Retro: Alabama Saturday, August 11, 1962

[bpatrick]

From TV Guide, Alabama Edition (Mobile and Pensacola
stations were not listed):

Alabama Educational Network: WDIQ/2 Dozier, WCIQ/7
Cheaha State Park, WBIQ/10 Birmingham (NET)
off air on Saturday

WRBL Ch. 3 Columbus, GA (CBS/NBC)
Listed Central Time

6:25 Invitation For Tomorrow
6:30 Chattahoochee R.F.D.
7 PM Western Movie (title not given)
8 AM Captain Kangaroo
9 AM The Alvin Show
9:30 Mighty Mouse
10 AM Magic Land Of Allakazam
10:30 Roy Rogers
11 AM Sky King
11:30 CBS News (Roger Mudd)
11:45 Baseball: Tigers-Yankees (Dizzy Dean and Pee Wee
Reese are the announcers.)
3 PM Championship Bowling (time approximate)
3:30 Championship Wrestling From Florida
4:30 Sportsman's Lodge
5 PM Window On Main Street (Robert Young's one failure,
CBS, delay from Wed 7 PM)
5:30 Vincent Van Gogh: A Self Portrait (NBC, I think this is a
delay from Mon 9 PM)
6:30 Perry Mason
7:30 The Defenders
8:30 Have Gun, Will Travel
9 PM Gunsmoke
10 PM Movie: "The Climax" (Boris Karloff, from '44)

WTVY Ch. 4 Dothan (CBS/ABC)

8 AM Captain Kangaroo
9 AM The Alvin Show
9:30 Mighty Mouse
10 AM Magic Land Of Allakazam
10:30 Roy Rogers
11 AM Sky King
11:30 CBS News
11:45 Baseball: Tigers-Yankees
3 PM Big Picture (time approximate)
3:30 TBA
4 PM Championship Bowling: Frank Clause vs. George Howard
5 PM Wrestling From Dothan
6 PM Wanted: Dead Or Alive
6:30 Perry Mason
7:30 The Defenders
8:30 Have Gun, Will Travel
9 PM Gunsmoke
10 PM Ben Casey (ABC, delay from Mon 9 PM)
11 PM Movie: "Run For The Sun"

WBRC Ch. 6 Birmingham (ABC)

5 AM Headliners
5:30 Time To Grow
6 AM Country Boy Eddie
7 AM Cartoons
8 AM Amos 'n' Andy
8:30 Super Car
9 AM The Alvin Show
9:30 Mighty Mouse
10 AM Magic Land Of Allakazam
10:30 Adventure Land
11 AM Bugs Bunny (ABC)
11:30 Follow That Man
12 N Movie: "Storm Warning" (members of the KKK take the
law into their own hands, Ronald Reagan stars with
Ginger Rogers, from '51)
2 PM Wide World Of Sports (Frontier Days rodeo from Cheyenne,
WY, delay from Sun 4 PM)
3:30 Wrestling From Birmingham (probably better remembered from
its years on Ch. 42)
4:30 Cartoons
5 PM Beany And Cecil (delay from 6 PM)
5:30 Grand Ole Opry
6 PM Sea Hunt
6:30 Calvin And The Colonel
7 PM Wanted: Dead Or Alive
7:30 Leave It To Beaver
8 PM Lawrence Welk (Hawaiian music is the theme)
9 PM Invitation To Paris (rerun of a two-year-old special with
Maurice Chevalier, Fernandel, and Patachou, pre-empts
"The Fight Of The Week" and "Saturday Sports Final")
10 PM Movie: "Thunder Over The Plains"
11:50 Movie: "When Gangland Strikes"

WSLA (WAKA) Ch. 8 Selma, AL (ABC)

1 PM Elephant Hour (kids' show)
2 PM Wide World Of Sports (same as Ch. 6)
3:30 Big Picture
4 PM Movie: "Spider Woman" (Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes,
from '44)
5 PM The Hathaways (delay from Fri 7 PM)
5:30 Country Style, U.S.A.
5:45 Channel 8 Extra
6 PM Beany And Cecil (in-pattern time but not the in-pattern show)
6:30 Calvin And The Colonel
7 PM Room For One More
7:30 Leave It To Beaver
8 PM Lawrence Welk
9 PM Invitation To Paris
10 PM Movie: "Sherlock Holmes And The Secret Weapon" (Sherlock
Holmes and Watson are living in World War II, as they try
to retrieve a secret bomb sight the Nazis also want, from '42)

WTVM Ch. 9 Columbus, GA (NBC/ABC)
Listed Central Time

7 AM Country Boy Eddie
8 AM Rockin' With The Deuse
9 AM Shari Lewis (guests: Jerry Orbach and Tom Tichenor's puppets
Horrible Henry and Carrot Top, COLOR)
9:30 King Leonardo (COLOR)
10 AM Fury
10:30 Make Room For Daddy (guest: Ernest Borgnine)
11 AM Mr. Wizard
11:30 Farm Program
12 N Movie: "Gold Diggers Of 1937"
2:30 My Little Margie
3 PM Third Man
3:30 King Of Diamonds (Broderick Crawford's first of two unsuccessful
followups to "Highway Patrol"--the other was "The Interns" in
1970-71)
4 PM The Outlaws (NBC, delay from Thu 6:30 PM)
5 PM Room For One More (ABC, delay from 7 PM)
5:30 Bachelor Father (ABC, delay from Tue 7 PM)
6 PM Beany And Cecil (this is the in-pattern show)
6:30 Bonanza (NBC, delay from Sun 8 PM
7:30 Leave It To Beaver
8 PM Lawrence Welk
9 PM Invitation To Paris
10 PM Movie: "Let's Be Happy"
sign off 11:35 PM

WSFA Ch. 12 Montgomery (NBC)

7 AM This Land Of Ours
7:30 Achievement
8 AM Cartoons
9 AM Shari Lewis (COLOR)
9:30 King Leonardo (COLOR)
10 AM Fury
10:30 Make Room For Daddy
11 AM Mr. Wizard
11:30 TBA
12 N Baseball: Orioles-Red Sox (Joe Garagiola and
Bob Wolff announce)
3 PM TBA (time approximate)
4 PM Travel Film
4:30 Sports Thrills
5 PM International Showtime ("Circus From Germany,"
delay from Fri 6:30 PM)
6 PM Virginia Boys (country music)
6:30 Tales Of Wells Fargo (COLOR)
7:30 The Tall Man
8 PM NBC Movie: "The Black Rose" (COLOR)
10 PM News, Weather, Sports
10:30 Movie: "Lucy Gallant"

WAPI (WVTM) Ch. 13 Birmingham (NBC/CBS)

6 AM Big Picture
6:30 Morning Devotional
6:45 Auburn Farm Roundup
7 AM Farmland, U.S.A.
7:30 Popeye And The Three Stooges
8 AM Captain Kangaroo
9 AM Shari Lewis (COLOR)
9:30 King Leonardo (COLOR)
10 AM Fury
10:30 Make Room For Daddy
11 AM Sky King
11:30 Film Feature
11:45 Baseball: Tigers-Yankees
3 PM TBA (time approximate)
3:30 David Brinkley's Journal (Secretary of Labor Arthur
Goldberg discusses the idea of a five-hour working
day, NBC, delay from Wed 9:30 PM)
4 PM Bullwinkle (NBC, delay from Sun 6 PM)
4:30 Father Knows Best (CBS, delay from Mon 7:30 PM)
5 PM International Showtime
6 PM Everglades
6:30 Walt Disney's Wonderful World Of Color (not in color,
NBC, delay from Sun 6:30 PM)
7:30 Bonanza
8:30 Have Gun, Will Travel
9 PM Gunsmoke
10 PM Tales Of Wells Fargo
11 PM Movie: "The Bride Wore Red"

WOWL (WHDF) Ch. 15 Florence, AL (NBC/CBS)

8 AM Captain Kangaroo
9 AM Shari Lewis (COLOR)
9:30 King Leonardo (COLOR)
10 AM Fury
10:30 Roy Rogers
11 AM Sky King
11:30 Here's Henry (local variety show)
11:45 Baseball: Tigers-Yankees
3 PM Film Feature (time approximate)
4 PM Western Movie (title not given)
5 PM TBA
5:30 Round Table
6 PM Flatt And Scruggs
6:30 Tales Of Wells Fargo (COLOR)
7:30 Dance Time (Marty Martin--I remember Orlando's Ch. 9
having a program with the same title, hosted by Sandy
Contella, on Saturdays at 6:30 (ET); in fact, I watched
it for the one and only time this same night)
8 PM NBC Movie: "The Black Rose" (COLOR)
10 PM Movie: "The Big Sleep" (Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall,
from '46)

WCOV Ch. 20 Montgomery (CBS)

8 AM Captain Kangaroo
9 AM The Alvin Show
9:30 Mighty Mouse
10 AM Magic Land Of Allakazam
10:30 Roy Rogers
11 AM Through The Porthole
11:15 Industry On Parade
11:30 CBS News
11:45 Baseball: Tigers-Yankees
3 PM Flying Deuces (Laurel and Hardy, time approximate)
4 PM Championship Bowling: Lee Jouglard vs. Morrie Oppenheim
5 PM Wrestling From Buffalo
6 PM R.C.M.P.
6:30 Perry Mason
7:30 The Defenders
8:30 Have Gun, Will Travel
9 PM Gunsmoke
10 PM Movie: "Little Men"
11:30 TV News Final

WMSL Ch. 23 (WAFF Ch. 48) Decatur, AL (NBC/CBS)

11 AM Mighty Mouse
11:30 Film Feature
11:45 Baseball: Tigers-Yankees
3 PM Movie: TBA (time approximate)
4 PM Magic Land Of Allakazam
4:30 Fury
5 PM NBC News (Sander Vanocur)
5:15 Frontier Circus (CBS, delay from Thu 7 PM)
6:15 News, Sports, Weather
6:30 Tales Of Wells Fargo (COLOR)
7:30 The Tall Man
8 PM TBA
8:30 Have Gun, Will Travel
9 PM Gunsmoke
10 PM Hennesey (CBS, delay from Mon 9 PM)
10:30 Pete And Gladys (CBS, delay from Mon 7 PM)
11 PM Wrestling From Decatur

WAFG (WAAY) Ch. 31 Huntsville (ABC)

10:30 Bugs Bunny (same show seen on Chs. 6 and 32 at 11 AM)
11 AM Alex And Elmer (ventriloquist Alex Houston and his pal Elmer)
12 N Big Picture
12:30 Davey And Goliath
12:45 FYI
1 PM Herald Of Truth
1:30 Movie: TBA
3:30 Cartoons
4 PM Interpol Calling
4:30 Stage 7
5 PM Mystery Theater
5:30 News, Sports, Weather
6 PM Beany And Cecil
6:30 Calvin And The Colonel
7 PM Room For One More
7:30 Leave It To Beaver
8 PM Lawrence Welk
9 PM Invitation To Paris
10 PM Starlight Playhouse

WCCB (WNCF) Ch. 32 Montgomery (ABC)
note: WCCB is now Ch. 18, the CW affiliate in Charlotte

9:30 Movie: "The Case Of The Howling Dog" (Warren William
as Perry Mason, from '34)
11 AM Bugs Bunny
11:30 Cartoons
12 N Laurel And Hardy
1 PM Cartoon Carnival
1:30 Sea Hunt
2 PM Modern Science Theater
2:30 Young People's World
3 PM Movie: "Espionage Agent"
4:30 Tales Of The Vikings
5 PM Whirlybirds
5:30 Rough Riders
6 PM Beany And Cecil
6:30 Calvin And The Colonel
7 PM Room For One More
7:30 Leave It To Beaver
8 PM Lawrence Welk
9 PM Invitation To Paris
10 PM Movie: "The Fighting 69th"

 

[Charles1]

Interesting takeaway: The split NBC/CBS affiliates (3, 13, 15 and 23) all chose to go with the CBS MLB Game of the week rather than the NBC game. I could understand that on Channel 3, since they were a primary CBS, but I wonder what the rationale was on 13, 15 and 23---all primary NBC affiliates? Or could it have been that 15 and 23 were picking up 13's feed via antenna and relaying it to the Tennessee Valley? And better yet...why didn't Channel 9 carry the NBC game?

 

[bpatrick]

I can only theorize and say that Dizzy Dean had a large following
in the South and would probably have easily beaten NBC. We had
an NBC primary, WECT Wilmington, NC, that also carried CBS's games.
Likewise, WRAL Raleigh had just switched from NBC to ABC, but IIRC,
still carried NBC's games while WTVD (CBS primary) carried Dizzy and
Pee Wee and usually had the bigger audience.

Regardless, it would be logical to think that in Birmingham Ch. 6 could
have carried the CBS games (it had a few leftovers from its CBS years
up until the late '60s) and 13 could have carried NBC's. But 6 had a
scheduling conflict; "Wide World Of Sports" aired on Sundays at the time,
but 6 chose to delay it until the following Saturday. After "Wide World"
became a Saturday show, I always remember 6 carrying it in pattern.

As for Ch. 9, it is odd, because both CBS and NBC had games on Sunday,
with the same announcers; 3 carried CBS and 9, NBC. Again, in Birmingham,
13 had the CBS game and the NBC one was pre-empted.

I don't know if 15 and 23 picked up 13's feed (they could just as easily have
picked up Ch. 5 in Nashville), but they probably went with the higher-rated
network.

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

I thought the reason WBRC-6 dumped CBS and went to ABC (and probably not clearing many CBS shows as a secondary affiliate) was the result of a 1961 "CBS Reports" documentary on school desegregation in Birmingham.

Ironically, the narrator and reporter was Howard K. Smith, who was forced to resign from CBS News as a result of editorializing in his closing narration. Smith soon wound up at............ABC!

Although Smith wouldn't become co-anchor of ABC's evening newscast until 1969, he did a weekly news analysis program for a couple of years and also anchored or co-anchored ABC's live coverage of special events and breaking news (except for space flights; Jules Bergman did that) from the time he joined the network.

I would think that WBRC didn't carry the Smith show during it's run (around 1962-63), and if they could pick-up CBS' or NBC's live coverage of breaking news, political conventions, elections, or other special events instead of ABC's coverage, they'd do so, again, to avoid having Howard K. Smith on it's "air".

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

The reason both CBS and NBC had Saturday-afternoon Major League Baseball games in the early 1960's was that MLB had no league-wide national TV deal for regular-season games. Individual teams could negotiate with networks.

This situation was similar to the National Football League through 1961; individual NFL teams could negotiate their own TV deals until the NFL signed a league-wide TV deal with CBS in 1962.

As a result, several teams made deals with CBS allowing that network to carry, if they wished, Saturday home games on the network; and likewise, other teams made similar deals with NBC.

Additionally, network "Game Of The Week" broadcasts were blacked-out in cities with MLB teams until 1965, when MLB signed it's first-ever league-wide network TV deal for regular-season games with ABC. But ABC's deal lasted one year (I suspect it was because NBC's deal for the All-Star Game and the World Series ended at the close of the 1965 season and the league wanted to combine the two packages for 1966 and beyond).

 

[bpatrick]

Re WBRC and Howard K. Smith: WBRC was one of the
last two ABC affiliates to pick up the network's newscast
when he was co-anchoring with Harry Reasoner (WJRT
Flint, MI was the other); both began airing the broadcast
on August 7, 1972.

Another reason for the WBRC switch from CBS to ABC
was that its then-owner, Taft Broadcasting, was switching
some of its other stations, in particular flagship WKRC Cincinnati
and WKYT Lexington, KY. WKYT went back to CBS in 1968 when
it got new ownership and WBLG (now WTVQ) signed on as the new
ABC affiliate; WKRC returned to CBS in, I believe, 1995, when WCPO
was one of four stations Scripps switched to ABC in exchange for
keeping WEWS Cleveland and WXYZ Detroit in the ABC fold; Scripps
had considered moving them to CBS when WJW Cleveland and WJBK
Detroit were bought by Fox and switched from CBS.

 

[rwells2265]

I thought the reason WBRC-6 dumped CBS and went to ABC (and probably not clearing many CBS shows as a secondary affiliate) was the result of a 1961 "CBS Reports" documentary on school desegregation in Birmingham.

Date of the (yes, very hard-hitting) CBS Reports documentary in question: May 18, 1961.
Date on WBRC's signed affiliation agreement with ABC: March 1, 1961. (the actual flip would occur that Fall)

Hmmmmm............

Once more, with feeling: The reason WBRC flipped affiliation was - as BPatrick also noted - because of a realignment among Taft Broadcasting stations to ABC. That's the reason. Find Leonard Goldenson's book about ABC, it's in there.

--Russell

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

WBRC, CBS, and ABC (Was: Re: Retro: Alabama Saturday, August 11, 1962)

The Howard K. Smith special on Birmingham was probably produced in early 1961, and WBRC-6/Taft management may have gotten wind of what he and his crew were doing and saying while the documentary was being produced.

After doing more research, I found out that CBS wouldn't let Smith quote a line from an author which in this instance denounced desegregation to close the TV show. But he supposedly used that line in a report aired on a CBS Radio hourly newscast on a day when something there became a top news story while he was there. This incident may well have been during January or February of 1961.

That may have prompted Taft to dump CBS (if this incident was in January or February---I don't know the exact date---it could have been a factor), although the affiliation deal between WBRC and ABC was signed/took effect two-and-a-half months prior to the TV broadcast.

I had also heard that in late 1960, Ed Murrow had gone to Birmingham to begin working on the TV documentary, but after he left CBS to head the U. S. Information service, Smith was assigned to finish the special.

 

[bpatrick]

The line Smith quoted was Edmund Burke's statement that
the way for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.
Bill Paley felt, nevertheless, that Smith was editiorializing,
even though Smith pointed out to him that the line was not
his but that of an eighteenth-century political scientist.
Paley, however, felt that Smith had been expressing his
opinions on the air too much, and this, he decided, was the
last straw. Smith got into more hot water almost as soon as
he arrived at ABC, with his "The Political Obituary Of Richard
Nixon." Smith interviewed Alger Hiss, the State Department
official who leaned toward the Communist party and who had
first brought Nixon to fame with his confrontation with Whittaker
Chambers in 1948. When criticized for including Hiss Smith responded,
"Mr. Hiss is news. I'm not running a Sunday-school program."

Years later Smith himself would make news when he called for Nixon's
resignation; it was a truism in the industry that Smith was the most
pro-Nixon of the network anchors at the time (1974).

As for the lag time between WBRC's signing with ABC and the actual
switch, that is not uncommon, since the current contract with the
outgoing network has to run out. When Fox bought WBRC in 1994,
it was still under contract to ABC, which wouldn't let WBRC out. As
a result, the station didn't change from ABC to Fox until 1996, leaving
Fox in the awkward position of owning an ABC affiliate for two years.
(WGHP also had to wait, in its case a year, before going from ABC to Fox.)

 

[rwells2265]

Re: WBRC, CBS, and ABC (Was: Re: Retro: Alabama Saturday, August 11, 1962)

The Howard K. Smith special on Birmingham was probably produced in early 1961, and WBRC-6/Taft management may have gotten wind of what he and his crew were doing and saying while the documentary was being produced.

After doing more research, I found out that CBS wouldn't let Smith quote a line from an author which in this instance denounced desegregation to close the TV show. But he supposedly used that line in a report aired on a CBS Radio hourly newscast on a day when something there became a top news story while he was there. This incident may well have been during January or February of 1961.

That may have prompted Taft to dump CBS (if this incident was in January or February---I don't know the exact date---it could have been a factor), although the affiliation deal between WBRC and ABC was signed/took effect two-and-a-half months prior to the TV broadcast.

So, you're suggesting what took place was more like, "Those Yankees up at CBS are putting together a documentary that says mean things about our city.   The NERVE!   Donna, get ABC on the phone!!!!!!!"     Oh, I'm sure WBRC brass were aware of the documentary being put together.    Moreover, I'm sure that few atop Red Mountain were happy about it.   I'm sure at least one let their views be known.  

In all logic, though, if we don't factor in Taft's decision, the worst that could have come out of all this would be the station taking a high-profile stance and refusing to clear it.   But to sever ties with CBS out of spite is a decision that - even for some people in that time and place - would have made zero economic sense.   

But never mind all that.  The story reads better as "Birmingham dissed by CBS documentary, so 'racist' TV station dumps CBS to make a statement."    Right?    :      I seem to recall about a year ago, in a discussion about American Bandstand, that its absence from Birmingham television was possibly due to - in your words - "racism." 

http://radiodiscussions.com/smf/index.php?topic=220693.0

The documentary had zero to do with Taft's decision to align with ABC, period.  Had it been so, this would certainly have been mentioned in Goldenson's book.    Remember, this network change was not isolated to one station.  

Any mention of WBRC's change to ABC against a backdrop of "Who Speaks for Birmingham?" can only be done in terms of speculation.   To the research I've done, there is no solid, verifiable correlation.

--Russell