Retro: South Carolina--Mon, Mar 17, 1980

[Mike Stroud]

TV Guide, South Carolina edition--cover missing

NOTE: Channels in parentheses were originally designated by black bullets; those in brackets by white. This transcription only includes broadcast channels; cable channels originally in the listings are excluded.

Charleston, South Carolina:
(2) WCBD (ABC)--now NBC affiliate
(4) WCIV (NBC)--now ABC affiliate
(5) WCSC (CBS)
(7) WITV (PBS)*

Florence, South Carolina:
(13) WBTW (CBS, ABC secondary)
(33) WJPM (PBS)*--now digital 45 (PSIP 33)

Allendale, South Carolina:
(14) WEBA (PBS)*--now digital 33 (PSIP 14)

Columbia, South Carolina:
(10) WIS (NBC)
(19) WLTX (CBS)
(25) WOLO (ABC)
(35) WRLK (PBS)*--now digital 32 (PSIP 35)

Beaufort, South Carolina:
(16) WJWJ (PBS)*--now digital 44 (PSIP 16)

Sumter, South Carolina:
(27) WRJA (PBS)*--now digital 28 (PSIP 27)

Wrens, Georgia:
[20] WCES (PBS)#

Augusta, Georgia:
[6] WJBF (ABC)--now digital 42 (PSIP 6)
[12] WRDW (CBS)
[26] WATU (NBC)--now WAGT, on digital 30 (PSIP 26)

Savannah, Georgia:
[3] WSAV (NBC)
[9] WVAN (PBS)#
[11] WTOC (CBS)
[22] WJCL (ABC)

*--translator relay of South Carolina Educational Television
#--translator relay of Georgia Educational Television (now Georgia Public Broadcasting)

MORNING
5:25
[11] Bible Answers--probably local religion

5:50
[26] Job Service--public affairs

5:55
[3] 700 Club
[11] Arthur Smith--long-running regionally-syndicated country-music show
(19) WLTX News

6:00
(2) [22] (25) [26] PTL Club--the Bakkers were at their peak of station clearances at about this time
(19) 700 Club

6:20
(10) Early Riser--probably local morning show

6:25
[6] [11] Health Field (different episodes)

6:30
(10) Knozit-Land--WIS' children's show ran much longer than most others did, thanks to the longevity of Joe Pinner, station weatherman who doubled as the lead character, Mr. Knozit (pronounced "knows-it"), who was similar to the later "Bill Nye, the Science Guy"
[12] Sunrise Semester
(13) Arthur Smith

6:40
(5) Lowcountry Living--local morning show; listed as "variety," so music was probably featured

6:45
(4) New Day--religion; probably local

6:55
[3] Georgia/Carolina Summary--local public affairs
(5) Sadie Oglesby's Scrapbook--probably local women's show
[6] WJBF News
[11] In the Schools--probably local

7:00
(2) [6] [22] (25) Good Morning America--David Hartman, Sandy Hill
[3] (4) (10) [26] Today Show--Tom Brokaw, Jane Pauley
(5) [11] [12] (19) Monday Morning (CBS News)--Bob Schieffer
(13) Good Morning Jesus--probably local ministry

7:45
[9] [20] A. M. Weather--PBS

8:00
(5) [11] [12] (13) (19) Captain Kangaroo--still going, though the 1980s would not be kind to him
**NOTE--Neither Georgia Educational Television nor South Carolina Educational Television listed its in-school schedule**

9:00
(2) (25) [26] PTL Club--probably the second of the two hours the show ran each day
[3] 700 Club
(4) Chain Reaction--tape-delayed game show from NBC the previous week
(5) [12] (19) [22] Phil Donahue (same episode on WRDW and WLTX)
[6] Dinah! & Friends--last season for the talk-show diva, the Oprah of her day
(10) Password Plus--tape-delayed game show from NBC the previous week
[11] Romper Room--in some places, this was still going, on "Miss So-and-So's" watch
(13) Monday Morning (same as 7 a.m.)

9:30
(4) Please Don't Eat the Daisies--rerun of 1965-67 NBC family sitcom that revolved around two twin boys
(10) F Troop--rerun of pratfall-driven sitcom
[11] St. Patrick's Day Pre-Parade (see below; WTOC normally aired "11 Live," a local public affairs show)

9:55
(10) WIS News

10:00
(2) Dinah! & Friends
[3] St. Patrick's Day Parade--annual Savannah tradition dating back to 1813; notorious for green water pouring out of fountains and liquor drinking out in the streets; WSAV coverage hosted by Sandra Eaks (Miss Georgia 1979) and Curt Avery
(4) (10) [26] Card Sharks--game show based on the card game "Acey-Deucey"
(5) Joker's Wild
[11] St. Patrick's Day Parade--WTOC coverage anchored by Douglas Weathers and Neal Neumann
[12] (13) (19) Jeffersons--CBS rerun
[22] PTL Club
(25) $20,000 Pyramid--taped-delayed from ABC the previous week

10:30
(4) (10) [26] Hollywood Squares--cancelled in a few months
(5) (13) (19) Whew!--strategy-oriented game show where contestants solved "bloopers," sentences with mistakes
[6] Petticoat Junction--sitcom about the goings-on at the Shady Rest Motel, run by a woman with three gorgeous daughters and a do-nothing uncle
[12] 3's a Crowd--highly controversial Chuck Barris game; VERY unusual timeslot for this (perhaps to elude the moralists' and preachers' ire if it aired during Prime Time Access)
(25) Mary Tyler Moore--rerun

10:55
(5) [12] (13) (19) CBS News--Douglas Edwards, who once anchored "CBS Evening News" in the late 1950s

11:00
(2) [6] [22] (25) Laverne and Shirley--ABC rerun
(4) (10) [26] High Rollers--like "Card Sharks," this game was based on a parlor favorite, in this case "Shut the Box"
(5) [12] (13) (19) Price is Right--eighth of Bob Barker's 35 seasons with the show

11:30
(2) [6] (22) (25) Family Feud--"survey SAYS ..."
(4) (10) [26] Wheel of Fortune--had this game not held onto NBC's daytime schedule during this rough period, Pat Sajak would still be a weatherman and Vanna White might well be a day-care owner or so

AFTERNOON
12:00
(2) [6] (22) $20,000 Pyramid--about to end a six-year run on ABC
(4) 4 Noon--local
(5) Midday--local
(10) Carolina Today--local
[11] 3's a Crowd--likewise an unusual choice for WTOC
[12] Midday on 12--local
(13) Edge of Night--tape-delayed from ABC the previous week
(19) One Day at a Time--tape-delayed from CBS the previous week
(25) Scene at Noon--local
[26] 26 Minutes--local interview show

12:30
(2) [6] [22] (25) Ryan's Hope--ABC soap
(4) [26] Password Plus--the legendary Allen Ludden kept presiding over "the war of the words" until his illness the following year
(5) [11] [12] (13) (19) Search for Tomorrow
(10) WIS News

1:00
(2) [6] [22] (25) All My Children--sudser was a decade old and kept getting stronger
[3] (4) (10) [26] Days of Our Lives--"AMC" thrived largely at the expense of this show
(5) [11] [12] (13) (19) Young and the Restless--this timeslot was HIGHLY unpopular with affiliates; the next year, they demanded that the show return to Noon, and CBS began providing the option of either a Noon or 12:30 feed, shoving "Search for Tomorrow" to 2:30

2:00
(2) [6] [22] (25) One Life to Live
[3] (4) (10) [26] Doctors--timeslots made all the difference in the world to soaps, and this one never recovered from being displaced from the 2:30 slot the previous year
(5) [11] [12] (13) (19) As the World Turns--about to become the sole survivor of the once-proud Procter and Gamble serial empire

2:30
[3] (4) (10) [26] Another World--a staggering 90 minutes in length each day

3:00
(2) [6] [22] (25) General Hospital--was on top of the sudser heap, with no challengers anywhere in sight
(5) [11] [12] (13) (19) Guiding Light

3:30
[9] [20] Japan: The Changing Tradition--unsure if in-school or adult educational

4:00
(2) H. R. & Company (perhaps a rerun of "H. R. Pufnstuf"?)
[3] Movie--"Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies," English; 1969
(4) Tom and Jerry--classic cat-and-mouse fights
(5) (13) One Day at a Time--CBS rerun
[6] [22] Edge of Night
[9] [20] Sesame Street
(10) Knozit-Land--probably same episode as 6:30 a.m.
[11] I Love Lucy
[12] Bugs Bunny and Friends
(19) Little Rascals/Three Stooges
(25) Flintstones
[26] Gomer Pyle, USMC--still flustering Sergeant Carter after all these years

4:30
(4) Superman--1950s live-action version
(5) Jeffersons--tape-delayed from CBS earlier in the day
[6] (10) [11] Tom and Jerry--probably syndicated package
(7) (14) (33) (35) Sesame Street
(13) All My Children--tape-delayed from ABC earlier in the day
(16) (27) Electric Company--for some reason, these two stations had a different feed from the rest of South Carolina ETV during parts of the day
[22] Six Million Dollar Man--"bolder, stronger, faster ..."
(25) Bewitched--Elizabeth Montgomery twinkles away
[26] I Love Lucy--here's a great pun in the episode description: "Lucy steals herself for trouble when the police accuse her of burglary"--!

5:00
(2) Edge of Night--tape-delayed from ABC earlier in the day
(4) Play the Percentages--short-lived Jack Barry-Dan Enright game hosted by Geoff Edwards
(5) I Dream of Jeannie
[6] Beverly Hillbillies--episode description: "The Clampetts grab their shootin' irons when Elly May is jilted"
[9] [20] Mister Rogers
[11] [12] What's Happening (probably different episodes)
(16) (27) Sesame Street
(19) Gunsmoke
(25) Starsky and Hutch--the two young buck cops are, in this episode, trying to stop a heist of TNT
[26] Mike Douglas (90-minute version; his last season with Westinghouse/Group W)

5:30
(2) Newlywed Game--about half the show at times, was bleeped out
(4) Match Game--daily version
(5) [11] Happy Days Again--"Aaaayyyyyyy!" (different episodes)
[6] Sanford and Son--rerun of first-ever episode
(7) (14) (33) (35) Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
[9] [20] Electric Company
(10) Brady Bunch--"Here's the story ..."
[12] Good Times--serious episode in which J. J. is tempted to hook up with a gang
(13) Dating Game
[22] WJCL News

EVENING
6:00
(2) WCBD News
[3] WSAV News
(4) WCIV News
(5) Sanford and Son
[6] WJBF News
(7) (14) (33) (35) Over Easy--guest, then-Second Lady Joan Mondale
[9] [20] 3-2-1 Contact
(10) Joker's Wild
[11] WTOC News
[12] WRDW News
(13) WBTW News
(16) 16 Report (apparently local cut-ins on WJWJ and WRJA until 7:30 p.m.)
[22] ABC World News Tonight--Frank Reynolds, Max Robinson, Tom Jarriel, Barbara Walters (Peter Jennings off)
(27) On Stage--probably local

6:30
(2) [6] (13) (25) ABC World News Tonight
[3] (4) (10) [26] NBC Nightly News--John Chancellor, David Brinkley
(5) WCSC News
(7) (14) (33) (35) Another Voice--interview; probably SCETV origination
[9] [20] Over Easy--Captain Kangaroo guest on this episode
[11] [12] (19) CBS Evening News--Walter Cronkite, Ed Bradley at New York desk
(16) Community Voice--probably local
[22] Mary Tyler Moore
(27) 27 Tonight

7:00
(2) Kung Fu--show rarely seen in syndication
[3] Joker's Wild
(4) [6] All in the Family (different episodes)
(5) (13) CBS Evening News
(7) (14) (33) (35) MacNeil/Lehrer Report--now "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer"
[9] [20] By-Line--Georgia ETV interview show
(10) WIS News
[11] Cross-Wits
[12] Newlywed Game
(16) 3-2-1 Contact
(19) Sanford and Son
[22] Time for Love--two-hour religious special about treatment for abused children (preempting "Sanford and Son" and "M*A*S*H" reruns)
(25) Dating Game
[26] Gunsmoke
(27) Over Easy

7:30
[3] (5) Tic Tac Dough--answering questions and fighting dragons was the name of this game
(4) Face the Music--former Tarzan Ron Ely tried game-show hosting with this one-season "Name That Tune" wannabe flop
[6] M*A*S*H
(7) (14) (16) (27) (33) (35) For the People--probably SCETV public affairs show
[9] [20] MacNeil/Lehrer Report
(10) Muppet Show--Christopher Reeve, guest
[11] (25) Newlywed Game
[12] Happy Days Again
(13) Gong Show--syndicated version still going, but would take a hit with the rest of the Chuck Barris empire at the end of the season
(19) All in the Family--everyone's favorite bigot gets drunk in this episode and winds up sleeping with a strange woman--!

8:00
(2) [6] (25) That's Incredible!--well, sometimes it was, while at other times, it was downright silly or stupid
[3] (4) (10) [26] Little House on the Prairie--Nellie vs. Laura in this episode
(5) [11] [12] (13) (19) WKRP in Cincinnati--"Baby, if you've ever wondered ..."
(7) [9] (14) [20] (33) (35) James Michener's World--famed writer hosted periodic PBS special; topic: "the way it was and what it is today for the black athlete in America"
(16) (27) Mystery!--"Rebecca," adaptation of Daphne du Maurier novel

8:30
(5) [11] [12] (13) (19) Last Resort--final episode of short-lived MTM ensemble sitcom (a la "WKRP")

9:00
(2) [6] [22] Family--last season of Aaron Spelling drama
[3] (4) (10) [26] Bob Hope Special--guests: Robert Urich, Marie Osmond, Robert Guillaume, Linda Gray (of "Dallas")
(5) [11] [12] (13) (19) M*A*S*H--episode where Klinger cooks a Thanksgiving turkey and gets all the 4077th sick
(7) [9] (14) [20] (33) (35) American Short Story--double feature: Mark Twain's "The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg" and William Faulkner's "Barn Burning"
(16) (27) Free to Choose--miniseries where economist Milton Friedman laid out his supply-side theories; this series may well have convinced some people to vote for Ronald Reagan that year
(25) NIT Basketball Semifinal--teams TBA

9:30
(5) [11] [12] (13) (19) House Calls--try as he might, Wayne Rogers could never get another hit sitcom (just like fellow "M*A*S*H" alumnus McLean Stevenson)

10:00
(2) [6] [22] Stone--final episode of failed comeback attempt by Dennis Weaver; standard cop piece
[3] St. Patrick's Day Parade--WSAV recap of festivities earlier in the day (two hours)
(4) (10) [26] Tom Snyder--"Tomorrow Show" host attempted to branch out into primetime with high-profile celeb interviews, a la Barbara Walters
(5) [11] [12] (13) (19) Lou Grant
(16) (27) Carmen McRae in Concert--jazz singer performs with Clark Terry's Big Band

10:30
(7) (14) (33) (35) Synthesis--four-part series about scientific techniques and their impact upon everyday life
[9] [20] Focus on Germany--probably PBS

11:00
(2) WCBD News
[3] WSAV News
(4) WCIV News
(5) WCSC News
[6] WJBF News
(7) [9] (14) [20] (27) (33) (35) Dick Cavett
(10) WIS News
[11] WTOC News
[12] WRDW News
(13) WBTW News
(16) 16 Report
(19) Odd Couple--WLTX opting to stay out of the 11 p.m. news race (which WIS led by a huge margin)
[22] WJCL News
(25) WOLO News
[26] Alfred Hitchcock--Robert Vaughn and Walter Matthau star in this episode

11:30
(2) [6] [22] (25) ABC News Special--"The Iran Crisis--America Held Hostage" (would be renamed "Nightline" the following week)
[3] (4) (10) [26] Tonight Show--Martin Mull, guest host (as was standard practice on Monday nights)
(5) [11] [12] (13) (19) Harry O--CBS rerun of 1976-78 ABC crime drama
(7) (14) (16) (27) (33) (35) ABC Captioned News--rebroadcast of "World News Tonight" for deaf and hearing-impaired

11:45
(2) [6] [22] (25) Barney Miller--ABC rerun

12:00 a.m.
(7) (14) (33) (35) MacNeil/Lehrer Report--rebroadcast from earlier

12:20
(2) [6] [22] (25) Police Story--ABC rerun of mid-1970s Joseph Wambaugh NBC anthology

12:40
(5) [11] [12] (13) (19) McCloud--this ran on CBS late nights for so many years, it never got syndicated to local stations

1:00
(4) (10) Tomorrow--on this episode, a discussion about Ed Sullivan

2:20
[11] Movie--"A Kiss Before Dying," 1956

4:00
[11] Movie--"Mr. Doodle Kicks Off," 1938

 

[bpatrick]

IIRC, "H.R." on WCBD at 4 PM was Happy Raine,
a genuine Native American woman who was on
WCSC for years before changing stations.

I have a feeling that "Sadie Oglesby's Scrapbook"
(or whatever it was at 6:55 AM on WCSC) may have
been tidbits of Charleston lore; there's a lot of history
and tradition there.

 

[Stanislav]

(4) Please Don't Eat the Daisies--rerun of 1965-67 NBC family sitcom that revolved around two twin boys

Wow, I don't remember that show being rerun circa 1980 -- after its network run, I thought it had more or less disappeared until WWOR ran it for a time on its satellite service in the 90's (one of those cheap, obscure old shows that they ran when the terrestrial OTA feed had protected syndicated programming). Was this syndicated, or was NBC really airing reruns of this sappy, very 60's show 13 years after its demise?

(4) [26] Password Plus--the legendary Allen Ludden kept presiding over "the war of the words" until his illness the following year

Though I was in no wise a game show geek, I did enjoy Password, and always thought Ludden was one of the classiest, wittiest hosts on TV. They don't make 'em like that no more...

(16) (27) Electric Company--for some reason, these two stations had a different feed from the rest of South Carolina ETV during parts of the day

There are four SCETV stations (WNSC Rock Hill, WRJA Sumter, WRET Spartanburg, and WJWJ Beaufort) that have their own studio facilities and the ability to substitute alternate programming of a more local/regional nature. All other SCETV stations are basically passive repeaters of flagship WRLK Columbia.

[12] Good Times--serious episode in which J. J. is tempted to hook up with a gang

"Tonight...on a VERY SPECIAL EPISODE(tm) of Good Times..." :

[11] [12] (19) CBS Evening News--Walter Cronkite, Ed Bradley at New York desk

Was Uncle Walter in Washington that week -- is that why Bradley was at the NY desk? Frankly, I don't remember Cronkite ever sharing anchor duties -- wherever he was (NY, DC, or on location somewhere), he still anchored the whole show...right?

(2) [6] (25) That's Incredible!--well, sometimes it was, while at other times, it was downright silly or stupid

A reminder for those who erroneously view "reality TV" as a 21st-Century phenomenon...

(2) [6] [22] (25) ABC News Special--"The Iran Crisis--America Held Hostage" (would be renamed "Nightline" the following week)

I may be wrong (it's been known to happen), but I thought it wasn't converted to Nightline until the Iran hostage crisis ended the following January? Or did it just change title, but continue to focus exclusively on the hostage crisis until then?

 

[charlestondxman]

Yes, Happy Raine was just ending her long run at WCBD, as her show ended in 1980. She had a run on WCSC again, as she came back in '93-'94 to do a show.

Only WTOC televises the St. Patty's Day parade now, I believe, WSAV had some coverage this year, but not as much as before. Savannah was always a quirkier market, as until very recently (maybe still now), the two powerful VHFs didn't even have stereo on their signals, while the also-ran UHF, WJCL, had stereo (now has HD newscasts).

WPDE had not signed on the air yet (they signed on in November '80), and the Pee Dee and Grand Strand was relying on WCBD, WWAY, and even WSOC(among others) for ABC shows.

Charleston was even wackier, as WCSC was truly the 800-pound gorilla of TV in the area. It was on cable as far away as Barnwell (about 45 miles from Augusta) and Sumter, and Bill Sharpe, Charlie Hall, and Warren Peper were the big team on TV even then. 2 and 4 were so far behind, that in the mid 80s ('83 or '84, I believe), they dropped their 11pm news for a short time, and 5 had the only 11pm news.

Surprising even 4 had a noon show during this time period, as they haven't had that in many years.

 

[Mike Stroud]

(4) Please Don't Eat the Daisies--rerun of 1965-67 NBC family sitcom that revolved around two twin boys

Wow, I don't remember that show being rerun circa 1980 -- after its network run, I thought it had more or less disappeared until WWOR ran it for a time on its satellite service in the 90's (one of those cheap, obscure old shows that they ran when the terrestrial OTA feed had protected syndicated programming). Was this syndicated, or was NBC really airing reruns of this sappy, very 60's show 13 years after its demise?

(4) [26] Password Plus--the legendary Allen Ludden kept presiding over "the war of the words" until his illness the following year

Though I was in no wise a game show geek, I did enjoy Password, and always thought Ludden was one of the classiest, wittiest hosts on TV. They don't make 'em like that no more...

(16) (27) Electric Company--for some reason, these two stations had a different feed from the rest of South Carolina ETV during parts of the day

There are four SCETV stations (WNSC Rock Hill, WRJA Sumter, WRET Spartanburg, and WJWJ Beaufort) that have their own studio facilities and the ability to substitute alternate programming of a more local/regional nature. All other SCETV stations are basically passive repeaters of flagship WRLK Columbia.

[12] Good Times--serious episode in which J. J. is tempted to hook up with a gang

"Tonight...on a VERY SPECIAL EPISODE(tm) of Good Times..." :

[11] [12] (19) CBS Evening News--Walter Cronkite, Ed Bradley at New York desk

Was Uncle Walter in Washington that week -- is that why Bradley was at the NY desk? Frankly, I don't remember Cronkite ever sharing anchor duties -- wherever he was (NY, DC, or on location somewhere), he still anchored the whole show...right?

(2) [6] (25) That's Incredible!--well, sometimes it was, while at other times, it was downright silly or stupid

A reminder for those who erroneously view "reality TV" as a 21st-Century phenomenon...

(2) [6] [22] (25) ABC News Special--"The Iran Crisis--America Held Hostage" (would be renamed "Nightline" the following week)

I may be wrong (it's been known to happen), but I thought it wasn't converted to Nightline until the Iran hostage crisis ended the following January? Or did it just change title, but continue to focus exclusively on the hostage crisis until then?

O.K. Stanislav, I shall respond one by one:

(1) I remember "Please Don't Eat the Daisies" on WSM-TV in Nashville on Sunday mornings circa 1979, and I have seen it several times in the TV Guides I have from other markets in the late 1970s. MGM had/has the rights to that show, and it may well have been part of a larger package, as I do not recall it being popular, say, in the early 1970s. Nostalgia for those happier, more sedate times may have prompted stations to consider saccharine sitcoms like that, especially when you consider what America was going through at the time (high inflation, unemployment, the Iranian hostage crisis, etc.)

(2) I say Amen and Amen. Regis, try hard as he might, couldn't quite fill Ludden's shoes in that '07-'08 fusion of "Millionaire" and "Password" on CBS. Unlike you, I am a "game show geek" and long for the old days of a morning full of them on NBC and several to choose from during Prime Time Access (not just "Wheel of Fortune").

(3) Thanks for that info about SCETV. That somewhat parallels the situation, coincidentally, with some of the Georgia Public Broadcasting stations.

(4) One wonders if CBS actually did promote that as "special" when it first ran--or whether CBS promoted it at all.

(5) My source for that listing was the Vanderbilt TV News Archive (I research all of the network newscasts there). This was the evening before Illinois held its Presidential primary, and Cronkite was situated in Chicago for that broadcast, as well as the next evening. Bradley just minded the store back on West 57th while Cronkite was gone. I suspect that CBS was also feeling ABC's heat and decided to dabble in trying out a multi-anchor format (a la "World News Tonight"), and this was a good occasion to do so.

From now on I will make notations if the lead anchor broadcasted anywhere other than New York (or Washington, in the case of David Brinkley or Howard K. Smith). Sorry about the confusion.

(6) You are so right. In fact, the first highly popular "reality show" was probably "Candid Camera," but that's another thread.

(7) As for "Nightline," two sources I have consulted indicate that ABC began using that title on March 24, 1980. Ted Koppel became host back in November. I very well suspect that the bulk, if not the entirety, of the reporting during the first several weeks continued to concern the hostage crisis.

How's all that for meticulousness?

 

[Stanislav]

How's all that for meticulousness?

Meticulous or fanatical (all of us on this board probably straddle that fence...) ;D

Am I weird, or was Pat Crowley actually kinda hot in her PDETD days? In sort of a MILF-ish way? (And, BTW, still quite lovely...she was *73* in this Port Charles publicity pic from 2002!)

 

[azumanga]

[12] Good Times--serious episode in which J. J. is tempted to hook up with a gang

"Tonight...on a VERY SPECIAL EPISODE(tm) of Good Times..." :

(4) One wonders if CBS actually did promote that as "special" when it first ran--or whether CBS promoted it at all.

This must be a syndicated rerun, as Good Times left CBS in August 1979. This episode was likely one part of a two-part episode from 1974, "The Gang".

 

[charlestondxman]

It's so sad with Walter Cronkite dying a few days ago, with colleagues like Ed Bradley dying before him. Bill Sharpe, who was and still is a news anchor at WCSC, interviewed him several times in the 1980s and 90s.

 

[mleach]

6:30
(10) Knozit-Land--WIS' children's show ran much longer than most others did, thanks to the longevity of Joe Pinner, station weatherman who doubled as the lead character, Mr. Knozit (pronounced "knows-it"), who was similar to the later "Bill Nye, the Science Guy"

I used to have the book "Hey There Boys & Girls !! America's Local Children's TV Programs" by Tim Hollis. According to the book, many many local kids shows had came to an end around 1973/1974 thanks to Action for Children's Television ( ACT ) and how that group didn't like how such shows would sell stuff to kids mainly junk food. Even though Hollis didn't say it, to me it seemed that a lot of local TV stations were simply scared of ACT so they dropped their local kids shows even though some local stations simply ignored ACT like Phoenix's KPHO which kept Wallace & Ladmo on the air until 1989 even though Wallace & Ladmo was exactly the type of show ACT didn't like such as the giving away of those "Ladmo Bags" for example.

Its good to see that at least some local stations like WIS had decided to keep their local kids shows on the air longer than most others did. Even though of course sooner or later most local TV stations would have gotten out of the local children's TV show game sooner or later, I still believe most of the kid shows from the 60s & early 70s..well they could have lasted another five years or so maybe ten, only if the local stations just wasn't so scared of Peggy Charren and Action for Children's Television.

 

[bpatrick]

"Please Don't Eat The Daisies" aired on Ch. 44 in
St. Petersburg in the early '70s. But it's a difficult
show to "strip" (show five days a week) because
it lasted only two seasons (1965-67, falling victim
to Jackie Gleason's revived "Honeymooners" on CBS
and "The Newlywed Game" on ABC Saturday nights
in its second year).

 

[Mike Stroud]

6:30
(10) Knozit-Land--WIS' children's show ran much longer than most others did, thanks to the longevity of Joe Pinner, station weatherman who doubled as the lead character, Mr. Knozit (pronounced "knows-it"), who was similar to the later "Bill Nye, the Science Guy"

I used to have the book "Hey There Boys & Girls !! America's Local Children's TV Programs" by Tim Hollis. According to the book, many many local kids shows had came to an end around 1973/1974 thanks to Action for Children's Television ( ACT ) and how that group didn't like how such shows would sell stuff to kids mainly junk food. Even though Hollis didn't say it, to me it seemed that a lot of local TV stations were simply scared of ACT so they dropped their local kids shows even though some local stations simply ignored ACT like Phoenix's KPHO which kept Wallace & Ladmo on the air until 1989 even though Wallace & Ladmo was exactly the type of show ACT didn't like such as the giving away of those "Ladmo Bags" for example.

Its good to see that at least some local stations like WIS had decided to keep their local kids shows on the air longer than most others did. Even though of course sooner or later most local TV stations would have gotten out of the local children's TV show game sooner or later, I still believe most of the kid shows from the 60s & early 70s..well they could have lasted another five years or so maybe ten, only if the local stations just wasn't so scared of Peggy Charren and Action for Children's Television.

I haven't read Hollis' book, but I have read in one of my old TV Guides from circa 1973 pretty much the same argument. While it is true that stations lost a great deal of incentive to produce kiddie shows when the FCC (not just from the pressure of ACT) finally banned hosts from promoting products on air, I think there were other factors at work as well:

1) It is easy for us amateur broadcast historians to overlook the impact of the ban of cigarette advertising that took effect for radio and TV stations in the U.S. on January 2, 1971. This created not only a considerable loss of revenue for the networks, but also for local stations. Cost-cutting thus became a great imperative, in some cases for the first time since the early days of a particular station's operations.

Most of the local kiddie shows aired between 4 and 6 p.m. Eastern, between the end of the daytime network feed and the evening newscasts, a rather low-rated part of the day in terms of sheer numbers in front of the tube. Many stations also had at least one, if not more, non-news local production between 6 a.m. and 4 p.m. (e.g., women's shows, farm reports) and felt they could not afford to sacrifice any of those (the late 1970s and early 1980s saw those two programming types collapse or morph into other forms), given audience loyalty and long-term sponsorship in most cases. In a few cases at least, such shows outperformed network offerings on rival stations.

The product-pitching pan comes into play at this point, where in most cases, sponsors just simply dropped out of a show, figuring it not to be worth it if the tykes at home didn't get it straight from the host himself (and that is not sexist, as most hosts, other than those on "Romper Room," were usually men). When shown the hard facts, station managers saw it as a, in current-day terms, "no-brainer"--public-service concern for kids or families did not enter into the equation.

2) Another overlooked cause, and one related to the first one, was the emergence of a large variety of cheap or free syndicated reruns of kid-friendly fare such as "Andy Griffith," "Gilligan's Island," "I Dream of Jeannie," "Green Acres," and so on. This catalog of oldies didn't really exist up until the late 1960s, by which time numerous shows had come and gone in prime time. Put that together with a rival station experimenting with unhosted cartoons simply rolling off a film chain, and a station manager had another argument for pulling "Cowboy Bob" at 4 in favor of "Gomer Pyle" ("Cowboy Bob" was the fictional hero idolized by the comic strip character "Dennis the Menace" in the 1960s).

3) Production necessities brought on by the increased use of videotape in the early 1970s, and the consequent use of a particular studio for other types of shows on a station created another issue. As Hollis pointed out on his "Birmingham Rewound" nostalgia website in an interview he did with a former "Romper Room" TV teacher, (http://www.birminghamrewound.com/features/kidvid_romper-carol.htm), the increasing practice of sending four-to-six-year-olds to nursery school and kindergarten in the early 1970s (this author was one of them) meant that much of the potential studio audience for a show could not be present during taping, which often had to take place during the middle of the day around the schedules of the live daytime shows and/or other taped programs such as weekly public affairs. This reason builds upon the first two in that a station's priority placed upon the kiddie show was not particularly strong by the early 1970s, as it had been before the mid-1960s, when stations had to do EVERYTHING live.

4) A final reason, albeit a minor one, was that kids were starting to get too sophisticated "for their britches." With TV now a major agent of socialization in the home rather than an occasional pastime, as it had been for their older brothers and sisters, kids were seeing more and more "adult" content more and more hours per day, making the classic clowning, birthday, and moral lesson fare of the traditional shows passe and boring to many of them. This anticipated the rise of the video-game and MTV era of the 1980s by about a decade. From this standpoint, Charren and ACT's efforts on controlling commercialism were probably futile and obsolete.

So, the ban on product pitching was not so much a cause for the precipitous decline in the genre as it was a catalyst, speeding up a process that had begun some time earlier. WIS' "Mr. Knozit" survived because of the exceptional situation of the Columbia market, in that WIS had so large a share of the audience (and may still do) at all times of the day against two weak UHFs, that it could afford to lose sponsorships on that program, unlike stations in more competitive markets. It is likely Pinner, unlike other hosts, took a sportsman-like attitude toward the whole thing, and complied: the TV Guide article I referred to earlier was full of griping from disgruntled hosts elsewhere, and understandably so if they had no other jobs at their respective stations and got pink slips as a result. In any case, he was an exception to the rule. As for the Phoenix hosts, perhaps they toned their giveaways down (or discontinued them for some time) during the 1970s until deregulation came in the early 1980s when the pitching ban was not so firmly enforced. A few examples of some survivors of the ban can be found across the country, but there were not many of them.

 

[mleach]

1) It is easy for us amateur broadcast historians to overlook the impact of the ban of cigarette advertising that took effect for radio and TV stations in the U.S. on January 2, 1971. This created not only a considerable loss of revenue for the networks, but also for local stations. Cost-cutting thus became a great imperative, in some cases for the first time since the early days of a particular station's operations.

Maybe it was the case with the networks themselves but I am not so sure if the local stations themsevles experienced a large loss of revenue over the ending of cigarette ads. As I mentioned before some local stations had already ban such ads from their airwaves well before 1971 such as Baltimore for example when cigarette ads were dropped by their local TV stations there in 1968. In 1969 such ads were banned from local Denver TV as well. Last year the Rocky Mountain News ran an article about Denver's 1969 ban on TV cigarette ads, in their case the local stations simply offered more airtime for local businesses to advertise their goods and services. Not much of a loss there if there was in the first place. Of course the News didn't expalin how the Denver stations responded with such ads when they had aired on the NETWORK level. Did they air them? Blocked out?

Then again it was already known as early as 1968 that cigarette ads would be banned by 1971 anyway so I would imagine the networks and pretty much all of the local stations were already finding ways to replace that revenue.

As for the Phoenix hosts, perhaps they toned their giveaways down (or discontinued them for some time) during the 1970s until deregulation came in the early 1980s when the pitching ban was not so firmly enforced. A few examples of some survivors of the ban can be found across the country, but there were not many of them.

With KPHO's Wallace & Ladmo...some years back I saw an episode from 1977 ( complete with local commericals and old KPHO promos ) on You Tube...they were still doing the give-away of those famous "Ladmo Bags". Hollis book more/less claimed that KPHO simply ignored the rules since Wallace & Ladmo was such a big hit in Phoenix and with rock singer Alice Cooper who at one point in the 80's actually wanted to get a piece of the action so he could syndicate Wallace & Ladmo to other markets around the country. Wallace & Ladmo said no and they wanted their show to be strictly Phoenix and Phoenix only.

 

[bpatrick]

I think there are some well-taken points here,
but since the late '80s or early '90s the 5 PM
newscast has become almost standard in the
Eastern time zone (it already was in the earlier
time zones), so the 4-5 PM lead-in has to be
compatible; hence, Oprah, the various court shows,
etc. Even CW and MyNetwork affiliates are doing
this, even if they don't do news at 5. So that
eliminates the possibility of kid-friendly shows in
the 4 PM hour.

But here's one to think about: back in the '70s
and early '80s in Raleigh-Durham, WTVD carried
Merv Griffin from 4:30-6, demographically a good
lead-in to the station's news and the number-one
show in total homes in the time slot. WRAL countered
with sitcom reruns like Andy Griffith, "Happy Days," and
"Sanford And Son," and got the bulk of the ad business,
because those shows skewed younger, and it didn't
hurt that WRAL is the traditional news leader in
the market, though not by much. By the '90s
both stations had started 5 PM newscasts, WTVD was
carrying Oprah (still is), and WRAL was sticking to its
sitcoms (now "Golden Girls" and "The Cosby Show")...
only now the sitcoms didn't work and WRAL ended up
moving "The Young And The Restless" to 4 PM, where
it noses out Oprah.

A long way from Captain Five and Paul Pioneer in the '60s.

 

[Mike Stroud]

1) It is easy for us amateur broadcast historians to overlook the impact of the ban of cigarette advertising that took effect for radio and TV stations in the U.S. on January 2, 1971. This created not only a considerable loss of revenue for the networks, but also for local stations. Cost-cutting thus became a great imperative, in some cases for the first time since the early days of a particular station's operations.

Maybe it was the case with the networks themselves but I am not so sure if the local stations themsevles experienced a large loss of revenue over the ending of cigarette ads. As I mentioned before some local stations had already ban such ads from their airwaves well before 1971 such as Baltimore for example when cigarette ads were dropped by their local TV stations there in 1968. In 1969 such ads were banned from local Denver TV as well. Last year the Rocky Mountain News ran an article about Denver's 1969 ban on TV cigarette ads, in their case the local stations simply offered more airtime for local businesses to advertise their goods and services. Not much of a loss there if there was in the first place. Of course the News didn't expalin how the Denver stations responded with such ads when they had aired on the NETWORK level. Did they air them? Blocked out?

Then again it was already known as early as 1968 that cigarette ads would be banned by 1971 anyway so I would imagine the networks and pretty much all of the local stations were already finding ways to replace that revenue.

As for the Phoenix hosts, perhaps they toned their giveaways down (or discontinued them for some time) during the 1970s until deregulation came in the early 1980s when the pitching ban was not so firmly enforced. A few examples of some survivors of the ban can be found across the country, but there were not many of them.

With KPHO's Wallace & Ladmo...some years back I saw an episode from 1977 ( complete with local commericals and old KPHO promos ) on You Tube...they were still doing the give-away of those famous "Ladmo Bags". Hollis book more/less claimed that KPHO simply ignored the rules since Wallace & Ladmo was such a big hit in Phoenix and with rock singer Alice Cooper who at one point in the 80's actually wanted to get a piece of the action so he could syndicate Wallace & Ladmo to other markets around the country. Wallace & Ladmo said no and they wanted their show to be strictly Phoenix and Phoenix only.

Responses for you, mleach:

1) You have a point, and I think it all amounts to perhaps a larger factor that I overlooked: the beginnings of the 1970s recessions, which, like today, took a considerable toll on general station revenues. Ads were beginning to drop all over the board, not just on tobacco products. Whatever the reason, stations got squeezed and had to make cuts somewhere.
Besides, Ms. Charren and ACT, to use an indelicate expression, were probably in the bed with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and PBS, wanting to eliminate commercial competition for the educational shows that were being highly touted at the time by TV critics and all manner of do-gooders, or else make commercial stations' shows practically identical to them. Some stations may well have thought the future lay with PBS and might have been anticipating that the FCC would eventually relieve them of the burden of serving children, which in effect happened during the Reagan administration.

2) Apparently, those "Ladmo Bags" got under the FCC radar and eluded their purview. Other than that, the station owners must have had savvy Washington attorneys who knew how to beat the rap.

Um ... the possibility of Alice Cooper doing a kiddie show??? Man, that's worth another thread unto itself! Just think of the title: "School's Out Forever." (!!!)

 

[mleach]

Um ... the possibility of Alice Cooper doing a kiddie show??? Man, that's worth another thread unto itself! Just think of the title: "School's Out Forever." (!!!)

That wold have been funny

But I believe the game plan was for Alice Cooper to pay for the production of "Wallace & Ladmo" rather than having KPHO doing it had the host of that show decided to go with Alice Cooper and decided to take their show nationwide rather than keeping it strictly for Phoenix viewers. The time frame of this ( early to mid 80s ) the idea may very well would have worked since it was around that time a large number of indies had went on the air and of course they needed product. But in the end the host of Wallace & Ladmo decided to keep their show strictly for the Phoenix viewers. I guess its a case of "keeping it safe rather than dealing with the unknown". I can see that since there is no promise that a show that was a hit in Phoenix would be the same kind of hit say in Boston for example.


Even though its been a few years since I have heard his syndicated radio show, in the past every one in awhile Alice Cooper was known to bring up "Wallace & Ladmo".

 

[charlestondxman]

Wallace and Ladmo was a big hit in Phoenix. Let's get back to what the thread meant before. Wow, 3's a Crowd at Noon on WTOC? That's a weird time for that show to be shown.

By the way, does anybody have a weekend South Carolina schedule they could put up?

 

[bpatrick]

I don't know that noon was such a weird time
for 3's A Crowd; after all, it's between The Price
Is Right and the CBS soap block. Remember that
the premise of the show was to determine who
knows a man better, his wife or his secretary.
A lot of stations downgraded the show from access
or late-afternoon slots (often into late-night) after
women began to complain and, quite frankly, it wasn't
family viewing.

 

[Pratte4Life]

First of all, let's get something established right away.

Mr. Knozit was/is the greatest television personality of all time.

REPEAT- MR. KNOZIT IS THE GREATEST TELEVISION PERSONALITY OF ALL TIME! JOHNNY CARSON IS NOT WORTHY OF SHINING MR. KNOZIT'S SHOES!

Having spent much of my pre-teens living with grandparents in Columbia, I adored Mr. Knozit.

It was a fantastic show and I can't remember him ever promoting junk food on his show. Sunbeam bread, yes, but candy or junk food, no.

A typical Mr. Knozit show did things like teach kids how to tell time (with Knozit calling the colon in, say, 6:30 a "dot dot"), announcing birthdays with Mr. Knozit scrolling them down the screen while "conducting" the Knozitland orchestra from his desk, holding up drawings children made and announcing their names on TV, having on a guest instructing kids how to do exercises or giving them a look at animals from the Riverbanks Zoo, and, of course, cranking up the cartoon machine with a motion best described as two fists turning an imaginary crank- then cutting to a southern-fried cartoon like Deputy Dog or, my favorite, Possible Possum.

Weekends would see children in his studio audience and his interaction with them.

The memory of a young child from more than a generation ago can be spotty, but I recall things you just wouldn't see on a kids show like this today. Columbia would always get three-digit hot in the summer and it was not unusual for grass to turn brown in the climate. After a period of several weeks without rain, I can remember him saying "When you say your prayers at night, please, pray for rain."

Or calling Dec. 23 "Christmas Eve Eve."

Or how I knew in my earliest youth that the WIS weatherman was, in fact, Mr. Knozit. Which I once told him upon meeting him as a little boy on a remote- hoping that maybe he would think I was smart that I could recognize him from his other career or that he didn't have to pretend to be a character around me.

Mr. Knozit would have none of it! Granted, the character of Mr. Knozit was hardly that much different from his role as a weatherman (he didn't crank up a barometer, but the personality was largely the same engaging host- Mr. Knozit did not speak down to youth), but Joe Pinner, ever the pro, refused, even one-on-one, to break out of character.

Regarding sponsorship, a kindergardener simply is not going to know how the show fared commercially. But I do remember on Aug. 10, 1977 him making a big deal out of the Columbia Mall on Two Notch and Parklane opening (it was the last birthday he mentioned!) and the show was on for more than 30 years. It simply couldn't be UNSUCCESSFUL commerically!

Mr. Knozit also once graced the cover of Guideposts magazine, where he told the tale of a confused adult individual down on his luck threatening to commit suicide. His only request was that he didn't want to talk to police phycologists in his barricade- he wanted to talk to Mr. Knozit.

To which Joe Pinner complied. Though one would obviously like such an example under happier circumstances, this proved the trust Mr. Knozit had throughout Columbia.

Years later, in the late '90s, when I first became connected to the internet, I came upon the WIS site and found a link where kids could email Mr. Knozit.

I immediately had to become a little boy again.

Soon I was exchanging emails with the hero of my earliest youth. And I then learned the questions I always wanted to know- that I wondered about since I was 4-years-old, like "How come you quit talking to the wall around 1975 or so?"

Believe me, the conversations Mr. Knozit had with the wall were most alluring. That wall had quite the sense of humor.

In 2001, the South Carolina State Legislature declared a week in April as "Mr. Knozit Week."

They were too late. To two generations of Columbia youth, every week was Mr. Knozit Week to us!

 

[bpatrick]

Didn't "Mr. Knozit" win a Peabody award? That's
even more prestigious than an Emmy. And if
there's anyone, anywhere, who qualifies as a
local legend it's Joe Pinner, whether as Mr. Knozit
or as weathercaster on WIS.