Anybody remember the "Graveyard" slot on NBC daytime, 1968-75?

[Ultimajock]

In the early '60s, I believe NBC was down from 1-2 ET. CBS was then the only net with
a show at 1:30 (ATWT). I'll stop there since this would eventually lead into another
discussion about 11/22/63.

...my only post here in that direction, containing all the pertinent information so that the whole damned thread shouldn't be hijacked ;D -- NBC-TV was indeed dark during that hour, and that is in part why we have only an audio tape of the first NBC-TV bulletins about the assassination. WNBC-TV/4 locally aired an installment of its own Tell Us More at 1:00 PM Eastern Time featuring Conrad Nagel discussing the Fred Allen-Jack Benny radio feud of the '30s and '40s (Nagel had co-starred with Benny in The Hollywood Revue of 1929, one of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's earliest feature-length sound films, and was a frequent guest on Fred Allen's radio show). Broadcasting archivist Phil Gries had recorded the audio portion of the Tell Us More program and still had his recorder connected fifteen minutes later, when Don Pardo interrupted the Batchelor Father rerun WNBC-TV aired locally immediately afterwards ("Bentley and the Beach Bum," original NBC airdate 26 May 1960) with the first bulletin announcing the shooting of President Kennedy and Governor Connally. Gries instinctively hit the record button when he saw the NBC "Bulletin" slide on his set, and as a result got the only existing recording of Pardo's announcement...

 

[Mike Stroud]

In the early '60s, I believe NBC was down from 1-2 ET. CBS was then the only net with
a show at 1:30 (ATWT). I'll stop there since this would eventually lead into another
discussion about 11/22/63.

...my only post here in that direction, containing all the pertinent information so that the whole damned thread shouldn't be hijacked ;D -- NBC-TV was indeed dark during that hour, and that is in part why we have only an audio tape of the first NBC-TV bulletins about the assassination. WNBC-TV/4 locally aired an installment of its own Tell Us More at 1:00 PM Eastern Time featuring Conrad Nagel discussing the Fred Allen-Jack Benny radio feud of the '30s and '40s (Nagel had co-starred with Benny in The Hollywood Revue of 1929, one of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's earliest feature-length sound films, and was a frequent guest on Fred Allen's radio show). Broadcasting archivist Phil Gries had recorded the audio portion of the Tell Us More program and still had his recorder connected fifteen minutes later, when Don Pardo interrupted the Batchelor Father rerun WNBC-TV aired locally immediately afterwards ("Bentley and the Beach Bum," original NBC airdate 26 May 1960) with the first bulletin announcing the shooting of President Kennedy and Governor Connally. Gries instinctively hit the record button when he saw the NBC "Bulletin" slide on his set, and as a result got the only existing recording of Pardo's announcement...

Strange, because I have one source here that states that NBC actually cleared 1:30-2 in '63, with reruns of Make Room for Daddy. It can be found at http://www.curtalliaume.com/nbc_day.html. This fellow, however, may be basing his claims upon a local TV Guide that had only one NBC affil, and may not have bothered to compare it with other markets, so you may be in the right here.

In any case, Let's Make A Deal didn't move there until June '64, having run its first six months at 2/1 Central, opposite CBS' fixture Password and Father Knows Best reruns on ABC. I'm pretty sure Deal came in second there too, as it would at 1:30/12:30. Deal pretty much stayed in second place until the Days expansion on NBC and, later, the ATWT expansion on CBS in December 1975 (ATWT would remain daytime's best-rated soap until 1978). That last event finally forced ABC to move it to Noon/11 Central, where it spent its last six months before its July 1976 cancellation, with Young and the Restless finishing it off. Deal is probably the most famous game show in American TV history that never led the Nielsen ratings in any of its incarnations, other than maybe the 1970s syndicated weekly version in some markets (I'm pretty sure this includes the present CBS Wayne Brady version, with all the oodles of viewing choices these days).

 

[danderson6500]

Indeed, except for the "Days" expansion, I don't remember
WSB programming anything from NBC from 12:30-2 from about
1960 until the switch to ABC in 1980; it did carry "Ryan's Hope"
(and, later, "Loving") at 12:30 and "All My Children" at 1.

WAVE Louisville tended to carry NBC's 12-1 programming ("Jeopardy!"
aired at 12 as long as NBC had it there, and I know Ch. 3 carried "Eye
Guess" and "Who, What Or Where"). But it, too, pre-empted "Let's Make
A Deal" (WLKY picked it up when it went to ABC) and didn't carry NBC's
1:30 programs until the "Days" expansion. In Louisville, the station most
likely to pre-empt 12:30 was WHAS (then-CBS); it was a lucky thing if
the station decided to carry "Search For Tomorrow" at that time. Some
of the shows that aired at 12:30 in "SFT"'s place were the local "Omelet,"
Bob Braun, and "Hour Magazine." Even today, now-CBS affiliate WLKY runs
an hour of news from 12-1 and delays "Young And The Restless" to 4.

In North Carolina the only station that didn't carry NBC at 1:30 was WECT
Wilmington; in those days it had a dual affiliation with CBS and carried "As
The World Turns," which it had done almost since that soap's debut. When
"Days" went to an hour, WECT went with it, while ABC affiliate WWAY picked
up "ATWT" (at least until "All My Children" went to an hour in 1977). (I remember
in the '60s WECT pre-empted "You Don't Say!" and "Match Game" in favor of
"Edge Of Night" and "Secret Storm.").

WYFF in Greenville always used the "access" slot for it's newscast; the one bad move the station made, in April of 70 was dropping "Monty's Rascals" for "Bright Promise"- and putting the news at 12:30 to make room for "Somerset." But maybe 4 wanted to take advantage of the fact that NBC fed "Somerset" at 1pm. I do wonder if WYFF is still killing themselves in the foot for replacing "Monty's Rascals" with "Bright Promise" to this day. It wasn't the best move they made.