Retro: New Orleans - Monday, June 8, 1970 (channel swap)

[RandTV]

This swap is between channels 8 WYES (NET; soon to become PBS) and 12 WVUE (ABC) at 8:00 PM.

4 WWL (CBS)
6:00 Prayer
6:05 Channel 4 Presents
6:15 Town & Country Journal (Farming)
6:30 Sunrise Semester
7:00 CBS Morning News
7:30 Popeye, Bugs Bunny and Friends
8:00 Captain Kangaroo
9:00 Lucy Show
9:30 Beverly Hillbillies
10:00 Andy Griffith
10:30 Love of Life
11:00 Where the Heart Is
11:25 CBS Midday News
11:30 Search for Tomorrow
NOON Truth Or Consequences
12:30 As the World Turns
1:00 Love Is a Many Splendored Thing
1:30 Guiding Light
2:00 Secret Storm
2:30 Edge of Night
3:00 Gomer Pyle
3:30 Movie: "Blast of Silence" (1961) - Allen Baron, Molly McCarthy, Larry Tucker, Peter Clume
5:00 Eyewitness News
5:30 CBS Evening News
6:00 Eyewitness News
6:30 Gunsmoke
7:30 Here's Lucy
8:00 Mayberry RFD
8:30 Doris Day
9:00 Carol Burnett
10:00 Eyewitness News
10:30 Merv Griffin - Guests: Mike Garrett, Claude Dauphine, Julie Budd

6 WDSU (NBC)
6:20 News
7:00 Today
9:00 It Takes Two - Vin Scully; Celebrity couples: Gary Crosby & wife Barbara Cosentino, Pat Harrington Jr. & wife Marjorie Ann Gortner, Gordon MacRae & daughter Meredith MacRae
9:30 Concentration - Bob Clayton
10:00 Sale of the Century - Jack Kelly
10:30 Hollywood Squares - Panel: Paul Lynde, Wally Cox, Charley Weaver, Rose Marie, Vincent Price, Suzanne Pleshette, Marty Allen, Tina Cole, Soupy Sales
11:00 Jeopardy - Art Fleming
11:30 Who, What or Where Game - Art James
11:55 NBC Midday News
NOON Midday
1:00 Days of Our Lives
1:30 The Doctors
2:00 Another World - Bay City
2:30 Bright Promise
3:00 Another World - Somerset
3:30 Mike Douglas - Co-host: Kaye Ballard; Guests: Van Johnson, Peggy Cass, B. B. King, Mario Andretti
5:00 Channel 6 News
5:30 Huntley-Brinkley Report (replaced by NBC Nightly News on August 3)
6:00 Channel 6 News
6:30 My World...and Welcome to It
7:00 Laugh-In - Guests: Carol Channing, Tiny Tim (cameo)
8:00 NBC Monday Night at the Movies: "I Walk Alone" (1947) - Burt Lancaster, Lizabeth Scott, Kirk Douglas, Wendell Corey
10:00 Channel 6 News
10:30 Tonight Show - Guest: Lily Tomlin; Performers: Gloria Loring, Hines, Hines & Dad (Gregory, Maurice Jr. and Sr.)
MIDNIGHT David Frost

8 WYES (NET) until 8:00 PM
3:30 Bridge (card game) with Jean Cox
4:00 What's New?
4:30 Misterogers (as it was spelled at the time; changed to 'Mister Rogers' early the following year)
5:00 Sesame Street
6:00 Insight
6:30 12th Row Center
7:00 World Press
switch to WVUE (ABC)
8:00 Ch. 8-12 Changeover Ceremonies
8:10 ABC Monday Night Movie (cont'd): "The Naked Jungle" (see ch. 12 at 7:00 PM)
9:00 Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau: "The Water Planet"; Host and narrator: Rod Serling
10:00 Perry Mason
11:00 Alec Gifford News
11:30 Movie: "Magnificent Obsession" (1954) - Jane Wyman, Rock Hudson, Barbara Rush, Agnes Moorehead, Otto Kruger
1:00 Alec Gifford News (replay

12 WVUE (ABC) until 8:00 PM
6:15 Prayer
6:30 Anchors of Faith
7:00 Romper Room
7:30 Mister Magoo
8:00 77 Sunset Strip
9:00 He Said, She Said - Joe Gargiola
9:30 To Tell the Truth
10:00 Bewitched
10:30 That Girl
11:00 The Best of Everything
11:30 A World Apart
NOON All My Children
12:30 Let's Make a Deal
1:00 Newlywed Game
1:30 Dating Game
2:00 Movie: "Man Without a Star" (1955) - Kirk Douglas, Jeanne Crain, Claire Trevor
3:20 Fashions in Sewing
3:30 Flintstones
4:00 Dark Shadows
4:30 I Love Lucy
5:00 ABC Evening News - Frank Reynolds, Howard K. Smith
5:30 Twilight Zone
6:00 Alec Gifford News
6:30 Now
7:00 ABC Monday Night Movie: "The Naked Jungle" (1954) - Charlton Heston, Eleanor Parker (cont'd on ch. 8 at 8:10 PM)
switch to WYES (NET)
8:00 Ch. 8-12 Changeover Ceremonies
8:10 NET Journal
9:10 Special Edition
9:40 NET Playhouse: "El Teatro Campesino"

26 WGNO (Ind.)
4:30 PM Laurel & Hardy
5:00 News and Comments
5:10 Community Club Awards
5:30 ABC Evening News (Not sure why they had it on this channel as well as WVUE; ironically, WGNO is the present-day ABC affiliate)
5:55 Golf
6:00 Joe Burton Show
7:00 The Pioneers
7:30 "Mammy" (1930) - Al Jolson, Lois Moran, Lowell Sherman, Noah Beery
9:30 Trails West
10:00 Movie: "You Can't Get Away with Murder" (1936) - Humphrey Bogart, Gale Page, Billy Halop
MIDNIGHT Movie: "Dr. Socrates" (1935) - Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, Barton MacLane
3:30 Movie: "San Antonio" (1945) - Errol Flynn, Alexis Smith

 

[Ccook55]

Odd that 8 and 12 would switch at the onset of prime time. Of course the Atlanta switch of 1980 had WSB/2 changing from NBC to ABC and WXIA from ABC to NBC. To prepare for that switch in the summer, WSB aired ABC shows in the morning then NBC in the afternoon. WXIA did the inverse--mornings NBC, afternoons ABC.

 

[RandTV]

Odd that 8 and 12 would switch at the onset of prime time. Of course the Atlanta switch of 1980 had WSB/2 changing from NBC to ABC and WXIA from ABC to NBC. To prepare for that switch in the summer, WSB aired ABC shows in the morning then NBC in the afternoon. WXIA did the inverse--mornings NBC, afternoons ABC.

Same was the case in that 1973 Nashville switch I've just posted, which was also between the ABC and PBS affiliates.

 

[Ccook55]

Yeah, saw that. Still strange the changes would come in the throes of a programming schedule.

 

[fybush]

If you're trying to make sure everyone in town knows about your channel change, why not make it happen in prime time when your audience is largest?

 

[Gregg.]

I wondered, why did these two stations switch channels? Wikipedia says it was to give public television station WYES a larger broadcast area. Because there was also a Channel 12 in Jackson, Mississippi, WYES's signal was limited. OK. But now that means the ABC affiliate WVUE, relocated on Channel 12, would have to limit its signal to avoid interfering with Jackson.

In most, but not all cities, the public TV stations were an afterthought, after the big networks had their affiliates. Often the NET, later PBS, station was on UHF, while the big boys were on VHF. Luckily New Orleans had four VHF allocations.

Another oddity in New Orleans, speaking about public television. The big university, Loyola, run by Jesuit fathers of the Catholic Church, got into broadcasting, not with public radio and television, but with commercial stations. WWL 870 is a long-time CBS Radio affiliate and WWL-TV 4 became New Orleans' CBS television affiliate. It came on the air AFTER WYES had already been established. One of the few examples of a public TV station signing on before the market had its third commercial station.

 

[RandTV]

Also, since Nashville and New Orleans are both in the Central Time Zone, their ABC prime time programmings ended at 11:00 like in the Eastern and Pacific Zones.

 

[TVCOOL]

It made sense in the summer due to reruns airing at that time of the year.

 

[Wright County Guy]

I wondered, why did these two stations switch channels? Wikipedia says it was to give public television station WYES a larger broadcast area. Because there was also a Channel 12 in Jackson, Mississippi, WYES's signal was limited. OK. But now that means the ABC affiliate WVUE, relocated on Channel 12, would have to limit its signal to avoid interfering with Jackson.

In most, but not all cities, the public TV stations were an afterthought, after the big networks had their affiliates. Often the NET, later PBS, station was on UHF, while the big boys were on VHF. Luckily New Orleans had four VHF allocations.

Another oddity in New Orleans, speaking about public television. The big university, Loyola, run by Jesuit fathers of the Catholic Church, got into broadcasting, not with public radio and television, but with commercial stations. WWL 870 is a long-time CBS Radio affiliate and WWL-TV 4 became New Orleans' CBS television affiliate. It came on the air AFTER WYES had already been established. One of the few examples of a public TV station signing on before the market had its third commercial station.

I believe that Screen Gems, who owned WVUE, was able to put Channel 8 on a higher tower, allowing it to have the same broadcasting footprint as the other two VHF stations. WYES, on Channel 12, was superior to their signal on Channel 8, which was relegated to a lesser tower. Therefore, both stations improved their signal and possible audience.