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Sometime around the late 1970s, KCOP started carrying a funny British comedy variety show that was the rage of late night. It was "The Benny Hill Show." KPBS began running episodes of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" sometime around then. Late night TV was being transformed into a fun time as the networks introduced "Burt Sugarman's Midnight Special", "Second City Television", "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert", "NBC's Saturday Night", "SCTV", and "In Concert". It wasn't just for Johnny Carson anymore. Newcomers Jay Leno, Paul Shaeffer, David Letterman, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Rick Moranis, Dave Thomas, Steve Martin, and Robin Williams were up and coming during the 70s and they would become legends as they are today.
Addenda: Johnny Downs used to host a kids show on channel 10 called "Magic Key" at 4:30pm weekdays. Between segments, he ran cartoons, usually "The Flintstones."
I met Johnny Downs at the opening of Toys R Us on Jackson Drive in August 7, 1970. Also there were Fred and Barney, H.R. Pufinstuf, and The Banana Splits, shows that were carried on channel 10 during the time.
I didn't have another celebrity meeting until November 18, 1979, when I saw Dianne Kay (Nancy of Eight is Enough) as the grand marshall of the Mother Goose Parade. Also there were the San Diego Chicken, "Shotgun" Tom Kelly (who hosted Disco 10 and Words A Poppin' on 10), and Jan Smithers and Tim Reid of another show I watched, WKRP in Cincinnatti, which in a part got me interested in radio. Kind of weird how TV and radio influenced my life, and the 70s were a formative period for what was to come later in life.
On channel 6, Jackie Lynn Taylor and Jack Fries from the Our Gang/Little Rascals comedies hosted a local show where they introduced and talked about the films of the kid series. Knockoffs of the Gang/Rascals included "The Magnificient 6 and a Half" that was seen sometimes on "The CBS Children's Film Festival" and "Channel 100", and "Here Come The Doubledeckers," which was on ABC from 1970-72.
The 70s in local television were a mouthful. Wait until I get to the 80s next time whenever that is!
If you have any old cable channel lineups of the past, you can reply here. Let us know what city and cable system (even if they're defunct) that they were for and what year they were in effect.
Off the top of my head, here's what I remember from Cox Cable in 1979 in the San Diego area.
2 Mission Cable 2 (IND)/KNXT 2 (CBS) 3 KCST 39 (NBC) 4 KNBC 4 (NBC)/Christian Communications Network 5 KTLA 5 (IND) 6 XETV 6 (IND) 7 KABC 7 (ABC)/Shopper's Guide 8 KFMB 8 (CBS) 9 KHJ 9 (IND) 10 KGTV 10 (ABC) 11 KTTV 11 (IND) 12 KPBS 15 (PBS) 13 KCOP 13 (IND) 14 KMEX 34 (SIN-Spanish Information Network) 15 KPBS 15 (PBS) 16 KWHY 22 (IND) 6am-2pm/XEWT 12 (IND-Spanish) 17 AP News text 18 Electronic Program Guide / ESPN (3pm-MID beginning in September) 19 Local Weather/Test Channel 20 HBO (5pm-2am, its entire schedule at the time) 21 text 22 not used yet 23 ITV (local origination educational channel) 24 Public Access 25 CSPAN / text 26 Christian Communications Network (24 hour version) 27-36 not used yet
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