WGN Channel 9 - Star Trek - "Spock's Brain" (Ending & Commercial Break, 1978)

W.B. 08/30/2016 Reply

Wonder how WGN got "Star Trek" in the first place - was it to keep after its NYC sister station WPIX Channel 11 that first acquired the show once it reached syndication in 1969 and continued running it well into the '90's (to the point where Channel 11 became so synonymous with that series that they ran the subsequent first-run syndicated "...Next Generation" and "...Deep Space Nine")? In any event, I seem to detect 'GN used 16mm prints, given how it looked and sounded; 'PIX by contrast ran the show off 35mm prints. But this does seem to be another case of how some syndicated shows didn't stay too long in one Chicago station, compared with New York (though "Star Trek's" trek seemed a bit more stable than, say, "I Love Lucy's").

As a side note, when WPIX first got "Star Trek" in '69, among other new syndicated shows they picked up was Phil Donahue's gabber, then based out of WLWD (now WDTN) Channel 2 in Dayton, OH - and running late at night. It was years at that point before he set up shop in Chicago at WGN. By then, two NYC stations - them, and WNBC (for a first go-round in 1971-72) - had very short-lived stints with the show. Not until Channel 4 picked up "Donahue" in 1977 for its other stay at that station (after another short-lived stint, on WOR Channel 9) did he finally catch on in the Big Apple.

ChitownTVFan 09/01/2016 Reply

The Paramount closet killer = best closing logo ever

Smctopia 09/01/2016 Reply

This is old but it was interesting to read this about Timmy the newsboy. Apparently he was the nephew of the owner and not a son and lived out of town and never saw the ads on TV!
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1990-01-23/news/9001060753_1_dealership-cars-commercials

LaPrincess 09/04/2016 Reply

Al Parker was mean to me. I attended Columbia and filed a complaint against two teachers. Both gave me C's I still feel I didn't deserve. My grades would back this up since I mostly get A's, and rarely even get B's, let alone C's. I did all the assignments (always getting at least a B), never missed class, etc. The one teacher claimed I didn't speak right (it was a speech class) but since I was working in radio and doing voice overs how could that be true? The other teacher I believe discriminated against me. I was the only woman in the class and the one who got the lowest grade, though I got the best grades. This teacher recently passed away and I felt like mentioning this on Feder's column but felt it would be wrong. Ironically another teacher did pass away recently too and I posted about her but she was fair with grading (even if I didn't always agree). What does this have to do with Parker? he was then head of the radio department and he yelled at me for accusing the teachers of unfairness. The speech teacher was fired a few years later.

Luckily when I did go back to Columbia Parker was dead or retired and the teachers I had for my last semester were wonderful. I never received a C again. However my anger of my previous semester really affected me. I only had a semester to go back and then never went there again.

W.B. 09/05/2016 Reply

This is as good a place as any to bring this up: Apparently, Image West was responsible for WGN's "Last Farewell" video animated ID. The proof in the pudding - besides a similar animated ID for WOR Channel 9 in NYC during 1977-78 - was an opening (and with the exact same Peignot Bold font as used on the 'GN ID) crafted in the same period for WTVJ Channel 4 (now on Channel 6) in Miami, FL; this was on a demo reel c.1980, put up by YouTube user 'eyeontv', that can be seen by clicking right here.