WLS Channel 7 - 30th Anniversary Special (Part 3, 1978)
Here's Part 3 of WLS Channel 7's 30th Anniversary Special, broadcast from Chicago's Park West and hosted by Eyewitness News anchors Fahey Flynn and Joel Daly.
This part includes:
Joel opening this segment by giving a shout-out to Jim Moran "The Courtesy Man," Marty Faye, Jim Conway, "Mr. Chicago" Irv Kupcinet, Norman Ross and Sandi Freeman, each of whom take their respective bows; Fahey then quips that Moran was "the only commercial spokesman to apologize for breaking into a movie" and mentions how in those early days, the ads were often better than the movies being shown; this leads into a look of old local commercials, starting off with a 1963-65 promo for Channel 7 (after they adopted the "Circle 7" logo but before adding the "-TV" to the WBKB calls) and featuring:
- Chuck Bill during a Ray Motor car commercial
- White Rain Lotion Shampoo commercial, with jingle sung live on air
- Pard(R) brand Swift's dog food commercial
- Philco TV commercial with animated letters (spelling out the company name) doing the conga
- Different Ray Motor commercials with cars offered for $1,650 (for a 1950 Chevrolet), $1,195, $795, $995, $1,195 (again! - but for a 1948 Mercury), and saying you could get another car "for as low as..." which leads into...
- Carmelita Pope(?) holding large board with figures and uttering $55,000,000
- Fran Allison (as Aunt Fanny on Don McNeill's Breakfast Club) doing a refrigerator commercial
- Carmelita(?) saying "Where you save does make a difference"
- Back to Fran as Aunt Fanny in said commercial
- Jim Lounsbury doing an acne treatment commercial
...and ending with the aerial shot of the Chicago River and the Circle 7 logo
Joel then points to Chuck Bill and Carmelita Pope who stand up and take their bows; he then brings up a bunch of commercials he, Fahey and the Eyewitness News team (including John Coleman, Bill Frink and John Drury) had done over the years, with the "Klopfmann Institute" spot (voiceover by ??) being shown
Afterwards, Fahey introduces a montage with film and photo stills including the many programs from Channel 7's early years, including:
- Studs' Place with Studs Terkel
- Bob Lewandowski's Polka Go-Round
- American Swingaround, with a clip of a performance by "Stuttering" Mel Tillis
Joel then gives thanks to all the on-air talent who, over the years, made Channel 7 Chicago's number one station
Before the next commercial break, video insets of Judd Hirsch of the then-new series Taxi and Ricardo Montalban of Fantasy Island give their happy anniversary wishes to WLS
30th Anniversary Show title bumper with voiceover (by Gary Gears) previewing a look at 30 years of Chicago TV news
"We're gonna have your lips bronzed right after the show."
This aired on local Chicago TV on Saturday, September 9th 1978 during the 9pm to 10pm timeframe.
Date Uploaded: 11/01/2012
Tags: 1970s WLS Channel 7
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