Retro: Central Florida Friday, April 27, 1973

[bpatrick]

From TV Guide, Central Florida Edition:

WESH Ch. 2 Daytona Beach/Orlando (NBC)

6 AM Your Future Is Now
6:30 Garner Ted Armstrong
7 AM Today (historians Edwin Reischauer, John Fairbank,
and Albert Craig discuss "East Asia," a history that
encompasses the Vietnam War)
9 AM Phil Donahue (from Atlanta: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi)
10 AM Dinah's Place
10:30 Baffle (Bill Bixby, Michael Landon)
11 AM Sale Of The Century
11:30 Hollywood Squares (Pearl Bailey, Shelley Fabares, Buddy
Hackett, Michael Landon, Rose Marie, Donald O'Connor,
Robert Reed, Charley Weaver, Paul Lynde)
12 N Jeopardy!
12:30 News
12:55 NBC News (Floyd Kalber)
1 PM I Love Lucy
1:30 Three On A Match
2 PM Days Of Our Lives
2:30 The Doctors
3 PM Another World
3:30 Return To Peyton Place
4 PM Somerset
4:30 Bonanza
5:30 News
6:30 NBC News (John Chancellor)
7 PM To Tell The Truth
7:30 Police Surgeon
8 PM Sanford And Son
8:30 The Little People
9 PM The American Experience ("Strange And Terrible
Times" looks at three turbulent eras in American
history: the Revolution, the Civil War, and the Depression.)
10 PM Bobby Darin (an all-music show with guest Peggy Lee)
11 PM News
11:30 Tonight Show (Don Rickles subs for Johnny)
1 AM Midnight Special (an all-'50s show with host Jerry Lee Lewis,
Little Anthony and the Imperials, Chubby Checker, the Shirelles,
and the Ronettes)

WEDU Ch. 3 Tampa (PBS)

in-school programs until

4 PM Sesame Street
5 PM Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
5:30 Electric Company
6 PM Sesame Street
7 PM Your Future Is Now
7:30 Wall Street Week
8 PM Washington Week In Review
8:30 Thirty Minutes With...
9 PM Masterpiece Theatre ("The Golden Bowl," Part 5)
10 PM Today In The Legislature

WDBO (WKMG) Ch. 6 Orlando (CBS)

6:15 Sunshine Almanac
6:30 Sunrise Semester: "The Heavenly Twins--Astronomy And
Astrology"
7 AM CBS News (John Hart)
8 AM Captain Kangaroo
9 AM Perry Mason (guest: Frankie Laine as a comedian whose
comeback attempt is blocked by a double-crossing agent--
and a murder charge)
10 AM Joker's Wild
10:30 $10,000 Pyramid (Robert Morse, Peggy Cass)
11 AM Gambit
11:30 Love Of Life
11:55 CBS News (Douglas Edwards)
12 N Secret Storm (delay from 4 PM)
12:30 Search For Tomorrow
1 PM News
1:30 As The World Turns
2 PM Guiding Light
2:30 Edge Of Night
3 PM Price Is Right
3:30 Hollywood's Talking
4 PM Merv Griffin (Ralph Nader, Los Angeles mayoral candidate
Robert K. Dornan)
5:30 Hogan's Heroes
6 PM News
6:30 CBS News (Walter Cronkite)
7 PM Truth Or Consequences
7:30 What's My Line?
8 PM Mission: Impossible
9 PM Movie: "Story Of A Woman"
11 PM News
11:30 CBS Movie: "Rogue's March"

WFLA Ch. 8 Tampa (NBC)

6:15 Today In Florida
7 AM Today
9 AM Movie: "Born To Be Bad"
10:30 Baffle
11 AM Sale Of The Century
11:30 Hollywood Squares
12 N Jeopardy!
12:30 Who, What Or Where
12:55 NBC News
1 PM News
1:30 Three On A Match
2 PM Days Of Our Lives
2:30 The Doctors
3 PM Another World
3:30 Return To Peyton Place
4 PM Somerset
4:30 Merv Griffin (singers Tommy Leonetti and
Julie Budd)
6 PM News
6:30 NBC News
7 PM What's My Line?
7:30 To Tell The Truth (Gene Rayburn, Kitty Carlisle,
Bill Cullen, Peggy Cass)
8 PM Sanford And Son
8:30 The Little People
9 PM The American Experience
10 PM Bobby Darin
11 PM News
11:30 Tonight Show
1 AM Midnight Special
2:30 Movie: "The Rise And Fall Of Legs Diamond"
3:50 Movie: "Ride A Crooked Trail"
5:10 Movie: "The Leech Woman"

WFTV Ch. 9 Orlando (ABC)

6 AM Sunrise Jubilee
7 AM Bozo
8 AM Mike Douglas (co-host Arthur Godfrey; Dinah Shore,
gymnast Jodi Yocum and her trainer Sandy Lynn)
9 AM Movie: "All Hands On Deck" (Pat Boone, Buddy Hackett,
and Barbara Eden, from '61)
11 AM Password (Dick Gautier, Susan Oliver, week-behind from
12 N)
11:30 Bewitched (guest: Peter Lawford as the object of Serena's
romantic pursuit)
12 N News
12:30 Split Second
1 PM All My Children
1:30 Let's Make A Deal
2 PM Newlywed Game
2:30 Dating Game
3 PM General Hospital
3:30 One Life To Live
4 PM Movie: "The Black Cat"
5:30 News
6:30 ABC News (Smith/Reasoner)
7 PM Animal World
7:30 Circus! (from the Circus of the Brothers and
Sisters in Italy: Elvio's horses and elephants,
a trampoline troupe; Bert Parks hosts)
8 PM Brady Bunch
8:30 Partridge Family (one of the songs is one of
their big hits: "Looking Through The Eyes Of Love")
9 PM Room 222
9:30 Odd Couple
10 PM Love, American Style (guests: Charles Nelson Reilly,
Robert Sterling and wife Anne Jeffreys, Norman Fell,
Charlotte Rae)
11 PM News
11:30 In Concert (two shows that originally aired in 1972 are
combined into one: Alice Cooper, the Allman Brothers Band,
Blood, Sweat and Tears, Curtis Mayfield, Seals and Crofts,
Chuck Berry, Poco, Bo Diddley)
2:30 Movie: "The L-Shaped Room"
4:50 Movie: "The White Sister"

WLCY (WTSP) Ch. 10 St. Petersburg (ABC)

7 AM Meet The Realtors
7:15 Kathryn Kuhlman
7:45 News
8 AM Morning Show (Russ Byrd)
8:30 Fran Carlton (exercises)
9 AM Romper Room
10 AM Leave It To Beaver
10:30 Paul Dixon
11 AM I Love Lucy
11:30 Bewitched
12 N Password (Peter Lawford, Bert Convy)
12:30 Split Second
1 PM All My Children
1:30 Let's Make A Deal
2 PM Newlywed Game
2:30 Dating Game
3 PM General Hospital
3:30 One Life To Live
4 PM Movie: "The Leopard" (conclusion)
5:30 News
6 PM ABC News
6:30 I Dream Of Jeannie
7 PM Hee Haw (Oral Roberts, his son Richard and daughter-
in-law Patti, Frankie Laine, Buddy Alan)
8 PM TBA
9 PM Room 222
9:30 Children Of Compassion (Dale Evans narrates a report
on Compassion, an organization that helps refugee children
in Asia.)
10 PM Love, American Style
11 PM News
11:30 In Concert

WINK Ch. 11 Ft. Myers (CBS)

6:30 Sunshine Almanac
6:45 Good Morning
7 AM CBS News
8 AM Captain Kangaroo
9 AM Jack LaLanne
9:30 Sesame Street
10:30 Merv Griffin (Tony Curtis, Robert Conrad, Bobby Vinton)
11:30 Love Of Life
11:55 CBS News
12 N Young And The Restless
12:30 Search For Tomorrow
1 PM Joker's Wild
1:30 As The World Turns
2 PM Guiding Light
2:30 Edge Of Night
3 PM Price Is Right
3:30 Hollywood's Talking
4 PM Secret Storm
4:30 Mike Douglas (co-host Robert Conrad; Joe Frazier, Steve
Allen and Jayne Meadows, former "Steve Allen Show" regulars
Louis Nye and Dayton Allen)
6 PM News
7 PM CBS News
7:30 To Tell The Truth
8 PM Mission: Impossible
9 PM CBS Movie: "Hook, Line And Sinker" (Jerry Lewis, from '69--
watch for Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez, Groucho's most memorable
contestant)
11 PM News
11:30 CBS Movie: "Rogue's March"

WTVT Ch. 13 Tampa (CBS)

6 AM Breakfast Beat
7 AM CBS News
7:30 Breakfast Beat
8 AM Captain Kangaroo
9 AM Mike Douglas (same as Ch. 9, with the addition of singer Charles Mann)
10:30 $10,000 Pyramid
11 AM Gambit
11:30 Love Of Life
11:55 CBS News
12 N News
12:25 Tampa Bay Topics
12:30 Search For Tomorrow
1 PM Young And The Restless
1:30 As The World Turns
2 PM Guiding Light
2:30 Edge Of Night
3 PM Price Is Right
3:30 Hollywood's Talking
4 PM Big Valley
5 PM Bonanza
6 PM News
7 PM CBS News
7:30 Truth Or Consequences
8 PM Mission: Impossible
9 PM Movie: "Secret Ceremony"
11 PM News
11:30 Movie: "Voyage To A Prehistoric Planet"
1 AM Movie: "Bride Of The Monster"

WUSF Ch. 16 Tampa (PBS)

3:30 Weather And Man
4 PM Motor Development
4:30 Sunrise Semester: "Personality Theory And
Creativity" (pre-empted on Ch. 13)
5 PM Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
5:30 Personal Finance
6 PM Sesame Street
7 PM Weather And Man
7:30 Motor Development
8 PM Insight (Beau Bridges as a college student who faces
a crisis of confidence when he receives his draft notice)
8:30 Your Right To Say It
9 PM Sounds Interesting
9:30 Performers

WBBH Ch. 20 Ft. Myers (NBC/ABC)

6 AM Gulf Coast--Today
7 AM Today
9 AM What's Happening?
9:05 The Champions (British-made adventure series that aired
on NBC in the summer of 1968)
10 AM Dinah's Place
10:30 Baffle
11 AM Sale Of The Century
11:30 Hollywood Squares
12 N Jeopardy!
12:30 Who, What Or Where
12:55 News
1 PM Brad Lacey
1:30 Three On A Match
2 PM Days Of Our Lives
2:30 The Doctors
3 PM Another World
3:30 Return To Peyton Place
4 PM Somerset
4:30 Daniel Boone
5:30 Truth Or Consequences
6 PM News
6:30 NBC News
7 PM UFO
8 PM Sanford And Son
8:30 The Little People
9 PM Movie: "Journey To Shiloh"
11 PM News
11:30 Tonight Show
1 AM Midnight Special
2:30 Movie: "Wild In The Country" (Elvis Presley, from '61)
4:15 Movie: "The Inn On Dartmoor"

WMFE Ch. 24 Orlando (PBS)

in-school programs until

4 PM Sesame Street
5 PM Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
5:30 Electric Company
6 PM Sesame Street
7 PM Zoom
7:30 Wall Street Week
8 PM Washington Week In Review
8:30 Lenox Quartet: Haydn's Quartet in D Major, Opus 20,
No. 4 ("The Row In Venice")
9 PM Masterpiece Theatre
10 PM Today In The Legislature

WXLT (WWSB) Ch. 40 Sarasota (ABC)

9 AM New Zoo Revue
9:30 TBA
10 AM Dinah's Place (pre-empted on Ch. 8)
10:30 Joker's Wild (pre-empted on Ch. 13)
11 AM Galloping Gourmet
11:30 Bewitched
12 N Password
12:30 Split Second
1 PM All My Children
1:30 Let's Make A Deal
2 PM Newlywed Game
2:30 Dating Game
3 PM General Hospital
3:30 One Life To Live
4 PM Love, American Style (Vivian Vance, George Gobel,
Jim Backus, Ken Murray)
4:30 Movie: "The Good Beginning"
6 PM News
6:30 ABC News
7 PM Stand Up And Cheer (guest: Milton Berle)
7:30 Rollin' (guest: B.J. Thomas)
8 PM Brady Bunch
8:30 Partridge Family
9 PM Room 222
9:30 Odd Couple
10 PM Love, American Style
11 PM News
11:30 In Concert

WTOG Ch. 44 St. Petersburg (Ind.)

12 N Real McCoys
12:30 Garner Ted Armstrong
1 PM Ben Casey
2 PM The Saint
3 PM New Zoo Revue
3:30 Underdog
4 PM Love, American Style (pre-empted on Ch. 10)
4:30 Addams Family
5 PM Batman (the Joker (Cesar Romero) plans to kidnap
Batman and Robin and reveal their true identities)
5:30 Gilligan's Island
6 PM Get Smart
6:30 Gomer Pyle, USMC
7 PM Petticoat Junction
7:30 Hogan's Heroes
8 PM Brady Bunch (pre-empted on Ch. 10)
8:30 Partridge Family (pre-empted on Ch. 10)
9 PM Movie: "Charlie Chan In Shanghai"
10:30 The Adventurer (Gene Barry)
11 PM One Step Beyond
11:30 Movie: "Hatter's Castle"

 

[Gregg]

Interesting to see the lack of local news on many stations. Only WFLA 8 does a dawn newscast, Today in Florida, for 45 minutes before NBC Today begins. And WLCY 10 does a 15 minute newscast and a half-hour local show at 7:45. That's it, other than five minute cut-ins during Today. Meanwhile, ABC hasn't started GMA yet and CBS has its one-hour newscast, followed by Capt. Kangaroo in the early 70s.

Meanwhile in Middays, WFTV 9 and WTVT 13 do news at Noon, WESH 2 does it at 12:30, while WDBO 6 and WFLA 8 do it at 1pm.

Even at the dinner hour, most stations only do 30 minutes of news at 6PM. WESH 2 and WFTV 9 do an hour at 5:30, WINK 11 and WTVT 13 do an hour at 6pm.

WLCY 10 was one of the ABC affiliates who took the network newscast at 6pm. ABC for years did its evening newscast at 6pm for those affliates who I guess wanted to counter-program against the stronger CBS and NBC stations in their markets. WLCY did its local news at 5:30 and ran ABC at 6pm, so it could get back to entertainment shows by 6:30. I guess ABC had done this since the 50s, with John Daly and Bill Shandel doing their 15 min. newscasts earlier than Cronkite or Huntley-Brinkley, hoping the ABC affiliates would find a place for them in their dinnertime schedules. In those days, many ABC affilates wouldn't even run the ABC national news.

I see that Independent WTOG 44 Tampa still has no 10pm news. Were they doing 10pm news only weeknights or maybe they had no news at this point. And there's no independent station for Orlando yet.

I also notice that only one station in Tampa, WFLA 8, one in Orlando, WFTV 9, and one in Fort Myers, WBBH 20, were broadcasting all night. I'm not sure if they were 24/7 or just went with late movies all night Friday and Saturday. I guess it would take another 10-15 years before most stations were 24/7, thanks to CBS, NBC and ABC providing overnight news in response to CNN Headline News giving their broadcast partners all-night news.

 

[retrothoughts]

The Today in Florida that Channel 8 ran during the mid-1970s before NBC's Today was, I recall, essentially a local, probably pre-recorded, talk show hosted at the time by George Michelle, who also did fishing reports on that station's 1 pm news. Channel 8 did carry a live 6:55 am newscast leading into Today, but even those couldn't hold a candle to Big 13's top-rated hour-long mix of news, weather, farm, fishing and Ernie Lee songs.

A saying often associated with WTVT during its Big 13 heyday was that it could put on a test pattern and still be the most-watched station in Tampa Bay.

 

[bpatrick]

There were a couple of periods when Ch. 10 did not run ABC News at 6;
in the mid-'60s, during Peter Jennings' first time as anchor, he was on at
7 in the Bay Area. And up to a few weeks before this listing, Smith and
Reasoner were on at 6:30, followed by local news at 7 (guess how that
worked against Ch. 13's block of local news and Cronkite). Actually, I
rather liked the idea of the network newscasts at three separate times:
Smith and Reasoner at 6, Chancellor at 6:30, Cronkite at 7, because we
all had our favorites: I liked Smith and Reasoner, my dad liked Chancellor,
and my grandfather (who lived with us for a while) liked Cronkite, so there
was no horsetrading over who would get to watch their favorite. (Had we
lived in Orlando it would have been a different story; all three newscasts
were on at 6:30 there).

Also, don't forget that the amount of local news being programmed by the
stations in this edition was actually pretty normal for 1973; re Ch. 44, you
almost had to be in a market like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, or Washington
to find an independent with a nightly local news (there wasn't one in Atlanta at
the time, I know that). The real explosion in local news began, if I'm not mistaken,
with Desert Storm, and in part it has been a matter of economics, since the costs
are easier to control than with a syndicated show.

 

[azumanga]

re Ch. 44, you
almost had to be in a market like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, or Washington
to find an independent with a nightly local news (there wasn't one in Atlanta at
the time, I know that). The real explosion in local news began, if I'm not mistaken,
with Desert Storm, and in part it has been a matter of economics, since the costs
are easier to control than with a syndicated show.

Channel 44 did not have a nightly half-hour newscast until 1982. Prior to then, its only news was often a brief newscast over a slide at sign-off. I believe they started a rudimentary newsreader-based newscast in the mid-1970s, but often as part of its daily discussion programs (at least during "Florida Daybreak" around 1979-1980).

 

[Ultimajock]

Also, don't forget that the amount of local news being programmed by the
stations in this edition was actually pretty normal for 1973; re Ch. 44, you
almost had to be in a market like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, or Washington
to find an independent with a nightly local news (there wasn't one in Atlanta at
the time, I know that). The real explosion in local news began, if I'm not mistaken,
with Desert Storm, and in part it has been a matter of economics, since the costs
are easier to control than with a syndicated show.

...actually, local news on independents had been growing steadily in the decade before that, largely thanks to the introduction of Tribune's Independent Network News in 1980 and the commercial syndication of half-hour chunks of CNN2/Headline News starting a couple of years later. I recall WLRE/26 Green Bay taking to the air for the first time in December 1980 with former WFRV/5 newscaster Bill Cole anchoring local segments inserted into elongated broadcasts of INN. By the end of the decade, Milwaukee indie WVTV/18 (co-owned by Gaylord with WTVT/13) had expanded its news (which for years had been limited to a fifteen-minute sign-off production called News Update, which was a UW-Milwaukee or Marquette University communications major -- or Bowling Game host Lee Rothman, during vacation and break periods at those universities -- reading headlines over a static visual slide) to a full-fledged operation by 1989, using anchors Duane Gay and Liz Talbot. I assume the '80s news operation at indie KMSP-TV/9 Minneapolis was merely a holdover from its days as an ABC affiliate between 1961 and 1979...

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

This is a nice geographical area of TV stations. Were all of these able to be received by most viewers in central Florida and was that via cable or over-the-air transmission? I never had the chance to any DXing there, but have always felt it would be one of the prime spots to try with a deep-fringe antenna and rotor prior to recent times when TV transmissions changed. The 1970's may have been a good time, too, since there were probably more stations and stations may have been using taller antennas and telecasting with more power. Maybe a TV viewing veteran from that part of the Sunshine State can comment on this.