Retro: Hartford/Springfield Sat, Jan 27, 1968

[Bluenoser]

from TV Guide-Western New England edition

WTIC 3-CBS Hartford
7:00 Understanding Our World "Language Gap"
7:30 RFD #3 (c)
8:00 Captain Kangaroo (c)
9:00 Car 54, Where are You?
9:30 Kimba the White Lion (c)
10:00 Marine Boy (c)
10:30 Space Ghost (c)
11:00 Moby Dick (c)
11:30 Superman/Aquaman (c)
12:30 Jonny Quest (c)
1:00 Lone Ranger (c)
1:30 Movie "The Black Rose"
4:00 CBS Golf Classic: quarterfinals- Harold Henning/George Knudson v Don January/Julius Boros (c)
5:00 Flirtation Stakes horse race (c)
5:15 Palm Beach Handicap horse race (c)
5:30 Brad Davis (c)
6:00 Weather/Sports (c)
6:15 News (c)
6:30 CBS News (c)
7:00 Lucille Ball (guest star Edie Adams/c)
7:30 Jackie Gleason (c/guests Diahann Carroll, Wayne Newton, Dom DeLuise, Tim Conway, and Jane Kean)
8:30 My Three Sons (guest star Zsa Zsa Gabor/c)
9:00 Hogan's Heroes (c)
9:30 Petticoat Junction (c)
10:00 Mannix (c)
11:00 News/Sports (c)
11:30 Double Feature Movie "Portrait in Black" (c)/"Cry of the City"
2:30 sign-off

WBZ 4-NBC Boston
6:00 Armed Forces Film
6:30 Animal Secrets (c)
7:00 Boomtown (TVG had separate listings at 7, 7:30, 8:30 and 9:30)
10:00 Flintstones (c)
10:30 Samson & Goliath (c)
11:00 Birdman (c)
11:30 Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel (c)
noon News (c)
12:25 Weather (c)
12:30 Next Question
1:00 Here & Now
1:30 College Basketball: Kentucky-LSU (c)
3:30 Public Affairs (looks at job information and job training in the hotel industry)
4:00 Shell's Wonderful World of Golf (c/from the El Prat course in Barcelona, Frank Beard and Sebastian Miguel square off with $7000 at stake)
5:00 Movie "The Prisoner of Zenda"
7:00 News (c)
7:15 Sports (c)
7:25 Weather (c)
7:30 In the Grand Manor (c/a Group W special showing the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia preparing for a concert)
8:30 Get Smart (c/guest star Don Rickles)
9:00 Boston College Warm-Up (c)
9:30 College Basketball: UCLA-Boston College (c, from MSG)
11:30 News/Weather (c)
11:45 Movie "Doctor in Love" (c)
1:15 News/Sports/Weather
1:25 Movie "Have Rocket Will Travel"
2:55 sign-off

WHDH 5-CBS Boston
7:00 Bozo the Clown (c)
8:00 Captain Kangaroo (c)
9:00 Frankenstein Jr. (c)
9:30 Herculoids (c)
10:00 Shazzan! (c)
10:30 Space Ghost (c)
11:00 Moby Dick (c)
11:30 News/Sports/Weather (c)
noon Candlepin Bowling
1:00 Junior Candlepin Bowling
2:00 ECAC Basketball: UMass-Yale (c)
4:00 Gadabout Gaddis (c)
4:30 Flirtation Stakes (c)
4:45 Palm Beach Handicap (c)
5:00 Carol Burnett (c/guests George Chakaris and Shirley Jones)
6:00 News/Sports/Weather (c)
6:30 12 O'Clock High
7:30 Jackie Gleason (c)
8:30 My Three Sons (c)
9:00 Hogan's Heroes (c)
9:30 Petticoat Junction (c)
10:00 Mannix (c)
11:00 News/Sports/Weather (c)
11:30 Movie "The Stratton Story"
1:30 Playhouse of Stars "Chain of Command"
2:30 sign-off

WNAC 7-ABC Boston
7:00 Bugs Bunny
7:30 Linus the Lionhearted
8:00 Toy Phone Theatre
8:30 Bullwinkle
9:00 Casper (c)
9:30 Fantastic Four (c)
10:00 Spider-Man (c)
10:30 Journey to the Center of the Earth (c)
11:00 King Kong (c)
11:30 George of the Jungle (c)
noon Beatles (c)
12:30 Movie "Gang War"
1:50 Outdoor World (c)
1:55 News (c)
2:00 William F. Buckley Jr. "Is It Possible to Be a Good Governor?" (c/California Gov. Ronald Reagan is guest)
3:00 Let's Go to the Races (c)
3:30 Pro Bowlers Tour: Denver PBA Open (c)
5:00 Wide World of Sports: National Figure Skating Championships (women's competitions)/Men's Alpine Skiing Championships/National Aerobatics Championship (c)
6:30 Time Tunnel (c)
7:30 Dating Game (c/celebrity guest Deborah Walley)
8:00 Newlywed Game (c)
8:30 Lawrence Welk (c)
9:30 Stars of Tomorrow (c/Gene Kelly hosts this awards show honoring young performers...and with Carson, Griffin, and Sullivan in the running for the Starmaker Award)
10:30 Laura (c)
12:30 Movie "The Enemy Below"
2:00 sign-off

WNHC 8-ABC New Haven
6:45 Light Time
7:00 Cartoons (c)
8:00 King Kong
8:30 Foreign Legionnaire
9:00 Casper (c)
9:30 Fantastic Four (c)
10:00 Spider-Man (c)
10:30 Hopalong Cassidy
11:30 George of the Jungle (c)
noon Beatles (c)
12:30 American Bandstand (c/guests John Fred & the Playboy Band)
1:30 Happening '68 (c/guests Brenton Wood and Paul Revere & the Raiders in studio, with Eric Burdon & the Animals on film; also, Dino, Desi & Billy choose semi-finalists for the amateur band contest)
2:00 ECAC Basketball: UMass-Yale (c)
4:00 Pro Bowlers Tour: Denver PBA Open (c/JIP)
5:00 Sports Feature: Sebring 12-Hour Endurance Race highlights (c)
5:30 Gadabout Gaddis (c)
6:00 Los Angeles Open golf (c)
7:00 Thunderbirds (c)
8:00 College Hockey: Cornell-Yale
9:30 Stars of Tomorrow (c)
10:30 Truth or Consequences (c)
11:00 News/Weather/Sports (c)
11:15 Movie "View from Pompey's Head" (c)
12:45 sign-off

WHCT 18-Ind Hartford
Pay TV programming in italics
1:30pm College Basketball: Kentucky-LSU (c)
3:30 Movie "The Man Called Flintstone"
5:00 Bible Answers
5:30 Pattern for Living
6:00 Country & Western Music
7:00 Wrestling
8:00 Movie "Rosie"
10:00 Movie "Caprice"
mid. sign-off

WATR 20-NBC Waterbury
9:00 Super 6 (c)
9:30 Super President (c)
10:00 Flintstones (c)
10:30 Samson & Goliath (c)
11:00 Birdman (c)
11:30 Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel (c)
noon Top Cat (c)
12:30 Cool McCool (c)
1:00 Film Features
3:00 Health is Your Future
3:30 Film Feature
4:00 Ski Racers' Tour: giant dual slalom action from Killington (c)
5:00 Shell's Wonderful World of Golf (c)
6:00 Championship Bowling: Johnny Guenther v Dick Weber
7:00 NBC News (c)
7:30 Maya (c)
8:30 Get Smart (c)
9:00 Movie "No Man is an Island" (c)
11:15 Film Feature
11:45 Tonight Show (c/guests Martha Raye, Myron Cohen, Jerry Vale, and the Great Antonio)
1:15 sign-off

WWLP 22-Springfield/WRLP 32-Northfield (COLed to Greenfield) (NBC)
8:00 Stingray (c)
8:30 Three Stooges (c)
9:00 Super 6 (c)
9:30 Super President (c)
10:00 Flintstones (c)
10:30 Samson & Goliath (c)
11:00 Birdman (c)
11:30 Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel (c)
noon Top Cat (c)
12:30 Cool McCool (c)
1:00 Movie "Here Come the Marines"
2:00 ECAC Basketball: UMass-Yale (c)
4:00 Route 66
5:00 Shell's Wonderful World of Golf (c)
6:00 News/Weather/Sports
6:30 NBC News (c)
7:00 Let's Go to the Races
7:30 Maya (c)
8:30 Get Smart (c)
9:00 Movie "No Man is an Island" (c)
11:15 News
11:30 Weather
11:35 Sports
11:45 Tonight Show (c)
1:15 sign-off

WEDH 24-Edu Hartford
No programming on Saturdays

WHNB-NBC: 30 West Hartford/79 Torrington (TVG listed both channels under the WHNB calls)
7:00 Bozo the Clown (c)
8:00 Three Stooges
9:00 Super 6 (c)
9:30 Super President (c)
10:00 Flintstones (c)
10:30 Samson & Goliath (c)
11:00 Birdman (c)
11:30 Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel (c)
noon Top Cat (c)
12:30 Cool McCool (c)
1:00 Championship Bowling: Guenther v Weber (c)
2:00 Celebrity Billiards (c)
2:30 Movie "Slave Girl" (c)
3:45 Film Feature
4:00 Ski Racers' Tour (c)
5:00 Shell's Wonderful World of Golf (c)
6:00 Let's Go to the Races
6:30 NBC News (c)
7:00 Wells Fargo
7:30 Maya (c)
8:30 Get Smart (c)
9:00 Movie "No Man is an Island" (c)
11:15 News
11:30 Weather
11:35 Sports
11:45 Roller Derby (4 and 30/79 ran the weekend Carson Sundays 11:30)
12:45 Outer Limits
1:45 sign-off

WHYN 40-ABC Springfield
8:00 Munsters
8:30 Pete & Willy (c)
9:00 Casper (c)
9:30 Fantastic Four (c)
10:00 Spider-Man (c)
10:30 Journey to the Center of the Earth (c)
11:00 King Kong (c)
11:30 George of the Jungle (c)
noon Candlepin Bowling (local, or syndied from WHDH?)
1:00 Candlepin Bowling
1:30 Happening '68 (c)
2:00 Roller Derby
3:00 Gadabout Gaddis (c)
3:30 Pro Bowlers Tour: Denver PBA Open (c)
5:00 Wide World of Sports (c)
6:30 Maverick
7:30 Dating Game (c)
8:00 Newlywed Game (c)
8:30 Lawrence Welk (c)
9:30 Stars of Tomorrow (c)
10:30 Movie "The Day the Sky Exploded"
12:30 sign-off

 

[MarcB]

WHNB-NBC: 30 West Hartford/79 Torrington (TVG listed both channels under the WHNB calls)

That's because Channel 79 was a translator for Channel 30. Calls were W79AA. Studios for 30 are in West Hartford. COL is and always has been New Britain.

 

[KYLEBOOK]

Candlepin Bowling on WHYN (later WGGB) was carried from an over-the-air feed from Channel 5 WHDH (and later WCVB) in Boston, microwaved from Mt. Tom in Holyoke, MA.

 

[oldiesfan6479]

...was carried from an over-the-air feed from Channel 5 WHDH...microwaved from Mt. Tom in Holyoke, MA.

Apparently Mt. Tom is a tower farm for several Springfield market TVs/FMs,
so this downlink would be a "reverse STL" (or TSL) to the studio. Assume
at least the TVs STL stuff up to the hill.

Would the mountain be about the only place to pick up Boston TV OTA in
the metro? The WCVB-TV coverage map doesn't quite get to Springfield,
and with DTV signals getting out so far and then just "dropping off the
table," I suppose you'd need the height. Did analog have better coverage?

WCVB-TV (DT) coverage:
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=DT590491.html

 

[wbhist]

WNAC 7-ABC Boston
2:00 William F. Buckley Jr. "Is It Possible to Be a Good Governor?" (c/California Gov. Ronald Reagan is guest)

What was called "William F. Buckley Jr." by TV Guide (I can attest to this characterization also being in the New York Metropolitan Edition for its airings on WOR-TV) was in fact Firing Line (full title in those years: Firing Line with William F. Buckley Jr.), which was started at WOR-TV in 1966, aired on the other RKO stations (including, as here, WNAC-TV), and also syndicated to other stations across the country - including a few public TV outlets, ironic given Buckley taking Firing Line exclusively to public TV from 1971 onwards. TV Guide likely had Buckley's name as the heading due to his being the host.

 

[vibe]

Re oldies fan's post whether the Boston stations would make it to Springfield I can say that we lived in one of the lowest lying areas of New Britain Ct. (considerably further than Springfield) and we got the Boston VHF's on 2,4,5,7 and Prov on 6, 10, 12. The picture quality was not perfect but viewable. We didn't get the Boston UHF's. People who lived on east facing hills got the Boston and Prov stations perfectly as well as stations from New Hampshire and NYC.

 

[cdsull502]

I don't know how WHYN-TV got the Channel 5 signal to Springfield during that period, but I can tell you for a fact that WWLP used its own microwave relay at located the former Channel 14 site outside of Worcester to get Boston TV signals to Springfield. The signal would be taken off the air from Worcester and then sent on a single hop to the 22 facility on Provin Mountain in Agawam. I had a friend, since deceased, who worked as an engineer at WWLP who would would be frequently assigned to travel to Worcester to "babysit" the microwave relay when it was being used. The proper operation of that microwave link was a big deal for WWLP because they used it to relay the Red Sox game broadcasts from the old WHDH-TV to Springfield. I'm sure this setup was much cheaper for 22 to use instead of getting a telco feed.

 

[oldiesfan6479]

The proper operation of that microwave link was a big deal for WWLP because they used it to relay the Red Sox game broadcasts from the old WHDH-TV to Springfield. I'm sure this setup was much cheaper for 22 to use instead of getting a telco feed.

Cheaper, but dirtier than a Telco feed which would likely be "clean"--that is,
Red Sox network spots yes, but no local WHDH-TV spots that might pop up
before WWLP could cut away. Unless the contract called for the Boston
spots to also air in Springfield.

Also wondering how did WWLP cover a TOH ID for WHDH if it was a lower
screen font (or slide super in earlier days)? How often did a 'HDH ID get
on 22's air briefly before it was covered? And remember "gen lock"?

 

[cdsull502]

If memory serves me correctly, station IDs were done by audio only, with plenty of warning. "We'll pause briefly for station ID, this is Red Sox Baseball." Screwups were rare, most of the stations carrying the games picked them up in a similar manner, (Providence and Portland for sure). Intros and rejoins were purposely kept loose for that reason. Also, most of the spots were network-wide. This was before there were a lot on on air graphics, unlike today.