WGHP March 1,1969

These two ads appeared in the High Point Enterprise. Charlie Harville is interviewing George Becker at ringside in the ad on the right.

International Wrestling Association

Remember IWA Wrestling on WXII channel 12 in Winston-Salem, NC? This clipping comes from the personal collection of wrestler/referee Mike Wray. The matches previewed in this article took place in Mount Airy, NC on Sept.24,1975.

Wrestling & Coca-Cola

This ticket was issued in the sixties by Coca-Cola. The wrestlers who autograhed it were Penny Banner, George Becker, Billy Two-Rivers, Tiny Anderson, Big Boy Brown and Brenda Scott.

Fred Kirby comes to Town

I grew up watching Fred Kirby on WBTV channel 3 out of Charlotte, NC. This ad is for a show he did in my little hometown of Mount Airy, NC in 1958. The Earle Theatre became the Cinema Theatre in the sixties. It has been restored and is now operated by the Surry Arts Council. Even the marquee has been restored to it's original glory. I go there from time to time to see a movie for $3 bucks. I can still buy a box of popcorn there just like the ones I bought as a kid. It is the best around. Going there brings back some of the best memories I have from my childhood.

Championship Wrestling 1969

In 1969 my two brothers and I along with our Dad and Uncle would gather around the TV on Saturday evenings at 6:30 to watch Charlie Harville host Championship Wrestling. This show featured all of the best wrestlers who worked for Jim Crockett Promotions.

Dialing For Dollars

Dick Bennick presenting a check to a prize winner in this ad from November 1968. The Dialing for Dollars Movie aired Monday through Friday on WGHP channel 8 in High Point,NC.

Shock Theatre Nov.1969

Shock Theatre Oct.1970

Shock Theatre hosted by Dr, Paul Bearer on Halloween night 1970.

Shock Theatre Jan.1971

Dick Bennick as host Dr. Paul Bearer on Shock Theatre during January 1971.

Shock Theatre Feb.1971

Dick Bennick as host Dr. Paul Bearer on Shock Theatre during the month of February 1971 airing on WGHP channel 8 in High Point, NC.

Bob Gordon Show 1964

June 14,1964

Channel 8 News Team

February 22,1964.

Charlie Harville Joins WGHP

Channel 8 daytime schedule for weekday's during the 1963-1964 TV season.

WGHP Signs On 1963

Monday October 14, 1963.

Wrestling & Dr. Paul Bearer

November 9,1968. Pictured from left to right in the Championship Wrestling portion is George Becker, Charlie Harville and Johnny Weaver. Dr. Paul Bearer (Dick Bennick) is the host of Shock Theatre.

The Royal Henchmen

From the latter part of 1967 until I graduated from high school in 1971, I played with a group called the Royal Henchmen. I got this old clipping from our local library awhile back for my grandaughter. My good friend, the late Homer Bryant shot this photo for our local paper, promoting the dance we were playing at on Friday night, April 10, 1970. This particular dance was at the Beulah School Gym in Mount Airy, NC. Starting from the left is me on guitar, Phil Stone on tambourine, Dale Hawks on bass guitar, Jerry Bowlin on drums and Tony Holt on lead guitar. We had a great time during those years playing at teen dances in our area.

Batman & Rock 'N Roll

1966 was a great year. Batman premiered on ABC and I paid a buck for Johnny Rivers' "Live At The Whiskey A Go Go" record album. I learned every song on that album. I was working hard at realizing my dream to be part of a rock and roll band. That would happen in 1967.

The Lloyd Thaxton Show

The Lloyd Thaxton Show aired on channel 8 for a couple of seasons between 1964/1966. This show, along with the Dick Bennick Show, inspired me to want to learn how to play the guitar. Seeing all the great performers on the Thaxton show and the garage bands on the Bennick show were wonderful. I paid close attention and learned a lot from those perfomances.

Wrestling in Winston-Salem

Remember the Pro Wrestling shows presented by Jim Crockett Promotions in the old Winston-Salem Coliseum? I attended shows there from 1965 into the eighties. From 1964-1974, the Championship Wrestling program on WGHP channel 8 in High Point played a huge role in advertising these shows. Charlie Harville would interview the wrestlers at ringside about these arena shows. To me those were the glory years of wrestling in the Piedmont.

TV Party Line

This ad is from January 1, 1968. This just one of many of the shows that Dick Bennick was a part of on WGHP channel 8 in High Point, NC. This show lasted for about the first half of 1968.

Dr. Paul Bearer

This ad is from August 24, 1968. I am still not sure when exactly Dick Bennick's character switched from Count Shockula to Dr. Paul Bearer as host . I am going to keep doing research. One thing for sure, I was a big fan of Shock Theatre and all of the shows Dick Bennick hosted during his time at WGHP. Even after he left the Triad and moved to Florida, video segments of Dr. Paul Bearer were still used on Shock Theatre well into the seventies.

Dick Bennick

I have been working on narrowing down the date when Dick Bennick started working for WGHP channel 8 in High Point ,NC. So far I have a newspaper article published on Nov.9, 1965 that has him still working at radio station WTOB as a disc jockey in Winston-Salem, NC. The article also states he will doing his magic act at a dinner banquet. The above photo of Dick Bennick as Count Shockula appeared in a Nov. 19, 1966 newspaper article about the upcoming "Mess" America contest to be held on Nov. 26, 1966 at the Carolina Theatre in Winston-Salem , NC. The contest was sponsored by WGHP channel 8 and Famous Monsters of Filmland Magazine. Dick Bennick was hosting Shock Theatre as Count Shockula. The Count was going to be there to crown "Mess America". Dick Bennick also hosted "The Dick Bennick Show" (Saturday afternoon's) and Quiz Club in 1966. By mid-1966 his Saturday afternoon show had become a dance party type show featuring teenagers from area high schools and area garage bands as well as some recording artists. Percy Sledge is one of the stars I remember seeing perform on the show. On January 1,1968 Dick Bennick began co-hosting morning show on WGHP with Bob Poole called "TV Party Line." Later Bennick would host the "Dialing for Dollars" movie on WGHP.

Shock Theatre

Shock Theatre was a very popular late night weekend show on WGHP channel 8 during the sixties and seventies. The show began as Friday night show when WGHP went on the air in October 1963. It became a Saturday night fixture around 1967 about a year after Dick Bennick became the host as Count Shockula. Dick Bennick later changed his character to Dr. Paul Bearer. I will be covering Dick Bennick's many different shows at WGHP later. The ad is from 1964.

Championship Wrestling

Championship Wrestling was taped in the studios of WGHP channel 8 in High Point, NC each week between February 1964 and July 1974. The show was hosted by Charlie Harville. After each match, Charlie would interview the winners at ringside about their matches coming up in Lexington, Greensboro, Winston-Salem and other smaller towns in the viewing area. This was a hugely popular show throughout it's run. It was certainly one of my favorites. The ad you see above is from Friday September 8, 1967. In an unusual move, the show aired on Friday at 6:00 p.m. during the 1967-68 TV season. The show returned to Saturday in the spring of 1968. The men in the photo are Chief Little Eagle, one of the masked Infernos and referee Walter Buckner.

Matty's Funday Funnies

This ad is from November 1960. Matty's Funday Funnies was actually an ABC show sponsored by the Mattel Toy Company. It was hosted by a cartoon boy named Matty, featuring cartoons of Casper the Friendly Ghost and other characters. The show was supposed to air on Sunday's but at this time we were about three years away from having a full-time ABC affiliate, which would be WGHP channel 8 in High Point,NC. I loved this show as a kid. It eventually became Matty's Funday Funnies with Beany and Cecil and then just Beany and Cecil. I think it was good of WFMY channel 2 in Greensboro to work as many of the ABC shows into their schedule as possible. Otherwise we would have missed some great stuff.

Charlie Harville

Charlie Harville became the Sports Director at WGHP channel 8 in High Point, NC in October 1963. He held that position until leaving there around 1975. Charlie reported the sports on the nightly newscasts. He also did many of the ACC Basketball games and sometimes when the network came to cover a game ,he would announce those also. I first saw Charlie doing the sports on WFMY channel 2 in Greensboro during the fifties on up to the time he went over to channel 8. Charlie returned to WFMY sometime after leaving WGHP. My fondest memories of Charlie Harville is when he hosted "Championship Wrestling" on WGHP from 1964 to 1974. It was during that timeframe I was able to see Charlie Harville in person quite often as he was the ring announcer for the wrestling matches in Winston-Salem and Greensboro. I will be covering some of those shows here later. The ad is from January 1964.

What's Cooking Today ?

In 1967 Cordelia Kelly was presented a TV Radio Mirror Award for her show "What's Cooking Today ?." The award was for being an outstanding locally produced show. The ad you see here is from August 1967.

Cordelia Kelly

Before there was a Food Network and before we ever heard of Paula Deen and Rachael Ray, there was Cordelia Kelly. During the fifties and sixties, this was one of my Mother's favorite shows when she had a chance to watch TV. The show was very popular. The ad is from November 1959.

More Old Rebel

April 20,1970

The Old Rebel Show

The Old Rebel ( George Perry) wore more than one hat for channel 2 in Greensboro, NC. When I was a kid he also had a weekday morning show for farmers called "RFD Piedmont". Of course he did that show as himself , not as the Old Rebel. I am thankful that the Old Rebel Show was still on the air so my son could get to see the show in the seventies.

The Old Rebel & Pecos Pete

The Old Rebel & Pecos Pete Show is the first local show for kids that I have memories of. The show spanned three decades from the fifties through the mid-seventies. The show originally aired on weekday afternoons and sometimes on Saturday mornings. By the mid-sixties Pecos Pete ( Jim Tucker ) had left the show and the show started airing on weekday mornings where it remained for the rest of it's run. In the early sixties, Pecos Pete came to my elementary school and did his cowboy act of rope tricks and music for all the students. This was at Beulah Elementary School in Mount Airy, North Carolina. Each student paid ten cents for a ticket to the show. All 385 seats of the old Auditorium were sold. Pecos Pete put on a heck of a show for $38.50 but this was a lot of money in the sixties. More on the Old Rebel Show later.............

Adventure Theatre

I was almost eleven years old when WGHP channel 8 came on the air in the fall of 1963. Each afternoon when my brothers and I would get home from school, I would turn the TV on and twist the old VHF knob, hoping there would be a new channel coming in. Well one afternoon in October 1963, I was going through my routine and when the dial landed on 8 there was Johnny Weissmuller starring in "Tarzan and the Mermaids." I mean the picture was so clear, it was unreal. Five days a week at 5 p.m. we got a different movie. My favorites were Tarzan, Jungle Jim, Bomba the Jungle Boy and the Bowery Boys.

Right after the movie ended at 6:30 p.m. the Amos'N Andy Show aired until it was pulled from syndication in 1966. Those were the days.

More Bob Gordon

April 19, 1970

October 19, 1968

Popcorn Theatre

November 11, 1967

















March 23, 1968



















July 28, 1968

Bob Gordon

During the 60's and 70's Bob Gordon was a very popular TV host on Channel 12 out of Winston Salem, NC. Over the years the titles and formats of his shows changed but his popularity never did.

Some examples of his shows would be in 1962 his show was Bob Gordon's Cartoon Corner, weekdays at 5:05 p.m. In 1963 it was the Bob Gordon Show weekday afternoons. February 1964 his show moved to weekday mornings at 9:00 a.m. where it remained until the fall of 1966. Bob moved to the weekends that year. During football season the show aired as Bob Gordon's Popcorn Theater and during baseball season the show aired on Sunday afternoons as Bob Gordon's Sunday Theater. By 1970 the show was known as Bob Gordon's Theater no matter which day it aired.

One of my most favorite features on the show during the 60's was the Republic Serials that Bob aired one chapter at a time on his show. I was always very appreciative of the background information that Bob always shared about these and all his other shows. It was very evident that he was also a big fan of the features that he aired on his show.