What's on TV? Friday, March 1, 1957

We're back in the Twin Cities this week, but it's an area with a station lineup much different than we're used to seeing. Nothing in Duluth, for example, or central Minnesota, but we do pick up a station from Waterloo, Iowa. TV is still TV though, regardless of where you get it or when.

	KGLO, Channel 3 (Mason City, IA) (CBS)
	Morning
	10:10a	This I Believe
	10:15a	What’s Your Troubles
	10:30a	Strike it Rich
	11:00a	Valliant Lady
	11:15a	Love of Life
	11:30a	Search for Tomorrow
	11:45a	The Guiding Light
	Afternoon
	12:00p	Weather, News, Markets
	12:30p	As the World Turns
	01:00p	Our Miss Brooks
	01:30p	At Home with Jay Martens
	02:00p	The Big Payoff
	02:30p	Your Red Cross
	03:00p	The Brighter Day
	03:15p	The Secret Storm
	03:30p	The Edge of Night
	04:00p	Super Valu Show
	05:00p	Mighty Mouse Playhouse
	05:30p	Leo and Pioneers
	05:45p	Douglas Edwards With the News
	Evening
	06:00p	Farm Digest
	06:05p	News (local)
	06:15p	Almanac
	06:30p	Beat the Clock
	07:00p	West Point
	07:30p	Zane Grey Theater
	08:00p	Mr. Adams and Eve
	08:30p	Public Defender
	09:00p	The Lineup
	09:30p	Person to Person (Glenn Ford and Eleanor Powell, Abbe Lane and Xavier Cugat)
	10:00p	Weather, News, Sports
	10:30p	Movie – “Countess of Monte Cristo”

You can see from the start that the 15 minute program is still popular, particularly with soap operas. This isn't new; we'll still see a couple of the 15 minute soaps well into the '60s. What I find interesting is how quickly the standard time transitions from 30 minutes to one hour.

	WCCO, Channel 4 (CBS)
	Morning
	06:40a	Tele-Farmer
	07:00a	Good Morning!
	08:00a	Captain Kangaroo
	09:00a	Garry Moore
	10:30a	Strike it Rich
	11:00a	Valliant Lady
	11:15a	Love of Life
	11:30a	Search for Tomorrow
	11:45a	The Guiding Light
	Afternoon
	12:00p	News (local)
	12:15p	Take Five
	12:20p	Weather (Bud Kraehling)
	12:30p	As the World Turns
	01:00p	Our Miss Brooks
	01:30p	House Party
	02:00p	The Big Payoff
	02:30p	Bob Crosby (color)
	03:00p	The Brighter Day
	03:15p	The Secret Storm
	03:30p	The Edge of Night
	04:00p	Around the Town
	04:30p	Axel and His Dog
	05:00p	Johnny .44
	05:55p	Weather (local)
	Evening
	06:00p	News (local)
	06:10p	Sports (Rollie Johnson)
	06:15p	Douglas Edwards With the News
	06:30p	Beat the Clock
	07:00p	West Point
	07:30p	Zane Grey Theater
	08:00p	Mr. Adams and Eve
	08:30p	Schlitz Playhouse
	09:00p	The Lineup
	09:30p	Person to Person (Glenn Ford and Eleanor Powell, Abbe Lane and Xavier Cugat)
	10:00p	Do You Trust Your Wife?
	10:30p	News (Rollie Johnson)
	10:40p	Weather (Bud Kraehling)
	10:45p	Movie – “Cowboy and the Blonde”

For those of you familiar with television in Minneapolis-St. Paul, you know that WCCO has always prided itself on being the news station in the market, and indeed for the most part they have been, with brief exceptions when KSTP and KARE took the lead in the ratings race. (I don't know how it is now, having been out of the market for four years and with Don Shelby having retired, but if you were to tell me 'CCO was still on top, I wouldn't be surprised.) It is, therefore, interesting to see that in 1957 Channel 4 didn't do their late news at 10pm, but at 10:30, preferring various half-hour dramas and quiz shows instead. But as I've said in the past, schedules weren't nearly as cast in stone back then as they would be a few years later.

	KSTP, Channel 5 (NBC)
	Morning
	06:30a	Chuck Carson
	07:00a	Today (guest James Michener)
	09:00a	Home
	10:00a	The Price is Right
	10:30a	Truth or Consequences
	11:00a	Tic Tac Dough
	11:30a	It Could Be You
	Afternoon
	12:00p	News (local)
	12:15p	Weather (Johnny Morris)
	12:20p	Main Street
	01:00p	Treasure Chest
	01:30p	Tennessee Ernie Ford
	02:00p	Matinee Theater (color)
	03:00p	Queen for a Day
	03:45p	Modern Romances
	04:00p	It’s a Great Life
	04:30p	Susie
	05:00p	Side Show
	05:30p	Captain Daryl
	05:55p	Weather
	Evening
	06:00p	News (local)
	06:15p	You Should Know
	06:30p	Xavier Cugat (color)
	06:45p	The Huntley-Brinkley Report
	07:00p	Blondie
	07:30p	Dr. Hudson’s Journal
	08:00p	On Trial
	08:30p	The Big Story
	09:00p	Boxing – Baby Vasquez vs. Paolo Rosi
	09:45p	Sports (color)
	10:00p	News (local)
	10:15p	Weather (Johnny Morris)
	10:20p	Sports (local)
	10:30p	City Detective
	11:00p	Tonight! America After Dark

It was in July of 1957 that Jack Paar took over Tonight, and during the period between Steve Allen's departure as Tonight's first host and Paar's arrival, the program was called Tonight! America After Dark, and was hosted by Jack Lescoulie, Dave Garroway's longtime sidekick on Today. This version of Tonight was, in fact, more like Today than what we'd come to think of as a late-night talk show, and any number of sources will tell you that it was a bomb. Paar's arrival, even moreso than Allen's, marks the start of the contemporary talk show, although Paar himself would probably blanch at what it's become today. By the way, get off my lawn.

	KMMT, Channel 6 (Austin, MN) (ABC)
	Afternoon
	02:00p	Afternoon Film Festival – “Miranda”
	03:30p	Pendulum
	04:00p	News (local)
	04:10p	Movie – “Thunder Rock”
	05:50p	Sports (Dick Mahar)
	Evening
	06:00p	Weather (Stydnicki)
	06:05p	News (local)
	06:15p	John Daly and the News
	06:30p	Rin Tin Tin
	07:00p	Jim Bowie
	07:30p	Crossroads
	08:00p	This is the Life
	08:30p	The Vice
	09:00p	Ray Anthony
	10:00p	News (local)
	10:15p	Weather (local)
	10:20p	Sports (local)
	10:30p	Movie – “Secret Valley”

Good to see John Daly and the News in the lineup - ABC was a perennially weak sister when it came to network news (or most anything else, for that matter), and as you browse through TV Guides of the era, this is the newscast that's most likely to be missing.

	KWWL, Channel 7 (Waterloo, IA) (NBC, ABC)
	Morning
	07:00a	Today (guest James Michener)
	09:00a	Home
	10:00a	The Price is Right
	10:30a	Truth or Consequences
	11:00a	Tic Tac Dough
	11:30a	It Could Be You
	Afternoon
	12:00p	Movie – “Hammer the Toff”
	01:30p	Tennessee Ernie Ford
	02:00p	Matinee Theater (color)
	03:00p	Queen for a Day
	03:45p	Modern Romances
	04:30p	Double Feature – Gene Autry, “Smitherines”
	Evening
	06:00p	News, Weather, Sports (local)
	06:30p	Passerby
	06:45p	The Huntley-Brinkley Report
	07:00p	Blondie
	07:30p	Annie Oakley
	08:00p	On Trial
	08:30p	TBA
	09:00p	Boxing – Baby Vasquez vs. Paolo Rosi
	09:45p	Sports (color)
	10:00p	News (local)
	10:15p	Weather (local)
	10:20p	Sports (local)
	10:30p	China Smith
	11:00p	Tonight! America After Dark
	12:00a	News (Tom Miller)

No surprise that NBC stations are the ones with the most color programming. But then I seem to point that out all the time, don't I?

	WKBT, Channel 8 (LaCrosse, WI) (all Networks)
	Afternoon
	12:00p	News (local)
	12:10p	Stand Up and Be Counted
	12:30p	Strike it Rich
	01:00p	Our Miss Brooks
	01:30p	Tennessee Ernie Ford
	02:00p	The Big Payoff
	02:30p	Industry on Parade
	03:00p	The Brighter Day
	03:15p	The Secret Storm
	03:30p	The Edge of Night
	04:15p	Susie
	04:45p	Musical Interlude
	05:00p	Renfrew of the Mounted
	05:30p	Wild Bill Hickok
	Evening
	06:00p	Farm Digest
	06:05p	Sports (Edward Hutchings)
	06:15p	News
	06:25p	Weather (Chuck Waters)
	06:30p	Disneyland
	07:30p	Zane Grey Theater
	08:00p	West Point
	08:30p	Schlitz Playhouse
	09:00p	The Lineup
	09:30p	Man Called X
	10:00p	Weather, News, Sports
	10:20p	Movie – “City of Chance”

This is a first - a station whose affiliation is simply listed as "all networks." And indeed - Disneyland (6:30pm) comes from ABC, The Lineup (Dragnet's great rival, as we find out in an article from this issue) is a CBS series (as are most of the afternoon soaps) and Tennessee Ernie Ford's daytime show is from NBC. First glance, however, suggests that CBS might have been the prime affiliation, and indeed that's what it is to this day.

	KMGM, Channel 9 (Ind.)
	Afternoon
	05:00p	Movie – Western
	Evening
	06:00p	Adventure Time
	06:30p	My Little Margie
	07:00p	Movie – “A Night at the Opera”
	08:30p	Mr. and Mrs. North
	09:00p	MGM Time – “Keep Your Powder Dry”
	10:45p	Movie – “Man With My Face”

Channel 9 has had a checkered affiliation history, going from DuMont to an independent to ABC to independent to Fox to UPN and back to Fox. The station's call letters are named after its minority owner of the time, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. When they purchased the station, they disbanded its news division and let go of its news director, a Minnesotan named Harry Reasoner.

	KROC, Channel 10 (Rochester, MN) (NBC, ABC)
	Morning
	07:00a	Today (guest James Michener)
	09:00a	Home
	10:00a	The Price is Right
	10:30a	Truth or Consequences
	11:00a	Tic Tac Dough
	11:30a	It Could Be You
	Afternoon
	12:00p	News (local)
	12:15p	Channel Ten Calling
	12:30p	Movie – “Plainsman and the Lady”
	02:00p	Matinee Theater (color)
	03:00p	Queen for a Day
	03:45p	Modern Romances
	04:00p	It’s a Great Life
	04:30p	Fury
	05:00p	Movie – “Trigger Trail”
	Evening
	06:00p	Sports (Bernie Lusk)
	06:10p	Weather (local)
	06:15p	News
	06:30p	Foreign Legionnaire
	07:00p	Soldiers of Fortune
	07:30p	Blondie
	08:00p	Inner Sanctum
	08:30p	Captured
	09:00p	Boxing – Baby Vasquez vs. Paolo Rosi
	09:45p	Sports (color)
	10:00p	News (local)
	10:15p	Weather (local)
	10:20p	Sports (local)
	10:35p	Movie – “That Brennan Girl”

I mentioned earlier that Tonight! America After Dark was a bomb, and many NBC affiliates refused to carry it. I don't know if KROC ever did, but by now they don't. Probably more profitable and better ratings by running local movies anyway.

	WTCN, Channel 11 (ABC)
	Morning
	08:50a	Kash Box
	09:00a	Tel-a-Story Playhouse
	09:30a	J.P. Patches
	10:00a	Romper Room
	11:00a	TV Theater
	11:30a	Cash and Carry
	11:55a	News (Paul Sevareid)
	Afternoon
	12:00p	Casey Jones
	12:30p	Midday Matinee – “Thunder Rock”
	01:55p	News (Paul Sevareid)
	02:00p	Afternoon Film Festival – “Miranda”
	03:30p	The Trouble With Father
	04:00p	Cartoon Carnival
	05:00p	Mickey Mouse Club
	Evening
	06:00p	News (local)
	06:10p	Weather (local)
	06:15p	John Daly and the News
	06:30p	Rin Tin Tin
	07:00p	Jim Bowie
	07:30p	Crossroads
	08:00p	Treasure Hunt
	08:30p	The Vice
	09:00p	Ray Anthony
	10:00p	Early Movie – “Bushwackers”
	11:30p	News (Frank Seifert)

J.P. Patches was a popular kids' host in the Twin Cities before moving on to Seattle, where he became a legend. His real name was Chris Wedes. I knew a relative of his, who was also named Chris Wedes. Actually, it was his wife I knew better - I worked with her for several years. Her name was Kris Anderson until she married, and then it became Kris Wedes. Of course.

	WEAU, Channel 13 (Eau Claire, WI) (NBC, ABC)
	Morning
	07:00a	Today (guest James Michener)
	09:00a	Home
	10:00a	The Price is Right
	10:30a	Truth or Consequences
	11:00a	Tic Tac Dough
	11:30a	It Could Be You
	Afternoon
	12:00p	Cartoons
	12:30p	Movie – To Be Announced
	02:00p	Matinee Theater (color)
	03:00p	Queen for a Day
	03:45p	Modern Romances
	04:00p	It’s a Great Life
	04:30p	Passerby
	04:50p	Story Time
	05:00p	School Reporter
	05:25p	Superman
	05:55p	Crusader Rabbit
	Evening
	06:00p	Music and News
	06:30p	Film Feature
	06:40p	Weather (Swenson)
	06:45p	News
	07:00p	Disneyland
	08:00p	Dr. Christian
	08:30p	Blondie
	09:00p	Boxing – Baby Vasquez vs. Paolo Rosi
	09:45p	Sports (color)
	10:00p	News, Weather, Sports (local)
	10:30p	Uncovered
	11:00p	Movie – To Be Announced

Even a movie that's to be announced has to be better than Tonight! America After Dark. Right? TV