1963 AFL Season

See also 1963 NFL Season.

As originally written by Tim Brulia:

No major changes from 1962 for coverage, but a couple of AFL teams made changes. The Dallas Texans relocate to become the Kansas City Chiefs and the New York Titans become the the New York Jets.

AFL WEEK 1, 1963:

Saturday 9/7:

Raiders-Oilers, 10:00, Not televised.

Chiefs-Broncos, 10:00, KMBC-Kansas City. Pat Petree

Sunday 9/8:

Jets-Patriots, 2:00, ABC. Curt Gowdy, Paul Christman

Bills-Chargers, 4:30, ABC. Jack Buck, George Ratterman

AFL WEEK 2, 1963:

Saturday 9/14:

Broncos-Oilers, *9:00, Not televised

Patriots-Chargers, 11:00, Not televised

Sunday 9/15:

Bills-Raiders, 4:30, ABC. Jack Buck, George Ratterman

Not playing: Chiefs, Jets

AFL WEEK 3, 1963:

Sunday 9/22:

Oilers-Jets, 2:00, ABC. Charlie Jones

Chiefs-Bills, 2:00, ABC. Curt Gowdy, Paul Christman

Patriots-Raiders, 4:30, ABC. Jack Buck, George Ratterman

Not playing: Broncos, Chargers

AFL WEEK 4, 1963:

Saturday 9/28:

Oilers-Bills, 8:00, Not televised

Raiders-Jets, 8:00, Not televised

Sunday 9/29:

Patriots-Broncos, 4:30, ABC. Jack Buck, George Ratterman

Chiefs-Chargers, 4:30, ABC. Curt Gowdy, Paul Christman

AFL WEEK 5, 1963:

Saturday 10/5:

Patriots-Jets, 8:00, Not televised

Raiders-Bills, 8:00, Not televised

Sunday 10/6:

Oilers-Chiefs, 3:30, ABC. Curt Gowdy, Paul Christman

Chargers-Broncos, 4:30, ABC. Jack Buck, George Ratterman

AFL WEEK 6, 1963:

Friday 10/11:

Raiders-Patriots, 8:00, Not televised

Sunday 10/13:

Bills-Chiefs, 3:30, ABC. Jack Buck, George Ratterman

Oilers-Broncos, 3:30, ABC. Charlie Jones

Jets-Chargers, 4:30, ABC. Curt Gowdy, Paul Christman

AFL WEEK 7, 1963:

Friday 10/18:

Broncos-Patriots, 8:00, Not televised

Sunday 10/20:

Bills-Oilers, 3:30, ABC. Jack Buck, George Ratterman

Chargers-Chiefs, 3:30, ABC. Charlie Jones

Jets-Raiders, 4:30, ABC. Curt Gowdy, Paul Christman

AFL WEEK 8, 1963:

Saturday 10/26:

Patriots-Bills, 8:00, Not televised

Broncos-Jets, 8:00, Not televised

Sunday 10/27:

Chiefs-Oilers, 3:30, ABC. Curt Gowdy, Paul Christman

Raiders-Chargers, 4:30, ABC. Jack Buck, George Ratterman

AFL WEEK 9, 1963:

Friday 11/1:

Oilers-Patriots, 8:00, Not televised

Saturday 11/2:

Chargers-Jets, 8:00, Not televised

Sunday 11/3:

Bills-Broncos, 3:30, ABC. Curt Gowdy, Paul Christman

Chiefs-Raiders, 4:30, ABC. Charlie Jones, Max Boydston

AFL WEEK 10, 1963:

Friday 11/8:

Raiders-Chiefs, 7:30, Not televised

Saturday 11/9:

Broncos-Bills, 8:00, Not televised

Sunday 11/10:

Chargers-Patriots, 2:00, ABC. Jack Buck, George Ratterman

Jets-Oilers, 3:30, ABC. Curt Gowdy, Paul Christman

AFL WEEK 11, 1963:

Sunday 11/17:

Chiefs-Patriots, 2:00, ABC. Jack Buck, George Ratterman

Chargers-Bills, 2:00, ABC. Charlie Jones

Jets-Broncos, 3:30, ABC. Curt Gowdy, Paul Christman

Not playing: Oilers, Raiders

AFL WEEK 12, 1963:

Sunday 11/24:

All games postponed

AFL WEEK 12, 1963:

Thursday 11/28:

Raiders-Broncos, 3:30, ABC. Curt Gowdy, Paul Christman

Sunday 12/1:

Bills-Patriots, 2:00, ABC. Charlie Jones

Chiefs-Jets, 2:00, ABC. Jack Buck, George Ratterman

Oilers-Chargers, 4:30, ABC. Curt Gowdy, Paul Christman

Note: With the postponement of the 11/24 games, the AFL reshuffled the remainder of the 1963 schedule.

AFL WEEK 13, 1963:

Sunday 12/8:

Jets-Bills, 2:00, ABC. Jack Buck, George Ratterman

Patriots-Oilers, 3:30, ABC. Curt Gowdy, Paul Christman

Broncos-Chiefs, 3:30, KBTV-Denver/ABC. Bill Reed

Chargers-Raiders, 4:30, ABC. Charlie Jones, Max Boydston

AFL WEEK 14, 1963:

Saturday 12/14:

Patriots-Chiefs, 2:00, ABC. Curt Gowdy, Paul Christman

Bills-Jets, 2:00, ABC. Jack Buck, George Ratterman

Sunday 12/15:

Chargers-Oilers, 3:30, ABC. Curt Gowdy, Paul Christman

Broncos-Raiders, 4:30, ABC. Jack Buck, George Ratterman

AFL WEEK 15, 1963:

Sunday 12/22:

Jets-Chiefs, 2:00, ABC. Curt Gowdy, Paul Christman

Broncos-Chargers, 4:30, KBTV-Denver/ABC. Charlie Jones, Max Boydston

Oilers-Raiders, 4:30, ABC. Jack Buck, George Ratterman

Not playing: Patriots, Bills

1963 AFL Eastern Division Playoff (Tie-Breaker):

Saturday 12/28: Patriots-Bills, 1:00, ABC. Jack Buck, George Ratterman

1963 AFL Championship:

Sunday 1/5: Patriots-Chargers, 4:30, ABC. Curt Gowdy, Paul Christman

AFL All-Star Game in San Diego:

Sunday 1/19: East-West, 4:30, ABC. Curt Gowdy, George Ratterman

Local Radio/TV

Originally written by garretta and Jeff Haggar

AFL Eastern Division:

Boston Patriots: WEEI-AM is in the first year of a three-year contract as the team's flagship radio station; it will feed games to a ten-station network throughout New England. Bob Gallagher and Fred Cusick will call the action. Sponsors are Zayre Department Stores, the Lincoln-Mercury Dealers of New England, and Schaefer Beer. The local ABC television affiliate is WNAC-TV.

Buffalo Bills: WBEN-AM is the flagship station of a seven-station radio network in Pennsylvania and New York. Iriquois Brewing will sponsor one half of each game; the other half will be sold locally. The announcers are Van Miller and Ralph Hubbell. The local ABC affiliate is WKBW-TV.

New York Jets: WHN-AM 1050 was the 1963 radio flagship of the Jets. Bob Murphy and Monte Irvin were the announcers. Games will be seen locally on WABC-TV.

Houston Oilers: KXYZ-AM is the flagship of a ten-station network that will televise all nineteen Oilers games, including exhibitions, Hamm's Beer is the exclusive sponsor, with Frank Fallon and Al Jamieson calling the action. The local ABC affiliate is KTRK-TV.

Now for the Western Division:

San Diego Chargers: KFMB-AM is the flagship station of a network numbering about twelve stations. Sponsors are Union Oil of California and Home Federal Savings and Loan Association of San Diego. The package also includes fifteen-minute pregame and postgame shows. Lyle Bond and Lute Mason are the announcers. The local ABC affiliate is XETV Tijuana, Mexico.

Oakland Raiders: KDIA-AM is the only station carrying games. Bob Blum is the announcer, The local ABC affiliate is KGO-TV.

(The article says that sponsorship of Raiders games is being sold on a participation basis. Is that another way of saying that spots are sold individually, the way they are today?)

Kansas City Chiefs: KCMO-AM heads a twenty-seven station network in Missouri; Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Iowa. All fourteen regular season games and two exhibition games will be broadcast. Confirmed sponsors at press time include Schlitz Beer, Chrysler Corporation, and Interstate Securities. Pregame and postgame shows will be sponsored by Businessman's Assurance Company and local bottlers of Coca-Cola. Merle Harmon and Bill Grigsby will call the action. The local ABC affiliate is KMBC-TV.

The Chiefs-Broncos game on September 7 was locally telecast by KMBC-TV. Pat Petree called the play-by-play; no color analyst is liisted.

Denver Broncos: The fifteen-station radio network is led by KBTR-AM. Sponsors are Site Oil Company, Rainbo Bread. Ward Terry, and Johnny Haas Mercury. Pregame Warmup and Post Game Feature are locally sponsored. Lee Harris and Al Helfer will call the action. ABC affiliate KBTV will not only televise all Broncos games, but produce the six games that will come from Denver,

KOA-TV Denver will air Broncos Highlights, a one-hour Saturday afternoon program in color hosted by John Henry that will feature interviews plus footage from the previous week's game. It will begin August 10 and run through December 22. Winter reruns will begin January 18,

(Does anybody know who or what Ward Terry is? I Googled the name, but couldn't find out anything,)