Yes, folks, Christmas does come in March. I'm going to make myself finish giving the retros I promised back in December. We're staying in my neck of the woods, if you will, for a look at a few Deep Southern markets back in the era of Flower Power.
TV Guide, Northern Alabama edition--cover, Buddy Foster, Ken Berry ("Mayberry R.F.D.")
NOTE: Channels in parentheses were originally designated by black bullets; those in brackets by white.
Birmingham, Alabama:
[6] WBRC (ABC; now FOX affiliate on digital 50; PSIP 6)
[10] WBIQ (NET)--translator of Alabama Educational (Public) Television (now PBS affiliate on digital 10; PSIP same)
[13] WAPI ("cherry-picked" both CBS and NBC; now WVTM, sole NBC affiliate, on digital 13; PSIP same)
[42] WBMG (took WAPI rejects; now WIAT, sole CBS affiliate, on digital 30; PSIP 42)
Cheaha State Park, Alabama:
[7] WCIQ (NET)--translator of Alabama Educational (Public) Television (now PBS affiliate on digital 7; PSIP same)
Florence, Alabama:
(15) WOWL (NBC primary, CBS secondary; now WHDF, CW affiliate serving entire Huntsville-Decatur-Florence market, on digital 14; PSIP 15)
Russellville, Alabama:
(36) WFIQ (NET)--translator of Alabama Educational (Public) Television (now licensed to Florence as PBS affiliate on digital 22; PSIP 36)
Tuscaloosa, Alabama:
[33] WCFT (same network programming as WBMG above; now ABC affiliate on digital 33; PSIP same)
Huntsville, Alabama:
(19) WHNT (CBS; now digital 19; PSIP same)
(25) WHIQ (NET)--translator of Alabama Educational (Public) Television (now PBS affiliate on digital 24; PSIP 25)
(31) WAAY (NBC; now ABC affiliate on digital 32; PSIP 31)
(48) WMSL (ABC; now WAFF, NBC affiliate, on digital 48; PSIP same)
Nashville, Tennessee:
(4) WSM (NBC; now WSMV on digital 10; PSIP 4)
(5) WLAC (CBS; now WTVF on digital 25; PSIP 5)
(8) WSIX (ABC; now WKRN on digital 27; PSIP 2)
Columbus, Mississippi:
[4] WCBI (CBS primary, ABC secondary; now sole CBS affiliate on digital 35; PSIP 4)
MORNING
4:30
[6] World Around Us
5:00
[6] Medical Progress
5:30
[6] Bible Answers
6:00
[6] Living Word--religion
[13] Devotional--local
(19) Dixie Digest--statewide farm show (probably WAPI origination; see below)
6:15
[6] Sacred Heart--Catholic devotional; despite being in the so-called Protestant "Bible Belt," Birmingham had a surprisingly large Catholic population, thanks to immigration around the turn of the last century
[13] Farm Roundup--probably local
6:25
(4) Agriculture, U.S.A.--probably syndicated
6:30
(5) Sunrise Semester--sorry, no course description
[6] Headliners--probably syndie variety show
(8) Agriculture--probably local
[13] Dixie Digest
(19) Tennessee Valley Farm Time--local
6:55
(4) Farm Digest--a production of the Tennessee Farm Bureau; hosted by Murray Miles, Jr.
7:00
[4] (5) (19) Go-Go Gophers--cartoon spinoff of "Underdog" featuring (for our times, anyway) a pair of gophers rendered in a most politically incorrect way as American Indians
(4) Space Clown--probably local children's show
[6] Linus--cartoon intended originally as a promotional tool for Post cereals
(8) Comedy Time
[13] Popeye--certainly hosted by WAPI veteran kiddie show host "Cousin Cliff" Holman, whose draw was magic tricks
(31) Cartoon Funtime--unsure if this was locally hosted or not
(48) Benny Carle--local children's show; Carle was part-owner of WMSL
7:30
[4] (5) (19) Bugs Bunny/Road Runner
[6] Birthday Party--local children's show, hosted by WBRC newsman (yes, that's right) Joe Langston
7:45
(15) Earline in Storyland--local children's show, featuring the hostess reading a book to a small group of "young un's"
8:00
(4) [13] (15) (31) Super 6--DePatie-Freleng send-up of the Marvel Comics idols
[6] (8) (48) Casper--everyone's favorite cartoon spirit
8:30
[4] (5) (19) Wacky Races--Hanna-Barbera entry reflecting a late 1960s fad toward auto racing in cartoons, as an alternative to traditional violence aimed at young boys
(4) [13] (15) (31) Top Cat--rerun of H-B classic prime-time cartoon
[6] (8) (48) Adventures of Gulliver--loosely based on the 18th century satire by Jonathan Swift, this made a monopoly for H-B in this time slot (one of the great unasked questions of that time: why did the FCC allow H-B owner Taft to get away with that?)
9:00
[4] (5) (19) Archie Show--the teen comic-book crew in the first of many iterations packaged by Filmation over the next decade
(4) [13] (15) (31) Flintstones
[6] (8) (48) Spiderman
9:30
[4] (5) (19) Batman/Superman
(4) [13] (15) (31) NBC Children's Theater--special live-action presentation of E. B. White's "Stuart Little," with Johnny Carson narrating ("Banana Splits" was the regular program at this time)
[6] (8) (48) Fantastic Voyage--Filmation-produced sci-fi cartoon
10:00
[6] (8) (48) Journey to the Center of the Earth--based on the 1959 flick rather than the Jules Verne novel, this sci-fi cartoon was noted for the voiceover of a pre-"Mary Tyler Moore" Ted Knight
10:30
[4] (5) (19) Herculoids--another H-B adventure/sci-fi entry, along the lines of "Jonny Quest"
(4) [13] (15) (31) Underdog
[6] (8) (48) Fantastic Four--which were, of course, Mister Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch, and the Thing ("It's Clobbering Time!")
11:00
[4] (5) (19) Shazzan!--this time, H-B rips off "I Dream of Jeannie," with a brother-sister duo trying to make their way in the Middle East, all the while calling upon a man in a bottle to get them out of fixes
(4) [13] (15) (31) Storybook Squares--fondly-remembered but short-lived kiddie version of "Hollywood Squares" where the usual celebrities sat in the usual grid dressed in costume as characters; rumor had it that the show was bogged down by lengthy introductions, as Peter Marshall and Kenny Williams brought them in one at a time, rather than already seated on the weekday adult version (Heatter-Quigley revived them occasionally during the 70s on special weeks of the parent show)
[6] (8) (48) George of the Jungle--something we would today consider a guilty pleasure, Jay Ward nearly lost his shirt on the huge over-runs on production of this 17-episode cartoon
11:10
[42] WBMG Salute--it's sign-on time in the Magic City ...
11:15
[42] Aunt Beka's Bible Stories--Rebecca Horton, a Mobile, Alabama-based "Christian school" teacher, hosted this 15-minute children's religious program (her legacy lives on in the so-called "A Beka" curriculum published by Pensacola Christian College for use in fundamentalist academies)
11:30
[4] (19) Jonny Quest--classic H-B adventure cartoon
(4) [13] (15) (31) Untamed World--live-action children's nature show
(5) Popeye--cartoons
[6] (8) (48) American Bandstand--guests today: The 1910 Fruitgum Company (a flash-in-the-pan bubblegum pop group) and Tom Jones
[42] Movie--"Circus of Horrors," English; 1960
AFTERNOON
12:00
[4] (5) [13] (19) Moby Dick/Mighty Warriors--combo H-B show featuring loose adaptation of Herman Melville literary classic and, in a separate segment, a caveman turned superhero
(4) Wackiest Ship in the Army--rerun of one-season NBC 1960s World War II sitcom noted as one of the early roles of Gary Collins
(15) Movie--"Triple Deception," English; 1956
(31) Cartoon Funtime
[33] Big Picture--military PSA film distributed free of charge to local stations
12:30
[4] (5) [13] (19) Lone Ranger--one of the very few cartoons of the time not packaged by H-B or Filmation; Herb Klynn and Jules Engel's Format Films handled this adaptation of the radio classic
[6] (8) (48) Happening--actually, this was more like a third half hour of "American Bandstand," since Dick Clark was behind both programs
[33] Gene Autry
1:00
[4] Film--"How to Automate a Hamburger" (I writes 'em as I sees 'em, folks ...)
(4) [13] (15) (31) NCAA Basketball Doubleheader--NBC Sports coverage of the annual tournament quarterfinals (teams, of course, were not set at the time of publication)
(5) Jonny Quest--probably tape-delayed from CBS at 11:30 a.m.
[6] What's It All About, World?--ABC variety show hosted by Dean Jones, coincidentally a native Alabamian (probably tape-delayed from primetime earlier in the week; WBRC did that extensively for many years, as did its sister station WDAF in Kansas City with NBC)
(8) High School Quiz--local version of the "It's Academic" competitions (though without that franchise name)
(19) Movie--"Backfire," 1950
[42] Car and Track
(48) This is the Life--Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod-produced religious drama
1:15
[4] to be announced--maybe a film on how to automate spaghetti, who knows? (!!!)
1:30
[4] Bill Anderson--Grand Ole Opry country singer's half-hour hoedown
(5) Skippy--basically, an Australian rendition of "Lassie" with a (you guessed it) kangaroo
(8) Roller Derby--hard to believe, after 40 years, that this is once again a craze, this time among downscale hipster 20-somethings
(19) Porter Wagoner--country music "direct from Nashville, Tennessee" (the show's intro)
[33] Dobie Gillis--sitcom rerun
[42] Joe Pyne--L.A.-based forerunner of current-day confrontational conservative talk on cable news outlets (in all fairness, though, Pyne was no friend of supply-side economics or large corporations and did favor peaceful initiatives in civil rights--he focused on disorder and moral breakdown, or "social issues")
(48) Bob Poole--probably local country-music show
2:00
[4] Laramie--John Smith and Robert Fuller starred in this early 1960s Western
(5) Championship Bowling
[6] The Outdoorsman: Joe Foss--one-time governor of South Dakota, former American Football League Commissioner, and later president of the National Rifle Association (WARNING: no comments on that, please) hosted this syndie half-hour hunting extravaganza, after a stint hosting ABC's "American Sportsman," better known for being hosted by Curt Gowdy (Foss was also an acquaintance of future NBC newsman Tom Brokaw)
[33] Broken Arrow--rerun of 1950s Western that focused not so much on Cowboys vs. Indians, but on relationships among Native American tribes, rendering a much more realistic portrayal than was common at the time
(48) Homestead U.S.A.--unknown
2:30
(5) Jean-Claude Killy--famed skiier apparently tried his hands at syndication, too
[6] (8) (48) Pro Bowlers Tour--ABC Sports coverage of the Buckeye Open in Toledo, Ohio (Chris Schenkel and Billy Welu commenting)
(19) Porter Wagoner (apparently back-to-back episodes?)
[33] Laramie--different episode than WCBI at 2 p.m. (above)
3:00
[4] (5) (19) CBS Golf Classic--this one is strange: WCBI has listed first-round coverage of the event in Akron, Ohio, while WLAC and WHNT were reported as carrying the quarter-final match from the same event (explanation, anybody? And why wasn't any of this carried in Birmingham and Central Alabama, on either WAPI or WBMG and WCFT?)
[42] Upbeat--Cleveland-based syndie rip-off of "American Bandstand"
3:30
[33] My Friend Flicka
4:00
[4] World Figure Skating Championships--apparently tape-delayed ABC coverage of event held during the last week of February in Colorado Springs (WCBI held a secondary affiliation with ABC in order to carry college football games during the fall, since northeastern Mississippi did not yet have a separate ABC affil. Thus, WCBI was probably required by contract to carry other sports on weekends during the rest of the year, too--ABC wouldn't appear full time in the market until 1983 and has since been featured on three different stations, now on a WTVA digital subchannel)
(5) Turn-On (this is the strangest thing yet this poster has encountered in doing retros: "Turn-On" was the infamous one-episode ABC experimental comedy disaster that invoked massive outrage from offended viewers and affiliates, some of whom literally pulled the plug on the network lines in the middle of the broadcast. That episode was shown on February 5, some six weeks before this listing, and WLAC was a full CBS affil, with no ABC programming. Given Nashville's culturally conservative bent at the time, why in the--excuse me--HELL would the CBS affil want to air a replay of this on Saturday afternoon, for God's sake? Surely this has to be some local variety show, instead? Anybody have any idea on this?)
[6] (8) (48) ABC's Wide World of Sports--well, back to normal (heh, heh) ... On tap, the Grand Prix Midget Auto Racing Championship, from Houston; the International Ski Flying Championships, from Norway; and the National Air Races, from Reno, Nevada--Keith Jackson, not Jim McKay this week, at the helm
(19) Wrestling--live from WHNT's studios, from the Nick Gulas promotion out of Nashville (called "Mid-South," I believe)
[33] Pioneers--syndicated title for episodes of the Western anthology "Death Valley Days," with Will Rogers, Jr. as host in the introduction, recorded over probably an old Stanley Andrews episode
[42] Roller Derby
4:30
[33] Outdoors--Chicago (WGN)-based program akin to "American Sportsman," hosted by Jim Thomas
5:00
(4) Wilburn Brothers--another Grand Ole Opry act with a half-hour syndie country-music fest (this one, strangely enough, was recorded at WSM's rival WSIX-TV, probably because there was not enough time or space at channel 4 due to other shows recording there, in addition to WSM's heavy schedule of local programming)
(5) College Talent--syndicated youth-oriented knockoff of "Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour," with Dennis James, better known as a game show host, emceeing
[13] Grand Ole Opry--filmed performances from the late 1950s or so
(15) Film--no title given
(19) [42] Bill Anderson--probably different episodes (this, like other syndie shows of the time, was "bicycled" among stations in order for the producer to save money on duplicating copies)
(31) Stoneman Family--country music
[33] Answering from the Bible--probably local religion
5:30
[4] (5) (19) CBS Evening News--Roger Mudd (NOTE: the Vanderbilt TV News Archives apparently did not begin recording weekend newscasts on any network until May 1970, so the anchors cannot be verified as on the weekdays)
(4) Porter Wagoner
[6] College Talent (different episode from WLAC above)
(8) Wrestling--live in the WSIX studios, from the Gulas promotion also
[13] Huntley-Brinkley Report--at this point, either Huntley or Brinkley did the program solo on Saturdays on alternating weeks, an arrangement that continued until about summer or so
(15) America Sings--according to this website (http://www.sghistory.com/index.php?n=T.Thrasher_Brothers), program was syndie half-hour of Southern Gospel music and had nothing to do with the Disneyland (California) attraction of the 1970s
(31) Sportsman's Report--probably syndicated
[33] WCFT News (b&w)
[42] Stan Hitchcock--Missouri-based country singer's show
(48) Ernest Tubb--it seemed that all the Grand Ole Opry stars took a fling at syndie TV at one time or another in the Sixties, and the "Texas Troubador" had his turn with this entry
Evening listings to come in my next post.
TV Guide, Northern Alabama edition--cover, Buddy Foster, Ken Berry ("Mayberry R.F.D.")
NOTE: Channels in parentheses were originally designated by black bullets; those in brackets by white.
Birmingham, Alabama:
[6] WBRC (ABC; now FOX affiliate on digital 50; PSIP 6)
[10] WBIQ (NET)--translator of Alabama Educational (Public) Television (now PBS affiliate on digital 10; PSIP same)
[13] WAPI ("cherry-picked" both CBS and NBC; now WVTM, sole NBC affiliate, on digital 13; PSIP same)
[42] WBMG (took WAPI rejects; now WIAT, sole CBS affiliate, on digital 30; PSIP 42)
Cheaha State Park, Alabama:
[7] WCIQ (NET)--translator of Alabama Educational (Public) Television (now PBS affiliate on digital 7; PSIP same)
Florence, Alabama:
(15) WOWL (NBC primary, CBS secondary; now WHDF, CW affiliate serving entire Huntsville-Decatur-Florence market, on digital 14; PSIP 15)
Russellville, Alabama:
(36) WFIQ (NET)--translator of Alabama Educational (Public) Television (now licensed to Florence as PBS affiliate on digital 22; PSIP 36)
Tuscaloosa, Alabama:
[33] WCFT (same network programming as WBMG above; now ABC affiliate on digital 33; PSIP same)
Huntsville, Alabama:
(19) WHNT (CBS; now digital 19; PSIP same)
(25) WHIQ (NET)--translator of Alabama Educational (Public) Television (now PBS affiliate on digital 24; PSIP 25)
(31) WAAY (NBC; now ABC affiliate on digital 32; PSIP 31)
(48) WMSL (ABC; now WAFF, NBC affiliate, on digital 48; PSIP same)
Nashville, Tennessee:
(4) WSM (NBC; now WSMV on digital 10; PSIP 4)
(5) WLAC (CBS; now WTVF on digital 25; PSIP 5)
(8) WSIX (ABC; now WKRN on digital 27; PSIP 2)
Columbus, Mississippi:
[4] WCBI (CBS primary, ABC secondary; now sole CBS affiliate on digital 35; PSIP 4)
MORNING
4:30
[6] World Around Us
5:00
[6] Medical Progress
5:30
[6] Bible Answers
6:00
[6] Living Word--religion
[13] Devotional--local
(19) Dixie Digest--statewide farm show (probably WAPI origination; see below)
6:15
[6] Sacred Heart--Catholic devotional; despite being in the so-called Protestant "Bible Belt," Birmingham had a surprisingly large Catholic population, thanks to immigration around the turn of the last century
[13] Farm Roundup--probably local
6:25
(4) Agriculture, U.S.A.--probably syndicated
6:30
(5) Sunrise Semester--sorry, no course description
[6] Headliners--probably syndie variety show
(8) Agriculture--probably local
[13] Dixie Digest
(19) Tennessee Valley Farm Time--local
6:55
(4) Farm Digest--a production of the Tennessee Farm Bureau; hosted by Murray Miles, Jr.
7:00
[4] (5) (19) Go-Go Gophers--cartoon spinoff of "Underdog" featuring (for our times, anyway) a pair of gophers rendered in a most politically incorrect way as American Indians
(4) Space Clown--probably local children's show
[6] Linus--cartoon intended originally as a promotional tool for Post cereals
(8) Comedy Time
[13] Popeye--certainly hosted by WAPI veteran kiddie show host "Cousin Cliff" Holman, whose draw was magic tricks
(31) Cartoon Funtime--unsure if this was locally hosted or not
(48) Benny Carle--local children's show; Carle was part-owner of WMSL
7:30
[4] (5) (19) Bugs Bunny/Road Runner
[6] Birthday Party--local children's show, hosted by WBRC newsman (yes, that's right) Joe Langston
7:45
(15) Earline in Storyland--local children's show, featuring the hostess reading a book to a small group of "young un's"
8:00
(4) [13] (15) (31) Super 6--DePatie-Freleng send-up of the Marvel Comics idols
[6] (8) (48) Casper--everyone's favorite cartoon spirit
8:30
[4] (5) (19) Wacky Races--Hanna-Barbera entry reflecting a late 1960s fad toward auto racing in cartoons, as an alternative to traditional violence aimed at young boys
(4) [13] (15) (31) Top Cat--rerun of H-B classic prime-time cartoon
[6] (8) (48) Adventures of Gulliver--loosely based on the 18th century satire by Jonathan Swift, this made a monopoly for H-B in this time slot (one of the great unasked questions of that time: why did the FCC allow H-B owner Taft to get away with that?)
9:00
[4] (5) (19) Archie Show--the teen comic-book crew in the first of many iterations packaged by Filmation over the next decade
(4) [13] (15) (31) Flintstones
[6] (8) (48) Spiderman
9:30
[4] (5) (19) Batman/Superman
(4) [13] (15) (31) NBC Children's Theater--special live-action presentation of E. B. White's "Stuart Little," with Johnny Carson narrating ("Banana Splits" was the regular program at this time)
[6] (8) (48) Fantastic Voyage--Filmation-produced sci-fi cartoon
10:00
[6] (8) (48) Journey to the Center of the Earth--based on the 1959 flick rather than the Jules Verne novel, this sci-fi cartoon was noted for the voiceover of a pre-"Mary Tyler Moore" Ted Knight
10:30
[4] (5) (19) Herculoids--another H-B adventure/sci-fi entry, along the lines of "Jonny Quest"
(4) [13] (15) (31) Underdog
[6] (8) (48) Fantastic Four--which were, of course, Mister Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch, and the Thing ("It's Clobbering Time!")
11:00
[4] (5) (19) Shazzan!--this time, H-B rips off "I Dream of Jeannie," with a brother-sister duo trying to make their way in the Middle East, all the while calling upon a man in a bottle to get them out of fixes
(4) [13] (15) (31) Storybook Squares--fondly-remembered but short-lived kiddie version of "Hollywood Squares" where the usual celebrities sat in the usual grid dressed in costume as characters; rumor had it that the show was bogged down by lengthy introductions, as Peter Marshall and Kenny Williams brought them in one at a time, rather than already seated on the weekday adult version (Heatter-Quigley revived them occasionally during the 70s on special weeks of the parent show)
[6] (8) (48) George of the Jungle--something we would today consider a guilty pleasure, Jay Ward nearly lost his shirt on the huge over-runs on production of this 17-episode cartoon
11:10
[42] WBMG Salute--it's sign-on time in the Magic City ...
11:15
[42] Aunt Beka's Bible Stories--Rebecca Horton, a Mobile, Alabama-based "Christian school" teacher, hosted this 15-minute children's religious program (her legacy lives on in the so-called "A Beka" curriculum published by Pensacola Christian College for use in fundamentalist academies)
11:30
[4] (19) Jonny Quest--classic H-B adventure cartoon
(4) [13] (15) (31) Untamed World--live-action children's nature show
(5) Popeye--cartoons
[6] (8) (48) American Bandstand--guests today: The 1910 Fruitgum Company (a flash-in-the-pan bubblegum pop group) and Tom Jones
[42] Movie--"Circus of Horrors," English; 1960
AFTERNOON
12:00
[4] (5) [13] (19) Moby Dick/Mighty Warriors--combo H-B show featuring loose adaptation of Herman Melville literary classic and, in a separate segment, a caveman turned superhero
(4) Wackiest Ship in the Army--rerun of one-season NBC 1960s World War II sitcom noted as one of the early roles of Gary Collins
(15) Movie--"Triple Deception," English; 1956
(31) Cartoon Funtime
[33] Big Picture--military PSA film distributed free of charge to local stations
12:30
[4] (5) [13] (19) Lone Ranger--one of the very few cartoons of the time not packaged by H-B or Filmation; Herb Klynn and Jules Engel's Format Films handled this adaptation of the radio classic
[6] (8) (48) Happening--actually, this was more like a third half hour of "American Bandstand," since Dick Clark was behind both programs
[33] Gene Autry
1:00
[4] Film--"How to Automate a Hamburger" (I writes 'em as I sees 'em, folks ...)
(4) [13] (15) (31) NCAA Basketball Doubleheader--NBC Sports coverage of the annual tournament quarterfinals (teams, of course, were not set at the time of publication)
(5) Jonny Quest--probably tape-delayed from CBS at 11:30 a.m.
[6] What's It All About, World?--ABC variety show hosted by Dean Jones, coincidentally a native Alabamian (probably tape-delayed from primetime earlier in the week; WBRC did that extensively for many years, as did its sister station WDAF in Kansas City with NBC)
(8) High School Quiz--local version of the "It's Academic" competitions (though without that franchise name)
(19) Movie--"Backfire," 1950
[42] Car and Track
(48) This is the Life--Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod-produced religious drama
1:15
[4] to be announced--maybe a film on how to automate spaghetti, who knows? (!!!)
1:30
[4] Bill Anderson--Grand Ole Opry country singer's half-hour hoedown
(5) Skippy--basically, an Australian rendition of "Lassie" with a (you guessed it) kangaroo
(8) Roller Derby--hard to believe, after 40 years, that this is once again a craze, this time among downscale hipster 20-somethings
(19) Porter Wagoner--country music "direct from Nashville, Tennessee" (the show's intro)
[33] Dobie Gillis--sitcom rerun
[42] Joe Pyne--L.A.-based forerunner of current-day confrontational conservative talk on cable news outlets (in all fairness, though, Pyne was no friend of supply-side economics or large corporations and did favor peaceful initiatives in civil rights--he focused on disorder and moral breakdown, or "social issues")
(48) Bob Poole--probably local country-music show
2:00
[4] Laramie--John Smith and Robert Fuller starred in this early 1960s Western
(5) Championship Bowling
[6] The Outdoorsman: Joe Foss--one-time governor of South Dakota, former American Football League Commissioner, and later president of the National Rifle Association (WARNING: no comments on that, please) hosted this syndie half-hour hunting extravaganza, after a stint hosting ABC's "American Sportsman," better known for being hosted by Curt Gowdy (Foss was also an acquaintance of future NBC newsman Tom Brokaw)
[33] Broken Arrow--rerun of 1950s Western that focused not so much on Cowboys vs. Indians, but on relationships among Native American tribes, rendering a much more realistic portrayal than was common at the time
(48) Homestead U.S.A.--unknown
2:30
(5) Jean-Claude Killy--famed skiier apparently tried his hands at syndication, too
[6] (8) (48) Pro Bowlers Tour--ABC Sports coverage of the Buckeye Open in Toledo, Ohio (Chris Schenkel and Billy Welu commenting)
(19) Porter Wagoner (apparently back-to-back episodes?)
[33] Laramie--different episode than WCBI at 2 p.m. (above)
3:00
[4] (5) (19) CBS Golf Classic--this one is strange: WCBI has listed first-round coverage of the event in Akron, Ohio, while WLAC and WHNT were reported as carrying the quarter-final match from the same event (explanation, anybody? And why wasn't any of this carried in Birmingham and Central Alabama, on either WAPI or WBMG and WCFT?)
[42] Upbeat--Cleveland-based syndie rip-off of "American Bandstand"
3:30
[33] My Friend Flicka
4:00
[4] World Figure Skating Championships--apparently tape-delayed ABC coverage of event held during the last week of February in Colorado Springs (WCBI held a secondary affiliation with ABC in order to carry college football games during the fall, since northeastern Mississippi did not yet have a separate ABC affil. Thus, WCBI was probably required by contract to carry other sports on weekends during the rest of the year, too--ABC wouldn't appear full time in the market until 1983 and has since been featured on three different stations, now on a WTVA digital subchannel)
(5) Turn-On (this is the strangest thing yet this poster has encountered in doing retros: "Turn-On" was the infamous one-episode ABC experimental comedy disaster that invoked massive outrage from offended viewers and affiliates, some of whom literally pulled the plug on the network lines in the middle of the broadcast. That episode was shown on February 5, some six weeks before this listing, and WLAC was a full CBS affil, with no ABC programming. Given Nashville's culturally conservative bent at the time, why in the--excuse me--HELL would the CBS affil want to air a replay of this on Saturday afternoon, for God's sake? Surely this has to be some local variety show, instead? Anybody have any idea on this?)
[6] (8) (48) ABC's Wide World of Sports--well, back to normal (heh, heh) ... On tap, the Grand Prix Midget Auto Racing Championship, from Houston; the International Ski Flying Championships, from Norway; and the National Air Races, from Reno, Nevada--Keith Jackson, not Jim McKay this week, at the helm
(19) Wrestling--live from WHNT's studios, from the Nick Gulas promotion out of Nashville (called "Mid-South," I believe)
[33] Pioneers--syndicated title for episodes of the Western anthology "Death Valley Days," with Will Rogers, Jr. as host in the introduction, recorded over probably an old Stanley Andrews episode
[42] Roller Derby
4:30
[33] Outdoors--Chicago (WGN)-based program akin to "American Sportsman," hosted by Jim Thomas
5:00
(4) Wilburn Brothers--another Grand Ole Opry act with a half-hour syndie country-music fest (this one, strangely enough, was recorded at WSM's rival WSIX-TV, probably because there was not enough time or space at channel 4 due to other shows recording there, in addition to WSM's heavy schedule of local programming)
(5) College Talent--syndicated youth-oriented knockoff of "Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour," with Dennis James, better known as a game show host, emceeing
[13] Grand Ole Opry--filmed performances from the late 1950s or so
(15) Film--no title given
(19) [42] Bill Anderson--probably different episodes (this, like other syndie shows of the time, was "bicycled" among stations in order for the producer to save money on duplicating copies)
(31) Stoneman Family--country music
[33] Answering from the Bible--probably local religion
5:30
[4] (5) (19) CBS Evening News--Roger Mudd (NOTE: the Vanderbilt TV News Archives apparently did not begin recording weekend newscasts on any network until May 1970, so the anchors cannot be verified as on the weekdays)
(4) Porter Wagoner
[6] College Talent (different episode from WLAC above)
(8) Wrestling--live in the WSIX studios, from the Gulas promotion also
[13] Huntley-Brinkley Report--at this point, either Huntley or Brinkley did the program solo on Saturdays on alternating weeks, an arrangement that continued until about summer or so
(15) America Sings--according to this website (http://www.sghistory.com/index.php?n=T.Thrasher_Brothers), program was syndie half-hour of Southern Gospel music and had nothing to do with the Disneyland (California) attraction of the 1970s
(31) Sportsman's Report--probably syndicated
[33] WCFT News (b&w)
[42] Stan Hitchcock--Missouri-based country singer's show
(48) Ernest Tubb--it seemed that all the Grand Ole Opry stars took a fling at syndie TV at one time or another in the Sixties, and the "Texas Troubador" had his turn with this entry
Evening listings to come in my next post.
