Atlanta was a fairly active center for fandom back in the day, so we had a fairly regular parade of DW guests at our conventions. I think Sylvester McCoy had his official public unveiling as the Doctor at an event there. Saw my first Who episode at my very first convention in '80, The Green Death. Though the show didn't start broadcasting locally til around '83. I was working nights at the time, so ended up buying my first VCR in order to watch. At the time all I had was a little black and white set with rabbit ears, so most of my tapes were a grainy mess. But I still watched every chance I got. We eventually got every Doctor except the first two.
We probably watched the same braodcasts. While I first saw it via WFSU from Tallahassee, Florida, my cable line-up also included Georgia Public Broadcasting, GPB, originating from Atlanta. I'm guessing the broadcasts you saw were the "omnibus" (read: "movie") versions running roughly 90 minutes for what would normally be a 4 part serial. They aired at 10 PM Saturadys, didn't they? For a while, I could see episodic DW Mondays through Fridays around 6 PM. Then on Saturdays, I could catch a "movie" type edit starting at 9 PM on WFSU and then another starting at 10 PM on the GPB network. Of course, that's not so amazing compared to the "marathons" many cable networks now run, playing 5 or 6 episodes of a particular show on a given day. But back then, it was like, "Wow!" Sincerely, Bill
Sadly, yes, in Columbus, Georgia, no less. What a "dubious honor" for Georgia to have in the annals of DW history. Sincerely, Bill
Yep, that was it. The edits usually went well, though there was the occasional rough jumpcut where the cliffhanger didn't quite match up with the following episode. Then occasionally we'd have pledge weekends when the local DW club members would get together, dress up and turn out to answer phones. Those were enjoyable the few times I managed to go. And yeah, I remember that con with Troughton. I managed to run up to the table on Friday evening just as they were packing up and get my copy of the 20 Anniversary Celebration hardcover signed. Which I guess makes me one of the last people to get his autograph. But yes, was a sad event. I believe Ainley and George Takei were also guests that weekend, and were both very graceous and supportive to the unhappy fans.
My first exposure was on KTEH as well. (If you don't count the Cushing films which I saw in the 70s) In the mid 80s I became friends with a major Who fan and became more immersed in the fandom, even manning the phones during a pledge drive for the station along with the Doctor Who fan group she was part of.
I don't know if what I saw first was on KTEH or KQED, since I saw it while on a visit to Stockton around 1983. The rest I don't know as I would only see then from time to time visiting my grandparents in Ventura County. And every time I saw Doctor Who there is was a Dalek episode of some kind. I could just not take them seriously with those voices (yelling at each other), their cumbersome rolling, and plunger arm. They looked cheap to me in the late 1980s when I was use to Star Wars and Star Trek film level aliens. I'mnot even sure what episode it was. I might have been one of the Pertwee episodes, as I'm not sure if I've seen it since then (I've seen about half his run more recently). I didn't watch it long, so I might not have even seen the Doctor in the episode (if could also be a later Dalek episode since I've not watched much of the 5th, 6th, or 7th Doctor's yet. Still working my way up).