Retro: Central Florida Sunday, December 31, 1967

[bpatrick]

The day one of the greatest football games of all time was played.

From TV Guide, Central Florida Edition:

WESH Ch. 2 Daytona Beach-Orlando (NBC)

8 AM Christopher Program
8:30 Faith For Today
9 AM Gospel Singing Jubilee
10 AM Prince Of Peace (details Mary, Joseph, and the
baby Jesus' journey into Egypt and then to Nazareth)
10:30 Movie: "Trouble In The Glen"
12 N House Detective (real estate)
1 PM Meet The Press (NYC mayor John Lindsay is guest)
1:30 Topic
2 PM The Rogues
3 PM Film Feature: comparison of U.S. and Canadian police,
narrated by Danny Thomas
3:30 Across The Seven Seas
4 PM TBA
4:30 AFL Championship: Houston Oilers-Oakland Raiders
(Raiders win, 40-7)
7:30 Walt Disney's Wonderful World Of Color (tour of
Disneyland, time approximate)
8:30 Mothers-In-Law
9 PM Bonanza
10 PM Year-End Report (local)
11 PM News, Sports, Weather (still in black and white)
11:30 Rendezvous (drama anthology)

WEDU Ch. 3 Tampa (NET)

3:30 French Chef
4 PM Stretching Your Dollar
5 PM American Memoir
5:30 Festival (concert)
6 PM Glory Trail
6:30 International Magazine
7:30 Casals Master Class (Pablo Casals)
8 PM Experiment (Don "Mr. Wizard" Herbert narrates an
account of the 1959 eruption of Kilauea)
8:30 Red Army Chorus
9:30 Outlook '68
9:45 You And The Economy
10:30 Eric Hoffer

WDBO (WKMG) Ch. 6 Orlando (CBS)

7:55 News, Weather
8 AM Light Time
8:15 Living Word
8:30 Christopher Program
8:45 Social Security In Action
9 AM Faith For Today
9:30 This Is The Life
10 AM Religious News Roundup (the year in religion,
not colorcast on Ch. 6 but is on Chs. 11 and 13)
11 AM Camera Three (not colorcast on 6 but is on 13)
11:30 Face The Nation (is colorcast on both 6 and 13)
12 N Big Picture
12:30 ARRC Championship 1967
1 PM Very Special Place
1:15 Film Short
1:30 NFL Championship: Dallas Cowboys at Green Bay Packers
(the famous "Ice Bowl" played in subzero conditions--Green
Bay won, 21-17, and would defeat Oakland in Super Bowl II,
33-14)
4:30 Colt .45 (time approximate)
5 PM Celebrity Game
5:30 Amateur Hour
6 PM The Violent World Of Sam Huff (a "Twentieth Century"
documentary first telecast in 1960)
6:30 Digest
7 PM Lassie
7:30 Gentle Ben
8 PM Ed Sullivan
9 PM Smothers Brothers (guests are Eddie Albert, Judy Collins,
and the Irish Rovers)
10 PM Mission: Impossible
11 PM CBS News (Harry Reasoner)
11:15 Guy Lombardo
12:45 News, Weather

WFLA Ch. 8 Tampa (NBC)

7 AM Gospel Time
7:30 Perspective
8 AM World Religion
8:30 Ronald Reads The Funnies
9 AM Tom And Jerry (CBS program pre-empted
on Ch. 13)
9:30 Underdog (ditto)
10 AM Movie: "The Yanks Are Coming"
11:30 God Is The Answer
12:30 History In The Making
1 PM Meet The Press
1:30 Southern Baptist Hour (visit to the site where it
is believed bronze statues were cast for Solomon's
temple)
2 PM News Conference
2:30 Movie: "Prince Valiant"
4:30 AFL Championship
7:30 Walt Disney's Wonderful World Of Color (time approximate)
8:30 Mothers-In-Law
9 PM Bonanza
10 PM High Chaparral
11 PM News, Sports, Weather
11:30 Sunday Tonight Show

WFTV Ch. 9 Orlando (ABC)

7:25 News
7:30 Agriculture-America
8 AM Bob Poole's Gospel Favorites
9 AM Davey And Goliath
9:15 Living Word
9:30 Word Of Life
10 AM Insight
10:30 School Story
11 AM Church Service (probably First Baptist Church
of Orlando)
12 N Hawaii (travelogue)
12:30 Florida Agri-World
1:30 Issues And Answers
2 PM Directions (delay from 1 PM)
2:30 Discovery '67 (delay from 11:30 AM)
3 PM Championship Bowling
3:30 Movie: "The Living Head"
5 PM ABC Scope (delay from Sat 10:30--not one ABC
affiliate in the top 50 markets, even New York,
carried it in pattern)
5:30 Project 9
6 PM Coaches' All-America Football Team
6:30 Flying Nun (delay from Thu 8 PM)
7 PM Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea
8 PM The FBI
9 PM ABC Movie: "A Girl Named Tamiko"
11 PM ABC News (Keith McBee)
11:15 News
11:30 Guy Lombardo
1 AM News

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

7:10 News
7:15 Davey And Goliath New Year's Special
(they learn about New Year's resolutions)
7:45 Focus On Religion
8 AM Allen Revival Hour
8:30 Prince Of Peace (same as 10 AM on Ch. 2)
9 AM World Today
9:30 Milton The Monster
10 AM Linus The Lionhearted
10:30 Bugs Bunny
11 AM Church Service
12 N Meet The Realtors
12:30 NFL Game Of The Week
1 PM The Song Is You (kickoff for the 1968 March
Of Dimes campaign)
1:30 Issues And Answers (how times do change--when
I moved to the Bay Area in '73 Ch. 10 was running
wrestling from 1 to 2 and pre-empting "Issues And
Answers")
2 PM Championship Wrestling From Florida (the show I got
at 1 a few years later)
3 PM 1967 Coaches' All-America Football Team
3:30 Big Play (football)
4 PM Bear Bryant (documentary)
5 PM Movie: "The Daltons Ride Again"
6 PM Garrison's Gorillas (delay from Tue 7:30)
7 PM Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea
8 PM The FBI
9 PM ABC Movie: "A Girl Named Tamiko"
11 PM ABC News
11:15 Famous Pictures
11:30 Guy Lombardo
1 AM News

WINK Ch. 11 Ft. Myers (CBS)

8:30 Faith For Today
9 AM Tom And Jerry
9:30 Underdog
10 AM Religious News Roundup
11 AM Church Service
12 N Herald Of Truth
12:30 Face The Nation
1 PM This Is The Life
1:30 NFL Championship
4:30 TBA
5 PM Celebrity Game
5:30 Amateur Hour
6 PM The Violent World Of Sam Huff
6:30 Dennis The Menace
7 PM Lassie
7:30 Gentle Ben
8 PM Ed Sullivan
9 PM Smothers Brothers
10 PM Mission: Impossible
11 PM CBS News
11:15 Movie: "Hollywood Canteen"

WTVT Ch. 13 Tampa (CBS)

7:30 Weather
7:45 Gospel Singing Jubilee
8:45 Rebels Quartet
9 AM News
9:05 Church Service
9:30 Prince Of Peace
10 AM Religious News Roundup
11 AM Camera Three
11:30 Face The Nation
12 N Amateur Hour
12:30 Insight (local public-affairs program,
not the religious program)
1 PM College Kaleidoscope
1:30 NFL Championship
4:30 Film Feature (time approximate)
5:30 Film Feature
6 PM News, Sports, Weather
6:30 1967 In Review
7 PM Lassie
7:30 Gentle Ben
8 PM Ed Sullivan
9 PM Smothers Brothers
10 PM Mission: Impossible
11 PM News, Sports, Weather
11:30 Joey Bishop (delay from Fri 11:30, an ABC
program pre-empted on Ch. 10, which later
picked it up)

WSUN (WTTA) Ch. 38 St. Petersburg (Ind.)

2:30 Reel Varieties
3 PM Movie: "Stage Door"
4:30 Big Picture
5 PM Championship Wrestling From Florida
6 PM Movie: "Roll On, Texas Moon"
7 PM Adventure Calls
7:30 Voice Of The Desert (the Sonora Desert in Arizona)
8:30 Big Attack (probably a World War II documentary)
9 PM Pelicula: "Con El Deseo En Las Dedas"

 

[David67]

Pete Banazak of the Raiders had a huge game against the Houston Oilers in the AFL Championship Game. Hewitt Dixon had a strong game as well.

 

[Stanislav]

WDBO (WKMG) Ch. 6 Orlando (CBS)

10 AM Religious News Roundup (the year in religion,
not colorcast on Ch. 6 but is on Chs. 11 and 13)
11 AM Camera Three (not colorcast on 6 but is on 13)
11:30 Face The Nation (is colorcast on both 6 and 13)

That's weird -- why would WDBO not colorcast two particular Sunday morning shows, when the rest of the network schedule was in color (at least you don't indicate any similar annotations on the other CBS offerings). It's even stranger that the very next show (Face The Nation) was colorcast. Maybe the color equipment got a few hours off on Sunday morning to attend early church, and didn't get back until 11:30? ;D

WFTV Ch. 9 Orlando (ABC)

11 AM Church Service (probably First Baptist Church
of Orlando)

Almost certain -- First Baptist was a Sunday morning staple on WFTV for ages -- it was on the schedule when I first came to Orlando in 1970.

 

[bpatrick]

Ah, the oddities one runs into in these old TV Guides!
Everything else Ch. 6 carried from CBS that day aired
in color, with three exceptions: (1) "Tom & Jerry" was
delayed to Saturdays at 7:30 AM and aired in black and
white in Orlando; (2) "Celebrity Game" (5 PM) was reruns
of a primetime show that had aired on the Eye Network
in 1964 and '65 in black and white; (3) "The Violent World
Of Sam Huff" originally aired in 1960.

But as to why Ch. 6 could not colorcast two programs
airing in pattern is beyond me.

 

[Stanislav]

Everything else Ch. 6 carried from CBS that day aired
in color, with three exceptions: (1) "Tom & Jerry" was
delayed to Saturdays at 7:30 AM and aired in black and
white in Orlando; (2) "Celebrity Game" (5 PM) was reruns
of a primetime show that had aired on the Eye Network
in 1964 and '65 in black and white; (3) "The Violent World
Of Sam Huff" originally aired in 1960.

But as to why Ch. 6 could not colorcast two programs
airing in pattern is beyond me.

Does the T&J delay in B&W indicate that perhaps they did not yet have sufficient color VTR capability to time-shift in color? Or are there other delayed CBS shows listed that aired in color?

Ah, the oddities one runs into in these old TV Guides!

Some years back, I chatted with a fellow who worked in Radnor for a time, well after the date of this issue. He claimed that even at that point, TVG was still putting together the magazine's listings the old-fashioned way: manually setting the type, taking program episode descriptions off weathered old 3x5 cards, etc. Sounds like they were a little slow to modernize their ops and make things more accurate and efficient. If that is the case, it's amazing they did as good a job as they did, putting out dozens of different editions on a weekly basis.

 

[bpatrick]

Ch. 6 delayed "Gunsmoke" and "The Lucy Show" from Monday
7:30 and 8:30 respectively to Wednesday at 7 and 8 respectively,
and aired both in color.

I'm wondering if somebody was asleep at the switch on Sunday
mornings re "Tom And Jerry" and didn't record it in color. However,
the CBS year-end religious special and "Camera Three" aired in pattern,
so there's no real explanation I can give you for why they aired in
black and white in Orlando but in color in Ft. Myers and Tampa ("Camera
Three" was pre-empted in Ft. Myers).

I wish it was as simple as explaining why "The Flintstones" aired in color
in New York but not in New Haven; in the early years of that show only
the ABC o&os aired it in color.

And regardless of the technology, it was something of a miracle that
TV Guide was able to put out all those editions every week. I know
the regional editions were a victim of a steadily-increasing number of
channels (and I think it was priced out of most people's reach) but I
miss them just the same.

 

[azumanga]

regardless of the technology, it was something of a miracle that
TV Guide was able to put out all those editions every week. I know
the regional editions were a victim of a steadily-increasing number of
channels (and I think it was priced out of most people's reach) but I
miss them just the same.

In my opinion, I think the regional bureaux (whose addresses you find at the bottom of the first black and white page) helped out a little.

 

[oldiesfan6479]

I wish it was as simple as explaining why "The Flintstones" aired in color
in New York but not in New Haven; in the early years of that show only
the ABC o&os aired it in color.

See Kris Trexler's page about KAKE-TV Wichita in the 1960s and its
inability to broadcast ABC color:

http://www.kingoftheroad.net/KARD_html/kard5.html

It sounds as if KAKE-TV's transmitter just was not yet able to pass color
(I've read similar anecdotal evidence about other smaller market stations,
too). Back then, there were also cases where the Telco lines to some
even smaller markets were still monochrome only.

 

[retrothoughts]

I wasn't in the Tampa Bay area back in late 1967, but from what I know of WTVT's history, they might have bumped the Friday episode of Joey Bishop for Shock Theater, which featured horror movies.

 

[bpatrick]

I wasn't in the Tampa Bay area back in late 1967, but from what I know of WTVT's history, they might have bumped the Friday episode of Joey Bishop for Shock Theater, which featured horror movies.

Exactly, and sometimes they ran double features. However, sometime in 1968 Joey was finally picked up by ABC affiliate WLCY (now WTSP).
You can check some of my Central Florida postings from 1968. I happened to be in Florida the night Merv Griffin made his debut on CBS (August 18, 1969), and WTVT delayed his Friday show to Sunday as well.