Retro: This Week in TV Guide, August 23, 1958 - MN State Edition

[Mitchell H]

This week, a criminal hunts corrupt politicians, NBC hunts the Mafia, and TV Guide hunts for delivery boys. Plus Art Linkletter, the debut of a well-loved game show, the latest starlet of the moment, and more!

http://www.itsabouttv.com/2014/08/this-week-in-tv-guide-august-23-1958.html

As always your comments, positive as well as negative, are most welcome.

This week's listing is from Monday, August 25, and it's something of a rarity. Usually when I do these Minnesota State Editions, I present the Twin Cities stations, plus a rotation of "outstate" stations in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa. But this week, because there are so few stations (relatively) in the market, I'm reprinting all the stations in the edition. Enjoy!

KTCA, Channel 2 (Educ.)
Afternoon
02:30p Frontiers to Health
03:00p Tea at Three
03:30p Tempest in a Test Tube
Evening
06:45p Sing Hi, Sing Lo
07:00p Open Door
07:30p UN Review
07:45p Transatlantic Televiews
08:00p Great Plains Trilogy
08:30p Heritage XI
09:00p Making Music
09:30p Athletic Department
10:00p Great Ideas
10:30p Graphic Arts

KGLO, Channel 3 (Mason City IA) (CBS)
Morning
09:00a For Love or Money
09:30a Play Your Hunch
10:00a Arthur Godfrey (guest host Tony Randall)
10:30a Dotto
11:00a Love of Life
11:30a Search For Tomorrow
11:45a The Guiding Light
Afternoon
12:00p News (local)
12:30p As the World Turns
01:00p Beat The Clock
01:30p House Party (artist Gordon Currie)
02:00p The Big Payoff
02:30p The Verdict is Yours
03:00p A Brighter Day
03:15p The Secret Storm
03:30p The Edge of Night
04:00p Bob Cavanaugh
05:00p Little Rascals
05:30p Time Out for Tots
05:45p CBS Evening News with Douglas Edwards
Evening
06:00p Farm Reporter
06:05p Sports, News, Weather
06:30p Robin Hood
07:00p Whirlybirds
07:30p Masquerade Party
08:00p I Love Lucy
08:30p Frontier Justice
09:00p Highway Patrol
09:30p Sheriff of Cochise
10:00p News, Sports (local)
10:30p Science Fiction Theater

WCCO, Channel 4 (CBS)
Morning
07:00a Movie – “Southward Ho”
08:00a Siegfried and His Flying Saucer
08:55a News (local)
09:00a For Love or Money
09:30a Play Your Hunch
10:00a Arthur Godfrey (guest host Tony Randall)
10:30a Dotto
11:00a Love of Life
11:30a Search For Tomorrow
11:45a The Guiding Light
Afternoon
12:00p News (local)
12:15p Take Five
12:20p Weather (local)
12:30p As the World Turns
01:00p Beat The Clock
01:30p House Party (artist Gordon Currie)
02:00p The Big Payoff
02:30p The Verdict is Yours
03:00p A Brighter Day
03:15p The Secret Storm
03:30p The Edge of Night
04:00p Around the Town
04:30p Bugs Bunny
05:00p Axel and His Dog
05:30p Popeye Clubhouse
05:55p Weather, News, Sports (local)
Evening
06:15p CBS Evening News with Douglas Edwards
06:30p Robin Hood
07:00p Burns and Allen
07:30p Masquerade Party
08:00p I Love Lucy
08:30p Frontier Justice
09:00p Studio One
10:00p News, Sports (local)
10:30p The Lone Wolf
11:00p Movie “Quiet Please, Murder”

KSTP, Channel 5 (NBC)
Morning
06:30a David Stone
07:00a Today (guest host Charles Van Doren)
09:00a Dough Re Mi
09:30a Treasure Hunt
10:00a The Price is Right
10:30a Concentration (debut)
11:00a Tic Tac Dough
11:30a It Could Be You (color)
Afternoon
12:00p News (local)
12:20p Treasure Chest
01:00p Truth or Consequences
01:30p Haggis Baggis (color)
02:00p Today is Ours
02:30p From These Roots
03:00p Queen for a Day
03:45p Modern Romances
04:00p My Little Margie
04:30p Side Show
04:45p Captain Daryl
05:00p Hi Fi-Ve Time
05:45p Huntley-Brinkley Report
Evening
06:00p News, Weather (local)
06:20p You Should Know
06:30p Haggis Baggis (color)
07:00p The Restless Gun
07:30p Tales of Wells Fargo
08:00p Twenty-One
08:30p Alcoa Theatre
09:00p Suspicion
10:00p News, Sports (local)
10:30p Federal Men
11:00p Jack Paar (Richard Hayes, Genevieve)
12:00a News, Weather, Sports (local)

KMMT, Channel 6 (Austin) (ABC)
Afternoon
03:00p American Bandstand (Tommy Edwards, Jim Gallant)
03:30p Who Do You Trust?
04:00p American Bandstand
05:00p Matinee with Marge
05:30p Mickey Mouse Club
Evening
06:00p News, Weather (local)
06:15p John Daly and the News
06:30p Woody Woodpecker
07:00p Cowtown Rodeo
07:30p Bold Journey
08:00p Stars of Jazz (Oscar Peterson Trio, Buddy Rich, Pat Healy)
08:30p To Be Announced
09:30p Dick Powell
10:00p News, Sports (local)
10:30p Dateline Europe

KWWL, Channel 7 (Waterloo, IA) (NBC)
Morning
07:00a Today (guest host Charles Van Doren)
09:00a Dough Re Mi
09:30a Treasure Hunt
10:00a The Price is Right
10:30a Concentration (debut)
11:00a Tic Tac Dough
11:30a It Could Be You (color)
Afternoon
12:00p Movie – “They Were So Young”
01:00p Truth or Consequences
01:30p Haggis Baggis (color)
02:00p Today is Ours
02:30p From These Roots
03:00p Queen for a Day
03:45p Modern Romances
04:00p Movie – “A Race for Life”
05:45p News, Weather, Sports (local)
Evening
06:15p Huntley-Brinkley Report
06:30p Haggis Baggis (color)
07:00p The Restless Gun
07:30p Tales of Wells Fargo
08:00p Twenty-One
08:30p Alcoa Theatre
09:00p Suspicion
10:00p News, Sports (local)
10:30p Jack Paar (Richard Hayes, Genevieve)
12:00a News, Weather, Sports (local)

WKBT, Channel 8 (LaCrosse) (CBS)
Morning
10:00a Arthur Godfrey (guest host Tony Randall)
10:30a Dotto
11:00a Love of Life
11:30a Search For Tomorrow
11:45a Country Style, U.S.A.
Afternoon
12:00p News (local)
12:30p Top Plays
01:00p Beat The Clock
01:30p House Party (artist Gordon Currie)
02:00p The Big Payoff
02:30p The Verdict is Yours
03:00p A Brighter Day
03:15p The Secret Storm
03:30p The Edge of Night
04:00p Frontier
04:30p Film Feature
04:55p Crusader Rabbit
05:00p Superman
05:30p Living Storybook
Evening
06:00p Farm Digest
06:05p Sports, News, Weather
06:30p Robin Hood
07:00p Broken Arrow
07:30p All-Star Theater
08:00p I Love Lucy
08:30p Frontier Justice
09:00p Buckskin
09:30p The People’s Choice
10:00p News, Sports (local)
10:20p San Francisco Beat
10:50p Pendulum

KMSP, Channel 9 (Ind.)
Afternoon
02:25p Chapel of the Air
02:30p Mr. and Mrs. North
03:00p Play of the Week
03:30p Movie – “Front Page Story”
05:30p Our Miss Brooks
Evening
06:00p Looney Tunes
06:30p Joe Palooka
07:00p Movie – “Boston Blackie Goes Hollywood”
08:00p Man Behind the Badge
08:30p San Francisco Beat
09:00p Movie – “Bachelor Mother”
10:30p News (local)
10:45p Sports (local)
10:50p Movie – “Small Town Deb”
11:55p News (local)

KTTC, Channel 10 (Rochester) (NBC)
Morning
07:00a Today (guest host Charles Van Doren)
09:00a Dough Re Mi
09:30a Treasure Hunt
10:00a The Price is Right
10:30a Concentration (debut)
11:00a Tic Tac Dough
11:30a It Could Be You (color)
Afternoon
12:00p News (local)
12:30p Film Feature
01:00p Truth or Consequences
01:30p Haggis Baggis (color)
02:00p Today is Ours
02:30p From These Roots
03:00p Queen for a Day
03:45p Modern Romances
04:00p What’s New?
04:30p Compass
05:00p Movie – “Homicide Bureau”
Evening
06:00p News, Weather (local)
06:15p Huntley-Brinkley Report
06:30p Superman
07:00p Mr. and Mrs. North
07:30p Tales of Wells Fargo
08:00p Twenty-One
08:30p Alcoa Theatre
09:00p Suspicion
10:00p News, Sports (local)
10:30p Movie – “The Secret of the Blue Room”

WTCN, Channel 11 (ABC)
Morning
11:30a Film Short
11:45a Farm News
Afternoon
12:00p Lunch Club
01:00p Movie – “Family Affair”
02:30p Playhouse
03:30p Who Do You Trust?
04:00p American Bandstand
05:00p Superman
05:30p Mickey Mouse Club
Evening
06:00p News, Weather
06:30p Jeff’s Collie
07:00p Cowtown Rodeo
07:30p Bold Journey
08:00p Stars of Jazz (Oscar Peterson Trio, Buddy Rich, Pat Healy)
08:30p To Be Announced
09:30p Movie (local)
09:45p Movie – “High Sierra”
11:15p Top Plays

WEAU, Channel 13 (Eau Claire) (NBC)
Morning
07:00a Today (guest host Charles Van Doren)
09:00a Dough Re Mi
09:30a Treasure Hunt
10:00a The Price is Right
10:30a Concentration (debut)
11:00a Tic Tac Dough
11:30a It Could Be You (color)
Afternoon
12:00p Film Short
12:20p News, Markets (local)
12:30p Tombstone Territory
01:00p Truth or Consequences
01:30p Haggis Baggis (color)
02:00p Today is Ours
02:30p From These Roots
03:00p Queen for a Day
03:45p Modern Romances
04:00p Film Feature
04:30p Movie – “Idaho”
05:30p Film Feature
05:55p Crusader Rabbit
Evening
06:00p Florian Zabach
06:30p Cartoons
06:40p Weather, News (local)
07:00p Navy Long
07:30p Tales of Wells Fargo
08:00p Twenty-One
08:30p Alcoa Theatre
09:00p Suspicion
10:00p News, Sports (local)
10:30p Movie – “Blind Date”
11:30p Times Square Playhouse

 

[Ccook55]

Awesome recap from 56 years ago. The day Concentration, my childhood favorite, debuted.

 

[bpatrick]

That was the day after Teddy Nadler set the game-show winnings record of $252,000 on "The $64,000 Challenge," a record that would stand until Thom McKee cracked the $300,000 mark on "Tic Tac Dough" in 1980. It was also the day New York DA Frank Hogan's office announced it would be looking into allegations of rigging on the big-money shows; CBS had already pulled daytime "Dotto" (and NBC, the nighttime version) following the August 15 telecast after standby contestant Ed Hilgemeier found a notebook belonging to the current champion, future author Marie Winn, and saw that it contained all the answers to the questions she was asked, plus the identity of the face she had to guess in order to "dotto" and win the game. Hilgemeier had actually found the notebook on May 20, had torn out the telltale page, and had taken it to the producers, who offered him $1500 to keep quiet. But when Marie Winn's "defeated" opponent, Yeffe Kimball Slatin, was offered $4000, Hilgemeier took his story to Hogan's assistant Joe Stone and to the FCC; when "Dotto" sponsor Colgate-Palmolive learned the allegations of rigging, it dropped its sponsorship, and CBS and NBC canceled the daytime and nighttime shows, respectively. "Top Dollar" was airing on CBS at 11:30 AM/10:30 (CT) as of August 18.

"Concentration" was actually created at Barry and Enright Productions and was sold along with "Twenty-One," "Tic Tac Dough," and "Dough Re Mi" to NBC. "Concentration" was never involved in any rigging and Hugh Downs said, "Thank God, the public trusted us." Charles Van Doren would lose his job on the "Today" show after finally admitting, in 1959, that he had gotten the answers on "Twenty-One."

Now a question: after NBC dropped the original "Concentration" in 1973, Mark Goodson and Bill Todman bought the right to produce a syndicated version with Jack Narz as host. In Atlanta, WXIA carried the show at 7 PM and some of us at UGA watched it every night. But not everybody I knew liked it; they thought it too much like "The Price Is Right" (the only resemblances I noticed were Johnny Olson as the announcer and some of the same-sounding music). What did you think of this version and, for that matter, "Classic Concentration" with Alex Trebek in the late '80s?

 

[Gregg.]

A few thoughts on this 1958 TV schedule...

--Educational KTCA 2 signs on at 3:30 in the afternoon, then signs off for a few hours, then signs back on at 6:45? This is August so I assume they weren't running classroom instructional programs in the middle. Plus school is not in session in the early evening. This is before Mr. Rogers, The Friendly Giant, What's New or Julia Child on the early days of NET, forerunner to PBS.
--Arthur Godfrey is only 30 min. on CBS in 1958. In the early 50s, his show ran 90 min. I wonder how Arthur took the news they were cutting him back by an hour?
--WCCO runs 85 min. of kids programs in the afternoon, including what looks like two in-house kids shows, "Axel and His Dog" and "Popeye's Clubhouse" which I assume was a local show built around Popeye cartoons.
--WCCO also has an 8 am kids show, "Siegfried and His Flying Saucer." Can you imagine what that must have looked like? Did the local crew build a flying saucer for Siegfried to use as a prop?
--KSTP has a 30 min. local show "David Stone" at 6:30 am, before Today goes on the air. Meanwhile the Minneapolis ABC and Independent stations don't even sign on till 11:30 am and 2:25 pm.
--If you're an ABC affiliate, you get no programming from the network till 3:30 pm CT? Then it's simply "Who Do You Trust?" and "American Bandstand," then it's back to you till the 15 min. ABC Evening News with John Daly, and later the prime time line-up. Either you fill up the other hours of the day with whatever cheap programming you can find, or you don't even sign on till mid-afternoon, which is what the Austin MN ABC affiliate does.
--I assume the 15 min. ABC Evening News is folded into the 30 minutes of news KTCN does at 6pm. I doubt they can fill 30 min. on their own. Many smaller ABC affiliates didn't bother to run John Daly, going with more popular rerun shows. But surely the ABC affiliate in a big market like Minneapolis didn't do that to ABC, did they? Also notice KTCN doesn't bother to do a 10 pm or 11 pm newscast. They don't even do a sign-off newscast, or they don't ask TV Guide to list it. Eventually KTCN would lose ABC affiliation to KMSP 9, becoming the market's independent station.

 

[Ccook55]

The syndicated Concentration (to me, anyway) started out okay, even if there were no more gag prizes and Forfeit 1 Gift cards. I didn't mind the puzzles being in color, either. As time went on, it started adding deviations that didn't make it seem like the show I knew ("Free Look," calling three numbers instead of two), the prizes were getting as cheesy as the consolation gifts to the loser, and the puzzles (especially the Double Play puzzles) were getting wordy and claustrophobic in its symbol usage. Classic started turning me off when the contestants would snipe at each other.

Like I said, that's just me. Your mileage, as always, may vary.

 

[installLSC]

--I assume the 15 min. ABC Evening News is folded into the 30 minutes of news KTCN does at 6pm. I doubt they can fill 30 min. on their own. Many smaller ABC affiliates didn't bother to run John Daly, going with more popular rerun shows. But surely the ABC affiliate in a big market like Minneapolis didn't do that to ABC, did they? Also notice KTCN doesn't bother to do a 10 pm or 11 pm newscast. They don't even do a sign-off newscast, or they don't ask TV Guide to list it. Eventually KTCN would lose ABC affiliation to KMSP 9, becoming the market's independent station.

Even in the late 60s, big markets like Houston and Cleveland didn't air ABC news.

 

[joebtsflk1]

Where was Captain Kangaroo in 1958? None of the CBS affiliates had it on their schedule here...was it perhaps Saturday only then, or was it not cleared with any of the CBS affiliates in this edition?

 

[bpatrick]

The Captain was on Monday through Saturday; it appears that he wasn't cleared by any of the CBS affiliates, although it's hard to explain why the Mason City and LaCrosse affiliates signed on so late in the morning.

A couple of other notes: the CBS newscast was titled "Douglas Edwards With The News"; I don't think the "CBS Evening News" title was used until Walter Cronkite took over in 1962. Also, note that ABC daytime was on a clock-time schedule; "Who Do You Trust?" aired at 3:30 in all time zones, followed by "American Bandstand," "Fun At Five" (which included "Superman"), and the "Mickey Mouse Club." This was no doubt because the programming from "Bandstand" on was geared to kids and/or teens, and late afternoon was deemed the best time to air these shows. As for John Daly in Minneapolis, I think TV Guide would have listed his newscast separately from Ch. 11's local news (as was the case with Ch. 11 in Atlanta, which had local news at 7 and Daly at 7:15). (Off-topic but the two Ch. 11s are sister stations today; KARE in the Twin Cities and WXIA Atlanta are both owned by Gannett.)

ABC would expand its daytime schedule with something called "Operation Daybreak," starting Oct. 13 and with a schedule that would begin at 11 AM:

11 AM Day In Court
11:30 The Peter Lind Hayes Show
12:30 Mother's Day (game show with host Dick Van Dyke, a program he despised)
1 PM The Liberace Show
1:30 (Local)
2 PM Chance For Romance (a proto-"Dating Game" hosted by John Cameron Swayze)
2:30 (Local)
3 PM Beat The Clock (new network, having been picked up from CBS)
3:30 Who Do You Trust?
4 PM American Bandstand
5:30 Mickey Mouse Club (MWF)/Walt Disney's Adventure Time (reruns of the serials aired on "Mickey Mouse Club," TTh)

 

[Mitchell H]

That was the day after Teddy Nadler set the game-show winnings record of $252,000 on "The $64,000 Challenge," a record that would stand until Thom McKee cracked the $300,000 mark on "Tic Tac Dough" in 1980. It was also the day New York DA Frank Hogan's office announced it would be looking into allegations of rigging on the big-money shows; CBS had already pulled daytime "Dotto" (and NBC, the nighttime version) following the August 15 telecast after standby contestant Ed Hilgemeier found a notebook belonging to the current champion, future author Marie Winn, and saw that it contained all the answers to the questions she was asked, plus the identity of the face she had to guess in order to "dotto" and win the game. Hilgemeier had actually found the notebook on May 20, had torn out the telltale page, and had taken it to the producers, who offered him $1500 to keep quiet. But when Marie Winn's "defeated" opponent, Yeffe Kimball Slatin, was offered $4000, Hilgemeier took his story to Hogan's assistant Joe Stone and to the FCC; when "Dotto" sponsor Colgate-Palmolive learned the allegations of rigging, it dropped its sponsorship, and CBS and NBC canceled the daytime and nighttime shows, respectively. "Top Dollar" was airing on CBS at 11:30 AM/10:30 (CT) as of August 18.

"Concentration" was actually created at Barry and Enright Productions and was sold along with "Twenty-One," "Tic Tac Dough," and "Dough Re Mi" to NBC. "Concentration" was never involved in any rigging and Hugh Downs said, "Thank God, the public trusted us." Charles Van Doren would lose his job on the "Today" show after finally admitting, in 1959, that he had gotten the answers on "Twenty-One."

Now a question: after NBC dropped the original "Concentration" in 1973, Mark Goodson and Bill Todman bought the right to produce a syndicated version with Jack Narz as host. In Atlanta, WXIA carried the show at 7 PM and some of us at UGA watched it every night. But not everybody I knew liked it; they thought it too much like "The Price Is Right" (the only resemblances I noticed were Johnny Olson as the announcer and some of the same-sounding music). What did you think of this version and, for that matter, "Classic Concentration" with Alex Trebek in the late '80s?

Great information on the quiz show scandals - that really puts this day into perspective.

I have to admit that the original "Concentration" remains my favorite, though I don't think that the revivals of it were quite as bad as, say, the original attempt to resurrect "Jeopardy." I don't remember that much about the new "Concentration" versions, though I do recall Jack Narz and Alex Trebek. Regardless, it was a fun show, and it made you think.

 

[Mitchell H]

The Captain was on Monday through Saturday; it appears that he wasn't cleared by any of the CBS affiliates, although it's hard to explain why the Mason City and LaCrosse affiliates signed on so late in the morning.

A couple of other notes: the CBS newscast was titled "Douglas Edwards With The News"; I don't think the "CBS Evening News" title was used until Walter Cronkite took over in 1962. Also, note that ABC daytime was on a clock-time schedule; "Who Do You Trust?" aired at 3:30 in all time zones, followed by "American Bandstand," "Fun At Five" (which included "Superman"), and the "Mickey Mouse Club." This was no doubt because the programming from "Bandstand" on was geared to kids and/or teens, and late afternoon was deemed the best time to air these shows. As for John Daly in Minneapolis, I think TV Guide would have listed his newscast separately from Ch. 11's local news (as was the case with Ch. 11 in Atlanta, which had local news at 7 and Daly at 7:15). (Off-topic but the two Ch. 11s are sister stations today; KARE in the Twin Cities and WXIA Atlanta are both owned by Gannett.)

ABC would expand its daytime schedule with something called "Operation Daybreak," starting Oct. 13 and with a schedule that would begin at 11 AM:

11 AM Day In Court
11:30 The Peter Lind Hayes Show
12:30 Mother's Day (game show with host Dick Van Dyke, a program he despised)
1 PM The Liberace Show
1:30 (Local)
2 PM Chance For Romance (a proto-"Dating Game" hosted by John Cameron Swayze)
2:30 (Local)
3 PM Beat The Clock (new network, having been picked up from CBS)
3:30 Who Do You Trust?
4 PM American Bandstand
5:30 Mickey Mouse Club (MWF)/Walt Disney's Adventure Time (reruns of the serials aired on "Mickey Mouse Club," TTh)

Good additions as always! That's what I love about the interactivity of the community!