Lawrence Welk Is Still On: I Don't Get It

[jfrancispastirchak]

]
I sometimes watch (Welk) because it is fascinating to see how quick times can change[/i]. Welk's culture was at one time the mainstream American culture but is now completely DEAD. Being in my mid 40s, I can remember when beautiful music was the dominant FM format now that format doesn't exist. Makes you wonder what "mainstream culture" from today will be dead in 40 years.

Good observation about watching Welk today. For me, it's a novelty, a fascinating trip back to the way things were, and, as you said, "to see how quick times can change."

"Makes you wonder what "mainstream culture" from today will be dead in 40 years"... You may 'wonder', but I worry!

 

[michael hagerty]

It's more than a little surprising to me how many views and posts this thread has generated......not to mention the amount of passion that's been generated.

Yes.....I admit it. I was one of those little kids in the 1970's for whom Lawrence Welk was my Saturday evening object of DISCONTENT.

It so happened that in the market where I grew up.....Lawrence Welk and Hee Haw aired opposite each other at 7pm Saturday evenings on competing stations. Having only one set in the home at the time.....and my parents allowing my elderly grandmother to "rule the roost" when it came to the TV......well.....you can guess what she wanted to watch on Saturday evenings... .

In a manner of speaking.....that left me out in the cold for literally years! Only when a second TV finally entered the household was I able to laugh my guts out at the silly antics on Hee Haw.

P.S. That also held true for daytime TV as well...as Grandma insisted that she had to watch "her stories"....meaning....in this case....the ENTIRE daytime string of CBS soaps. That tuning dial never got any use during the day because it NEVER left the channel of the CBS affiliate.

Are we cousins? Apart from Hee-Haw, which I never cared for, you've just described my grandmother.

 

[Dighton Rockhead]

Are we cousins? Apart from Hee-Haw, which I never cared for, you've just described my grandmother.

It wansn't so much a case of "wanting" to watch Hee Haw as it was a function of that first TV in the home having a tuner which was weak at pulling in UHF....which is where a lot of the out-of-market stations lived. Once that second set came into the home.....suddenly....choices got a LOT better .

Another poster asked about Y&R. I don't think the "raciness" much mattered to Grandma. To her....they were just as welcome and familiar in her heart as Art Linkletter or the panel from To Tell The Truth. It had to have been a comfort thing.

 

[MCarney]

My grandparents were such fans that they went to the Welk Resort in Escondido, California several times. They even had several 8-track tapes of the Welk band. And you didn't dare change the channel on Saturday nights! Not for hockey, Hee-Haw or anything else. (I remember going over there one year on Christmas Eve when it fell on a Saturday. Everything stopped for that hour.) My grandfather enjoyed the reruns up until his death last year at 96. I'll occasionally see the shows on the weekend and think of them.

 

[rnigma1]

Though my grandma enjoyed Welk and Hee Haw (plus Carol Burnett) on Saturdays, I don't recall her watching any soaps. (She was usually busy cooking, canning, or doing farm-type chores like feeding animals, picking or shelling peas, etc.) My aunt, on the other hand, used to watch the soap lineup from CBS daily. They were still using organ music into the '70s. Mom never watched soaps or games; her daytime viewing was usually old sitcoms, movies, or news.

 

[Dighton Rockhead]

And you didn't dare change the channel on Saturday nights! Not for hockey, Hee-Haw or anything else. (I remember going over there one year on Christmas Eve when it fell on a Saturday. Everything stopped for that hour.)

That's how it was for us too. That's what finally drove my Dad to finally go out and get that second TV set. It so happened that a UHF out-of-market station held the rights to 100 Red Sox games per season. Believe me...I was more than happy to "escape" with my Dad to another room to watch baseball on a set with a GOOD UHF tuner....and...hooked up to an outdoor antenna with motorized "rotor" unit. ;D

 

[visaman]

That doesn't happen any more. Both Welk and Hee Haw targeted the same demos.

Oh, I don't think so, Mr. Welk, used to call Frank Sinatra, "that youngster".

 

[FredLeonard]

That doesn't happen any more. Both Welk and Hee Haw targeted the same demos.

Oh, I don't think so, Mr. Welk, used to call Frank Sinatra, "that youngster".

Sinatra was on Hee-Haw? ???

Welk was 15 years and nine months older than Sinatra. More than that, Sinatra was on the other side of a generation shift in popular music. Sinatra was a "teen idol" in the 40s while Welk was playing ballroom dates for the parents of his fans. Sinatra sang with swing bands (Harry James, Tommy Dorsey). Welk played "sweet." Welk was contemporaneous with Bing Crosby (seven months older than Welk), Sinatra's boyhood idol and the one after whom he modeled his early singing style.

 

[BD Sullivan]

On a related note, James Hobson, the long-time producer for the Welk show, died on April 26--though the obit wasn't published until this week:

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/latimes/obituary.aspx?n=James-HOBSON&pid=164835954#fbLoggedOut

 

[Tom Wells]

That doesn't happen any more. Both Welk and Hee Haw targeted the same demos.

Oh, I don't think so, Mr. Welk, used to call Frank Sinatra, "that youngster".

Sinatra was on Hee-Haw? ???

Welk was 15 years and nine months older than Sinatra. More than that, Sinatra was on the other side of a generation shift in popular music. Sinatra was a "teen idol" in the 40s while Welk was playing ballroom dates for the parents of his fans. Sinatra sang with swing bands (Harry James, Tommy Dorsey). Welk played "sweet." Welk was contemporaneous with Bing Crosby (seven months older than Welk), Sinatra's boyhood idol and the one after whom he modeled his early singing style.

Hoo-Ray for someone else who is willing to put history and perspective into proportion.
Welk played sweet, and was a fine cover for respectable youth of the prohibition age.
"Why, no, mother, we don't know of ANYone our age who 'Drinks'."
Ahhh, 1933 and the repeal of the Volstead Act was such a downfall for both Lawrence Welk And Fred Waring.
Pretty hard on organized crime, too.

 

[visaman]

To give Mr. Welk his due, His show was first aired locally in Los Angels on KTLA. The only other programming they had at the time were the Atomic Bomb tests in Nevada.

 

[michael hagerty]

To give Mr. Welk his due, His show was first aired locally in Los Angels on KTLA. The only other programming they had at the time were the Atomic Bomb tests in Nevada.

Which is complete and utter crap.

KTLA signed on with an entertainment spectacular hosted by Bob Hope. It quickly established itself as a pioneer in both entertainment and news coverage (including the A-bomb test...an amazing technical feat...a live broadcast from nearly 300 miles away in the remote Nevada desert). By the time Lawrence Welk signed with KTLA in 1951, the station had been on the air 4 years and was one of the best-programmed and highest-rated independents in America.

The real story: http://www.tech-notes.tv/History&Trivia/Networks,%2520Stations%2520&%2520Post%2520Houses/KTLA%2520history.pdf

 

[LKellerIII]

To give Mr. Welk his due, His show was first aired locally in Los Angels on KTLA. The only other programming they had at the time were the Atomic Bomb tests in Nevada.

Which is complete and utter crap.

KTLA signed on with an entertainment spectacular hosted by Bob Hope. It quickly established itself as a pioneer in both entertainment and news coverage (including the A-bomb test...an amazing technical feat...a live broadcast from nearly 300 miles away in the remote Nevada desert). By the time Lawrence Welk signed with KTLA in 1951, the station had been on the air 4 years and was one of the best-programmed and highest-rated independents in America.

The real story: http://www.tech-notes.tv/History&Trivia/Networks,%2520Stations%2520&%2520Post%2520Houses/KTLA%2520history.pdf

Within just a few years, KTLA became the place to go for local news. It's amazing to think that in this era - when local news stations all do live coverage (a lot of it useless - just the reporter standing outside in the dark to introduce the tape he shot at 3:00 PM), that in the 50s up to the mid or late 60s, live coverage was a rarity.

If there was some disaster happening NOW in Southern California, (I recall the Baldwin Hills Dam break, and a lot of wild fires), KTLA would be the ONLY TV station doing live coverage. The 3 network O&Os and KTTV would have taped coverage on the 6:00, 10:00, and/or 11:00 PM News but that was about it.

 

[FredLeonard]

Back then, KTLA was owned by Gene Autry. Gene had bought a ranch out in the middle of nowhere to use as a location site for his TV shows and, as the song goes, up through the ground come a bubblin' crude - oil, black gold, Texas tea. Then Gene bought TV and radio stations, and a major league baseball team.

Their 10pm news show was hosted by George Putnam, a right-wing talk show host and newscaster in the Paul Harvey style. Actually he was more like Paul Harvey on steroids.

When the station signed on, it was owned by Paramount Pictures. Paramount also was a major investor in Dumont. KTLA did not carry any Dumont programming but the FCC counted KTLA against Dumont's station ownership limit. This is one factor that helped kill the Dumont network.

KTLA is owned by Tribune Broadcasting and co-owned with the LA Times.

 

[michael hagerty]

Back then, KTLA was owned by Gene Autry. Gene had bought a ranch out in the middle of nowhere to use as a location site for his TV shows and, as the song goes, up through the ground come a bubblin' crude - oil, black gold, Texas tea. Then Gene bought TV and radio stations, and a major league baseball team.

Their 10pm news show was hosted by George Putnam, a right-wing talk show host and newscaster in the Paul Harvey style. Actually he was more like Paul Harvey on steroids.

When the station signed on, it was owned by Paramount Pictures. Paramount also was a major investor in Dumont. KTLA did not carry any Dumont programming but the FCC counted KTLA against Dumont's station ownership limit. This is one factor that helped kill the Dumont network.

KTLA is owned by Tribune Broadcasting and co-owned with the LA Times.

For clarity, Autry bought KTLA in 1964. KTLA's major innovations (live remotes, the Telecopter) were under Paramount. Not to say Autry didn't run it well and continue its dominance, but the trails had already been blazed.

 

[bpatrick]

What probably put KTLA on the map was the Kathy Fiscus story
in 1949. The three-year-old had been outside playing and, as it
began to get dark, fell down a well. Stan Chambers and Bill Welsh
stayed on the air 30 hours as rescuers tried, unsuccessfully, to get
her out. That story made KTLA the place to turn to for coverage of, as
many stations say today, "live, local, latebreaking" news.

Somebody commented on the number of responses this posting has gotten.
It's really no surprise; opinion on Mr. Music Maker has always fallen into two
large groups--those who say he's a relic of an era long gone, and those who
say he's the last bastion of good taste. And I'm sure there are those--even
as young as their 40s--who know that when they watch Welk they're not going
to get the language, violence, and suggestiveness of so much of primetime.

 

[MCarney]

Just look at the covers of old fan magazines up for sale on Ebay. A lot of them have stories about Welk and the Welk performers (mostly the Lennon Sisters but the others are well represented). He and his show were featured in many issues of TV Guide. They wouldn't be there if they didn't sell magazines. I'll always have a fondness for the show even if it's not my first choice in music.

 

[LKellerIII]

Back then, KTLA was owned by Gene Autry. Gene had bought a ranch out in the middle of nowhere to use as a location site for his TV shows and, as the song goes, up through the ground come a bubblin' crude - oil, black gold, Texas tea. Then Gene bought TV and radio stations, and a major league baseball team.

Their 10pm news show was hosted by George Putnam, a right-wing talk show host and newscaster in the Paul Harvey style. Actually he was more like Paul Harvey on steroids.

When the station signed on, it was owned by Paramount Pictures. Paramount also was a major investor in Dumont. KTLA did not carry any Dumont programming but the FCC counted KTLA against Dumont's station ownership limit. This is one factor that helped kill the Dumont network.

KTLA is owned by Tribune Broadcasting and co-owned with the LA Times.

For clarity, Autry bought KTLA in 1964. KTLA's major innovations (live remotes, the Telecopter) were under Paramount. Not to say Autry didn't run it well and continue its dominance, but the trails had already been blazed.

Yes - Fred compressed history a bit. The tradition of live news coverage on KTLA was well established by the time Autry's Golden West Broadcasters bought the station in 1964. To give credit to the Singing Cowboy though, Autry - at least until the early 70s - was willing to spend money to make his broadcast properties (including KMPC and KSFO in San Francisco) first rate.

As for the infamous George Putnam - I was a 'fan' (as in - I thought the pompous ass was hysterical) so I followed his career a bit. When a big story would break that I knew would upset Putnam, I'd tune in that night to watch him pontificate, holler, and then mention the American Flag and get all emotional.

But George was on KTTV for all of the 1950s and early 60s, then flipped to KTLA, when Autry outbid KTTV for his...uh...talents. I don't recall what year he came to KTLA, but I'm thinking about 1965. He stayed until maybe 1969, when KTTV outbid KTLA, and won him back. He then flipped back to KTLA a couple of years later for a short stay- this bidding war made Putnam reportedly the highest paid anchor in America, making even more than Walter Cronkite. By 1972 or so, Golden West had reportedly become disenchanted with Putnam, and became more budget conscious. I recall that KTLA cut his 10:00 News back to 30 minutes, followed by a segment called "Talk Back to the News," during which George, Hal Fishman, and Larry McCormick would mix it up with a studio audience. That was the origin of the "Talk Back" name that Putnam later used for his radio shows. But the point is - I don't think he was at KTLA for more than 8 years in total, perhaps less.

 

[FredLeonard]

Supposedly, Putnam along with Jerry Dunphy, were the models for Ted Baxter. Baxter looked sort of like Dunphy but the way he talked with pure Putnam.

Before he moved to California, Putnam did a national radio news broadcast on NBC from New York. It's sort of interesting that he gave up a chance to get into network TV news for local news in LA. I wonder what the nightly news would look like today if NBC had gone with Putnam instead of John Cameron Swayze. Putnam might have beaten Doug Edwards in the ratings and there would not have been a Huntley-Brinkley. Or a Cronkite.

He was like a traffic accident. It was impossible not to look.

 

[LKellerIII]

Supposedly, Putnam along with Jerry Dunphy, were the models for Ted Baxter. Baxter looked sort of like Dunphy but the way he talked with pure Putnam.

Before he moved to California, Putnam did a national radio news broadcast on NBC from New York. It's sort of interesting that he gave up a chance to get into network TV news for local news in LA. I wonder what the nightly news would look like today if NBC had gone with Putnam instead of John Cameron Swayze. Putnam might have beaten Doug Edwards in the ratings and there would not have been a Huntley-Brinkley. Or a Cronkite.

He was like a traffic accident. It was impossible not to look.

True. When he bolted back to KTTV, KTLA initially replaced Putnam with Stan Chambers, but after a couple of months hired conservative former LA Police Chief Tom Reddin as anchor. Reddin didn't last long - he was wooden on camera and had a high thin voice - hardly competition for the bombastic George. After Reddin's first night, the LA Times printed a political cartoon showing Reddin and Putnam tugging from both ends on the American flag. Reddin reportedly thought it was funny, and asked the Times to send him a framed original. When I saw the cartoon in the morning paper, I made sure to tune in Putnam on KTTV that night, because I figured he'd go ballistic. Predictably, he did - on his "One Reporters' Opinion" editorial segment, blasting the Times' liberal Republican publisher as a "com-symp pinko loser." Then he talked about respecting the flag, and his his voice got all thick, choked with emotion. I had an audio recording of it for years, then sadly, lost it.

The producers of the MTM show were always coy, saying Ted Baxter was an amalgam of different anchors. But the only comparison to Dunphy was the white-gray hair, which was Ted Knight's hair color. And around that time, KABC-TV had an anchor named Baxter Ward. But Ted's personality was all Putnam, and MTM herself admitted one night on Johnny Carson that Baxter was built almost entirely around Putnam's delivery and personality.