TV Guide 365: 1964-1965 explores the 1964-1965 television season through listings published in TV Guide. Each day I’ll post listings for the corresponding day from the 1964-1965 season, with complete cast and guest cast details for obscure, short-lived shows.
Tuesday, November 3rd, 1964
[SPECIAL NOTE
Network coverage of election returns is scheduled to begin at 7 P.M., but election telecasts may get under way earlier if significant voting trends are developing prior to that time.]
7:00 ELECTION COVERAGE–Walter Cronkite (CBS)
[SPECIAL] Walter Cronkite heads up CBS’s election-night news team. Coverage will continue until the Presidential and major Congressional races are decided. For details, see the Close-up on page A-35. (Live)
All regularly scheduled CBS programs are pre-empted this evening.
ELECTION COVERAGE–Huntley, Brinkley (NBC)
[SPECIAL] Chet Huntley and David Brinkley anchor NBC’s election coverage, which will continue until the major races are decided. For details, see the Close-up on page A-35. (Live)
All regularly scheduled NBC programs are pre-empted this evening.
ELECTION COVERAGE–Smith, Morgan (ABC)
[SPECIAL] Howard K. Smith and Edward P. Morgan anchor ABC’s election-night news team. Coverage continues until major races are decided. For details, see the Close-up on page A-35. (Live)
All regularly scheduled ABC programs are pre-empted this evening.
8:00 ELECTION COVERAGE CONTINUES (ABC, CBS, NBC)
9:00 ELECTION COVERAGE CONTINUES (ABC, CBS, NBC)
10:00 ELECTION COVERAGE CONTINUES (ABC, CBS, NBC)
11:00 ELECTION COVERAGE CONTINUES (ABC, CBS, NBC)
12:00 ELECTION COVERAGE CONTINUES (ABC, CBS, NBC)
[SPECIAL NOTE
Network coverage of election returns will continue throughout the early morning hours until major races are decided.]
Source:
TV Guide, October 31, 1964 (Volume 12, Number 44, Issue #605) [Western New England Edition]
Since election-night coverage pre-empted prime-time and late-night programming on all networks, could you possibly add five or six “highlights” (i.e. popular shows) from the networks’ daytime schedules for that date to this article?
A few months earlier, CBS dumped Walter Cronkite as anchorman for the Democratic Convention in favor of Roger Mudd and Bob Trout, after Cronkite got creamed in the ratings by the NBC duo of Chet Huntley and David Brinkley at the Republican convention a month earlier.
It was CBS chairman/CEO Bill Paley who personally ordered the change.
It turns out that Mudd and Trout fared worse in the ratings at the Democratic convention that Cronkite had at the GOP conclave, so Paley realized his mistake and told CBS News to put Cronkite back int he anchor chair for Election Night.
CBS News executives were delighted to comply.
Given that the election was a landslide for President Johnson, I would think that the networks probably “called” the election for Mr. Johnson around 9 P.M. Eastern time.
I also suspect that network election-night coverage may have ended as early as 1 A.M. eastern time if Senator Goldwater’s concession speech and President Johnson’s acceptance speech had both happened by that hour.