Retro: Atlanta/Chattanooga/Macon Friday, December 11, 1964

[bpatrick]

From TV Guide, Georgia Edition:

WSB Ch. 2 Atlanta (NBC)

6:30 Bible Seminar
6:55 Farm Show
7 AM Today
9 AM Today In Georgia
9:30 Call Mr. D (reruns of Richard Diamond,
Private Detective, with David Janssen
and Mary Tyler Moore's legs)
10 AM Make Room For Daddy
10:30 What's This Song? (COLOR)
10:55 NBC News (Edwin Newman)
11 AM Concentration
11:30 Jeopardy! (COLOR)
12 N News (Hal Suit)
12:15 Movie: "Saadia" (COLOR)
2 PM 2 Bits
2:30 The Doctors
3 PM Another World
3:30 You Don't Say! (COLOR)
4 PM Match Game
4:25 NBC News (anchor not given)
4:30 Popeye Club
5:30 Magilla Gorilla
6 PM Newsroom (Ray Moore)
6:30 Huntley-Brinkley Report
7 PM Flipper (delay from Sat 7:30)
7:30 International Showtime
8:30 Bob Hope Chrysler Theater (COLOR)
9:30 Jack Benny (Paul Lynde plays a veterinarian
whom Jack calls in to treat one of the alligators
that guards his vault.)
10 PM Jack Paar (COLOR)
11 PM Newsroom (Fred Briggs, later of NBC)
11:30 Tonight Show (COLOR)
1 AM Movie: "Walk Into Hell" (COLOR)

WRCB Ch. 3 Chattanooga (NBC)

7 AM Today
9 AM Today With Morris
9:30 Music (educational)
10 AM Make Room For Daddy
10:30 What's This Song? (COLOR)
10:55 NBC News
11 AM Concentration
11:30 Jeopardy! (COLOR)
12 N Say When! (COLOR)
12:30 Truth Or Consequences (COLOR)
12:55 NBC News (Ray Scherer)
1 PM WRCB Bulletin
1:30 Let's Make A Deal (COLOR)
1:55 NBC News (Floyd Kalber)
2 PM Loretta Young
2:30 The Doctors
3 PM Another World
3:30 You Don't Say! (COLOR)
4 PM Match Game
4:25 NBC News
4:30 Mickey Mouse Club
5 PM Lawman
5:30 Rifleman
6 PM News, Weather, Sports
6:30 Huntley-Brinkley Report
7 PM Highway Patrol
7:30 International Showtime
8:30 Bob Hope Chrysler Theater (COLOR)
9:30 Jack Benny
10 PM Jack Paar (COLOR)
11 PM Bulletin (Gray/Nash)
11:30 Tonight Show (COLOR)

WAGA Ch. 5 Atlanta (CBS)

6:10 Daily Word
6:15 Sunrise Semester: "Russian Literature
In Translation"
6:45 This Is Your Town
7 AM News, Weather
7:15 Jake Hess And The Imperials (gospel music)
7:30 Cartoon Clubhouse (a few years later Ch. 11
would have "Clubhouse 11" with Tubby and
Lester in an early-morning slot)
7:45 King And Odie
8 AM Captain Kangaroo
9 AM B'wana Don
9:30 December Bride
10 AM CBS News (Mike Wallace)
10:30 Movie: "King Of The Underworld" (Humphrey
Bogart)
11:55 Weather (Eleanor Knight)
12 N Love Of Life
12:25 News (local, with Ed Blair)
12:30 Search For Tomorrow
12:45 Guiding Light
1 PM Best Of Groucho
1:30 As The World Turns
2 PM Password
2:30 Art Linkletter's House Party
3 PM To Tell The Truth
3:25 CBS News (Douglas Edwards)
3:30 Edge Of Night
4 PM Secret Storm
4:30 Dooley & Co.
5 PM Bachelor Father
5:30 Jack Benny Daytime Show (delay
from 4:30)
6 PM Panorama News
6:30 Amos 'n' Andy (this is during the period
when Walter Cronkite was pre-empted
in Atlanta)
7 PM Ripcord (COLOR)
7:30 Rawhide
8:30 The Entertainers (Bob Newhart and Caterina
Valente are on this week; third regular Carol
Burnett is not)
9:30 Gomer Pyle, USMC
10 PM Perspective On Greatness (Mahatma Gandhi)
11 PM Panorama News (Smith, don't know who this
is)
11:30 Movie: "The Mad Ghoul" (I have a feeling this
is Bestoink Dooley's show)

WGTV Ch. 8 Athens/Atlanta (NET)

6:30 What's New
7 PM Growing South
7:30 Open Mind
8:30 Georgia History: "The Strange Story Of
Oglethorpe" (don't know if this is James
Oglethorpe or Oglethorpe County)
9 PM Houston Symphony
10 PM Adventure Theatre (travel)
sign off 10:30 PM

WTVC Ch. 9 Chattanooga (ABC)

7:45 Upward Look
8 AM Jack LaLanne
8:30 Physical Education
9 AM Funtime (Marcia Kling)
10 AM Hennesey
10:30 Price Is Right (Bill Cullen)
11 AM Get The Message
11:30 Missing Links (Dick Clark)
12 N Father Knows Best
12:30 Tennessee Ernie Ford Show
1 PM Movie: "Ten North Frederick"
2:30 Day In Court
2:55 ABC News (Marlene Sanders)
3 PM General Hospital
3:30 Young Marrieds
4 PM Trailmaster
5 PM Bob Brandy
5:30 Huckleberry Hound
6 PM Laramie
7 PM ABC News (Ron Cochran)
7:15 Newswatch (Gil Norwood)
7:30 Jonny Quest (COLOR)
8 PM The Farmer's Daughter
8:30 Addams Family (Lurch learns to
dance for the Butlers' Ball)
9 PM Valentine's Day
9:30 12 O'Clock High
10:30 Ripcord (not in color)
11 PM ABC News (Bob Young)
11:10 Local News, Weather
11:15 Les Crane

WAII (WXIA) Ch. 11 Atlanta (ABC)

8 AM Cartoon Carnival
9 AM Movie: "Dead Reckoning" (conclusion)
10:25 News, Weather
10:30 Price Is Right
11 AM Get The Message
11:30 Missing Links
12 N Father Knows Best
12:30 Tennessee Ernie Ford Show
1 PM Girl Talk
1:30 Susie (Ann Sothern)
2 PM My Little Margie
2:30 Day In Court
2:55 ABC News
3 PM General Hospital
3:30 Young Marrieds
4 PM Trailmaster
5 PM Wyatt Earp
5:30 Lawman
6 PM Leave It To Beaver (how did this
get into a block of Westerns?)
6:30 Rifleman
7 PM News Watch (Bill McCain)
7:30 Jonny Quest (COLOR)
8 PM The Farmer's Daughter
8:30 Addams Family
9 PM Movie: "Behave Yourself"
11 PM Night Watch (Bill McCain)
11:30 Les Crane

WDEF Ch. 12 Chattanooga (CBS)

6:55 Daily Word
7 AM Sunrise Semester
7:30 Dixie Singin'
8 AM Captain Kangaroo
9 AM Modern Mathematics
9:30 Woman's Whirl
10 AM CBS News
10:30 I Love Lucy (the one where the
Ricardos and Mertzes try living
like pioneers)
11 AM Andy Griffith (the one where Barney
has a hard time getting through to
two farmers selling produce illegally)
11:30 Real McCoys (Soupy Sales is jazz musician
Hank Salamanca, a friend of the McCoys)
12 N Love Of Life
12:25 CBS News (Robert Trout)
12:30 Search For Tomorrow
12:45 Guiding Light
1 PM Lunch 'n Fun
1:30 As The World Turns
2 PM Password
2:30 Art Linkletter's House Party
3 PM To Tell The Truth
3:25 CBS News
3:30 Edge Of Night
4 PM Secret Storm
4:30 Movie: "Tarzan's Hidden Jungle"
6 PM News (Conrad/Gilliland)
6:30 CBS News (Walter Cronkite)
7 PM Have Gun, Will Travel
7:30 Rawhide
8:30 The Entertainers
9:30 Gomer Pyle, USMC
10 PM The Reporter
11 PM News, Weather
11:20 Movie: "Go West, Young Man" (with
Mae West and not to be confused
with the Marx Brothers' "Go West")

WMAZ Ch. 13 Macon (CBS/NBC/ABC)

6:15 Sunrise Semester
6:45 Debbie Drake
7 AM Cartoons
7:30 Lone Ranger
8 AM Captain Kangaroo
9 AM Rifleman
9:30 Jake Hess And The Imperials
9:45 Here's Helen (I wonder if this is Helen
Popejoy, who hosted a women's show
on Ch. 41 in Macon a few years later)
10 AM CBS News
10:30 I Love Lucy
11 AM Andy Griffith
11:30 Real McCoys
12 N Love Of Life
12:25 CBS News
12:30 Search For Tomorrow
12:45 Guiding Light
1 PM Almanac
1:15 Date With Del
1:30 As The World Turns
2 PM Password
2:30 Art Linkletter's House Party
3 PM To Tell The Truth
3:25 CBS News
3:30 Edge Of Night
4 PM Secret Storm
4:30 Doris Martin (women's show--
wasn't that the name of the character
Doris Day played on her sitcom?)
5 PM Huckleberry Hound
5:30 Rifleman
6 PM News, Weather, Sports
6:30 CBS News
7 PM Zane Grey Theater
7:30 Rawhide
8:30 The Entertainers
9:30 Gomer Pyle, USMC
10 PM The Reporter
11 PM 11th Hour Report
11:30 Movie: "Chicken Every Sunday"

 

[Mike Stroud]

From TV Guide, Georgia Edition:

WSB Ch. 2 Atlanta (NBC)

2 PM 2 Bits

WRCB Ch. 3 Chattanooga (NBC)

2 PM Loretta Young

WAGA Ch. 5 Atlanta (CBS)

9 AM B'wana Don

WTVC Ch. 9 Chattanooga (ABC)

11 PM ABC News (Bob Young)

All righty then, bp ...

WSB and WRCB, 2 p.m.: "2 Bits"? Was that a cute name for a homemaker's show? Whatever it was, it was probably a sign that "Password" (on WAGA) ruled the roost in the Atlanta Nielsens and that nobody cared for the reruns of Loretta Young's 1950s show. In less than a year, a new soap called "Days of Our Lives" probably took care of "2 Bits."

WAGA, 9 a.m.: Kiddie show? Sounds like it.

WTVC, 11 p.m.: Wonder how long ABC tried out a late bulletin, a la Canadian and British television? It's obvious that neither CBS nor NBC had interest in competing, and that ABC affils were likely ticked off at the intrusion into their time slots, putting them at a disadvantage against the full half-hour on CBS and NBC stations. Those two factors probably did in the experiment, certainly no later than 1966. Note that WAII takes a pass on not only that, but the early report too. ABC would have its hands full getting stations to clear the early evening newscasts for years to come, let alone trying to get them to cede valuable air time for a late bulletin.

 

[bpatrick]

I don't think "2 Bits" was a "strictly-for-women" show;
its host was a man, Charlie Welsh. Probably a talk show.
But I suspect you're right that "Password" on Ch. 5 was
so dominant at 2 that WSB chose not to air Loretta Young;
ABC was down at 2 in those days so Ch. 11 had to fill with
something else: the umpteenth rerun of "My Little Margie."

"B'wana Don" is a kids' show which I think (Tim Lones can
answer this since Cleveland's Ch. 8 was a sister station to
WAGA) all the Storer stations carried.

ABC discontinued its nightly 11 PM newscast in 1965, but
aired late-night newscasts on weekends until 1991. Affiliates
did not like the intrusion; Chicago's Ch. 7, an o&o, resented
having to start its local news at 10:10 (CT), 10 minutes after
WBBM and WMAQ. Ch. 11 probably didn't want to wait until
11:10.

"The Huntley-Brinkley Report" was so dominant in Atlanta in
those days that Ch. 11 dropped Ron Cochran and (biggest surprise)
Ch. 5 pre-empted Walter Cronkite. 11 would carry Peter Jennings
(the first time around; the second time, Ch. 2 was and is the ABC affiliate
from 1980 on), then drop ABC News again in 1968 when Frank Reynolds
took over as anchor (too liberal for the station's owners), not to pick
it up again until 1971 after Harry Reasoner's scolding of the holdout
stations at the ABC affiliates' convention that year.

 

[Braves2005]

Didn't The Donna Reed Show start airing reruns in ABC daytime the next week because it lists in Brooks-Marsh's TV book that the show started reruns in December 1964?

 

[bpatrick]

It would have been December 28. "Get The Message" and
"Missing Links" had their last telecasts on Christmas Day;
on Monday (28) "Price Is Right" moved to 11:30 AM, followed
by Donna Reed at 12, "Father Knows Best" at 12:30, and
Tennessee Ernie at 1. That same day a new soap, "Flame
In The Wind" (later retitled "A Time For Us"), debuted in the
2 PM slot. There was no network programming on ABC before
11:30 AM.

Tennessee Ernie's show had its last telecast on March 26, 1965,
and was replaced by "The Rebus Game" with host Jack Linkletter;
it was sort of a forerunner of "Win, Lose Or Draw" but not nearly
as successful, lasting only until September 24; on September 27
"Ben Casey" reruns took over the 1 PM slot.

 

[retrothoughts]

Steve Conrad anchored the evening news on WDEF-TV 12 Chattanooga during the mid-'60s, before he ran for, and was elected, Commissioner of Parks and Recreation for the City of Chattanooga, back in the days when that city had a Commission form of government that kind of functioned as both legislature and mayor-plus-cabinet.

Marcia Kling [Miss Marcia] started out on WTVC-Channel 9 earlier in the '60s as host of a franchised Romper Room; when the franchise ran out, Channel 9 converted the show to Funtime, which was a mix of cartoons and Romper Room-like stuff. Miss Marcia opened each episode with a brief monologue, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance [just like on Romper Room, and complete with film of the US flag as she recited it] before going to the cartoon portion of the program, which, by later in the '60s, featured the likes of Bugs Bunny, Roger Ramjet, Clutch Cargo and The Funny Company; the Romper Room-like stuff took up the second half.

Even after Funtime was cancelled in the mid-'70s, when the ABC network premiered what is now Good Morning America, Channel 9 still kept Marcia on as community affairs director and, later, as an elder affairs correspondent on their newscasts.

Another Channel 9 staple from the '60s, Upward Look, was an extended version of those sermonettes that stations would sign on or off with.

Before WTCI-45 signed on as an educational TV [PBS] station in 1970, and perhaps even before Chattanoogans like myself had to struggle to pull in the Georgia ETV affiliate out of Chatsworth in the afternoons during the late '60s, I think the Chattanooga school district had deals with channels 3, 9 and 12, or at least 2 of those 3, for various educational programs weekday mornings.

 

[Tim L]

"B'wana Don" is a kids' show which I think (Tim Lones can
answer this since Cleveland's Ch. 8 was a sister station to
WAGA) all the Storer stations carried.

That's pretty much correct. B'Wana Don originated out of Storer station WJBK-2 in Detroit..WJW-8 in Cleveland began carrying the show Monday, January 8, 1962 at 9AM as a partial replacement for the cancelled movie show "Ernie's Place" with Ernie Anderson, basically hosting solo since buddy Tim Conway moved to Hollywood.

"Bwana Don" wasnt all that successful on Channel 8, lasting till mid 1963, being replaced by "Mickey Mouse Club" reruns and eventually by local show "Franz The Toymaker". who would last from late 1963-Into the early 1970's..