Do you remember three channels?
And the Sunday paper came with it's own TV guide, where I lived anyway. I read the paper for box scores of the previous days ballgames.
Yeah, one for the entire week. Halloween week was always exciting because the UHF station would play horror movies all week.
Wolfman, Dracula and The Mummy, and of course "Creature Features".
Oh yes, we got the Universal classics often. A couple of Hammer movies, too. It was always the same Hammer movies for some reason. Maybe they came as part of some package of movies. I must have seen Curse of the Werewolf half a dozen times.
Ours was Friday and I was the paperboy.TV was so important to me I checked every paper to make sure I hadn't dropped a guide
And after dark you got that real fuzzy UHF station!
I modified the antenna on my parents house in New Jersey trying to get Star Trek on channel 8 but got everything else because channel 8 was in Connecticut and was out of range of the antenna.
And staying glued to the screen at 2 in the mourning hoping for a titty flash through the snow!
I would never do that...😉😉
Absolutely not👍
Go turn the antenna
There! No back a little.
Now HOLD IT THERE!!! Don’t MOVE!!!
And put tin foil on the ends
But Daddy I want to go back outside to play with my friends!
i remember flipping really fast between the UHF channels in philly (17,29 and 48) and my mom telling me to go slower or i'd strip the knob.
We had the three major networks and PBS.
We had the three major networks and PBS.
PBS didn't exist until late 1970, young whippersnapper.
In NY we had WNET, public television, long before 1970. We also had, in addition to CBS NBC and ABC, WRKO, WOR and the original FOX station. When my cousins from VT stayed with us they were amazed. Oh, and there was a Dumont network, but that was even before my time.
Per wikipedia, PBS began operations on October 5, 1970, taking over many of the functions of its predecessor, National Educational Television (NET), which later merged with Newark, New Jersey station WNDT to form WNET.
And Black and white TVS
Yes life was simpler then
Yep. Six Million Dollar Man was a favorite. Mom forbid me from watching Starsky and Hutch.
I ran faster when I did the tic, tic, tic..., like Steve Austin.
I got the action figure
Starsky & Hutch had them fast talkin' women wearin' skin tight britches
Long dead now.
The Brady Hour with Fake Jan.
Infuriating and unacceptable
The real Jan was making TV movies. She didn't have time for that.
I was 13 in 1976. And we watched that Brady bunch thing.
And the stations went off the air at midnight.
https://youtu.be/8rbBa5VgAoo?si=ECxbMs6-Q1OEAs3Z DC channel 5’s signoff
We had the Indian crying because of all the litter as our sign off
And the little bee came out and said “good night “
I remember the networks, but our channels were 4, 7 and 9. Channel 2 was the local channel.
2, 5 ,7 and 9, WGN, and UHF 32 and also WTTW 11.
Chicago represent!
Edit: and don’t forget 44. I know it started in 1970 but I was born in ‘66 so I always remember it.
I lived in NW IN, so we had all the Chicago stations in addition to the South Bend ones too. I could watch Gilligan at 4pm on a chicago station, then a different Gilligan episode on the South Bend channel at 4:30!
Plus channel 50 and the Spanish station
WTTW. Your window to the world
2, 4 and 7 were our network channels. 5, 9, 11 were our locals and 13 was PBS.
And then there was 47, a Spanish channel on UHF, that we would watch wrestling on and back then Vince McMahon was just the interviewer. I could probably still name some of the wrestlers and Bob Backlund was the champion.
We had 2, 4 and 9. And an all French station with snowy reception.
2 and 4 were local channels and 9 was CBC, an all Canadian channel. If not for Hockey Night In Canada I may have lost my mind growing up.
Must be from Michigan? I remember pulling in UHF channel 54 from Toronto very fuzzy, but hey they showed nudity.
No I'm from Western Canada, born and stayed. I can still get versions of channels 2 and 4.
I remember not watching much TV - spending tons of time outside playing.
I was just thinking about the TV guide this morning and how summer is here now and this is how we would have had to have waited for reruns to watch it again.
Who remembers using a TVGuide tofind out what will be on tv and who circled what you wanted to watch. I used to hope my dad wasn't gonna be home mid movie, otherwise I wouldn't see the whole thing.
You had to make your choice knowing that you wouldnt see any of the other shows until summer reruns.
And you had to be home to watch them when they were on. And walk to the TV to change the channel.
That Starsky and Hutch description is wild. Lol
Yikes! Yeah…. Starsky & Hutch was hardcore brutal - I remember one episode when a criminal gang kidnapped Hutch and kept him captive and injected him repeatedly with heroin until he was a hooked Addict and starsky had to rescue him and force him through a horrific heroin cold-turkey withdrawal - totally ghastly etc
holy shit! i just found the episode. that was brutal. very poor writing with really bad acting. here's the full episode.
Awesome thx!!!! Yeah - bad writing because I don’t think they knew much about it or how to handle/depict it all…
3,5,8, 25 was PBS and sometimes UHF 43 and 61
We had these channels in N.Eastern Ohio. Good memories!
The 1976 TV Guide already referring to The Brady Bunch as "the old ABC comedy series."
No, our area had 3 really good independents, plus PBS, plus the 3 networks!
I remember the excitement when we got the two extra channels on UHF when I was a kid.
Also, PBS
Grew up in NYC, where we had a lot of channels even when there were only three networks.
VHF only, we had 2 (CBS), 4 (NBC), 5 (unaffiliated, later became Fox), 7 (ABC), 9 (unaffiliated), 11 (unaffiliated), and 13 (PBS).
UHF didn't matter except that there was a station out of West Orange, New Jersey that was my first source of anime. Speed Racer, Battle of the Planets, Star Blazers, it was great when I was 12.
EDIT: At the time, the station IDs were: 2, WCBS; 4, WNBC; 5, WNEW; 7, WABC; 9, WOR; 11, WPIX; 13: WNET; 68, WWHT.
Saturday morning cartoons and Sunday morning Kung Fu theater
Saturday morning
Cartoons and Sunday morning
Kung Fu theater
- 2stinkynugget
I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully. Learn more about me.
Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete"
Ahhh we used to love Kung Fu Theatre. My older brother and his friends would mimic it all the time (especially with the bad audio dubbing) and pretend to fight each other.
I’m a bit young for that but I do remember loving that at least one Quincy rerun was on every day in the afternoon, well into the 90s. That was a great show. I definitely DO remember when we got the TV page in the newspaper, it’s just what you did. You only got TV Guide if you were fancy.
Quincy was a great show. I liked when he would get himself all riled up on cases and start yelling and waving his arms around.
Oh he was a great yeller! I used to think he was always fighting mad during those scenes, and sometimes he was, but I think men just tended to let it fly back then.
In Boston it was 4,5,7 2 for pbs and 38 and 56 for UHF but I didn’t know what that was lol
I also remember when the stations would sign off, and I’d pick up a book.
I can remember one.
What area of the country were you in?
I also remember having only 1.
Rural western Canada.
All three networks and PBS, though ABC was a battle even with a mastodonian antenna and despite the fact the ABC tower was closest. In junior high we added Fox!
Nope. I lived in Providence, RI as a kid, and with the rooftop antenna (with rotor! Cla-clunk, cla-clunk, cla-clunk...) we could pick up the four Providence stations plus seven out of Boston. If the weather was just right we could occasionally grab a station or two out of Hartford, CT as well.
We had 2, 5, 8, 11, 17, 36, and 46. If we turned the antenna we could get 3 and 13.
Hello fellow Piedmont Plateau resident!
We sometimes got 69
I’m not sure if 69 was a station when I was antenna bound. We got cable in ‘73.
That Starsky and Hutch description is real subtle
Huggie bear, pimpin in style!
I miss the lightheartedness of shows in those days.
That's one Sunday night, TV doesn't entertain me as much over a year.
The battle for dad's 60 minutes and son's disney was legendary.
Ok, my 2024 TV watching mirrors 1976 primetime, cool, cool
We got a couple fuzzy vhf stations from the big city when atmospheric conditions were just right and you put fresh tin foil on the rabbit ears.
I remember 4 channels, in black and white until I was 12-years-old. ABC 2, NBC 4, CBS 6, and PBS 7. There was also sometimes a weird, fuzzy religious station on UHF 17.
New York City channels in the 1960’s: 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13.
We had it good.
Note Carl Weathers doing a guest appearance in Starsky and Hutch.
Mutual of Omaha's "Wild Kingdom" with Marlin Perkins sitting in the boat as Jim wrestles the cape buffalo... LOL
There was also uhf channels, no?
We were lucky in the STL area in the early 70s; we had two independents KDNL-30 and KPLR-11. KDNL had my Ultraman and Johnny Sokko.
Not the "Brady Bunch Variety Hour" absolute trainwreck.
And being a human remote for my brother, that jerk.
The Six Million Dollar Man, with guest Robert Loggia...that's R, as in Robert Loggia...O, as in Oh my God it's Robert Loggia...
Atlanta 2 NBC 5 CBS 8 PBS 11 ABC 17 WTBS
The network affiliations all switched around after I left in 1980.
Ours were 3 (NBC), 6 (ABC) & 10 (CBS) out of Philadelphia
We had 12, 17 & 57 also from the time I can remember.
I grew up in Los Angeles...not only we've had not just CBS (2), NBC (4), and ABC (7), but also multiple PBS stations, five independents (three of them eventually becoming network stations themselves, and another that recently went all-religious), and multiple Spanish-language channels.
T.v.guide ...?
2, 6, 8, 10, 12 & 13
Doing the Bionic run as we speak.
Yep that's all we had growing up, ABC, NBC, and CBS until PBS came along then there were four.
This page shows the Brady Bunch Variety Hour which aired in 1976 when we had cable and a half dozen OTA channels.
We also had 5,9,11, and 13.
We had the three major networks, plus two channels of PBS. And, then there was TBS.
At the time, TBS wasn't a cable network. It was just a local over-the-air station with kind of weird programming. Channel 17. Atlanta.
No I remember three commercial channels, ABC being a part time channel which played a test pattern overnight and SBS.
What a lineup
We always got PBS as well.
The ABC station had to share a signal with the CBS station. Never could figure out what was showing. But we did have cable TV via Canada.
2-CBS/3-PBS/4-NBC/5-KTLA/7-ABC/9-KLOC/11-KTTV/13-KCOP.
Wow, from memory from probably 40 years ago, SoCal if it matters.
2 , 11 , 13 for me in Baltimore , the DC channels came in snowy!!
New York City: We had three networks 4. 5. 7; Channel 13 was the "educational channel," or what we now know as PBS; two local stations, Channels 9 and 11; and a UHF station.
Holy shit I do not remember Starsky and Hutch being that heavy…
can remember Wonderful World of Disney was broadcast on Sunday evening, at the same time as 60 minutes and NFL.
In the TV ratings war, pitting the kids wanting to watch a Disney show against Dads wanting to watch 60 minutes was sport to the broadcasters. Typical homes at the time had just 1 TV set....
ABC, NBC & CBS. And if we played with the antenna rotor, which rarely ever worked, we would possibly get that odd local station out of Wheeling, West Virginia.
Channel 7 was the go to for us in the olden times
Yes, well maybe 2 and a half, with rabit ears and tin foil
3, 6, and 9 baby 😵💫
Most of the people who'd remember them plus the fourth – DuMont – are long gone.
Certainly. So parents got tv guide and I'd rip out the pages so on top I can just see what's on NOW without flipping through it. Bugged my dad cause he liked reading the articles so much, he got me my own subscription
ABC, CBS, & NBC. Plus PBS and a Spanish channel or 2.
That was some awesome tv.
Yes! & felt like we just got cable tv when they added fox network lol
Yes 3 tv channels to choose from. It was fine.
I think the least for me was: 2,3,4,5,7,9,11,13,28. I feel like I'm forgetting one or two.
Heck of a lineup
Wait ... Robert Loggia played who?
Donna Mills and Kevin Dobson going head to head on competing shows before Knots Landing.
These were the only channels
We had the the three networks plus three independents (WNEW, WOR, WPIX) plus PBS in NY in 1976.
William Daniels, Robert Foxworth, Donna Mills, and June Lockhart is a fantastic lineup of guest stars on Quincy.
I remember that we had the major networks 2, 4 and 7. And 9, 11 and PBS 13. That was in New Jersey before I modified the antenna.
I do: TF1, A2 and FR3.
(grew up in France)
I remember watching Columbo with my mom every Sunday. Now I can watch him on Cozy TV Saturday and Sunday night at 8:00pm.
Channel 3 = CBC Channel 4 = ABC Channel 5 = NBC Channel 7 = CBS Channel 9 = PBS Channel 11 = CTV
And that’s all, folks.
Six million dollar man.,..oh the memories.
we had 5 channels plus UHF
Lot of this is still in reruns on METV network
I don't remember 3 channels but I remember having only 1. Getting a second channel was very exciting. This was in Canada
It just clicked why I’m not a Disney fan. During the formative years I was forced to watch 60 minutes because my pops loved the news programs. It’s all making sense now! (Tick tick tick tick)
I remember when the second channel started.
It was a revelation to have better cartoons to watch on the weekend.
With special guest Ned Romero as Akhmed Khaddouri
Yep, but we lived in the NYC suburbs, so we also got channel 5 (WNYC?), channel 9 (WOR), channel 11 (WPIX), and channel 13, the PBS station (WNET).
We had the three national networks, PBS, and a UHF station that showed syndicated programs and movies. We got a second UHF station at some point. Pretty typical in the late 70s/80s.
Robert Loggia played a guy named Mahmud?
Yes.
Yeah, I had 3 channels! And, two were Canadian, one in French. Best of all, later in the evening, the French language station would have shows with nudity!!!! Still can't speak French very well.
Three network stations but after midnight they all had the same thing, the Indian-head test pattern.
Oh yes I do! Quincy plus Starsky & Hutch were my favorites.
Yes and when the president speaks there’s nothing to watch!
As a kid, my family had 4 channels to pick from in northern New England. Channel 3 was WCAX in Burlington, VT, Channel 4 was WBZ IN Boston, Channel 5 was WHDH in Boston, Channel 8 WMTW in Poland Springs, Maine, Channel 9 was WMUR in Manchester, NH (Remember the local kids show Uncle Gus?) and there was an educational channel NET prior to PBS.
Yep!! I remember!! Where I lived the channels were 3,6 and 10. 3 was NBC, 6 was ABC and 10 was CBS. I also remember when we were able to get UHF channels, they were 17,29 and 48. Saturday mornings we watched wrestling and then the roller derby. On Saturday nights we watched Dr. Shock, Doc Shock Theater, showed horror and monster movies. Those were some good times!!
In my small city, we got a local clear NBC channel, a barely fuzzy CBS channel from a similarly-sized city 50 miles away, and a more fuzzy ABC channel from a smaller city 50 miles away. But the real stuff was on UHF. Put that dial on U, and get into the fun numbers, like Channel 29. We had a local clear UHF station that broadcast kids' shows after school (3 Stooges, Looney Tunes cartoons, Little Rascals, etc.). Late night on weekends they had a show called "Creature Feature" that showed old horror and sci fi movies. It seemed "edgy" to my kid-self.
Love how it would include the cast.
So we're just going to forget about PBS? I mean where else did we see Sesame Street? Or that guy with the white-man-afro who painted "happy little trees"?
PBS and local stations! Channel 44 for all the B movies and Sigmund the Sea Monster in 70s Tampa Bay!
One Sunday back in 1976 we were eating dinner at the Navel base officers club when my dad said he wanted to get going as he wanted to watch the 6million dollar man at 8pm.
It was so easy to decide what to watch with so few choices.
See it all? Nothing interesting? Head outside.
I remember WGN on Saturday morning...
Space Giants, ultra man, Johnny Sako, and G Force
3,8,and if you turned the antenna 13. And every once in a blue moon you could get pbs.
I remember every show
Love the guest stars. June Lockhart (from Lost in Space). Robert Loggia as Mahmud Majid? A different time.
...and remember the daily TV schedule in the newspaper?