Retro_Birmingham Prime Time and Late Night: Tuesday 1/20/81

[Charles]

Source: The Birmingham News, 1/20/81

STATIONS LISTED
6-WBRC (ABC)
10-WBIQ (PBS)
13-WVTM (NBC)
42-WBMG (CBS)

CABLE LINEUP-BIRMINGHAM CABLE
4-HBO
7-Birmingham Cable (Local Access, USA and SPN)
8-ESPN
15-Nickelodeon
16-WANX (46-Atlanta)
17-WTBS (17-Atlanta)
19-WOR (9-New York)
26-C-SPAN
28-PTL Network
29-WGN (9-Chicago)

6:00
6-Tic Tac Dough
10-From the Top
13-Toni Tenille
42-News

6:30
6-P.M. Magazine
10-For the Record
42-Sha Na Na

7:00
6-Happy Days
10-MacNeil-Lehrer Newshour
13-Lobo
42-The White Shadow

7:30
6-Laverne and Shirley
10-Advances in Health

8:00
6-Sanford and Son
10-Nova
13-B.J. and the Bear
42-Movie: “When the Circus Came to Town” (Made for TV)

8:30
6-Too Close for Comfort

9:00
6-Hart to Hart
10-Mystery
13-Flamingo Road

10:00
6 13-News
10-Dick Cavett
42-Good Times

10:30
6-Gunsmoke
13-M*A*S*H
42-Lou Grant

11:00
13-Carol Burnett and Friends

11:30
6-Ironside
13-NBC News Special: Coverage of the Inaugural Balls

11:40
42-Movie: “Togetherness” (‘70)

12:00
13-Best of Carson

12:30
6-Movie: “That Kind of Woman” (‘59)

1:00
13-Streets of San Francisco

1:55
42-News

2:00
13-News

2:25
42-Focus

2:30
6-Bonanza

3:30
6-The Rifleman

4:00
6-PTL Club

 

[classictvfan]

What was Sanford And Son-a former NBC show-doing on ABC primetime?

 

[bpatrick]

> What was Sanford And Son-a former NBC show-doing on ABC
> primetime?
>
WBRC did not carry Three's Company on Tuesdays at 8 (Central).
Sanford And Son is a syndicated rerun.

 

[classictvfan]

WBRC did not carry Three's Company on Tuesdays at 8
(Central).
Sanford And Son is a syndicated rerun.


Why did the ABC station in Birmingham not air Three's Company?

 

[bpatrick]

> WBRC did not carry Three's Company on Tuesdays at 8
> (Central).
> Sanford And Son is a syndicated rerun.
>
>
> Why did the ABC station in Birmingham not air Three's
> Company?
>
They did, but on delay (you'd have to ask someone else
what time it came on). Either station management felt
the half-hour after Laverne & Shirley, which was a huge
lead-in, was a profitable place for a syndicated show;
or, given Birmingham's conservatism, management
didn't feel a show about two girls and a guy living together
was appropriate at 8 PM. Or maybe both.

I seem to recall WBRC airing reruns of Three's Company, however.

 

[Charles]

IIRC, Channel 6 delayed "Three's Company" until the following Monday night at 11:30.

WBRC was notorious for delaying and pre-empting ABC primetime programming, at least until the late '80's. (This is a station that shifted "Bewitched" to Saturday afternoons during the late '60's to make room for reruns of "The Rifleman"). It wasn't so much an issue of local standards or morals; rather, it was an opportunity to sell more local advertising. Channel 4 (this was WBRC's original channel position) was the dominant TV station in Birmingham and central Alabama from its sign-on. From 1949 until 1965, there was only one other commercial station in the market (WABT/WAFM/WAPI-Channel 13, now WVTM). And when WBMG-42 signed on, its signal was so bad that only people who wanted to watch their programming REALLY bad would watch them. Channel 6's dominance began to erode some in '81 when Channel 13 lured the Joe Langston and Herb Winches, the news and sports anchors at Channel 6 away. (Langston and Winches went back to Channel 6 two years later).

 

[bpatrick]

> IIRC, Channel 6 delayed "Three's Company" until the
> following Monday night at 11:30.
>
> WBRC was notorious for delaying and pre-empting ABC
> primetime programming, at least until the late '80's. (This
> is a station that shifted "Bewitched" to Saturday afternoons
> during the late '60's to make room for reruns of "The
> Rifleman"). It wasn't so much an issue of local standards
> or morals; rather, it was an opportunity to sell more local
> advertising. Channel 4 (this was WBRC's original channel
> position) was the dominant TV station in Birmingham and
> central Alabama from its sign-on. From 1949 until 1965,
> there was only one other commercial station in the market
> (WABT/WAFM/WAPI-Channel 13, now WVTM). And when WBMG-42
> signed on, its signal was so bad that only people who wanted
> to watch their programming REALLY bad would watch them.
> Channel 6's dominance began to erode some in '81 when
> Channel 13 lured the Joe Langston and Herb Winches, the news
> and sports anchors at Channel 6 away. (Langston and Winches
> went back to Channel 6 two years later).
>
I seem to recall Channel 6 airing "Marshal Dillon" in place of
"Bewitched" at one time. Channel 6 liked to run a syndicated
show in between two hit network shows in order to get those big
bucks. One particularly notorious example of this was in the
daytime at 1:30 (CT). In the late '60s and early '70s ABC had
"The Dating Game" at that time, but WBRC would run in a syndicated
show because that was the half hour between "The Newlywed Game" and
"General Hospital," which, IIRC, was the number-one daytime show
in Birmingham long before it hit number one nationally.

At least in my house, Channel 42 was pretty popular. Coming from
North Carolina, where CBS is traditionally dominant, we had to
go to 42 to watch our favorites: the CBS Saturday-night sitcoms
("All In The Family," Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart), "Maude,"
"The Waltons," things like that. My dad also liked Tommy Charles'
sports reports; my mom liked to get the weather from Charley Weidman
(I liked Rosemary Lucas on 13, but that had nothing to do with her
abilities as a meteorologist).

The last time I watched Birmingham television was in 1978; I happened
to catch Channel 6's news while traveling from Dallas to Atlanta.
I thought it was very old-fashioned looking (a microphone on Bill
Bolen's desk, for example). I certainly hope Birmingham newscasts
look more state-of-the-art nowadays.

 

[rwells2265]

> One particularly notorious example of this was in the
> daytime at 1:30 (CT). In the late '60s and early '70s ABC had
> "The Dating Game" at that time, but WBRC would run in a
> syndicated show because that was the half hour between "The Newlywed
> Game" and "General Hospital," which, IIRC, was the number-one daytime
> show in Birmingham long before it hit number one nationally.

I remember this. In the 1972-73 period, WBRC ran "I Dream of Jeannie" at 130. But the ABC show wasn't preempted entirely; they'd tape-delay "Dating Game" until 930 AM the next day (they did the same thing with "All My Children" - airing it at 10 AM). At least they were clearing all the shows - something rare for WBRC.

This practice continued, I believe, until GH and OLTL each expanded to 45 minutes. Of course, by then, WBRC was beginning to preempt some daytime shows.

> At least in my house, Channel 42 was pretty popular. *snip*
> My dad also liked Tommy Charles' sports reports; my mom liked to
> get the weather from Charley Weidman

AHA!!! So YOUR FAMILY was the mysterious "sole viewer" of channel 42's newscast!! ;-)

It's funny, even with completely different ownership (Media General) and different calls (the 'tainted' WBMG letters were shed in 1997 in favor of WIAT), channel 42 is still a cursed number. The Maytag repairman gets more attention than their newscasts.

This brings up a side issue, going back to an old thread about Birmingham's network affil alignments .... I was in B'ham last weekend, and paid a visit to Everett Holle, who was PD of ch. 13 in the '60s/'70s, and he gave me the real reason 13 aligned with NBC instead of CBS, despite CBS being #1 at the time: the flagship station of then-owner Newhouse was affiliated with NBC ... and, most importantly, the head of Newhouse broadcasting *loathed* Bill Paley.

> (I liked Rosemary Lucas on 13, but that had nothing to do
> with her abilities as a meteorologist).

Rosemary actually wasn't a meteorologist -- from 1962-1979 she was the WAPI-TV "Weather Girl" (in fact, I have a scan of an early '60s logo slide referring to her as just that) In 1979, WBRC brought in Mike Royer as the market's first on-air meteorologist, forcing channel 13 to do likewise; Rosemary was 'moved' into another on-air capacity when they hired James Spann as its AMS-certified weathercaster. Both Royer and Spann have since become second-generation "TV legends" in B'ham.

Another piece of trivia: for many years, Rosemary used just her first name on-air because her husband, Jim Lucas, also worked for the station.

Rosemary Lucas is a very sweet lady from all accounts ... and very petite, to boot. In retirement from TV, she now works parttime at a local department store (no, NOT Wal-Mart!) as a greeter. My aunt works at that same store, in fact.

> The last time I watched Birmingham television was in 1978; I happened
> to catch Channel 6's news while traveling from Dallas to Atlanta.
> I thought it was very old-fashioned looking (a microphone on Bill
> Bolen's desk, for example). I certainly hope Birmingham newscasts
> look more state-of-the-art nowadays.

Bill Bolen still anchors morning news on WBRC, the last of the old-guard still on the air.

Oh yeah, they all look well-produced ... even channel 42! 13 was always a bit ahead of 6 in the graphics area - having gotten a Chyron in 1977 (6 was still using old-school CG graphics as late as 1980). But yes, all the B'ham TV stations today are very professional in look and style.

In fact, I was there when all the tornadic activity from Hurricane Rita was moving through Alabama the other weekend ... all the stations had excellent weather coverage, running radar images continuously with the corner weather 'bug.' Something I wish our local Savannah stations would consider doing.

 

[bpatrick]

> > One particularly notorious example of this was in the
> > daytime at 1:30 (CT). In the late '60s and early '70s ABC
> had
> > "The Dating Game" at that time, but WBRC would run in a
> > syndicated show because that was the half hour between
> "The Newlywed
> > Game" and "General Hospital," which, IIRC, was the
> number-one daytime
> > show in Birmingham long before it hit number one
> nationally.
>
> I remember this. In the 1972-73 period, WBRC ran "I Dream
> of Jeannie" at 130. But the ABC show wasn't preempted
> entirely; they'd tape-delay "Dating Game" until 930 AM the
> next day (they did the same thing with "All My Children" -
> airing it at 10 AM). At least they were clearing all the
> shows - something rare for WBRC.

They were actually delaying one less show than Atlanta's
Channel 11, as I recall. Channel 11 delayed Password (12 Noon
ET) to 10 AM the following day in favor of local news. The
3:30 Prize Movie forced delays of One Life To Live to 11 AM
and Love, American Style to 10:30 AM the following day.
>
>
>
> >
>
>
>
>
> > (I liked Rosemary Lucas on 13, but that had nothing to do
> > with her abilities as a meteorologist).
>
> Rosemary actually wasn't a meteorologist -- from 1962-1979
> she was the WAPI-TV "Weather Girl" (in fact, I have a scan
> of an early '60s logo slide referring to her as just that)
> In 1979, WBRC brought in Mike Royer as the market's first
> on-air meteorologist, forcing channel 13 to do likewise;
> Rosemary was 'moved' into another on-air capacity when they
> hired James Spann as its AMS-certified weathercaster. Both
> Royer and Spann have since become second-generation "TV
> legends" in B'ham.
>
> Another piece of trivia: for many years, Rosemary used just
> her first name on-air because her husband, Jim Lucas, also
> worked for the station.

Is this the same Jim Lucas who was on WAVE/3 Louisville in
the '60s?
>
> Rosemary Lucas is a very sweet lady from all accounts ...
> and very petite, to boot. In retirement from TV, she now
> works parttime at a local department store (no, NOT
> Wal-Mart!) as a greeter. My aunt works at that same store,
> in fact.

The remark about her meteorological abilities was intended as
sarcasm; I'm quite aware that she and Pat Gray on WBRC were
"weather girls." IIRC, Pat Gray was married to a man named
Tom York--but not THE Tom York who did The Morning Show on
Channel 6, as well as sports.
>
> >
>
<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by bpatrick on 10/03/05 07:38 PM.</FONT></P>

 

[rwells2265]

>> Another piece of trivia: for many years, Rosemary used just
>> her first name on-air because her husband, Jim Lucas, also
>> worked for the station.
>
> Is this the same Jim Lucas who was on WAVE/3 Louisville in
> the '60s?

Yes, it was. Both Jim and Rosemary worked at WAVE before moving to Birmingham ~1962. After they divorced in the '80s, Jim returned to Louisville.

I have a scanned pic of Rosemary doing a commercial for a L'ville dairy, ca. 1954. Poor thing looks like a grimacing Annette F.!

> The remark about her meteorological abilities was intended as
> sarcasm; I'm quite aware that she and Pat Gray on WBRC were
> "weather girls." IIRC, Pat Gray was married to a man named
> Tom York--but not THE Tom York who did The Morning Show on
> Channel 6, as well as sports.

Yeah, I figured that you and Charles knew that ...

As for Pat Gray, yes she was married to a Tom York -- late in the '70s, they both moved to Panama City, Fla., where Pat began working at a local station (WMBB - Channel 13) ... using her real name, Pat York.

WMBB-13 ran TV GUIDE ads ran for her show ... with the station logo, which in the late '70s was NBC and using the same WNBC-style logo as WAPI-TV 13 in Birmingham.
Nothing out of the ordinary for the locals, but a surreal sight for those vacationing on the coast from B'ham. Here was a familiar face, now using the last name of ANOTHER B'ham personality ... and below it a logo identical to that which her old station's COMPETITION used!

 

[ohstuskaterpunk]

for several years, "three's company" aired on saturdays at 2 pm central on wbrc...talk about obscurity? children are home on saturdays. i do remember, however, watching "three's company" in it's regular 9 pm eastern/8 pm central time slot sometime in the 1980s. anyone know when wbrc moved the show to abc's normal time slot, ay?<P ID="signature">______________
phil</P>