Retro: Memphis February 14, 1979

[briancraig]

Source: TV Guide

WREG-3 CBS

6 am--Wednesday Morning-Bob Schieffer
7 am--Good Morning From Memphis
8 am--Captain Kangaroo
9 am--All In The Family
9:30--Price Is Right
10:30--Love Of Life
10:55--CBS News-Douglas Edwards
11 am--Young & The Restless
11:30--Search For Tomorrow
Noon--News
12:30--As The World Turns
1:30--Guiding Light
2:30--M*A*S*H
3 pm--Leave It To Beaver
3:30--Superman
4 pm--I Love Lucy
4:30--Beverly Hillbillies
5 pm--Hogan's Heroes
5:30--CBS News-Walter Cronkite
6 pm--News
6:30--New Newlywed Game
7 pm--Bugs Bunny Special (Valentine's Day theme)
7:30--Popeye Special (Valentine's Day theme)
8 pm--M*A*S*H
8:30--One Day At A Time
9 pm--Dolly & Carol In Nashville (special)
10 pm--News
10:30--Movie: Operation: Cobra (1971)
Midnight--Movie: Grand Central Murder (1942)
1:30--Movie: They Call It Murder (1969)
3 am--Movie: Charlie Chan At Monte Carlo (1937)
4:30--Movie: The Intruder (1953)

WMC-TV 5 NBC

6:25--TV Chapel
6:30--Bewitched
7 am--Today
9 am--Phil Donahue
10 am--High Rollers
10:30--Wheel of Fortune
11 am--Jeopardy
11:30--Password
Noon--News
12:30--Days of our Lives
1:30--Doctors
2 pm--Another World
3 pm--Hollywood Squares
3:30--Brady Bunch
4 pm--Six Million Dollar Man
5 pm--News
6 pm--NBC News-John Chancellor/David Brinkley
6:30--Cross-Wits
7 pm--Edward The King (Supertrain was on NBC)
8 pm--From Here To Eternity
10 pm--News
10:30--Johnny Carson
Midnight--Tomorrow
1 am--News/Sign off

WKNO 10 PBS

7:40--Community Bulletin Board
7:45--Weather
Instructional Classroom Programs until 3 pm
3 pm--Sesame Street
4 pm--Mister Rogers
4:30--Lilias, Yoga & You
5 pm--Studio See
5:30--Over Easy
6 pm--Weeknight
6:30--MacNeil/Lehrer Report
7 pm--Shakespeare Plays: Julius Caesar
10 pm--Dick Cavett
10:30--ABC News-captioned for the hearing-impaired

WHBQ 13 ABC

6:30--Gilligan's Island
7 am--Good Morning America
9 am--Straight Talk
10 am--Happy Days
10:30--All My Children
11:30--Ryan's Hope
Noon--News
12:30--Family Feud
1 pm--One Life To Live
2 pm--General Hospital
3 pm--Edge of Night
3:30--Afterschool Special-Make Believe Marriage
4:30--My Three Sons
13 usually showed My Three Sons at 3:30 followed by Gunsmoke at 4.
5 pm--ABC News-Frank Reynolds
5:30--Sanford & Son
6 pm--News
7 pm--Eight Is Enough
8 pm--Charlie's Angels
9 pm--Vega$
10 pm--News
10:30--Bonanza
11:30--Police Woman
12:40--Mannix
1:50--News/Sign off

WPTY 24

8:10--News
8:25--Rejoice-religion
8:30--Fred Flintstone & Friends
9 am--Hollywood & The Stars
9:30--Not For Women Only
10 am--PTL Club
Noon--Joker's Wild
12:30--Dinah!
1:30--Merv Griffin
2:30--Big Valley
3:30--Popeye (BW)
4 pm--Spiderman
4:30--Fred Flintstone & Friends
5 pm--Three Stooges
5:30--I Dream Of Jeannie
6 pm--Star Trek
7 pm--Untouchables
8 pm--Movie: Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964)
10 pm--Love, American Style
10:30--Rockford Files
11:40--Kojak
24 aired the CBS late night programming that 3 didn't show
12:50--News/Sign off

 

[mleach]

OK..gotta be asked.

Just how much influence did Elvis Presley had on local Memphis television? Yes these listings are from 1979 and Elvis had died in 1977 but gawd...those stories that have appeared in all of those Elvis books over the years ;D

Two for example I still remember reading to this day ( "Elvis from A to Z" ? ) where that "out of repsect to the king" , prior to his death in August 1977 the Memphis stations refused to air any movies starring Elvis Presley. Then there was this "gem" when back in the late 60's and early 70's...where Priscilla had the habit of all calling up the local stations and bitching them out for not showing more cartons because Lisa Marie had liked them so much.

Now two years ago my in-laws did go to Memphis to do the Graceland thing and they were told by employees at Graceland that back in the 60's and until 1975, despite have an early working VTR setup at Graceland, after the Memphis stations would sign off for the night about one or two hours later they would sign back on for a few hours to provide special programming strictly for Elvis Presley.. After "Elvis TV:, they would sign back off and then come back on the air with their regular programming. Yes it does sound fishy but thats what the folks at Graceland had told my in-laws anyway.

 

[radiorob2.0]

It could have happened, especially if Elvis compensated the station for overnight hours.

A similar story involved Howard Hughes. He owned a Las Vegas television station and one of his assistants would call the station ordering overnight programming. A former overnight Master Control Operator shared a story on a website about one experience. It seems the assistant stated Mr Hughes wanted to watch an obscure movie the TV station didn't have. The assistant told the MCO to expect a knock at the door at a certain time for a delivery. It turns out HH called someone in Hollywood to find and deliver a movie print to LAX and placed on a flight to Vegas. Someone at the Vegas airport arranged local delivery through a cab driver. Sure enough there was a knock on the door and there was the movie. A few minutes later the MCO loaded the film on the film chain and Hughes was able to watch his movie.

 

[briancraig]

Elvis stories regarding Memphis tv stations are urban legend. Elvis movies were shown all the time on Memphis tv during the early 1970s.

The tv stations never signed on in the middle of the night for Elvis.

Where that probably comes from is that Elvis would get local movie theaters to open in the middle of the night and show movies for him and his friends. He also would get the Fairgrounds amusement park (which later became Libertyland) to do the same.

 

[rwells2265]

Elvis stories regarding Memphis tv stations are urban legend. Elvis movies were shown all the time on Memphis tv during the early 1970s.

The tv stations never signed on in the middle of the night for Elvis.

Where that probably comes from is that Elvis would get local movie theaters to open in the middle of the night and show movies for him and his friends. He also would get the Fairgrounds amusement park (which later became Libertyland) to do the same.

What Brian said. Having lived in Tupelo in the '70s - with Memphis TV via cable - I clearly remember Elvis movies being shown. And if the TV station(s) pulled a private all-nighter, I'm sure it would not have escaped attention in Tupelo, of all places.

Any event, I cannot resist putting this on the table: what influence The King, if any, might (!) have had on the preemption of a certain Dick Clark-hosted dance program in that market. ;D

--Russell

 

[mleach]

Elvis stories regarding Memphis tv stations are urban legend. Elvis movies were shown all the time on Memphis tv during the early 1970s.

The tv stations never signed on in the middle of the night for Elvis.

If this is the case I wonder why the Memphis stations don't approach Graceland & Lisa Marie to set the record straight? Unless of course its a question of money since Memphis makes a LOT of money from Graceland and why rock the boat?

 

[firepoint525]

Seems to me that if movies were shown on TV overnight, that some Memphis-area insomniacs (or even the FCC!) would have caught wind of it. I don't know how that could escape anyone's attention. And if it were true, couldn't staffers of the TV stations verify it?

I'm curious about the airing of Price is Right at 9:30. Didn't it usually come on at 10:00 a.m. for those of us in central time?

 

[azumanga]

I'm curious about the airing of Price is Right at 9:30. Didn't it usually come on at 10:00 a.m. for those of us in central time?

Not until April 23 of that year.

 

[briancraig]

Price Is Right was shown in the Central Time Zone from 9:30 to 10:30 in 1978 and the first few months of 1979 until Love of Life was moved to 3 pm.

It also aired at 9:30 in the Summer of 1977 when CBS showed Here's Lucy reruns at 9 am.

 

[firepoint525]

Isn't it also a little unusual to start an hour-long show at the bottom of the hour? Maybe that is why they moved it to 10:00.