Retro: Ironwood, MI Friday, 11/22/1963 (if JFK had not been murdered)

[CCBInMI]

From The Ironwood Daily Globe, via the Newspaper Archive

Here's what viewers in Western Upper Michigan likely saw until about 12:30 local time, and what they would have seen for the rest of the day if the nation had not changed forever. Program names are presented verbatim and may be abbreviated.

KDAL 3 Duluth (CBS/ABC) (cable 3)
7:30 5 Minutes
7:35 Farm & Home
7:45 Tree Top House
8:00 Captain Kangaroo
9:00 CBS News
9:30 I Love Lucy
10:00 McCoys
10:30 Father Knows Best
11:00 Love of Life
11:25 CBS News
11:30 Search for Tomorrow
11:45 Guiding Light
12:00 Town & Country
12:30 As the World Turns
1:00 Password
1:30 House Party
2:00 To Tell the Truth
2:25 CBS News
2:30 Edge of Night
3:00 Secret Storm
3:30 Queen for a Day
4:00 The Price Is Right
4:30 Seven Keys
5:00 Cousin Tom
5:30 CBS News
6:00 News
6:10 Sports/Weather
6:25 CBS News
6:30 Travels of Jamie McPheeters
7:30 Route 66
8:30 Twilight Zone
9:00 Hitchcock (Alfred Hitchcock Presents?)
10:00 News/Sports
10:10 Weather
10:15 Cain's Hundred
11:15 Movie "My Gun Is Quick" [ironic title]

WDSM 6 Superior/Duluth (NBC/ABC) (cable 6)
7:00 Today
8:25 News
8:30 Today
9:00 Say When
9:25 NBC News
9:30 Word for Word
10:00 Concentration
10:30 Missing Links
11:00 Impression
11:30 Truth or Consequences
11:55 NBC News
12:00 General Hospital
12:30 Tennessee Ernie Ford
1:00 People Will Talk
1:25 NBC News
1:30 The Doctors
2:00 Loretta Young
2:30 You Don't Say
3:00 Match Game
3:25 News
3:30 Lee Phillips
3:45 Bozo
4:30 Trailmaster
5:30 Huntley-Brinkley Report
6:00 Local News
6:20 Closeup
8:00 Christmas City Parade
8:30 Harry's Girls
9:00 Jack Paar
10:00 News/Weather
10:15 Daily Double
10:20 Tonight

WSAU 7 Wausau (all three networks) (cable 4)
7:30 Channel 7 (assuming News)
7:35 Fun Room
8:00 Captain Kangaroo
9:00 News
9:30 Ed Allen
10:00 Concentration
10:30 Missing Link
11:00 Love of Life
11:25 News
11:30 Truth or Consequences
11:55 NBC News
12:00 Noon Show
1:00 Password
1:30 House Party
2:00 To Tell the Truth
2:25 CBS News
2:30 Edge of Night
3:00 Secret Storm
3:30 Trailmaster
4:30 Mickey Mouse
5:00 Huckleberry Hound
5:30 Channel 7
5:45 CBS News
6:16 Local News
6:30 The Greatest Adventure
7:30 Route 66
8:30 McHale's Navy
9:00 Ben Casey
10:00 Channel 7
10:30 Twilight Zone
11:00 Movie "Sabre Jet"

WLUK 11 Green Bay (ABC) (cable 2)
9:25 Almanac
9:30 Romper Room
10:00 The Price Is Right
10:30 Seven Keys
11:00 Tennessee Ernie Ford
11:30 Father Knows Best
12:00 General Hospital
12:30 Noon Report
1:00 Ranch Party
1:25 Midday Report
1:30 Day in Court
1:55 Lisa Howard
2:00 Queen for a Day
2:30 Who Do You Trust
3:00 Trailmaster
4:00 Theatre
5:45 Ron Cochran [viewers would be seeing his face A LOT earlier than planned...]
6:00 Leave It to Beaver
6:30 77 Sunset Strip
7:30 Burke's Law
8:30 Farmer's Daughter
9:00 Fight of the Week
9:45 Make That Spare
10:00 11 Steps
11:00 News, Weather
11:30 Frisco Beat

WLUC 6 Marquette (all three networks) (cable 5)
Schedule in Eastern Standard Time
9:00 Captain Kangaroo
10:00 CBS News
10:30 I Love Lucy
11:00 The McCoys
11:30 Pete & Gladys
12:00 Love of Life
12:25 CBS News
12:30 Search for Tomorrow
12:45 Guiding Light
1:00 General Hospital
1:30 As the World Turns
2:00 Password
2:30 House Party
3:00 To Tell the Truth
3:24 CBS News
3:30 Edge of Night
4:00 Secret Storm
4:30 Darby O'Six
5:15 Mickey Mouse
5:45 Public Service
6:30 CBS News
7:00 Men Into Space
7:30 Travels of Jamie McPheeters
8:30 Route 66
9:30 Peter Gunn
10:00 Fight of the Week
11:00 News/Sports
11:30 Movie "Father Was a Fullback"

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

The first network TV bulletin was on CBS at 1:40 EST/12:40 CST, breaking into "As The World Turns".

The only reason a videotape of that first flash (Walter Cronkite reading off camera while viewers saw a "CBS News Bulletin" slide) exists was because "As The World Turns" was being broadcast live to the Eastern and Central time zones and was being videotaped for a feed to California and the rest of the West Coast later that afternoon.

I believe the first ABC and NBC bulletins aired at 1:43 EST/12:43 CST, both breaking into local programs in the East. Likewise, they were read off camera with "Bulletin" slides seen by viewers.

As far as I've been able to ascertain, CBS went to nonstop coverage at 1:47 EST/12:47 CST; NBC began non-stop coverage at 1:53 EST/12:53 CST, and ABC started continuous coverage at 2 EST/1 CST.

Back then, TV cameras had lots of tubes and needed about fifteen minutes to warm up. Thus, it wasn't until 1:56 EST/12:56 CST (NBC), 1:59 EST/12:59 CST, (CBS) and 2 EST/1 CST (ABC) that network anchors were seen as well as heard. After the JFK assassination, all three networks installed "flash studios" with cameras always on so an anchor or correspondent could deliver a bulletin on camera. If CBS had such a facility on November 22nd, 1963, we would have seen a visibly shaken Cronkite deliver that first flash.