Retro Cleveland/Akron: Tuesday, February 20, 1990

[CleveFan]

This is taken from a TV Guide from the week of February 17-23, 1990. The listings from the PBS stations are based on what was listed in the magazine. Cleveland/Akron television was very different back then as evident on the different line-ups. Enjoy the trip!

WKYC Channel 3 (NBC)

12:30a Late Night with David Letterman – Robert Townsend
1:30a Later with Bob Costas
2:00a News
2:30a Trial by Jury
3:00a Judge
3:30a ChiPs
4:30a 3rd Degree
5:00a Win, Lose or Draw
5:30a Everyday – Joan Lunden (host), Elliot Gould, Jack Scalia
6:00a NBC/Local News
6:30a Today in Cleveland
7:00a Today – Gumbel/Norville
9:00a House Party
10:00a Scrabble
10:30a Concentration
11:00a The Golden Girls
11:30a 227
12:00p Love Connection
12:30p Generations
1:00p Days of Our Lives
2:00p Another World
3:00p Santa Barbara
4:00p Divorce Court
4:30p People’s Court
5:00p Inside Edition
5:30p A Current Affair
6:00p Channel 3 News
6:30p NBC Nightly News – Tom Brokaw
7:00p Hard Copy
7:30p Family Feud
8:00p Matlock
9:00p In The Heat of the Night
10:00p Midnight Caller
11:00p Channel 3 News
11:30p The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson – Jay Leno (host), Beatrice Arthur, Al Jarreau

WEWS Channel 5 (ABC)

12:00a Nightline
12:30a MOVIE: True Grit (1969)*** - John Wayne
3:05a MOVIE: Daddy I Don’t Like It Like This (made-for-TV, 1978)**
5:00a Entertainment Tonight
5:30a Headline News
6:00a ABC News – Schneider/Zahn
7:00a Good Morning America – Gibson/Lunden
8:00a Morning Exchange – guest John Davidson
10:00a LIVE! With Regis and Kathie Lee – Sylvester Stallone
11:00a Home – Shanna Reed, Marilyn McCoo
12:00p TV5 Eyewitness News
12:30p Loving
1:00p All My Children
2:00p One Life to Live
3:00p General Hospital
4:00p The Oprah Winfrey Show
5:00p Live on Five (TV5 Eyewitness News)
6:00p TV5 Eyewitness News
6:30p ABC World News Tonight – Peter Jennings
7:00p Wheel of Fortune
7:30p Jeopardy!
8:00p Who’s The Boss?
8:30p The Wonder Years
9:00p Roseanne
9:30p Coach
10:00p thirtysomething
11:00p TV5 Eyewitness News
11:30p Entertainment Tonight

WJW Channel 8 (CBS)

12:00a The Jeffersons
12:30a The Arsenio Hall Show – Eddie Murphy, Tyne Daly
1:30a Benson
2:00a CBS News Nightwatch – Charlie Rose
4:00a Fantasy Island
5:00a Maude
5:30a This Morning’s Business
6:00a Newscenter 8
7:00a CBS This Morning – Smith/Sullivan
9:00a Sally Jessy Raphael
10:00a Family Feud
10:30a Jackpot!
11:00a Bake-Off – 34th Pillsbury Bake-off Awards in Phoenix, AZ
12:00p Newscenter 8
12:30p The Young and the Restless
1:30p The Bold and the Beautiful
2:00p As The World Turns
3:00p Guiding Light
4:00p Geraldo
5:00p Donahue
6:00p Newscenter 8
7:00p CBS Evening News – Dan Rather
7:30p PM Magazine
8:00p Wonderful Wizard of Oz – 1939 movie followed by tribute special
11:00p Newscenter 8
11:30p Newhart

WOIO Channel 19 (FOX)

12:00a The Bob Newhart Show
12:30a Get Smart
1:00a Perry Mason
2:00a Cannon
3:00a Police Woman
4:00a One Day at A Time
4:30a Music and the Spoken Word (religion)
5:00a Success N Life (religion)
6:00a Richard Roberts (religion)
6:30a Morris Cerullo (religion)
7:00a Gumby
7:30a Alvin and the Chipmunks
8:00a Woody Woodpecker
8:30a Maxie’s World
9:00a Bonanza
10:00a Little House on the Prairie
11:00a Highway to Heaven
12:00p Hogan’s Heroes
12:30p The Andy Griffith Show
1:00p I Love Lucy
1:30p Gomer Pyle, USMC
2:00p The Beverly Hillbillies
2:30p Gilligan’s Island
3:00p Comic Strip
3:30p Dennis The Menace
4:00p Ducktales
4:30p Chip ‘N Dale’s Rescue Rangers
5:00p The Facts of Life
5:30p Mr. Belvedere
6:00p Happy Days
6:30p Kate and Allie
7:00p Barney Miller
7:30p WKRP In Cincinnati
8:00p MOVIE: The Great Escape (1963)**** - Steve McQueen
11:00p Sledge Hammer!
11:30p The Twilight Zone (B&W version)

WAKC Channel 23 (ABC)

12:00a The 700 Club (religion)
1:00a After Hours
1:30a 23 Newsday
2:00a FBI
3:00a Nite Videos
4:00a Hit Video USA
6:00a ABC News – Schneider/Zahn
7:00a Good Morning America – Gibson/Lunden
9:00a The Joan Rivers Show
10:00a The 700 Club (religion)
11:00a Heritage Today (religion)
12:00p Perfect Strangers
12:30p Loving
1:00p All My Children
2:00p One Life to Live
3:00p General Hospital
4:00p Smurfs’ Adventure
4:30p Denver, The Last Dinosaur
5:00p Home – Shanna Reed, Marilyn McCoo
6:00p 23 Newsday
6:30p ABC World News Tonight – Peter Jennings
7:00p Rockford Files
8:00p Who’s The Boss?
8:30p The Wonder Years
9:00p Roseanne
9:30p Coach
10:00p thirtysomething
11:00p 23 Newsday
11:30p Nightline

WVIZ Channel 25 (PBS)

12:30a Vremya
1:00a Tax Tips on Tape
7:00a Portrait of a Family
7:30a French In Action
8:00a War and Peace in the Nuclear Age
11:00a Reading Rainbow
11:30a Sesame Street
4:00p Sesame Street
5:00p Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood
5:30p Captain Kangaroo
6:00p Square One Television
6:30p MacNeil, Lehrer Newshour
7:30p Nightly Business Report
8:00p Infant Skull Surgery
9:30p Frontline
10:30p Hard Drugs, Hard Choices
11:30p MacNeil, Lehrer Newshour

WUAB Channel 43 (Ind)

12:00a Twilight Zone (the newer version)
12:30a Crimewatch Tonight
1:00a Commercial Program
1:30a MOVIE: Snow Job (1972)**
6:30a Bugs Bunny
7:00a Fun House
7:30a Real Ghostbusters
8:00a Jetsons
8:30a Scooby Doo
9:00a Barnaby
9:30a Commercial Program
10:00a Leave It To Beaver
10:30a I Dream of Jeannie
11:00a Sanford and Son
11:30a All In The Family
12:00p MOVIE: Wake of the Red Witch (1948)** - John Wayne
2:30p Flintstones
3:00p C.O.P.S.
3:30p Jim Henson’s Muppet Babies
4:00p Super Mario Bros. Super Show!
4:30p Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
5:00p New Leave It To Beaver
5:30p Charles in Charge
6:00p Family Ties
6:30p Night Court
7:00p The Cosby Show
7:30p Cheers
8:00p MOVIE: Poison Ivy (made-for-TV, 1985)** - Michael J. Fox
10:00p The Ten O’Clock News
11:00p Cheers
11:30p M*A*S*H

WEAO Channel 49 (PBS)

12:00a Miracle Planet
1:00a Eyes on the Prize II
2:00a Musical Legacy of Roland Hayes
5:00a MacNeil, Lehrer Newshour
6:00a Body Electric
6:30a To Life! Yoga with Priscilla Patrick
7:00a Sesame Street
8:00a Captain Kangaroo
8:30a Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood
12:00p G.E.D.
3:00p Vremya
4:30p 3-2-1 Contact
5:00p Square One Television
5:30p Collectors
6:00p Model Railroading Today
6:30p Lieberth Report
7:00p MacNeil, Lehrer Newshour
8:00p One Second Before Sunrise
9:00p Thurgood Marshall: The Man
10:00p Ascent of Man
11:00p G.E.D.
11:30p Eastenders

WBNX Channel 55 (Ind)

12:00a MOVIE: Moonfleet (1955)**
1:30a Commercial Program
5:00a Gunsmoke
6:00a Care Bears
6:30a Heathcliff
7:00a Police Academy
7:30a Yogi Bear
8:00a Real McCoys
8:30a Commercial Program
9:00a Ninety and Nine Club (religion)
10:00a Lone Ranger
10:30a Virginian
12:00p MOVIE: Edison, The Man (1940)*** - Spencer Tracy
2:00p The Streets of San Francisco
3:00p Charlie’s Angels
4:00p Barnaby Jones
5:00p T.J. Hooker
6:00p Lone Ranger
6:30p Wanted: Dead or Alive
7:00p Gunsmoke
8:00p MOVIE: The Fighting 69th (1940)***
9:30p Commercial Program
10:00p Ninety and Nine Club (religion)
11:00p Chico and the Man
11:30p Commercial Program

Hope you had fun back reading this!

 

[ssetta]

If you can believe this, I actually have a tape of Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!, AND the Wizard of Oz tribute special from my old CBS affiliate in Boston, WNEV-7!

 

[classictvfan]

Could you please post listings for Saturday, February 17, 1990?

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

Some random comments:

WKYC Channel 3 (NBC)
6:30a Today in Cleveland

This was the long-running folksy half-hour show with Del Donahoo and Tom Haley. It ran from the early 80s to the late 90s. More here, in a Cleveland Seniors profile of Del:

http://www.clevelandseniors.com/people/deld.htm

WEWS Channel 5 (ABC)

12:00a Nightline
11:30p Entertainment Tonight

At some point, WEWS started running "Nightline" at 11:30/11:35, but they ran it at midnight for many years.

WJW Channel 8 (CBS)

6:00a Newscenter 8

Looks like this was the only straight ahead morning news show in the market (not counting Del and Tom) in 1990. Now, all the stations have full morning news blocks, and WJW/8, now a Fox affiliate, runs its until 10 AM and the local "Robin Swoboda Show". And 3 and 5 start at 4:30 AM now!

WAKC Channel 23 (ABC)

3:00a Nite Videos
11:30p Nightline

I believe that's the local music video show with Billy Soule, a long-time 23 personality who is now an aide (along with "23 Newsday" anchor Mark Williamson) to Akron mayor Don Plusquellic.

And yes, 23 always ran "Nightline" at 11:30.

The station, of course, is now ION O&O WVPX.

WUAB Channel 43 (Ind)

10:00p The Ten O’Clock News

The market's original 10 PM news, long before the co-ownership with WOIO/19. I don't know if Romona Robinson (now solo anchor at WKYC/3) and Jack Marschall (formerly at WEWS/5, now working for Parma mayor Dean DiPiero, husband of WJW/8 reporter Kathleen Cochrane) were anchoring in 1990 still.

And I'm not at all surprised that 55 had two black and white movies from 1940 back then.

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

IIRC, WEWS/5 didn't even run the one hour of "GMA" in its first few years.

 

[CleveFan]

Could you please post listings for Saturday, February 17, 1990?

I just posted the February 17 listings in a new thread. Check it out. You'll enjoy it!

 

[CleveFan]

IIRC, WEWS/5 didn't even run the one hour of "GMA" in its first few years.

WEWS only ran the first hour of "GMA" from when it starting airing the show until 1994, when "GMA" wanted to be in Cleveland for two full hours. That marked the end of "The Morning Exchange" for the next five years. The funny thing was that "GMA" was based on "Exchange" after seeing how successful WEWS was doing with mornings.

Also, Jack Marshall anchored the Sunday edition with Barbara Sorrano Meek on "The Ten O'Clock News," while Romona Robinson anchored on weeknights with Bob Hetherington, whom she was paired with since the beginning of the newscast in 1988. Jack and Romona wouldn't be paired together until 1991. They were Channel 43's best anchor team until the pairing split in 1997 when Romona left for Channel 3 in 1997, where she's been since.

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

So my Swiss Cheese Memory was right on the Romona and Jack pairing, just a year too early. Yeah, they were the best "10 O'Clock News" anchor team, and I don't remember Bob Hetherington or Ms. Sorrano Meek.

So, WEWS DID run the hour only of "GMA" from the start? I'm not sure why I remember them not airing it at all. And yes, "Morning Exchange" was very much the inspiration for GMA. They even hired David Hartman because he was similar in personality to Fred Griffith!

 

[CleveFan]

I just read that WEWS didn't air A.M. America and Good Morning America. It wasn't until 1978 that WEWS started airing "GMA" but only until 8:00a.

I also remember that Cleveland television in 1990 had good anchor teams on its local newscasts.

Channel 3 had Jill Beach and Leon Bibb on weeknights and Connie Dieken and Tom Sweeney on weekends. (This was before Dieken and Sweeney moved to 5:00p in March when they launched "The First Report" to compete with "Live on Five." Kim Brittain and Jim Hooley then became weekend anchors.)

Channel 5 had Wilma Smith and Roy Weissinger on "Live on Five," Ted Henry solo at 6:00p, and Henry and Smith at 11:00p. Not sure if Alice Edwards and John McElroy were on weekends. Also not sure if Jenny Crimm and Vince Robinson were on at Noon. I do know that Carole Meekins would soon come in the picture on weekends and later 6:00p later in 1990.

Channel 8 had Tim Taylor and Robin Swoboda on weeknights and Dave Buckel and Eleanor Hayes on weekends. Rick Young and Kelly O'Donnell were on mornings, and Dick Russ and Loree Vick were on at Noon.

Those were good teams back then.

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

I thought I remembered WEWS not running "GMA" and its predecessor at all for some period of time. They didn't run "AM America" at all, and I seem to recall them adding GMA later under duress from the network. WAKC ran both, of course.

I do remember Jenny Crimm being on the noon news at 5, but don't remember her co-anchor.

And look at that dream team list...Ted Henry and Wilma Smith on 5 (Ted's now retired, Wilma is doing only the 6 PM on 8 now), and Tim Taylor and Robin Swoboda on 8. (Tim also recently retired, and Robin, of course, does her 10 AM talk show on 8 now after some time in radio.)

No wonder 5 and 8 dominated for so many years, but 3 shoulda paired Leon Bibb with a stronger co-anchor. 3 was in the wilderness until the CBS/Fox swap shook up the landscape.

Dick Russ used to work at WAKC/23, by the way, before going to WJW.

 

[DToTheJ]

WAKC Channel 23 (ABC)
5:00p Home – Shanna Reed, Marilyn McCoo

Boy, WAKC is an odd station... Proving my point: This is an odd time to air what was considered a daytime show. Couldn't they just bury it in the overnight or even the early morning hours?

 

[azumanga]

WAKC Channel 23 (ABC)
5:00p Home – Shanna Reed, Marilyn McCoo

Boy, WAKC is an odd station... Proving my point: This is an odd time to air what was considered a daytime show. Couldn't they just bury it in the overnight or even the early morning hours?

What do you expect? They were an ABC affiliate not only in a market where the other stations took the best programming, but was also in the shadow of a strong ABC affiliate a short distance away. No doubt WAKC scheduled "Home" at 5PM, knowing that WEWS carried it at 11AM, and would rather use the time to sell time to the show formerly known as "The PTL Club".

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

That was by far not even remotely the strangest programming choice by WAKC/WAKR...but indeed, the station had last pick of just about any syndicated programming.

Its biggest claim to fame on the ABC side of things was that it was the place to catch ABC programming preempted by WEWS for whatever reason...see earlier in this thread. And it did indeed counterprogram by moving some ABC shows around away from the clearances on 5.

 

[Scott2011]

Good find. How about the WOAC Channel 67 listings from that day though?

 

[Scott2011]

WAKC Channel 23 (ABC)
5:00p Home – Shanna Reed, Marilyn McCoo

Boy, WAKC is an odd station... Proving my point: This is an odd time to air what was considered a daytime show. Couldn't they just bury it in the overnight or even the early morning hours?

I would have thought they would have aired Home at 11AM like most other ABC stations in the Eastern time zone.

 

[Scott2011]

WAKC Channel 23 (ABC)
5:00p Home – Shanna Reed, Marilyn McCoo

Boy, WAKC is an odd station... Proving my point: This is an odd time to air what was considered a daytime show. Couldn't they just bury it in the overnight or even the early morning hours?

Kind of reminds me of the fact that in the mid '90s, WEWS aired Live with Regis and Kathie Lee at 11AM and aired Caryl & Marilyn: Real Friends late at night. I would imagine they only did that because of The Morning Exchange, which ran from 9AM to 11AM.