Retro: Raleigh-Durham October 15, 1984

[RALfan]

Sources: The News and Observer, Monday, Oct. 15, 1984; www.tv.com for the many episode titles; and Wikipedia for the MNF score.

WUNC Channel 4 Chapel Hill (PBS)

7:00am Farm Day
7:30am Lilias, Yoga and You
8:00am GED (I'm guessing that the bulk of this came from Kentucky Educational Television. Some of those programs included "Another Page," starring a young Robert Townsend.)
8:30am Educational Programming (I believe this was also known as the School TV lineup.)
12:30pm The Electric Company (I think UNC-TV aired this in reruns to about 1985 or '86.)
1:00pm Educational Programming
3:30pm Pre General Educational Development
4:00pm Sesame Street
5:00pm Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
5:30pm The Voyage of the Mimi (Starring a young Ben Affleck!)
6:00pm The MacNeil-Lehrer NewsHour (Before Robert MacNeil retired.)
7:00pm The Nightly Business Report
7:30pm North Carolina People with William Friday (one of the founding members of the UNC-TV network and former UNC-Chapel Hill president)
Guest: Charles Murray, director of the State Farmer's Market
8:00pm The Nature of Things (long-running CBC science series hosted by David Suzuki)
9:00pm Heritage: Civilization and the Jews
"Part 4: The Crucible of Europe"
10:00pm The Great Depression
11:00pm Doctor Who
11:30pm Not the Nine O'Clock News (BBC program that was remade in the US as HBO's Not Necessarily the News)

WRAL Channel 5 Raleigh (ABC)
6:00am World News This Morning (Steve Bell/Kathleen Sullivan)
6:45am Country Morning (must have been the actual morning newscast)
7:00am Good Morning America (David Hartman/Joan Lunden)
9:00am Hour Magazine (Gary Collins/Bonnie Strauss)
Scheduled: Mary Frann; a 12-year-old from Philadelphia who feeds the poor; reconstructing a mouth in one day; the role of grandparents in children's lives.
10:00am Frog Hollow (WRAL's down-home answer to Sesame Street)
10:30am The Edge of Night
11:00am Trivia Trap
11:30am Family Feud (For some reason, the Dawson version was off and on Triangle TV screens throughout its run.)
Noon Action News 5 (John Hudson; preempted Ryan's Hope, which was restored months later)
12:30pm Loving
1:00pm All My Children
2:00pm One Life to Live
3:00pm General Hospital
4:00pm Woody Woodpecker and Friends
4:30pm The Dukes of Hazzard
5:30pm Sanford and Son
6:00pm Action News 5 (Charlie Gaddy/Adele Arakawa; Gaddy retired in '94, Arakawa is still anchoring at KUSA in Denver)
7:00pm World News Tonight (Peter Jennings)
7:30pm PM Magazine (Susan Dahlin/Tom McNamara; despite its popularity, WRAL briefly reformatted this local version as a weekend show in 1987 called Evenings)
Features: William Travilla, fashion designer for Dallas and Knots Landing; low-altitude reconnaissance training missions with the Air National Guard in Reno, Nevada.
8:00pm World's Greatest Mysteries (special hosted by George C. Scott and Arthur C. Clarke)
9:00pm Monday Night Football
Green Bay Packers vs. Denver Broncos (Broncos over Packers 17-14)
Midnite Action News 5
12:30am Nightline (Ted Koppel)
1:00am More Real People (reruns of Real People)
1:30am Action News 5 (encore of 11pm newscast)

WTVD Channel 11 Durham (CBS)
6:00am CBS Early Morning News (Bill Kurtis/Jane Wallace)
7:00am CBS Morning News (Bill Kurtis/interim co-hosts which included Wallace and Meredith Vieira)
9:00am Donahue
Scheduled: religious cult "takeover."
10:00am The $25,000 Pyramid
10:30am Press Your Luck
11:00am The Price is Right
Noon WTVD 11 NEWS (Miriam Thomas)
12:30pm The Young and the Restless
1:30pm As the World Turns
2:30pm Capitol
3:00pm Guiding Light
4:00pm Diff'rent Strokes (preempted Body Language)
4:30pm Three's Company
5:00pm The Jeffersons
5:30pm The People's Court (the Wapner years)
6:00pm WTVD 11 NEWS (Larry Stogner)
6:30pm CBS Evening News (Dan Rather)
7:00pm Jeopardy!
7:30pm Wheel of Fortune
8:00pm Scarecrow & Mrs. King: Double Agent
9:00pm Kate & Allie: Landlady
9:30pm Newhart: Tell a Lie, Get a Check
10:00pm Cagney & Lacey: Child Witness
11:00pm WTVD 11 NEWS
11:30pm Entertainment Tonight (preempted the network lineup and Nightwatch)
Midnite The Incredible Hulk
1:00am WTVD 11 NEWS (encore of 11pm newscast)

WLFL Channel 22 Raleigh (Ind)
6:00am The PTL Club with Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker
7:00am The Great Space Coaster
7:30am The Flinstones
8:00am Popeye and Bugs Bunny
8:30am Underdog
9:00am The PTL Club with Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker (yes, again)
10:00am The 700 Club
11:30am News (yes, in those days, WLFL had a small news operation in those days)
Noon Love Connection
12:30pm The Dick Van Dyke Show
1:00pm Hogan's Heroes
1:30pm I Dream of Jeannie
2:00pm Leave it to Beaver
2:30pm Gidget
3:00pm Bugs Bunny and Friends
3:30pm Scooby-Doo
4:00pm Superfriends
4:30pm He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
5:00pm The Brady Bunch
5:30pm Bewitched
6:00pm One Day at a Time
6:30pm Barney Miller
7:00pm Trapper John, M.D.
8:00pm Movie: "Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon" *** 1/2 (1970)
Starring Liza Minnelli, Ken Howard, and Robert Moore
11:00pm Rituals
11:30pm How to Make it in America
12:30am Movie: "Man Without a Star" *** (1955)
Starring Kirk Douglas and Jeanne Crain
2:30am INN: The Independent News

WPTF Channel 28 Durham (NBC)
5:30am Yesterday's Newsreels
6:00am Jimmy Swaggart
6:30am 20 Minute Workout
7:00am Today (Bryant Gumbel/Jane Pauley)
Scheduled: Part 1 of a two-part interview with Little Richard; preparing for marriage
9:00am The All New Let's Make a Deal
9:30am I Love Lucy
10:00am The Facts of Life (daytime reruns)
10:30am Sale of the Century
11:00am Wheel of Fortune
11:30am Scrabble
Noon Super Password
12:30pm Search for Tomorrow
1:00pm Days of Our Lives
2:00pm Another World
3:00pm Heathcliff (Santa Barbara was preempted here until 1985 when WPTF aired it at 9:00am; it was seen at the normal 3:00pm slot during the latter part of the decade.)
3:30pm Inspector Gadget
4:00pm Voltron: Defender of the Universe
4:30pm The Great Record Album Collection (I presume these were infomercials)
5:00pm Tic Tac Dough
5:30pm Family Feud
6:00pm Dallas
7:00pm NBC Nightly News (Tom Brokaw)
7:30pm Anything for Money (game show with impressionist Fred Travalena)
8:00pm TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes (with Dick Clark and Ed McMahon)
Cyndi Lauper and Joan Van Ark are practical joke victims; Michael Gross with Family Ties bloopers; Fred Roggin's sports blunders.
9:00pm V: The Final Battle (Part 2 of 3)
11:00pm The Benny Hill Show
11:30pm The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (it's really Best of Carson)
Guests: Eddie Murphy, Jennifer Richards, and Reggie Joule of the Eskimo Olympics
12:30am Late Night with David Letterman
Guests: JoBeth Williams, Harry Dean Stanton


I didn't include WKFT Channel 40 in Fayetteville for two reasons: (A) WKFT aired some of the same programs that the other stations did, and (B) Fayetteville did not become part of the Raleigh/Durham market until around 1986.

 

[azumanga]

WPTF Channel 28 Durham (NBC)
4:30pm The Great Record Album Collection (I presume these were infomercials)

I don't think they were, since 1984 was still a little too early for infomercials (the FCC lifted the limits on commercials that year). I recall in another retro schedule that Los Angeles' KNBC also carried the program, but at late-night.

Could anyone fill in details on this show?

 

[bpatrick]

Country Morning, IIRC, was 15 minutes of farm news. WRAL
serves an agriculture (tobacco)-based area in eastern North
Carolina, and farm news was part of their morning programming
for years. As the market has become more urbanized (and people
from eastern towns such as Goldsboro, 50 miles away, commute
to the Triangle, farm news has become less important to the
station).

Frog Hollow is just part of a proud tradition of kids' shows
on WRAL. In the '50s and early '60s they had Romper Room
with a lady named Margaret Brickle in the mornings; and
Captain Five with Herb Marks in the afternoons (I was on
Captain Five twice). WRAL had Bozo the Clown for about
a year in the early '60s but balked at paying the license fee;
instead it created Time For Uncle Paul (Paul Montgomery),
which lasted until (I think) the early '80s. Frog Hollow lasted
until RAL went to CBS and began carrying $25,000 Pyramid
at 10 AM. Since then they've had Saturday shows such
as The Androgena Show and Brain Game, both locally-produced.

I remember WRAL carrying Ryan's Hope on a
day-behind basis after ABC moved it to 12 Noon.
When WTVD became the ABC o&o in 1985, RH disappeared
from the market, unless you could get either WGHP or
WCTI.

And WTVD is STILL running Jeopardy! at 7 and Wheel at
7:30.

 

[bpatrick]

WPTF Channel 28 Durham (NBC)
4:30pm The Great Record Album Collection (I presume these were infomercials)

I don't think they were, since 1984 was still a little too early for infomercials (the FCC lifted the limits on commercials that year). I recall in another retro schedule that Los Angeles' KNBC also carried the program, but at late-night.

Could anyone fill in details on this show?

I think it was a music-video show.

 

[fortmill]

Ralfan said the Fayetteville area was not a part of the Raleigh-Durham DMA until 1986. I think he is mistaken about this. Long before that, WTVD and WRDU/WPTF were imaging themselves as Durham/Raleigh/Fayetteville. It Fayetteville was not in Raleigh/Durham,what market were they in? True, WECT served the area (and still does) as well as WBTW. Stations such as WGHP and WITN were also on local cable. WRAL and WTVD were still the dominant channels, though their signals were not as strong as they are today (along with all the other R-D channels). Even Robeson Co., to the south of Fayetteville, were in R-D until a few years ago, when they were moved to Florence-MYB. But, I think in the mid 80s all the counties in the Rocky Mount/Wilson/Goldsboro corridor were moved from Washington/Greenville/New Bern DMA to R-D, accounting in part for RD's huge increase in market size (and huge decrease for W-G-NB). Believe it or not, the two markets were almost the same size back in the early 70s.

 

[dxtrfn]

I'm guessing Farm Day and AM Weather (not listed) ran in the same 30 minute slot.

 

[RALfan]

Frog Hollow is just part of a proud tradition of kids' shows on WRAL. In the '50s and early '60s they had Romper Room with a lady named Margaret Brickle in the mornings; and Captain Five with Herb Marks in the afternoons (I was on Captain Five twice). WRAL had Bozo the Clown for about a year in the early '60s but balked at paying the license fee; instead it created Time For Uncle Paul (Paul Montgomery), which lasted until (I think) the early '80s. Frog Hollow lasted until RAL went to CBS and began carrying $25,000 Pyramid at 10 AM. Since then they've had Saturday shows such as The Androgena Show and Brain Game, both locally-produced.

I believe Time for Uncle Paul ended in 1981 and was directly replaced with Frog Hollow. Also, after WRAL switched to CBS in '85, I believe the latter show briefly aired in reruns on Saturdays alongside the then-new (and also locally-produced) sci-fi educational adventure show Sparks.

Ralfan said the Fayetteville area was not a part of the Raleigh-Durham DMA until 1986. I think he is mistaken about this. Long before that, WTVD and WRDU/WPTF were imaging themselves as Durham/Raleigh/Fayetteville. It Fayetteville was not in Raleigh/Durham,what market were they in? True, WECT served the area (and still does) as well as WBTW. Stations such as WGHP and WITN were also on local cable. WRAL and WTVD were still the dominant channels, though their signals were not as strong as they are today (along with all the other R-D channels). Even Robeson Co., to the south of Fayetteville, were in R-D until a few years ago, when they were moved to Florence-MYB. But, I think in the mid 80s all the counties in the Rocky Mount/Wilson/Goldsboro corridor were moved from Washington/Greenville/New Bern DMA to R-D, accounting in part for RD's huge increase in market size (and huge decrease for W-G-NB). Believe it or not, the two markets were almost the same size back in the early 70s.

Sorry about the mistake, fortmill, and thank you for clearing that up. I guess that was an assumption because When WKFT first signed on in 1981, it started airing pretty much the same shows that many of the other stations were airing. These shows included religious fare such as The PTL Club and cartoons like He-Man and Inspector Gadget.

 

[bpatrick]

Frog Hollow is just part of a proud tradition of kids' shows on WRAL. In the '50s and early '60s they had Romper Room with a lady named Margaret Brickle in the mornings; and Captain Five with Herb Marks in the afternoons (I was on Captain Five twice). WRAL had Bozo the Clown for about a year in the early '60s but balked at paying the license fee; instead it created Time For Uncle Paul (Paul Montgomery), which lasted until (I think) the early '80s. Frog Hollow lasted until RAL went to CBS and began carrying $25,000 Pyramid at 10 AM. Since then they've had Saturday shows such as The Androgena Show and Brain Game, both locally-produced.

I believe Time for Uncle Paul ended in 1981 and was directly replaced with Frog Hollow. Also, after WRAL switched to CBS in '85, I believe the latter show briefly aired in reruns on Saturdays alongside the then-new (and also locally-produced) sci-fi educational adventure show Sparks.

I believe you're right; I do know that at one point in the '90s (maybe early '00s) Sparks and The Androgena Show
aired back-to-back on Saturday mornings. I knew I was leaving something out when I listed WRAL's various kids'
shows, and that was Sparks.

Speaking of kids' shows, back about 1963 or '64 WTVD had one in the afternoon called The Fun Hour, with a
character called Paul Pioneer, played by Ken Corbett, who also did the weather on 11; the set was supposed
to be his cabin and there were fake trees suggesting that he lived in the woods. At any rate, Corbett showed
up drunk to do the weather at 11 PM one night; IIRC, he never returned to The Fun Hour and maybe not even
to WTVD. I don't know what happened to him.

 

[mleach]

WPTF Channel 28 Durham (NBC)
4:30pm The Great Record Album Collection (I presume these were infomercials)

I don't think they were, since 1984 was still a little too early for infomercials (the FCC lifted the limits on commercials that year). I recall in another retro schedule that Los Angeles' KNBC also carried the program, but at late-night.

Could anyone fill in details on this show?

This was indeed a music video program. Much like HOT ( Hits Of Today ) which I think aired on a few stations around this time.

The show also aired on Washington DC's WDCA channel 20 as well. One of my online friends has a clip of the opening of this that she taped off of WDCA and was thinking about putting that on you tube. However one of her co-workers received a call from a friend who works at WDCA telling her they and WTTG, well FOX was going to go after that site and get their clips removed ( Captain 20, Milt Grant, Maury Povich, Panarama, etc...). Anyway she didn't. So much for that.

 

[azumanga]

I'm guessing Farm Day and AM Weather (not listed) ran in the same 30 minute slot.

Correct -- both shows were 15-minute shows from the same producer (Maryland Public Television), and they had some sort of editorial segment between the two shows.

 

[RALfan]

I believe you're right; I do know that at one point in the '90s (maybe early '00s) Sparks and The Androgena Show
aired back-to-back on Saturday mornings. I knew I was leaving something out when I listed WRAL's various kids'
shows, and that was Sparks.

Speaking of kids' shows, back about 1963 or '64 WTVD had one in the afternoon called The Fun Hour, with a
character called Paul Pioneer, played by Ken Corbett, who also did the weather on 11; the set was supposed
to be his cabin and there were fake trees suggesting that he lived in the woods. At any rate, Corbett showed
up drunk to do the weather at 11 PM one night; IIRC, he never returned to The Fun Hour and maybe not even
to WTVD. I don't know what happened to him.

And speaking of WTVD, they had another popular kids' show in the 1950s called The Cartoon Factory starring Happy the Toy Soldier starring the station's founding program director Ernie Greup as the title character.

 

[RadioDze]

That schedule brings back some memories! I didn't realize WLFL was running a local news operation back then, or that the former WPTF-TV wasn't (I guess Newsbeat 28 premiered around 1985 or '86). Are there any more details about WLFL's early news operation (anchors, etc). A note about WKFT (now Univision affiliate WUVC)...I remember their taking the cable channel 11 spot on Durham Cablevision (now TWC), that was previously occupied by Greensboro's WFMY-TV 2(CBS) around 1985. I think that was about the time the station boosted their power for full market coverage from a new tower in Broadway,NC. Channel 40 began operations from a shorter tower in June of 1981 (actually pre-dating WLFL by about six months). Though not listed, I think Fayetteville's other TV station, the limited range WFCT-TV 62 (now "i" affiliate WFPX) had either signed on or was about to do so at this time.

Just for perspective, this schedule was about four years before Beasley Broadcasting signed on Goldsboro-licensed WYED-TV 17 (which would become today's WNCN NBC 17) and alomst 11 years before WRAZ-TV 50 hit the airwaves. Present-day WRPX-TV 47 and WRAY-TV 30 were several years away from signing on as well.

 

[chuckydoll]

Raleigh/Durham and Fayetteville

Fayetteville has always been in the Raleigh/Durham DMA. WRAL-5 and WTVD-11 have had Fayetteville bureaus for many years.

Cable viewers in Fayetteville get the Big 4 from Raleigh/Durham plus WECT-6 from Wilmington. Why? NBC has always been the weakest network in the Triangle and the WECT tower is close enough to put a strong signal into Fayetteville.

Also, WBTW-13 is no longer on cable in Fayetteville.

 

[RALfan]

Here is the WKFT schedule for those of you who inquire:

6:00am Beverly Exercise
6:30am 20-Minute Workout
7:00am Inspector Gadget
7:30am The Underdog Show
8:00am Morning Madness
9:00am The Andy Griffith Show
9:30am Bewitched
10:00am The 700 Club
11:30am INN Midday Edition
Noon Carolina Spotlight (local talk show)
12:30pm Movie: "But Not for Me" *** (1959)
2:30pm Tom and Jerry/The Little Rascals
3:00pm Scooby Doo
3:30pm Inspector Gadget
4:00pm He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
4:30pm Superfriends
5:00pm The Three Stooges
5:30pm Family Feud
6:00pm News
6:30pm Wheel of Fortune
7:00pm Star Trek
8:00pm Movie: "The Buster Keaton Story" ** 1/2 (1957)
10:00pm News
10:30pm INN: The Independent News
11:00pm The Benny Hill Show
11:30pm Hogan's Heroes
Mid. The Doctor is in

 

[bpatrick]

Well, NBC's been the weakest in the Triangle
since WRAL went to ABC in 1962. It's never
been clear why they did, but I remember that there
was only one other ABC affiliate in the entire state
of North Carolina at the time: WLOS/13 Asheville.
Living outside Raleigh until I moved to eastern North
Carolina in 1965, I watched NBC on WITN, which put
a snowy but viewable signal into areas east of Raleigh.

I'm not sure about Durham, but I know WFMY is
on cable in Carrboro. I was in there eating lunch
one day and "The Young And The Restless" was on.
And it's no great secret that WRAL carries it at 4,
which is long past my lunchtime.

 

[fortmill]

Actually, WITN/7 was recieved pretty well in Raleigh in the 60s and a fairly large precentage of households watched NBC on 7. WITN promoted, at a low price, a "channel 7 antenna" in Raleigh which was a Channel Master high band 10 element VHF antenna. From experience, I can tell you it brought in 7 with just a little snow and good color. About 72 or 73, reception abruptly got worse, supposedly because of interference from FM stations. Of course, by that time, cable was available and WITN, along with WFMY (and WGHP), was on Raleigh cable. Speaking of WFMY, that station was also widely available in Raleigh OTA. Up until the the late 70s, Raleigh/Durham television was considered highly inferior to Triad and Eastern NC TV and many residents had large rotary antennas to pick up the out of town stations....

 

[mleach]

What about the Virginia stations?

For YEARS I remember seeing listings for the Triad and Triangle stations in the Roanoke-Lynchburg edition of TV Guide which makes me wonder if stations like Roanoke's WDBJ channel 7 for example were seen in the bigger cities in NC like Greensboro or Raleigh? Same with Richmond and Hampton Roads? I would imagine WTVR's then signal made it to Raleigh since back then they made it as far north as Maryland.

Back in the early 80s I remember staying at the then-new Cavalier Hotel on the boardwalk in Virginia Beach. At the time the hotel had its own cable lineup ( they didn't use the local regional cable service ) and not only offered all the Hampton Roads channels except WTVZ but they offered both WRAL and WTVD as well though on the weekends somehow and oddly they replaced WTVD with Baltimore's WBAL even though WBAL didn't come in as well as WTVD.

 

[fortmill]

The Triad stations (WFMY, WXII, etc.) have always been easily recieved OTA (and on cable) in Danville, Martinville, and surrounding areas of VA, and WRAL and WTVD (and other Triangle stations) have always been recieved in the South Boston VA area. Of course, the Roanoke stations are also recieved in those areas. That is why the Triad and and Triangle channels were always listed in the Roanoke-Lynchburg (actually called the Central VA) edition of TV Guide. Likewise, WDBJ and WSLS have always been quite recievable throughout North Central NC (Triad area), but never in the Triangle area. WTVR was never seen regularly in the Raleigh Durham area---it is over 150 miles away, and you have to remember TV stations in Eastern VA are in ZOne 1 and are not allowed as much power as those in NC or Western VA. My grandmother in Raleigh was an early adopter of TV. She started off recieving only WFMY, then added WNAO and WTVD. I have to question the report of a hotel master antenna in Virginia Beach VA offering WTVD/WRAL and WBAL--that would be impossible on a regular basis. I would guess WBAL could be a regular dx catch in V Beach, since its almost 100% over water. WTVD/WRAL maybe under tropo conditions---that's almost 200 miles....

 

[bpatrick]

In Garner in the '60s I never had any luck picking
up WFMY but I did get WGHP OTA; that's where I
usually watched ABC (less inclined to pre-empt than
WRAL).


I also never had any luck with the Virginia stations
in Garner, although in Kinston (about 70 miles east)
I could pick up WAVY (NBC in Norfolk, and I particularly
remember it's the first channel where I ever saw Mike
Douglas).

However, today, living in Siler City (western Chatham
County), I can pick up WDBJ and WSLS, especially in
the morning. WSET is more problematical, surprisingly
since I'm probably closer to Lynchburg than Roanoke,
but WBTW Florence, SC is also on Ch. 13 and I never
know which one I'm going to pick up.

My best luck with out-of-town stations has been in
higher terrain, and on the second floor of my house.
In Birmingham I watched Atlanta wrestling on Channel
11 many a Saturday night; in Greenville, SC in the mornings
I could get WGTV/8 Athens, GA; WSOC/9 Charlotte;
WIS/10 Columbia; WXIA/11 Atlanta; and WRDW/12 Augusta
(that last one is where I saw Michael Larson take "Press
Your Luck" to the cleaners--WSPA wasn't carrying it then).

 

[charlestondxman]

Yes, the last time I was in High Point, I could pick up WSLS and WDBJ pretty clearly, just on a little Walkman radio. SLS was fuzzier than WDBJ.

WIS also has a huge signal, as I could pick it up well inside the Charlotte airport, while channel 3 has problems just a few miles from Charlotte.

WBTW was off cable in Fayetteville in the late 1980s, but they only put it back on after WRAL's tower collapsed, and the negotiations of 1993 with broadcast channels having to have must-carry, so Fayetteville could have an alternate CBS affiliate.

WBTW wasn't even on the Lumberton cable until 1993, only because it was more popular than Wilmington and Raleigh channels.

Here is a partial article from the Fayettville Observer from 1993 on the matter:

http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we...page=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM