Retro: Eastern Virginia Tuesday, December 31, 1968

[bpatrick]

No "New Year's Rockin' Eve" yet. That would first
air on NBC December 31, 1972, then move to ABC
the following year.

From TV Guide, Eastern Virginia Edition:

WTAR (WTKR) Ch. 3 Norfolk (CBS)

6 AM These Things We Share
6:15 Town And Country
6:25 Sunrise Semester: "Philosophy"
6:55 Lift Up Mine Eyes
7:05 CBS News (Joseph Benti)
7:30 Flibbertigibbet
8 AM Captain Kangaroo
9 AM Linkletter Show (Diane Linkletter interviews
David Janssen--delay from Mon 4 PM)
9:25 News (local)
9:30 Edge Of Night (delay from 3:30 PM)
10 AM The Lucy Show (guest Ruta Lee)
10:30 Beverly Hillbillies
11 AM Andy Griffith (the goat that was loaded
with dynamite)
11:30 Dick Van Dyke
12 N Love Of Life
12:25 News (local)
12:30 Search For Tomorrow
1 PM Mildred Alexander
1:30 As The World Turns
2 PM Love Is A Many Splendored Thing
2:30 Guiding Light
3 PM Secret Storm
3:30 Merv Griffin
5 PM What's My Line? (panel: Alan Alda, Peggy
Cass, Arlene Francis, Earl Wilson Jr.)
5:30 Gilligan's Island
6 PM News, Weather, Sports
6:30 CBS News (Walter Cronkite)
7 PM Porter Wagoner
7:30 Lancer
8:30 Red Skelton
9:30 Doris Day
10 PM CBS Year-End Report: "America And The World"
(the international scene is discussed tonight,
the national scene tomorrow at 4:30)
11 PM News, Weather, Sports
11:30 Joey Bishop (ABC program pre-empted on Ch. 13)

WSVA (WHSV) Ch. 3 Harrisonburg (NBC/ABC)

7:50 Town And Country
8 AM Today (joined in progress)
9 AM Merv Griffin
10 AM Snap Judgment
10:25 NBC News (anchor not given but IIRC it was
Nancy Dickerson)
10:30 Dick Cavett
12 N Bewitched
12:30 Funny You Should Ask
12:55 Children's Doctor (airs only Tuesday, Wednesday,
and Thursday--FYSA fills out the half-hour Monday
and Friday)
1 PM Dream House
1:30 Let's Make A Deal (had moved from NBC to ABC
the previous day)
2 PM Newlywed Game
2:30 Dating Game
3 PM General Hospital
3:30 One Life To Live
4 PM Dark Shadows
4:30 Mike Douglas
6 PM News, Weather, Sports (still in black and white)
6:30 ABC News (Frank Reynolds)
7 PM Frankly Speaking (local panel discussions: this
week's topic is business ethics)
7:30 Mod Squad
8:30 It Takes A Thief
9:30 N.Y.P.D.
10 PM That's Life (a New Year's Eve show with Mel Torme,
Mort Sahl, and rock group Spanky And Our Gang)
11 PM News, Weather, Sports
11:30 Guy Lombardo (not sure if this is CBS or syndicated)

WTVR Ch. 6 Richmond (CBS)

6:30 Virginia Today
7 AM News (local)
7:05 CBS News
7:30 Richmond Today
8:30 Sooper Dog
9 AM Captain Kangaroo
10 AM The Lucy Show
10:30 Beverly Hillbillies
11 AM Andy Griffith
11:30 Dick Van Dyke
12 N Love Of Life
12:25 CBS News (Joseph Benti)
12:30 Search For Tomorrow
1 PM Girl Talk
1:30 As The World Turns
2 PM Love Is A Many Splendored Thing
2:30 Guiding Light
3 PM Secret Storm
3:30 Edge Of Night
4 PM Linkletter Show (perennial Linkletter
favorite, designer Edith Head, is guest)
4:25 CBS News (Douglas Edwards)
4:30 Sooper Dog
5 PM Rawhide
6 PM News, Weather, Sports
6:30 CBS News
7 PM News, Weather
7:30 Lancer
8:30 Red Skelton
9:30 Doris Day
10 PM CBS Year-End Report
11 PM News, Weather, Sports
11:30 Guy Lombardo

WXEX (WRIC) Ch. 8 Petersburg-Richmond (ABC)

7:40 News (Rich Landrum)
7:50 Town And Country
8 AM Farm Show
8:30 Jack LaLanne
9 AM Dialing For Dollars
10:30 Dick Cavett
12 N Bewitched
12:30 Funny You Should Ask
12:55 Children's Doctor
1 PM Dream House
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 Dark Shadows
4:30 Merv Griffin (w/"Dialing For Dollars")
5:55 Paul Harvey
6 PM News, Weather, Sports
6:30 ABC News
7 PM Stoneman Family
7:30 Mod Squad
8:30 It Takes A Thief
9:30 N.Y.P.D.
10 PM That's Life
11 PM News, Weather, Sports
11:30 Joey Bishop
1 AM News, Weather, Sports

WAVY Ch. 10 Norfolk (NBC)

6:30 Farm Show
7 AM Today
9 AM Compass
10 AM Snap Judgment
10:25 NBC News
10:30 Concentration
11 AM Personality
11:30 Hollywood Squares (one of these stars is
sitting in the secret square: Marty Allen,
Wally Cox, Bob Crane, Abby Dalton, Gypsy
Rose Lee, Paul Lynde, Rose Marie, Della Reese,
Charley Weaver)
12 N Jeopardy!
12:30 Eye Guess
12:55 NBC News (Edwin Newman)
1 PM News, Weather, Sports
1:30 Hidden Faces ("Edge Of Night"-type soap which
debuted the previous day and lasted only six
months)
2 PM Days Of Our Lives
2:30 The Doctors
3 PM Another World
3:30 You Don't Say!
4 PM Match Game (Bert Convy is a celebrity guest)
4:25 NBC News (Floyd Kalber)
4:30 Mike Douglas
6 PM News, Weather, Sports
6:30 Huntley-Brinkley Report
7 PM I Love Lucy
7:30 King Orange Jamboree Parade (Lorne Greene and
Anita Bryant cover the Orange Bowl parade from
Miami)
8:30 Julia
9 PM NBC Movie: "Come Back, Little Sheba" (for those
who know Shirley Booth only as Hazel, this is worth
watching to see her Oscar-winning performance in the
story of a marriage destroyed by alcohol; Burt Lancaster plays
her husband)
11 PM News, Weather, Sports
11:30 Tonight Show
1 AM News, Weather, Sports
1:30 Live And Learn

WWBT Ch. 12 Richmond (NBC)

6:30 Town And Country
6:40 Table Talk, News
7 AM Today
9 AM Mike Douglas
10 AM Snap Judgment
10:25 NBC News
10:30 Concentration
11 AM Personality
11:30 Hollywood Squares
12 N Jeopardy!
12:30 Eye Guess
12:55 NBC News
1 PM Match Game (runs a week behind)
1:25 News (local)
1:30 Hidden Faces
2 PM Days Of Our Lives
2:30 The Doctors
3 PM Another World
3:30 You Don't Say!
4 PM Flintstones
4:30 Movie: "The Lineup" (feature based on the
popular '50s series--from 1958)
5:50 News, Weather
6 PM Perry Mason
7 PM Huntley-Brinkley Report
7:30 King Orange Jamboree Parade
8:30 Julia
9 PM NBC Movie: "Come Back, Little Sheba"
11 PM News, Weather, Sports
11:30 Tonight Show

WVEC Ch. 13 Norfolk (ABC)

7:30 Wild Bill Hickok
8 AM Comedy Time
8:30 Romper Room
9 AM Donaldson's Datebook (no, not Sam Donaldson,
but Ch. 13 anchor Frank Donaldson)
9:10 Movie: TBA
10:30 Dick Cavett
12 N Bewitched
12:30 Funny You Should Ask
12:55 Children's Doctor
1 PM Dream House
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 Dark Shadows
4:30 Bungles And His Friends
5 PM Flintstones
5:30 Truth Or Consequences
6 PM News, Weather, Sports
6:30 Perry Mason
7:30 Mod Squad
8:30 It Takes A Thief
9:30 N.Y.P.D.
10 PM That's Life
11 PM News, Weather, Sports
11:25 Movie: TBA

WHRO Ch. 15 Norfolk (NET)

7 PM Who Is
7:30 Black Journal
8:30 Aaron Copland: Music In The '20s
9 PM Boston Pops Concert
sign off 10:30 PM

WCVE Ch. 23 Richmond (NET)

6:30 Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
7 PM What's New
7:30 U.S.A. (Truman Capote discusses "In
Cold Blood")
8 PM Fort Lee Focus (Ch. 8 had "Fort Lee
Highlights" on Saturday mornings)
8:30 U.S.A. (photographer Edward Weston)
9 PM NET Festival (performance of the first
movement of Beethoven's "Eroica" by
the London Philharmonic)
10 PM Stitch With Style
10:30 Skiing (instructional)
11 PM Community Calendar

 

[BRNout]

Guy Lombardo was always on CBS when I was little (the old folks always insisted on watching him). That was true until it's end in 1975 or 1976. At that time (1968), Lombardo's show was the only one to provide live coverage of the ball drop at Times Square. NBC simply had Carson on if it was a weekday and ABC only became memorable when Dick Clark's Rockin' Eve premiered on this date in 1972. Prior to that, well the schedule says Joey Bishop and I believe it - but we never watched.

 

[wbhist]

Actually, at that point Lombardo's annual beginning-of-year ring-ins were syndicated by ABC to local stations. In New York, in fact, the local station to air them was WABC-TV, preempting Joey Bishop. I don't think it was until the early 1970's that Lombardo returned to CBS. He was definitely back at "the Eye Network" by the time 1972 gave way to 1973.

And yes, Rockin' Eve indeed debuted on NBC on the date in question in '72. This meant that in New York, WNBC-TV's Film Festival screening of The Seven Little Foys (1955) had to be run on Saturday, the 30th - the last time the station showed any films on late Saturday nights if something had happened on a Sunday in question.

And B.T.W., the last New Year's celebration Lombardo presided over was when 1976 became 1977, all televised by CBS. (And it was also the last hurrah for longtime announcer Ben Grauer, who passed away some months before Lombardo.) CBS tried to carry on for a few years afterward with various different formats, but it just wasn't the same.

And by the time Rockin' Eve moved to ABC, not only was Joey Bishop gone, but Dick Cavett either was or was about to be - and the network had their late-night Wide World of Entertainment umbrella in place.

 

[Markd]

I wonder where WYAH TV 27 was. I guess they were still nearly all religious and the newspapers and TV Guide felt that the viewership was too low to include the station in their listings.

 

[bpatrick]

I don't think WYAH was listed before 1969; it certainly
wasn't when I lived in Hampton Roads (1966-68) but
it was in the Virginian-Pilot and Ledger-Star.

That first "New Year's Rockin' Eve" telecast (on NBC)
was actually titled "Three Dog Night's New Year's Rockin'
Eve" since they were the main attraction; it was, nevertheless,
Dick Clark's show. And yes, when it moved to ABC, that network
had been doing "Wide World Of Entertainment" for about a year,
with Cavett one week a month, Jack Paar one week, and specials
and "In Concert" the other two.

It's my unprovable contention that ABC didn't have the first
"New Year's Rockin' Eve" for two reasons: (1) they had the Sugar
Bowl in primetime Dec. 31, 1972, and the game didn't begin until
9 PM (ET), pushing it past midnight in the East; and (2) Lawrence
Welk did a special New Year's Eve show, and most of his stations
were ABC affiliates (that had continued to carry him after the network
dropped him).