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Soul Train's clearance in the '70s and '80s

J

johnnya2k6

For almost two months now, classic episodes of "Soul Train" from the '70s and '80s have been shown, yet they have still have yet to air the new episodes they did for this season. For many, it is a trip down memory lane; for others, those old episodes are new to us.

I said in the "Hee Haw" thread that Soul Train didn't get ANY carriage in Alaska in the 1970's, simply because syndicated programming here at the time was very rare with only two network stations in Fairbanks and three in Anchorage. It was also because the show wasn't seen in Seattle; if it did, a dub of the master tape (the one that was "bicycled" from station to station) would've been made for Anchorage and Fairbanks.

I also think that other markets didn't carry Soul Train as well until the mid-'80s, when Tribune started syndicating the show and the distribution method went from mail delivery to satellite delivery. I'm talking about the broadcast stations, though millions would get their chance to watch the Train on cable thanks to WGN.

Anyone know of other areas that didn't carry Soul Train until much later?

Jonathan Allen
 
I think every market in North and South Carolina carried Soul Train from the early 70s on, usually on Saturday afternoons. WNOK/19 (now WLTX) in Columbia carried Soul Train at 7 PM on Saturdays for many years, up against Hee Haw on WOLO/25. Now that was what was called counterprograming!
 
WGHP and WLOS used to run it right after
American Bandstand; as I've pointed out from
time to time on Greensboro/Winston-Salem/
High Point threads, WGHP would sometimes
pre-empt Bandstand for Soul Train during football
season, Bandstand being a network show and Soul
Train syndicated, with more local commercial slots.

I know that it was on in Atlanta, Birmingham, Orlando,
and Tampa by 1973 at the latest.
 
I read about Soul Train's clearances back in those days, and one of the points was when the show hit syndication (directly from WCIU in Chicago; Don Corneilus worked there back then), they would largely put the show on in areas with sizable African-American populations. Intially, the show was on in only New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Houston, Detroit, and as Mr. Patrick mentioned, several Southern markets.

Right now, as I'm typing this, I'm watching an episode (via WGN; three hours earlier than on KTLA), and they're airing a show from around 1981, with the late Rick James and the SOS Band. I wonder if they ceased production on new episodes, because these old shows are a lot better than any thing recent.
 
I'm glad somebody mentioned that the '70s/'80s
episodes of Soul Train are airing now; there was
a lot of great R&B stuff in those days. Now that
I know that, I'm going to have to start watching,
because I never missed the show on Saturdays
back in the '70s (I'd catch it on either WLOS or
WAGA).
 
Soul Train has aired on channel 39 in Houston for years. In the 70s and 80s, it was on Saturday afternoons, several years ago, it was relegated to late nights, it now airs at 1am.
 
Soul Train has been a fixture on Sacramento's KTXL (Tribune) for over 25 years...sadly, it is now relegated to a late Sunday night timeslot (2am, 3am in some cases).
 
bpatrick said:
I know that it was on in Atlanta, Birmingham, Orlando,
and Tampa by 1973 at the latest.
Click to expand...

In Birmingham, WBMG-42 had "Soul Train" as of '73, but WBRC-6 picked it up by '75, running it after "Bandstand."

WHBQ-13/Memphis aired it Saturday nights at 10:30 in the '70s.

And WCBI-4/Columbus, Miss. ran the show at varying times.

I've enjoyed the classic eps, in particular the one with AWB.

--Russell
 
Partially OT, but who was the black comedian who once joked that the main reason for "Soul Train" to exist was so that black hair care products had somewhere to advertise? I remember he said, "Something you'll never hear on TV is 'Tonight's episode of Doogie Howser M.D. is brought to you by.....Afro Sheen!'" ;D
 
Stanislav said:
Partially OT, but who was the black comedian who once joked that the main reason for "Soul Train" to exist was so that black hair care products had somewhere to advertise? I remember he said, "Something you'll never hear on TV is 'Tonight's episode of Doogie Howser M.D. is brought to you by.....Afro Sheen!'" ;D
Click to expand...

...sounds like something Franklyn Ajaye would have written, if not actually performed...
 
johnnya2k6 said:
I said in the "Hee Haw" thread that Soul Train didn't get ANY carriage in Alaska in the 1970's, simply because syndicated programming here at the time was very rare with only two network stations in Fairbanks and three in Anchorage. It was also because the show wasn't seen in Seattle; if it did, a dub of the master tape (the one that was "bicycled" from station to station) would've been made for Anchorage and Fairbanks.
Click to expand...

It did air in Seattle/Tacoma until December 1974 -- on KTVW, channel 13. When that station went bankrupt, no other station in the market bothered to pick it up. Not surprising, since the Puget Sound area was very white at the time, and any kind of soul or R&B music was a tough sell in that area.
 
KXAS/5 Dallas/Ft. Worth ran "Soul Train" Saturdays at
noon in the late '70s; I remember in the summer months
it was on between the end of NBC's Saturday-morning
block and the start of NBC's baseball coverage.

It was the only music show we could get on Saturday
afternoons (Lawrence Welk on KTVT doesn't count),
since WFAA pre-empted "American Bandstand" for
reasons that still aren't clear.
 
I can't recall it ever airing in Knoxville. The first time I can ever recall seeing "Soul Train" was when I would go see my cousins in Jacksonville, FL back during the '70's. Until we got cable in the early '80's and started watching it on WGN, I don't remember seeing it at all in Knoxville.
 
bpatrick said:
It was the only music show we could get on Saturday afternoons (Lawrence Welk on KTVT doesn't count), since WFAA pre-empted "American Bandstand" for reasons that still aren't clear.
Click to expand...

Maybe because of "mixed dancing" and such -- a lot of Southern affiliates never cleared AB because of persisting racial nonsense.
 
There are rumors that persist to this day that WFAA
gave in to pressure from Metroplex churches that
didn't want "evil" dancing shown (I wonder if KTRK
Houston was under the same pressure since Bandstand
wasn't carried there, either--KSAT San Antonio certainly
wasn't, or they resisted, because Bandstand did air there).
 
Directly from SoulTrain.com, it gives a more detailed history on the show's success...

http://www.soultrain.com/stweekly/weekly.html

Also, according to this, as of the end of the 2005-06 season, they have been 1109 episodes produced over the 36 years they've been on the air, although it actually doesn't signify the locally-produced WCIU shows on the list. I believe it just lists everything from its national debut on through.
 
By the way...the reason why those classic episodes are airing this season (so far) is that Tribune was originally thinking about derailing (canceling) Soul Train because ratings for the show have dipped below 1.0 in the last several years and that many stations who used to run it in the afternoons have buried it to the graveyard hours. So to save his creation from going under, Don Cornelius cracked open the vaults, and ratings have somewhat improved.

Don't worry, the new episodes will still air soon, probably after they have the annual Soul Train Music Awards in March.

Jonathan Allen
 
johnnya2k6 said:
By the way...the reason why those classic episodes are airing this season (so far) is that Tribune was originally thinking about derailing (canceling) Soul Train because ratings for the show have dipped below 1.0 in the last several years and that many stations who used to run it in the afternoons have buried it to the graveyard hours. So to save his creation from going under, Don Cornelius cracked open the vaults, and ratings have somewhat improved.

Don't worry, the new episodes will still air soon, probably after they have the annual Soul Train Music Awards in March.

Jonathan Allen
Click to expand...

I can understand the ratings dip, mostly due to the emergence of shows on BET and the turnover in hosts over the last decade-plus since Don Cornelius retired as host. The quality of artists they've gotten over recent years aren't certainly what they were back in the day. Myself, I've watched only one entire episode of Soul Train in the last ten years. Going back to the valuts is a good idea, and it could very well save the franchise. However, like what TV One did with older episodes of It's Showtime At the Apollo, some cable network should have ran Best of Soul Train shows long ago.
 
ShawnHill1 said:
I can understand the ratings dip, mostly due to the emergence of shows on BET and the turnover in hosts over the last decade-plus since Don Cornelius retired as host. The quality of artists they've gotten over recent years aren't certainly what they were back in the day. Myself, I've watched only one entire episode of Soul Train in the last ten years. Going back to the valuts is a good idea, and it could very well save the franchise.
Click to expand...
And like I said on the newsgroups, with Tribune in financial trouble lately, maybe Soul Train should be shopping for a new syndicator like King World. Look at the current run of "Family Feud"; it's switching distributors from Tribune to Debmar-Mercury and Soul Train could be doing the same. Airing classic episodes does help, but would it be enough to keep the Train chugging?

Jonathan Allen
 
Well, Soul Train never aired in Portland (Oregon) until KWBP-TV (now KRCW-TV) went on the air in the mid 1990s. As an African-American, my family (especially my late Father) had to watch the show on cable (WGN-TV)!
 
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