For example WYFF showing the soap opera Somerset during the noon 'hole'(1pm EST) in 1970.
Besides what was the noon 'hole' anyway?
Besides what was the noon 'hole' anyway?
-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
The noon 'hole'?
- Thread starter danderson6500
- Start date
An afternoon version of the old "Access Rule". Networks gave that hour back to the affiliates to air what they wanted.
The "noon hole" referred to CT (it was 1:00-1:30 ET), and it was the local news half-hour (or whatever you wanted to throw in there). Some stations did throw the 4:00 PM ET show in the hole, on a one-day delay (and started throwing in "whatever" at 4:00, instead of 4:30. The exception being when WCBS-TV moved "Tattletales" from 4:00 to 1:00, it was NOT a one-day delay, since the program tape was already in the Dairy Barn, and they did a special airing for NYC at 1:00--but not on the network line. (If "Sunrise Surprise" was still on the schedule then, it aired on the network at 1-1:30 ET so stations could record it for the next morning's airing.)
Later on, CBS started doing a split feed for "Y&R" at 11:00 CT/12:30 ET, which enabled a noon news "hole" at noon ET and noon CT.
The noon CT hole on CBS affiliates was a tradition going way back, allowing midwest stations to do a combination of news, farm report, hog prices with Les Nessman, coffee klatch, piano recital, etc.
Later on, CBS started doing a split feed for "Y&R" at 11:00 CT/12:30 ET, which enabled a noon news "hole" at noon ET and noon CT.
The noon CT hole on CBS affiliates was a tradition going way back, allowing midwest stations to do a combination of news, farm report, hog prices with Les Nessman, coffee klatch, piano recital, etc.
WYFF here in Greenville SC/Asheville did that- they'd put Somerset in the hole. WSPA usually had something syndicated between Search For Tomorrow and As the World Turns. Soon after though, WYFF found out that people wanted news not drama at 1:00, and changed it back. Then when Days of Our Lives moved to 1:00 the station found a permanent solution. Same thing with Another World moving to a hour, the station had found a permanent solution to the issue. It goes back to the scheduling problem that began in 1968 when NBC lost the game Let's Make a Deal to ABC. (Deal had done very well after the local talk show Today in The Piedmont since LMAD's 1963 debut, and when ABC got Deal, the station suffered, and in its wake, eight different shows were placed into the slot- (Hidden Faces, You're Putting Me On, Life with Linkletter, Words & Music, Memory Game, Three on a Match, Jeopardy!, and How to Survive a Marriage). All which could not get the lead out audience from Today in The Piedmont.(All My Children, on ABC was also stealing away some of Today in The Piedmont's audience too.) 4 dropped it and for a while, didn't have a newscast, then in the late 70s, went with a noon newscast and settled down to get decent ratings opposite Y&R which had dominated the noon timeslot since 73.
Meanwhile they struggled to find anything to air after AW(and later on Santa Barbara)-Batman, Bonanza, whatever they could find- before Oprah became successful in the 80s. In exchange to its affiliates for taking away the old half-hour access slot at 1:00/Noon, NBC gave them the 4 p.m./3 slot, which many (if not most) stations had been preempting for years anyway, so Oprah was part of that trend.
Meanwhile they struggled to find anything to air after AW(and later on Santa Barbara)-Batman, Bonanza, whatever they could find- before Oprah became successful in the 80s. In exchange to its affiliates for taking away the old half-hour access slot at 1:00/Noon, NBC gave them the 4 p.m./3 slot, which many (if not most) stations had been preempting for years anyway, so Oprah was part of that trend.
Last edited:
That hole is where Betty Feezor was on WBTV for years, after Search For Tomorrow.
Flash to the present day, and some enterprising stations that run noon news for a half hour find the 12:30 slot most appetizing for tasty infomercials. The viewers desert while management enjoys dessert.
- Status