The 'UA' in the WUAB call letters stands for United Artists, the film studio that owned it at the time. The station was eventually sold to Gaylord Broadcasting in 1977.
Anyway, it's strange to think back how exciting it was for my siblings and me to get another TV channel back then. Locally, we only had Channels 3, 5 and 8 for years. Then Channel 61 signed on in January 1968, followed by Channel 43 later in the year. Suddenly we had a lot of options for our endless cartoon-watching.
I can even remember the printed flyer promoting Channel 43 that either came in the mail or as an insert with the newspaper. Why? Because it was strange-looking. It had a lot of what I now know as clip-art illustrations. The mention of Gilligan's Island (a favorite of ours) had a palm tree and a silhouette of a woman, who I think was supposed to represent Ginger.
Apparently, whatever advertising agency designed that flyer also designed the offbeat ad below, which ran in the Journal on October 31, 1968. The ad was promoting a longer broadcast day.
Note how the graphic for Underdog & Uncle Waldo humorously bears no resemblance to the actual characters (below)!
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| From left to right: Fillmore Bear, Hoppity Hooper and Uncle Waldo |
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| Underdog |
Anyway, we watched a lot of WUAB programming over the years, especially after school and on Saturday nights (reruns of Maverick, Wild, Wild West and Star Trek).
Loved WUAB!
ReplyDeleteHome of the Ghoul (I think)
ReplyDeleteI think the Ghoul was on Channel 61, but WUAB did have their own star: Super Host!
ReplyDeleteAh, yes, the tv channel of my youth! We got cable when I was still pretty young, which opened up many more channels, but WUAB was still a go-to. And I still remember our old tv that had to be switched to UHF and then tuned to channel 43.
ReplyDeleteIt was always interesting in the summer (when TV reception was good) to be able to tune in some extra UHF channels out of Detroit or Windsor or points beyond. One time we were shocked to see the Ghoul on a Detroit station.
ReplyDeletePicking up the "skip" in the summer was always a cool thing, especially for a horror film fan like me. Channels 11 and 13 from Toledo, 7, 20, 50, and 62 from Detroit, and sometimes, Channel 10 from Toronto. Of course, 43 and 61 had their share, with the Ghoul, Super host, Sir Graves Ghastly ( also seen on Channel 50), the World Beyond and Drive-In Movies, and all the other movie programs they showed.
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ReplyDeleteSorry, but I had to block it.
...I liked the Ghoul and Super Host, but Supe's humor was far more gentle and silly, and therefore a lot more parent-friendly. Sadly, although he outlasted the Ghoul by 14 years WUAB kinda did him wrong - they broadcast his 20th anniversary special and then cancelled him.
ReplyDeleteMike