Do you guys remember this?

Yessssssssssssssssssssss Kevin I do! I've got a couple of Fright Night links saved on my computer. I remember it was always a double feature and came on at 7pm on Saturday Nights with a 2nd feature at 9!

Oh, yeahhh, we've been talking about the ole' Channel 41 days here, as well as WKLO's site. The initial 5 or 6 years of WDRB's existence are as much a staple of Louisville folklore as are WAKY and WKLO!

You're right, Mike. Independent 41 would come sign on at 3 and Presto the Clown and 'Funsville' would be on until 4. Presto would have J. Fred Frog and Honey Bunny and would show magic tricks (Sands of the Desert, making a Jacob's Ladder, making a pressman's hat), would have guests such as Tom Boone from Rauch Planetarium, and show cartoons such as Snagglepuss and Pixie and Dixie and take time to read letters from the kiddies. Rocket Robin Hood came on afterwards at 4 at some point and the Three Stooges at another point. Shows in the beginning included Lost in Space, Leave it to Beaver, Patty Duke, Flipper, Speed Racer, the Addams Family and Ultra Man (one of my favorites). The (sickly) Shirley Temple Theatre would come on Sunday afternoons, too. A few years later, I believe 41 came on earlier and programming included Bob Braun's 50-50 Club and Bozo the Clown. I remember, as well, the Million Dollar Movie.

I remember some of the commericials Mike mentions. Bob Ryan the Smiling Irishman and Mac Man Mac (I'd give them away but my wife won't let me!), but I also remember commercials for Riggs Motors and First Link Supermarket. Most voiceovers were done by Ray Foushee and the late Wilson Hatcher who, as I mentioned in an earlier post either here or the KLO site, delivered the Channel 41 news.

But then Fox took over and programming has gone the way music and the rest of the world has gone-down the drain.

Classic!!


By the way, when I was stationed in Hampton Roads, they had a commercial for a car dealer who used the line about giving them away VERBATIM! And I knew where they got that, too!

Ray Fouche did voice over much later, Wilson Hatcher was the voice in the beginning, then John Kayce who was doing most of it in '77 on my second go around, then Ray Fouche sometime after that.

The first Million Dollar movie was "Pal Joey," starring Frank Sinatra.

And how about the station ID slide with the traditional four or five revolutionary band members and the voice over, Channel 41 ... where independance is fun with drums and fife playing.

I have been trying to remember the first programs that came on channel 41. Max has a lot of them right, Flipper and Patty Duke were definately there in the first days. I have a problem...I worked at Channel 41 at two different times. In 1971 when they signed on, then again in 1977. Of course I also sometimes watched the station. But to the point I find it a little difficult to distinguish between the programs on at the very beginning and those on when I worked there the second time.

The second time, PTL and CBN took up most of the late morning and early afternoons. Presto, Speed Racer, and some of the others followed. But in 1971 when the station first came on the air...The Fear Monger was on-on Saturday evening for sure. I am thinking that Presto came along a year or two later, he didn't start when the station signed on. Probably everyone knows that Presto's name was Bill Dopp and that his wife did the voices of and animation for J Fred Frog and Honey Bunny.

In 1971 it seems like the station came on at 3 with some lame Game Show about movies with Army Archer and Larry Blyden. Ultra-Man followed in there somewhere, Patty Duke around 5, Flipper at 6, and other stuff. David Frost's interview show was on around 8 followed by who knows what, then a movie at 10:30 or 11 and sign off at 12:30 or 1. By the time I worked there again, David Frost was gone from the evenings having been replaced by Merv Griffin. And sometime during this 77-79 period that I worked there Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman and later Fernwood Tonight were on around 11PM. Oh yeah, they carried reruns of Gunsmoke at 7PM I think. Bewitched was on around 5.

Back to 1971, on Saturday, I remember 'Then Came Bronson' and 'The Fear Monger.'

Somewhere on Saturday or Sunday was a fishing show. What would a TV station be without a fishing show.

Sunday morning seems like it began with Quick Draw McGraw then some movies and other movies.

Forget Shirley Temple, almost every station has played those, there's a respectability to them because of them being so pervasive. But channel 41, somewhere along the line aired a series of Pipi Longstocking movies I don't think these were at the beginning but I'm not sure. Ok raise your hand if you think Pipi was sexy.

There was also an awful, foreign, over-dubbed Hercules series.

When I was a kid, I used to keep a scrap book and, as I was in it looking for something the other day, I ran across several clippings I'd clipped out from the TV Guide, mostly from new fall network TV shows and advertisements from Channel 41 programming, mostly Lost in Space and the Three Stooges. On the note of Fright Night, who hasn't held a flashlight under their face in the dark and looked at themself in the mirror?

I remember liking the Saint, but I was thinking I'd watched it on network TV in it's primetime run. For some reason I didn't like the Avengers...probably because of Patrick McNee.

One of the sadest parts of my young life is when my father insisted that I go to Convienet Food Mart, just down the block, and get him a pack of cigartettes. This was in the middle of the origional broadcast of the Star Trek episode with Spock's dad. I tried the wait-a-minute routine but it didn't work...the TV got turned off, I had to get the cigarettes anyway, and didn't get to watch the rest. Talk about devistation...it was another 30 years before I got to see that episode.

Needless to say I don't smoke and was very pleased when the age restriction was put in place for buying cigarettes.

The jingle sang: "8am to midnight seven days a week, wise folks shop at Nite-Owl."

The Convienent Food Mart commerical said, "Come as you are." I always hoped to see an attractive lady who just got out of the shower and remembered something. Convienent commercials were on the radio a lot, I recall Lee Gray doing a lot of voice work for them.

Ever run into Majik Mart. They tried to break into Louisville in the 60's. As far as I know they only got a couple of stores open. One was on Poplar Level, don't remember where the other was. My father helped in the start up and that which is why I remember it. Before then he had also worked for 7-11.

7-11 dates to the 50s or before in the South. They have just expanded in the last 20. I was in Japan a few years back and there were even 7-11 stores there. Funny to see the kanji charactors on the sale signs that were posted in the windows.

Yo, Mike! There was a Majik Mart on Manslick Road, just a bit south of Berry Boulevard, as late as 1980 because I was living in Arlington Village Apartments (just behind it) at the time. I could never forget a name like that.

Dave, I was perusing your great website and it's keeping me awake (amazing NASCAR didn't postpone this race...I won't get out of here until maybe around 2AM). Anyway, you mention the Tarzan movies. Do you remember the Tarzan TV Show on 41 with Ron Ely in the title role? Peculiar he sounded as if he was the most educated Tarzan ever. Anyway, I guess he was chosen for the ladies (my grandma would FLIP over him) :-) And Manuel Padilla, Jr. played Jai (sp?). I remember seeing him a few years later in a role on Happy Days, where he played Squirt, a tough talking short guy in a gang.

I also remember when, as they were coming on the air and out of the test pattern, they would display that 1776 picture while playing "The Sound of Music", as performed by a symphony.

Hey Guys...I guess this is just the OCD kicking in again but Manuel Padilla Jr played "Carlos" in American Graffiti...I guess the reason I remember that so well after all the years is that a friend of mine and myself went to see that movie at least 10 times at the theater. 2 or 3 times at the old "OHIO Theater" downtown and a few at the old "BARD Theater" on Bardstown Road. That had to be one of the Greatest Movies of the early 70s. ;D

oops...correction on seeing Graffiti at the "OHIO"...it was the "Penthouse" on 4th Street...The Ohio had closed in or around 69.
But talking about places that are gone Kevin... There were also the Alpha Cinemas on Dixie by K-Mart near Rockford Ln and some on Brownsboro Rd. I think there was a third location on Preston in Indian Trail. Those were cool in their day.

I don't remember about the Ohio or any of the other theaters specifically. I do recall that the River City Mall destroyed downtown. Perhaps it was on the decline, I don't know, I only know there were lots of people around when I started at WAKY in the pre-River City Mall days. After the mall was built most of the remaining businesses and theaters started closing, one-after-the other in short order. After the Mall, there were strip joints up near the Brown, they even advertised on WAKY as did TheaterX in Clarksville. No one came downtown for the movies any more.

The Mall, replacing 4th Street was a stupid idea.

Bailey was the Director Of Law Enforcement on the River City Mall.