Re: Most Inexplicable Network Program Pre-Emption
In the '50s WFMY would frequently pre-empt or (more likely)
delay a CBS program scheduled between two established hits
and run a syndicated show or local program instead. Examples:
December Bride--slotted between I Love Lucy and Studio One,
aired on delay on Sundays in Greensboro
The Millionaire--slotted between Arthur Godfrey and I've Got A
Secret, aired on delay on Fridays
Alfred Hitchcock Presents--slotted between G.E. Theater and
The $64,000 Challenge, aired on delay on Saturdays
WFMY also pre-empted both half-hours surrounding The $64,000
Question; Red Skelton aired in Greensboro on Saturdays, while Do
You Trust Your Wife? aired on Fridays (with the network news only
15 minutes then, WFMY could schedule entertainment shows at 6
as well as 7 PM).
I don't know if it was pressure from CBS (the kind that cost KXLY
its affiliation years later and forced WKRG to start airing more shows
in pattern), but WFMY discontinued the practice around 1958; I can
remember The Millionaire, Skelton, and Hitchcock airing in pattern.
WFMY, in its early years (1949-53), was the only station in the Piedmont
Triad and two program choices have always puzzled me, one more than
the other. On Sundays the Colgate Comedy Hour aired at 8 PM; when they
finally picked up Ed Sullivan, they delayed him until Tuesday until WSJS (now
WXII) signed on and took the NBC affiliation. Sullivan then began airing in
pattern. That's not quite so puzzling; powered largely by Dean Martin and
Jerry Lewis, the Colgate Comedy Hour usually beat Sullivan head-to-head
in the early '50s. The puzzler is the station's choice of the Voice of Firestone
over Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts (the number-one show in 1951-52) on
Mondays. Firestone had its merits, but it was usually NBC's (and, later, ABC's)
lowest-rated program. That, too, ended when the Triad got an NBC affiliate;
no surprise who won the faceoff between Godfrey and Firestone.
I've also seen old Greensboro schedules (may have even posted a few) that
show that WFMY did not pick up I Love Lucy until about midway through its
first season; when Lucy debuted in October 1951 Channel 2 was running the
documentary series Crusade In The Pacific on Mondays at 9.
Of course, with the choice of WFMY, the radio, or some other activity, no
one seemed to notice or care.
