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WSBK daytime when it was mostly network
- Thread starter Motown
- Start date
Cable wasn't a thing in Boston in the early '70s, though. I do remember WSBK picking up "The Gong Show" from NBC later in the decade -- 1977-78, I think -- when WBZ was pre-empting it in favor of a local talk show.
WLVI Ch 56 picked up ABC shows that WCVB declined to clear, specifically the 11-noon block (mostly sitcom reruns), and “The Edge of Night” for a year or two.
WNAC CH 7 cleared most/all of CBS’ daytime schedule. So if WSBK picked up anything in the 1970s, it was some game shows from NBC.
But in the 1980s, WBZ was hardly clearing anything from NBC daytime other than “Days of Our Lives” and “Wheel of Fortune”, so the other NBC daytime shows were on Ch 68 for a time (“Search for Tomorrow”, “Password”, and “Another World” to name three).
WNAC CH 7 cleared most/all of CBS’ daytime schedule. So if WSBK picked up anything in the 1970s, it was some game shows from NBC.
But in the 1980s, WBZ was hardly clearing anything from NBC daytime other than “Days of Our Lives” and “Wheel of Fortune”, so the other NBC daytime shows were on Ch 68 for a time (“Search for Tomorrow”, “Password”, and “Another World” to name three).
For fun: here’s a Boston daytime schedule from 1976. WSBK does have Fun Factory and The Gong Show from NBC on its schedule. But aside from that, its daytime schedule is mostly sitcom reruns and cartoons, as I remembered.
Thanks for the feedback. I found a Monday August 4, 1969 listing. Here are the network shows WSBK was carrying:
Noon Jeopardy! (NBC)
12:30 Eye Guess (NBC)
1:00 One Life To Live (ABC)
1:30 You’re Putting Me On (NBC)
2:00 The Newlywed Game ((ABC)
2;30 The Dating Game (ABC)
3:00 General Hospital (ABC)
7:00 ABC News
7:30 Password (CBS)
I know they were carrying Dark Shadows at 4:00 and Where The Action/Happening ‘68 at 4:30.
Also clearing a lot of Saturday morning cartoons and American Bandstand
Noon Jeopardy! (NBC)
12:30 Eye Guess (NBC)
1:00 One Life To Live (ABC)
1:30 You’re Putting Me On (NBC)
2:00 The Newlywed Game ((ABC)
2;30 The Dating Game (ABC)
3:00 General Hospital (ABC)
7:00 ABC News
7:30 Password (CBS)
I know they were carrying Dark Shadows at 4:00 and Where The Action/Happening ‘68 at 4:30.
Also clearing a lot of Saturday morning cartoons and American Bandstand
Jeopardy and Eye Guess were the main reasons I loved snow days. No sledding or snow forts for me, just a full day of game shows!
They were basically a secondary affiliate of at least NBC and ABC. I wonder, if one of those stations had lost or given up their affiliation, whether WSBK would have snapped it up.
because they didnt want to and was allowed by the network back then
NBC reason
WBZ-TV - Wikipedia
WSBK was a secondary affiliate to all three networks. They got paid and they were looking to get revenue where they could, so it was a no brainer. The local stations ran their own programming when they could make more money than running their network programs. Daytime talk shows, whether local or syndicated such as the Mike Douglas show or Merv Griffin show were popular. All Boston stations had a local news show at noon so there was preemptions then. WSBK took off when they acquired the rights to show the Boston Bruins hockey games, just as they were a becoming a great team with Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito and Gerry Cheevers to name a few.because they didnt want to and was allowed by the network back then
NBC reason
WBZ-TV - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
I know they carried every preemption from any network during the day and weekends at the peak of their affiliation. Of note, they carried Welcome Back Kotter when it premiered on ABC because Boston was embroiled in the bussing controversy and the local ABC did not want to carry a show with kids misbehaving in school.
I remember when WSBK carried CBS’ daytime “M*A*S*H” reruns in mid/late 70s.
I remember WCVB moved “Happy Days” to 730 Tuesdays in the fall of 1975, and carried the syndicated “Space: 1999” in the 8-9 pm Tuesday slot where ABC stations showed Happy Days and Welcome Back, Kotter. That arrangement didn’t last long and soon enough, WCVB picked up Kotter and they were back to showing ABC shows in pattern on Tuesdays.
I remember WCVB moved “Happy Days” to 730 Tuesdays in the fall of 1975, and carried the syndicated “Space: 1999” in the 8-9 pm Tuesday slot where ABC stations showed Happy Days and Welcome Back, Kotter. That arrangement didn’t last long and soon enough, WCVB picked up Kotter and they were back to showing ABC shows in pattern on Tuesdays.
What was WBZ running in Huntley-Brinkley's time slot?
I would imagine that a lot of Boston-area viewers also watched Providence stations, which would have been easily received throughout much of the market. I'm assuming that Providence affiliates adhered more closely to the networks' in-pattern offerings, or at least didn't eliminate such shows entirely. It was more common many years ago for stations to shift around network shows, and viewers who could pick up stations from multiple markets might also have had more than one chance to see a particular show. Pretty convenient in the days before home recording technology.
WJZB channel 14 in Worcester was running the H-B report in 1968. This station had a long history back into the 1950’s. They had a transmitter which could only broadcast in Black and White so the H-B report was not in color and the TV guide would have a sentence that said ch. 14 does not broadcast in color. Back then, a TV station had to be on the air for a minimum of 90 minutes per day to keep their license. So they went on the air from 6 to 7:30pm and had an announcer do a camera read of local news for an hour and the H-B report sandwiched in between.
The station was sold and there were big plans to upgrade the facility but a major fire occurred in 1969 and the license was turned in to the FCC and the frequency was reallocated by the FCC
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Covered in significantly more detail (as usual) at the UHF History site. The only thing we've never been able to track down is the exact date of that fire.
uhfhistory.com
History of UHF Television
May 7, 1969Covered in significantly more detail (as usual) at the UHF History site. The only thing we've never been able to track down is the exact date of that fire.
History of UHF Television
I remember discovering WJZB on the first VHF-UHF TV my family had, back around 1967. The only other station on UHF that I could receive from my location south of Boston was Channel 38, which was then WIHS, owned by the Archdiocese.