Retro: North Carolina Friday, February 1, 1957

[bpatrick]

From TV Guide, North Carolina Edition:

WFMY Ch. 2 Greensboro (CBS/ABC)

7 AM Good Morning! (this is a CBS program, the local
"Good Morning Show" doesn't start until December)
8 AM Captain Kangaroo
9 AM Devotions
9:15 Second Breakfast
9:30 Edge Of Night (delay from 4:30)
10 AM Garry Moore
11:30 Strike It Rich
12 N RFD Piedmont
12:15 Love Of Life
12:30 Search For Tomorrow
12:45 Guiding Light
1 PM What's Cooking Today?
1:30 As The World Turns
2 PM My Little Margie
2:30 Art Linkletter's House Party
3 PM Big Payoff
3:30 Bob Crosby (COLOR)
4 PM Brighter Day
4:15 Secret Storm
4:30 Old Rebel, Pecos Pete
5 PM Mickey Mouse Club (ABC)
6 PM Millionaire (delay from Wed 9 PM)
6:30 News
6:45 Douglas Edwards With The News
7 PM Jim Bowie (says it's the same episode which
will air on ABC at 8 PM)
7:30 Do You Trust Your Wife? (delay from Tue 10:30)
8 PM Dr. Christian
8:30 Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater
9 PM Mr. Adams And Eve
9:30 Schlitz Playhouse Of Stars (Bob Cummings plays
a man who loses his entire family except for a
daughter in an auto accident, and he may lose
her as well.)
10 PM The Lineup
10:30 Person To Person (Ed Murrow--he's "Ed," not
"Edward R." on this show--visits singer Roberta
Sherwood in Miami and Kirk Douglas in Los Angeles.)
11 PM Weather
11:05 Sports And News
11:20 Movie: "Hi Neighbor" (Jack Benny's announcer Don
Wilson appears in this one, from '42)

WBTV Ch. 3 Charlotte (CBS/NBC/ABC)

7 AM Good Morning!
8 AM Captain Kangaroo
8:55 Rise And Shine
9 AM Movie: "Black Bandit"
10 AM Garry Moore
11:30 Strike It Rich
12 N Valiant Lady
12:15 Love Of Life
12:30 Search For Tomorrow
12:45 Guiding Light
1 PM Betty Feezor
1:30 As The World Turns
2 PM Fashion Fair
2:05 Man Around The House
2:30 Art Linkletter's House Party
3 PM Big Payoff
3:30 Bob Crosby (COLOR)
4 PM Brighter Day
4:15 Secret Storm
4:30 Edge Of Night
5 PM Junior Rancho (Fred Kirby welcomes Brownie
troop 75 from Davidson, NC)
5:30 Cisco Kid
6 PM Pastor's Answers
6:15 Farm Journal
6:30 News
6:45 Weather
6:50 Patti Page
7:05 Spannorama
7:15 Douglas Edwards With The News
7:30 Ford Theater (ABC, delay from Wed 9:30)
8 PM West Point
8:30 Lawrence Welk (ABC, delay from Sat 9 PM)
9 PM Mr. Adams And Eve
9:30 Schlitz Playhouse Of Stars
10 PM The Lineup
10:30 Sheriff Of Cochise
11 PM Weather
11:05 News
11:15 Sports (Ch. 3's wrestling announcer, Big Bill Ward,
does the station's sportscast.)
11:25 Movie: "Man From Texas"

WFBC (WYFF) Ch. 4 Greenville, SC (NBC)

7 AM Today (Dave Garroway)
9 AM Star Performance
9:30 Willy (June Havoc in a sitcom seen on CBS in the
1954-55 season.)
10 AM Home (Arlene Francis and Hugh Downs show films
of Italy.)
11 AM Price Is Right (Bill Cullen)
11:30 Truth Or Consequences (Bob Barker)
12 N Tic Tac Dough
12:30 It Could Be You
1 PM Movie: "Japanese War Bride"
2:15 News, Devotions
2:30 Tennessee Ernie Ford Show
3 PM Matinee Theater: "Accent On Youth," about a 60-
something playwright whose young secretary is in
love with him. (COLOR)
4 PM Queen For A Day
4:45 Modern Romances
5 PM It's A Great Life
5:30 Cartoon Express
6 PM Ramar Of The Jungle
6:30 News
7 PM TV Screen Auditions
7:30 Eddie Fisher
7:45 NBC News (Chet Huntley)
8 PM Blondie
8:30 Life Of Riley
9 PM On Trial (a man claims he is a wealthy Englishwoman's
missing son)
9:30 Big Story (reporter Ed Montgomery and photographer
Bob Bryant of the San Francisco examiner work on the
case of a missing high-school girl)
10 PM Boxing: Isaac Logart vs. Yama Bahama, middleweights,
10 rounds, from Madison Square Garden
10:45 Red Barber (guest: Cincinnati Reds manager Birdie Tebbetts,
time approximate, COLOR)
11 PM Weather
11:05 Sports And News
11:30 Tonight: America After Dark (the entire show is devoted to
Chinese New Year; Jack Lescoulie hosts this short-lived
attempt at a nighttime version of the "Today" show)

WUNC Ch. 4 Chapel Hill (Educational)

1 PM Today On The Farm
1:30 Music For Young People
2 PM Industry On Parade
2:15 Film Shorts (today: "Ship Ways")
nothing else listed until
6 PM Children's Corner
7 PM Biological Brainstorm
7:30 Humanities (modern poetry)
8 AM Air Age
8:30 Prelude
9 PM Project Health
10 PM News, Weather, Sports

WRAL Ch. 5 Raleigh (NBC)

10 AM Home
11 AM Price Is Right
11:30 Truth Or Consequences
12 N Tic Tac Dough
12:30 It Could Be You
1 PM Today On The Farm
1:30 My Little Margie
2 PM Trouble With Father (Stu Erwin)
2:30 Tennessee Ernie Ford Show
3 PM Matinee Theater (COLOR)
4 PM Queen For A Day
4:45 Modern Romances
5 PM It's A Great Life
5:30 Popeye
6:30 News
7 PM Hollywood Playhouse (Charles Boyer as a
father who decides not to celebrate Christmas
because his children haven't followed the career
paths he chose for them.)
7:30 Eddie Fisher
7:45 NBC News
8 PM Blondie
8:30 Life Of Riley
9 PM On Trial
9:30 Big Story
10 PM Boxing: Logart-Bahama
10:45 Red Barber (time approximate, COLOR)
11 PM Weather
11:05 News

WITN Ch. 7 Washington, NC (NBC)

7 AM Today
9 AM Movie: "Wrong Roads"
10 AM Home
11 AM Price Is Right
11:30 Truth Or Consequences
12 N News And Weather
12:15 Farm Front
12:30 It Could Be You
1 PM Visiting With Hilda
2 PM Playhouse (nothing else given)
2:30 Tennessee Ernie Ford Show
3 PM Matinee Theater (COLOR)
4 PM Queen For A Day
4:45 Modern Romances
5 PM It's A Great Life
5:30 Gene Autry
6 PM News, Weather, Sports
6:30 Ray Anthony (ABC, delay from 10 PM)
7:30 Eddie Fisher
7:45 Public Service Program
8 PM Blondie
8:30 The Whistler
9 PM On Trial
9:30 Big Story
10 PM Boxing: Logart-Bahama
10:45 News, Weather, Sports (time approximate)
11 PM Wrestling From Chicago

WSPA Ch. 7 Spartanburg, SC (CBS)

9 AM Captain Kangaroo
10 AM Garry Moore
10:15 Movie: "Honolulu Lu"
11:30 Strike It Rich
12 N Carolina Farmer (Cliff Gray)
12:15 Love Of Life
12:30 Search For Tomorrow
12:45 Guiding Light
1 PM CBS News (Walter Cronkite)
1:10 Stand Up And Be Counted
1:30 Jane Dalton
2 PM Our Miss Brooks
2:30 King's Crossroads (ABC had aired movies under
this title in the 1951-52 season; by no means
should it be confused with the short-lived "King's
Crossing," which aired on ABC in 1982.)
3 PM Big Payoff
3:30 Beulah
4 PM Brighter Day
4:15 Secret Storm
4:30 Edge Of Night
5 PM Movie: "Sing, Cowboy, Sing" (Ch. 7 titled this
movie program "Stagecoach West," a name that
would be used for an ABC Western in 1960.)
6 PM Settin' Room (colloquial for "sitting room")
6:15 Front Office
6:30 News
6:45 Douglas Edwards With The News
7 PM Kit Carson
7:30 My Friend Flicka ("Beat The Clock" takes over this
timeslot the following Friday.)
8 PM West Point
8:30 Zane Grey Theater
9 PM Mr. Adams And Eve
9:30 Schlitz Playhouse Of Stars
10 PM The Lineup
10:30 Person To Person
11 PM News
11:15 Movie: "Pitfall"

WNCT Ch. 9 Greenville, NC (CBS/ABC)

6:30 RFD 9
7 AM Good Morning!
8 AM Captain Kangaroo
9 AM Romper Room
9:45 Shoppers' Guide
10 AM Yesterday's Newsreel
10:45 Trio Time
11 AM Public Defender
11:30 Strike It Rich
12 N Farm News
12:15 Love Of Life
12:30 Search For Tomorrow
12:45 Guiding Light
1 PM News (Tarheel legend W.E. Debnam)
1:15 Current Events Forum
1:30 As The World Turns
2 PM Theater ("Smoke And Fire")
2:30 Art Linkletter's House Party
3 PM Big Payoff
3:30 Art Appreciation
4 PM Brighter Day
4:15 Secret Storm
4:30 Edge Of Night
5 PM Vespers
5:15 Cartoon Carnival
5:30 Annie Oakley
6 PM Mickey Rooney
6:30 News
6:45 Sports Highlights
7 PM Jamboree
7:15 Douglas Edwards With The News
7:30 My Friend Flicka
8 PM West Point
8:30 Zane Grey Theater
9 PM Mr. Adams And Eve
9:30 Schlitz Playhouse Of Stars
10 PM The Lineup
10:30 Person To Person
11 PM Weather
11:05 News
11:15 Movie: "King Of The Turf"

WTVD Ch. 11 Durham (ABC)

2 PM TV Theater
2:30 Liberace
3 PM Afternoon Film Festival: "Top Of The Form"
4:30 Afternoon
5 PM Mickey Mouse Club
6 PM Sky King
6:30 News
6:45 All Star Theater
7:15 John Daly And The News
7:30 Corliss Archer
8 PM Jim Bowie
8:30 Movie: "Outpost In Malaya"
10 PM Ray Anthony (like Lawrence Welk, he builds
his shows around a theme; this week it's Paris)
11 PM Weather
11:05 News

WSJS (WXII) Ch. 12 Winston-Salem (NBC)

7 AM Today
9 AM Romper Room
10 AM Home
11 AM Price Is Right
11:30 Truth Or Consequences
12 N Tic Tac Dough
12:30 It Could Be You
1 PM Today On The Farm
1:30 Devotions
1:45 Afternoon
2:30 Tennessee Ernie Ford Show
3 PM Matinee Theater (COLOR)
4 PM Queen For A Day
4:45 Modern Romances
5 PM It's A Great Life
5:30 Jolly Junction
6 PM Hopalong Cassidy
6:25 Farm News
6:30 News
6:45 Weather
6:55 Stock Market Report
7 PM Texas Wrestling
7:30 Eddie Fisher
7:45 NBC News
8 PM Blondie
8:30 Life Of Riley
9 PM On Trial
9:30 Big Story
10 PM Boxing: Logart-Bahama
10:45 Red Barber (time approximate, COLOR)
11 PM News
11:15 Tonight: America After Dark

WLOS Ch. 13 Asheville (ABC)

7 AM Farmer Russ
8:30 Cartoon Capers
9:30 Movie: "Bury Me Dead"
11:30 The Ruggles (as in Charlie Ruggles)
12 N News And Weather
12:10 Market Report
12:15 Movie: "Chatterbox" (Lucille Ball)
1:30 Movie: "Bluebeard"
3 PM Afternoon Film Festival
4:30 Tot Town
5 PM Mickey Mouse Club
6 PM Looney Tunes
6:30 Wild Bill Hickok
7 PM News And Weather
7:15 John Daly And The News
7:30 Rin Tin Tin
8 PM Jim Bowie
8:30 Crossroads
9 PM Public Defender
9:30 The Vise (Mark Saber in one of many
incarnations)
10 PM Passport To Danger
10:30 Person To Person (Reception problems on
Ch. 7? I don't know why Ch. 13 picked up
this CBS program.)
11 PM Weather
11:05 News
11:10 Movie: "Cobra Strikes"

WTOB (WUNL) Ch. 26 Winston-Salem (ABC)

9:30 Review
10 AM Coffee, Donuts And You
11 AM Festival
nothing else is listed until
3 PM Afternoon Film Festival
4:30 Featurette
5 PM Mickey Mouse Club (airs on both Ch. 26 and
Ch. 2 because Ch. 26 could hardly be received
in Greensboro)
6 PM Showcase
7 PM Kukla, Fran And Ollie
7:15 John Daly And The News
7:30 Rin Tin Tin
8 PM Jim Bowie
8:30 Crossroads
9 PM Treasure Hunt (Jan Murray)
9:30 The Vise
10 PM Ray Anthony
11 PM News

WNAO (WRDC) Ch. 28 Raleigh (CBS/ABC)

6:45 Morning Almanac
7 AM Good Morning!
8 AM Captain Kangaroo
9 AM Romper Room
10 AM Garry Moore
11:30 Strike It Rich
12 N TV Parade
12:15 Love Of Life
12:30 Christophers
1 PM CBS News
1:10 Stand Up And Be Counted
1:30 Variety Time
2 PM Our Miss Brooks
2:30 Afternoon Varieties
3 PM Big Payoff
3:30 TV Parade
4 PM TV Topics
4:15 Secret Storm
4:30 Edge Of Night
5 PM Kiddie Kapers
6 PM Mr. And Mrs. North
6:30 News
6:45 Douglas Edwards With The News
7 PM Everett Case: N.C. State Basketball
Highlights
7:30 My Friend Flicka
8 PM Soldiers Of Fortune
8:30 Zane Grey Theater
9 PM Mr. Adams And Eve
9:30 Dr. Hudson's Secret Journal
10 PM The Lineup
10:30 Person To Person
11 PM News
11:15 Movie: "The Girl And The Gambler"

WAIM (WMYA) Ch. 40 Anderson, SC (ABC/CBS)

3 PM Afternoon Film Festival
4:30 Anderson On Parade
5 PM Mickey Mouse Club
6 PM Cartoon Carnival
6:30 Flash Gordon
7 PM Weather, News, Sports
7:15 John Daly And The News
7:30 Rin Tin Tin
8 PM Jim Bowie
8:30 Crossroads
9 PM Schlitz Playhouse Of Stars (delay from 9:30,
Linda Darnell as a young woman who moves
into a tenement to be alone and decide whether
to get married--but she gets no privacy)
9:30 The Vise
10 PM News Review
10:30 Person To Person
11 PM Reporters' Roundup

 

[fortmill]

Really interesting--I believe this is the first schedule I've seen from this era. By far the largest market in the Carolinas, Charlotte, still had only one station, while Greensboro and much smaller Raleigh had three---Greenville-Asheville-Spartanburg actually had five--I think WISE/62 in Asheville was an NBC affil at that time. Meanwhile, WTVD didn't sign on till 3 and WRAL stayed dark til 10, while WNAO, a station which would be history in a year, had a full (and certainly the best) schedule in the market. As I've said before, surely WNAO's downfall was due to people in Durham watching CBS on WFMY--WNAO was quite popular and well recieved in Raleigh. I still think they could've made a go of it--I'm sure there is an "untold story" there. For one thing, BOTH WNAO and WTOB fell into the hands of SOuthern Broadcasting, which took the channels dark but retained the licenses (WNAO's calls were changed to WKIX-TV). Meanwhile, by the late fifies it became apparent that channel 8 would be allocated to High Point, which Southern got, in exchange for handing back the permitts for 26 and 28--really strange and detrimental to the development of UHF. There had to be a backstory in all of this. At the same time, WAIM in Anderson broadcast a fair schedule of news and local programing.

 

[mleach]

Really interesting--I believe this is the first schedule I've seen from this era. By far the largest market in the Carolinas, Charlotte, still had only one station, while Greensboro and much smaller Raleigh had three---Greenville-Asheville-Spartanburg actually had five--I think WISE/62 in Asheville was an NBC affil at that time.

...and today it was announced that CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA will be the home of the 2012 Democratic National Convention. Just try to predict this 20 or even TEN years ago. Indianapolis tried to get the DNC for 2008 only to lose out to Denver...and some in Indy to this day are still pissed about it. Good for Charlotte !!!! For Indianapolis..they do have the Superbowl next year though.

 

[bpatrick]

Really interesting--I believe this is the first schedule I've seen from this era. By far the largest market in the Carolinas, Charlotte, still had only one station, while Greensboro and much smaller Raleigh had three---Greenville-Asheville-Spartanburg actually had five--I think WISE/62 in Asheville was an NBC affil at that time. Meanwhile, WTVD didn't sign on till 3 and WRAL stayed dark til 10, while WNAO, a station which would be history in a year, had a full (and certainly the best) schedule in the market. As I've said before, surely WNAO's downfall was due to people in Durham watching CBS on WFMY--WNAO was quite popular and well recieved in Raleigh. I still think they could've made a go of it--I'm sure there is an "untold story" there. For one thing, BOTH WNAO and WTOB fell into the hands of SOuthern Broadcasting, which took the channels dark but retained the licenses (WNAO's calls were changed to WKIX-TV). Meanwhile, by the late fifies it became apparent that channel 8 would be allocated to High Point, which Southern got, in exchange for handing back the permitts for 26 and 28--really strange and detrimental to the development of UHF. There had to be a backstory in all of this. At the same time, WAIM in Anderson broadcast a fair schedule of news and local programing.

I think the death knell for WNAO was the arrival of WRAL in 1956. With WRAL on Channel 5, and with the much stronger signal that goes with it, advertisers switched to RAL, NAO's revenue dried up, and it was forced to sign off (as you said, people in Durham--Chapel Hill, too--watched WFMY for CBS). The News and Observer, which put WNAO on the air in 1953, got a little revenge a few years later, after WRAL had switched to ABC. When WGHP signed on the N&O would advertise its programs but not WRAL's, even though both were affiliated with the same network. Likewise, since Southern Broadcasting owned WGHP in the '60s, it would Channel 8 promos on WKIX.

WNAO was a good station that might have been saved if UHF capability had been required prior to 1964; there were markets like Tampa/St. Petersburg where dealers couldn't sell any but UHF-capable sets in the '50s, since that market was supposed to be all-UHF (Chs. 3, 8, 10, and 13 were assigned later, probably during the ''freeze"), and we bought a UHF-capable set when we moved to Raleigh in '57 so we wouldn't be without a CBS station (we came from WFMY's coverage area). I just don't know how many other people in the Triangle sprang for a UHF-compatible set at the time. But many of us who are old enough to remember WNAO have fond memories of it

 

[bpatrick]

Really interesting--I believe this is the first schedule I've seen from this era. By far the largest market in the Carolinas, Charlotte, still had only one station, while Greensboro and much smaller Raleigh had three---Greenville-Asheville-Spartanburg actually had five--I think WISE/62 in Asheville was an NBC affil at that time. Meanwhile, WTVD didn't sign on till 3 and WRAL stayed dark til 10, while WNAO, a station which would be history in a year, had a full (and certainly the best) schedule in the market. As I've said before, surely WNAO's downfall was due to people in Durham watching CBS on WFMY--WNAO was quite popular and well recieved in Raleigh. I still think they could've made a go of it--I'm sure there is an "untold story" there. For one thing, BOTH WNAO and WTOB fell into the hands of SOuthern Broadcasting, which took the channels dark but retained the licenses (WNAO's calls were changed to WKIX-TV). Meanwhile, by the late fifies it became apparent that channel 8 would be allocated to High Point, which Southern got, in exchange for handing back the permitts for 26 and 28--really strange and detrimental to the development of UHF. There had to be a backstory in all of this. At the same time, WAIM in Anderson broadcast a fair schedule of news and local programing.

I think the death knell for WNAO was the arrival of WRAL in 1956. With WRAL on Channel 5, and with the much stronger signal that goes with it, advertisers switched to RAL, NAO's revenue dried up, and it was forced to sign off (as you said, people in Durham--Chapel Hill, too--watched WFMY for CBS). The News and Observer, which put WNAO on the air in 1953, got a little revenge a few years later, after WRAL had switched to ABC. When WGHP signed on the N&O would advertise its programs but not WRAL's, even though both were affiliated with the same network. Likewise, since Southern Broadcasting owned WGHP in the '60s, it would air Channel 8 promos on WKIX.

WNAO was a good station that might have been saved if UHF capability had been required prior to 1964; there were markets like Tampa/St. Petersburg where dealers couldn't sell any but UHF-capable sets in the '50s, since that market was supposed to be all-UHF (Chs. 3, 8, 10, and 13 were assigned later, probably during the ''freeze"), and we bought a UHF-capable set when we moved to Raleigh in '57 so we wouldn't be without a CBS station (we came from WFMY's coverage area). I just don't know how many other people in the Triangle sprang for a UHF-compatible set at the time. But many of us who are old enough to remember WNAO have fond memories of it.

I might add that this is the only schedule I've ever seen for Channel 40 that wasn't chock-full of travelogues and religious programs.