WBTV - Programming

Programming

For many years, WBTV was one of the country's most dominant television stations. This was in part due to being the only reliably viewable station in town for nine years, as well as the station's long tradition of strong local news coverage. In fact, its dominance was so absolute that it was once said the dials of most Charlotteans' TV sets were "rusted on channel 3." To this day, it is one of the strongest CBS affiliates in the country.

The station claims credit for a number of television "firsts", among them constructing the first building in the United States built specifically for color television broadcasting. WBTV also claims to have been the first station in the world to record and rebroadcast programs on color videotape; to use a live camera and microwave relay inside a race car; and to have a fully computerized news operation. It claims to have been the first station in the country to develop computerized election return projections, to broadcast the "Extravision" teletext service, and to produce a local newscast for a PBS station (WTVI). It claims to be the first station in the South to air color test patterns and color ID slides. WBTV was granted the first full power construction permit for a digital television station in the United States in 1998, and went on the air that year with 1 million watts-- equivalent to 5 million watts for an analog transmitter.

A much-remembered women's/homemaker's show that aired from the 1950s until 1977 was hosted by Betty Feezor. She gave viewers tips on cooking, sewing, floral arranging, and other topics of interest to housewives and mothers. In 1965, the program was the third most-watched women's program in the United States. Feezor's show was also seen on sister station WWBT in Richmond after Jefferson-Pilot bought the station in 1968. Feezor retired in 1977 due to a brain tumor, an illness which claimed her life in 1978.

"The Betty Feezor Show" was replaced by an hour-long midday news and variety show, "Top O' the Day." Viewers will remember Doug Mayes doing a segment called "On The Square" in which he would solicit opinions from local viewers in various Charlotte-area towns about current news topics, as well as C.J. Underwood's "Down Home With The Carolina Camera," where otherwise unknown or low-profile Carolinians were temporarily given celebrity status for their whimsical talents, novel collections, or for the way they impacted their communities. For its first five years, the show aired from 12 noon to 1 p.m., pre-empting CBS's broadcast of The Young and the Restless. Beginning in 1982, the show aired from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. WBTV aired the previous day's network episode of The Price Is Right before "Top O' the Day," preempting whatever game show CBS aired at 10:30. As a result, Child's Play, Press Your Luck, Card Sharks, Now You See It, and most of CBS' version of Wheel of Fortune were never seen on WBTV. However, area viewers could watch them on WSPA-TV in Spartanburg or WFMY if they had a strong antenna. WFMY and WSPA were and still are available on some cable systems in the Charlotte market. "Top O' the Day" left the air in 1992, and WBTV now airs a conventional half-hour newscast at noon. On the weekends, the station occasionally preempted some of CBS' Saturday morning cartoons. Since the early 1990s, WBTV has generally cleared the entire CBS lineup in pattern, the only significant exception being pre-emptions for ACC basketball and football. Most ACC football and basketball games that don't air on WBTV air on WJZY.

The popularity of a series of specials commemorating the station's 25th anniversary in 1974 led to a long-running program, "Those Were the Years," hosted by Mike McKay and featuring episodes of classic television shows such as Dragnet, You Bet Your Life, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. It was seen for several years at 11:30 p.m. on Fridays, pre-empting the CBS late-night shows which competed poorly against The Tonight Show.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, WBTV aired a Sunday morning program that featured singing cowboy Fred Kirby and his sidekick "Uncle Jim" (played by Jim Patterson). The show was known at various times as "Tiny Town," "Whistle Stop," "Fred Kirby's Little Rascals," and "Kirby's Corral." Giving the "hi-sign" to his young fans, Kirby was a fixture for many years at the western-themed park Tweetsie Railroad in Blowing Rock, North Carolina (an hour northwest of Charlotte). In addition to Fred and Uncle Jim, viewers were treated to classic episodes of The Little Rascals (Hal Roach's Our Gang) as well as frequent appearances by the local bluegrass band The Br'arhoppers. Patterson was killed in a single-car accident in Charlotte in 1986. Kirby died in 1996 at age 85.