October 1983 WDCA commercials

Taken from a number of Twilight Zone reruns.
1. Godfather's Pizza
2. W. Bell & Co.
3. Washington Area Datsun Dealers
4. Brainstorm movie trailer
5. People Magazine
6. Templeton Oldsmobile (Tysons Corner, VA)
7. Top Hat/The Maltese Falcon/Force 10/Moby Dick/Mister Roberts From Navarone promos (these aired the week of October 17-21 which was the following weak after this aired)
8. Rumble Fish trailer
9. Bradlees
10. JKJ Chevrolet
11. Z-BEC
12. Aunt Jemina
13. Colonial Williamsburg
14. Another Washington Area Datsun Dealers
15. Rebecca promo
16. Alpo
17. Kemp Mill Records (Rockville, MD featuring Michael Jackson's Thriller)
18. Another Brainstorm trailer
19. Halls
20. SeaGalley
21. Kuppenheimer
22. WGAY 99.5 FM (that same frequency on that dial in the DC area sounds NOTHING like that today!)
23. Jaclyn Smith for Holiday Fitness
24. Another Bradlees
25. Another JKJ Chevrolet
26. Force 10/From Navarone/The Great Train Robbery/From Noon Till Three/Bullitt promos
27. E.P.T.
28. Another People Magazine
29. Peoples Drug
30. Robitussin
31. The Dead Zone trailer
32. Renault Encore
33. The Bionic Woman/Battlestar Galactica/Buck Rogers promos
34. Eckrich Cheese Smoked Sausage
35. Jockey
36. Another Kemp Mill Records
37. 1984 Chrysler Laser XE
38. Mister Roberts promo
39. Another SeaGalley
40. The Osterman Weekend trailer
41. Dodge
42. Sinutab
43. (Mistakenly, WDCA used a Benny Hill bumper here!) Rosenthal Datsun/Honda
44. Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore/Lillies Of The Field/The Devil's Brigade/How To steal A Million promos
45. Fairfax Audubon Society
46. Sadat promo
47. The Caddy/Pardners/The American Diary promos
48. Bold 3
49. Sure
50. Jim Palmer for Jockey underwear at Hecht's (congratulations Baltimore Orioles for your World Series win!)
51. Sanford and Son promo (WDCA was essentially the "used car station")
52. Oen more SeaGalley
53. Pizza Hut
54. Woodbridge Lincoln-Mercury
55. (same as #42)
56. Speed Unlimited
57. (same as #3)
58. How To Steal A Million promo
59. One more Kemp Mill Records featuring The Stray Cats Rant 'n Rave
60. Another Oldsmobile
61. One more People Magazine
62. One more Washington Area Datsun Dealers
63. Circuit City
64. Phantasm: a Count Gore De Vol Halloween Special promo (before Creature Feature was made into a regular series!)
65. All The Right Moves trailer
66. Family Circle magazine
67. Another Godfather's Pizza
68. Ford
69. Twilight Zone closing credits with The American Diary, Part 3/Alfred Hitchcock Presents voiceover promos
70. Gold Pin Fun Centers (bowling)
71. Another Woodbridge Lincoln-Mercury
72. Mr. Lucky promo
73. Motown 50 direct offer

[@edwardconboy2896]

Every time I watch this video it makes me homesick. Brings back memories of Falls Church VA growing up in the 80s. I often fantasize about buying my grandparents old house on Chestnut Ave. My grandfather bought it for $14,000.00 in 1959 and raised his children and grandchildren in that house and lived there until his death in 2002. It was sold soon after. I wish I could turn back time.

[@celestialstarseed111]

Me too. I miss growing up in Colesville in the 70's and 80's.

[@SeanKellyPastor]

hey neighbor, grew up in Leesburg, and these commercials bring back tons of memories

[@nikidash5607]

Similar story. Grandparents lived in Falls Church, my parents live in Fairfax. I often stay up late alone watching these old ads just thinking. Lol man, sounds depressing when I type it out and read it.

[@bmorefunnyman1]

The Nissan/Datsun Commercial was filmed at Bel-Loc Diner in Towson, MD.

[@ellemjay]

The only ones I remember besides Templeton Oldsmobile are Kemp Mill Records (who could forget that one) and "Raise your hand if you're Sure."

[@suffix345]

I grew up watching WDCA, one of my favorite channels. Thanks

[@swetldy99]

thanks this is the best! I grew up on WDCA 🙂

[@edwardconboy2896]

Brings back memories of growing up in falls Church VA in the early 80s.

[@mauricelang3381]

so many memories growing up in the DMV

[@kevinpatrickmacnutt]

The fact that there was a Count Gore DeVol, a play on Gore Vidal, TV was slightly smarter back then.

[@Odawg96]

Aahh...the WDCA of my childhood. Not Paramount, not UPN, not My20...just plain old Channel 20. This has the Kemp Mill records comnercials with the coked-out guy's voice! In the fall of 1983 my time in Alexandria, VA was winding down. After Christmas, it was back overseas for another tour of the Med with my dad!

[@viiktorshandor4155]

wow kemp mill lol i used to go to one in silver spring

[@sAsSnacks]

Mr. Pannoni is the last bastion of true Nostalgia and obviously an active pioneer in the evolution of the time machine that started with cave drawings, on to paintings, photographs, the motion picture as well as recording and storage enhancements from the vhs and beta to hard drives and the most recent evolution of the project, youtube. Onward to physical time travel. You can't travel back in time? You Will.

[@michaela.mccracken4461]

all those Motown songs in this 2 minute ad were soul-tastic!

[@newstarcadefan]

Yup this was shortly before the FCC allowed full-on program length ads. Before then, direct response ads could only be two minutes. Though cable networks, and stations that run very few paid, program length ads still do the practice. I also noticed something. This must have been from a Twilight Zone marathon.

[@newstarcadefan]

pannoni4 That makes a lot of sense. Thanks for that timely answer.

[@ericspero996]

We got WDCA all the way up in Scotland, PA back in the early 1980s. Watching shows like Voltron, Robotech, Transformers, G.I. Joe, and GoBots after school, movies on the weekends. I remember some of these commercials.

[@pannoni8449]

Not surprising since the more hilly terrain combined with the low UHF channel no. allowed for better reception compared to say Channel 69 in Allentown (note: there were never any UHF channels actually used from 70-83!)

[@ericspero996]

@@pannoni8449 Depending on the weather we would sometimes struggle to get WDCA with the old school tv antenna on the roof.

[@phillipmiller9725]

Just wierd to see how we dressed and how EVERYTHING was basic well time to build my time machine ...

[@edwardconboy2896]

I remember watching WDCA on a old turn dial tv when we lived in The Quarry Inn Motel in falls church. I remember mamas family, Alice, Benny Hill among other shows. I also remember Ch 45 on cable but i cant find any videos for that station for this time era

[@pannoni8449]

The earliest WBFF footage I have is from 1985, but that was still pre-Fox. Their commercial breaks for movies often lasted just around a minute long. Five and six minute breaks weren't uncommon in the major market stations, especially once Fox was launched.

[@GeorgeLiquor]

11:16 I guess we're not going to talk about this

[@BernardChelgren]

Loved old school WDCA! Thanks for posting these!

[@bigguys45s29]

When, “Thriller” came out, that was just it. Totally legendary shit!

[@darrellmfume3513]

Man, what an album that was, and still is. Quincy Jones, Rod Temperton, and Michael Jackson. Put there foot in making that album.

[@monkeywkeys3916]

Godfathers pizza was great in my hometown back then.

[@elcartero4964]

Old school Kemp Mill spot at 8:33 - I needed a smile! And I'd completely forgotten that Sea Galley existed.

[@hopegrimsley3427]

It’s really cool to see the Colonial Williamsburg commercial. I went there several times as a child.

[@AnniePA1960]

Before it was a theme park

[@okaypearl]

michael jackson ❤️

[@speedysteve9121]

Now I want to find Brainstorm

[@luisreyes1963]

I'm sure it's on DVD.

[@billybarnett2846]

Used to love this station when I was a kid. Afternoon cartoons, Saturday noon karate movies, and Tarzan movies on Sunday mornings.

[@DJTI99]

OMG!!! Kemp Mill Records! I remember those ads.

[@Oppeldeldoc1]

The car ad at 29:00 is very nice. Somewhere along the way car ads decided to drop the models in skimpy clothes as if it were a terrible thing (except Spanish TV car ads, which still do it). This commercial shows what it was like BEFORE that.

[@OakhillSailor]

My memory starts from 1987 but somehow these commercial songs from 1983 are very familiar. So I guess, they weren't new as I thought. Isn't life weird that you think everything is new when you were a kid but you find that nothing is new. It is all the same.

[@danadoe8137]

Must bbe vorn in 84

[@sCulturefan]

W Bell & Co at 0:36 was the DC area’s main “catalog showroom” (similar to BEST Products or Service Merchandise) back in the 1970s and 1980s, the chain closed down in 1991 (remember seeing Laser Discs demonstrated there in the very early 1980s)

[@douglasscott7666]

I love the speed Unlimited commercial! I wish someone would post their ad from 1985 with the woman on the car in black.

[@edwardconboy2896]

I grew up in falls church in the 80s. Damn these shows and commercials bring back memories.

[@judedesilva8366]

27:43- Sanford and Son (starring Redd Foxx RIP)

[@colossus112785]

Back when tv was tv I remember back in the 90s Baltimore used to carry WDCA

[@pannoni8449]

And if you didn't have cable, all it took was a good antenna and you could usually pick up the DC stations (on that dial known as "UHF").

[@colossus112785]

Yea true im from Baltimore and remember at my house we used to have all the DC stations on antenna

[@ArtMusicLife15]

Did it bother anyone else that those 4 cars on the Dodge commercial were tailgating each other like crazy? (21:53) Also, I knew that Robotussin commercial word-for-word and I didn't even remember it existed until I saw it just now! So weird how your brain works!!

[@luisreyes1963]

Robitussin is now made by Pfizer.

[@GmanMilli]

1:32 Brainstorm, Natalie Wood's last movie?

[@A1collect]

Yeah

[@smoothvirus]

Yes. And her co-star Christopher Walken was on the yacht the night she drowned. Also it was a pretty good movie if I remember correctly.

[@tristonalexis2164]

Bradless 4:17,12:21 Godfather's Pizza 36:20

[@bmorefunnyman1]

16:43 So that's why I get brainstorm and deadzone mixed up.

[@luisreyes1963]

Both did have Christopher Walken in them.

[@elkston]

14:09 - Jane Badler who played the villianess Diana in "V" mini-series in Ept home pregnancy commercial. (Looking lovely)

[@luisreyes1963]

Small wonder Sea Galley went belly up, they wasted their profits on stupid commercials.

[@missbee1451]

🤣

[@sCulturefan]

WDCA/20 during this period often aired Dr Gene Scott overnights in a 2-3 hour block

[@judedesilva8846]

May 1992 WDCA Commercials and promos

[@jwgreek8606]

That's the October 1983.

[@graymanmedia]

The Women in the Woodbridge Lincoln-Mercury Commercial was on Baywatch, right?

[@jwgreek8606]

Btw, what did you mean when you said that WDCA was the "used car station?"

[@garbagepailflixvhs]

I Listen To WGAY Everyday While Eating Crab Legs...Just How I Roll. #garbagepailflix

[@ellemjay]

TEMPLETON. OLDSMOBILE.

[@kathiec1333]

The lady in the EPT commercial looks like Jane Badler, the villainess in the first V series in the 80s.

[@1980Triumph]

Anyone know the song at 13:34 I believe it is a real song by a real artist and not a clip made for the station.

[@MyLegsAreSweatinMama]

1980Triumph It's Get Away by Chicago. The instrumental that would follow Hard To Say I'm Sorry.

[@viiktorshandor4155]

ah to be a kid again lol

[@judacia]

25:36 she looks familiar. any guesses?

[@lizkozlowski6167]

Cori Feldman at 0:27

[@jwgreek8606]

Didn't They have WDCA on cable in Charlotte, NC at this time?

[@pannoni8449]

It could have been a hotel chain, but unless if you had a satellite (C-Band), probably not.

[@hopegrimsley3427]

SeaGalley looks delicious, like it’d blow Red Lobster out of the water. Was it as good as it looked?

[@1980Triumph]

WGAY.............LOL

[@pannoni8449]

Believe it or not, DC's current online radio station WGAY is actually LGBT oriented. The old WGAY is now WIHT "Hot 99.5" FM.

[@rockvilleraven]

Some people thought the WGAY call letters stood for one time owner Connie B. Gay.

[@smoothvirus]

I remember that commercial being the butt of many jokes on the school bus.

[@mikejohnson515]

@@smoothvirus I can believe it.

[@chipperasterberg4362]

vintage truck stop

[@jwgreek8606]

Are you sure this is from October? Because the promo said Sanford and Son was coming September 19th

[@Reborn8303]

James Greek I think it's right cuz brainstormers released in October and I saw an ad for that

[@brentmann2988]

4:15 Cynthia Harris as Mrs. B for Bradlees. 26:22 Jake Holmes sings for Sure deodorant.

[@StardustRenegade]

Which date did these air?

[@pannoni8449]

These aired on multiple days since WDCA aired one episode of The Twilight Zone daily (this was before marathons). Likely the third/fourth weeks of October.

[@StardustRenegade]

Thank you for the information!

[@gshort78]

The ad for Dead Zone mentions that it opens in theaters "on Friday", the movie opened 10/21/83, so that commercial aired 10/15/83 - 10/21/83

[@imackmusic7924]

Pizza was look nice..😎

[@paultreadaway3006]

That chick hot Woodbridge Lincoln Mercury

[@blaze45657]

Lol @wgay

[@ellemjay]

never failed to make us laugh

[@luisreyes1963]

What do they play? Backstreet Boys, Lady GaGa, Wynonna? 🤣

[@emckinney8816]

I was actually laughing at that too must've been a radio station for gays

[@SeanKellyPastor]

I LOVE coach Gibbs, but acting isn't his forte

[@TMoody]

@16:17.... why can't Hollywood make great movies like this one anymore????

[@johnp3390]

WGAY! ... Pretty gay

[@luisreyes1963]

LGBTQ+ Radio!! 😬

[@Drknnja]

Actually it was the initials of the owner.

[@dalemulholland9114]

Jerry lewis was never funny.. He was just ignorant acting...

[@judacia]

25:36 she looks familiar. any guesses?

[@bryanjensen2614]

The team owner from Major League?

[@luisreyes1963]

I doubt that Margaret Whitten.