Crockett TV Broadcast Map 1960

 

This information flyer was apparently given to local event promoters throughout the Carolinas and Virginia in hopes of JCP to expand their "spot shows" in the region. It touted the burgeoning television presence of Jim Crockett Promotions professional wrestling television shows that would help these promoters build their gates. The local promoters would book their talent from Jim Crockett out of Charlotte.

At the point in time this graphic was published (late 1959 or very early 1960), Crockett had live TV already being taped and aired in Charlotte, Raleigh, and Roanoke, with High Point NC and Greenville SC soon to follow. What isn't clear is if Crockett hoped to have additional live or live-to-tape locations at the other stations listed on this flyer, or if they were to simply carry a tape from one of the other live shows.  

Some notes on the television stations featured here:

WBTV Charlotte NC
Jim Crockett began airing live wrestling on Channel 3 in Charlotte in January of 1958. The program, called simply "Championship Wrestling" was live at first and later would be taped and aired on a slight delay.

WFBC Greenville SC
Channel 4 in Greenville actually began airing live wrestling from its studio in 1956, nearly a year and a half before WBTV did in Charlotte. That first foray lasted only 3 months. It appears it was the very first television for Jim Crockett Promotions wrestling.  WFBC's second attempt at live wrestling came in March of 1960, just a month later than this graphic indicates the start date would be for TV wrestling in Greenville. That second stint of live studio wrestling ended in December 1961. At that point, WFBC began carrying the tape from Raleigh.  

WRAL Raleigh NC
Channel 4 in Raleigh began airing its own live studio wrestling in January of 1959, one year after the WBTV tapings began. Most other TV stations in the growing JCP network carried the tape from Raleigh, titled "All Star Wrestling." Fourteen years later, WRAL would be the site where all JCP televison production would be consolidated. 

WDBJ Roanoke VA
Channel 7 in Roanoke began airing live wrestling from its studio in 1960, where it lasted for local promoter Pete Aposolou for seven years, when they began carrying the Raleigh tape.

WFMY Greensboro NC
While live wrestling may have been planned for WFMY channel 2 in Greensboro in June of 1960, it appears it never came to fruition. In fact, it appears WFMY never carried a Crockett tape at any point. (We welcome new information.) Another TV station in that same DMA market, WGHP channel 8 out of High Point, began airing its own live-to-tape studio wrestling for Jim Crockett in February of 1964. That lasted until the great consolidation to Raleigh in 1974.

Richmond VA
At the time of this information flyer, it seems clear JCP wanted to have a live TV presence in Richmond, similar to WBTV or WRAL, to support the work of long time Richmond promoter Bill Lewis, now working with Jim Crockett in Charlotte. No doubt Lewis was working to secure an arrangement with a station there, but it never happened. Lewis died in 1961. WTVR channel 6 eventually became the station that would carry the wrestling tape from Raleigh NC on its airwaves for decades. By that point, both Raleigh and Richmond were promoted by Raleigh promoter Joe Murnick, working for Jim Crockett.

WNCT Greenville NC
WECT Wilmington NC
Apparently both of these stations were to begin carrying a tape from JCP in 1960, with the tentative date being that June. By the 1970s though neither station would be carrying a Crockett tape. The Wilmington station would eventually be carrying the Championship Wrestling from Florida show. More information is needed on these two stations listed here.

We are also looking for information on Jack Partlow and Hal Van Horn listed as contacts in Charlotte on this information flyer.  

Thanks to Scott Teal for originally sending this image to us.  

 

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Visit the DESKTOP VERSION of the website for lots of FILTER OPTIONS to find info on your favorite announcer or studio location.  Filter options are located on the right side of the web/desktop version of the website. 

Greenville Wrestling Host Bill Krieger Passes Away

We've just learned that Bernhard Krieger passed away in Greenville SC on Christmas day, December 25, 2023.  He was 98 years old. Word came to us from Mid-Atlantic Gateway contributor Don Holbrook who came across his obituary online. 

Known as Bill Krieger on WFBC (now WYFF) channel 4 during his on-air days, he briefly hosted "live" professional wrestling in 1961 at the station. He was the sports director for the station at that time.

Back in 2005, Krieger was extremely helpful to me when I spoke to him about the history of wrestling at WFBC.

For more about WFBC as a location for Jim Crockett Promotions TV wrestling, visit the WFBC Studio Wrestling page.

Click here for all posts tagged with Bill Krieger on Studio Wrestling. 

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(Studio Wrestling is part of the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.)

Promoter Paul Winkhaus (JCP/Greenville SC)

PROMOTER PAUL C. WINKHAUS

Winkhaus was the promoter in Greenville SC and surrounding area

for Jim Crockett Sr. in the 1950s through the early 1970s.

 

Edited E-mail to the Mid-Atlantic Gateway from longtime

Greenville SC wrestling historian Don Holbrook

Yes, I knew Mr. Winkhaus well. He was indeed Crockett's man in Greenville. He also handled Columbia, Asheville, Anderson back then and did a few other cities around here from time to time like Greenwood at the ball park and others. He was already up in years, we are talking late 1960's for a reference point here. He lived in Matthews North Carolina, outside of Charlotte and he was originally from Ohio I think. He told me that he was a sports writer for a newspaper somewhere before he got into wrestling. One thing I remember was how creative he was at writing press releases that he would send over to the newspaper here in town to go along with the ad they ran every week for Monday nights card.

Most of the years Billy Powell was ring announcer, he actually worked for Winkhaus. Billy would walk in the back door about 15 minutes before show time and he and Mr. Winkhaus would go over the line up and any changes or announcements, etc.

I actually rode to the Anderson Recreation Center with Mr. Winkhaus a few times on Thursdays. There was a period of time he was running a show there every other week or so. This was before I was old enough to drive. He used to stop by the Greenville Memorial Auditorium on Thursday afternoons on his way to Anderson. He also would run the tape for Saturday afternoon television by the WFBC-TV studio over on Rutherford Road on some of the Thursdays. I can remember running it in to the lobby desk at channel 4 for him a time or two.

He was a nice old man to me, but he had a gruff sounding voice and back then wrestling was so believable that many of the folks around here would be on him the minute they saw him, complaining about the heels, one thing or the other. He was interesting to talk to and he would tell me wrestling stories and at a young age. I thought it was so cool to have this inside track on wrestling.

Mr. Winkhaus died not long after he retired. After his death, there was a short period I don't think they had anyone acting as local promoter. I can remember Johnny Ringley, Crockett's son-in-law coming down a few times, and once I remember Jim Sr. was here on Monday handling things. There may have been an interim along that time, I don't remember, but the next one I do remember was Sandy Scott. He actually lived in an apartment out on Wade Hampton Blvd. for a long while and ran the same towns Winkhaus did but also helped George Harbin with Spartanburg and more spot shows in Western N.C. Then Danny Miller came in when Sandy went back to the Charlotte office.

- Don Holbrook, Greenville SC

 

 Despite what the caption indicates, promoter Paul Winkhaus is on the LEFT,
Billy Powell is on the right.

 

 

Snow Cancellation and Holiday Announcement
Asheville NC 1970

 

 

The Passing of Paul Winkhaus

 

Paul Winkhaus died November 1974. He was ill for several months prior to that and could hardly walk the last 3 or 4 times he came to Greenville, so much so that he couldn't even make it down the steps to the dressing rooms to talk to the guys. So they had to send the referee upstairs to get the instructions from Winkhaus who was in a small dressing room on the main floor level. Mr. Winkhaus "resigned", moved to his hometown in Ohio and died shortly afterward.

I remember that he took great pride in the newspaper ads and the results and write ups. He was a former newspaper writer and had a great ability so that is why the ads and the write ups were so good. I used to see him at Greenville Auditorium in an outer office typing his materials for the newspapers. Asheville was one of his towns and he worked really hard to promote it. He was the main reason WLOS had such a good relationship with Crockett Wrestling.

- Don Holbrook, June 2012

Timekeeper's Table, Greenville SC

Greenville Memorial Auditorium, circa 1970

Front Left to Right: Floyd Ulmer, promoter Paul Winkhaus, ring announcer Billy Powell, and timekeeper Wayne Hamby. Back left against wall: Don Holbrook.

(Photo: Gene Gordon / c. Scooter Lesley)

 

A neat little story about this photo. Scooter Lesley, who owns the copyrights to Gene Gordon's photo library, came across this photo and knew I was interested in the old local promoters, ring announcers, etc. I was interested in who the two other people in this photo were (besides Winkhaus and Powell) but Lesley didn't know. I hadn't paid much attention to the kid sitting at the wall in the background.

At Fanfest in Charlotte in 2013, I showed the photo to Don Holbrook, a good friend and Gateway contributor for many years. Don's mother worked at the Greenville Auditorium box office, and he spent many Monday nights there as kid in the 1970s. He even served as timekeeper occasionally. I thought maybe he knew who the others were in the photo.

"Floyd Ulmer (squatting at left) was a part time box office employee at GMA," Don told me. "He also went to Anderson and Greenwood for Mr. Winkhaus and sold tickets at those shows. Wayne Hamby (timekeeper at right) was John Hamby's son. They both did timekeeping, rotated I guess."

Then Don's eyes narrowed as he focused on the kid in the chair behind the table. "Oh my goodness," he said. "That's me." Don had the biggest smile on his face. Forty-three years after that photo was taken he was seeing it for the first time. That was a pretty cool moment.

I asked Don why the ring announcers table was in the back of the arena as opposed to ringside.

"The table was always in the back at in Greenville," he told me. "I can not say why for sure but one reason might have been Mr. Winkhaus walked with a limp and from time to time filled in for Billy Powell if he was on vacation or whatever. Winkhaus never got in the ring, made all announcements sitting at the table. Billy did go to the ring to intro each bout. The microphone cable had to be long enough for him to pull it to and from the ring."

 

 Mid-Atlantic Gateway contributor Don Holbrook in 2013 with the 1970 photo seen above. Don's right hand is pointing to himself in the picture, sitting behind the timekeeper's table at Greenville Memorial Auditorium.
(Photo: Dick Bourne)

 

Voice of WFBC Wrestling (and Greenville Ring Announcer) Billy Powell with Ric Flair

 

GREENVILLE NEWS

"Nature Boy" Ric Flair puts the badmouth on U.S. Champion Jimmy Snuka (just out of frame) before Flair's challenge to regain the title at the Greenville Memorial Auditorium in Greenville, SC, October 29, 1979. 

Standing to Flair's right is the legendary voice of Greenville wrestling Billy Powell, who was the ring announcer in Greenville for decades. He was the voice of the special one-minute localized promos that aired twice during the hour-long Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling program that aired at 1 PM every Saturday afternoon on WFBC channel 4 (later WYFF). His voice played over the graohic you see at left. Powell was also well known on the radio for various commercials and promotions in the Greenville/Spartanburg market on WFBC radio.

Jimmy Snuka was managed at thetime by the legendary Buddy Rogers, who donned the trunks and wrestled earlier that night with partner Big John Studd.

Behind Flair is NWA referee Tommy Young.

More photos from this night can be seen (and purchased) on the Greenville News website.

"Greenville is My Town" - 1978 Article in The Tiger mentions WFBC's Billy Powell

Ring announcer Billy Powell (R) with
Greenville promoter Paul Winkhaus

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Back in November of 1978, the student newspaper at Clemson University called "The Tiger" ran an article on Mid-Atlantic Wrestling in the area. The two page spread included discussion of the current popularity of pro wrestling (including an interview with Ric Flair), the skeptics (including the Clemson collegiate wrestling coach), and the fans. 

A large photo was included of Ric Flair battling Blackjack Mulligan at the Greenville Memorial Auditorium, less than an hour away from the Clemson campus in Greenville SC. With some examination of the Monday cards that took place in the weeks prior to this article's publication, I've determined that the photo is from their Texas Death Match in Greenville, the main event of the October 23, 1978 card at the Auditorium.

Of particular interest to me, though, was a brief discussion of Greenville ring announcer Billy Powell, an institution in Greenville, and whose involvement in Greenville wrestling went all the way back to 1960 and the early television tapings of pro wrestling that took place at the WFBC TV studios in Greenville.

Here is a transcript of the portion of the article that dealt with Billy Powell:

A big part of Monday night wrestling is played by the ring announcer. In Greenville, the announcer is Billy Powell, a well known personality who has gained most of his popularity through the Monday night matches.

"You bet your hat I'm a wrestling fan," Powell said. He has been announcing the matches in Greenville since 1960. "We originally did the TV wrestling here, but the program was moved to Raleigh a few years back," the outgoing Powell stated. 

Wrestling in Greenville used to be held in Textile Hall, and that is where Crockett Promotions sanctioned some of their first matches. Crockett operates from its Charlotte base under the sponsorship of the National Wrestling Association (sic). "If the matches are not sanctioned, the NWA will have nothing to do with you," Powell stated.

Concerning the wrestlers as people, Powell said, "They're all nice guys. Did you see Gene Anderson in the ring tonight as he fixed my mic cord? In the ring he is a bad dude, but outside he is just a teddy bear," Powell finished.

Asked if he would ever leave the area, Powell said, "No, because Greenville is my town."

 

Greenville fans who only watched on TV and never attended a Monday night Memorial Auditorium wrestling event were still intimately familiar with Billy Powell. Twice each Saturday during the one-hour broadcast of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling on local NBC affiliate WFBC-TV channel 4 (later WYFF), Powell did exclusive 1-minute narrated promos for the card upcoming that Monday. They featured only his voice and a still artistic depiction of two wrestlers in battle. They always began the same way - - "Hello everybody, this is Billy Powell, inviting you to joins this Monday Night at the Greenville Memorial Auditorium..." These promotional segments aired twice during each show in addition to the local promotional interviews with the wrestlers taped at WRAL in Raleigh. In that way, Billy Powell's voice was as much a part of the Greenville experience of watching wrestling every week as host Bob Caudle or any of the wrestlers. 

Not only would Powell run down the matches for upcoming card, he would also briefly touch on what happened the previous Monday night, too, tying everything together. He was the man Greenville wrestling fans trusted and was a warm and familiar voice each and every week.  

For more on Billy Powell, visit the Billy Powell page on the archived Mid-Atlantic Gateway site, and check all of his related posts on this blog. You can also learn about the history of TV wrestling in Greenville on the WFBC-4 page of our guide to the studio locations for wrestling in the Mid-Atlantic area.

And you can also read the full article on wrestling in Greenville from the Nov. 3, 1978 edition of "The Tiger", which includes an interview with a young Ric Flair, archived here. It's on pages 12 and 13 of the paper, within the downloadable pdf.

 

Audio: Holiday Greetings from Billy Powell during the beginning of one of his local promos. 

Championship Wrestling host Bill Krieger (WFBC Greenville 1961)

Bill Krieger hosted "Championship Wrestling" on WFBC-4 in 1961, featuring all the stars of the early 1960s for Jim Crockett Promotions.

Bob Poole originally hosted from 3/26/60 until WFBC-TV sports director Bill Krieger took over as host in February of 1961. Billy Powell served as color commentator during some of this time with Krieger.

For more information on live Studio Wrestling from WFBC-4 in Greenville, visit the 

WFBC Studio Wrestling page on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.

Clipping courtesy Don Holbrook.

WFBC Wrestling Host Bill Krieger (1961)

Following a brief experiment in 1956,  Live studio wrestling would return to WFBC-4 on March 26, 1960 with channel 4 personality Bob Poole calling the action on a broadcast taped during mid-week and airing that following weekend.

In February of 1961, WFBC Sports Director Bill Krieger took over for Poole as host of the broadcast. Billy Powell served as color commentator during some of this time with Krieger.

No photos of the ring set up in the WFBC studio are known to exist, but both Krieger and Billy Powell report in separate interviews with the Mid-Atlantic Gateway that it was a very small studio with two small bleachers on two sides of the ring, accommodating roughly 50-60 people.

"Wally Dusek would bring the ring each week and set it up," Krieger told the Gateway. "Some of the big names at that time that I remember wrestling at channel 4 were George Becker, Mike Piadousis, Gorgeous George, Ivan the Terrible, and others. Jim Crockett (Sr.) would come by regularly as we got started, but wouldn't stay for the whole taping."

The second stint of "Live Championship Wrestling"  lasted until December of 1961 when channel 4 began carrying the show taped in Raleigh.

For more information on live studio wrestling held at WFBC (now WYFF) channel 4 in Greenville, SC, visit our WFBC Studio Wrestling page on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway Archives.

Vintage Radio Station photo of Billy Powell

Billy Powell was an institution in Greenville SC and the whole upstate area of South Carolina, known for his radio work, advertising voice overs, and of course as the voice of Greenville wrestling.

Powell did the additional local spots in the 1960s through early 1980s that were featured in the weekly episode of "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling" on WFBC-4 (now WYFF) that were in addition to the two traditional local promotional spots inserted from Jim Crockett Promotions.

He was also the ring announcer in Greenville for many years.

Visit the Billy Powell page on the old archive website of the Mid-Atlantic Gateway (The Mid-Atlantic Gateway Archives) for more info on Billy Powell. Occasional Gateway contributor Don Holbrook wrote of Powell for the website back in 2016. Visit the WFBC Studio Wrestling page, too.

Special thanks to Carroll Hall at the All Star Championship Wrestling website.

Bill Krieger: Sports Director and Wrestling Host (Greenville SC)

Bill Krieger was the sports director at WFBC-4 (now WYFF) in Greenville SC for many years.

In 1961, Krieger also hosted a studio wrestling show taped at WFBC called "Live Championship Wrestling."

No photos of the ring set up in the WFBC studio are known to exist, but both Krieger and Billy Powell report in separate interviews with the Mid-Atlantic Gateway that it was a very small studio with two small bleachers on two sides of the ring, accommodating roughly 50-60 people.

For more information on live studio wrestling held at WFBC (now WYFF) channel 4 in Greenville, SC, visit our WFBC Studio Wrestling page on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway Archives.

"Carolina Wrestling" featuring Claude Freeman (WFBC 1956)

By Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway
Originally published on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway 10/22/17

Carroll Hall, who publishes the "All-Star Championship Wrestling" website, has unearthed information on what most surely was Jim Crockett's earliest foray into televised wrestling.

In May of 1956, WFBC Channel 4 in Greenville, SC announced they would begin airing live wrestling matches in the studios of WFBC beginning on June 2, 1956. The show was called, appropriately enough, "Carolina Wrestling."

Here is the text of the announcement that appeared in the Greenville Times.

Channel 4 Will Have Wrestling Ring in Studio

Wrestling in the studios of WFBC-TV on Rutherford Street will be presented "live" by Channel 4 each Saturday afternoon from 4:30 to 5:30, the television station announced yesterday.

A 20 x 20 regulation ring will be set up in the spacious studios and name wrestlers will appear regularly. First performance will be next Saturday afternoon.

The wrestlers who have been scheduled to appear at various times include Mr. Moto, Kinji Shiduya, Gene Becker, Jack Whitzig, Don Arnold, Don Eagle, and Cheif War Eagle, Lea, Chick and Leo Garabaldi, Carl Von Hess, Dick Steinborn, and Angelo Martinelli. There will also be girl and midget wrestlers.

Commentator for the events will be Claude Freeman.

According to Hall's research of newspaper archival TV listings from that time period, the show ran for just over three months, with it's last appearance on the TV schedule being Saturday, September 8, 1956.

Demand for the free tickets to the studio show grew so quickly that on at least one occasion, WFBC moved the show to the famous Textile Hall in Greenville, site of many Jim Crockett wrestling events in the 1950s and 1960s. The move was reported in the Greenville Times to accommodate the huge demand for tickets to the live broadcasts.

WFBC-FM radio personality Claude Freeman was the host for the program. Freeman had been on WFBC-FM going back into the 1940s, hosting a popular morning program called "Kitchen Capers."

To put this show in historical perspective of the times, WFBC Channel 4 had only been on the air for two and a half years at this point, first broadcasting on December 31, 1953. Jim Crockett would not put wrestling on WBTV in his home city of Charlotte until January of 1958. So the June 1956 "Carolina Wrestling" show was bound to be the first ever affiliated with Jim Crockett Promotions.

The show proved to be quite popular, both in ratings and in interest for tickets, which begs the question why it was relatively short-lived. As reported on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway, wrestling would return to the studios of WFBC in Greenville in 1960 with hosts including Bob Poole, Bill Krieger and Billy Powell.

For Carroll Hall's first post on this information visit:
"Carolina Wrestling" on WFBC 4 in Greenville, SC"

http://allstarchampionshipwrestling.blogspot.com/2017/10/carolina-wrestling-on-wfbc-4-in.html

TV Wrestling Debuts from WFBC-4 in Greenville SC (1960)

Composite graphic courtesy of Carroll Hall

We are proud to be able to add another name to our official roster of on air talent for Jim Crockett Promotions.

WFBC Greenville TV personality Bob Poole was the first host of "Championship Wrestling" that was taped at the studios of WFBC and aired exclusively on that channel in the Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville market in the early 1960s. The program debuted on WFBC-4 on Saturday, March 26, 1960.

WFBC's sports director Bill Krieger followed Poole as host of "Championship Wrestling" in February of 1961.  

Poole had various roles at the station, also prominently hosting a program called "Bob Poole's Gospel Favorites" on Sunday mornings on channel 4.

Thanks to Carroll Hall at the All-Star Championship Wrestling website for this information.

For a complete list of on-air talent for Jim Crockett Promotions from the late 1950s through 1988, see the list of filter links on the right hand side of this page. 

More information on the history of "Championship Wrestling" at WFBC-4 in Greenville, SC, can be found in the Mid-Atlantic Almanac Studio TV History section on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.

The "Golden Voice" of Channel 4

by Don Holbrook
Special to the Mid-Atlantic Gateway


Billy Powell was a local celebrity in Greenville, South Carolina and the surrounding area. He had his own daily radio show on WFBC radio and eventually became program director. He did voice over work for WFBC TV. He was a fill in weatherman on TV and he did ad agency voice over work on the side. All that plus, ring announcer at the Greenville Memorial Auditorium on Monday nights. He did the additional local spots during TV wrestling on channel 4 telling us who would be in Greenville on Monday nights.

Paul Winkhaus (local promoter for Greenville and Asheville) was a good man but his voice sounded sort of like Uncle Joe's on Petticoat Junction. I remember one Monday Billy was sick and Mr. Winkhaus had to do the ring announcing. That was when he told me just before the show started, "Well, the golden voice of channel 4 isn't going to be here, so it looks like all these good people are stuck with me tonight."

And he was right because no one could ever top Billy's unique sound and style. He was as much of a part of Greenville wrestling as anyone who ever stepped into the ring.

Pro-Wrestling's Great Television Audience (1978)

Here is a nice "TV Sports" column by Bob Gillespie from the Charleston Post & Courier in 1978 about the high ratings and impact of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling and World Wide Wrestling during that era.

I laugh when I read today about how currently popular wrestling is. It's for sure a bigger business today, but it is no where near as popular today as it was years ago. Just witness the 52% share that wrestling got on WCBD-2 in Charleston. Les Thatcher has told us about similar shares his Mid-Altlantic wrestling show got in the mid-1970s on WLOS-13 in Asheville, NC. Jim Crockett Promotions programming was pullings amazing ratings and shares back then and had been for years. Similar stories could be found in other promotions across the country as well.

So kudos to Bob Gillespie for helping educate the unknowing general public about that in 1978.

Gillespie does a great job in getting his facts straight about Crockett Promotions at the time, something most sports writers or TV-writers covering wrestling would never bother with.

Some nice information here includes:

(1) Mentions of local promoter Henry Marcus and the local venue County Hall.
(2) The main promoter Jim Crockett Promotions and their local promoter in Roanoke VA Sandy Scott
(3) TV originating form the studios of WRAL in Raleigh, NC
(4) The barter relationship between the local TV stations and JCP
(5) A mention of Sandy Scott promoting Greenville SC before Roanoke
(6) The first TV stations to carry wrestling for Jim Crockett  - WDBJ-7 in Roanoke, VA and WFBC-4 in Greenville, SC.

Thanks to Carroll Hall for forwarding this article to me, and to Peggy Lathan for transcribing it for us. Here is the text of the article (emphasis within the text is mine.) Enjoy!

Wresting Audience Greatly Expanded by TV

By Bob Gillespie

Charleston, SC - September 23, 1978

For several months now, I’ve followed this TV sports column and I have yet to see anything written on what has to be one of the tube’s most successful enterprises in the realm of sports. I shall now try to correct this omission.

What am I talking about?  Football? Basketball? Women’s Field Hockey? Tournament-level Tiddlywinks?  “No” to all of the above.

Try professional wrestling.

Wrestling? you ask, looking down your cultured nose with disdain. That Roman gladiator spectacle of the masses, with costumed clowns flying through the air like so many comic book characters?  TV wrestling – a success story?  Surely I jest, you say. And you probably laugh.

GO AHEAD. LAUGH. That’s just what both the pro wrestling promoters and local television stations are doing, all the way to the proverbial bank.

The fact is, wrestling, especially on television, has been growing in popularity over the last few years – by leaps and bounds greater than any you’ll see in the ring.  And no one realizes – and appreciates – that fact more than Charleston area television management.

One Saturday in 1969

Take a look at these wrestling TV listings for Saturday, November 1, 1969. They are from the "Carolina-Tennessee Edition" of TV Guide magazine.

Of particular note is the odd circumstance of a one-hour wrestling show airing on WLOS-13 out of Asheville being split into two 30-minute segments over this Saturday afternoon.

In 1969, Asheville aired the wrestling program that was taped at WGHP TV studios in High Point, North Carolina. It was one of the three locations at that time doing weekly TV tapings for Jim Crockett Promotions out of Charlotte. The show aired live in the High Point/Greensboro market, and then on a one week delay in Asheville.

On this particular week, because of a college football game airing that afternoon, the one-hour tape was spilt into two 30-minutes segments, the first at 1:30 in the afternoon, the second one later that day at 7:00 PM.

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 1, 1969

TV Guide, Carolina-Tennessee Edition

WBTV Ch. 3 Charlotte (CBS)

5:00 PM      Wrestling (from the studio: Sailor Art Thomas and Abe Jacobs vs. Ole and    Gene Anderson; Johnny Weaver vs. El Lobo; Oni Wiki Wiki vs. Tom Bradley)

WFBC Ch. 4 Greenville, SC (NBC)

1:00 PM      Wrestling (from Raleigh)

WLOS Ch. 13 Asheville, NC (ABC)

1:30 PM     Wrestling (from High Point, NC)

2:00 PM     College Football Pre-Game Show

7:00 PM     Wrestling continues

7:30 PM     Dating Game

WCTU (WCNC) Ch. 36 Charlotte (Ind.)

8:30 PM     Championship Wrestling From Florida

Some other notes:

• The show airing on WBTV-3 was called Championship Wrestling and was the weekly show taped at WBTV studios in Charlotte. TV guide often listed the scheduled matches for the Charlotte show, this week featuring my all-time favorite tag team, the Anderson Brothers.
• The show airing on WFBC-4 was called All-Star Wrestling and was the show taped at WRAL studios in Raleigh, NC that would late become Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling in 1973.
• WCTU-36 in Charlotte aired Championship Wrestling from Florida. The Florida show aired on several stations in the Mid-Atlantic area at that time, and the two territories would occasionally share talent. The Mid-Atlantic show also aired in select markets in Florida.

Original TV Guide information posted on the Radio Insight board.

"Hello everybody, this is Billy Powell..."

Billy Powell

"Hello everybody, this is Billy Powell, and I want to invite you to join us this Monday night at the Greenville Memorial Auditorium..."

This was the greeting from the familiar voice of Billy Powell we heard every Saturday during a local break on Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling when it aired on WFBC-TV channel 4 from Greenville, SC.

Billy Powell was a well known radio voice in Greenville, perhaps most well known as the voice of the Bi-Lo supermarket promotional spots that aired on WFBC radio for years.

But wrestling fans knew him best as the ring announcer for nearly three decades (1962-1985) at the GMA wrestling shows every monday night promoted by Jim Crockett Promotions out of Charlotte. In addition he did two 1-minute promotional spots for those same shows that aired during Mid-Atlantic Wrestling where he would promote the upcoming event. As a result, wrestling fans across the upstate of South Carolina, western North Carolina, and east Tennessee all knew Billy's voice, even if they never attended a show in Greenville.

* * * * *
For more information on Billy Powell and his association with professional wrestling in Greenville, visit the following pages:

Studio Wrestling: WFBC-4 Greenville
The Billy Powell Page on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway

WFBC TV Newspaper Ads in 1976

Back in 1976, Jim Crockett Promotions ran ads in the Greenville News for Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling which aired every Saturday at 1:00 PM on Greenville station WFBC channel 4 (for the Greenville / Spartanburg / Asheville market.)

These little ads included a different wrestler's photo each week as well as the names of some of the other wrestlers who would be appearing on TV that week.  The ads also included a reminder to see wrestling LIVE each Monday night at the Greenville Memorial Auditorium. 

Ads featured photos of Wahoo McDaniel, Ole Anderson, Paul Jones, Johnny Weaver, Rufus R. Jones, Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, Masked Superstar, and Tim Woods.

The Vintage TV & Wrestling Nostalgia blog recently posted similar 1976 ads for "Wide World Wrestling" on WGHP channel 8 in the Greensboro / Winston-Salem / High Point market. That post reminded me we had these great clippings from Greenville SC on the mid-Atlantic Gateway. Check out those High Point ads and this great nostalgia blog here.