Retro: Jacksonville/Gainesville/Tallahassee-Albany Fri, Sept 27, 1963

[Bluenoser]

from All Florida-Tallahassee Democrat edition (All Florida was a Jacksonville-based supplement carried by 18 newspapers across Florida with sales offices in Jax, Pensacola, Tampa and Coral Gables)

WESH 2-NBC Daytona Beach/Orlando
6:00 Slimnastics
6:15 Sunshine Almanac
6:30 Florida History
7:00 Today (Farm Report at 7:25/News & Weather at 8:25)
9:00 Jack LaLanne
9:30 Gale Storm
10:00 Say When
10:25 NBC News
10:30 Play Your Hunch (c)
11:00 Concentration
11:30 Missing Links (c)
noon Your First Impression (c)
12:30 Truth or Consequences
12:55 NBC News
1:00 News/Weather
1:15 Focus Two
1:30 Science
2:00 People Will Talk (c)
2:25 NBC News
2:30 Doctors
3:00 Loretta Young
3:30 You Don't Say! (c)
4:00 Match Game
4:25 NBC News
4:30 Burns & Allen
5:00 Best of Groucho
5:30 Newscope
6:30 Huntley-Brinkley Report
7:00 Silent Service
7:30 International Showtime "Parisian Holiday on Ice"
8:30 Bob Hope (premiere with guests Dean Martin, Barbara Streisand, Tuesday Weld, James Garner, and Les Brown & His Band of Renown)
9:30 Harry's Girls
10:00 Jack Paar (c/guests Oscar Levant, Gordon & Sheila MacRae, and Bill Cosby; a comedy sketch features cameos from Dodie Goodman, Phyllis Diller, Wally Cox, Jonathan Winters, and Phil Foster)
11:00 Newscope
11:30 Tonight Show (c)
1:00 News
1:05 Daily Word

WJXT 4-CBS/ABC Jacksonville (WJXT's logo had a 4 in the middle of the CBS Eye, with the slogan The Stars' Address)
6:00 Sunrise Semester
6:30 Pastor's Study
6:35 Sunshine Almanac
6:50 Farm & Home
7:00 News/Weather
7:05 Ranger Hal
7:50 News
8:00 Captain Kangaroo
9:00 People's Choice
9:30 People are Funny
10:00 CBS News
10:30 I Love Lucy
11:00 Price is Right
11:30 Pete & Gladys
noon Love of Life
12:25 CBS News
12:30 Search for Tomorrow
12:45 Guiding Light
1:00 Midday
1:30 As the World Turns
2:00 Password
2:30 House Party (guests Lillian and Barbara Randolph)
3:00 To Tell the Truth
3:25 CBS News
4:00 Secret Storm
4:30 Supercar
5:00 Adventures in Paradise
6:00 Newsnight
6:30 CBS Evening News
7:00 Restless Gun
7:30 Great Adventure "The Hunley" (premiere)
8:30 Route 66 "Two Strangers and an Old Enemy" (season premiere, filmed at Cape Coral near Fort Myers)
9:30 Twilight Zone
10:00 Alfred Hitchcock
11:00 News
11:25 Late Show "Night has a Thousand Eyes"
12:55 Night Owl Show "Florida Special"
2:15 News

WUFT 5-Edu Gainesville
7pm Sing Hi, Sing Lo
7:15 Friendly Giant "A Dog Came to School"
7:30 What's New
8:00 Tallulah Bankhead
8:30 What in the World
9:00 Drama Festival "Twelfth Night"

WCTV 6-CBS/ABC Tallahassee
6:25 Music
7:00 Good Morning
8:00 Captain Kangaroo
9:00 Jack LaLanne
9:30 Tennessee Ernie Ford
10:00 CBS News
10:30 I Love Lucy
11:00 Real McCoys
11:30 Pete & Gladys
noon Love of Life
12:25 CBS News
12:30 Search for Tomorrow
12:45 Guiding Light
1:00 Rural Report
1:30 As the World Turns
2:00 Password
2:30 House Party
3:00 To Tell the Truth
3:25 CBS News
3:30 Edge of Night
4:00 Secret Storm
4:30 Price is Right
5:00 Mickey Mouse
5:30 Brave Stallion
6:00 Pulse
6:30 CBS Evening News
7:00 Restless Gun
7:30 Great Adventure "The Hunley" (premiere)
8:30 Route 66 "Two Strangers and an Old Enemy" (season premiere)
9:30 Big 6 Movie: TBA
11:00 Pulse
11:15 King's Movie "Jump Into Hell"

WJCT 7-Edu Jacksonville
7pm What's New
7:30 Written Word
8:00 Japan: Changing Years
8:30 Glenn Gould
9:00 Drama Festival "Twelfth Night"

WALB 10-NBC Albany
7:00 Today (Georgia Today at 8:25)
9:00 Meditation
9:05 Little Theatre
9:30 Highway Holidays
10:00 Say When
10:25 NBC News
10:30 Play Your Hunch (c)
11:00 Concentration
11:30 Missing Links (c)
noon Your First Impression (c)
12:30 Truth or Consequences
12:55 NBC News
1:00 Town & Country
2:00 People Will Talk (c)
2:25 NBC News
2:30 Doctors
3:00 Loretta Young
3:30 You Don't Say! (c)
4:00 Match Game
4:25 NBC News
4:30 Make Room for Daddy
5:00 Captain Mercury & Space Cadets
5:45 Funny Company Cartoons
6:00 Scope
6:30 Huntley-Brinkley Report
7:00 Trackdown
7:30 International Showtime "Parisian Holiday on Ice"
8:30 Bob Hope (premiere)
9:30 Movie "Full of Life"
11:00 Scope
11:30 Tonight Show (c)

WFSU 11-Edu Tallahassee
7pm Homecoming
7:30 Medical Care
8:00 Beyond the Earth "Lunar Echoes"
8:30 What in the World
9:00 Drama Festival "Twelfth Night"

WFGA 12-NBC/ABC Jacksonville
6:10 Operation Alphabet
6:40 Living Words (c)
6:45 Hi, Neighbor (c)
7:00 Today (News (c) at 7:25/8:25)
9:00 Romper Room (c)
9:30 My Little Margie "My Little Clementine"
10:00 Waldo Norris (c)
10:25 NBC News
10:30 Play Your Hunch (c)
11:00 Concentration
11:30 Missing Links (c)
noon Your First Impression (c)
12:30 Truth or Consequences
12:55 NBC News
1:00 News (c)
1:05 Match Game
1:30 Tennessee Ernie Ford
2:00 People Will Talk (c)
2:25 NBC News
2:30 Doctors
3:00 Loretta Young
3:30 You Don't Say! (c)
4:00 Popeye (c)
4:30 Early Show "Phantom Lady"
5:55 News/Weather/Sports (c)
6:30 Huntley-Brinkley Report
7:00 Ripcord
7:30 Travels of Jamie McPheeters
8:30 Bob Hope (premiere)
9:30 Harry's Girls
10:00 Jack Paar (c)
11:00 News (c)
11:30 Tonight Show (c)

 

[Bluenoser]

All Florida affiliated papers at the time... (you can find a few copies of All Florida on Google News Archive as well)
Daytona Beach Sunday News-Journal
DeLand Sun-News
Fort Myers News-Press
Fort Pierce News-Tribune
Gainesville Daily Sun
Jacksonville Florida Times-Union
Lakeland Ledger
Leesburg Daily Commercial
Melbourne Times
Miami News
Ocala Star-Banner
Palm Beach Post-Times
Panama City News-Herald
Pensacola News-Journal
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Tallahassee Democrat
Tampa Tribune
Winter Haven Daily News-Chief

By the end of the decade, the daily in Palatka had also picked up AF as well.

 

[cd637299]

Cool! I remember picking up AF's final issue in 1972, but cannot remember which paper.

BTW WJXT if it was CBS/ABC, Hitchcock @ 10pm? Wasn't that an NBC show? (WFGA had Jack Paar @ that time)

cd

 

[bpatrick]

At the time Hitchcock was on CBS. His half-hour show
had started there in 1955, moved to NBC in 1960, and then,
when it expanded to an hour in 1962, returned to CBS. He
would have one last season (1964-65) on NBC.

 

[Gregg]

Imagine... in 1963 Jacksonville was so small that it had only two commercial VHF stations. ABC had to accept secondary carriage between the NBC and CBS stations.

Today Jacksonville is so big that it has its own NFL team. Eventually Jacksonville got an ABC station on UHF, as well as other UHF stations. And Channel 4, WJXT, switched to independent, so CBS joined ABC on the UHF dial.

So that's another quirk for Jacksonville TV, that a VHF stations, WJXT 4, voluntarily gave up network affiliation to go independent.



Gregg
[email protected]

 

[cd637299]

Jax has an NFL team, but I think that even *that* is on the bubble. They are still market #52 or so. The Jags AFAIK started out strong in attendance, but I think even the NFL is not sure that it wants to keep the team there. Sad, because I'm a fan of them somewhat.

cd

 

[bpatrick]

Imagine... in 1963 Jacksonville was so small that it had only two commercial VHF stations. ABC had to accept secondary carriage between the NBC and CBS stations.

Today Jacksonville is so big that it has its own NFL team. Eventually Jacksonville got an ABC station on UHF, as well as other UHF stations. And Channel 4, WJXT, switched to independent, so CBS joined ABC on the UHF dial.

So that's another quirk for Jacksonville TV, that a VHF stations, WJXT 4, voluntarily gave up network affiliation to go independent.



Gregg

IIRC, WJKS/17 came on the air in 1967, giving Jacksonville its first ABC station, and the Alphabet network has been all over the place; you may recall that WTLV switched from NBC to ABC in 1980, back to NBC in '88 (putting ABC back on WJKS), and then, with the coming of the WB, 17 took the WB and ABC moved to Ch. 25.

Does anyone besides me think that WJXT's dropping CBS and becoming independent was a mistake? I've heard rumors to the effect that Ch. 4 no longer dominates the market, that it has suffered some of the same problems re loss of audience as San Francisco's KRON, formerly an NBC affiliate. I've also heard, but can't confirm, that ABC has tried to get 4 to affiliate with them and that 4 won't do it.
[email protected]

 

[Corky Marlowe]

Jax has an NFL team, but I think that even *that* is on the bubble. They are still market #52 or so. The Jags AFAIK started out strong in attendance, but I think even the NFL is not sure that it wants to keep the team there. Sad, because I'm a fan of them somewhat.

Are there still rumors the Jags might move to LA?

 

[cd637299]

Jax has an NFL team, but I think that even *that* is on the bubble. They are still market #52 or so. The Jags AFAIK started out strong in attendance, but I think even the NFL is not sure that it wants to keep the team there. Sad, because I'm a fan of them somewhat.

Are there still rumors the Jags might move to LA?

No idea, but it would not surprise me.

BTW---it just hit me---isn't WGFL High Springs the "default" Jax CBS station now? If so, Jax must be 99.5% cable by now....WGFL is a bit away!

cd

 

[gregg75]

I think WGFL is CBS for the Gainesville area.
Speaking of Gainesville, they sure have come a long way since 1963 also. From one college station
to 5 now (if you include Ocalla). Since their 2009 population was only 114,000 that's very impressive.
And during the summer that probably goes down to around 85,000.......bet there's a lot of infomercials there. GO GATORS.

 

[fortmill]

Imagine... in 1963 Jacksonville was so small that it had only two commercial VHF stations. ABC had to accept secondary carriage between the NBC and CBS stations.

Today Jacksonville is so big that it has its own NFL team. Eventually Jacksonville got an ABC station on UHF, as well as other UHF stations. And Channel 4, WJXT, switched to independent, so CBS joined ABC on the UHF dial.

So that's another quirk for Jacksonville TV, that a VHF stations, WJXT 4, voluntarily gave up network affiliation to go independent.
It wasn't a matter of JAcksonville being too small to support 3 commercial stations in 1963. Smaller cities, such as Columbia and Charleston SC had 3 commericial stations at the time (in Columbia 2 were UHF). Only two commercial VHFs had been allocated to JAX and expeience had shown UHFs did not fare well against Vs. In fact, JAX had a UHF in the mid 50s, but they couoldn't make a go of it. A number of larger markets than JAX had only two channels up to the mid sixties. In the southeast Birmingham and Charlotte, both much larger markets than Jax had only channels.


m

 

[bpatrick]

As did Raleigh/Durham, which went without a third network
affiliate from the demise of WNAO in the late '50s to the
arrival of WRDU/WPTF/WRDC in 1968, and even then, WTVD
continued to shoehorn CBS and NBC and leave Ch. 28 with
the crumbs until 28 complained and WTVD was forced to choose
between CBS (the one it took) and NBC in 1971. What was even
more jarring was the fact that little Greenville/New Bern/Washington
had three network affiliates by the end of 1963, as ABC affiliate WNBE
(WCTI)/12 signed on on Sept. 7.

 

[gregg75]

Wikipedia says Jacksonville got their ABC network in February 1966 (WJKS 17). "Jacksonville had to wait longer for full network service than other cities of its size." All because there were no suburbs around Jacksonville, wikipedia states (mostly swamps and ocean, I'd assume).

Over the years 17 switched to NBC and then back to ABC again. Then a move to the WB and finally the CW today. If I'm not mistaken, TV 17 was among the first stations in the 70's to show late late movies on the weekends, instead of just signing off at 1AM.

 

[azumanga]

BTW---it just hit me---isn't WGFL High Springs the "default" Jax CBS station now?

No -- WTEV channel 47, a former indy in Jax, is.

 

[cd637299]

^ Yeah thanks, I learned that last night surfing. I forgot about 47.

 

[Gregg]

Gainesville-Ocala for a while had only CBS, ABC and Fox affiliates, as well as a long-time PBS station connected with the University of Florida. Since Daytona Beach was so close, WESH 2, the Orlando NBC affiliate, also served as the NBC station for Gainesville-Ocala. That recently changed when WNBW signed on as Gainesville-Ocala's NBC affiliate.

According to what I've read, Cox Cable is keeping WESH on its line up, as well as WNBW.

 

[azumanga]

Gainesville-Ocala for a while had only CBS, ABC and Fox affiliates... WESH 2, the Orlando NBC affiliate, also served as the NBC station for Gainesville-Ocala. That recently changed when WNBW signed on as Gainesville-Ocala's NBC affiliate.

According to what I've read, Cox Cable is keeping WESH on its line up, as well as WNBW.

Actually, Cox carries WGFL (CBS) and WNBW (NBC) on its Gainesville system only -- viewers in Ocala, part of the Orlando market, get WKMG for CBS, and only WESH for NBC.