Worst TV stations ever

[KeithE4]

> Re: WMCC Marion IN---
>
> Now, is this the first or second incarnation of a Marion
> Indiana station? I recall an operation based in Marion on
> channel 31, with a translator in Kokomo on channel 29.
>
Back in the late-1960s, the old ch.31, whose calls were WTAF (I think; no relation to the later WTAF in Philly), got most of their programming from WTTV, with some local and filmed programs of their own. However, they were unable to afford color equipment of their own; as a result, all shows that were originally in color (including those picked up from WTTV) were in black and white. Ch.31 would go dark before the 1960s ended.

WTAF 31 Marion/W29?? Kokomo lasted from 1962 to 1969. I don't remember if they got programming from WTTV, although then WFAM-TV 18 Lafayette carry some WTTV local programming in the '60s - they were both owned by Sarkes Tarzian in those days.

The allocation for Marion was changed from 31 to 23 sometime around 1970, and the station was supposed to return to the air as WSFO-TV sometime around 1972. I don't think the channel was occupied until WMCC came on the air years later.

 

[cd637299]

I am sure that this one qualifies, only because likely their money was low:

WAJA 23 Miami FL (now WLTV).

I watched it a lot as a kid after signing on in 1967, not knowing any better.....but they had old reruns of shows in which the films had so many scratches, dots, and splices, missing some scenes, that no self-respecting TV station would ever air today. (Get this....even a filmed *commercial* had these scratches! And it wasn't a PSA either.)

They bragged having lots of sports each night as well....which included jai-alai and---yes---bullfighting. (I did get interested in Roller Derby thanx to WAJA---really "Roller Games.") Also wrestling from other areas of the USA, apparently. [Where did the wrestling originate, which had Danny Williams as announcer, and the best "face" wrestlers Art Becker & Johnny Weaver?]

By maybe 1969 they briefly added old reruns in Spanish on Saturday nights for a few hours, prior to changing calls to WLTV and going Spanish weeknights from 7pm on, eventually going 100% Espanol.

They are now a major major player here....but oh those old days....!!

cd

 

[cwf1701]

> What are the worst television stations you've ever seen?
>
> By "worst" I mean stations which, now or then, set low
> standards ... i.e., bad production values, terrible
> newscasts, subpar technically, those defined by weird and/or
> flamboyant personalities, poor or dated graphics, bizarre
> programming choices, etc.
---------

<b>WWJ 62 (CBS) / Detroit</b>

What I don't like about that station is their local newscast...or lack thereof. They are just a generic CBS feed for the Detroit area with mostly court shows for syndicated programming (the good stuff they have the rights to all airs on sister station WKBD 50). Unfortunately they are very widely carried on cable in Ontario, instead of much closer, higher quality CBS affiliates (WOIO, WSEE, WIVB, WROC, WTVH, WWNY, WCAX) that not only have local news, but have good syndicated programs.

i don't know what part of Ontario you are from, but you didn't see it when it was WGPR-62. i remember when the best programs on was "Arab Voice of Detroit" and "the Scene", and that was when most anything that aired on that station was low budget movies, bible programs, etc. and WGPR used art cards well into the 1990s (right before the switch to CBS).

 

[Ultimajock]

...I kinda hate to say it, since they did run Bob Luce's pro wrestling show as a Monday-thru-Friday late nite Carson competitor in the mid-'70s, but WSNS/44 Chicago in its English-language incarnation of the late '70s-early '80s. The KCOP of the Windy City...

 

[dave73]

My choice of worst stations would be from both past & present:

WEHS 60 Aurora Illinois: Immediately after WPWR-TV moved to channel 50, Home Shopping Network started broadcasting on channel 60, and did so for many years. I believe that continued until the station was sold to Univision for their Telefutura network.

WYIN 56 Gary Indiana: I'm only referring to the early days of WYIN & not the present day of WYIN. For the first 3 years, they only broadcasted from 2:30 - 10:30pm and lacked any programming worth watching. In 1990, Saturdays & Sundays had a 7am sign on. I believe by 1995, they signed on at 7am everyday & signed off at midnight. By that time, programming choice improved enough that I found the station worth watching. They went 24 hours in 2007 or 2008. So for me, WYIN was a bad station prior to 1995. I should mention that their analog signal was crap & even when pointed toward Cedar Lake, I couldn't get a good signal from this station in the station's COL. For digital, the signal has a lot of unexpected dropouts.

WJYS 62 Hammond Indiana: This is still the overall worst station to this day. Even after going digital, their station is still mostly infomercials with little brokered religious programming. They even added another subchannel that sometimes sirs separate infomercial feeds, or 1 channel will be infomercials, while the other will have religious programming. Other times, WJYS 2 (62.4) will simulcast subchannel 62.2, which simulcasts WEDE-CA analog channel 34.

WCPX 38 Chicago: This station has been one of the worst since its incarnation as Pax, then to I, and now Ion Television. Since it uses the network feed instead of being programmed locally (Pax/I/Ion Television's decision), the station relies too heavily on infomercials. While they do have some programming, it's a poor excuse for a network overall.

WPWR-TV 50 Gary Indiana (marketed as a Chicago station): This station was great under Newsweb and was great when they were on channel 60. It was one of the best independent stations in Chicago. It was still a great station when it affiliated with UPN. When it was sold to Fox in August 2002, it went downhill after that. Sister station WFLD dumped the crappy programming that they no longer wanted on the Fox station onto WPWR-TV. They will at times move certain sports programming & Fox programming onto WPWR-TV if WFLD has other obligations in programming. Not worth watching anymore, even as a My Network TV station. Note: This only mentions WPWR-TV on channel 50 since it moved to 50 from 60 in January 1987, & not the non-commercial PBS station WCAE, which went off the air in 1983 and was off the air for about 4 years.

 

[wbhist]

To those of you from New York City, I wonder what would have qualified in your opinion as the KCOP of the Big Apple.

One obvious candidate would be WOR-TV (Channel 9), outside of their Million Dollar Movie, Joe Franklin and Mets games. For most of the station's stint under RKO General ownership, their local programming had what amounted to zero budget presentation (in the mid-1970's, for example, the ENG for their newscasts would consist of an AKAI ¼" de facto home video format, with the quality nothing home to write about - and the small camera that accompanied such a system). In the 1950's and '60's they aired old 1930's Terrytoons and the B&W Looney Tunes cartoons before the latter were colorized (and very badly at that) in the late 1960's.

While, as WWOR-TV, they had a few glory years under MCA in the late 1980's, it's been downhill ever since, to the point where they're now co-owned with WNYW. (Never mind that some of their announcers, such as Phil Tonken, were known nationally, by voice if not by name, through nationally-advertised TV and radio ads for various products and services.)

 

[bpatrick]

I am sure that this one qualifies, only because likely their money was low:

WAJA 23 Miami FL (now WLTV).

I watched it a lot as a kid after signing on in 1967, not knowing any better.....but they had old reruns of shows in which the films had so many scratches, dots, and splices, missing some scenes, that no self-respecting TV station would ever air today. (Get this....even a filmed *commercial* had these scratches! And it wasn't a PSA either.)

They bragged having lots of sports each night as well....which included jai-alai and---yes---bullfighting. (I did get interested in Roller Derby thanx to WAJA---really "Roller Games.") Also wrestling from other areas of the USA, apparently. [Where did the wrestling originate, which had Danny Williams as announcer, and the best "face" wrestlers Art Becker & Johnny Weaver?]

By maybe 1969 they briefly added old reruns in Spanish on Saturday nights for a few hours, prior to changing calls to WLTV and going Spanish weeknights from 7pm on, eventually going 100% Espanol.

They are now a major major player here....but oh those old days....!!

cd

Do you mean George Becker? He and Johnny Weaver were the leading "face" wrestlers in the Carolinas and Virginia in the
'60s and '70s; I grew up watching them and their feuds with the likes of Rip Hawk and Swede Hanson. I would say that the
wrestling show you watched came out of the Carolinas, except that I don't know who Danny Williams is or was; Bob Caudle and Rich Landrum were the announcers most closely associated with wrestling in these parts (OK, throw in Big Bill Ward in Charlotte and Charlie Harville in High Point).

 

[arnoldevns]

I highly recommend you check out some of the links to old stories about defunct stations on the Dumont Network historical website. http://www.dumonthistory.tv/a10.html

 

[cd637299]

@bpatrick,

I thought for sure it was Art Becker. Coulda been George. This was 42 years ago.

Danny Williams looked IMO a lot like Art James, the game show host. ISTR the end of one program where a "heel" got Danny in a choke-hold or half-nelson when the show ended. Danny looked like he was gasping for air. Can't recall whether I was sincerely worried or not.

A few years ago I received in a video swap 1 ep of Roller Games, just the way I remember it. Shirley Hardman was one evil gal....

cd

 

[mjlarochelle]

i don't know what part of Ontario you are from, but you didn't see it when it was WGPR-62. i remember when the best programs on was "Arab Voice of Detroit" and "the Scene", and that was when most anything that aired on that station was low budget movies, bible programs, etc. and WGPR used art cards well into the 1990s (right before the switch to CBS).

Some parts of Southwestern Ontario had WGPR on cable in the 1980s, but not up here.

Four years ago I didn't mention any of the Erie, PA stations but some of them have been very low-budget through the years. WQLN/54 (PBS) at one time couldn't afford several key PBS shows including Nova, Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, and Macneil/Lehrer Newshour. Their production values in the 80s and 90s were extremely cheap. They have improved a lot, although they still have several scheduling quirks where other PBS stations broadcast shows in primetime that WQLN chooses to show late at night.

WICU/12 (NBC) has really gone downhill in its production values over the past 15 years. Nowadays their logo looks like it was created in Microsoft Word using WordArt.

 

[classictvfan]

WOAY-TV 50 (formerly 4) in Oak Hill, West Virginia.

Whole blogs are devoted to this station. Also check YouTube

Their HANDWRITTEN app to the FCC listed 'WOAK,' but the 'K' was misconstrued as a 'Y," and the rest is history.

WOAY is referred to as 'Worst On Air Yet,' for a plethora of reasons.

A sitcom could easily be based on this station, ala' SCTV.

As was the situation in Dothan, Alabama with WTVY and WDHN,
WOAY made WVVA(channel 6) look major market by comparison.

 

[Limp73]

WSWO-TV in Springfield,OH (re-introduced in the summer of 1972 after being silent for two years). Southwestern Ohio Broadcasting went bankrupt in 1970....unsure of the real reason why but I remember a local live version of Bozo's Big Top (in glorious B&W) where a child was attempting to bounce a baseball into a bucket...he missed and uttered the S word to which Bozo looked upon him and said "hey...that's a Bozo no-no." Wondered if that was the real reason as it was talked about all over the Dayton area for years. But anyway the new owner Lester White put it back on the air in 1972 with the local Bozo replaced by "Lighthouse Louie" singing "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts" and airing Paramount/Famous Studios' cheeziest cartoons (under the UM&M banner) which included "Screen Songs" and "Little Lulu." The most boorish show geared to children I ever saw. White did a late-night live show (in color) "Program PM" which was equally booring but by the end of 1972 it again went silent. The reason was that White stole the color TV cameras and other equipment from other stations and got sent up the river for doing so. It retunred again in 1980 as Christain WTJC but ended up airing infomercials and shopping programs as the PTL scandal had a negative ripple effect on the station. As stated before it now airs The CW (as WBDT) with the studio moved to south Dayton.

WHMB-TV (licensed to Indy but located outside of Wendell Hansen's hometown of Noblesville,IN) wasn't much better programming-wise than the former WURD-TV but did get to air Hook's Drugs pitchman Jim Gerard's mid-day talk show all to brieifly before moving to WTTV. The most disturbing fact about this LeSea station was that it aired a Sunday program from Bob Jones University which has a track record of racial discrimination..ironically Central Indiana also has a history of the ultra right-wing extremist community being ever present (KKK,JBS,Liberty Lobby et. al) to this day.

 

[azumanga]

WSWO-TV in Springfield,OH (re-introduced in the summer of 1972 after being silent for two years). Southwestern Ohio Broadcasting went bankrupt in 1970....unsure of the real reason why but I remember a local live version of Bozo's Big Top (in glorious B&W) where a child was attempting to bounce a baseball into a bucket...he missed and uttered the S word to which Bozo looked upon him and said "hey...that's a Bozo no-no." Wondered if that was the real reason as it was talked about all over the Dayton area for years.

Did the incident end with the child saying, "Cram it, clown"?

http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/bozo.asp

 

[therealjm12]

I just returned from a road trip and was watching WTVH in Syracuse. WTVH (WHEN) was once the jewel in Central N. Y. television. They were a prestige organization -one of the best TV stations I had ever seen. They were so good, they were actually the # 2 station in nearby Utica. Because of the sale of the station and the retirement of longtime anchor Ron Curtis they started going down hill in the 2000's. They are now just a sub station of WSTM -3. They simulcast Ch. 3's newscast with a CBS 5 logo in the bottom of the screen. Outside of CBS programing all I saw were infomercials. The station is an embarrassment to the Syracuse community. They need another CBS affiliate and it is time for Utica get a CBS affiliate of their own.

 

[RyanHoward]

One station I remember that was really bad was the old WCMC-TV, Ch. 40 out of
Wildwood/Atlantic City, NJ. They were an NBC affiliate that copied off KYW-TV in
Philly and aired all its non-network fare in black and white. Today, that station is
WMGM-TV and much improved over the old days.

 

[Bluenoser]

> What are the worst television stations you've ever seen?
>

Any discussion of bad TV stations HAS to include WVII (ABC, ch. 7) in Bangor, Maine. They're the #3 station in town in every way imaginable.

WVII hasn't improved that much. Last time I was in Bangor I turned it on expecting to see a newscast and got an infomercial. The next morning, their "local" update during GMA was a Bloomberg business report and an AccuWeather forecast. I see their website has a Deer Stand Makeover contest now.

JPK

And where to this day their 11pm newscast (which also airs at 10 on sister Fox CA WFVX) is actually taped at 7

 

[FreddyE1977]

Though they have improved in recent years, at one time WPXI (nee WIIC) in Pittsburgh would have been a serious contender, due to a whole host of issues, most of them having to do with their perennially third-place newscast.

- the infamous night in 1977 when anchor Beverly Byer picked up the live update phone and was told that Groucho Marx, who had been gravely ill for several days, had passed away. The camera caught her as she was hanging up the phone. She looked right into the teleprompter and issued those now immortal words, "Groucho Marx took a turn for the worse today......in fact, he died."

- their decision to run a bulletin with raw, unedited footage of Pennsylvania Treasurer R. Budd Dwyer's tragic press conference where he committed suicide by putting a .357 Magnum into his mouth and pulled the trigger. (this was compounded by the fact that there was heavy snow that day and most area schoolchildren were at home with the TV on).

- their relentless promotion of a prime-time movie special, "Woody Allen's Sleeper, without commercial interruption!". What they
did not tell you was that instead of commercials they decided to freeze the movie at various points and insert weatherman
Pat Finn into the scene via chromakey. Pat would be in costume relevant to the scene and would use something in the scene to shamelessly plug "Channel 11's new fall lineup"! It was so bad that Woody Allen actually sued them, and Pat Finn was on a plane to Phoenix the next day.

Those are just 3 of the worst, most memorable examples. If you were a regular viewer of Channel 11 back in the day, they were good for at least one of these a week.

 

[Corky Marlowe]

Dick Stacey was an owner of a group of Citgo stations in the area who put in his own commercials: "See these hands? They smell like gas."

THERE'S a line that requires flawless enunciation!

 

[Bob1370]

"I just returned from a road trip and was watching WTVH in Syracuse. WTVH (WHEN) was once the jewel in Central N. Y. television. They were a prestige organization -one of the best TV stations I had ever seen. They were so good, they were actually the # 2 station in nearby Utica. Because of the sale of the station and the retirement of longtime anchor Ron Curtis they started going down hill in the 2000's. They are now just a sub station of WSTM -3. They simulcast Ch. 3's newscast with a CBS 5 logo in the bottom of the screen. Outside of CBS programing all I saw were infomercials."

What you saw this time around, was the result of the Chapter XI bankruptcy of Granite Broadcasting Co., which bought the station from Meredith and proceeded to wreck it even more thoroughly than they damaged WKBW-TV in Buffalo, which remains alive though somewhat crippled.

When Meredith owned WHEN radio and TV, both stations were market leaders. WHEN-AM was a pioneer full service adult contemporary station, one of the very first in the format nationally in the early 1970s (along with WGAR in Cleveland and WGR in Buffalo); it had a 24/7 newsroom, which I remember well because I worked there in 1973 and 1974 as weekday afternoon newscaster. The radio station's now a satellite-fed Fox Sports outlet owned by Clear Channel with little local programming, no news, and no content to compete with now-sister station WSYR. The same thing, in an even sadder way, has happened to what was once the pioneer TV station in the city. Both stations should be sold to people who'll try to make the most of them--but neither one will as long as we allow concentration of ownership even in markets small enough to allow one or two companies to form oligopolies or even monopolies.

 

[wbhist]

Though they have improved in recent years, at one time WPXI (nee WIIC) in Pittsburgh would have been a serious contender, due to a whole host of issues, most of them having to do with their perennially third-place newscast.

- the infamous night in 1977 when anchor Beverly Byer picked up the live update phone and was told that Groucho Marx, who had been gravely ill for several days, had passed away. The camera caught her as she was hanging up the phone. She looked right into the teleprompter and issued those now immortal words, "Groucho Marx took a turn for the worse today......in fact, he died."

That quote seemed right out of something Groucho would've said, but still . . . : :-X