1974: Some Number 1 shows that may surprise you

[bpatrick]

Found this in the February 2, 1974 issue of TV Guide:

At the time the top three shows nationally were "All
In The Family," "Sanford And Son," and "The Waltons."
But from September '73 through February some interesting
things appeared in various local rating books. Here are the
top-rated shows (or close to number one) in a few markets
at the time:

Hartford-New Haven: "The Rookies"

Dallas-Fort Worth, Kansas City, Denver, Washington, D.C.:
"Monday Night Football"

Birmingham: "To Tell The Truth," "General Hospital," and
"The Price Is Right" (I'm sure this was the syndicated
version on WBRC and not the CBS version on WBMG/WIAT)

Grand Rapids, Boston: Lawrence Welk

Nashville: "Hee Haw" (of course!)

Charlotte, Hartford, Dayton: CBS News With Walter Cronkite

Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville: NBC News With John Chancellor

St. Louis, New Orleans: local "Eyewitness News"

It might be interesting to see what the local number-ones are now.

 

[easttxtv]

Found this in the February 2, 1974 issue of TV Guide:

At the time the top three shows nationally were "All
In The Family," "Sanford And Son," and "The Waltons."
But from September '73 through February some interesting
things appeared in various local rating books. Here are the
top-rated shows (or close to number one) in a few markets
at the time:

Dallas-Fort Worth, Kansas City, Denver, Washington, D.C.:
"Monday Night Football"

Not sure how to explain this one except all those markets are big on football; there may have been a lot of parties and/or taverns/bars with the MNF games on. I remember when the Cowboys would be on MNF, it was always a BIG deal, and my mother was not only a big Cowboys fan, but also a fan of Don Meredith and Frank Gifford.

Interesting article and list, though. Always great to find little forgotten treasures in old mags, especially TV Guide.

 

[Ultimajock]

...Greg Gagne claims that AWA All-Star Wrestling was the local #1 in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Milwaukee and Green Bay just before 60 Minutes started getting its 50+ shares, which would be around '74 or so. Green Bay would surprise me, as there it was run after the 10:00 Saturday night news on WLUK/11; WTCN/11 and WVTV/18 ran the show considerably earlier (and more frequently) in their schedules...

 

[Corky Marlowe]

Back around that time, the National Enquirer published its own weekly TV ratings (yeah, I know), and it seems like the top 2 shows in its survey were often "Hee Haw" and "The Lawrence Welk Show".

 

[bpatrick]

If you go to a more reliable source, such as
Variety, you'll find the same thing: "Hee Haw"
and Welk traded off the number-one position
in syndication throughout the decade. Roy
Clark even recorded a song that was sung
several times on both shows concerning the
ultra-successful switch from network to
syndication: "The Lawrence Welk-Hee Haw
Counterrevolutionary Polka."

And it wouldn't surprise me at all to learn
that Greg Gagne was right. Wrestling has
always attracted more viewers than many
people think.

 

[cowboybud]

...Greg Gagne claims that AWA All-Star Wrestling was the local #1 in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Milwaukee and Green Bay just before 60 Minutes started getting its 50+ shares, which would be around '74 or so. Green Bay would surprise me, as there it was run after the 10:00 Saturday night news on WLUK/11; WTCN/11 and WVTV/18 ran the show considerably earlier (and more frequently) in their schedules...

For most of the 70s and 80s, Championship Wrestling on WHBQ/WMC was the number one show in Memphis (going by share).