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Binding Words was a television series aired on Chicago’s WCIU-TV for two seasons in 1964. With Don Cornelius starring as Elijah Wilson, a father and news reporter focusing on the African-American Civil Rights Movement. This was WCIU-TV’s first attempt at creating serialized programming. Although only two seasons of 20 episodes, with a 50-minute runtime each, was aired, the show was praised by its small audience, consisting mostly of African-American Chicagoans, for addressing current issues concerning them in a way that challenged the status quo. The program was cancelled by a variety of reasons, but most notoriously was due to the lack of funding.

History

Chicago’s WCIU-TV started airing on February 6, 1964, on UHF Channel 26. WCIU-TV characterized itself for airing programming targeted at racial and ethnic minorities in Chicago. One of their earliest projects that the station had been developing for months before WCIU-TV began transmissions was a fiction series targeted that closely followed the Civil Rights Movement.

The executive producers of the show wanted Don Cornelius, who was at the time a local radio host, to star in it. Although Cornelius was hesitant when he first was offered the part, he accepted the role after a few days.

The first episode was aired on March 6, 1964, exactly a month after WCIU-TV started airing. The episode was meant to air on the week following the inauguration of the station at a time closer to primetime, but the telecast’s premiere was delayed due to some issues during post-production. Binding Words aired weekly from March until July of the following year when it was cancelled. The program aired in the time slot following the nightly newscast. For the second season, the airtime was moved to the time slot prior to the newscast in hopes to attract a larger audience.

Cast

Don Cornelius as Elijah Wilson – a journalist and news reporter who struggles to keep a balance between his family and his job on reporting the development of the Civil Rights Movements and uncovering those who stand in the way of progress. This has caused him to make enemies, both in the political sphere and at the workplace. However, Alfred Wright, the news director at the station, constantly advocates for him and keeps the station manager from firing him.

Diahann Carroll as Michelle Wilson – Elijah’s wife. Prudent, down to earth, and meticulous. Advises Elijah and keeps his feet on the ground for his (and their family’s) own safety. Not only did she work at a tailor shop, but she was also a housewife.

Alfa Anderson as Luci Wilson – Elijah’s and Michelle’s young daughter. Fourth grader at a recently desegregated school after the 1963 Chicago School Boycott.

Barry Dennen as Alfred Wright – News director at the station where Elijah works. Although he was a supporter of the Civil Rights Movement, he constantly tried to keep Elijah away from trouble, which meant also keeping himself away from trouble with the station manager, as well as some enemies that Elijah had made along the way. However, more often than not, he gives in to Elijah’s pressure.

Critical and Popular Reception

Binding Words met with mild success among critics as well as in ratings. While most critics agreed that having Don Cornelius in front of the show was a good decision. His solemn yet interesting personality fit well into that of Elijah Wilson. However, the critics were not impressed by the script. Their main issue was that the series attempted to get a grasp of a reality far too complex for 50-minute episodes that aired once a week. Its breadth was too much for the size of the station and its available resources. The project was too ambitious for the few resources WCIU had available.

Although the program’s audience was small, its comments were positive, especially from African-Americans. They were very pleased to see their race represented by characters with personalities, far from the harmfully stereotypical characters used to represent Blacks and other minorities . At the time, this was almost revolutionary.

Among Binding Words’ audience there was also a small portion of Caucasians of higher income with a higher level of education. This was later determined to be unintentionally part of the phenomenon lead by NBC to create content that appealed to a “quality audience,” consisting of people of the previously described demographic group that were interested in programming with a higher level of complexity and awareness of current events .

Cancellation

Binding Words was initially sponsored by Sears, Roebuck & Co., but after the first month a few more sponsors bought advertising slots during the show. This was enough to make a small profit out of the first season and cover less than half of the budget for a second season. Regardless of that, Binding Words was renewed for another season, hoping to attract more sponsors. This was not the wises decision, given the mild success of the series and its limited budget, as well as its controversial nature. Still, WCIU-TV had faith that audiences and sponsors would gain more interest in a second season. The schedule was changed so Binding Words would be aired in the afternoon before the nightly newscast in hopes that this would increase its visibility to a wider audience.

However, this was not enough to save the show. The growth in rating was far below from what had been projected before the second season premiered, and no profit was made form the second season. This caused sponsors to withdraw one by one from the show. After the second season ended, Sears, Roebuck & Co. withdrew its sponsorship, too. Given that Sear’s sponsorship was the most substantial and funded most of the program, it had to be cancelled.

To its cast and small audience, the cancellation of Binding Words was a hard blow. The show was one of the few things on TV that humanized their people.

Cornelius went back to hosting WCIU radio programs. Coincidentally, he would end up reporting the news for WCIU’s A Black’s View on the News a couple of years later. In 1971, he would become the legendary host and creative mind behind Soul Train.

Influence

Binding Words is mostly forgotten due to its underwhelming success and short running time of only two seasons. However, once the CFL won the contest for Channel 38 in June 1968 among their plans was to air a show similar to Binding Words, but in a smaller scale to accommodate their limited resources. However, this project never aired since WCFL-TV never came into existence despite the years of competition for Channel 38.

Disappearance

Most of the episodes were simply lost, and many of them were discarded because the reels being damaged due to poor storage practices. Fourteen episodes remain in fair condition after WCIU-TV recently digitized the reels and made the episodes available in their online archive.

Works Cited

Alvey, M. (2007). "Too Many Kids and Old Ladies": Quality Demographics and 1960s U.S. Television. In H. Newcomb, Television: the critical view (p. 20). New York: Oxford University Press.

Godfried, N. (2007). Identity, Power, and Local Television: African Americans, Organized Labor, and UHF-TV in Chicago, 1962-1968. In H. Newcomb, Television: the critical view (pp. 107, 108, 122). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.