Retro: Chicago - Sunday, September 17, 1972

[RandTV]

My first Sunday Chicago schedule. As I've stated earlier, my parents and I (age 20 months) moved to the Western suburb of Villa Park from Madison.

Source: Chicago Tribune

P - Premiere
SP - Season Premiere

2 WBBM (CBS)
6:50 Thought for the Day
6:55 News
7:00 Archie's Funhouse
7:30 Harlem Globetrotters
8:00 Backyard Safari
8:30 The Magic Door - educational series aimed at Chicago's Jewish children
9:00 CBS News Religious Special: "And David Wept"
10:00 Camera Three
10:30 Old Time Religion
11:00 Newsmakers
11:30 NFL Today (SP)
NOON NFL Football: Green Bay Packers vs. Cleveland Browns
3:00 McHale's Navy
3:30 Face the Nation - Guest: Rep. John G. Schmitz (R-CA), presidential candidate from the American Party
4:00 Great Zoos of the World
4:30 Animal World
5:00 Campaign '72
6:00 TV 2 News
6:30 Anna and the King (P) - Non-musical sitcom based on The King and I, with Yul Brynner reprising his role as the King of Siam, and Samantha Eggar as Anna Leonowens; ran till New Year's Eve.
7:00 M*A*S*H (P)
7:30 Sandy Duncan Show (P)
8:00 New Dick Van Dyke Show (SP)
8:30 Mannix (SP)
9:30 The Protectors (P) - From ITV (UK), on US syndication
10:00 TV 2 News
10:30 Fifth Quarter
10:45 Name of the Game
12:15 Magic Lantern Movie: "Botany Bay" (1953) - James Mason, Alan Ladd, Patricia Medina
2:15 Late Report
2:20 Meditation

5 WMAQ (NBC)
8:00 Whys?...and Otherwise!
8:30 Memorandum
9:00 Some of My Best Friends
9:30 Everyman
10:00 Sunday in Chicago
11:30 Meet the Press - Guests: Sen. Peter H. Dominick (R-CO) and Rep. Bob Wilson (R-CA)
NOON This Week in Pro Football
1:00 5 Star Theater: "Home of the Brave" - Douglas Dick, Frank Lovejoy, Jeff Corey, Lloyd Bridges
2:30 Sports Challenge - Dick Enberg
3:00 NFL Football: Miami Dolphins vs. Kansas City Chiefs
6:00 Wild Kingdom
6:30 Wonderful World of Disney (SP): "The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes" (1969) (Part 1 of 2) - Kurt Russell, Joe Flynn, Cesar Romero,
7:30 NBC Sunday Mystery Movie - Columbo: "Etude in Black" (Its umbrella titles aired in the following rotation: Columdo, McMillan & Wife, McCloud, and Hec Ramsey.)
9:30 Sorting it Out (Chicago newsmagazine)
10:00 News 5 Chicago
10:30 Sunday Tonight (from August 10, 1971) - Guests: Flip Wilson, Vikki Carr, David Steinberg; Performers: Chase
MIDNIGHT Not for Women Only
12:30 Phil Donahue (during his tenure in Dayton, OH)

7 WLS (ABC)
7:25 Reflections
7:30 Consultation
8:00 Jubilee Showcase
8:30 INK
9:00 Curiosity Shop
10:00 Bullwinkle
10:30 Make a Wish
11:00 Black on Black
11:30 Of Cabbages and Kings
NOON Oiga Amigo
12:30 Issues and Answers - Guests: Sens. Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson (D-WA) and William Proxmire (D-WI)
1:00 College Football Hilites
2:00 Feminine Franchise
2:30 Afternoon Movie I: "Island of the Blue Dolphins" (1964) - Celia Kaye, Larry Dosamin, Ann Daniel, George Kennedy
4:00 Afternoon Movie II: "The Gene Krupa Story" (1959) - Sal Mineo (as Krupa), Susan Kohner, James Darren
6:00 Parent Game - Clark Race (from Chuck Barris Productions, played similarly to The Newlywed Game)
6:30 Half the George Kirby Comedy Hour
7:00 The FBI (SP)
8:00 ABC Sunday Night Movie: "Goldfinger" (1964) - Sean Connery (as James Bond), Honor Blackman (as ***** Galore)
10:15 Eyewitness News
10:45 Sunday Night Movie I: "Coogan's Bluff" (1968) - Clint Eastwood, Susan Clark, Don Stroud, Lee J. Cobb
12:50 Sunday Night Movie II: "Intruder in the Dust" (1949) - David Brian, Claude Jarman Jr., Juano Hernandez
2:40 Reflections

9 WGN
6:40 5 Minutes to Live By
6:45 News
6:47 WGN Editorial
7:00 Cartoon Corner
7:30 Growing Edge
8:00 Mass for Shut-ins
8:45 Chicagoland Church Hour
9:30 Issues Unlimited
11:00 Death Valley Days
11:30 Grambling College Football Highlights
12:30 Bat Masterson
1:00 Lead Off Man
1:10 Cubs Baseball: hosting New York Mets
3:45 Tenth Inning
4:00 Patty Duke
4:30 Explorers
5:00 Family Classics (with Frazier Thomas) - "Fearless Fagan" (1952) - Janet Leigh, Carleton Carpenter
6:30 Hee Haw (SP) - Guests: Dizzy Dean, Ray Stevens, Arlene Harden
7:30 People to People
8:00 Ponderosa (Bonanza)
9:00 Lawrence Welk - "Salute to the American Home"
10:00 10th Hour News
10:27 WGN Editorial
10:30 WGN Presents: "Tarzan, the Ape Man" (1932) - Johnny Weismuller, Maureen O' Sullivan (as Jane), Neil Hamilton, C. Aubrey Smith (first film with the iconic Tarzan yell)
12:45 Night Beat (news)
1:00 Cromie Circle
2:30 Up-to-the-Minute News
2:35 5 Minutes to Live By

11 WTTW (PBS)
7:45 TV College (varied programs)
11:00 Commissioners
11:30 The Open Door
11:45 TV College
1:30 Wisdom Hath Builded Its House
2:30 Firing Line
3:30 Election '72
4:00 French Chef: "Cheese Souffle"
4:30 Guitar. Guitar
5:00 Soul!
6:00 Jazz Set
6:30 Evening at Pops: "Lerner & Loewe"
7:30 French Chef: "The Omelette Show"
8:00 Masterpiece Theatre: "The Last of the Mohicans" (Part 7 of 8)
9:00 Firing Line'
10:00 Jean Shepherd's America
10:30 Coleen and John
11:30 Evening at Pops (see 6:30 PM)

26 WCIU
10:00 Brother Al
10:30 Rev. Cleophus Robinson
11:00 Wrestling Champions
12:00 Mexican Day Parade
1:00 Spirit of Greece
2:00 Malcolm X College
3:00 Al Benson
4:00 Sig Sakowicz
5:00 Bob Lewandowski
6:00 Italian Variety
7:00 Hellenic (Greek) Theater
8:00 Chinchilla
8:30 Lithuanian TV
9:00 Pro Shop
9:30 Kathryn Kulman
10:00 Good News
10:30 Lu Farina

32 WFLD
8:00 Day of Discovery
8:30 Faith for Today
9:00 Hour of Power - Robert Schuller
10:00 Oral Roberts
10:30 Morning Western: "Along Came Jones" (1945) - Gary Cooper, Loretta Young, William Demarest, Dan Duryea
NOON Roller Derby
1:00 Sci-Fi Cinema: "The Final War" (1959 in Japan, 1962 in US)
2:30 Addams Family
3:00 Little Rascals
3:30 Laurel & Hardy
5:00 Kid Talk
6:00 Avengers
7:00 Roller Game of the Week
9:00 Safari
9:30 Gold for Swingers
10:00 Winters
10:30 Movie: "The Young Stranger" (1957) - James MacArthur, James Daly, Kim Hunter
12:15 Consultation
1:00 News

44 WSNS
8:00 Rex Humbard
9:00 Old Time Gospel Hour - Jerry Falwell
10:00 Dr. Jess Moody
11:00 Boxing from the Forum
NOON Bob Luce Wrestling
12:30 Consultation
1:00 Best of Bowling
2:00 Outdoor Sportsman
3:00 Cowboy Classics: "Billy the Kid Outlawed" (1940) - Bob Steele, Al St. John, Carleton Young
4:00 Purdue Highlights
5:00 Philippine Hour
6:00 Evelyn Echols Travel World
6:30 Movie: "Pinky" (1949) - Jeanne Crain, Ethel Barrymore, Ethel Waters, William Lundigan
8:30 Movie: "The Late George Apley" (1947) - Ronald Colman, Vanessa Brown, Richard Haydn, Charles Russell, Richard Ney
10:30 Week's End Movie: "Pinky" (repeat)

 

[TVCOOL]

Ch. 26 Wrestling Champions must be a Chicago version of AWA All Star Wrestling.

 

[Ccook55]

Ah, the debut of M*A*S*H 50 years ago.

If you do to this country what you did to this school, America's finished. (Hawkeye's college professor) A terrific line of many to come.

 

[RandTV]

Ah, the debut of M*A*S*H 50 years ago.

If you do to this country what you did to this school, America's finished. (Hawkeye's college professor) A terrific line of many to come.

And the NBC Mystery Movie. Columbo is seen late nights on Sundance.

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

Either the Chicago Bears were playing at home (back then, TV coverage of all NFL games were blacked out in the cities they were played in, even if the game sold out), or were playing on a Monday night, probably the former.

I'd guess that if the Bears were playing on Monday night, either CBS or NBC would have been able to feed an NFL doubleheader into Chicago, as back then, if a team was playing at home (even after the NFL allowed sold out home games to be televised in the cities they were played in), CBS and NBC could each feed just one Sunday afternoon game.

With CBS probably blocked from sending a Bears game to WBBM-2, the network did the next best thing by feeding a Green Bay Packers game (in the same division in and the arch rival of Da Bears) to WBBM.

 

[KeithE4]

Either the Chicago Bears were playing at home (back then, TV coverage of all NFL games were blacked out in the cities they were played in, even if the game sold out), or were playing on a Monday night, probably the former.

I'd guess that if the Bears were playing on Monday night, either CBS or NBC would have been able to feed an NFL doubleheader into Chicago, as back then, if a team was playing at home (even after the NFL allowed sold out home games to be televised in the cities they were played in), CBS and NBC could each feed just one Sunday afternoon game.

With CBS probably blocked from sending a Bears game to WBBM-2, the network did the next best thing by feeding a Green Bay Packers game (in the same division in and the arch rival of Da Bears) to WBBM.

It was Week 1 of the 1972 NFL season. Da Bears lost to the Atlanta Falcons at Soldier Field 37-21 that day. This was the first year of Coach Abe Gibron's three-year reign of error.

It could not be televised in Chicago because it was a home game. That changed the next season if the game was sold out within 72 hours, which IIRC rarely happened until Walter Payton joined the team in 1975. Even then, there were a lot of blackouts IIRC.

But Bears fans who had big UHF antennas on tall towers either at home or at their local bar could still watch most of the home games. The CBS affiliates in Rockford (WIFR-TV 23) and South Bend (WSBT-TV 22) were viewable in much of the Chicago area with the proper antenna. Both stations were outside the 75 mile limit from Soldier Field, and could air all the games.