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They preempted that for this?

In Alaska:

KTUU every few months only preempts the first hour of NBC Primetime for one of their "49th Report" news specials (airing the bumped show on the weekends), but other than that, they like all other stations in Anchorage and Fairbanks clear their entire network schedules.

Okay, so KTVF in the late '80s didn't clear some CBS shows on Saturdays, using that night as a dumping ground for the NBC ones they stockpiled all week (11 would eventually drop CBS altogether for NBC in 1996, with KATN already the full-time ABC affiliate and K13XD about to be the brand new home for CBS in Fairbanks).
 
I've posted this before, possibly even in this thread, but WMC NBC 5 in Memphis was notorious for pre-empting most of NBC's morning lineup except for Wheel of Fortune and possibly one other game show to fill out the hour from the late 70's to the early 90's and carrying syndicated talk shows instead, and also for pushing David Letterman back, at first by 30 minutes, and then later by an hour, and carried syndicated shows instead.

WREG CBS 3 in Memphis only pre-empted whatever was on in the 3 PM ET slot. That really didn't bother me except when Match Game and Press Your Luck ran at that time. The only other game show that I can remember running any length of time in that slot was Tattletales, which I never really liked. Everything else I can remember being in that time slot were soaps or other shows that didn't last long. They also pre-empted CBS's late night programming with reruns of MASH and later Cheers until David Letterman moved to CBS, but I actually liked that better.
 
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Ccook55 said:
If memory serves, WXIA did pick up Sale Of The Century, albeit briefly, in late 1986 or early 1987. It was around the time NBC brought Blockbusters back (with Bill Rafferty) in December of 1986. Other than that, WATL/channel 36 aired it on a same-day delay to 12:30 in 1983.
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It must have been very briefly because I always remember "Sale Of The Century" being on Channel 36. Here's an oddity from the days when Channel 2 was still the NBC affiliate; it didn't carry the daytime "Gong Show" (Channel 36 did) but did carry the nighttime version Fridays at 7:30. 11 Alive did, IIRC, carry the Bill Cullen "Blockbusters"; it might not have seen the light of day on Channel 2, because "Blockbusters" was on at 10:30 AM, in the middle of Mike Douglas' show on 2.

Somebody mentioned "Press Your Luck" not being carried in Memphis; WSPA/7 Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville didn't pick it up until after Michael Larson's $110,237 win (must have been all the publicity), and at one point turned down the Bob Eubanks "Card Sharks," which replaced "PYL" at 10:30 AM, in favor of "Wipeout." Coincidentally or not, the host of both "PYL" and "Wipeout" was Peter Tomarken. WSPA was good about carrying "Tattletales" at 4; it was usually the only network show airing in that slot (WFBC/WYFF carried "Somerset" at 1 or not at all, and WLOS pre-empted "Edge Of Night"); in fact, before "Tattletales," it was one of a few CBS stations in the Carolinas to continue to carry "Secret Storm" at 4 (WFMY, WNCT, and WBTW also did), even though that soap was doomed.
 
Here's another: WAGA dumped Match Game '76 in June of 1976 (airing it at 1 PM on a one-day delay) and replaced it with a same-day delay of The Young & The Restless. That fall, WAGA dumped Match Game PM. In January 1977, WAGA brought Match Game PM back--airing three nights a week "by popular demand." The CBS show remained off until July 1978, when channel 36 picked it up and aired it at 5 PM (same day delay).
 
So, how many of these pre-emptions where the station doing the pre-emption made more money with alternate programming are "inexplicable"? I mean, doesn't making more money explain the pre-emptions? Are any of these pre-emptions truly "inexplicable".
 
mvcg66b3r said:
You mean 3pm CT.
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You're right. My dyslexic fingers struck again! :rolleyes:

bpatrick,
Press Your Luck ran in Memphis when it was on in the mornings. It was only when it was in the 3 PM CT slot that it wasn't on, the same as Match Game. But it seems like they ran in that time slot toward the end of their runs.
 
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Avid Listener said:
So, how many of these pre-emptions where the station doing the pre-emption made more money with alternate programming are "inexplicable"? I mean, doesn't making more money explain the pre-emptions? Are any of these pre-emptions truly "inexplicable".
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That's a great point, Avid Listener. Maybe a better description would be "inexplicable from a viewer's standpoint."

I think the average viewer gets a pre-emption for severe weather, breaking news or a big local event. But do they get why the whole Friday night lineup is suddenly replaced for a movie? Or, back to one we've rehashed a few dozen times, why they never saw American Bandstand in Dallas? Or why this big network show that I've read about in magazines isn't on my local affiliate. (Again in Dallas, I'm thinking NYPD Blue.)
 
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Avid Listener said:
So, how many of these pre-emptions where the station doing the pre-emption made more money with alternate programming are "inexplicable"? I mean, doesn't making more money explain the pre-emptions? Are any of these pre-emptions truly "inexplicable".
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WMC's daytime pre-emptions in Memphis were supposedly because of better ratings for the talk shows and I assume probably did make more money for them and made them worse as time went on, but in articles I had read about WMC's pre-emptions in the Memphis newspapers they mentioned that NBC had said low ratings for their shows were due to stations like WMC that pre-empted them. But NBC eventually caved in to local stations like WMC and turned over most of their daytime to them leaving nothing but an extended Today Show and Days of our Lives. I believe that stations like WMC that were pre-emption crazy in the daytime and NBC caving in to them were a major factor in the sorry state of daytime TV today.
 
newsmark said:
That's a great point, Avid Listener. Maybe a better description would be "inexplicable from a viewer's standpoint."

I think the average viewer gets a pre-emption for severe weather, breaking news or a big local event. But do they get why the whole Friday night lineup is suddenly replaced for a movie? Or, back to one we've rehashed a few dozen times, why they never saw American Bandstand in Dallas? Or why this big network show that I've read about in magazines isn't on my local affiliate. (Again in Dallas, I'm thinking NYPD Blue.)
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Exactly! One-shot pre-emptions are "inexplicable". But when a station chooses to replace a network program on a regular, on-going basis, that's not "inexplicable".

anotherguy said:
WMC's daytime pre-emptions in Memphis were supposedly because of better ratings for the talk shows and I assume probably did make more money for them and made them worse as time went on, but in articles I had read about WMC's pre-emptions in the Memphis newspapers they mentioned that NBC had said low ratings for their shows were due to stations like WMC that pre-empted them. But NBC eventually caved in to local stations like WMC and turned over most of their daytime to them leaving nothing but an extended Today Show and Days of our Lives. I believe that stations like WMC that were pre-emption crazy in the daytime and NBC caving in to them were a major factor in the sorry state of daytime TV today.
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That is a clear and concise explanation. It explains the situation very, very well. Therefore, that situation is not "inexplicable", is it? Not when you can explain it so well.

And to think I get admonished for not staying on topic!
 
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Avid Listener said:
That is a clear and concise explanation. It explains the situation very, very well. Therefore, that situation is not "inexplicable", is it? Not when you can explain it so well.

And to think I get admonished for not staying on topic!
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Perhaps it's not inexplicable, but to those of us who actually wanted to see NBC's game shows, or David Letterman at the correct time, it's inexcusable that WMC's station management was allowed to get away with it for as long as they did. It lasted until the station was sold in the early 90's to what would eventually become Raycom, but by that time NBC was caving in and giving most of daytime back to the local stations, and WMC moved Late Night back to 11:35 CT only after Conan O'Brien took over as host.

What NBC should have been doing was to penalize stations like WMC that pre-empted too much of their programming, possibly even to the point of losing their affiliation. I've read where that happened with some stations, but NBC let WMC and others get away with being pre-emption crazy.
 
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anotherguy said:
Perhaps it's not inexplicable, but to those of us who actually wanted to see NBC's game shows, or David Letterman at the correct time, it's inexcusable
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Well, since the management of this forum rightly wants us all to stay on topic, perhaps someone should have started a thread about "Most INEXCUSABLE Network Program Pre-Emptions".
 
mvcg66b3r said:
You could say the same for WJW, KTVI, WHBQ, WBRC, etc.
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Fox have sold off WJW and KTVI to Tribune, WBRC to Raycom, and pretty soon, WHBQ to Cox.

And back to Alaska (again): A week or so after a series of wildfires scorched Alaska in June 1996, KATN/KYUR/KJUD preempted four hours on a Saturday night for a telethon; one of their hosts? A young Sarah Palin (whatever became of her???)!

(By the way: "Revenge" -- the Kevin Costner/Anthony Quinn stinker WSB aired in March -- coincidentally also starred Madeline Stowe, who's now on the ABC drama "Revenge".

But sometime in 1985, that very same station had the gall to pre-empt ABC primetime for this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrgfyWQ26BQ)
 
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anotherguy said:
What NBC should have been doing was to penalize stations like WMC that pre-empted too much of their programming, possibly even to the point of losing their affiliation. I've read where that happened with some stations, but NBC let WMC and others get away with being pre-emption crazy.
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At the time, I believe the FCC had a rule that networks couldn't require a station to show anything.

But I'll stand by my earlier description of "inexplicable." To a viewer, if you're the NBC affiliate, you should run all NBC shows, with only exceptions for special occasions.
 
newsmark said:
But I'll stand by my earlier description of "inexplicable." To a viewer, if you're the NBC affiliate, you should run all NBC shows, with only exceptions for special occasions.
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How many ordinary viewers, not the folks who obsess over things on internet forums, actually know which shows are network and which ones aren't? OK, maybe most folks know about prime time shows, but for the rest of the day, how many people know? And before you answer, read how many posts in all of the NATIONAL TELEVISION TOPICS forums refer to syndicated shows as being part of whatever network the station they watch them on is affiliated with.
 
In a perfect world, an affiliate would run all of its network programs. But there's a little thing called ratings. To cite one example, in the late '70s, NBC was placing show after show on the bottom of the Nielsens. WSB Atlanta was spending beaucoup bucks to replace those shows with movies and syndicated programs in order to maintain its top-rated presence in Atlanta. It turned out to be a factor in the station's moving to ABC, whose stronger lineup meant fewer pre-emptions and less drain on the station's bottom line. Likewise, for a couple of years (1972-74) WSB was the only station in Atlanta carrying its network's 4 PM show in pattern ("Somerset"); WAGA reran "Bewitched" and WXIA ran movies. Seeing the revenue 5 and 11 were bringing in, Channel 2 had no choice but to put on a syndicated show ("Mod Squad") at 4.

And Avid is right; most people probably don't notice if a show is network or syndicated; I suspect viewers in Raleigh think "Wheel Of Fortune" is an ABC show; in Greensboro, they think it's CBS; in Charlotte, NBC, because those networks' stations carry it in those markets, respectively. Likewise, I suspect a whole lot of viewers around the country think "Judge Judy" is either a CBS or a Fox show, since those networks seem to be in the majority of her station lineup.
 


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