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Retro: North Georgia Wednesday, February 1, 1978

B

bpatrick

From TV Guide, North Georgia Edition:

WSB Ch. 2 Atlanta (NBC)

6 AM Navy Film
6:30 Arthur Smith
7 AM Today (financial writer Paula Nelson discusses
personal money management)
9 AM Hollywood Squares (Ned Beatty, Phyllis Diller,
George Gobel, Bill and Susan Hayes, Rich Little,
Joan Rivers, Stella Stevens, Jimmie Walker, Paul
Lynde, week-behind from 10:30 AM)
9:30 To Say The Least (Lee Meriwether, Jo Anne Worley,
Jed Allan, Jamie Farr, week-behind from 12 N)
10 AM Sanford And Son
10:30 Today In Georgia
11 AM Wheel Of Fortune
11:30 Knockout
12 N News
12:30 Newlywed Game
1 PM Liars Club (Jo Anne Worley, Dick Gautier, David
Letterman, Larry Hovis)
1:30 Days Of Our Lives
2:30 The Doctors
3 PM Another World
4 PM The Rookies
5 PM Odd Couple
5:30 Mary Tyler Moore
6 PM News
7 PM NBC News (John Chancellor/David Brinkley)
7:30 $100,000 Name That Tune
8 PM Black Beauty (Part 2 of 5)
9 PM Laugh-In (the failed remake that had Robin Williams
in the cast; guests are Susan Ford, Jimmy and Gloria
Stewart, cameos by Tina Turner, Ralph Nader, Sonny
Bono, Martin Mull, and John Barbour)
10 PM Police Woman
11 PM News
11:30 Tonight Show (Gabe Kaplan, Cloris Leachman, Marcel
Marceau)
1 AM Tomorrow (an all-jazz show with singer Carmen McRae,
jazz critic Leonard Feather, producer John Hammond)
2 AM News

WRCB Ch. 3 Chattanooga (NBC)

5:55 New Zoo Revue
6:25 News For Little People
6:30 Nashville Scene
7 AM Today
9 AM 700 Club
10 AM Sanford And Son
10:30 Hollywood Squares (Charlie Callas, Barbara Eden, George
Gobel, Earl Holliman, Gabe Kaplan, Rose Marie, Bernadette
Peters, Vincent Price, Leslie Uggams)
11 AM Wheel Of Fortune
11:30 Knockout
12 N Adam-12
12:30 Midday Live
1 PM For Richer, For Poorer
1:30 Days Of Our Lives
2:30 The Doctors
3 PM Another World
4 PM Cartoons
5:25 News For Little People
5:30 Batman
6 PM News
6:30 NBC News
7 PM Partridge Family
7:30 $100,000 Name That Tune
8 PM Black Beauty (Part 2 of 5)
9 PM Laugh-In
10 PM Police Woman
11 PM News
11:30 Tonight Show
1 AM Tomorrow

WAGA Ch. 5 Atlanta (CBS)

6:30 Sunrise Semester (how authors establish
characters in fiction)
7 AM CBS News (Lesley Stahl/Richard Threlkeld)
8 AM Captain Kangaroo
9 AM Donahue
10 AM Cross-Wits (Milt Kamen, Alice Ghostley, Pat
Carroll, Bill Cullen)
10:30 Price Is Right
11:30 Love Of Life
11:55 CBS News (Douglas Edwards)
12 N News
12:30 Search For Tomorrow
1 PM Young And The Restless
1:30 As The World Turns
2:30 Guiding Light
3:30 All In The Family
4 PM Bewitched
4:30 Mike Douglas (from Hollywood: co-hosts Efrem Zimbalist Jr.
and his daughter Stephanie; Jamie Farr, Martin Mull, Leif
Garrett, bodybuilder Franco Columbu)
6 PM News
7 PM CBS News (Walter Cronkite)
7:30 When Havoc Struck (the Dust Bowl)
8 PM Leapin' Lizards, It's Liberace! (Debbie Reynolds, pianist Vince
Cardell, puppeteer Barclay Shaw, the Chinese Acrobats of Taiwan,
a cameo by Phyllis Diller)
9 PM GE Theater: "See How She Runs" (Joanne Woodward as a 40-year-old
schoolteacher whose personal problems lead her to take up jogging,
and then to entering the Boston Marathon)
11 PM News
11:30 Hawaii Five-O
12:40 Kojak
1:50 Marcus Welby, M.D.
2:50 News

WGTV Ch. 8 Athens/Atlanta (PBS)

In-school programs until

3 PM Lilias, Yoga And You
3:30 Music
4 PM Sesame Street
5 PM Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
5:30 Sesame Street
6:30 Over Easy (guest: Gordon MacRae)
7 PM Yoga For Health
7:30 Harold Lloyd ("Now Or Never," a three-reeler
from 1921; "A Sammy In Siberia," a one-reeler
from 1919)
8 PM Lawmakers: 1978 (today's session of the Georgia
legislature, a favorite training ground for UGA broadcasting
students)
9 PM Great Performances (Eugene Ormandy leads the Philadelphia
Orchestra in Gustav Holst's "The Planets," with the Mendelssohn
Club of Philadelphia providing the choral segments.)
10 PM Renascence (people looking for a new sense of self, either through
deeper commitment to their professions or through hobbies)
10:30 Artistry Of Ransom Wilson (the flutist (or is that flautist?) performs
selections by Debussy and Bizet)
11 PM Movie: "Jungle Book" (the live-action 1942 version with Sabu)
sign off 12:30 AM

WTVC Ch. 9 Chattanooga (ABC)

6:25 Good Morning Chattanooga
6:30 PTL Club
7:30 Funtime
8 AM Good Morning America (joined in progress)
9 AM Donahue (topic: the phenomenon of runaway youths)
10 AM Room 222
10:30 Edge Of Night (delay from 4 PM)
11 AM Happy Days
11:30 Family Feud
12 N $20,000 Pyramid (Reid Shelton, Sandy Duncan)
12:30 Ryan's Hope
1 PM All My Children
2 PM One Life To Live
3 PM General Hospital
4 PM New Mickey Mouse Club
4:30 Gilligan's Island (guest Zsa Zsa Gabor as a playgirl
trying to turn the island into a resort)
5 PM My Three Sons
5:30 Andy Griffith (Jack Albertson as Aunt Bee's cousin)
6 PM News
6:30 ABC News (Harry Reasoner/Barbara Walters)
7 PM Emergency One!
8 PM Eight Is Enough
9 PM Charlie's Angels
10 PM Starsky & Hutch (guest: Kristy McNichol)
11 PM News
11:30 Police Story
12:40 Mystery Of The Week (Carroll Baker as a paraplegic
who thinks she's the "The Next Victim" of a psychopathic
killer)

WXIA 11 Alive Atlanta (ABC)

6:30 Not For Women Only (Gloria Swanson talks about sugar-free
natural foods.)
7 AM Good Morning America
9 AM $20,000 Pyramid (Adrienne Barbeau, John Schuck, week-behind
from 12 N)
9:30 Hollywood Connection (Zsa Zsa Gabor, Pearl Bailey, Buddy Hackett,
Anson Williams, Pat Carroll, Nipsey Russell)
10 AM Joker's Wild
10:30 Edge Of Night
11 AM Happy Days
11:30 Family Feud
12 N News
12:30 Ryan's Hope
1 PM All My Children
2 PM One Life To Live
3 PM General Hospital
4 PM Gunsmoke
5 PM Emergency One! (guest: Jeanette Nolan)
6 PM News
6:30 ABC News
7 PM Concentration
7:30 To Tell The Truth (Peggy Cass, Gene Rayburn,
Bill Cullen, Kitty Carlisle; Joe Garagiola has replaced
Garry Moore as host by this time)
8 PM Eight Is Enough
9 PM Charlie's Angels
10 PM Starsky & Hutch
11 PM News
11:30 Forever Fernwood
12 M Police Story (half-hour delay)
1:10 The Adventurer (Gene Barry, Barry Morse)

WDEF Ch. 12 Chattanooga (CBS)

5:55 Farm Report
6 AM Sunrise Semester
6:30 Morning Show
8 AM CBS News
9 AM Captain Kangaroo
10 AM Tattletales (Frank Jameson and Eva Gabor,
Tommy and Sally John, Bobby Van and Elaine
Joyce)
10:30 Price Is Right
11:30 Love Of Life
11:55 CBS News
12 N News
12:30 Search For Tomorrow
1 PM Young And The Restless
1:30 As The World Turns
2:30 Guiding Light
3:30 All In The Family
4 PM Match Game '78 (Didi Conn, Richard Dawson, David
Doyle, Fannie Flagg, Charles Nelson Reilly, Brett Somers)
4:30 Merv Griffin (guests are adventurers: astronaut Gordon Cooper,
explorer Jack Wheeler (who was already doing this when he
appeared on Groucho's "You Bet Your Life" as a teenager), stuntman
Dar Robinson, George Willig, who climbed the World Trade Center in
New York)
5:55 Weather
6 PM News
6:30 CBS News
7 PM Gunsmoke
8 PM Leapin' Lizards, It's Liberace!
9 PM GE Theater: "See How She Runs"
11 PM News
11:30 Hawaii Five-O
12:40 Kojak

WMAZ Ch. 13 Macon (CBS)

6:30 Ebony Speaks
7 AM CBS News
8 AM Captain Kangaroo
9 AM Let's Talk It Over
9:30 Donahue (Graham and Treena Kerr discuss their
religious beliefs.)
10:30 Price Is Right
11:30 Love Of Life
11:55 CBS News
12 N Young And The Restless
12:30 Search For Tomorrow
1 PM News
1:15 Date With Del
1:30 As The World Turns
2:30 Guiding Light
3:30 All In The Family
4 PM Gilligan's Island
4:30 Gunsmoke
5:30 Adam-12 (guest: Trini Lopez as a ghetto priest
trying to prevent a gang war)
6 PM News
6:30 CBS News
7 PM Brady Bunch
7:30 Match Game PM (Charles Nelson Reilly, Dick Martin,
Betty White, Helaine Lembeck)
8 PM Leapin' Lizards, It's Liberace!
9 PM GE Theater: "See How She Runs"
11 PM News
11:30 Hawaii Five-O
12:40 Kojak

WDCO Ch. 15 (WMUM Ch. 29) Cochran/
WCLP (WNGH) Ch. 18 Chatsworth (PBS)

In-school programs until

3 PM Lilias, Yoga And You
3:30 Music
4 PM Sesame Street
5 PM Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
5:30 Electric Company
6 PM Zoom
6:30 Over Easy
7 PM Consumer Survival Kit
7:30 MacNeil/Lehrer Report
8 PM Lawmakers: 1978
9 PM Great Performances
10 PM Renascence
10:30 Black History Month
11 PM Dick Cavett
sign off 11:30 PM

WTCG (WPCH) Ch. 17 Atlanta (Ind.)

6:10 News
6:30 Romper Room
7 AM Three Stooges/Little Rascals
8 AM Leave It To Beaver
8:30 The Lucy Show
9 AM Jim Nabors (Carl Reiner, Lola Falana)
10 AM Movie: "Man In The Middle"
11:55 News
12 N Hazel
12:30 Movie: "The Reward"
2:25 News
2:30 I Love Lucy
3 PM New Mickey Mouse Club
3:30 Flintstones
4 PM Space Giants
4:30 Gilligan's Island
5 PM I Dream Of Jeannie
5:30 Beverly Hillbillies
6 PM Andy Griffith
6:30 My Three Sons
7 PM Gomer Pyle, USMC
7:30 Hogan's Heroes
8 PM Untouchables
9 PM Movie: "55 Days At Peking"
12:10 Movie: "Escape Me Never"
2:10 News
2:30 Movie: "Captain Lightfoot"
4:30 Wanted: Dead Or Alive

WETV (WPBA) Ch. 30 Atlanta (PBS)

9 AM Sesame Street
10 AM In-school programs
1 PM Big Blue Marble
1:30 In-school programs
2 PM Electric Company
2:30 In-school programs
4 PM Sesame Street
5 PM Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
5:30 Electric Company
6 PM Zoom
6:30 Over Easy
7 PM Crockett's Victory Garden
7:30 MacNeil/Lehrer Report
8 PM Atlanta Jazz Scene (the jazz group Lush Life)
8:30 Nothing But The Blues (guitarist Ira "Tony" Coney)
9 PM Visions ("The Gardener's Son," a play about class
hostility and social injustice in the 1870s South)
11 PM Dick Cavett
11:30 Captioned ABC News
sign off 12 M

WATL Ch. 36 Atlanta (Ind.)

12:30 Gong Show (pre-empted on Ch. 2)
1 PM For Richer, For Poorer (pre-empted on Ch. 2)
1:30 PTL Club
2:30 Hal Roach Studio Presents
3 PM Bozo's Big Top
3:30 Kids Show
5 PM Entertainment Page
6 PM Sports (Art Collier)
7 PM Dinah! (Elizabeth Ashley, Norm Crosby, Bobby Vinton,
Kaye Ballard, musical group the New Virginians, physical-
fitness authority Bill Wallace)
8:30 Spotlight (investigative reporter Bob Greene)
9 PM Boxing (no details given)
10 PM PTL Club
12 M Movies: TBA

WCWB (WMGT) Ch. 41 Macon (NBC)

6 AM PTL Club
7 AM Today
9 AM PTL Club continues
10 AM Sanford And Son
10:30 Hollywood Squares
11 AM Wheel Of Fortune
11:30 Knockout
12 N To Say The Least (Jamie Farr, Sharon Gless,
Carol Lawrence, Paul Sylvan)
12:30 Gong Show
1 PM News
1:15 Noon Over Middle Georgia
1:30 Days Of Our Lives
2:30 The Doctors
3 PM Another World
4 PM For Richer, For Poorer
4:30 New Mickey Mouse Club
5 PM The Archies
5:30 Flintstones
6 PM News
6:30 NBC News
7 PM Alias Smith And Jones (guest: Louis Gossett Jr.)
8 PM Black Beauty (part 2 of 5)
9 PM Laugh-In
10 PM Police Woman
11 PM Honeymooners (the classic episode where Ralph
tries to learn golf, with Norton's famous line about
addressing the ball: "Helloooo, ball!")
11:30 Tonight Show

WTCI Ch. 45 Chattanooga (PBS)

8:40 Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
9:10 In-school programs
10 AM Electric Company
10:30 Big Blue Marble
11 AM Studio See
11:30 Sesame Street
12:30 In-school programs
3 PM Oasis In Space (alternatives to oil: nuclear power,
coal, solar energy)
3:30 Lilias, Yoga And You
4 PM Sesame Street
5 PM Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
5:30 Electric Company
6 PM Zoom
6:30 Over Easy
7 PM Burglar Proofing
7:30 MacNeil/Lehrer Report
8 PM Nova ("The Final Frontier," part 2 on space exploration,
looks at the then-upcoming shuttle program.)
9 PM Great Performances
10 PM Renascence
10:30 Book Beat (Paul Horgan, not to be confused with Paul Hogan,
discusses "The Thin Mountain Air," about an adolescent's
coming of age.)
sign off 11 PM

WANX (WGCL) Ch. 46 Atlanta (Ind.)

5:40 News
6 AM Ross Bagley
7 AM Mighty Mouse
7:30 Heckle And Jeckle
8 AM Deputy Dawg
8:30 Batman (Maurice Evans as the Puzzler)
9 AM Flipper
9:30 Life Of Riley (Bendix)
10 AM 700 Club
11:30 The Rock
12 N Charisma
12:30 McHale's Navy
1 PM Mister Ed
1:30 New Zoo Revue
2 PM Huck And Yogi
2:30 Popeye And Porky Hour
3:30 Fred Flintstone & Friends
4 PM Josie & The Pussycats
4:30 Batman (animated)
5 PM Wacky Races
5:30 Spiderman
6 PM Brady Bunch (x2)
7 PM Bonanza (guest: James Whitmore)
8 PM Bilko (guest: David "Larry Tate" White)
8:30 Dick Van Dyke
9 PM 700 Club
10:30 The Rock
11 PM Acts 29
11:30 Rifleman
12 M Best Of Groucho
12:30 News

WRIP (WDSI) Ch. 61 Chattanooga (Ind.)

10:30 Mission: Magic!
11 AM The Solid Rock (Rev. Dave Rich)
12 N Movie: "Another Shore"
1:30 H.R. Pufnstuf
2 PM Movie: "Rashomon"
3:30 Bozo's Big Top
4 PM Jetsons
4:30 Mike Douglas (from Hollywood: Henry Winkler,
Telly Savalas, "Alice" cast members Linda Lavin,
Polly Holliday, and Beth Howland)
6 PM Jim Nabors
7 PM Ye Old Trading Post
8 PM Rev. Leonard Repass
8:30 Cartoons
9 PM Quest For Adventure
9:30 Movie: "Utopia" (Laurel and Hardy's last, from '50)
sign off 11 PM
 
bpatrick said:
From TV Guide, North Georgia Edition:

WMAZ Ch. 13 Macon (CBS)


4 PM Gilligan's Island

7:30 Match Game PM (Charles Nelson Reilly, Dick Martin,
Betty White, Helaine Lembeck)

WETV (WPBA) Ch. 30 Atlanta (PBS)

8 PM Atlanta Jazz Scene (the jazz group Lush Life)

WATL Ch. 36 Atlanta (Ind.)

12:30 Gong Show (pre-empted on Ch. 2)
1 PM For Richer, For Poorer (pre-empted on Ch. 2)

3 PM Bozo's Big Top

6 PM Sports (Art Collier)

WANX (WGCL) Ch. 46 Atlanta (Ind.)

5:40 News
6 AM Ross Bagley
7 AM Mighty Mouse
7:30 Heckle And Jeckle
8 AM Deputy Dawg
8:30 Batman (Maurice Evans as the Puzzler)
9 AM Flipper
9:30 Life Of Riley (Bendix)
10 AM 700 Club
11:30 The Rock
12 N Charisma
12:30 McHale's Navy
1 PM Mister Ed
1:30 New Zoo Revue
2 PM Huck And Yogi
2:30 Popeye And Porky Hour
3:30 Fred Flintstone & Friends
4 PM Josie & The Pussycats
4:30 Batman (animated)
5 PM Wacky Races
5:30 Spiderman
6 PM Brady Bunch (x2)
7 PM Bonanza (guest: James Whitmore)
8 PM Bilko (guest: David "Larry Tate" White)
8:30 Dick Van Dyke
9 PM 700 Club
10:30 The Rock
11 PM Acts 29
11:30 Rifleman
12 M Best Of Groucho
12:30 News

WRIP (WDSI) Ch. 61 Chattanooga (Ind.)

10:30 Mission: Magic!
11 AM The Solid Rock (Rev. Dave Rich)
12 N Movie: "Another Shore"
1:30 H.R. Pufnstuf
2 PM Movie: "Rashomon"
3:30 Bozo's Big Top
4 PM Jetsons
4:30 Mike Douglas (from Hollywood: Henry Winkler,
Telly Savalas, "Alice" cast members Linda Lavin,
Polly Holliday, and Beth Howland)
6 PM Jim Nabors
7 PM Ye Old Trading Post
8 PM Rev. Leonard Repass
8:30 Cartoons
9 PM Quest For Adventure
9:30 Movie: "Utopia" (Laurel and Hardy's last, from '50)
sign off 11 PM
Click to expand...

Got some questions, bp:

1) WMAZ: "Match Game" in the daytime is apparently not OK for central Georgia, but in PTAR, it's just fine. That, my friend, is what we call in Alabama "sho' nuff strange."

2) WETV: Did channel 30 do a lot of local production at this point, to the level that, say, Georgia ETV (now GPB) did? I recall some hard-copy skeds I have from the early '70s where WETV had only B&W capability for local origination--I think one of them was a City Council or school board meeting. As you know, on some municipally-owned stand-alone stations, such broadcasts were a regular feature in the days before community access on cable.

3) So WATL was still carrying network pre-emptions as late as 1978? I thought most indies had more or less quit that by this point, especially in daytime. I would think that it stopped completely in the ATL after WSB and WXIA flipped nets in '80 (the skeds you've posted from that time frame probably prove that). And to boot, the station was still running Bozo and even had what looks like an hour-long sportscast. Wonder if Bozo was still local? It would make sense when you consider that the famed "Officer Don" of Atlanta's TV past was the owner of channel 36. I bet even money that sportscast was an experiment that didn't work--although in later years, talk radio stations would employ that approach in the early evening.

4) And the main event for discussion: comparing the split secular-religious approaches of WANX and WRIP. We know Pat Robertson was WANX's owner, and that most of his OTA properties were more or less preludes to his hugely successful CBN cable operation. I always imagined Robertson did something like this: basic to his evangelistic strategy via broadcasting was to lure selected demo groups like children and older people with straight-ahead, squeaky-clean fare most of the day. Robertson then hoped that said people would stay tuned for blocks, strategically placed at lunch and prime times, of "The 700 Club" and a couple of other Christian shows, keeping them away from what he (and his followers) felt was dirty, degenerate programming on the network affils and secular indies. And if the children and grandparents were watching, maybe they could persuade Mom and Dad to tune in, and perhaps the whole family would undergo a conversion experience. "700 Club" was itself modeled on the secular talkfests on the tube day and night rather than the traditional "preaching-and-teaching" model of evangelical religious broadcasting that had dominated both radio and TV up to that time. As such, it lured some people in who would have been turned off otherwise by the stereotypical stentorian, sanctimonious-sounding evangelists of yore.

I am sure all of this was at least Robertson's ideal, and he refined it to a well-oiled machine when CBS cable went national. We, of course, do not need to go into his political or religious views here; they have been discussed to death on other sites. But I think there is little question that his religious and political empire was founded on his decision not to take the "Holy Joe" road and accommodate secular, suburban lifestyles. For Atlanta, one could not ask for a better strategy.

Now, by contrast, up in Chattanooga, WRIP was a struggling indie that operated in a market most unlike Atlanta, not only in demographics (much more culturally conservative to start with, predominantly rural and probably aging, with farm life in disarray by the '70s and kids leaving by the droves for cities), but also in the fact that the only other UHF was public station WTCI, meaning that a lot of folks didn't typically tune to UHF for any reason (compared with three other Us in the ATL). From what I read on that bastion of reliable info, Wikipedia (!), WRIP was owned by a man who more or less decided to forego competing against channels 3, 9, and 12 and earn his moolah by doing the old Christian radio (or Sunday morning TV) bit and selling blocks of airtime to local preachers. Traditional indie fare was, to him, placeholders that would be shoved aside when an evangelist or church opted to buy time, which may have been as cheap as some radio stations, perhaps (given that some of the religious-formatted ones likely had a larger audience than channel 61). Although not airing on this particular day, at times WRIP carried Robertson and Jim Bakker's PTL program, as might be suspected. Still, I am pretty sure that the programs of Rich and Repass on channel 61 were of the "preaching-and-teaching" variety I mentioned before that the CBN stations spurned most of the time--other than probably Sundays.

It wasn't until another owner took over in the early '80s (and with new calls, WDSI), that 61 finally began to make an impact on the Chattanooga DMA Nielsens, partly by a UHF antenna giveaway (they were mostly worthless in other places due to cable penetration), and partly by ditching most of the preachers. Besides, with cable gradually picking up steam, religion began to retreat somewhat from OTA, even locally. By the time FOX started up in '86, WDSI was pretty much mainstream, with religion only on Sundays. The same happened in the ATL on 46 when Tribune bought WANX from Robertson in '84. All of this seems ironic when one considers the clout evangelicals and fundamentalists had on American politics at the time, but the Robertsons and the Bakkers (before the '87 scandals that took his empire down) of the world were one step ahead of everybody and jumped to newly-developing technologies as fast as they could. OTA was needed in the Seventies; cable was the wave of the future.

Now, here's the question: which station, in its own particular place, was the more successful with religious programming, WANX or WRIP? Or to put it in their terms, who would have saved more souls?

An anxious RD.com board awaits ...
 
Mike Stroud said:
"700 Club" was itself modeled on the secular talkfests on the tube day and night rather than the traditional "preaching-and-teaching" model of evangelical religious broadcasting that had dominated both radio and TV up to that time. As such, it lured some people in who would have been turned off otherwise by the stereotypical stentorian, sanctimonious-sounding evangelists of yore.
Click to expand...

At the time, 700 was practically along the same lines as Mike Douglas or Merv Griffin, but with a Christian slant -- popular, mainstream guests, alongside those from the Christian field, all there mainly to talk about Christianity. Today's 700, however, is mainly nothing more than Pat Robertson's soapbox, complaining about how modern society is ruining Christianity.
 
WANX was owned by CBN but not the model of what CBN Cable would be. WANX had typical independent station shows including cartoons, sitcoms, old movies, westerns. WYAH in VA Beach and KXTX Dallas had similar formats. WANX had Christian shows as well but that occupied 4 or 5 hours a day (the typical late morning slots which many indies programmed that way as well as the late evening run of the 700 Club). CBN Cable focused on more older westerns, sitcoms that most over the air stations abandoned back in the 60's, reruns of game shows, family dramas, and even older movies than CBN stations. So the two had different programming types. WXNE Boston when they signed on in 77, though was closer formatted to CBN Cable initially because they had 2 strong independents that had all the viable shows. But WXNE began to evolve from 1980 to 1985 to more of a traditional indie with more recent sitcoms and common cartoons. That station though never surpassed WSBK or WLVI till the 90's - many years after Fox got the station. In fact the station did worse for the first several years Fox owned 25 Boston which became WFXT.

WANX had a typical budget of an independent station and basically bid for competitive programming. Sunday was an exception. WANX was only Christian programming till September of 1980. At that point from October 1980 on, WANX ended religion at 10 AM Sunday (even earlier than some secular stations did), and ran cartoons till noon, westerns and movies till about 7 PM and back to Christian shows by 7 or 8 PM. All the other CBN stations also changed Sunday policy at the same time. This was done company wide, even at WXNE Boston who eventually ended Sunday religion at 8 AM and resumed it at 7 PM Sundays. WXNE did not exist till 1977. WYAH came on in 1961 with only religious shows and all produced by CBN and by 1964 began selling time and began airing Sundays as well. They were only on the air 6 hours a day, WYAH began adding an hour or two a day of low budget secular shows in 1967. Still in 1971 WYAH was only on the air 6 to 8 hours a day. WANX signed on as well as KXTX Dallas in early 70's - by 1972. Those two stations also only were on the air 8 hours a day as well with only a couple hours of secular shows a day.

In 1972, WYAH began expanding to about 12 hours a day and bought a few higher budget shows as they fell off other stations in that market. It was a graduaal process. By the start of 1973 WYAH was on by 10 AM and on the air till 1 AM, about 15 hours a day. Down in Dallas though a competing station on Channel 39 went dark. They donated their station, license, and programming to CBN which had KXTX 33 which was still on about 8 hours a day. CBN then combined the assets of the 2 stations, shut down TV 33 and sold it to a minority owner that used it for other religion and spanish entertainment shows, and combined what 33 had run in the past and 39 and merged the 2 general entertainment stations to TV 39 which also took KXTX calls. KXTX then began broadcasting from 7 AM to 1 AM. In the course of 1973, TV 27 Virginia Beach expanded to 7 AM and then 6 AM sign ons by the fall. So WYAH grew mostly from early 1972 to the fall of 1973. WANX was still on about 8 hours a day in early 1973 but by the summer was on from 10 AM on with far more secular shows. WANX went back and fourth like most secular indies of the time...some times of the year from 74 to 75, WANX came on by 7 AM - other times of the year by 10 AM. By late in 1975 WANX too was on the full typical broadcast day from 6 AM to about 2 AM.

All three CBN stations began with 5 hours a day or religion and 2 hours of secular low budget stuff and all religious Sundays. As these stations expanded their day, though they expanded by adding secular shows except on Sundays. The shows they bought initially were second hand but high budget shows as the day expanded and by 1975 began bidding for newly off network syndicated shows as well. So it was a growth process.

WRIP though was locally owned. The owner was likely a Christian but he ran the station like a business. His Christian views were not really the reason he ran the station the way he did. In fact WRIP signed on with about 15 hours a day of programming and it was all secular except sundays. They ran only old movies from the 30's to the 50's and theatrical cartoons and film shorts. they had no off network fare, all theatrical stuff. Sundays they had a few hours of religion but movies and shorts the rest of the day. They were positioned as a MOVIE STATION. They signed on in 1972.

In 1973 the station had financial problems and had problems selling ads and buying viable shows. They bought a few very cheap shows and took some free barter shows. They also began just simply selling time slots to whoever would buy the time. There were a large amount of fundamentalist, evangelical, and pentecostal churches, both black and white that were anxious to get on the air so they just began buying time on WRIP. By 1975, WRIP was almost entirely bought time. Time they could not sell, they inserted whatever cheap or free product they had access to. They did run both PTL Club and 700 Club but at times they were not always listed in some listings in the 70's.

From the years 1976 to 1979, WRIP was on about 15 hours a day and slod all but a couple hours a day to anyone that would buy the time. Most were trinitarian churches of some sort while some may have been non Christian religious sects. Their positions had little to do with them being on WRIP. WRIP was all about selling time. By the winter of 1981, WRIP was down to only 30 minutes a day of secular shows.

In the Fall under the same owner, it was decided that WRIP would evolve to become a traditional commercial independent. They began buying some MCA shows like Munsters and Leave It To Beaver and McHale's Navy; Paramount shows like Star Trek and Brady Bunch, barter cartoons like Superfriends, Bullwinkle, and Underdog, and a couple low budget shows they had on the shelf all along. In teh fall of 1981, WRIP was secular from 2 PM to 7 PM weekdays, and about 8 hours Saturdays, and a couple hours Sunday. In the course of 1982, WRIP bought a few shows from Viacom like I Love Lucy, more movies, some drama shows and became secular from 2 PM to about 10 PM. They scaled back bought time. In the fall of 1982, WRIP added a morning cartoon block as well. This happened under one owner that owned them since the mid 70's. I think they were planning to sell the station by 1981 and began dressing the station to sell it. They sold the station in 1983.

They sold to another local owner in 1983. By then the WRIP conversion was well underway. Its new owners just completed the transition. They re-imaged the staion and it became WDSI. They would eventually sell teh station to a mid-sized company by 1987.

That is what I gather from what I have seen on this board from their schedules and what I read about the station. I believe that today there is not a trace of the WRIP days. I even think they are in a different location. Today they are a typical Small to medium market Fox affiliate, talk shows, court shows, reality shows, recent sitcoms, local news, and Fox prime time shows, and Fox Sports programming including NASCAR & NFL.
 
The difference in the two "Match Game"s comes down
to money; WMAZ could sell all the nighttime ads. WAGA
also carried "Match Game PM" but not the CBS version.

WATL carried programs pre-empted by WSB, WAGA, and
WXIA almost from the beginning in 1976. But in the '80s
a lot of the pre-empted network shows went to Ch. 69,
which wasn't on the air in '78.

And Ch. 30 did produce a lot of its own programming, like
WTVI/42 in Charlotte, which is owned by the Charlotte-
Mecklenburg school board. Neither station is part of the
statewide public-TV network.
 
bpatrick said:
The difference in the two "Match Game"s comes down
to money; WMAZ could sell all the nighttime ads. WAGA
also carried "Match Game PM" but not the CBS version.

WATL carried programs pre-empted by WSB, WAGA, and
WXIA almost from the beginning in 1976. But in the '80s
a lot of the pre-empted network shows went to Ch. 69,
which wasn't on the air in '78.

And Ch. 30 did produce a lot of its own programming, like
WTVI/42 in Charlotte, which is owned by the Charlotte-
Mecklenburg school board. Neither station is part of the
statewide public-TV network.
Click to expand...

You're our ever-reliable encyclopedia on facts about traditional TV, bp. Sum it up, money talks and we-know-what walks. It's just in the wide open now, unlike then when we were all less sophisticated about the biz. As for ETV, the Charlotte-Atlanta and North Carolina-Georgia parallel is right on. I'm sure the cities were far more enthusiastic (and at an earlier point) than the state governments were about ETV. Hence the stand-alone stations starting up before the state nets.
 
I see WDEF had a "Morning Show" at 6:30 - no one in the Atlanta market even put a newsbreak around 6:30?

-crainbebo
 
At the time, no, but I don't remember too many stations that
did (WFMY's "Good Morning Show" and WBRC's "Morning Show"
with Tom York come to mind, along with a half-hour newscast
on WRAL). Back around '73, WAGA had had "Atlanta A.M." and
WXIA had had "Good Morning Atlanta" and "Rise And Shine," but
all were dismal failures.

The next time the Atlanta affiliates would try early-morning news
would come with the WSB/WXIA switch in 1980: WSB (now ABC)
started a new "Good Morning Atlanta" program at 6 AM, whilr WXIA
(now NBC) had "Today With Hal (Suit) and Guy (Sharpe) (formerly
with WSB and WAGA, respectively)" at 6:30.

Interestingly, Channels 17 and 46 did have early-morning newscasts
for much of the '70s; 17 did 20 minutes at 6:10 AM, while 46 did 15
minutes at 6:45.
 
WATL: " 2:30 Hal Roach Studio Presents"
I think this was an umbrella title for several Roach-produced '50s TV series like "Racket Squad" and "Public Defender," distributed by World Wide Trade Xchange (sic), a Florida-based syndicator.
 
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