• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

60 YEARS AGO: Spokane, Washington — Saturday, February 7, 1959

Saturday, February 7, 1959

Channels:
2—KREM (ABC)
4—KXLY (CBS)
6—KHQ (NBC)

8:45 am
6—Inland Empire Farm Summary

9:00
6—The Ruff and Reddy Show

9:30
6—Fury

10:00
6—Sky King

10:30
6—Circus Boy

10:45
4—Good Morning

11:00
2—The Uncle Al Show
4—Robin Hood
6—Howdy Doody

11:30
4—Captain Kangaroo
6—I Led Three Lives

11:45
4—Cartoons

12 pm
2—MOVIE: Always Together
(1947) Robert Hutton, Joyce Reynolds. Pleasant little comedy about a "wallflower" who blossoms very neatly and gets involved in a scandal. Edward Arnold is particularly good in this one.
4—Heckle and Jeckle
6—College Basketball
Holy Cross Crusaders at West Virginia Mountaineers.

12:30
4—Mighty Mouse

1:00
4—Cartoon Clown

1:30
2—Paris Precinct
4—NHL Hockey
Chicago Black Hawks at New York Rangers, from Madison Square Garden in Manhattan.
6—Horse Racing from Hialeah

2:00
2—Western Theater
6—Western Theater

3:00
2—Play of the Week
6—Wild Bill Elliott

4:00
6—True Story

4:30
2—Cap'n Cy
4—Santa Anita Race
6—Detective Diary

5:00
4—Farmer Al Falfa
6—Women's Major League Bowling

5:30
2—Vagabond
4—The Lone Ranger
6—Silent Service

6:00
2—Championship Bowling
4—Annie Oakley
6—Casey Jones

6:30
4—Starlit Stairway
6—Buckskin

7:00
2—Command Performance
4—The Cisco Kid
6—Death Valley Days

7:30
2—The Dick Clark Show
Scheduled: Brook Benton; Thomas Wayne; The Bell Notes; Dave Appell and the Applejacks.
4—Wanted Dead or Alive
"Call Your Shot." A drunk hires Josh (Steve McQueen) to find his son. Gabe: James Dunn. Jed: Steve Brodie. Abbie: Luana Patten.
6—People Are Funny
A sailor challenges a professional escape artist; a couple report on the progress of moving their house; Miss St. Paul and Miss Minneapolis compete for $1,000. (Art Linkletter)

8:00
2—Man Without a Gun
4—The Gale Storm Show
"Battle of Bull Run." In an effort to score a hit with men, Susanna takes up bullfighting. Gale Storm. Nugey: ZaSu Pitts. Jennifer: Elena Verdugo. Huxley: Roy Roberts. Cedric: James Fairfax.
6—The Perry Como Show
Guests: Singer Connie Francis; actor Charlton Heston; vocal quartet The Mills Brothers; songwriters Al Hoffman and Dick Manning.

8:30
2—Jubilee U.S.A.
Guests: Martha Carson; The Jordanaires. Host: Red Foley.
4—Have Gun — Will Travel
"Hunt the Man Down." Paladin (Richard Boone) attempts to settle a feud between two brothers—and becomes a target for murder. Coey: Mort Mills. Will: Ed Nelson. Joe: Jack Elam. Wildhorse: Rodolfo Acosta. Woman: Marilyn Hanold.

9:00
2—The Lawrence Welk Show
The Lennon Sisters, Larry Dean, Alice Don, Pete Fountain, Maurice Pearson, and Jim Roberts will be featured.
4—Gunsmoke
"Kitty's Rebellion." The brother of an old friend tries to "rescue" Kitty (Amanda Blake) from life in the saloon. Billy: Barry McGuire. Tal: Addison Powell. Matt: James Arness. Chester: Dennis Weaver. Doc: Milburn Stone.
6—Black Saddle
"Client: Starkey." A woman, suffering unexplained hostility from the townspeople, hires Clay Culhane (Peter Culhane) to find her husband who has disappeared mysteriously. Joan Camden. Scott: Russell Johnson.

9:30
4—Perry Mason
"The Case of the Fraudulent Foto." A corrupt political machine tries to sabotage Mason's defense of a DA charged with murdering a blackmailer. Harris: Hugh Marlowe. Mason: Raymond Burr. Scott: Bartlett Robinson. Leora: Carole Mathews. Helen: Carol Nugent. Eva: June Clayworth.
6—Cimarron City
"The Beauty and The Sorrow." A bride is the suspect in the murder of her two ex-beaus. Margaret: Debra Paget. Tom: George Hamilton. Jason: Grant Richards. Matt: George Montgomery.

10:00
2—The Sammy Kaye Show
Bridegroom of a week, Johnny La Padula returns tonight for an accordion solo to "Nola," and Ray Michaels and Lynn Roberts oblige with "Hawaiian Wedding Song" in his honor. But tonight's special feature is "Mama Don't 'Low," a free-swinging number for anyone onstage, with bass Marvin Wettstein, tenor sax Jerry Mercer, and trumpet Johnny Amoroso.

10:30
2—How to Marry a Millionaire
4—MOVIE: The Three Musketeers
(1939) Don Ameche, The Ritz Brothers. Singing D'Artagnan and three lackeys try to recover their French queen's brooch.
6—The D.A.'s Man
"The Pushers." Shannon poses as an unemployed musician to get the dope on narcotics pushers. Vera: Jean Howell. Lavelle: Herb Ellis. Shannon: John Compton. Bonacorsi: Ralph Manza. Smile: Joseph Conley.

11:00
2—MOVIE: The Sea Hawk
(1940) Errol Flynn, Brenda Marshall. A British privateer raids Spanish ships with his queen's permission in 1585.
6—MOVIE: Santa Fe Passage
(1955) John Payne, Faith Domergue. An Indian-hater, in spite of himself, falls in love with a half-breed member of a wagon train.
 
Last edited:
2:00
2—Western Theater
6—Western Theater

I meant to ask the experts here what the deal is with this. I had to double- and triple-check as I was compiling these listings to make sure I wasn’t making a mistake. It’s listed this way in Spokane’s Spokesman-Review and Spokane Daily Chronicle, and Missoula, Montana’s Missoulian.

Was “Western Theater” just a blanket term used by newspapers to refer to cheap, old western short subjects?
 
Was “Western Theater” just a blanket term used by newspapers to refer to cheap, old western short subjects?

It might have been, but stations also used that term. I remember back in the 60s, one of our local stations had "Western Theater" on Saturday afternoons, which consisted of some old 1 hour western movie, which wasn't named in the TV Guide listing.
 
I think it's a safe bet to assume Western Theater means black and white Western movies that only lasted an hour or less. Usually TV Guide would say what they were. But maybe a newspaper trying to save space just lists it as Western Theater. Funny that KREM and KHQ-TV both schedule these Westerns at 2 p.m.

No station does news on Saturday, not even at 11 p.m. I thought everyone did news, at least for ten minutes, at 11 p.m., even on weekends.

Even though there weren't that many off-network series to run outside of prime time in 1959, we see quite a few on this TV listings. Annie Oakley, Wild Bill Elliott, Paris Precinct, Detective Diary, Casey Jones, Vagabond, and of course Lone Ranger are all off-network series.
 
Thanks for the insight on “Western Theater,” guys! As someone born 21 years after this schedule, it’s fascinating stuff.
 
No station does news on Saturday, not even at 11 p.m. I thought everyone did news, at least for ten minutes, at 11 p.m., even on weekends.
That is bizarre. I wonder what the rationale was there. It can’t be skeleton weekend crews, because I know Cap’n Cy (4:30 on KREM) and the legendary Starlit Stairway (6:30 on KXLY) were both local shows. Stairway was live; not sure about Cy.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom