by Field/Sun-Times)
    Went on air at start of '66;Test pattern for most of daytime.
    3:30 pm: Kaleidoscope, news ticker and music
    3:45 : Stock Market Report
    4:00 : Scarlett Hill, syndicated soap
    4:30 : Time For Children, with Miss Frances from the old Ding Dong School
    5:00 : Winchell-Mahoney Time, syndicated from NYC.
    6:00 : News from Sun-times newsroom.
    in 1967, Roger Ebert made his first tv appearances on this news show.
    As above, no stripping; this is Monday only.
    6:30 : Hawaii Calls
    7:00 : Richard Boone Show
    8:00 : Loyola college Basketball
    10:00 : News, as above
    10:30 : The Bill Veeck Show, nightly hour talk show with the once and future White Sox owner - and it wasn't limited to sports.
    Veeck had widely ranging interests, in many fields. His shows could be about anything or anyone in the news, and most often were.
    Bill Veeck was on weeknights at this point, but his long-standing health problems forced him to cut back bit by bit over time, and ch32 started looking for other syndie talkers to fill the other nights - but that's another story...
    11:30 : News again to signoff.

    Thus, December 12, 1966 on TV in Chicago.
    Any questions, feel free to ask.

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    1. That's great stuff, Mike. I've been struck in the past by how versatile Bill Veeck was - we think of him only in terms of baseball, but you're right that he not only could talk about any sport, but so many issues other than sports. What a character - precisely what we need and too little have nowadays.

      Interesting (though, based on my experience with KMSP, unsurprising) to see that WFLD and WCIU sign on so late in the day. I wonder who was playing in that Canadian football game on WCIU - probably the same game that had been broadcast on Saturday in the Twin Cities. The Grey Cup had already been played (and might well have been on Wide World of Sports), so I'm thinking it must have been a delay of one of the Conference playoff games.

      Bozo and Ray - saw the exhibits on kids shows at the Museum of Broadcast Communications last time we were in Chicago. Love it!

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    2. Gee whiz - is it already over a decade that I attended that event at the Cultural Center?
      That's where the Museum of Broadcast Communications was while they were raising funds for the new building.
      A couple of hundred of us crammed into the space to meet in person:
      Mary Hartline (Super Circus)
      John Conrad (Elmer The Elephant)
      Bill Jackson (BJ & Dirty Dragon (and before that Clown Alley, op cit.))
      Joey D'Auria (Bozo 2.0)
      Don Sandburg (Sandy the Tramp on Bozo's Circus - and the head writer for years)
      Roy Leonard (who took over Family Classics after Frazier Thomas died)
      and Ray Rayner - the several and only.
      The hundreds of us listened to these folks tell their stories, and then we lined up for autographs.
      Picture: the Cultural Center (the old Public Library building) is on Michigan, between Washington and Randolph - the whole block.
      The MBC was on the Washington Street side; that's wher the event was held.
      After the talk part, we all strted lining up, and lining up, and boy howdy were we lining up - one end of the building to the other.
      Bruce DuMont, the MBC boss (whose idea this event was), was our line monitor.
      As he kept order among us, smiling broadly, I asked him if the line had reached the IC Station yet (that's the Illinois Central Train Station, just outside the Randolph Street entrance).
      Bruce's smile actually got bigger: "Close ... close ..."
      All of us had brought things to get signed ; I brought a few of my vintage TV Guides.
      I showed a 1953 picture of Ray Rayner to the others on line; one guy said "Jeez - that's his Communion picture!"
      Anyway, we all got to the table, went down the line,got our autographs, shook hands ...
      ... And at the end of the table, as I shook hands with Ray Rayner, I said "Thank you ..." -
      - and Ray Rayner said to me "Thank you!"
      Now that's a day I'll never forget.

      I really didn't mean to play "Can You Top This" with that, but some memories are too good not to share.

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  4. Just one more ...

    About the late-in-the-day sign-ons for chs 26 and 32:
    I'd like to mention again that ch26 had only been on the air for a little over a year, and ch 32 for just less than that, in December '66.
    These were the first commercial UHF stations in Chicago at that time; the technology was so new that the majority of TV sets in the market weren't equipped to get UHF.
    You had to buy a converter (like the ones we all had to get when digital came in a few years back).
    In those days, UHF tuners were like radios: if you didn't hit the frequency right on the nose, you got snow. In the case of ch26, which had the weakest transmitter in town, snow is what you got anyway.
    Basically, this was a revisit to the earliest days of television, the late '40s-early '50s: I've got some TV Forecasts from that period - around the time I was born - and in those early times any station that signed on as early as 10 am was considered daring to do so. Noon to midnight was the norm back then.
    Anyway, when UHF finally came to Chicago in 1965 (after years of FCC haggling dating back more than a decade), the station management were doing a slow rollout. They knew that their audience would be a small one, and were counting on word-of-mouth to help sell converters,and ultimately the newer sets that had UHF tuners (radio-style, like the converters).
    It took a couple of years before the UHF stations began to catch up with the established VHFs in terms of air time and ad revenue, then as now linked inextricably.
    And even then, the 24/7 TV we know today was still years away. The new norm was 6 am to about 1:30-2am, give or take at either end.

    So much for history.

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Thanks for writing! Drive safely!