WFAA 75th anniversary special

[TexasTom]

Earlier this week, WFAA-TV ran a primetime special celebrating their 75th anniversary -- it's an interesting look at the station over the years, but it was also a reminder of how much bigger they (and broadcast television in general) used to be. Bigger in terms of ratings, because it reminded me of a time when their newscasts got truly huge audiences. But also bigger in other respects, because it also went back to a time when local stations did something more than just churn out endless hours of repetitive news programs that cycle the same content over and over. It went back to a time when they actually sent their reporters overseas for big stories. And to a time when they actually produced local programming outside of their newscasts.

For those who are interested, it is on YouTube, and also on the station's website: WFAA 75th Anniversary Special

 

[bpatrick]

When I lived in Dallas in the late 1970s WFAA could hardly be beaten in either ratings or quality; the Columbia Journalism Review ranked it and WCCO as the best local news operations in the country. I never watched any other station for news. And they did have a large assortment of local programs; they even pre-empted American Bandstand to get in Peppermint Place and a public-affairs program. They had a program for Hispanics, Que Pasa?, and my favorite, Inside Television With Mike Shapiro, which finally ended because he was getting the same questions over and over (like, why don't you carry American Bandstand?).

ABC has made a major mistake by never buying WFAA; it's still the only one of the big four that's not an o&o in the Metroplex (KDFW is owned by Fox. KXAS by NBC, KTVT by CBS, but WFAA is owned by Tegna).

 

[secondchoice]

When was WFFA offered to ABC? Pre Disney?

 

[Will_H_69_9]

When was WFFA offered to ABC? Pre Disney?

i don't think ABC ever made a offer to buy WFAA before Disney bought ABC/Captial Cities out in 1996, nor has Disney try to offer to buy WFAA out since the 1996 Disney/ABC merger or when Belo got bought out by TEGNA (Then Gannett before spinning it's TV media assets to TEGNA in 2015) in 2013.

 

[Mediafrog+]

i don't think ABC ever made a offer to buy WFAA before Disney bought ABC/Captial Cities out in 1996, nor has Disney try to offer to buy WFAA out since the 1996 Disney/ABC merger or when Belo got bought out by TEGNA

If ABC ever made any sort of offer for WFAA it was never public knowledge, or even anything serious on the rumor mill.

In Houston, word on the street in the early 00s was that CBS/Viacom made an offer to buy WFAA sibling KHOU, but was rebuffed by Belo. Viacom wanted to create a duopoly with KTXH, which it owned at the time. Viacom later sold KTXH to Fox, creating a duopoly with KRIV.

(Then Gannett before spinning it's TV media assets to TEGNA in 2015) in 2013.

Actually Gannett spun the publishing assets into a new company that took the Gannett name. The “old” Gannett was renamed TEGNA and is its business successor.

The new Gannett was acquired by Gatehouse a few years ago, and that merged entity took the Gannett name. So that business can be considered the “new new Gannett”.