Retro: Indianapolis/Terre Haute/Lafayette, IN - Monday, June 19, 1989

[johnothy]

From TV Guide:

2 WTWO NBC Terre Haute
6:00 Today in Illiana
6:30 NBC News at Sunrise
7:00 Today
9:00 Donahue
10:00 Wheel of Fortune
10:30 Win, Lose or Draw
11:00 Scrabble
11:30 Generations
12:00 News
12:30 Days of our Lives
1:30 Another World
2:30 Santa Barbara
3:30 Concentration
4:00 Hollywood Squares
4:30 Superior Court
5:00 People's Court
5:30 NBC Nightly News
6:00 News
6:30 Family Feud
7:00 ALF
7:30 Hogan Family
8:00 NBC Movie "Glitz"
10:00 News
10:30 Tonight Show
11:30 Late Night with David Letterman
12:30 Later with Bob Costas
1:00 Dallas
2:00 News
2:30 Sign Off

4 WTTV Ind. Indianapolis
6:00 Kenneth Copeland
6:30 Gumby
7:00 G.I. Joe
7:30 Scooby Doo
8:00 Jetsons
8:30 Smurfs' Adventures
9:00 Geraldo
10:00 Jeffersons
10:30 Sanford and Son
11:00 Today in Indiana
12:00 Perry Mason
1:00 700 Club
2:00 I Dream of Jeannie
2:30 My Little Pony 'n Friends
3:00 Alvin & the Chipmunks
3:30 Woody Woodpecker & Friends
4:00 Ducktales
4:30 Super Sloppy Double Dare
5:00 Diff'rent Strokes
5:30 Webster
6:00 Kate & Allie
6:30 Happy Days
7:00 A-Team
8:00 Movie "Avenging Force"
10:00 News
11:00 Newlywed Game
11:30 Dating Game
12:00 Movie "Made in Paris"
2:00 Movie "Hotel Paradiso"
4:00 Little House on the Prairie

WRTV 6 ABC Indianapolis
5:30 Body by Jake
6:00 ABC World News This Morning
7:00 Good Morning America
9:00 Donahue
10:00 Sally Jessy Raphael
11:00 Home
12:00 News
12:30 Loving
1:00 All My Children
2:00 One Life to Live
3:00 General Hospital
4:00 Oprah Winfrey
5:00 News
6:00 News
6:30 ABC World News Tonight
7:00 Entertainment Tonight
7:30 Win, Lose or Draw
8:00 MacGyver
9:00 ABC Movie "Toughlove"
11:00 News
11:30 Nightline
12:00 Inside Edition
12:30 Police Woman
1:30 Sweethearts
2:00 Sign Off

WISH 8 CBS Indianapolis
5:00 Love Boat
6:00 CBS Morning News
6:30 News
7:00 CBS This Morning
9:00 Regis & Kathie Lee
10:00 Family Feud
10:30 Now You See It
11:00 Price is Right
12:00 News
12:30 Young and the Restless
1:30 Bold and the Beautiful
2:00 As the World Turns
3:00 Guiding Light
4:00 Love Connection
4:30 Judge
5:00 People's Court
5:30 News
6:30 CBS Evening News
7:00 Wheel of Fortune
7:30 Jeopardy!
8:00 Kate & Allie
8:30 Heartland
9:00 Murphy Brown
9:30 Designing Women
10:00 Newhart
10:30 Doctor, Doctor
11:00 News
11:35 Love Connection
12:05 Pat Sajak
1:35 CBS News Nightwatch
3:35 CBS News Nightwatch Continues

WTHI 10 CBS Terre Haute
6:00 Jimmy Swaggart
6:30 CBS Morning News
7:00 News (CBS This Morning pre-empted)
7:30 Sally Jessy Raphael
8:00 Geraldo
9:00 Family Feud
9:30 Now You See It
10:00 Price is Right
11:00 Young and the Restless
12:00 News
12:30 Bold and the Beautiful
1:00 As the World Turns
2:00 Guiding Light
3:00 Oprah Winfrey
4:00 Jeopardy!
4:30 Family Ties
5:00 Cosby Show
5:30 CBS Evening News
6:00 News
6:30 Wheel of Fortune
7:00 Kate & Allie
7:30 Heartland
8:00 Murphy Brown
8:30 Designing Women
9:00 Newhart
9:30 Doctor, Doctor
10:00 News
10:30 Win, Lose or Draw
11:00 Pat Sajak
12:30 Sign Off

WTHR 13 NBC Indianapolis
5:30 Morning Stretch
6:00 NBC News at Sunrise
6:30 News
7:00 Today
9:00 Hollywood Squares
9:30 Concentration
10:00 A.M. Indiana with Dick Wolfsie
11:00 Days of our Lives
12:00 News
12:30 Generations
1:00 Another World
2:00 Santa Barbara
3:00 Wheel of Fortune
3:30 Couch Potatoes
4:00 Family Feud
4:30 M*A*S*H
5:00 News
5:30 NBC News
6:00 News
6:30 Cosby Show
7:00 Current Affair
7:30 USA Today
8:00 ALF
8:30 Hogan Family
9:00 NBC Movie "Glitz"
11:00 News
11:30 Tonight Show
12:30 Late Night with David Letterman
1:30 Later with Bob Costas
2:00 Sign Off

WLFI 18 CBS Lafayette
6:00 Body by Jake (CBS Morning News pre-empted)
6:30 Ag Day
7:00 CBS This Morning
9:00 Family Feud
9:30 Now You See It
10:00 Price is Right
11:00 Young and the Restless
12:00 News
12:30 Bold and the Beautiful
1:00 As the World Turns
2:00 Guiding Light
3:00 Geraldo
4:00 Oprah Winfrey
5:00 Entertainment Tonight
5:30 CBS Evening News
6:00 News
6:30 M*A*S*H
7:00 Wheel of Fortune
7:30 Jeopardy!
8:00 Kate & Allie
8:30 Heartland
9:00 Murphy Brown
9:30 Designing Women
10:00 Newhart
10:30 Doctor, Doctor
11:00 News
11:30 Pat Sajak
1:00 Trapper John, M.D.
2:00 Sign Off

WMCC 23 Ind. Marion
5:00 Home Shopping Spree
6:00 Our Gang
6:30 Cartoons
7:00 Beverly Hills Teens
7:30 Danger Mouse
8:00 Yogi Bear
8:30 Popeye
9:00 Popeye
9:30 Cartoons
10:00 Zane Grey
10:30 Sherlock Holmes
11:00 Kojak
12:00 Morgan Brittany on Beauty - Commercial
12:30 Rifleman
1:00 Movie "The Private Life of Henry VIII"
3:00 Jetsons
3:30 Monkees
4:00 Leave it to Beaver
4:30 New Gidget
5:00 Bewitched
5:30 Gong Show
6:00 T.J. Hooker
7:00 Bonanza
8:00 Gunsmoke
9:00 Quincy
10:00 Untouchables
11:00 Mission: Impossible
12:00 Home Shopping Spree
3:00 Home Shopping Spree

38 WBAK ABC Terre Haute
6:00 Morning Stretch
6:30 ABC World News This Morning
7:00 Good Morning America
9:00 700 Club
10:00 Home
11:00 Growing Pains
11:30 Loving
12:00 All My Children
1:00 One Life to Live
2:00 General Hospital
3:00 Real Ghostbusters
3:30 Ducktales
4:00 Super Sloppy Double Dare
4:30 Gomer Pyle, USMC
5:00 Webster
5:30 Andy Griffith (ABC World News Tonight pre-empted)
6:00 Entertainment Tonight
6:30 Love Connection
7:00 MacGyver
8:00 ABC Movie "Toughlove"
10:00 Sanford and Son
10:30 Nightline
11:00 Heritage Today
11:30 Family Medical Center
12:00 NOAA Weather Service
12:30 Sign Off

WXIN 59 Fox Indianapolis
6:00 Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs
6:30 Bionic Six
7:00 Tom and Jerry
7:30 Flintstones
8:00 Care Bears
8:30 C.O.P.S. (Cartoon)
9:00 Eat and Be Thin - Commercial
9:30 Maude
10:00 Bob Newhart
10:30 Gilligan's Island
11:00 Beverly Hillbillies
11:30 I Love Lucy
12:00 Andy Griffith
12:30 Dick Van Dyke
1:00 Movie "Fun and Games"
3:00 Tom and Jerry
3:30 Pictionary
4:00 Fun House
4:30 Real Ghostbusters
5:00 Silver Spoons
5:30 Too Close for Comfort
6:00 Three's Company
6:30 Newhart
7:00 Night Court
7:30 Cheers
8:00 Space - Drama Series
11:00 Benny Hill
11:30 Arsenio Hall
12:30 Taxi
1:00 Movie "The Girl Who Came Gift-Wrapped"
3:00 Sign Off

 

[south_ferretti]

These are great TV listings. There aren't many Indy listings posted here. Thank you for posting it.

 

[johnothy]

From TV Guide:


WLFI 18 CBS Lafayette
7:00 Wheel of Fortune
7:30 Jeopardy!

Correction - WLFI had Jeopardy! at 7:00 and Wheel of Fortune at 7:30 during this time.

 

[umfan]

WMCC wasn't even two years old at this point. The station eventually became what is now WNDY. Terre Haute always had a marginal ABC affiliate.

 

[johnothy]

WMCC wasn't even two years old at this point. The station eventually became what is now WNDY. Terre Haute always had a marginal ABC affiliate.

From 1995-2011, WBAK (later WFXW) was a Fox station and returned to ABC in 2011 and became WAWV.

 

[ftballfan]

Ray Combs was all over TV at this point. He was hosting Family Feud for CBS and for syndication at this time.

Also, I didn't know Super Sloppy Double Dare was syndicated (and very unusual to see it on a Big Three affiliate!)

 

[johnothy]

You'll notice the Indianapolis stations were tape delaying shows across the board to keep the Eastern time zone schedule. WTHR was airing the NBC soaps on a one day delay with a very off pattern schedule. WLFI in Lafayette chose to keep the primetime shows 8-11pm, but air the daytime shows on a Central time zone schedule.

 

[south_ferretti]

You'll notice the Indianapolis stations were tape delaying shows across the board to keep the Eastern time zone schedule. WTHR was airing the NBC soaps on a one day delay with a very off pattern schedule. WLFI in Lafayette chose to keep the primetime shows 8-11pm, but air the daytime shows on a Central time zone schedule.

IIRC, those stations did that until the mid-2000s.

 

[gr8oldies]

I worked at WLFI from 1992-1994, and we had a consistent day and night schedule year round by then. The only thing that was on a Central Time schedule when the rest of the country was on DST was live sports and some Saturday morning shows.

 

[RyanHoward]

Please post listings for Saturday 6/17/1989 and Sunday 6/18/1989.

 

[umfan]

From 1995-2011, WBAK (later WFXW) was a Fox station and returned to ABC in 2011 and became WAWV.

I lived in the Terre Haute market from early 1992 until early 1995 before WBAK switched. Very low budget operation, but they still got some notoriety when they refused to carry 'NYPD Blue' when it first aired. I recall them having one local show with a host I thought was very talented. Her first name was Kristi, but I cannot recall her last name. I returned to the area for awhile in 1996 and the switch had been made by that point. WTHI has always been the 800 pound gorilla in that market both on TV and on radio.

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

I lived in the Terre Haute market from early 1992 until early 1995 before WBAK switched. Very low budget operation, but they still got some notoriety when they refused to carry 'NYPD Blue' when it first aired. I recall them having one local show with a host I thought was very talented. Her first name was Kristi, but I cannot recall her last name. I returned to the area for awhile in 1996 and the switch had been made by that point. WTHI has always been the 800 pound gorilla in that market both on TV and on radio.

From what I've seen and heard, it sounds like for about the first 25 years of its history, WTWO's budget wasn't much better (it signed on in 1965), as someone who posted these FB videos has mentioned in the background info (plus you can tell in the some of the videos):

WTWO News opens over the years: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhItD0YWh1M

WTWO news open the day of the Challenger explosion (1/28/1986): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6qY3vTgogM

Compare with WTWO ca. 1990 opening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIEc-0DUCk0

And 1994: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neFhA6jRR5A

Always been fascinated (even though it's a result of Channel 2's allocation being moved out of my area--Springfield, IL) that having channel 2 at both St. Louis (KTVI) and Terre Haute (WTWO) could be pulled off. But it is a 169-mile straight line "as the crow flies" between their respective transmitter sites in Sappington, MO and Farmersburg, IN. But that straight line goes through a lot of underserved "white areas" where OTA reception was and still is difficult. Especially in the Vandalia, Effingham, and Flora areas. However, most cable systems in those areas have still offered KTVI or WTWO over the years. In fact, St. Elmo, IL (Fayette County--St. Louis DMA) for years was served by the cable system in nearby Altamont (Effingham County--Champaign/Decatur/Springfield DMA), which for years offered Terre Haute stations in addition to the the in-market C/D/S stations. Including WTWO on Channel 2--even within parts of the St. Louis DMA in St. Elmo. In addition, Clay County, IL (Flora) IIRC bounced between being part of the St. Louis and Terre Haute DMAs and their Channel 2's.

Since then, Mediacom has split the Altamont and St. Elmo lineups and IIRC St. Louis now gets all St. Louis stations including KTVI--while Altamont (as well as Effingham) carries only mostly Champaign/Decatur/Springfield stations. With the Terre Haute stations dropped.

Altamont/Effingham: https://mediacomtoday-lineup.com/lineup/38/altamont_effingham_effingham_county_lake_sara_.aspx

St. Elmo: https://mediacomtoday-lineup.com/lineup/48/fayette_and_st__elmo_il.aspx

 

[johnothy]

From what I've seen and heard, it sounds like for about the first 25 years of its history, WTWO's budget wasn't much better (it signed on in 1965), as someone who posted these FB videos has mentioned in the background info (plus you can tell in the some of the videos):

WTWO still has issues today. They didn't go HD until 2009 when it was mandatory and just began HD newscasts in Fall 2016. Last July, they had some sort of transmitter failure that left them off the air along with WAWV. Since then they broadcast on a temporary transmitter at 29kw of power with WAWV ABC on their second subchannel. WAWV came back on the air at 1kw of power last month with ABC, Grit, and Bounce channels. The area has been without subchannels Laff and Escape on 2.2 and 2.3 for months. When the new transmitter is back up and going (no word when it will be), they are to add Cozi TV on 2.4...

 

[umfan]

From what I've seen and heard, it sounds like for about the first 25 years of its history, WTWO's budget wasn't much better (it signed on in 1965), as someone who posted these FB videos has mentioned in the background info (plus you can tell in the some of the videos):

WTWO News opens over the years: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhItD0YWh1M

WTWO news open the day of the Challenger explosion (1/28/1986): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6qY3vTgogM

WTWO was quite competitive in the late 80's and very early 90s. They seemed to be closing the gap somewhat with WTHI, but then WTHI added Patrece Dayton with their longtime anchor and that newscast just clicked throughout the Valley. Even with the strong NBC lineup throughout the 1990's, WTWO couldn't regain any momentum. They had a small budget compared to WTHI, that is for sure.