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Local and Syndicated Akron TV History

I also recall, and thank WAKR, when they decided to go either 24 hours, or extend programming to the wee hours. They had a small, mostly very old, movie package. It was the first time I got to see "Vampyr", a film considered a classic by the Art crowd. This Danish avante-garde horror film came out in 1932. It is strange, off-putting and definitely worth a look. Then there was the mostly boring "Abraham Lincoln" biopic, one of the few sound films directed by D.W. Griffith in 1930. Best of all, thanks to WAKR's overnight movie madness, I got to see for the first time what is my favorite full-length feature film released in 1929 ... "The Great Gabbo" starring Erich Von Stroheim! It's the first version of a talking puppet-thing that would later be explored twice on "The Twilight Zone".
 
johnbasalla said:
I also recall, and thank WAKR, when they decided to go either 24 hours, or extend programming to the wee hours. They had a small, mostly very old, movie package. It was the first time I got to see "Vampyr", a film considered a classic by the Art crowd. This Danish avante-garde horror film came out in 1932. It is strange, off-putting and definitely worth a look. Then there was the mostly boring "Abraham Lincoln" biopic, one of the few sound films directed by D.W. Griffith in 1930. Best of all, thanks to WAKR's overnight movie madness, I got to see for the first time what is my favorite full-length feature film released in 1929 ... "The Great Gabbo" starring Erich Von Stroheim! It's the first version of a talking puppet-thing that would later be explored twice on "The Twilight Zone".
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That same package also had "Check And Double Check" the 1930 Amos And Andy Film..Notable for having Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, Creators and Producers of A&A on Radio, play Amos and Andy in Blackface..Not a bad film really, though awkward knowing they were in blackface..Also with Duke Ellington..
 
I don't remember seeing "Check and Double Check" on WAKR. Did they skip that one due to content, even though the content isn't really offensive beyond the two leads in black-face? The film is rated as a complete boring bomb in Leonard Maltin's book on classic cinema. However, I find it to be at least ok. What people forget is that the radio show "Amos and Andy" did not start out as a straight comedy. It began as a Soap Opera. Only later did it turn into a laugh-fest.

OH! Another one I remember seeing for the first time was Alfred Hitchcock's first talkie "Blackmail" (1929). The first reel is silent, with music only on the soundtrack. Then, suddenly it turns into a talkie. It's pretty good.
 
I don't think I ever saw Amos and Andy's "Check and Double Check" movie on TV23. But still, the memories keep on coming! WAKR, on their overnight movie shows, ran the 1969 flick "The Monitors", an only occasionally successful science-fiction satire comedy about space aliens who are here to make everyone live together peacefully. The best parts of the movie are the Public Service Announcement TV spots the alien Monitors produce to encourage peace and love and remind everyone that The Monitors are here to help all mankind. A lesser part of the movie is Larry Storch who seems to be an actor who can only over-act. The worst part of WAKR's running of the film is that they would always dump out of the pop song sung by folk singer Odetta the second the films credits were done at the end, and the screen faded to black. The song continues for another one or maybe even two minutes!

Now, when Hoolihan and Big Chuck showed it, WJW-TV8 would let the song run its course. Thank you WJW and Storer Broadcasting! The film is apparently not available on DVD. I want to hear that song again. I guess I'll have to Check and Double Check video retailers every once in a while to see if "The Monitors" is made available so I can see it in my home on my Monitor.
 
OhioMediaWatch said:
Didn't WAOH/W35AX have that Ohio State package for a while? I can see the TV snow and the Channel 29/35 graphics in my head...
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Yes, sir.

43 had it in the 80s/early 90s, 55 had it in the mid 90s.

But once they picked up UPN and The WB respectively, they didn't have room on the schedule anymore.

29/35 picked it up in the late 90s/early 00s, but then once the Big 10 Network got up and running a few years back, they then had exclusive rights to all non nationally televised games.

These days channel 43 runs the syndicated ACC package (both football and basketball), but that's due to the fact that WUAB owner Raycom also owns the ACC Network.
 
Could 23 have the opportunity to be an Independent station again, but similar to 19, 43 and 61 back in the 80's? ION might be doing well for the station, but I personally would love to them program the schedule, at least mornings, locally as an alternative to the other six.
 
WAKR-TV on weekday afternoons was a welcome alternative for this TV-junkie during the late 1960s and early 1970s. The Cleveland independent UHF's aired mostly re-run comedies, kids' fare, and Star Trek, and by 1972 nearly everything was in color, except perhaps The Munsters and The Addams Family. TV-23 was still airing much older re-runs, and after school some of the staples of the '50s turned up, like Superman with George Reeves, and The Cisco Kid. Westerns, too: Bat Masterson and the like. All of these were B&W, and some were in terrible condition.

Around 1980, WAKR-TV 23 filled late-night slots with old movies so that it began 24-hour broadcasting. About a 5-hour block of three movies were shown, with their order rotating over a three-day period. This is reminiscent of their practices in 1958 as shown in schedules published above. You could watch a different movie, every night, as long as you did NOT stay up and watch all night, from say, 12:30 am to 5 am. These were old movies, and some were truly classics. I believe Catherine the Great (1934) was shown very often.
 
I was able to look up some information on Talk Box, one of the syndicated programs WAKC aired in its last years of life that I mentioned in my initial post on this thread. Apparently it was a talk show type of program geared toward teenagers (from my understanding, mostly middle school kids were featured on the show), focusing on topics that affect teens. An episode guide I found mentions episodes dealing with topics like self-defense, volunteering, alternative arts, personal stories of victory over cancer, settling conflicts with parents, teens active in the environmental movement, racism, and money management, among others. Katy Sai was the host of that show. I personally don't recall seeing any episodes, but I remember seeing at least one promo for it on WAKC. I have a feeling it was shown on either Saturday or Sunday mornings. It seems like the kind of E/I shows local stations show during that time of the week.
 
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