Retro: Birmingham, Sunday 10/21/62

[Charles1]

Source: The Birmingham News 10/20/62 via www.birminghamrewound.com

Channels Listed:
6-WBRC (ABC/CBS)
10-WBIQ (Educational, simulcast on WAIQ-2, Andalusia [now WDIQ, Dozier, AL], and WCIQ-7, Mount Cheaha State Park); no programming listed on Sunday
13-WAPI (NBC/CBS)

5:00
6-Industry on Parade

5:15
6-Americans at Work

5:30
6-Concert Hall

6:00
6-This Is the Life
13-World Around Us

6:30
6-Capstone Concert (from the University of Alabama)
13-Air Force

7:00
6-The Answer
13-Faith for Today

7:30
6-Cartoon Carnival
13-Choirs of All Churches

8:00
6-Wally Fowler (Southern Gospel Music)
13-Gospel Caravan

9:00
6-Florida Boys Quartet
13-Cowboys

9:30
6-The Sunday Show

10:30
6-Sunday Startime

11:00
13-NFL Kickoff

11:15
13-NFL Football: Washington at Philadelphia…Redskins won, 27-21

11:55
6-Senator John Sparkman (BTW—Sen. Sparkman was the Democratic Party nominee for Vice-President in 1952, running alongside Adlai Stevenson)

12:00
6-Dr. Christian

12:30
6-Secret Journal

1:00
6-Amos ‘n’ Andy

1:30
6-AFL Football: New York Titans (Jets) vs. Dallas Texans (Kansas City Chiefs)…Dallas won 20-17

2:45
13-Pigskin Parade

3:00
13-13 Theatre

4:00
13-Bear Bryant Show (University of Alabama football highlights; Alabama defeated Tulsa 35-6)

4:15
6-Post-Game Show

4:30
6-Man without a Gun

5:00
6-Frontier Doctor
13-Auburn Football Review (with Coach Ralph “Shug” Jordan; Auburn defeated Georgia Tech 17-14 in SEC action)

5:30
6-Maverick

6:00
13-Lassie

6:30
6-The Jetsons
13-Walt Disney

7:00
6-Movie (no title given)

7:30
13-Car 54, Where Are You?

8:00
13-Bonanza

9:00
6-Adventures in Paradise
13-Show of the Week

10:00
6-Voice of Firestone
13-Empire

10:30
6-Winston Churchill

11:00
6-Late News
13-Tonight’s Best Movie (it may have been the best movie, but no title was given)

11:05
6-Home Theatre (no title given)

12:30
6-News Headlines

 

[bpatrick]

You might want to follow up on this and see if "The Ed Sullivan
Show" was carried in Birmingham between 1962 and WBMG's sign
on in 1965. It's my understanding that it wasn't; that Birmingham
did not see the Beatles on Sullivan. What was the problem? Because
Sullivan did not hesitate to book African-Americans? It's hard to
comprehend one of the most popular and influential variety shows of
all time being pre-empted in any market. (Off-topic a little, but I've
mentioned before that all of CBS's North Carolina affiliates carried the
Beatles and, unless some adults were outraged by the hairstyles, there
was no outcry or threats to drop the show; WFMY, WBTV, WNCT, and
then-CBS affiliate WTVD stayed with Sullivan to the bitter end in 1971.
Nor did any of them ever threaten to drop the show because Sullivan
presented African-American entertainers ranging from Ella Fitzgerald and
Nat King Cole to the Supremes, the Jackson 5, Richard Pryor, and Flip Wilson.)

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

B. Patrick:

Could "Ed Sullivan" have been aired on a delayed basis in Birmingham in the early 1960's??

 

[Charles1]

Full disclosure: I was only 2 years old on this date, but I don't remember seeing Ed Sullivan until Channel 42 signed on. Both Channel 6 and Channel 13 waited until 11:00 to air their late news for many years, and Channel 13 would run network programming from 10 until 11. I remember asking my parents why a lot of programs weren't aired when the (network) commercials said they were going to come on. (Yeah, I was a prodigous little geek then--and an observant little bugger). Neither of them could give me a good answer.

While Channel 6 still aired some CBS programming after becoming a primary affiliate of ABC, it was mainly daytime programming such as soap operas. Channel 13 was left with the unenviable task of trying to juggle programming from the two biggest networks of the day. Until 1965, when Channel 42 signed on, there was a lot of shows we didn't get here.

Fast forward to 1964, when the Beatles made their American TV debut on Ed Sullivan...we didn't get it in Birmingham. The closest CBS affiliates to Birmingham were Channel 5 in Atlanta (145 miles east), Channel 4 in Columbus, MS. (100 miles west), Channel 19 in Huntsville (95 miles north), and Channel 20 in Montgomery (95 miles south). I suppose that with a really tall roof-top aerial, one could have pulled in Channel 4, but we only had set-top rabbit ears.

As to why Channel 13 favored NBC on Sunday night, it can be summed up in three words: "Walt Disney" and "Bonanza".

 

[rwells2265]

As to why Channel 13 favored NBC on Sunday night, it can be summed up in three words: "Walt Disney" and "Bonanza".

Charles pretty much summed it up. It wasn't so much what was being broadcast on Sullivan ... certainly not an anti-Beatles stance. 13 had to make some tough choices back then -- choices most two-station markets didn't have to deal with, as the odd net out was most often ABC.

--Russell