Retro: New Orleans December 30, 1972

[briancraig]

Source: TV Guide

WWL-TV 4

5:30--Salvation Army
5:45--U.S. Dept. of Agriculture
6:00--Sunrise Semester
6:30--Town & Country Journal
7:00--Bugs Bunny
7:30--Sabrina, The Teenage Witch
8:00--Popeye and His Pals
8:30--Scooby Doo Movie
9:30--Josie and The Pussycats In Outer Space
10:00--Flintstones Comedy Hour
11:00--Archie's TV Funnies
11:30--Fat Albert and The Cosby Kids
Noon--Sun Bowl (North Carolina vs. Texas Tech)
3:00--Movie (Gun For A Coward, 1957)
5:00--Gilligan's Island
5:30--Dick Van Dyke
6:00--News
6:30--Let's Make A Deal
7:00--All In The Family
7:30--Bridget Loves Bernie
8:00--Mary Tyler Moore
8:30--Bob Newhart
9:00--Carol Burnett
10:00--News
10:30--Movie (Cape Fear, 1961)

WDSU-TV 6

6:15--Paul Carruth
6:30--Across The Fence
7:00--Houndcats
7:30--Roman Holidays
8:00--Jetsons
8:30--Pink Panther
9:00--Underdog
10:00--Sealab 2020
10:30--Runaround
11:00--Around The World In 90 Days
11:30--Sugar Bowl Party
Noon--This Week In Pro Football
1:00--Greater Showcase Of New Orleans
1:30--Crafts With Katy
2:00--Hee Haw
3:00--East-West Shrine Football
6:00--News
6:30--Wild Kingdom
7:00--Orange Bowl Parade
8:00--Movie (The Mouse On The Moon, 1963)
10:00--News
10:30--Saints and J.D.
10:45--Movie (Son of Frankenstein, 1939)
12:15--NFL Game Of The Week

WVUE-TV 8

6:30--Davey and Goliath
6:45--Sacred Heart
7:00--H.R. Pufnstuf
7:30--Jackson Five
8:00--Osmonds
8:30--Movie--cartoon- Oliver Twist and the Artful Dodger
9:30--Brady Kids
10:00--Bewitched
10:30--Kid Power
11:00--Funky Phantom
11:30--Lidsville
Noon--Monkees
12:30--Soul Train
1:30--Virginian
3:00--Gator Bowl (Colorado vs. Auburn)
5:30--Get Smart
6:00--What's My Line
6:30--Astro-Bluebonnett Bowl (Tennessee vs. LSU)
10:00--Perry Mason
11:00--News
11:30--Movie (The Four Days Of Naples, Italian 1962)

WYES-TV 12

9:00--Electric Company
9:30--Mister Rogers
10:00--Sesame Street
11:00--Electric Company
11:30--Sesame Street
12:30--Electric Company
1:00--Zoom
1:30--Maggie and The Beautiful Machine
2:00--Fashion Focus
2:30--Cookin' Cajun
3:00--Harambee
4:00--Tennis
6:30--International Performance
7:30--Prep Quiz Bowl
8:00--City Desk
9:00--Sleeping Beauty Ballet
10:30--Book Beat
11:00--Playhouse New York

WGNO-TV 26

Noon--Tennessee Tuxedo
12:30--Uncle Waldo
1:00--Movie (Lion of Thebes, Italian 1964)
2:30--Movie (Burn, Witch, Burn, English 1961)
5:00--Batman
5:30--Showtime
6:30--Rifleman
7:00--Alfred Hitchcock
8:00--Movie (Twenty Plus Two, 1961)
10:00--Movie (World Without End, 1956)
11:30--Movie (Cafe Metropole, 1937)

 

[Mike Stroud]

One thing that strikes me is that WYES appears to have been pretty impressive for a public television station in the South. A 15-hour sked on Saturdays wasn't small potatoes for a stand-alone PBS station back in 1972. At the time, it was the only pub TV outlet in the state of Louisiana; the state network wouldn't begin operation until 1975.

The show at 2:30, "Cookin' Cajun," was the first entry by famed chef/raconteur Justin Wilson; I think it was produced by the Mississippi state network, if I'm not mistaken. WYES would produce his later series of shows, though. "Prep Quiz Bowl" looks like the local version of the "It's Academic" franchise. And an hour of public affairs in "City Desk" at 8 p.m. was no small achievement for that day.

I think the station probably had a lot of wealthy private backers more than local governmental support; that probably made the difference in terms of quality and quantity alike. All in all, it was comparable to the networks in other Southern states.

 

[briancraig]

Prep Quiz Bowl was New Orleans version of It's Academic. It originally aired on WDSU before moving to WYES.

WYES was different in many ways than most PBS stations. They showed a lot of movies and some syndicated network reruns. At one time, they even ran some of the syndicated country music shows like Dolly and Marty Robbins' Spotlight and I mean as first run series not as 40 year nostalgia programs like PBS stations do today with Lawrence Welk.

There was an article in The Times Picayune in the 1970s about this aspect of WYES because some in public broadcasting were very critical of them, but I believe at one time they were one of the highest rated PBS stations.

 

[ssetta]

I wondered that about WYES, and according to the schedule, it is one of few PBS stations today that still airs Sesame Street at 4 pm, which I believe was an institution on most PBS stations throughout the 70s and 80s.