Retro: This Week in TV Guide, December 22, 1962 - MSP Edition

[Mitchell H]

Christmas, 1962 - 50 years ago this week to the day. This is one of my favorite issues. And what did Christmas mean on TV in 1962? Church services galore, Bing Crosby, Jerry Lewis, Amahl and the Night Visitors, Hurricane Carter, and one of the great football games of all time. As always your comments, positive and negative, are welcome.

http://www.itsabouttv.com/2012/12/this-week-in-tv-guide-december-22-1962.html

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Monday, December 24, 1962

KTCA, Channel 2 (Educ.)
Afternoon
05:45p College of the Air
Evening
06:15p Supervision
06:45p Background
07:00p Handel’s Messiah (special) – Nebraska Choral Union
08:30p Hamline University
09:00p At Home with Music (special)
10:00p St. Olaf Choir (special)
10:30p A Look at the Land

WCCO, Channel 4 (CBS)
Morning
06:30a College of the Air
07:00a Siegfried and Clancy
07:45a Rocky and His Friends
08:00a Captain Kangaroo
09:00a News (Dean Montgomery)
09:15a What’s New
09:30a I Love Lucy
10:00a The Real McCoys
10:30a Pete and Gladys
11:00a Love of Life
11:25a CBS News (Harry Reasoner)
11:30a Search For Tomorrow
11:45a Guiding Light
Afternoon
12:00p News (Dave Moore)
12:15p Something Special
12:25p Weather (Bud Kraehling)
12:30p As the World Turns
01:00p Password (panelists Betsy Palmer and Barry Sullivan)
01:30p House Party
02:00p The Millionaire
02:30p To Tell the Truth (panelists Mimi Benzell, Jackie Mason, Barry Nelson, Phyllis Newman)
02:55p CBS News (Douglas Edwards)
03:00p Secret Storm
03:30p The Edge of Night
04:00p Around the Town
04:30p Axel and Bowery Boys
05:00p People Are Funny
05:30p Quick Draw McGraw
Evening
06:00p News (Dean Montgomery)
06:10p Weather (Don O’Brien)
06:15p CBS News (Walter Cronkite)
06:30p To Tell The Truth (guests Gene Rayburn and Peggy Cass)
07:00p I’ve Got a Secret (guests – children of the crew and panel)
07:30p Lucille Ball
08:00p Danny Thomas
08:30p Andy Griffith
09:00p The Loretta Young Show
09:30p Stump the Stars
10:00p News (Dave Moore)
10:15p Weather (Bud Kraehling)
10:20p Sports (Hal Scott, brother of CBS sports announcer Ray Scott)
10:30p A Child Will Come (special) performed by the Peloquin Chorale
11:00p Church Service (special) – Methodist, from Christ Church in New York City
12:00a Steve Allen – guest Molly Bee
01:30a News (Dave Moore)
01:35a Christmas Carols

KSTP, Channel 5 (NBC)
Morning
06:00a Continental Classroom
06:30a Continental Classroom
07:00a Today (local news at 7:25 and 8:25)
09:00a Say When
09:25a NBC News (Edwin Newman)
09:30a Play Your Hunch (color)
10:00a The Price Is Right (color)
10:30a Concentration
11:00a First Impression (color)
11:30a Truth or Consequences
11:55a NBC News (Ray Scherer)
Afternoon
12:00p News (John MacDougall)
12:15p Weather (Johnny Morris)
12:20p Treasure Chest (color)
01:00p Merv Griffin (color)
01:55p News (Floyd Kalber)
02:00p Loretta Young
02:30p Young Dr. Malone
03:00p Make Room for Daddy
03:30p Here’s Hollywood – guest Cliff Robertson, promoting “PT 109”
03:55p NBC News (Sander Vanocur)
04:00p Movie – “Crash of Silence”
05:40p Doctor’s House Call
05:45p NBC News (Huntley-Brinkley)
Evening
06:00p News (Bob Ryan)
06:15p Weather (Johnny Morris)
06:20p Sports (Al TIghe)
06:30p It’s a Man’s World
07:30p Saints and Sinners
08:30p The Price is Right (color)
09:00p David Brinkley’s Journal (color)
09:30p Hennesey
10:00p News (John MacDougall)
10:15p Weather (Johnny Morris)
10:20p Sports (Al TIghe)
10:30p Christmas Card (special) (color) guests Singing Boys of Mexico, Peter Nero, Barbara Meister, NBC Orchestra
11:00p Church Service (special) Catholic, from St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City

KMSP, Channel 9 (ABC)
Morning
07:55a Chapel of the Air
08:00a Breakfast with Cap’n Ken
09:00a Romper Room (Miss Betty)
10:00a Debbie Drake
10:15a Random (variety)
11:00a Jane Wyman
11:30a Yours for a Song
Afternoon
12:00p Ernie Ford
12:30p Father Knows Best
01:00p Courtroom U.S.A.
01:30p Our Miss Brooks
02:00p Day In Court
02:25p ABC News (Alex Dreier)
02:30p Seven Keys
03:00p Queen for a Day
03:30p Who Do You Trust
04:00p American Bandstand
04:30p Discovery ’62
04:55p American Newsstand (William Lord)
05:30p Weather (Jere Smith)
05:35p News (Bob Allard)
05:45p ABC News (Ron Cochran)
Evening
06:00p Call Mr. D (syndicated title for Richard Diamond, Private Detective)
06:30p Cheyenne
07:30p The Rifleman
08:00p Stoney Burke
09:00p Bing Crosby (special) (color) guests – Mary Martin, Andre Previn
10:00p News (George Grim)
10:15p Weather (Jere Smith)
10:20p Sports (Tony Parker)
10:30p Adventures in Paradise
11:30p Church Service (special) Episcopal, from St. John the Divine in New York City
12:00a Church Service (special) Catholic, from the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, D.C., with Bishop Sheen

WTCN, Channel 11 (Ind.)
Morning
11:25a We Learn to Live
11:30a Cartoon Circus
11:45a News (Bob Landon)
Afternoon
12:00p Lunch with Casey
01:00p Movie – “Henry Aldrich for President”
02:25p Take Five
02:30p State Trooper
03:00p December Bride
03:30p Amos ‘n’ Andy
04:00p Popeye and Pete
04:30p Dick Tracy
05:00p Mickey Mouse Club
05:30p Superman
Evening
06:00p Christmas in Tyrol (special) – replayed tomorrow on Channel 2
06:30p Bold Journey
07:00p Biography – Woodrow Wilson
07:30p Movie – “Christmas in Connecticut”
09:30p News (Dick Ford)
09:45p Weather (Stuart A. Lindeman)
10:50p Sports (Frank Buetel, Jack Horner)
10:00p Movie – “The Man Who Came to Dinner”
12:00a Church Service (special) Catholic, from the St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

Mitchell -

By the greatest football game of all time, are you referring to the USC-Wisconsin Rose Bowl game played on January 1, 1963? The Trojans holding off the Badgers 42-37. With so much offense, the game went longer than usual and with no lights at the Rose Bowl, Mel Allen doing the game on NBC-TV had a hard time seeing the last plays of the game. If so, I agree. It's one of the great college football games of all time.

Cincinnati Kid

 

[Mitchell H]

Mitchell -

By the greatest football game of all time, are you referring to the USC-Wisconsin Rose Bowl game played on January 1, 1963? The Trojans holding off the Badgers 42-37. With so much offense, the game went longer than usual and with no lights at the Rose Bowl, Mel Allen doing the game on NBC-TV had a hard time seeing the last plays of the game. If so, I agree. It's one of the great college football games of all time.

Cincinnati Kid

Good choice, Cincy. Though I've only ever seen highlights of that game, I can remember being enthralled as a kid reading about it. I thought the score was almost incredibly high (it would be pretty tame today), and I was (and remain) sorry the Badgers weren't able to pull off the comeback.

I termed the Houston-Dallas AFL Championship game as one of the greatest ever primarily because of the drama; as far as the quality of the game, I don't know that either team would have been a match for any but the bottom-feeders in the NFL. But as entertainment it was undoubtedly near the top.

Of course, it also helps that I actually have a DVD of the game, so I can report on it first-hand!

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

I remember that one, too. An overtime game that Dallas won with a field goal in the sixth quarter. That was despite the Dallas player incorrectly advising the referee that the Texans would kick off to start the overtime portion of the game. I liked Houston then because one of their quarterbacks was Jackie Lee who had played at the University of Cincinnati.

 

[Mitchell H]

Yes, and Lee was born in my hometown of Minneapolis!

 

[EJ204]

Interesting what programs each station ran late night on Christmas Eve. CBS runs a half hour of carols at 10:30 (11:30 E.T.) followed by a Methodist service from a NYC church at 11 (Midnight E.T.). Then Steve Allen goes 90 minutes at Midnight (1 AM E.T.) Was that a repeat? Did they do repeats in 1962 or did Steve Allen do a live 1 AM show on Christmas Eve? I notice WCCO then does news and a half hour of carols at 1:35am. I remember the CBS station in NYC ran all three movie versions of A Christmas Carol overnight, after CBS religious programming ended.

NBC also runs a half hour of carols at 10:30 (11:30 E.T.) followed by Midnight Mass from St. Patrick's Cathedral. I always thought NBC ran Mass from St. Peter's in Rome on Christmas Eve. And WPIX 11 in NYC carried Mass from St. Patrick's, something both stations do to this day. But then, maybe in 1962, NBC didn't have the ability to carry a 90 minute program from Europe, especially if it has to be filmed for running five hours later due to time zone differences.

ABC is also odd. KMSP runs a repeat of Adventures in Paradise at 10:30 (11:30 E.T.). Then a half hour Episcopal service from St. John The Devine in NYC followed by Mass from Immaculate Conception in Washington, featuring one of the biggest stars of TV in those days, Bishop Fulton Sheen. But that means in NYC, the St. John's service would begin at 12:30am and in DC, the Immaculate Conception mass would begin at 1am.

Did ABC force a delay in these services, making their congregations wait so ABC could run Adventures in Paradise? Or did KMSP delay ABC's Christmas Eve programming by an hour so they could squeeze in Adventures in Paradise, running their own commercials during the show? I thought local TV stations didn't have that ability in 1962.

Of course, today, ABC does something similar. They run Nightline at 11:35pm followed by Jimmy Kimmel. Then at 1am E.T., ABC runs several religious Christmas programs for anyone who is still awake that late. NBC and CBS give up their Leno and Letterman commercials one night of the year but ABC doesn't. And those religious programs are not live. They were recorded days or weeks earlier.

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

Interesting what programs each station ran late night on Christmas Eve. CBS runs a half hour of carols at 10:30 (11:30 E.T.) followed by a Methodist service from a NYC church at 11 (Midnight E.T.). Then Steve Allen goes 90 minutes at Midnight (1 AM E.T.) Was that a repeat? Did they do repeats in 1962 or did Steve Allen do a live 1 AM show on Christmas Eve?

I'm not sure which "Steve Allen Show" this might have been. Based on it being Christmas Eve into Christmas morning at 1:00 A.M. I would think it wasn't live. With video tape being some five years in use at that point, repeats could certainly be done. I well recall "The Best of Paar" (a repeated Jack Paar Show) airing on from 11:15 - 1:00 on Friday nights on NBC in the early 1960's.

 

[Mitchell H]

Interesting what programs each station ran late night on Christmas Eve. CBS runs a half hour of carols at 10:30 (11:30 E.T.) followed by a Methodist service from a NYC church at 11 (Midnight E.T.). Then Steve Allen goes 90 minutes at Midnight (1 AM E.T.) Was that a repeat? Did they do repeats in 1962 or did Steve Allen do a live 1 AM show on Christmas Eve? I notice WCCO then does news and a half hour of carols at 1:35am. I remember the CBS station in NYC ran all three movie versions of A Christmas Carol overnight, after CBS religious programming ended.

Great questions! I think Cincinnati Kid is probably right that Steverino's show was reruns that week, since Molly Bee was guest the whole week. Either that, or they were shows taped earlier for broadcast on that week.

NBC also runs a half hour of carols at 10:30 (11:30 E.T.) followed by Midnight Mass from St. Patrick's Cathedral. I always thought NBC ran Mass from St. Peter's in Rome on Christmas Eve. And WPIX 11 in NYC carried Mass from St. Patrick's, something both stations do to this day. But then, maybe in 1962, NBC didn't have the ability to carry a 90 minute program from Europe, especially if it has to be filmed for running five hours later due to time zone differences.

Back in the day, the Tonight Show started at 10:15 CT. Channel 5, like many stations, broadcast a half hour of local news, so they would either join Tonight in progress or delay it by 15 minutes. (It looks as if they did both of these at various times.) So NBC's program of carols actually started at 10:15, and was JIP by KSTP.

NBC started the Mass from St. Peter's in 1974, IIRC. (Interesting note - until 1973, Midnight Mass at the Vatican was a small affair in the Sistine Chapel, reserved for diplomats. Paul VI moved it to St. Peter's in 1973.) I'm just old enough to remember the era before that - according to a little online research, they telecast the St. Patrick's Mass for almost a quarter century..

ABC is also odd. KMSP runs a repeat of Adventures in Paradise at 10:30 (11:30 E.T.). Then a half hour Episcopal service from St. John The Devine in NYC followed by Mass from Immaculate Conception in Washington, featuring one of the biggest stars of TV in those days, Bishop Fulton Sheen. But that means in NYC, the St. John's service would begin at 12:30am and in DC, the Immaculate Conception mass would begin at 1am.

Did ABC force a delay in these services, making their congregations wait so ABC could run Adventures in Paradise? Or did KMSP delay ABC's Christmas Eve programming by an hour so they could squeeze in Adventures in Paradise, running their own commercials during the show? I thought local TV stations didn't have that ability in 1962.

Adventures in Paradise was syndicated on KMSP, part of their adventure lineup (Maverick on Tuesday, Roaring 20's on Wednesday, movies on Thursday and Thriller on Friday). Based on what I know about Immaculate Conception's Christmas Eve Mass schedule, it's likely that Bishop Sheen was presiding at the Midnight Mass (they also have one that starts at 11pm), which would have been tape-delayed on KMSP to run at midnight local time. I can probably dig around and find out more, but if this is true then KMSP may have joined the Episcopal service live in progress.

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

Cincinnati Kid:

From 1962 to 1964, Steve Allen emceed a talk/variety show produced and syndicated by Group W/Westinghouse.

It was never live anywhere, but taped in Hollywood and taped copies air freighted to subscribing stations.

Most stations got episodes about a week after they were taped.

Although designed as a late-night show, and run by the Group W stations (and a few others) after the 11 P.M. (10 P.M. Central) local news, some other stations broadcast it in late afternoon as a lead-in to their early-evening local newscasts. In fact, the two Group W stations affiliated with NBC at the time (KYW-3 then of Cleveland and WBZ-4 here in Boston) aired the Allen show instead of NBC's "Tonight Show".

In fact, David Letterman once claimed in an interview that what made him want to someday host a talk show was watching the Group W Steve Allen show after school in his hometown of Indianapolis (so it apparently was running there in late-afternoon for at least a time), and that he'd rush through his homework to be able to catch it from the start.

Allen's Group W show actually began in June of 1962 (during a period when "Tonight" had various guest hosts while waiting for Johnny Carson's contract as host of "Who Do You trust?" to expire) in the hope that he would have a four-month head start on Johnny.

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

Joseph:

Thank you for the information. I remember watching a couple of his shows in 1964 via a cable service in south-central Kentucky that picked up a Nashville channel that ran it late at night.