• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Retro: Arkansas--Thu, Apr 27, 1972

TV Guide, Arkansas edition--Don Rickles, cover

Little Rock, Arkansas:
(2) KETS (PBS)--now on digital 7 (PSIP 2)*
(4) KARK (NBC)--now on digital 32 (PSIP 4)
(7) KATV (ABC)--now on digital 44 (PSIP 7)
(11) KTHV (CBS)--now on digital 12 (PSIP 11)

Monroe, Louisiana:
(8) KNOE (CBS; ABC secondary)--now on digital 8 (PSIP same)

Shreveport, Louisiana:
(3) KTBS (ABC)--now on digital 28 (PSIP 3)
(12) KSLA (CBS)--now on digital 17 (PSIP 12)

Shreveport, Louisiana/Texarkana, Texas:
(6) KTAL (NBC)--now on digital 15 (no PSIP)

El Dorado, Arkansas/Monroe, Louisiana:
(10) KTVE (NBC; ABC secondary)--now on digital 27 (PSIP 10)

*--translator of the Arkansas Educational Television Network. Did not broadcast in color.

MORNING
5:55
(8) Pastor's Study--local religious devotional

6:00
(8) Good Morning Ark-La-Miss--local; "Ark-La-Miss" was media term for states of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, of course

6:20
(12) Sunrise Semester--"Latin-American Literature"

6:30
(6) Texarkana College--telecourse from community college
(11) Sunrise Semester--same as KSLA at 6:20 a.m.

6:45
(4) RFD--local farm show; Bob Buice, host
(6) RFD "6"--likewise

6:50
(12) Your Pastor--local religious devotional

6:55
(3) (4) (10) Devotional--all local and separately produced; TV Guide lumped them together in the listing

7:00
(3) Ark-La-Tex Sportsman--local hunting and fishing show; "Ark-La-Tex" was short for Arkansas-Louisiana-Texas
(4) (6) (10) Today Show--Frank McGee, Barbara Walters, Edwin Newman
(7) Country Music Time--unsure if local or a 1950s/1960s filmed show with Nashville stars
(8) (11) (12) CBS Morning News--John Hart

7:25
(11) Arkansas A.M.

7:30
(3) Cartoon Funtime--probably a local kids' show that was on its last legs (likely moved from the afternoons some time earlier)
(7) Bozo's Big Top

7:45
(2) in-school programming until 3:45 p.m.

8:00
(7) New Zoo Revue--well-beloved live-action syndicated kiddie show that featured life-sized puppets teaching moral lessons
(8) (11) (12) Captain Kangaroo--today's topic: bread making

8:15
(3) Movie--"Chain Lightning," 1950

8:30
(7) This Morning--local variety show; probably country-music-oriented

9:00
(4) Hazel--sitcom rerun
(6) (10) Dinah's Place--stuttering was discussed on this episode
(7) Movie--"Scarlet Angel," 1952
(8) (11) Lucy Show--CBS rerun; listed as "Lucille Ball"
(12) Sesame Street--another commercial station running the PBS program; the market did not get public TV until 1978 (from a translator of Louisiana Public Broadcasting)

9:30
(4) (6) (10) Concentration
(8) (11) My Three Sons--CBS rerun

9:50
(3) Lucille Rivers--syndicated sewing show for women

10:00
(3) Split Second--tape-delayed from ABC
(4) (6) (10) Sale of the Century--original version; hosted by Joe Garagiola
(8) (11) (12) Family Affair--CBS rerun

10:30
(3) (7) Bewitched--ABC rerun
(4) (6) (10) Hollywood Squares
(8) (11) (12) Love of Life

11:00
(3) (7) Password--"The password is ..."
(4) (6) (10) Jeopardy!
(8) (11) (12) Where the Heart Is--soap

11:25
(8) KNOE News
(11) (12) CBS News--Douglas Edwards

11:30
(3) KTBS News
(4) (6) (10) Who, What or Where Game
(7) Split Second
(8) (11) (12) Search for Tomorrow

11:55
(4) (6) (10) NBC News--Floyd Kalber

AFTERNOON
12:00
(3) (7) All My Children
(4) Little Rock Today--local features/variety show
(6) KTAL News
(8) KNOE News
(10) Phil Donahue (60-minute version; one of his first appearances in a Deep South market)
(11) Eye on Arkansas--news/features; the "eye" referred to the KTHV's CBS affiliation
(12) KSLA News

12:05
(8) Lucille Rivers

12:15
(8) Open House--women's show, hosted by Mildred Swift

12:30
(3) (7) Let's Make a Deal--"and, behind curtain number one, you have ... a pogo stick!"
(6) Three on a Match
(8) (11) (12) As the World Turns

12:50
(4) Lucille Rivers

1:00
(3) (7) Newlywed Game--"in a moment, we'll find out what the husbands have to say."
(4) (6) (10) Days of Our Lives
(8) (11) (12) Love is a Many Splendored Thing

1:30
(3) (7) Dating Game
(4) (6) (10) Doctors--Mel Brandt's memorable intro: "the Emmy-Award-winning program dedicated to the brotherhood ... of healing"
(8) (11) (12) Guiding Light

2:00
(3) (7) General Hospital
(4) (6) (10) Another World
(8) (11) (12) Secret Storm

2:30
(3) (7) One Life to Live--a/k/a "One Wife to Leave"--!!!
(4) (6) (10) Return to Peyton Place--launched a month earlier; this revival of the famed 1960s prime-time soap never brought back the old viewers and didn't attract new ones; ran until January 1974
(8) (11) (12) Edge of Night--about half the time, it seemed, a murder trial took place on this serial

3:00
(3) (7) Love, American Style--ABC rerun
(4) Mike Douglas (60-minute version)
(6) (10) Somerset
(8) (11) (12) Amateur's Guide to Love--CBS dipped its toe into the pool of game shows with this Gene Rayburn-hosted, Heatter-Quigley-packaged entry after a four-year absence from the field

3:30
(3) Movie--"The Hideous Sun Demon," 1955
(6) Munsters--this episode apparently had Herman cheating on Lily
(7) Bozo--back for an afternoon session of the circus
(8) (11) (12) Virginian--same episode on KTHV and KSLA, strangely enough (and, coincidentally, all three stations were CBS affils)
(10) Movie--"Jane Eyre," 1944

4:00
(2) Sesame Street
(4) Flipper--rerun
(6) Big Valley--this Western was seen in reruns throughout the 1970s, unusual for a show that lasted only four years on ABC in the 1960s

4:30
(4) Daniel Boone--episode description: "A white woman, captured by Indians and presumed dead, returns home with her half-breed son"
(7) To Tell the Truth

**All network evening newscast information courtesy of Vanderbilt TV News Archive: http://tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/**

5:00
(2) Electric Company
(3) (7) (8) ABC Evening News--Howard K. Smith (reporting from Los Angeles), Harry Reasoner
(6) Rifleman
(10) Truth or Consequences
(11) Green Acres--"You are my wife ... Goodbye, city life"
(12) Petticoat Junction--episode description: "Gossips lap it up when Steve (Mike Minor) moves out of his home: the baby is allergic to him"--!

5:30
(2) Mister Rogers--featured: the Bob Brown Marionettes
(3) KTBS News
(4) (6) (10) NBC Nightly News--John Chancellor
(7) Truth or Consequences
(8) (11) (12) CBS Evening News--Walter Cronkite

EVENING
6:00
(2) Film--"The Mouse House" and "The Mouse-Wife" by British novelist Rumer Godden
(3) Truth or Consequences
(4) KARK News
(6) KTAL News
(7) KATV News
(8) KNOE News
(10) KTVE News
(11) KTHV News
(12) KSLA News

6:30
(2) Arkansas Game and Fish--probably produced either for, or by, the state agency
(3) Let's Make a Deal--syndicated
(4) I Dream of Jeannie--rerun
(6) (7) (8) Dragnet (different episodes on each station)
(10) Reel Fun--probably local fishing show
(11) All in the Family--tape-delayed from CBS the previous Saturday (KTHV ran "Hee Haw" Saturdays at 6:30 p.m.)
(12) Movie--"Night Slaves," 1970 (90 minutes)

7:00
(2) Thirty Minutes--unsure if local or PBS
(3) Alias Smith and Jones--Roy Huggins and Glen Larson-packaged neo-Western that ran about two years
(4) (6) (10) Flip Wilson--guests, Tony Randall, Phyllis Diller, and big-band singer Billy Eckstine
(7) National Geographic Special--a look at the Amazon's entire length in South America
(8) (11) Me and the Chimp--a butt of many jokes about bad TV for years afterward; considered one of the worst shows in history
(12) It Takes a Thief--ERROR: this could not have been running at the same time as the movie at 6:30, so either one or the other was a mistake

7:30
(2) NET Playhouse Biography"--"Dante's Inferno" (not the literary classic, but a look at 19th-century poet and painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti)
(8) (11) My Three Sons--last season

8:00
(3) (7) Longstreet--James Franciscus starred in this crime drama about a blind insurance investigator in New Orleans
(4) (6) (10) Bob Hope Special--Glen Campbells, Carol Lawrence, Vic Damone, Dorothy Lamour, and Sugar Ray Robinson show up for the festivities
(8) (12) Movie--"Kona Coast," 1968 (Richard Boone filck that was said to inspire "Hawaii-Five-O," the lead role of which Boone turned down)
(11) Movie--"Move Over, Darling," 1963

9:00
(2) World Press--probably PBS discussion
(3) (7) Life, Death and the American Woman--ABC News special hosted by Patricia Neal
(4) (6) (10) Dean Martin--Carroll O'Connor, Ruth Buzzi, Vikki Carr, and the comedy team Clair and McMahon on tap this time

9:45
(2) David Littlejohn/Critic at Large--review of Peter Brooks' "King Lear" and Roman Polanski's "Macbeth" (both film adaptations of Shakespearean works)

10:00
(3) KTBS News
(4) KARK News
(6) KTAL News
(7) KATV News
(8) KNOE News
(10) KTVE News
(11) KTHV News
(12) KSLA News

10:30
(3) Dick Cavett
(4) (6) (10) Tonight Show--Joey Bishop, guest host (last week that the show originated from New York)
(7) Jaycee TV Auction--local fundraiser; probably donated airtime
(8) (12) Movie--"Advance to the Rear," 1964
(11) Arkansas Sportsman--local hunting and fishing show

11:00
(11) Movie--"Terror by Night," 1946

12:00 a.m.
(6) Devotional

12:30
(8) KNOE News
(12) KSLA News
 
I don't doubt that KTVE was one of the first stations
anywhere in the South to carry Donahue. I remember
at the time covered in the posting WEAR Pensacola/Mobile
was carrying a 30-minute version which wasn't successful
at the time; Donahue didn't really come into his own until
around 1977, when he moved from Dayton to Chicago.

I think the first station in the South, and one of the first
outside Ohio, to carry Donahue was WAGA; he began airing
in Atlanta in 60-minute form in December 1970 and was
the main culprit behind the decline and fall of WSB's longtime
institution "Today In Georgia."
 
bpatrick said:
I don't doubt that KTVE was one of the first stations
anywhere in the South to carry Donahue. I remember
at the time covered in the posting WEAR Pensacola/Mobile
was carrying a 30-minute version which wasn't successful
at the time; Donahue didn't really come into his own until
around 1977, when he moved from Dayton to Chicago.

I think the first station in the South, and one of the first
outside Ohio, to carry Donahue was WAGA; he began airing
in Atlanta in 60-minute form in December 1970 and was
the main culprit behind the decline and fall of WSB's longtime
institution "Today In Georgia."

One thing to point out, bp: Donahue moved operations from WLWD in Dayton and the AVCO network sometime in the summer of 1974 to WGN, some three years earlier than you mention. Still, you are right in that Donahue really didn't become a national sensation until around 1977-78. The three markets that I got on my cable system at the time, Nashville, Huntsville-Decatur, and Birmingham, took him about that time.

I made the point that I did because Donahue was a pioneer in making controversial subjects like abortion, homosexuality, racial relations, the death penalty, and so on, part of the television mainstream. They were hot enough in his main territory of Ohio and Indiana in the late 1960s and early 1970s, let alone Dixie. Atlanta was one place where cultural attitudes were (and are) liberal enough to tolerate frank and open talk about those matters, and that makes it all the more strange that El Dorado, Arkansas, of all places, would take a gamble on a show that would get preachers and community leaders upset. Apparently the show fascinated viewers there more than it offended, or otherwise may have gotten dropped there shortly thereafter as a failed experiment, only to return in the late 1970s when it broke out elsewhere in the U.S.

Does anybody else know of other Southern stations that tried out Donahue before 1977?
 
I didn't realize that Donahue moved to Chicago
in '74, but then again I never was much of a fan
of his show. I can think of two stations right off-hand
that had him prior to '77: WTOG Tampa/St. Petersburg
around '73 or '74, and WCCB Charlotte around the same
time (he was more successful on WBTV).
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom