ABC In Concert Article: 1972

Alice shocks America coast-to-coast – some stations literally pull the plug!

Alice Cooper Group’s Hofstra University performance (November 2, 1972) aired nationwide on the ABC In Concert series, November 24, 1972 – the full “Gutter Cat” fight and “Killer” hanging scenes intact.

The backlash was instant:

Kingsport, Tennessee’s ABC affiliate complained but ran it anyway.

WPVI-TV Philadelphia buried it at 1:30 a.m. on tape delay.

Cincinnati’s WKRC-TV Channel 12 yanked it off air after only minutes – station owner Lawrence H. Rogers II was so horrified he ordered the plug pulled live.

On the bill was the Senior General of Rock, Bo Diddley, acoustic duo Seals and Croft, R&B man Curtis Mayfield and for the opening act, shock rockers Alice Cooper.

Rock fans in Cincinnati, however, didn't get to see beyond the first few minutes of Alice's violent theatrics. Lawrence H. Rogers II was so mortified by what he saw that he ordered the ABC affiliate he owned, WKRC-TV Channel 12, to yank the show off the air immediately. Channel 12's decision to protect its viewers was responded to within minutes with a phoned-in bomb threat and several car loads of youths picketing the station. Some 4,000 letters of protest, many profane, poured in over the next few days, the biggest mail load that station officials could remember.

Station manager Ro Grignon told TV Guide that he wasn't opposed to rock concerts. "In fact, we think they're going to be a smashing success. We simply found Alice Cooper a little tense."

Meanwhile, the ABC affiliate in Kingsport, Tennessee complained to the network about the performance but ran it nonetheless. WPVI-TV Channel 6 in Philadelphia ran the show on tape delay at 1:30 a.m. Channel 12 in Cincinnati later televised an edited version of the show, sans Alice, to give viewers a chance to enjoy the other, less offensive acts that were on the show. The next In Concert show was sent to affiliate managers via closed-circuit for approval before broadcast

Tracklist:

Eighteen

Gutter

Cat V

The Jets

Killer

School's out