Hee Haw in Urban areas and other areas outside the South

[only1moore]

You might want to add Hawaii to this list, since KHON-2/Honolulu aired it on Saturday afternoons.

 

[Bluenoser]

In Maine, "Hee Haw" aired in Bangor on WVII 7 (ABC) and in Portland on WGME 13 (CBS) at 7 p.m. on Saturdays. Good ol' Lawrence Welk ran at the same time on WABI 5 (CBS) in Bangor. WMTW 8 (ABC) ran Lawrence Welk although I'm not sure if it was on Saturday. I'm not sure if WAGM 8 in Presque Isle ran the show or not. I'll have to do some digging on it.

WAGM did show Welk, simulcast with WABI. In the mid/late 70s, WAGM carried many of the same non-network programs as WABI, usually showing the same episode.

And in doing some research for some WAGM listings, I found out why a lot of the same syndies aired in tandem on both WAGM and WABI- the two stations were co-owned up til 1984, when the owners of WNEP Scranton bought WAGM (no word as to whether the marching band made it up to Northern Maine ;D).

 

[ajmcwhorter]

You might want to add Hawaii to this list, since KHON-2/Honolulu aired it on Saturday afternoons.

I think KGMB aired it as well.

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

Lawrence Welk and "Hee Haw" In Syndication: Boston

Thanks for letting me know that WLVI-56 in the Boston area broadcast "Hee Haw".

Until now, I thought the closest stations to Boston that ran it in its syndication years were the old WSMW-27 Worcester and WMUR-9 Manchester.

In Boston, "Welk" was very popular in syndication. At one point in the mid-1970's, his was supposedly more popular than all but six or seven prime-time network shows in the market. "Welk" aired in syndication first on WNAC-7 (which as a former ABC affiliate had aired the show in its later prime-time years); then on WCVB-5, always on Saturdays at 7 P.M. (which was the timeslot it was seen in the majority of cities in the Eastern and Pacific time zones).

 

[bpatrick]

"Hee Haw" was on Ch. 4 in Detroit in 1977; Ch. 2 carried it only in the 1979-80 season, according to what I've seen in TV Guide. I think for most of its run WKBD/50 had it, just as it had Welk for possibly all of his syndicated run.

In Washington, DC, Welk and "Hee Haw" aired back-to-back on Sunday nights on WTTG/5; Welk was on at 8, "Hee Haw" at 9. In Baltimore, Welk was usually seen Sunday afternoons on WJZ/13; WMAR/2 had "Hee Haw" at one time but it eventually ended up on WBFF/45.

While "Hee Haw" aired on WSB in Atlanta Saturdays at 7 up until approximately the time the show changed formats (early '90s), Welk's timeslot could get very confusing. When Ch. 2 was the NBC affiliate and had NFL games on Sundays, Welk would air Saturdays at 5 during the fall; come January he would switch to Sundays at 5. WSB ended up dropping Welk after switching to ABC due to a scheduling conflict with "Wide World Of Sports," which still aired year-round on Saturdays, and on Sundays from January-August. WAGA and WXIA were approached about picking up Welk (it's practically forgotten now that Ch. 11 carried Welk all through his network run and the first (1971-72) year in syndication), but he ended up on Ch. 46, then still owned by Pat Robertson. Oddly, having carried "Hee Haw" during its CBS run, WAGA never carried it in syndication when sister stations (both then CBS affiliates) WJBK and Cleveland's WJW carried it for at least part of the time it was in syndication.

 

[davect]

Thanks for letting me know that WLVI-56 in the Boston area broadcast "Hee Haw".

Until now, I thought the closest stations to Boston that ran it in its syndication years were the old WSMW-27 Worcester and WMUR-9 Manchester.

I do remember it airing in the Boston market when I was a kid. Was thinking WSMW, but I can see WLVI carrying it then also.

When I worked master control at KSTS in San Jose, CA in 1987 we carried the show there. I always thought Hee Haw was way out of place in the Bay area.

 

[Avid Listener]

I do remember it airing in the Boston market when I was a kid. Was thinking WSMW, but I can see WLVI carrying it then also.

When I worked master control at KSTS in San Jose, CA in 1987 we carried the show there. I always thought Hee Haw was way out of place in the Bay area.

That's a common misconception. Most people would be surprised at how many people enjoy entertainment that isn't 100% about their apparent lifestyle. It's not the only type of entertainment that I like, but despite being born in 20th century America, I enjoy Renaissance music and other entertainment. It's really no different for a Staid Bostonian to enjoy Hee Haw than it would be for him to enjoy Celtic Woman, Celtic Thunder, or Lord of the Dance.

 

[JeffM]

So the makers of 'Hee Haw' can just come along and force a station to air their show, whether they want to or not?

Not the case with Hee Haw; as others have mentioned, stations wanted the show because they got it free as long as they ran the national commercials with it. But there have been cases of forcing stations to take a show they didn't want in order to get another they did. Back in the 80's, Universal wouldn't sell stations The Rockford Files unless they took Quincy with it as a package deal.

One station manager (in Spokane I think) took a close look at the contracts and noticed they were paying a fortune for Quincy and getting Rockford for next to nothing. This was because Universal was using the package-deal dodge to cheat James Garner (whose Cherokee Productions owned a chunk of Rockford) out of his potential profits on the show. On Universal's books, Quincy was making a bundle and Rockford was losing money. Garner sued Universal and won the case.

 

[RadioFan2J3]

Hee Haw was also seen in Vietnam, on the AFRTS TV channel for Saigon.

And no doubt on many other AFRTS facilities worldwide.

 

[installLSC]

I've got a few TV Guides from that era, so:
1974:KTVN Reno (CBS) Sat 4pm
KTVU Oakland (Ind), KSL (CBS) Salt Lake, and KTVB (NBC) Boise all Sat 5pm
KID (CBS) Idaho Falls Sat 5:30pm
KCRA Sacramento (NBC) and KLAS Las Vegas (CBS) both Sat 7pm
KID (CBS) Idaho Falls Sat 5:30pm
1978:KWGN Denver (Ind) Sat 7pm
KOTA Rapid City (primary NBC) Sat 10pm
And here's an oddity: both KTWO Casper (primary ABC) and KKTV Colorado Springs (CBS) aired it in access time, 6pm Tuesday and 6pm Thursday respectively.

 

[danderson4411]

WSOC ran Welk from 1971, when he entered syndication, until 1974, when he moved to WBTV, and always Saturdays at 7.
Hee Haw nearly always came on Fridays, from 1971-74 (when it moved to Saturdays for a year), then 1975-79, when it
moved back to Saturdays. In the last years of Hee Haw, 36 had it, as 9 was running the weekend edition of Entertainment
Tonight; 36 also carried Memories With Lawrence Welk (1982-84) as 3 opted for Dance Fever and the weekend edition of
PM Magazine (WLOS carried weekend PM at 7:30 as well).

I was living in Greenville, SC, in the '80s and WYFF/4 carried Solid Gold Saturdays at 7; WSPA/7 carried Hee Haw;
WLOS/13 tried everything but the kitchen sink after Welk hung up his baton, ending up with Wheel and Jeopardy!
from 7 to 8 by the time we left in the early '90s.

In Columbia, Welk did indeed air on WIS at 5 on Saturdays until 1979, when WLTX picked him up and put him at 7. I don't
recall if that lasted until Welk turned off the bubble machine in '82.

i know its a really old thread but i laugh at WLOS trying everything but the kitchen sink after Welk hung up his baton because WYFF had the better syndicated shows that was not Hee Haw

 

[Ultimajock]

In Los Angeles, at least during its later years, aired on KHJ/KCAL Channel 9, late Friday nights/early Saturday mornings at 1am until the end of its run.

...the Christmas 1971 Los Angeles edition of TV Guide shows Hee Haw at 7:00 PM Saturday on KTLA/5 Los Angeles and KPLM-TV/42 Palm Springs, directly against The Lawrence Welk Show on KTTV/11 Los Angeles and KMIR-TV/36 Palm Springs. There are quarter-page ads for both programs, but, while the Hee Haw ad on page A-9 was bought by KTLA, the Lawrence Welk Show ad on page A-10 was purchased by the J.B. Williams Company (manufacturers of Geritol, Aqua Velva and Lectric Shave, all long-time sponsors of Welk's show from the early '60s) and mentions no affiliate at all. Somewhat ironically, it was on KTLA that Welk had started his television career in the early '50s...

 

[vchimpanzee]

manufacturers of Geritol, Aqua Velva and Lectric Shave

Whatever shows these were on, these are some of the earliest advertisers I remember.

If I haven't said so here already, after CBS dropped it, "Hee Haw" was on WSPA at its "normal" time but at one time it aired nearly a week later on WSOC. I preferred to watch on Saturday as long as I could pick up both stations. Eventually WSOC must have switched to Saturdays.

My mother had her own TV (don't remember what my father did). But if we were together in a motel we watched "Lawrence Welk". Usually the episode I missed was a rerun or would air again. I did like Welk's music.