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Unusual programming on PBS/educational stations

101.9 La Kalle said:
WNYC-TV, once the secondary PBS member station for the New York Metropolitan area, carried brokered time programming if I remember correctly.
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A slight correction: WNYC-TV, owned by the City of New York's Municipal Broadcasting Corp., was more of a tertiary PBS outlet. They operated as a noncommercial station with a commercial license. Their main programming was civic-based public affairs and the brokered foreign language stuff.

In the '80s, WNYC-TV also had Doctor Who (among other British imports), Dark Shadows (after the NJN run ended), and both of Patrick McGoohan's series–The Prisoner and the earlier Secret Agent. And, or course, Video Music Box.

NYC's second PBS station was always Long Island's WLIW, though you may have had a hard time watching them in NYC proper unless you had cable.
 
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Rollo-Smokes said:
New Jersey Network had Dark Shadows and The Uncle Floyd Show running back-to-back in early evenings during the mid-'80s. And along with Doctor Who, they also carried The Prisoner and The Fugitive during this same period. There were some other Britcoms not named (or other than) Monty Python that the network also broadcast, but I can't remember the titles. NJN was also where I first saw the Woody Allen movie Bananas! (1971).

IIRC The Fugitive and Dark Shadows were big draws for NJN. The latter even more so, as it's NJN airings helped to spark renewed interest in the series. Jonathan Frid (Barnabas Collins) even appeared in fundraising plugs for NJN pledge drives, giving away DS and NJN merch to new members.
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I suspect that The Prisoner aired on quite a few public TV stations over the years -- I do remember seeing it on KCTS channel 9 in Seattle in the late seventies.

As for Doctor Who, even though it was originally syndicated to commercial TV back in the seventies, it does seem that it eventually ended up generally airing on public TV stations by some point in the eighties, and it continued to do so for quite a long time. KERA channel 13 in Dallas aired it, as did KBTC channel 28 in Tacoma. AFAIK, there were lots of other public stations across the country that did, as well.
 
In the Bay Area in the early to mid-80s, KTEH/54 had British Comedy Night eery Saturday which included Red Dwarf, Dave Allen At Large (Irish) and The Paul Hogan Show (Australian) so it was more Brit-ish. I don't think they had Monty Python. That one might have been on KQED/9.

I do remember KQED running SCTV EVERY night of the week from 11-Midnight (2 episodes). I was about 15 or 16 and watched nearly every episode during that run. To pad out the time (because the show was designed to be with commercials) KQED ran actual PBS and KQED promos where a commercial break would be so they didn't have to run like 8 minutes of straight promos in each half hour.
 
Doctor Who has aired on PBS in Des Moines Iowa since the 80's and 90's and it still airs today in almost the exact time slot it has aired in the 80's on Saturday nights.

Of course in the 80's and 90's Doctor Who only aired for 30 minutes but now they air it for about an hour and a half and their still the classic 70's and 80's Doctor Who episodes.
 
TexasTom said:
I suspect that The Prisoner aired on quite a few public TV stations over the years -- I do remember seeing it on KCTS channel 9 in Seattle in the late seventies.
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KETC in St. Louis aired it nightly at 11 pm for a couple of years in the late 1980s. With as few episodes as there were, there was lots of repetition.
powers said:
I do remember KQED running SCTV EVERY night of the week from 11-Midnight (2 episodes). I was about 15 or 16 and watched nearly every episode during that run. To pad out the time (because the show was designed to be with commercials) KQED ran actual PBS and KQED promos where a commercial break would be so they didn't have to run like 8 minutes of straight promos in each half hour.
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KETC aired SCTV on Sunday nights. Unlike KQED, KETC would just let the breaks pile up and then fill out the half-hour with promos.

I loved SCTV - I think the 1/2 hour format may have been better than the 90-minute format it later had. When it was on NBC in the 1980s, some of the sketches - especially movie parodies - just dragged and dragged. But it was still a wonderful show.
 
Just discovered: KCPQ in Tacoma, during its time as a noncomm, carried Portland Wrestling on Saturday nights in the late 1970s.

Here's a page from the Western Washington edition of TV Guide from June 2, 1979. (Credit: "Retro TV Listings" on FB)

FB_IMG_1717391821599.jpg0s.
 
Rollo-Smokes said:
Just discovered: KCPQ in Tacoma, during its time as a noncomm, carried Portland Wrestling on Saturday nights in the late 1970s.
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When the Clover Park School District bought channel 13 out of bankruptcy, they decided to continue carrying wrestling in hopes that it would attract viewers who didn't normally watch public television. I had thought they had dropped it by 1979, but apparently my memory on that is wrong.
 
Mark Roberts said:
KETC in St. Louis aired it nightly at 11 pm for a couple of years in the late 1980s. With as few episodes as there were, there was lots of repetition.

KETC aired SCTV on Sunday nights. Unlike KQED, KETC would just let the breaks pile up and then fill out the half-hour with promos.

I loved SCTV - I think the 1/2 hour format may have been better than the 90-minute format it later had. When it was on NBC in the 1980s, some of the sketches - especially movie parodies - just dragged and dragged. But it was still a wonderful show.
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SCTV was and still is an all-time favorite. Originally where I lived it ran after SNL and before Norm Crosby's Comedy Shop. I was excited for the "graduation" to NBC. A lot of segments were repeated from the 30 minute versions. I think 60 minutes would have been better (since it ran past 2am Eastern/Pacific).
"Indira, Indira"
 
One of our local DMV public stations WETA had an oops the other morning. I was on the Stairmaster in my gym at home watching BBC News on WETA, and when they went to the usual break instead of the usual Public TV filler graphics, full-on spots rolled through an entire two-minute break. I was like; hold on a second, these don't qualify as Underwriting Credits.
 
Marcos_C said:
During the 1980s, what was then NJN aired Doctor Who on Saturday nights. Throughout that time, I watched episodes of the first seven Doctors. Two other PBS stations in the New York metropolitan area also aired Doctor Who.

Today, the classic Doctor Who episodes can be found on BritBox.
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You just made me remember
dr Who was on " channel 17 " buffalo
at 6pm, right after kids' stuff, such as
square one
 
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