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Retro: Northern Alabama Monday, August 22, 1977

B

bpatrick

From TV Guide, Northern Alabama Edition:

WNGE (WKRN) Ch. 2 Nashville (ABC)

6 AM Good Morning America
7:30 Bozo
8:30 Green Acres
9 AM Morningwatch
10 AM Happy Days
10:30 Family Feud
11 AM The Better Sex (game show with hosts Bill Anderson
and Sarah Purcell)
11:30 Ryan's Hope
12 N All My Children
1 PM $20,000 Pyramid (Pat Carroll, Soupy Sales)
1:30 One Life To Live
2:15 General Hospital
3 PM Edge Of Night
3:30 Brady Bunch
4 PM Bonanza
5 PM Andy Griffith
5:30 ABC News (Harry Reasoner/Barbara Walters)
6 PM News
6:30 Dolly (guest: Karen Black)
7 PM Pilot: "Sheehy And The Supreme Machine" (an ex-Marine
turned maintenance man battles a group of kids who are
disturbing the tranquility of their apartment building, with
John Byner, Tige Andrews, and Jimmy Baio)
7:30 Baseball: regional coverage of Yankees-White Sox, Dodgers-
Cardinals, Red Sox-Twins, Phillies-Braves
10 PM News (time approximate)
10:30 Adam-12
11 PM Streets Of San Francisco (delay from 10:30 PM)
12:10 Toma (delay from 11:40 PM)
1:20 PTL Club
3:20 News
3:50 Movie: "The Deadly Affair"
5:30 Not For Women Only

WCBI Ch. 4 Columbus, MS (CBS/ABC)

6:45 News
7 AM CBS News (Bruce Morton/Hughes Rudd)
8 AM Captain Kangaroo
9 AM Here's Lucy (guest: David Frost)
9:30 Price Is Right
10:30 Love Of Life
10:55 CBS News (Douglas Edwards)
11 AM Young And The Restless
11:30 Search For Tomorrow
12 N News
12:30 As The World Turns
1:30 Guiding Light
2 PM All In The Family
2:30 Match Game '77 (Hans Conried, Richard Dawson,
Sarah Kennedy, Charles Nelson Reilly, Brett Somers,
Betty White)
3 PM Tattletales (Jack and Roxanne Carter, Mart and Maria
Hulswit (Mart played Ed Bauer on "Guiding Light" at the
time, before Peter Simon took over the role), Lyle and
Sharon Waggoner)
3:30 Beverly Hillbillies
4 PM Gunsmoke
5 PM Andy Griffith
5:30 CBS News (Walter Cronkite)
6 PM News
6:30 My Three Sons
7 PM The Jeffersons
7:30 Szysznyk
8 PM CBS Movie: "Attack On Terror: The FBI Versus The Ku
Klux Klan" (Part 1, Part 2 airs Wed 8 PM)
10 PM News
10:30 Kojak
11:40 CBS Movie: "You'll Never See Me Again"

WSM (WSMV) Ch. 4 Nashville (NBC)

5:45 Weather
5:55 Morning Devotion
6 AM Morning Show (Ralph Emery)
7 AM Today
9 AM Dinah! (Phyllis Diller, Patrick Duffy, Bob Eubanks,
actor-musician-writer Tom Sullivan)
10 AM Wheel Of Fortune
10:30 It's Anybody's Guess
11 AM Shoot For The Stars (Lynn Redgrave, Wayne Rogers)
11:30 Noon Show (Teddy Bart/somebody named Ganick)
12:30 Days Of Our Lives
1:30 The Doctors
2 PM Another World
3 PM New Mickey Mouse Club
3:30 Bewitched
4 PM Emergency One!
5 PM My Three Sons
5:25 Weather
5:30 NBC News (John Chancellor/David Brinkley)
6 PM News
7 PM Little House On The Prairie
8 PM NBC Movie: "Shamus"
10 PM News
10:30 Tonight Show (Steve Martin subs for Johnny;
guest: Pat Boone)
12 M Tomorrow (William Randolph Hearst III and Jack
Ford discuss their new magazine Outside.)

WTVF Ch. 5 Nashville (CBS)

5:15 Country Journal
5:30 Carl Tipton
6 AM CBS News
7 AM Singing Convention
7:30 Mornings On 5
8 AM Captain Kangaroo
9 AM Here's Lucy
9:30 Price Is Right
10:30 Love Of Life
10:55 CBS News
11 AM Young And The Restless
11:30 Search For Tomorrow
12 N To Tell The Truth (Joe Garagiola, Peggy Cass,
Bill Cullen, Kitty Carlisle)
12:30 As The World Turns
1:30 Guiding Light
2 PM All In The Family
2:30 Match Game '77
3 PM Munsters
3:30 Gilligan's Island
4 PM Gomer Pyle, USMC
4:30 Doris Day
5 PM Rifleman
5:25 News
5:30 CBS News
6 PM News
6:30 Cross-Wits (Ron Ely, Patti Deutsch, Beverly Garland,
Stu Gilliam)
7 PM The Jeffersons
7:30 Szysznyk
8 PM CBS Movie: "Attack On Terror: The FBI Versus The
Ku Klux Klan" (Part 1)
10 PM News
10:30 WTVF Reports
11 PM Nancy Wilson (from a music festival in Sopot, Poland:
singer Nina Van Pallandt and musical groups from several
countries)
12 N News
12:30 Movie: "Taras Bulba"

WBRC Ch. 6 Birmingham (ABC)

4:30 American Religious Town Hall
5 AM Country Boy Eddie
5:30 News (Bill Bolen, don't know if "Country Boy Eddie" continues
after the news)
7 AM Morning Show (Tom York)
8:05 Merv Griffin (Dan Rather, musician Blossom Dearie)
9:30 $20,000 Pyramid (oddly, this is the same show ABC is running
in pattern at 1 PM)
10 AM Happy Days
10:30 Family Feud
11 AM That Girl
11:30 Ryan's Hope
12 N News
12:30 All My Children
1:30 One Life To Live
2:15 General Hospital
3 PM Edge Of Night
3:30 Bewitched
4 PM Emergency One!
4:55 News
5 PM ABC News
5:30 News
6 PM To Tell The Truth (Gene Shalit, Peggy Cass, Bill
Cullen, Kitty Carlisle)
6:30 Hollywood Squares (Bonnie Franklin, Robert Fuller,
Will Geer, Rich Little, Rose Marie, Tony Randall,
Isabel Sanford, Jonathan Winters, Paul Lynde)
7 PM Pilot: "Sheehy And The Supreme Machine"
7:30 Baseball (see Ch. 2)
10 PM News (time approximate)
10:30 The FBI
11:30 Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman
12 M Streets Of San Francisco (delay from 10:30 PM)
1:10 Toma (delay from 11:40 PM)

WCIQ/7 Cheaha State Park; WBIQ/10 Birmingham; WHIQ/25
Huntsville; WFIQ/36 Florence (PBS)

2:30 Lilias, Yoga And You
3 PM Sesame Street
4 PM Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
4:30 Electric Company
5 PM Zoom
5:30 Villa Alegre
6 PM Erica
6:30 (7) (36) MacNeil/Lehrer Report
(10) Metrospect
(25) Up State
7 PM Piccadilly Circus ("Napoleon: The Man On The Rock"
traces his time from return from Waterloo in 1815 to
his death on St. Helena in 1821.)
8:10 Next Door (the fantasies of an 8-year-old boy home alone,
from a Kurt Vonnegut Jr. short story)
8:30 Americans ("Baymen--Our Waters Are Dying" examines the
impact of water pollution on eastern Long Island's clam diggers.)
9 PM Horsepens 40 (country music)
10 PM MacNeil/Lehrer Report
10:30 Captioned ABC News
11 PM Job Opportunities

WTWV (WTVA) Ch. 9 Tupelo, MS (NBC/ABC)

6:30 Arthur Smith
7 AM Today
9 AM Sanford And Son
9:30 Hollywood Squares (the celebrities play "Storybook Squares"
with kids this week; players: Marty Allen, Valerie Bertinelli,
George Gobel, Arte Johnson, Rose Marie, Pamela Sue Martin,
Roddy McDowall, Karen Valentine, Paul Lynde)
10 AM Wheel Of Fortune
10:30 It's Anybody's Guess
11 AM Shoot For The Stars
11:30 Chico And The Man
12 N Gong Show
12:30 Days Of Our Lives
1:30 The Doctors
2 PM Another World
3 PM Adam-12
3:30 Little Rascals
4 PM Gilligan's Island
4:30 Brady Bunch
5 PM Bewitched
5:30 NBC News
6 PM News
6:30 To Tell The Truth (Bill Cullen, Peggy Cass,
Soupy Sales, Kitty Carlisle)
7 PM Little House On The Prairie
8 PM NBC Movie: "Shamus"
10 PM News
10:30 Tonight Show
12 M Tomorrow
1 AM News

WAPI (WVTM) Ch. 13 Birmingham (NBC)

6 AM Today
8 AM Dinah! (same as WSM Ch. 4)
9 AM Sanford And Son
9:30 Hollywood Squares
10 AM Wheel Of Fortune
10:30 It's Anybody's Guess
11 AM Shoot For The Stars
11:30 Chico And The Man
12 N News
12:30 Days Of Our Lives
1:30 The Doctors
2 PM Another World
3 PM Gong Show
3:30 New Mickey Mouse Club
4 PM Partridge Family
4:30 Beverly Hillbillies
5 PM News
5:30 NBC News
6 PM News
6:30 Let's Make A Deal
7 PM Little House On The Prairie
8 PM NBC Movie: "Shamus"
10 PM Marcus Welby, M.D.
11 PM News
11:30 Tonight Show (one-hour delay)
1 AM Tomorrow (one-hour delay)

WOWL (WHDF) Ch. 15 Florence (NBC)

5 AM PTL Club
6 AM Al Lester (probably either country or gospel music)
7 AM Today
9 AM Sanford And Son
9:30 Hollywood Squares
10 AM Wheel Of Fortune
10:30 It's Anybody's Guess
11 AM PTL Club
12 N News
12:15 Bible Televisit
12:30 Days Of Our Lives
1:30 The Doctors
2 PM Another World
3 PM Gong Show
3:30 As The World Turns
4:30 Guiding Light
5 PM Lassie
5:30 News
6:30 NBC News
7 PM Little House On The Prairie
8 PM NBC Movie: "Shamus"
10 PM News
10:30 Tonight Show
12 M Tomorrow
1 AM Movies: TBA

WTCG (WPCH) Ch. 17 Atlanta (Ind.)
Listed Central Time

4:30 World At Large
5 AM World Of Survival
5:30 Romper Room
6 AM Three Stooges/Little Rascals
7 AM Lassie
7:30 Hazel
8 AM The Lucy Show (guest: Clint Walker)
8:30 Love, American Style (Karen Valentine, Davy Jones,
Monte Markham, Diane Keaton)
9 AM Movie: "War Arrow"
10:55 News
11 AM Perry Mason
12 N Movie: "It's A Wonderful World"
1:55 News
2 PM Flintstones
2:30 The Archies
3 PM New Mickey Mouse Club
3:30 Addams Family
4 PM I Love Lucy
4:30 Hazel
5 PM Father Knows Best
5:30 Andy Griffith
6 PM That Girl
6:30 Dragnet
7 PM Let's Go To The Races
7:30 Movie: "Z"
10 PM Dark Shadows
10:30 Movie: "Night Unto Night"
12:25 Movie: "Battle Of The Coral Sea"
2:15 News
2:35 Movie: "Hellcats Of The Navy" (Ronald and
Nancy Reagan co-star, from '57)
4:15 Alfred Hitchcock Presents

WHNT Ch. 19 Huntsville (CBS)

6 AM CBS News
7 AM Mornin' Folks (Grady Reeves)
8 AM Captain Kangaroo
9 AM Here's Lucy
9:30 Price Is Right
10:30 Love Of Life
10:55 CBS News
11 AM Young And The Restless
11:30 Search For Tomorrow
12 N News
12:15 Woman's Page/Weather
12:30 As The World Turns
1:30 Guiding Light
2 PM All In The Family
2:30 Match Game '77
3 PM Tattletales
3:30 Popeye/Little Rascals
4:30 Hogan's Heroes
5 PM Brady Bunch
5:30 CBS News
6 PM News
6:30 Let The Bible Speak
7 PM The Jeffersons
7:30 Szysznyk
8 PM CBS Movie: "Attack On Terror: The FBI Versus
The Ku Klux Klan" (Part 1)
10 PM News
10:30 Kojak
11:40 CBS Movie: "You'll Never See Me Again"

WAAY Ch. 31 Huntsville (NBC)

5:30 Cartoons
6:30 Three Stooges
7 AM Today
9 AM Sanford And Son
9:30 Hollywood Squares
10 AM Wheel Of Fortune
10:30 It's Anybody's Guess
11 AM Shoot For The Stars
11:30 Chico And The Man
12 N Mid-WAAY
12:30 Days Of Our Lives
1:30 The Doctors
2 PM Another World
3 PM Gong Show
3:30 Bugs Bunny/Porky Pig
4 PM Star Trek
5 PM My Three Sons
5:30 NBC News
6 PM News
6:30 Love, American Style (skits with Jack Burns,
Pat Paulsen)
7 PM Little House On The Prairie
8 PM NBC Movie: "Shamus"
10 PM News
10:30 Tonight Show
12 M Tomorrow

WCFT Ch. 33 Tuscaloosa (CBS)

6:45 Cartoons
7 AM CBS News
8 AM Captain Kangaroo
9 AM Here's Lucy
9:30 Price Is Right
10:30 Love Of Life
10:55 CBS News
11 AM Young And The Restless
11:30 Search For Tomorrow
12 N News
12:10 Kaleidoscope
12:30 As The World Turns
1:30 Guiding Light
2 PM All In The Family
2:30 Match Game '77
3 PM Tattletales
3:30 Andy Griffith
4 PM Hogan's Heroes
4:30 Star Trek
5:30 CBS News
6 PM News
6:30 Brady Bunch
7 PM The Jeffersons
7:30 Szysznyk
8 PM CBS Movie: "Attack On Terror: The FBI Versus
The Ku Klux Klan" (Part 1)
10 PM News
10:30 Kojak
11:40 CBS Movie: "You'll Never See Me Again"

WHMA (WJSU) Ch. 40 Anniston (CBS)

5:55 PTL Club
6:55 News
7 AM CBS News
8 AM Captain Kangaroo
9 AM Here's Lucy
9:30 PTL Club
10:30 Love Of Life
10:55 CBS News
11 AM Young And The Restless
11:30 Search For Tomorrow
12 N News
12:05 By The Way
12:30 As The World Turns
1:30 Guiding Light
2 PM All In The Family
2:30 Match Game '77
3 PM Tattletales
3:30 Dinah! (McLean Stevenson, actress Marie-France
Pisier, opera singer Richard Fredericks)
4:30 Price Is Right
5:30 News
6 PM CBS News
6:30 Lawrence Welk
7:30 Szysznyk
8 PM CBS Movie: "Attack On Terror: The FBI Versus
The Ku Klux Klan" (Part 1)
10 PM News
10:30 Kojak
11:40 CBS Movie: "You'll Never See Me Again"

WBMG (WIAT) Ch. 42 Birmingham (CBS)

6:40 Focus
6:55 Popeye
7 AM CBS News
8 AM Captain Kangaroo
9 AM Here's Lucy
9:30 Price Is Right
10:30 Love Of Life
10:55 CBS News
11 AM Young And The Restless
11:30 Search For Tomorrow
12 N Truth Or Consequences
12:30 As The World Turns
1:30 Guiding Light
2 PM All In The Family
2:30 Match Game '77
3 PM Tattletales
3:30 Star Trek
4:30 Brady Bunch
5 PM The Lucy Show (guest: Claude Akins)
5:30 CBS News
6 PM Cross-Wits (Betty White, Leslie Nielsen, Abbe
Lane, Robert Q. Lewis)
6:30 Concentration
7 PM The Jeffersons
7:30 Szysznyk
8 PM CBS Movie: "Attack On Terror: The FBI Versus
The Ku Klux Klan" (Part 1, Part 2 airs Saturday
at 10 PM as Ch. 42 has its own movie on Wednesdays
at 8)
10 PM News
10:30 Kojak
11:40 CBS Movie: "You'll Never See Me Again"

WYUR (WAFF) Ch. 48 Huntsville (ABC)

6 AM PTL Club
7 AM Good Morning America
9 AM PTL Club continues
10 AM Happy Days
10:30 Family Feud
11 AM The Better Sex
11:30 Ryan's Hope
12 N All My Children
1 PM $20,000 Pyramid
1:30 One Life To Live
2:15 General Hospital
3 PM Edge Of Night
3:30 Beverly Hillbillies
4 PM Emergency One!
5 PM Andy Griffith
5:30 ABC News
6 PM News
6:30 That Girl
7 PM Pilot: "Sheehy And The Supreme Machine"
7:30 Baseball (see Ch. 2)
10 PM News (time approximate)
10:30 Streets Of San Francisco
11:40 Toma
12:50 Alfred Hitchcock Presents
 
bpatrick said:
From TV Guide, Northern Alabama Edition:

WNGE (WKRN) Ch. 2 Nashville (ABC)

11 AM The Better Sex (game show with hosts Bill Anderson
and Sarah Purcell)

6:30 Dolly (guest: Karen Black)

WSM (WSMV) Ch. 4 Nashville (NBC)

9 AM Dinah! (Phyllis Diller, Patrick Duffy, Bob Eubanks,
actor-musician-writer Tom Sullivan)

11:30 Noon Show (Teddy Bart/somebody named Ganick)

WBRC Ch. 6 Birmingham (ABC)

5 AM Country Boy Eddie
5:30 News (Bill Bolen, don't know if "Country Boy Eddie" continues
after the news)

9:30 $20,000 Pyramid (oddly, this is the same show ABC is running
in pattern at 1 PM)
10 AM Happy Days
10:30 Family Feud
11 AM That Girl
11:30 Ryan's Hope
12 N News
12:30 All My Children

WCIQ/7 Cheaha State Park; WBIQ/10 Birmingham; WHIQ/25
Huntsville; WFIQ/36 Florence (PBS)

9 PM Horsepens 40 (country music)

WOWL (WHDF) Ch. 15 Florence (NBC)

6 AM Al Lester (probably either country or gospel music)

WAAY Ch. 31 Huntsville (NBC)

9 AM Sanford And Son

12 N Mid-WAAY
Click to expand...

After a self-imposed exile, friends and neighbors (well, helped out by the tech issues this site had a while back), I hath returned. And I'm going to pick on bp first!

WNGE: Seems like channel 2 had about as much country music on this date as either 4 (WSM) or 5 (WTVF) did. Bill Anderson, of course, was (and is still) a fixture on the Grand Ole Opry, and Dolly Parton was taking a fling at syndication that season. While Dolly was white-hot on the country charts then, I suspect a lot of folk were still used to her image as the "girl singer" on Porter Wagoner's old show, and didn't cotton to her hosting solo. Petty, I know, but people, especially country music fans back then, are like that often.

WSM: You knew channel 4 was going to take Dinah's show, come hell or high water, as she was a native of Winchester, Tennessee and sang on WSM-AM radio early in her career. I imagine that station caught the largest amount of viewer flak (phone, letters) of any NBC affil back in July-August '74 when NBC dumped her daytime housewives' show for the Dennis James "Name That Tune," the latter of which lasted a grand five months. And I suspect the station GM felt like going up to 30 Rock himself and strangling the entire daytime department over that. I know I probably would have if I had been in his position.

As for "Ganick," she is Elaine Ganick, now the owner of a Nashville-area ad agency. Find out about it, and her, here: http://www.ganick.com/. She was the longest-running, IIRC, of the female sidekicks on the show; Bart and predecessor Jud Collins had several over the 25 or so years "Noon" ran on channel 4. To give equal time to Teddy Bart, find out about him at http://www.teddybart.com/. He mainly went on to do radio after a long tenure at WSM/WSMV.

WBRC: Now, bp, all of us who grew up in the viewing area of channel 6 know dern well that CBE ran from the time the rooster crowed at sunrise until 7, when the venerable Tom York took over for the city folk. I have no idea why 6 reported Bolen's five-minute bulletin as a separate program, other than the fact that he did it from the news studio, probably. Something makes me think that at other times, Bolen actually did it on the set with Eddie Burns and the band, but I may be mistaken. Thirty-five years will do that to ya. "HAW-HEE!"

And would you look at that four-hour daytime block. That gives the lie to the well-established legend that "All My Children" had always run at 10 a.m. ever since its 1970 premiere. I am sure this was a VERY short-lived experiment that got canned after the station got deluged with calls from outraged ladies. Oh, I can hear it now: "what do you mean, making me wait for my story until 12:30? I don't care nothin' 'bout no Fonzie, I can see him at night! And that Richard Dawson needs to quit kissin' them women! Put my story on back at 10!" And I'm sure 6 did that in short order.

Gotta be careful, now, we can't start another Birmingham controversy and get Russell W. all hot and bothered (!!!)

Alabama Public Television: I know you personally know this, bp, but others may not; Horse Pens 40 is a private nature park located northeast of Birmingham. The annual musical festival there was not only country, but specifically bluegrass and old-time.

WOWL: Yep, Al Lester was a fiddler who played on Nashville recordings and on stage with country acts of all kinds. He lived in the Shoals area and apparently made a living as an instrument repairman. From the local CVB page: http://www.visitflorenceal.com/music/al-lester.

WAAY: I brought this up on the "Huntsville Rewound Classic TV ads" Facebook page while discussing the recent death of a longtime WAAY personality, Johnny Evans, who co-hosted the "Coffee Break" housewives' show during the early '70s at 9 a.m. on 31. For most of its time as an NBC affil from '67 to December '77, WAAY tape-delayed NBC until Noon, filling the half-hour station break, which ran against local news on WHNT (CBS) and "Dream House," "All My Children" and "Ryan's Hope" on WMSL/WYUR (ABC). It seems that 31 decided to try the women's show at Noon instead, but I know this didn't last long because, when WAAY flipped to ABC a few months later, it would have cleared "AMC" at the time of the feed--I can't see why 31, unlike WBRC to its south, would have considered running it at 9. So in all likelihood, the women's show moved back to 9, and took the title "Morning WAAY," which it kept throughout the remainder of its run, until circa 1985-86.

Now, am I going to have time to do a retro in the near future? Well, tune in tomorrow for "Dialing for Dollars," and you'll find out!
 
Dolly Parton's syndicated show lasted, IIRC, a couple of years
(1976-78); despite its relatively short run, most critics and fans
consider it superior to her 1987 ABC show. One of her syndicated
episodes, with Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris, is considered
a classic--maybe not up to the standards of the one Judy Garland
did with Liza Minnelli and Barbra Streisand in the '60s--but one that
is praised for its utter simplicity, just music, no attempt at comedy
sketches or anything else Dolly may have been uncomfortable with.

I remember Jud Collins doing the noon show on Channel 4 in Nashville;
Elaine Ganick is a name I might recall if I dug deeply enough into my
memory bank. I was living in Texas in 1977 and was out of touch with
Northern Alabama television.

Speaking of which, out there it was a more common practice for ABC
affiliates with noon newscasts to air "All My Children" on delay at 11 AM,
and "Ryan's Hope" on delay at 12:30 PM. I recall this being the case on
KSAT San Antonio when "One Life To Live" and "General Hospital" went
to an hour each. However, in the fall of '77, KSAT was also running "AMC"
at 12:30 and pre-empting "Pyramid" altogether. WBRC might not have moved
"AMC" from 10 AM if "Happy Days" and "Family Feud" hadn't been such hot
properties on ABC's daytime schedule at the time. (And "AMC" always aired
at 12 N in Huntsville, whether on 48 or 31.)

Horsepens 40 must have been built after I left Alabama, but you're right in
that it did offer bluegrass and old-time country shows. TV Guide classifies
the show as music, so it may have been highlights of one of its festivals;
since I was in San Antonio that night I would have no idea.

And yes, I remember Country Boy Eddie, although I deliberately made it a
point not to watch him when I was in high school, and I always remember
him staying on until 7 AM, which makes me wonder why TV Guide wouldn't
have run something like this:

5:00 Country Boy Eddie
5:30 News--Bill Bolen
5:35 (or whenever) Country Boy Eddie

WLOS used to make that so simple; Bill Norwood had "Mr. Bill's Cartoons"
starting at 6:30; he did a news segment (listed separately in TV Guide)
at 7, then "Mr. Bill's Cartoons" resumed at 7:05 (and was listed in TV Guide
as such).

I wonder if WBRC turned down "The Better Sex" because they were afraid
somebody might object to the word "sex" in the title. :) Actually it was
a competition between two teams, one of men and one of women. One
team would give the other two possible answers and the receiving team
had to determine which answer was correct. Incorrect guesses eliminated
team members until an entire team was eliminated. (WXIA picked up this
show on the strength of Bill Anderson's being a graduate of the University
of Georgia and a north Georgia native; they did it in the fall of '77.)

One other point: ABC had less problem clearing "Edge Of Night" in pattern
in the Central time zone; we got it in Dallas and San Antonio at 3, and I notice
that all three ABC affiliates in the Northern Alabama edition had it at 3. Contrast
it with North Georgia, where both WTVC and WXIA had it on delay at 10:30 AM.
(I think WTVC did move it back to 4; it stayed on in the morning in Atlanta even
after WSB became the ABC station.)
 
Mike Stroud said:
And would you look at that four-hour daytime block. That gives the lie to the well-established legend that "All My Children" had always run at 10 a.m. ever since its 1970 premiere. I am sure this was a VERY short-lived experiment that got canned after the station got deluged with calls from outraged ladies. Oh, I can hear it now: "what do you mean, making me wait for my story until 12:30? I don't care nothin' 'bout no Fonzie, I can see him at night! And that Richard Dawson needs to quit kissin' them women! Put my story on back at 10!" And I'm sure 6 did that in short order.

Gotta be careful, now, we can't start another Birmingham controversy and get Russell W. all hot and bothered (!!!)
Click to expand...

Frankly, Mike, a lot of WBRC's scheduling practices got me "hot and bothered" .... but at least with ABC's 1977 daytime schedule, they preempted just one show, versus another ABC I was stuck with at the time, living in Tupelo, Miss. (WHBQ 13 out of Memphis). More on that in a minute.

I'm not sure when 6 went to a 10:00 delayed start time for AMC, but I'll consult some old TV GUIDEage I have from 1979-1981 and find out.

And I'm only "hot and bothered" (okay, my wife might go so far as to say "royally agitated") when untruths are perpetuated by haughty "nawthunurs" about Birmingham, i.e. the Channel 6 CBS defection, plus the perception by many that due to the Tommy Charles/WAQY uprising and 13's not clearing Ed Sullivan in '64, it meant the city was anti-Beatles.

Anyway, back on topic. Nobody will be quicker than me to say that Birmingham television once upon a time was a highly peculiar puppy. ;)

bpatrick said:
Speaking of which, out there it was a more common practice for ABC
affiliates with noon newscasts to air "All My Children" on delay at 11 AM,
and "Ryan's Hope" on delay at 12:30 PM.
Click to expand...

That's what two stations in the Mid-South area did for years, WHBQ 13 and KAIT 8 in nearby Jonesboro, Ark. All My Children at 11, one of that hour's programs on delay at 12:30 to allow a nooncast. Both stations preempted one show as a result (usually Ryan's Hope). Meanwhile, to the west in Little Rock, KATV 7 aired AMC in pattern at noon.

In the '80s, while in college at Arkansas State in Jonesboro, I knew a couple of students who were avid AMC fans .... and because of getting all three (!) ABC affils on local cable, they were able to stagger their AMC fix and watch it every other day -- the previous day's ep at 11 on Ch. 8, and then flip to 7 to catch that day's ep. Convenient, eh?

But when ABC unveiled the Fall '77 daytime schedule, here's what WHBQ 13 did with it at first:

9:00 Happy Days (23 hour delay)
9:30 Family Feud (23 hour delay)
10:00 Dialing For Dollars Movie (used to be at 9:00, lopping off whatever sitcom rerun ABC had at 10:30)
12:00 News
12:30 All My Children
1:30 One Life to Live
2:15 General Hospital
3:00 Edge of Night

Three programs got the boot from 13: "Pyramid", "Better Sex" and "Ryan's Hope."


I wonder if WBRC turned down "The Better Sex" because they were afraid
somebody might object to the word "sex" in the title. :)
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I wouldn't doubt Emil and Ethel down in the Coosa County hills of Weogufka would've taken "hot and bothered" to a whole 'nuther level........ ;) ;D

--Russell
 
bpatrick said:
Horsepens 40 must have been built after I left Alabama, but you're right in
that it did offer bluegrass and old-time country shows. TV Guide classifies
the show as music, so it may have been highlights of one of its festivals;
since I was in San Antonio that night I would have no idea.
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Here's the skinny on Horse Pens 40, bp: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_Pens_40. Turns out, it had been around for awhile as a music venue, but didn't really become a big thing until about the time frame we're talking about. It was mentioned in Alabama tourism/promotional material, I remember that much.
 
rwells2265 said:
But when ABC unveiled the Fall '77 daytime schedule, here's what WHBQ 13 did with it at first:

9:00 Happy Days (23 hour delay)
9:30 Family Feud (23 hour delay)
10:00 Dialing For Dollars Movie (used to be at 9:00, lopping off whatever sitcom rerun ABC had at 10:30)
12:00 News
12:30 All My Children
1:30 One Life to Live
2:15 General Hospital
3:00 Edge of Night

Three programs got the boot from 13: "Pyramid", "Better Sex" and "Ryan's Hope."


--Russell
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Those changes went into effect before the fall of '77. Somewhere I've got a newspaper article from Memphis' Commercial Appeal with the program director talking about the problems WHBQ had with All My Kids. At that point in the 70s, AMC was ABC's highest rated soap, but WHBQ wouldn't clear it until 1975. When they did clear it, the ratings were terrible. It was dropped and then brought back again and then moved all over the schedule trying to find a place to build an audience. Strangely, Edge of Night was WHBQ's highest rated soap, even though it wasn't very successful for ABC. This is always what interests me about local stations -viewing patterns. How is it that in one region a show can blow everything else out of the water, and in another it gets creamed by the competition?

WHBQ Memphis (Channel 13) 1970s Daytime Schedules

Fall 1975 - Summer 1976
06:50 Morning Devotional
06:65 Wakeup News
07:00 Make a Wish
07:30 Green Acres
08:00 Eyewitness News
08:05 Straight Talk with Marge Thrasher
09:00 Dialing for Dollars Movie
11:00 Let's Make a Deal /Hot Seat
11:30 All My Children
12:00 Eyewitness News
The rest of ABC sked in pattern


Fall 1976 - April 1977
06:00 Good Morning, America
07:00 Animals, Animals
07:30 Gilligan's Island
08:00 Eyewitness News
08:05 Straight Talk with Marge Thrasher
09:00 Dialing for Dollars Movie
11:00 Don Ho Show
11:30 *All My Children /Ryan's Hope
12:00 Eyewitness News
The rest of the ABC sked in pattern. Channel 13 dropped All My Children after the Christmas episode. Ryan's Hope premiered in that slot the next Monday. So, AMC and Happy Days were the two ABC programs not cleared by WHBQ.

April 25, 1977 - January 1978
06:00 Animals, Animals
06:30 Gilligan's Island
07:00 Good Morning, America
08:00 Eyewitness News
08:05 Straight Talk with Marge Thrasher
09:00 Happy Days
09:30 Family Feud
10:00 Dialing for Dollars Movie
12:00 Eyewitness News
12:30 All My Children
01:30 One Life to Live
02:15 General Hospital
03:00 Edge of Night
When All My Children expanded to an hour, WHBQ picked it up again, dropped Ryan's Hope, showed Happy Days and Family Feud out of pattern, and revised the schedule to air GMA at 7am, though still only 1 hour. To accommodate the changes, 13 didn't clear Ryan's Hope, The Better Sex, or $20,000 Pyramid.

January 16, 1978 - August 1978
06:30 Gilligan's Island
07:00 Good Morning, America
08:00 Eyewitness News
08:05 Straight Talk with Marge Thrasher
09:00 All My Children
10:00 Dialing for Dollars Movie
12:00 Eyewitness News
12:30 Family Feud
01:00 One Life to Live
02:00 General Hospital
03:00 Edge of Night
When ABC expanded OLTL and GH to an hour, AMC was moved from the afternoon to an early morning slot. WHBQ dropped Happy Days and continued to not clear Pyramid.

September 4, 1978
07:00 Good Morning, America
09:00 Straight Talk
10:00 Happy Days
10:30 All My Children
11:30 Ryan's Hope
12:00 Eyewitness News
12:30 Family Feud
Beginning September 4, 1978, WHBQ finally carried the full two hours of GMA. The venerable Dialing for Dollars Movie was cancelled. Ryan's Hope was carried for the second time. RH would remain on WHBQ until ABC added The Love Boat to its morning lineup in June 1980. At that point, RH was dropped and never aired again in Memphis. The same day, AMC moved to 11am, airing on a one-day delay. It stayed in that slot thru December 1989.
 
Let's face it--until the late '80's, WBRC played loose and fancy free with the ABC schedule, not just in daytime, but in prime time as well. As has been well documented by numerous posters (myself under my previous handle included), it was not uncommon for Channel 6 to take top-rated shows and move them to bizarre timeslots (see also, Sunday afternoon), primarily so that they could show reruns of shows such as Perry Mason, Gunsmoke and the like. Had Channel 6 been affiliated with either NBC or CBS, I don't know that the New York brass would have tolerated it. But since WBRC was arguably one of ABC's top rated affiliates, they let them get away with it.

When WDBB-17 made its ill-fated attempt to move into the Birmingham market from Tuscaloosa ca. 1986, for a while they carried the ABC daytime shows not cleared by WBRC. I can't remember what led WDBB to drop those shows. Of course, by '87 Channel 17 (and its satellite in Gadsden, WNAL-44) became the original Fox affiliate for central Alabama.
 
WNGE's Bozo must have been local, right? I don't think they took WGN's Bozo and rebroadcast it several hundred miles away...

-crainbebo
 
crainbebo said:
WNGE's Bozo must have been local, right? I don't think they took WGN's Bozo and rebroadcast it several hundred miles away...

-crainbebo
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I believe so...even into the late '70s, there were still a few markets doing a localized Bozo show.
 
crainbebo said:
WNGE's Bozo must have been local, right? I don't think they took WGN's Bozo and rebroadcast it several hundred miles away...

-crainbebo
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Yep, according to Tim Hollis' Hi There, Boys and Girls!, Jim Kent, who had been associated with WSIX radio and television (what WNGE was known as prior to 1973), since the Fifties, played the role for at least some of the time. It was probably in its last days, though, in Nashville by this point, since GMA was starting to really gain traction across the country, with the net pushing affils to clear the whole two hours of it. I imagine that, by the time WGN moved its version of the beloved show to the mornings in response to the Chicago city school system's beginnings of the school lunch program circa 1980 (meaning kids were no longer allowed to go home to eat and watch the Noon airing), it was pretty much the last one left. By default, Captain Kangaroo was the last weekday morning kiddie show still left on the Big Three; in many markets, indies filled the void (as did new cable stations like TBS) with cartoons for the remainder of the Eighties.
 
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