One of the rare occasions I have time to do retros is on holidays. And I thought it appropriate to look back at the way we were 40 years ago, and in an edition of TVG we rarely encounter here at that. BTW, no white bullets in this edition; all are black, since no channel repeats.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania:
(2) KDKA (CBS)
(4) WTAE (ABC)
(11) WIIC (NBC)
(13) WQED (PBS)
(53) WPGH (Ind.)
Johnstown, Pennsylvania:
(6) WJAC (NBC)
(19) WJNL (CBS)
Altoona, Pennsylvania:
(10) WTAJ (CBS)
University Park (State College), Pennsylvania:
(3) WPSX (PBS)
Wheeling, West Virginia:
(7) WTRF (NBC, ABC secondary)
Weston, West Virginia:
(5) WDTV (CBS)
Clarksburg, West Virginia:
(12) WBOY (NBC)
Morgantown, West Virginia:
(24) WWVU (PBS)
Steubenville, Ohio:
(9) WSTV (CBS, ABC secondary)
Youngstown, Ohio:
(21) WFMJ (NBC)
(27) WKBN (CBS)
(33) WYTV (ABC)
MORNING
6:00
(11) Across the Fence--note WTAJ below; apparently NOT local public affairs, as one might surmise
6:15
(2) With This Ring--Catholic marriage-advice show
6:30
(2) Faith for Today--religious drama
(10) Across the Fence
(11) Treehouse Club--funny, but the only known kids' show by that time occurred in Atlanta, on channel 11 there--syndie show, perhaps?
7:00
(2) This is the Life--religious drama
(7) Gospel Singing Jubilee--syndicated Southern Gospel music program
(10) Blue Ridge Quartet--another Southern Gospel act
(11) Oral Roberts
(33) Old Time Gospel Hour--Jerry Falwell's program, of course
7:30
(2) Golden Years--probably local KDKA public affairs about concerns of the elderly
(4) Directions--ABC religious documentary series
(9) Old Time Gospel Hour
(10) Day of Discovery--fundamentalist (Baptist-oriented), Michigan-based TV/radio ministry
(11) Revival Fires--Pentecostal evangelist Cecil Todd's weekly program
7:45
(27) Rural Scene--probably weekly agricultural show
8:00
(2) Me and You and Us (and who else?--!!!)
(4) Kathryn Kuhlman--notorious "faith healing" figure
(5) Light of the World--possibly local church program
(7) Beam of Hope--likewise
(10) Old Time Gospel Hour
(11) Rex Humbard
(27) Kathryn Kuhlman
(33) To Be Announced--likely film hanging around the WYTV shelves
(53) Warren Roberts--does not appear to be a televangelist, from Google search
8:25
(6) WJAC News
8:30
(2) International Zone--public affairs program?
(4) Faith and Today's World--possibly WTAE-produced local religious program
(5) Wings of Faith
(6) Old Time Gospel Hour
(7) Stan Scott--Steubenville-based evangelist who, believe it or not, once worked as an anchor at rival WSTV, across the Ohio River from WTRF
(9) Evangelistic Outreach
(12) Rev. Leonard Repass--a West Virginian, Repass preached and featured Gospel music (an interesting memoir of his program can be found on this minister's site: http://www.thecitizen.com/archive/main/archive-010727/opinion/op-01.html)
(19) Light Unto My Path
(21) Religious Four--probably local Gospel quartet's show
(27) Day of Discovery
(33) Billy James Hargis--the hardline right-wing preacher gives an Easter sermon from the Holy Land this week
9:00
(2) Not Just Sunday (on other days, too?--!!!)
(7) Oral Roberts
(9) Church of Christ
(10) Gospel Notes--as in music, certainly
(11) Cartoons--unspecified
(12) Faith for Today
(19) Bailey's Comets--CBS Sunday cartoon (not sci-fi themed, as one might think, but rather one about an early 70s fad: roller derbies)
(21) This is the Life
(27) Rex Humbard
(33) Oral Roberts
(53) Teach-In--local public affairs about college life in the Pittsburgh area, perhaps?
9:30
(2) Insight--another of the several religious dramas that ran on Sundays until about the late 1970s (whatever happened to those? guess it was FCC dereg, just like a lot of other discontinuities on the idiot box between the '70s and '80s)
(4) Community Perspective--local public affairs
(5) Rex Humbard
(6) (9) (12) Day of Discovery
(7) Morning Worship--local (and Protestant)
(10) Amazing Chan--predictable Hanna-Barbera fitting of the Charlie Chan stories to a Scooby-Doo form (and actually made by contract in Australia, to boot)
(19) Chaplain of Bourbon Street--New Orleans-based evangelist Bob Harrington's program
(21) Celebrate--probably local religion
(33) Jimmy Swaggart--the famed cousin of Jerry Lee Lewis and Mickey Gilley (and no musical slouch himself, either, having recorded many Gospel albums) getting a foothold to start his 1980s meteoric rise to the heights of the "electronic church"
10:00
(2) (19) (27) Feast of Life--CBS religious special with music and poetry to commemorate Easter Sunday
(4) Easter Is ...--animated special from the folks that brought us "Christmas Is" (can't find out anything about either special, though, which is odd)
(6) (7) (11) (12) Easter Sunday Mass--special NBC broadcast of services at Washington, D.C.'s National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (probably a co-production of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, as was the arrangement for the network's coverage of Christmas Eve Midnight Mass at the Vatican)
(9) Jimmy Swaggart
(10) Life of Triumph (?)
(21) Cartoons--unspecified; probably some handy to WFMJ's control room crew that morning
(33) Mass for Shut-Ins--local, produced by Diocese of Youngstown (a common arrangement in most of the country)
(53) George and Diane Ivy--appears to have been a Georgia-based Gospel music husband-and-wife duo (from Google)
10:30
(4) Close-Up '74--local WTAE public affairs
(5) Pyle's Gospel Party--local (almost certainly)
(9) Kathryn Kuhlman
(10) Good News
(33) Insight
(53) New Day
11:00
(2) On Air--probably another local public program (KDKA had deep pockets from owner Group W, and could afford to do these, since Pittsburgh was then a top 25 or so market)
(4) Joe Negri's Talent Scene--Negri, a local jazz musician, was ubiquitous on Pittsburgh TV back in the day; he did all sorts of shows for WTAE, and in the past, KDKA, but most people outside Western Pennsylvania remember him as a cast member on "Mister Rogers," recorded, of course, at nearby WQED
(5) Christian Outreach
(6) (9) (12) Rex Humbard--all three stations carried same broadcast
(7) H. R. Pufnstuf--ABC rerun of pioneering Krofft Brothers puppet extravaganza
(10) Easter Cantata--performance by a choir from Roaring Spring, Pennsylvania, south of Altoona
(11) Rapp'n--of course, this was local African-American public affairs program (but not in the sense that "rap" would later mean--you had to be living in the '70s to understand its usage at that time)
(19) Feast of Love--CBS special broadcast of Greek Orthodox Easter service in New York City; the officiating priest did the liturgy in Greek
(21) Easter Service--WFMJ local special featuring live coverage of a local Episcopal parish's Easter service
(27) For Your Information--and, not to be outdone, WKBN joins the fray with coverage of a liturgy from Youngstown's Greek Orthodox parish (Youngstown in those days was something of a miniature Cleveland or Pittsburgh, with multitudes of different ethnic groups who clung to traditional religious practices)
(33) Perspectives in Black
(53) Charisma--local religion?
11:30
(2) My Father's Business--Catholic documentary; unknown if regular program or KDKA special
(4) (7) (33) Make a Wish--fondly-remembered 1970s ABC live-action children's program that used "Sesame Street"-like speed-action techniques to deal with a single topic; Tom Chapin, from the folk music family, was the host (Wonder if MTV capitalized on the success of this program? After all, the kids watching then came of age at the time of the cable channel's launch in '81.)
(5) To Be Announced
(10) Mass for Shut-Ins--produced by Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown
(11) In Conflict--probably local public affairs; maybe a precursor of CNN's "Crossfire" and subsequent shouting-match political talk shows
(27) Feast of Love--see WJNL above; joined in progress
(53) Right On--I think you can guess what this is about ...
AFTERNOON
12:00
(2) (27) Face the Nation--guest not listed
(4) Adventure Time
(5) Deliverance Hour--probably local religion (in smaller markets like Weston especially, religious programs went well on into the afternoon on Sundays, until sometime in the late '70s and early '80s)
(6) This is the Life
(7) (9) Crucified and Risen Christ--another Easter special, this one dramatizing the Passion and Resurrection (note that both stations were in the same market, so possibly ABC?)
(10) Jacobs Brothers--local Gospel music show, from a Dillsburg, Pennsylvania family
(11) Battle of Wits--WIIC's version of the high-school quiz, titled in various places "It's Academic" and "High-Q,"; all of these, of course, were modeled on the old "College Bowl"
(12) Consultation--medical public affairs
(19) Pattern for Living
(21) Faith for Today--Art Linkletter drops by to speak on youth drug-taking, something he attributed his daughter Diane's death to for years
(33) Lassie
(53) Look, Here's Education--local public affairs
12:30
(2) That Girl--Ethel Merman guest-starred in this rerun of the second season (1967-68) opener
(6) Oral Roberts
(7) (11) (12) (21) Meet the Press--guest not listed
(9) Good News
(10) (19) Face the Nation--tape-delayed
(27) Herald of Truth
(33) Untamed World--syndie wildlife doc series
(53) To Be Announced--so go have your Sunday dinner, for Pete's sake--!!!!
1:00
(2) (5) (9) (10) (19) (27) NBA Play-Off--pending outcome of Buffalo Braves-Boston Celtics series, either game 7 of that matchup, or else a conference final game (you NBA fans can look this one up if you like)
(4) Junior High Quiz--apparently WIIC did not have exclusive franchise rights to "It's Academic" in the Pittsburgh market (if there were franchises to start with)
(6) Songs and Images of Easter--yet another special (whoever said that American society was getting more secular in the 70s obviously didn't live in Western Pennsylvania--or watch TV on Sundays)
(7) To Whom it May Concern--gotta be local public affairs (now, come on, do you think a dance party show would be named this?)
(11) World of Survival--British import (I think)
(12) Bonanza
(21) Job--?
(33) Crucified and Risen Christ
(53) Roller Game of the Week
1:30
(4) Movie--"The Mountain Road," 1960 (first one of the day, which was pretty unusual back then, as many places had movies on Sunday mornings)
(6) Meet the Press--tape-delayed
(7) Other People, Other Places--little-remembered adventure/nature doc series
(11) Championship Fishing--syndicated
(21) Agriculture U.S.A.
(33) Christ is the Answer
2:00
(3) Movie--"The King of Kings," 1927 (yep, the Cecil B. DeMille classic; deserved to run on PBS, IMO)
(6) (7) (11) (12) (21) NHL Hockey Stanley Cup Play-Off--NBC straggling along with low-rated coverage, second of the Peacock's three miserable seasons that would lead to the sport being banished to syndication and cable until the 1990s
(53) Movie--"Three Faces West," 1940 (Duke Wayne flick)
2:30
(33) American Sportsman--Curt Gowdy's partner in the fishing boat this time was Indy car driver Peter Revson, who had tragically been killed in a crash in South Africa just weeks before this airing
3:15
(33) Howard Cosell's Sports Magazine--don't get in a tight, friends, he was only on for 15 minutes (!!!!!)
3:30
(33) World Invitation Tennis Classic--apparently ABC coverage of an all-around singles/doubles/mixed-doubles tourney
4:00
(2) (5) (9) (10) (19) (27)--The Masters--CBS' final-round coverage of the most famous golf match of all time in Georgia
(3) (13) (24) The Messiah--PBS special performance of the sacred music masterpiece by Handel
(4) My Father's Business--strangely, same broadcast as KDKA at 11:30 a.m. (thus probably free program)
(53) Limits of Man--documentary?
4:30
(4) (33) ABC Wide World of Sports--coverage of National Championship Sprint Car race, with Keith Jackson and ABC racing commentators Jackie Stewart and Chris Economaki at the mike
(6) (7) (11) (12) (21) World Championship Tennis--NBC coverage of team-tennis fad in the mid-and-late-'70s; Jim Simpson and Bud Collins call the matches
(53) Greatest Sports Legends--ongoing syndie documentary series
5:00
(53) To Be Announced
5:30
(53) Soul Train--"the hippest trip in America"
(Part 2 to follow)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania:
(2) KDKA (CBS)
(4) WTAE (ABC)
(11) WIIC (NBC)
(13) WQED (PBS)
(53) WPGH (Ind.)
Johnstown, Pennsylvania:
(6) WJAC (NBC)
(19) WJNL (CBS)
Altoona, Pennsylvania:
(10) WTAJ (CBS)
University Park (State College), Pennsylvania:
(3) WPSX (PBS)
Wheeling, West Virginia:
(7) WTRF (NBC, ABC secondary)
Weston, West Virginia:
(5) WDTV (CBS)
Clarksburg, West Virginia:
(12) WBOY (NBC)
Morgantown, West Virginia:
(24) WWVU (PBS)
Steubenville, Ohio:
(9) WSTV (CBS, ABC secondary)
Youngstown, Ohio:
(21) WFMJ (NBC)
(27) WKBN (CBS)
(33) WYTV (ABC)
MORNING
6:00
(11) Across the Fence--note WTAJ below; apparently NOT local public affairs, as one might surmise
6:15
(2) With This Ring--Catholic marriage-advice show
6:30
(2) Faith for Today--religious drama
(10) Across the Fence
(11) Treehouse Club--funny, but the only known kids' show by that time occurred in Atlanta, on channel 11 there--syndie show, perhaps?
7:00
(2) This is the Life--religious drama
(7) Gospel Singing Jubilee--syndicated Southern Gospel music program
(10) Blue Ridge Quartet--another Southern Gospel act
(11) Oral Roberts
(33) Old Time Gospel Hour--Jerry Falwell's program, of course
7:30
(2) Golden Years--probably local KDKA public affairs about concerns of the elderly
(4) Directions--ABC religious documentary series
(9) Old Time Gospel Hour
(10) Day of Discovery--fundamentalist (Baptist-oriented), Michigan-based TV/radio ministry
(11) Revival Fires--Pentecostal evangelist Cecil Todd's weekly program
7:45
(27) Rural Scene--probably weekly agricultural show
8:00
(2) Me and You and Us (and who else?--!!!)
(4) Kathryn Kuhlman--notorious "faith healing" figure
(5) Light of the World--possibly local church program
(7) Beam of Hope--likewise
(10) Old Time Gospel Hour
(11) Rex Humbard
(27) Kathryn Kuhlman
(33) To Be Announced--likely film hanging around the WYTV shelves
(53) Warren Roberts--does not appear to be a televangelist, from Google search
8:25
(6) WJAC News
8:30
(2) International Zone--public affairs program?
(4) Faith and Today's World--possibly WTAE-produced local religious program
(5) Wings of Faith
(6) Old Time Gospel Hour
(7) Stan Scott--Steubenville-based evangelist who, believe it or not, once worked as an anchor at rival WSTV, across the Ohio River from WTRF
(9) Evangelistic Outreach
(12) Rev. Leonard Repass--a West Virginian, Repass preached and featured Gospel music (an interesting memoir of his program can be found on this minister's site: http://www.thecitizen.com/archive/main/archive-010727/opinion/op-01.html)
(19) Light Unto My Path
(21) Religious Four--probably local Gospel quartet's show
(27) Day of Discovery
(33) Billy James Hargis--the hardline right-wing preacher gives an Easter sermon from the Holy Land this week
9:00
(2) Not Just Sunday (on other days, too?--!!!)
(7) Oral Roberts
(9) Church of Christ
(10) Gospel Notes--as in music, certainly
(11) Cartoons--unspecified
(12) Faith for Today
(19) Bailey's Comets--CBS Sunday cartoon (not sci-fi themed, as one might think, but rather one about an early 70s fad: roller derbies)
(21) This is the Life
(27) Rex Humbard
(33) Oral Roberts
(53) Teach-In--local public affairs about college life in the Pittsburgh area, perhaps?
9:30
(2) Insight--another of the several religious dramas that ran on Sundays until about the late 1970s (whatever happened to those? guess it was FCC dereg, just like a lot of other discontinuities on the idiot box between the '70s and '80s)
(4) Community Perspective--local public affairs
(5) Rex Humbard
(6) (9) (12) Day of Discovery
(7) Morning Worship--local (and Protestant)
(10) Amazing Chan--predictable Hanna-Barbera fitting of the Charlie Chan stories to a Scooby-Doo form (and actually made by contract in Australia, to boot)
(19) Chaplain of Bourbon Street--New Orleans-based evangelist Bob Harrington's program
(21) Celebrate--probably local religion
(33) Jimmy Swaggart--the famed cousin of Jerry Lee Lewis and Mickey Gilley (and no musical slouch himself, either, having recorded many Gospel albums) getting a foothold to start his 1980s meteoric rise to the heights of the "electronic church"
10:00
(2) (19) (27) Feast of Life--CBS religious special with music and poetry to commemorate Easter Sunday
(4) Easter Is ...--animated special from the folks that brought us "Christmas Is" (can't find out anything about either special, though, which is odd)
(6) (7) (11) (12) Easter Sunday Mass--special NBC broadcast of services at Washington, D.C.'s National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (probably a co-production of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, as was the arrangement for the network's coverage of Christmas Eve Midnight Mass at the Vatican)
(9) Jimmy Swaggart
(10) Life of Triumph (?)
(21) Cartoons--unspecified; probably some handy to WFMJ's control room crew that morning
(33) Mass for Shut-Ins--local, produced by Diocese of Youngstown (a common arrangement in most of the country)
(53) George and Diane Ivy--appears to have been a Georgia-based Gospel music husband-and-wife duo (from Google)
10:30
(4) Close-Up '74--local WTAE public affairs
(5) Pyle's Gospel Party--local (almost certainly)
(9) Kathryn Kuhlman
(10) Good News
(33) Insight
(53) New Day
11:00
(2) On Air--probably another local public program (KDKA had deep pockets from owner Group W, and could afford to do these, since Pittsburgh was then a top 25 or so market)
(4) Joe Negri's Talent Scene--Negri, a local jazz musician, was ubiquitous on Pittsburgh TV back in the day; he did all sorts of shows for WTAE, and in the past, KDKA, but most people outside Western Pennsylvania remember him as a cast member on "Mister Rogers," recorded, of course, at nearby WQED
(5) Christian Outreach
(6) (9) (12) Rex Humbard--all three stations carried same broadcast
(7) H. R. Pufnstuf--ABC rerun of pioneering Krofft Brothers puppet extravaganza
(10) Easter Cantata--performance by a choir from Roaring Spring, Pennsylvania, south of Altoona
(11) Rapp'n--of course, this was local African-American public affairs program (but not in the sense that "rap" would later mean--you had to be living in the '70s to understand its usage at that time)
(19) Feast of Love--CBS special broadcast of Greek Orthodox Easter service in New York City; the officiating priest did the liturgy in Greek
(21) Easter Service--WFMJ local special featuring live coverage of a local Episcopal parish's Easter service
(27) For Your Information--and, not to be outdone, WKBN joins the fray with coverage of a liturgy from Youngstown's Greek Orthodox parish (Youngstown in those days was something of a miniature Cleveland or Pittsburgh, with multitudes of different ethnic groups who clung to traditional religious practices)
(33) Perspectives in Black
(53) Charisma--local religion?
11:30
(2) My Father's Business--Catholic documentary; unknown if regular program or KDKA special
(4) (7) (33) Make a Wish--fondly-remembered 1970s ABC live-action children's program that used "Sesame Street"-like speed-action techniques to deal with a single topic; Tom Chapin, from the folk music family, was the host (Wonder if MTV capitalized on the success of this program? After all, the kids watching then came of age at the time of the cable channel's launch in '81.)
(5) To Be Announced
(10) Mass for Shut-Ins--produced by Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown
(11) In Conflict--probably local public affairs; maybe a precursor of CNN's "Crossfire" and subsequent shouting-match political talk shows
(27) Feast of Love--see WJNL above; joined in progress
(53) Right On--I think you can guess what this is about ...
AFTERNOON
12:00
(2) (27) Face the Nation--guest not listed
(4) Adventure Time
(5) Deliverance Hour--probably local religion (in smaller markets like Weston especially, religious programs went well on into the afternoon on Sundays, until sometime in the late '70s and early '80s)
(6) This is the Life
(7) (9) Crucified and Risen Christ--another Easter special, this one dramatizing the Passion and Resurrection (note that both stations were in the same market, so possibly ABC?)
(10) Jacobs Brothers--local Gospel music show, from a Dillsburg, Pennsylvania family
(11) Battle of Wits--WIIC's version of the high-school quiz, titled in various places "It's Academic" and "High-Q,"; all of these, of course, were modeled on the old "College Bowl"
(12) Consultation--medical public affairs
(19) Pattern for Living
(21) Faith for Today--Art Linkletter drops by to speak on youth drug-taking, something he attributed his daughter Diane's death to for years
(33) Lassie
(53) Look, Here's Education--local public affairs
12:30
(2) That Girl--Ethel Merman guest-starred in this rerun of the second season (1967-68) opener
(6) Oral Roberts
(7) (11) (12) (21) Meet the Press--guest not listed
(9) Good News
(10) (19) Face the Nation--tape-delayed
(27) Herald of Truth
(33) Untamed World--syndie wildlife doc series
(53) To Be Announced--so go have your Sunday dinner, for Pete's sake--!!!!
1:00
(2) (5) (9) (10) (19) (27) NBA Play-Off--pending outcome of Buffalo Braves-Boston Celtics series, either game 7 of that matchup, or else a conference final game (you NBA fans can look this one up if you like)
(4) Junior High Quiz--apparently WIIC did not have exclusive franchise rights to "It's Academic" in the Pittsburgh market (if there were franchises to start with)
(6) Songs and Images of Easter--yet another special (whoever said that American society was getting more secular in the 70s obviously didn't live in Western Pennsylvania--or watch TV on Sundays)
(7) To Whom it May Concern--gotta be local public affairs (now, come on, do you think a dance party show would be named this?)
(11) World of Survival--British import (I think)
(12) Bonanza
(21) Job--?
(33) Crucified and Risen Christ
(53) Roller Game of the Week
1:30
(4) Movie--"The Mountain Road," 1960 (first one of the day, which was pretty unusual back then, as many places had movies on Sunday mornings)
(6) Meet the Press--tape-delayed
(7) Other People, Other Places--little-remembered adventure/nature doc series
(11) Championship Fishing--syndicated
(21) Agriculture U.S.A.
(33) Christ is the Answer
2:00
(3) Movie--"The King of Kings," 1927 (yep, the Cecil B. DeMille classic; deserved to run on PBS, IMO)
(6) (7) (11) (12) (21) NHL Hockey Stanley Cup Play-Off--NBC straggling along with low-rated coverage, second of the Peacock's three miserable seasons that would lead to the sport being banished to syndication and cable until the 1990s
(53) Movie--"Three Faces West," 1940 (Duke Wayne flick)
2:30
(33) American Sportsman--Curt Gowdy's partner in the fishing boat this time was Indy car driver Peter Revson, who had tragically been killed in a crash in South Africa just weeks before this airing
3:15
(33) Howard Cosell's Sports Magazine--don't get in a tight, friends, he was only on for 15 minutes (!!!!!)
3:30
(33) World Invitation Tennis Classic--apparently ABC coverage of an all-around singles/doubles/mixed-doubles tourney
4:00
(2) (5) (9) (10) (19) (27)--The Masters--CBS' final-round coverage of the most famous golf match of all time in Georgia
(3) (13) (24) The Messiah--PBS special performance of the sacred music masterpiece by Handel
(4) My Father's Business--strangely, same broadcast as KDKA at 11:30 a.m. (thus probably free program)
(53) Limits of Man--documentary?
4:30
(4) (33) ABC Wide World of Sports--coverage of National Championship Sprint Car race, with Keith Jackson and ABC racing commentators Jackie Stewart and Chris Economaki at the mike
(6) (7) (11) (12) (21) World Championship Tennis--NBC coverage of team-tennis fad in the mid-and-late-'70s; Jim Simpson and Bud Collins call the matches
(53) Greatest Sports Legends--ongoing syndie documentary series
5:00
(53) To Be Announced
5:30
(53) Soul Train--"the hippest trip in America"
(Part 2 to follow)
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