1965 AFL Season
See also 1965 NFL Season.
As originally written by Tim Brulia:
NBC would begin coverage of the AFL after the "other league's" previous five years on ABC.
*as always, this means that the commentator is unconfirmed.
National Television
PRESEASON
Sunday 8/8: Bills-Patriots, 2:00, NBC. Charlie Jones, Paul Christman
Sunday 8/15: Chargers-Chiefs, 3:30, NBC. Charlie Jones, Paul Christman
Saturday 8/21: Bills-Jets (Piscataway, NJ), 2:00, NBC. Curt Gowdy, Paul Christman
Sunday 8/22: Chiefs-Raiders, 4:00, NBC. Herb Carneal, Andy Robustelli
AFL WEEK 1, 1965:
Saturday 9/11:
Patriots-Bills, 8:00, Not televised.
Broncos-Chargers, 11:00, Not televised.
Sunday 9/12:
Jets-Oilers, 2:00, NBC. Curt Gowdy, Paul Christman (C)
Chiefs-Raiders, 4:30, Not televised.
AFL WEEK 2, 1965:
Saturday 9/18:
Chiefs-Jets, 8:00, Not televised.
Sunday 9/19:
Patriots-Oilers, 2:30, NBC. Curt Gowdy, Paul Christman (C)
Bills-Broncos, 4:30, NBC. Herb Carneal, Andy Robustelli (C)
Chargers-Raiders, 4:30, NBC. Bill O'Donnell, George Ratterman (C)
AFL WEEK 3, 1965:
Friday 9/24:
Broncos-Patriots, 8:00, Not televised.
Sunday 9/26:
Jets-Bills, 2:00, NBC. Curt Gowdy, Paul Christman (C)
Oilers-Raiders, 4:30, NBC. Herb Carneal, Andy Robustelli
Chiefs-Chargers, 4:30, NBC. Charlie Jones, George Ratterman (C)
AFL WEEK 4, 1965:
Sunday 10/3:
Raiders-Bills, 2:00, NBC. Herb Carneal, Andy Robustelli (C)
Patriots-Chiefs, 2:30, NBC. Bill O'Donnell, Elmer Angsman
Oilers-Chargers, 4:30, NBC. Charlie Jones, George Ratterman
Jets-Broncos, 4:30, NBC. Curt Gowdy, Paul Christman (C)
AFL WEEK 5, 1965:
Friday 10/8:
Raiders-Patriots, 8:00, Not televised
Sunday 10/10:
Chargers-Bills, Noon, NBC. Curt Gowdy, Paul Christman (C)
Chiefs-Broncos, 4:30, WDAF-Kansas City. Charlie Jones, Ken Case
Not playing: Oilers, Jets
Notes:
World Series played at Dodger Stadium this weekend on NBC. This season begins many many occasions through the years of October Sunday NBC telecasts that would be forced to shift to local stations and productions due to NBC's commitment to postseason baseball.
AFL WEEK 6, 1965:
Saturday 10/16:
Raiders-Jets, 8:00, Not televised
Sunday 10/17:
Chargers-Patriots, 2:00, NBC. Herb Carneal, Andy Robustelli
Bills-Chiefs, 3:00, NBC. Curt Gowdy, Paul Christman (C)
Oilers-Broncos, 4:30, NBC. Charlie Jones, George Ratterman
AFL WEEK 7, 1965:
Saturday 10/23:
Chargers-Jets, 8:00, Not televised
Sunday 10/24:
Broncos-Bills, 2:00, NBC. Curt Gowdy, Paul Christman (C)
Chiefs-Oilers, 2:30, NBC. Charlie Jones, George Ratterman (C)
Patriots-Raiders, 4:30, NBC. Herb Carneal, Andy Robustelli
AFL WEEK 8, 1965:
Sunday 10/31:
Broncos-Jets, 1:00, NBC. Curt Gowdy, Paul Christman (C)
Oilers-Bills, 2:00, NBC. Herb Carneal, Andy Robustelli (C)
Raiders-Chiefs, 2:30, NBC. Bill O'Donnell, Elmer Angsman
Patriots-Chargers, 4:30, NBC. Charlie Jones, George Ratterman (C)
AFL WEEK 9, 1965:
Sunday 11/7:
Bills-Patriots, 2:00, NBC. Herb Carneal, Andy Robustelli
Jets-Chiefs, 2:30, NBC. Curt Gowdy, Paul Christman (C)
Raiders-Oilers, 2:30, NBC. Bill O'Donnell, Elmer Angsman
Chargers-Broncos, 3:30, NBC. Charlie Jones, George Ratterman (C)
AFL WEEK 10, 1965:
Sunday 11/14:
Jets-Patriots, 2:00, NBC. Curt Gowdy, Paul Christman (C)
Broncos-Oilers, 2:30, NBC. Bill O'Donnell, Elmer Angsman
Chargers-Chiefs, 2:30, NBC. Charlie Jones, George Ratterman (C)
Bills-Raiders, 4:30, NBC. Herb Carneal, Andy Robustelli
AFL WEEK 11, 1965:
Sunday 11/21:
Oilers-Jets, 1:00, NBC. Curt Gowdy, Paul Christman (C)
Chiefs-Patriots, 2:00, NBC. Herb Carneal, Andy Robustelli
Raiders-Broncos, 3:30, NBC. Charlie Jones, George Ratterman (C)
Not playing: Bills, Chargers
AFL WEEK 12, 1965:
Thursday 11/25:
Bills-Chargers, 4:30, NBC. Curt Gowdy, Paul Christman (C)
Sunday 11/28:
Patriots-Jets, 1:00, NBC. Curt Gowdy, Paul Christman (C)
Oilers-Chiefs, 2:30, NBC. Herb Carneal, Andy Robustelli
Not playing: Broncos, Raiders
AFL WEEK 13, 1965:
Saturday 12/4:
Jets-Chargers, 4:30, NBC. Curt Gowdy, Paul Christman (C)
Sunday 12/5:
Bills-Oilers, 2:00, NBC. Herb Carneal, Andy Robustelli
Broncos-Raiders, 4:30, NBC. Curt Gowdy, Paul Chirstman (C)
Not playing: Patriots, Chiefs
AFL WEEK 14, 1965:
Sunday 12/12:
Chiefs-Bills, 2:00, NBC. Herb Carneal, Andy Robustelli (C)
Chargers-Oilers, 2:30, NBC. Charlie Jones, George Ratterman
Patriots-Broncos, 3:30, NBC. Bill O'Donnell, Elmer Angsman
Jets-Raiders, 4:30, NBC. Curt Gowdy, Paul Christman, Tom Pettit (C)
Note that NBC News coverage of Gemini 6 and Gemini 7 space missions caused some interruption and split screen coverage for all games.
AFL WEEK 15, 1965:
Saturday 12/18:
Oilers-Patriots, 1:00, NBC. Curt Gowdy, Paul Christman (C)
Sunday 12/19:
Bills-Jets, 1:00, NBC. Curt Gowdy, Paul Christman (C)
Broncos-Chiefs, 2:30, NBC. Charlie Jones, George Ratterman
Raiders-Chargers, 4:30, NBC. Herb Carneal, Andy Robustelli
1965 AFL Championship Game:
Sunday 12/26: Bills-Chargers, 4:30, NBC. Curt Gowdy, Paul Christman, Charlie Jones (C)
AFL All-Star Game in Houston:
Saturday 1/15: Bills-All Stars, 1:30, NBC. Curt Gowdy, Paul Christman, Charlie Jones (C)
Local Radio/TV Crews
Originally written by garretta
Now let's look at 1965 in the AFL East. We'll start with radio:
Jets: WABC-AM is in the second year of a five-year contract to be the Jets' exclusive radio station. Sponsors are Carling Brewing Company, Midas Mufflers, First City National Bank, and the New York Dodge Dealers. Merle Harmon and Otto Graham will be on the call. Graham will also host a ten-minute postgame show sponsored by the House of Worsted-Tex (men's clothiers). Howard Cosell will host the ten-minute pregame show, also sponsored by Worsted-Tex.
Patriots: WEEI-AM is in the final year of their five-year contract. There will be no radio network this year. All nineteen scheduled games will be carried. Ballantine Beer and the local Lincoln-Mercury Dealers will each sponsor one-quarter of each game; the other quarters are open. The ten-minute postgame show will be hosted by color analyst Fred Cusick and sponsored by Worsted-Tex. The pregame show, which features play-by-play man Ned Martin and Patriots coach Mike Holovak, remains unsponsored at press time. George Sullivan will join Martin and Cusick in the booth.
(Was George Sullivan related to the Sullivan family that owned the Patriots? It wouldn't be the first time that a member of an owner or coach's family mysteriously ended up in the broadcast booth. Does anybody else remember George Paterno at Penn State? To be fair, he was a pretty successful small college coach.)
Bills: WBEN-AM will be he flagship of a network that of at least ten stations. As many as seventeen could be signed before the season starts. Van Miller and Ralph Hubbell will describe the action. Marine Trust Company of Western New York will be the sole sponsor of the games on WBEN, and its various branches will buy time on their local network stations, What they don't buy will be sold to other local businesses. Miller will host both the pregame Kickoff show and the postgame Scoreboard show. Kickoff will be sponsored on the full network by Milk for Health on the Niagara Frontier, while Scoreboard will be sold locally. On WBEN it will be sponsored by Tobin Packing Company.
Oilers: KILT-AM will carry the five exhibition games exclusively and serve as the flagship station of a radio network for regular-season games that was still forming at press time. Phillips Petroleum will sponsor one half of each game; the other half will be sold locally. The pre- and postgame shows will air on KILT only and will be sponsored by Jacobs-Pearson Ford. Bill Enis will call play-by-play, with Al Jamison handling color.
Now on to television:
Jets: WOR-TV (Channel 9) will show all five exhibition games, four of them live and one on tape. Three-quarters of each game will be sponsored by Rheingold Beer, with the other quarter sponsored by Thom McAn. Clure Mosher and Les Smith are your announcers. The New York NBC station is WNBC-TV, which will air the team's August 21 games against the Bills at Rutgers University. Kickoff is at 2PM Eastern, with Curt Gowdy and Paul Christman on the call.
(For any of you New Yorkers out there, please tell us anything you can about Clure Mosher and Les Smith.)
Bills: WKBW-TV will carry one exhibition game. Marine Trust will sponsor one half, with another quarter sponsored by Kohler Beer. The other quarter wasn't sold at press time. Rick Azar will call the play-by-play. The Buffalo NBC station is WGR-TV, which isn't planning any pregame or postgame shows. It will, however, air two network telecasts of Bills preseason games: August 8 against the Patriots in Boston and August 21 against the Jets at Rutgers University in Piscataway, New Jersey.
Patriots: The Boston NBC station is WBZ-TV. No pregame or postgame shows are planned. There are also no plans to televise any exhibition games outside of the network telecast of the Pats' August 8 home game against the Bills. See the AFL West post under "NBC" for further information.
Oilers: KPRC-TV, which will broadcast the Oilers' regular-season games this season as the local NBC affiliate, will also televise four preseason games, three live and one on tape delay. Hamm's Beer will sponsor half of each game, with another quarter sponsored by the Houston Dodge Dealers. The remaining quarter is unsold at press time. John Ferguson and Dick Maegle will call the action. There are no plans for pre- or postgame shows.
Now let's look at the AFL West in 1965. We begin with television:
Broncos: The Denver NBC station is KOA-TV. The station is working on plans for a postgame show.
Chiefs: The Kansas City NBC station is WDAF-TV. There are no plans for either pre- or postgame shows, but WDAF plans to carry two exhibition games. Interstate Securities will be a partial sponsor. Charlie Jones, Ken Case, and John Henry will call the action. WDAF will also carry the October 10 game in Denver against the Broncos. Kickoff is at 3:30 PM Central, with Jones and Case on the call. It will also carry the network telecasts of two other Chiefs preseason games: August 15's home game at Municipal Stadium against the Chargers and August 22's road game against the Raiders in Oakland, for which information is provided below. Kickoff for the Augus5 15 game is 3:30 PM Eastern; Jones will be joined in the booth by Pail Christman.
Raiders: The NBC station in the Bay Area is KRON-TV. There are no plans for either pre- or postgame shows. KRON will air the network telecast of the Raiders' home game against the Chiefs on August 22.
Chargers: The NBC station in San Diego is KOGO-TV. KOGO will carry a thirty-minute show in color called Charger Hi-Lites before NBC's college game on Saturday. Lakens Pontiac will sponsor half the show; the other half is open. AFL Highlights, which is also in color, will air before the Sunday AFL games. KOGO will also air the network telecast of the Chargers' preseason game against the Chiefs in Kansas City on August 15.
KFMB-TV is producing a documentary on the team that will air in September, and will also show a five-minute highlight show every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday nights during the season.
KTLA-TV Los Angeles will air three Saturday night exhibition games live. Sponsors will be Carter Products, Tree Sweet Products, Tidewater Oil and Bristol-Myers. Dick Enberg will call the action.
Now for local radio:
Raiders: KDIA-AM will carry every scheduled game to thirteen California stations. The Northern California Sheet Metal Contractors will sponsor half of each game; another quarter will be sponsored by Guild Wine, with the remaining quarter being sold locally. Play-by-play man Bob Blum will host the pre- and postgame shows, which are sponsored alternately by Dahl Chevrolet and Grand Auto Stores. Dan Galvin will be the color analyst.
Chargers: KFMB-AM has signed a new four-year contract to continue as the team's flagship. There are no plans for a network at the moment. Home Federal Savings and Loan Association has signed to be a sponsor for the next four years, and they'll be joined for this year by Union Oil. Half of each pre- and postgame show will be sponsored by the San Diego County Plynouth Dealers; the other half is unsigned at press time. Lyle Bond and Tobin Rote are your announcers.
Broncos: KTLK-AM is the flagship of the thirty-three station Intermountain Network, which covers stations in Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, and Nebraska. The games will be sponsored by the local RCA Dealers and Humble Oil. Joe Finan and Bib Martin will call the action. Both men will also host postgame shows for local sponsorship, and Finan will host a pregame show, also for local sponsorship.
Chiefs: KCMO-AM heads the team's radio network, which has grown from seventeen stations to forty thanks to new affiliates in Missouri, Kanas, and Oklahoma. All five exhibition games and fourteen regular-season games will be carried. Sponsors include Schlitz Beer, interstate Securities, and Fairmont Country Club Dairy. Tom Hedrick and Bill Grigsby will call the games. Businessmen's Assurance Company will sponsor the pregame show, and Casa de Montez Restaurants will sponsor the postgame show.