I'm glad to find this here. I tell asleep on it when it originally ran (quite possibly before the first half hour in; to be fair, I was 8), and this is actually the first second chance I've had to see it.
The year 1977 was a year of big changes for WTVN-TV behind the scenes. By the time this aircheck was recorded, channel 6 had moved its transmitter to Dodridge Street on the Ohio State University campus, on a taller tower that gave the station an increase in coverage while keeping the signal overlap with co-owned WKRC-TV in Cincinnati to as minimal as possible. Prior to that, WTVN-TV transmitted its signal from the WTVN Radio tower site near Obetz, south of Columbus near I-270. Channel 6 had to use a short tower in order to minimize signal overlap with Cincinnati. That was a condition Taft agreed to with the FCC when it purchased WTVN-TV in 1953. Channel 6 also moved its studios in '77, from Harmon Avenue in Franklinton to Dublin Road on the Columbus/Grandview Heights border, where it still operates from today as WSYX.
Really love the original broadcast s . This was a Fantastic movie . Great cast too . Sally Struthers was in a number of Made for tv movies during her time on “ All In The Family and just following when she left the series in 1978. Thanks for these original broadcasts !!❤❤😊😊👍🏻👍🏻
This movie scared the crap out of me as a 10 year old. It's kind of spooky near the end with the séance sequence. It's been close to a century and still haven't heard from Harry. No psychic could come up with the password.
October 8th, 1976. It's after dark and it just dipped below 50 degrees in Chicago. It's a Campbell Chunky Soup kinda night, and I'm in the mood for a ghost story. Hey! Vivian Vance is in this!
I'd never thought that Vivian Vance would say Son of a B - - - h in a TV film, but there you have it. She probably did say it to William Frawley (Fred Mertz), but that's another story. Pretty edgy for 1928 or even 1976. By the way, for those who are interested on the Texas/Oklahoma game, they tied 6-6 at the Cotton Bowl. A fun fact though, President Gerald Ford conducted the coin flip for this game. However, ABC declined to show it, mainly due to equal time rules. Their (ABC's) reasoning, if they had shown it, they would have to give equal time for Jimmy Carter. Happy belated 100th birthday to Jimmy Carter and RIP to James Darren
Narration was by Vivian Vance in her character as Minnie the Nurse ( fictional character for the film). Music was composed by the legendary Peter Matz who worked with Barbra Streisand, Tony Bennett, Dolly Parton and Chicago ( just to name a few). He was also the music composer and conductor for Hullabaloo, Kraft Music Hall and The Carol Burnett Show ( for 8 years).
So when 6ABC in Philadelphia would always run this weekend day and overnight, were the fonts in the opening credits revised since I could’ve sworn they look different and less thrilling than from what I remember?
In 1987, WTVN changed its callsign to its current WSYX. At the time of this film, WTVN was owned by Taft Television. It's now run by Sinclair Broadcast Group. In the digital era, WSYX's subchannels are on DT2 (My Network) and DT3 Fox (which was on WTTE Channel 28 before it became a placeholder for the TBD network).
I'm glad to find this here. I tell asleep on it when it originally ran (quite possibly before the first half hour in; to be fair, I was 8), and this is actually the first second chance I've had to see it.
The year 1977 was a year of big changes for WTVN-TV behind the scenes.
By the time this aircheck was recorded, channel 6 had moved its transmitter to Dodridge Street on the Ohio State University campus, on a taller tower that gave the station an increase in coverage while keeping the signal overlap with co-owned WKRC-TV in Cincinnati to as minimal as possible. Prior to that, WTVN-TV transmitted its signal from the WTVN Radio tower site near Obetz, south of Columbus near I-270. Channel 6 had to use a short tower in order to minimize signal overlap with Cincinnati. That was a condition Taft agreed to with the FCC when it purchased WTVN-TV in 1953.
Channel 6 also moved its studios in '77, from Harmon Avenue in Franklinton to Dublin Road on the Columbus/Grandview Heights border, where it still operates from today as WSYX.
Would you know what type of test pattern the station used prior to sign-on in this period?
Really love the original broadcast s . This was a Fantastic movie . Great cast too . Sally Struthers was in a number of Made for tv movies during her time on “ All In The Family and just following when she left the series in 1978. Thanks for these original broadcasts !!❤❤😊😊👍🏻👍🏻
Paul Michael Glaser, Sally Struthers, Vivian Vance, Bill Bixby, Adrienne Barbeau, Peter Cushing, plenty more. They used to know how to make TV movies
Bill Bixby was a magician as well as an actor:)
This movie scared the crap out of me as a 10 year old. It's kind of spooky near the end with the séance sequence. It's been close to a century and still haven't heard from Harry. No psychic could come up with the password.
October 8th, 1976. It's after dark and it just dipped below 50 degrees in Chicago. It's a Campbell Chunky Soup kinda night, and I'm in the mood for a ghost story.
Hey! Vivian Vance is in this!
Still just as sassy as in I Love Lucy! :-D
I remember when this premiered. I was heavy into magic, magicians and very specifically Harry Houdini.
I'd never thought that Vivian Vance would say Son of a B - - - h in a TV film, but there you have it. She probably did say it to William Frawley (Fred Mertz), but that's another story. Pretty edgy for 1928 or even 1976.
By the way, for those who are interested on the Texas/Oklahoma game, they tied 6-6 at the Cotton Bowl. A fun fact though, President Gerald Ford conducted the coin flip for this game. However, ABC declined to show it, mainly due to equal time rules. Their (ABC's) reasoning, if they had shown it, they would have to give equal time for Jimmy Carter.
Happy belated 100th birthday to Jimmy Carter and RIP to James Darren
My family and I watched it the first time it aired! I was 13.
Congratulations 🎉🎆, Chris.
The logo at the end of the movie when it first went into syndication would have been for Time Life Television.
Narration was by Vivian Vance in her character as Minnie the Nurse ( fictional character for the film).
Music was composed by the legendary Peter Matz who worked with Barbra Streisand, Tony Bennett, Dolly Parton and Chicago ( just to name a few).
He was also the music composer and conductor for Hullabaloo, Kraft Music Hall and The Carol Burnett Show ( for 8 years).
Saw this first run on abc channel 7 nyc in 1976
Ah yes, good ol' WABC. I presume Bob Lloyd also did the local WABC booth voiceovers?
So when 6ABC in Philadelphia would always run this weekend day and overnight, were the fonts in the opening credits revised since I could’ve sworn they look different and less thrilling than from what I remember?
In 1987, WTVN changed its callsign to its current WSYX. At the time of this film, WTVN was owned by Taft Television. It's now run by Sinclair Broadcast Group. In the digital era, WSYX's subchannels are on DT2 (My Network) and DT3 Fox (which was on WTTE Channel 28 before it became a placeholder for the TBD network).
August 31, 1987, to be exact.
In the Flair commercial at 17:39, Michael Bell is the voice of the regular tip. The “hardhead” sounds like Tim Conway, but I’m not certain.
I hope that you have more from the state of Ohio as in retro, including Youngstown, Ohio.