RETRO: MISSISSIPPI - WEEKDAYS, 08/05-09/1974

[rwells2265]

[source: TV Guide, Mississippi edition]

Of course, some items this week may well have been preempted due to Nixon's resignation......

WLBT-3 / Jackson (NBC)

615 Our World
645 News (local)
700 Today
900 Coffee With Judy ["Name That Tune" and "Winning Streak" preempted]
1000 High Rollers
1030 Hollywood Squares
1100 Jackpot!
1130 Celebrity Sweepstakes
1155 NBC News (Edwin Newman)
1200 News (local)
1230 Our Playmates ["Jeopardy!" preempted]
100 Days of Our Lives
130 The Doctors
200 Another World
230 How to Survive a Marriage
300 Somerset
330 Truth or Consequences
400 I Dream of Jeannie
430 Bonanza
530 NBC Nightly News (John Chancellor)
600 News (local)
+++

WJTV-12 / Jackson (CBS)

530 Summer Semester
600 Mississippi Morning
700 CBS Morning News (Hughes Rudd)
800 Captain Kangaroo
900 Romper Room
930 Gambit
1000 Now You See It
1030 Love of Life
1055 CBS News (Douglas Edwards)
1100 Young and the Restless
1130 Search For Tomorrow
1200 News (local)
1230 As the World Turns
100 Guiding Light
130 Edge of Night
200 Price is Right
230 Dot Lambert
300 Tattletales
330 Match Game [tape delayed from 2:30]
400 Joker's Wild [tape delayed from 9:00]
430 To Tell the Truth
500 News (local)
530 CBS News (Walter Cronkite)
600 News (local)
+++

WAPT-16 / Jackson (ABC)

930 New Zoo Revue
1000 Lyn's Notebook
1015 Down a Country Lane
1030 Brady Bunch
1100 Password
1130 Split Second
1200 All My Children
1230 Let's Make a Deal
100 Newlywed Game
130 Girl In My Life
200 General Hospital
230 One Life to Live
300 $10,000 Pyramid
330 Munsters
400 Fury
430 The Saint
530 ABC News
600 News (local)
+++

Mississippi ETV

700 On Job Training
730 Job Bank
745 Charlie's Pad
800 Your Future is Now
830 Hatha Yoga
900 Sesame Street
1000 Ride the Reading Rocket
1030 Electric Company
1100 Hodgepodge Lodge
1130 Western Civilization
1200 On Job Training
1230 Your Future is Now
100 Kaleidoscope
200 Course of Our Times
230 Consultation
300 Erica and Theonie
330 On Job Training
400 Mister Rogers
430 Sesame Street
530 Electric Company
+++

WTOK-11 / Meridian (CBS, ABC)

555 Operation Alphabet
625 Summer Semester
655 News (local)
700 CBS News (Hughes Rudd)
800 Faith For Every Day
815 Captain Kangaroo
900 Joker's Wild
930 Gambit
1000 Now You See It
1030 Love of Life
1055 CBS News (Douglas Edwards)
1100 Young and the Restless
1130 Search For Tomorrow
1200 Farm and Home Report
1215 News (local)
1230 As the World Turns
100 Guiding Light
130 Edge of Night
200 Price is Right
230 Match Game ‘74
300 Tattletales
330 Potpourri
400 Name of the Game
530 CBS News (Walter Cronkite)
600 News (local)
625 Senator John C. Stennis
+++

WABG-6 / Greenwood (ABC)

730 News
800 New Zoo Revue
830 Romper Room
900 Fran Carlton
930 Not For Women Only
1000 Southern Epic
1030 Brady Bunch
1100 Password
1130 Split Second
1200 News (local)
1230 Let's Make a Deal
100 Newlywed Game
130 Girl In My Life
200 General Hospital
230 One Life to Live
300 $10,000 Pyramid
330 All My Children [tape delayed from 12:00]
400 Daniel Boone
500 ABC News (Smith/Reasoner)
530 News (local - one hour)
+++

WLOX-13 / Biloxi (ABC)

700 Just Coasting
800 Jack LaLanne
830 Potpourri
930 Romper Room
1000 Brady Bunch
1100 Password
1130 Split Second
1200 All My Children
1230 Let's Make a Deal
100 Newlywed Game
130 Girl In My Life
200 General Hospital
230 One Life to Live
300 $10,000 Pyramid
330 Movie: "Fallen Angel"
500 News (local)
530 ABC News
600 News (local)
+++

WDAM-7 / Hattiesburg (NBC)

635 Laff Time (B&W)
655 Weather
700 Today
900 Name That Tune
930 Winning Streak
1000 High Rollers
1030 Hollywood Squares
1100 Jackpot!
1130 Celebrity Sweepstakes
1155 NBC News (Edwin Newman)
1200 Midday
1230 Jeopardy!
100 Days of Our Lives
130 The Doctors
200 Another World
230 How to Survive a Marriage
300 Somerset
330 Movie: "We Were Strangers"
510 Mississippi Mirror
525 Weather
530 NBC Nightly News (John Chancellor)
600 News (local)
+++

WTWV (WTVA)-9 / Tupelo (NBC)

700 Today
900 Name That Tune
930 Winning Streak
1000 High Rollers
1030 Hollywood Squares
1100 Jackpot!
1130 Celebrity Sweepstakes
1155 NBC News (Edwin Newman)
1200 News (local)
1215 Reflections
1230 Jeopardy!
100 Days of Our Lives
130 The Doctors
200 Another World
230 How to Survive a Marriage
300 Somerset
330 Movie: "The Nevadan"
500 Green Acres
530 NBC Nightly News (John Chancellor)
600 News (local)
+++

 

[Mike Stroud]

Questions for you, Russell W.

1) Why did WJTV schedule what was almost certainly a women's show ("Dot Lambert") at 2:30, displacing TV's most popular daytime program? M(r)s. Lambert sure must have been a Mississippi institution for that to happen. Would you guess she was an original station employee and that her show had always aired at that time? Otherwise, this is highly unusual.

2) I caught a glimpse of a Jackson TV schedule from earlier in the 1970s once, and I could swear that WLBT tape-delayed the 9-10 a.m. NBC programs until 3:30-4:30 p.m. Did it do that in the past and then stopped doing it, if you can remember?

3) WTOK in Meridian: it was common back in the days for U.S. senators to film or tape a short program for broadcast each week by selected stations in their states, but these were normally seen in the public affairs slots right after sign-on or before sign-off, and particularly on Sundays. Did WTOK broadcast Senator Stennis' program every weeknight after the news? That's what your listing suggests.

4) Was WAPT, in your opinion, on par with WLBT and WJTV, unlike some sole UHFs in an otherwise VHF-dominated market? Its scheduling of the "ABC Evening News" at 5:30 instead of 5 makes me think that the station had confidence enough to take its competitors head-on, unlike, say, WBMG (WIAT) in Birmingham against WAPI (WVTM) and WBRC.

P.S. I don't have any Mississippi editions other than the 1982 one I posted, but I do have a North Alabama from 1972. I'll be happy to do that one soon for you.

 

[rwells2265]

Questions for you, Russell W.

1) Why did WJTV schedule what was almost certainly a women's show ("Dot Lambert") at 2:30, displacing TV's most popular daytime program? M(r)s. Lambert sure must have been a Mississippi institution for that to happen. Would you guess she was an original station employee and that her show had always aired at that time? Otherwise, this is highly unusual.

I'm not entirely familiar with the hows and whys of Jackson television other than the historical anecdotes and various research I've done about the "flap." I'm a native of Birmingham, and lived in northeast Mississippi during the '70s (Tupelo).

My only theory as to Dot Lambert's scheduling in this case would be trying to get an after-school audience for "Match Game 7x" (and brother would I have LOVED to have been able to get WJTV-12 on cable in Tupelo, thus being able to watch "Joker's Wild" and "Match" every day!)

2) I caught a glimpse of a Jackson TV schedule from earlier in the 1970s once, and I could swear that WLBT tape-delayed the 9-10 a.m. NBC programs until 3:30-4:30 p.m. Did it do that in the past and then stopped doing it, if you can remember?

Not sure. Somewhere (!) I have a couple of microfilm printouts of WJTV and WLBT schedules from 1968-69 I pulled up during a trip to Jackson a decade ago. I'd really like to locate those. As we say around our house, "it's in a box somewhere."

I don't recall any red-flags in those listings, though. I think by then the lawyers pretty much ran the show -- WLBT even had what looked to be an even-handed documentary on desegregation ... in 1970, when Lamar Life still had the station. Fred Beard, WLBT's GM in the dark days, was ever the firebrand "seg" who made all those on-the-fly preemption calls. He was fired by Lamar Life in 1965, while they were sweating bullets over the license challenge.

What's more, WJTV-12 was said to have been nearly as bad as WLBT with biased coverage and preemptions ... just not as blatant as Fred Beard (who was a honcho in the White Citizens Council - read: KKK in business attire - and operated a "Freedom Bookstore" in WLBT's lobby, complete with WCC/KKK literature). I suspect WJTV cynically operated in the shadow, knowing WLBT was the one getting all the attention.

3) WTOK in Meridian: it was common back in the days for U.S. senators to film or tape a short program for broadcast each week by selected stations in their states, but these were normally seen in the public affairs slots right after sign-on or before sign-off, and particularly on Sundays. Did WTOK broadcast Senator Stennis' program every weeknight after the news? That's what your listing suggests.

Just on Mondays, it appeared.

4) Was WAPT, in your opinion, on par with WLBT and WJTV, unlike some sole UHFs in an otherwise VHF-dominated market? Its scheduling of the "ABC Evening News" at 5:30 instead of 5 makes me think that the station had confidence enough to take its competitors head-on, unlike, say, WBMG (WIAT) in Birmingham against WAPI (WVTM) and WBRC.

I highly doubt it. Again, having never watched WAPT back in the day. I'd suspect it's like most other markets where a latecoming U showed up as a fulltime ABC. Savannah, Ga. (where I live) for example. WJCL-22 (immortalized in last year's TVG Channel program "Making News: Savannah Style") has never to my knowledge been on par with our well-established NBC (WSAV-3) and CBS (WTOC-11 ... far and away the leader).

P.S. I don't have any Mississippi editions other than the 1982 one I posted, but I do have a North Alabama from 1972. I'll be happy to do that one soon for you.

Thanks ... I do have a number of North Ala. TVG issues, mostly from 1973-74, but only one from 1972. I'd love to see some from pre-1972, though.

--Russell

 

[Mike Stroud]

Russell W., thanks so much for your kind replies on this and the Saturday sked post. It sure has shed some light on one of the most notorious TV markets in the country. I have been looking, with varying degrees of intensity, for pre-1972 North Alabama editions, with no success (on eBay especially). I did buy some late 1960s Nashville editions from a Shelbyville, Tenn. man late last year, and I will try to get those up in the months to come. I might try to take a tack from you and visit the public library in Huntsville to copy the microfilm from the Huntsville Times' listings, as cable systems (and some OTA as well) carried Nashville, Birmingham, and even Chattanooga back in the day. The only diff between that and TVG would be the outlying stations such as WCBI and WTWV (WTVA) in Mississippi, Tuscaloosa's WCFT and Anniston's WHMA (WJSU).

I also have South Alabama editions from 1974 and 1979. Those might be interesting too.

Again, great job!

 

[briancraig]

I love any library that kept old issues of TV Guide or purchased it on microfilm.

The University of Alabama library in Tuscaloosa has the Northern Alabama edition from around 1968 and up in bound volumes.

Our public library in Memphis used to have TV Guide on microfilm back to when Memphis channels first appeared, but trashed it for space reasons even though microfilm doesn't take up much space. When I complained, they said I was the only one who ever used it.

 

[classictvfan]

I don't have any Mississippi editions other than the 1982 one I posted, but I do have a North Alabama from 1972. I'll be happy to do that one soon for you.

Do you have a North Alabama edition from 1982 or 83 that you could post listings from?

 

[Mike Stroud]

I should have a few from that time period, but I promised to do 1972 first for Russell W. After then, I will fill your request. Thanks for your patience.

 

[rwells2265]

I love any library that kept old issues of TV Guide or purchased it on microfilm.

The University of Alabama library in Tuscaloosa has the Northern Alabama edition from around 1968 and up in bound volumes.

Our public library in Memphis used to have TV Guide on microfilm back to when Memphis channels first appeared, but trashed it for space reasons even though microfilm doesn't take up much space. When I complained, they said I was the only one who ever used it.

As of 1984-85, the library at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro had Memphis edition TVGs on microfilm going back, I believe, to 1964. Dunno if they still have 'em, but you never know.....

And the TVGs at the U of A library are all bound, not microfilmed. I spent part of a day back in '03 perusing them. They're so tightly bound as to be useless for photocopying adverts, or even seeing some of the listings.

--Russell

 

[rwells2265]

Mike: I was just looking through a South Alabama TVG issue from 1974 this evening (01/19-25; Bob Hope on the cover). I would love to see the 1979 listings, when/if you have time.

Classic TV Fan: I have a 1982 North Alabama edition within easy reach. I'll put that in the queue.

Meanwhile, I've just transcribed a week's worth of Jackson and Meridian listings from July 1962 (I thought it was 1960 .... oh well .....). I'll be posting those shortly.

--Russell