Illinois

Doctor Who aired in these cities, on these channels:

Chicago

WFLD

Channel 32 (Independent)

• 13-18 April 1969: The first Peter Cushing movie, "Dr Who and the Daleks" airs at 2.30pm on Sunday, with a repeat at 8.00pm each night that week.

Dr Who and the Daleks, April 1969

Dr Who and the Daleks, April 1969

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WTTW

Channel 11 (PBS)

Dr Who Premiere, The Mutants, Part 1, 29 September 1975	The Mutants, Part 4	Day of the Daleks, Part 4	The Ambassadors of Death, Part 5	Terror of the Autons, Part 4
Colony in Space, Part 1	Colony in Space, Part 6	The Time Monster, Part 1 (although the synopsis seems to be describing Colony in Space, Day of the Daleks, or The Mutants...)	The Time Monster, Part 4 (although synopsis is for The Mutants!)	Doctor Who and the Silurians, Part 2 (compilation version)

• 29 September 1975: Doctor Who make its series debut in Chicago, screening weekdays at 6.30pm. The first serial to air is The Mutants. Serials continue to air out of order.
• From January 1976, random stories are repeated even though there are first-run stories still yet to screen. (The Curse of Peladon does not screen.)
• 7-10 March 1977: A repeat of Terror of the Autons is the only story to air in 1977. This story was recorded by at least two fans, which were later used by the Restoration Team to recolourise the story.

• 11 February 1980: The Tom Baker stories make their Chicago debut; the first story is in fact the last, The Invasion of Time! Episodes air weekdays at 5.30pm. Stories are cycled through twice.

• 4 January 1981: WTTW begins airing compilations with The Sun Makers. Tom Baker's final three seasons air from 23 August.

• 1982: From 2 October, omnibus editions screen weekly on Saturdays to compete with WOR's broadcasts, so there are two different cycles of Baker airing at the same time.

The classic Sunday night lineup

• 24 April 1983: The Peter Davison stories debut.

• 12 June 1983: A package of just the extant full colour Jon Pertwee stories commences, including several stories only just recently recovered from Canada.

• 23 November 1983: The Five Doctors airs, two days before it aired in the UK. Chicago had not yet seen season 20 before the airing.

• 24 November 1984: Season 20 and 21 begin.

• 1984-86: Repeats of Baker, Pertwee and Davison episodes.

1985 flier to prompt WTTW to buy more Pertwee episodes

• 16 March 1986: The Colin Baker stories screen. WTTW removed the scene of Shockeye eating a rat from its broadcasts of The Two Doctors.

• 11 May 1986: The 17 repackaged William Hartnell stories air.

• 19 October 1986: The first airings of the Patrick Troughton stories begins with The Mind Robber because The Dominators was considered "too confusing."

• 8 December 1986: The the newly acquired Jon Pertwee package airs nightly, interrupted by pledge breaks. The Curse of Peladon is aired on WTTW for the first time during this run.

• 22 November 1987: The airing of Horror of Fang Rock (its eighth screening) was interrupted by a video pirate dressed as Max Headroom.

• 31 December 1987: A Dalek Night marathon, with Resurrection of the Daleks, Revelation of the Daleks, and Day of the Daleks.

• 12 March 1988: A Master Marathon, with Terror of the Autons, Logopolis, Castrovalva and The Mark of the Rani airing between pledge breaks. Fan clubs man the phones.

• 27 November 1988: A repeat run of Baker, Davison and Colin Baker stories leads into the first airing of The Trial of a Time Lord followed by the debut of the Sylvester McCoy stories.
• 1988-1991: More repeats, but Season 20 is dropped after Terminus in favour of full colour Pertwee stories. The first 23 Tom Baker stories air for their tenth time. The repeat run ends on 1 September 1991 with The Greatest Show in the Galaxy. Doctor Who had been screening virtually non-stop from February 1980 through to September 1991...

• Doctor Who is absent from WTTW for the next five years...

• July 1996: A series of selected repeats leads into the debut screening of season 26 on 25 August. However, WTTW does not screen Battlefield.

• 8 September 1996: Survival is the final episode of Doctor Who to air on WTTW.

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Urbana

The Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette, Dec. 9, 1983

WILL

Time, Jan. 9, 1984

Channel 12 (PBS) (University of Illinois)

• 1 February 1982: Doctor Who begins with Robot.
• 23 April 1983: A separate run begins Saturdays at 6:00 and 6:30pm.
• 2 September 1983: The Peter Davison stories premiere.
• 23 November 1983: The Five Doctors airs.
• 9 January 1984: Time runs a story about Doctor Who, referring to 10,000 students at the University of Illinois watching the series on the campus PBS station :
• 4 December 1984: The complete Jon Pertwee package begins.
• 13 September 1986: The Saturday evening airings move to 8am.
• 27 December 1986: The Saturday morning airings end.
• 24 March 1987: Tom Baker returns.
• By February 1991, Doctor Who had been dropped.

Media

CLIP: EARLY 1990s PROMO

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Carbondale

WSIU

Channel 8 (PBS) (Southern Illinois University)

Channel 16 (translator station in Olney)

• 1983: As early as June aired daily at 5:30pm.
• 23 November 1983: The Five Doctors airs at 7pm.
• 1 August 1984: The Peter Davison stories air.
• December 1984: The 1983 Jon Pertwee package begins.
• 27 March 1985: The 1985 Jon Pertwee package begins, with only the "new" episodes airing.
• 7 June 1985: Tom Baker returns.
• 3 February 1986: The Peter Davison stories air.
• 16 May 1986: All Jon Pertwee episodes air in order.
• 28 November 1986: The series stops airing.
• 1987: WSIU had been screening the series for about five years.

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Peoria

WTVP

Channel 47 (PBS)

• 23 November 1983: First airing of The Five Doctors.
• 3 December 1983: The Five Doctors is repeated - unless this is the first screening, and the 23 November 1983 airdate (above) is incorrect?

• 1988?: The 24 repackaged Jon Pertwee stories may have screened as early as 1988, with a repeat in 1990. If not, then the 1990 run was the first:

• 22 June 1990: The Jon Pertwee stories screen in the omnibus format (either a repeat - see note above - or for the first time), starting with Spearhead from Space.
  • July 1990: The Mind of Evil screens.
  • 3 August 1990: The Claws of Axos screens.
  • 31 August 1990: The Curse of Peladon screens.
  • 7 September 1990: An Unearthly Child and The Five Doctors air as a "Double Feature Pledge Drive" special.
  • 14 September 1990: The Sea Devils screens.
  • 7 December 1990: The Pertwee era comes to an end, with Planet of the Spiders.
  • 6 September 1991: After a year-long break (the slot was replaced with Blake's 7), the series recommenced, starting with Robot, running through to the Sylvester McCoy era, although some stories were skipped.
  • July or August 1992: The recently recovered The Tomb of the Cybermen screens.
  • 20 November 1992: Survival screens.
  • January 1993: The William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton eras screen: The Ark and The Mind Robber air in January.
  • June 1993: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy aired; this might have been the last serial to screen on WTVP.

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Charleston

WEIU

Channel 51 (PBS) (Eastern Illinois University)

• Began after WILL stopped its run.

Links

• WYIN (Channel 56, Gary)