Retro: Jackson, Miss. - Monday, 05/13/1968

[rwells2265]

From weekly TV grid in Sunday combo Jackson Daily News and Clarion-Ledger

WJTV channel 12 (CBS/ABC)

615 Mississippi Morning
730 CBS News
755 Local News
800 Captain Kangaroo
900 Candid Camera
930 Beverly Hillbillies
1000 Andy of Mayberry
1030 Dick Van Dyke
1100 Love of Life
1130 Search for Tomorrow
1145 Guiding Light
1200 Weather / News
1230 As the World Turns
100 Love is a Many-Splendored Thing
130 House Party
200 To Tell the Truth
230 The Edge of Night
300 The Secret Storm
330 General Hospital
400 Dennis the Menace
430 The Dating Game
500 Bewitched
530 CBS News
600 Byline
630 Gunsmoke
730 Lucy Show
800 Andy Griffith
830 Movie [no title given]
1000 Weather / News / Sports
1030 Joey Bishop
1200 Peter Gunn


WLBT channel 3 (NBC/ABC)

620 Prayer
625 Bible Sur. (As printed)
655 Weather
700 Today
725 News
730 Today
825 News
830 Today
900 Girl Talk
930 Concentration
1000 Personality
1030 Hollywood Squares
1100 Jeopardy!
1130 Eye Guess
1200 News
1230 Let's Make a Deal
100 Days of Our Lives
130 The Doctors
200 Another World
230 You Don't Say
300 The Match Game
330 Dark Shadows
400 Mike Douglas
530 Huntley-Brinkley
600 News / Sports / Weather
630 Rat Patrol
700 Rowan & Martin
800 Danny Thomas
900 I Spy
1000 News
1030 Tonight Show
1200 Midnight News

** WLBT by then had picked up "Match Game" and "Tonight"

 

[classictvfan]

Of course, WLBT is one of the most infamous television stations in history

 

[rwells2265]

Indeed it was. For reasons I won't go into as it's all been rehashed elsewhere.

I don't recall any retro listings for WLBT from the Lamar era being posted here, so I did. I have some 1963 listings too which I'll soon be adding.

--Russell

 

[briancraig]

I'm kind of surprised WLBT cleared I Spy if you know what I mean.

 

[BobbyNBC10]

I saw on the sched where The Monkees were not cleared, although NBC had just cancelled the show, public outcry not withstanding. Were there any other uncleared or tape delayed NBC shows on WLBT then?.

 

[classictvfan]

Of course, WLBT is one of the most infamous television stations in history

Keep in mind that I Spy was near the end of it's NBC run at that point
so WLBT may have(and at first probably did) refused to clear it.

 

[bpatrick]

My understanding, from Castleman and Podrazik's "Watching TV,"
is that only three NBC affiliates refused to carry "I Spy," and WLBT
was not one of them; they were WESH Daytona Beach/Orlando;
WSAV Savannah, GA; and WALB Albany, GA (and I have issues of
the Central Florida edition of TV Guide from the period to confirm
that WESH did not carry "I Spy"). Perhaps Russell can find a 1965
or '66 schedule for a Wednesday, and we can all then find out if
"I Spy" was carried in Jackson (wait--maybe he'd better check an
entire week, since it could have aired on delay).

 

[classictvfan]

Both channels 3 and 12 were still secondary ABC
affiliates at that point. That would end on October
3, 1970 when WAPT(channel 16) signed on.

 

[rwells2265]

Fred Beard, the WLBT station manager behind the nasty programming practices was fired amidst the first FCC hearings in the mid '60s. At which point, Lamar Life evidently saw the writing on the wall and realized they couldn't blow off the possibility of a license renewal being denied. The "Technical Difficulty" slides, and pre-show disclaimers ("What follows is biased Northern news") were in the past by then.

I don't have any listings from the Fall of '65, when "I Spy" debuted ... but I'm guessing WLBT didn't dare make any waves by preempting it. Had it debuted a year earlier, when Fred Beard was still in charge, it likely would have been bagged. Do I know for certain? No. But this was a station manager who made a GIANT ruckus over a black woman guesting in an episode of "Bonanza"....

http://mdah.state.ms.us/arrec/digital_archives/sovcom/result.php?image=/data/sov_commission/images/png/cd10/076434.png&otherstuff=99|36|0|66|1|1|1|75461|

....so imagine how a program with an African-American in a starring lead role would have been treated by that management!!

Those were crazy times. And, from all indication, competitor WJTV-12 was just as bad .... only not as flamboyant. They cleaned up their act very quietly as WLBT got all the scrutiny.

--Russell