Actual TV Stations Depitcted in Movies or TV Shows

[bhayes1016]

> ...and in the Sinatra original of OCEAN'S 11, there's a
> reporter doing a stand-up report on the theft from in front
> of one of the casinos. Anyone know if the TV station and/or
> reporter were actual?...
>

KLAS was/is an actual station in Vegas (CBS channel 8). Don't know if the reporter was an actor or not.

 

[Alan Criswell]

Re:

.

 

[compubit]

> So, can you think of any other movies or shows that depict
> an actual existing broadcast TV station? (I'm thinking of
> local stations, and not some recent movies in which CNN or
> Fox News or other cable outlet has a "product placement"
> agteement! And deliberately created/recreated footage, not
> actual documentary footage that happens to show call letters
> or whatnot).
>
IIRC...

Protocol starring Goldie Hawn had Sally Thorner (of WMAR at the time) as a channel 2 reporter.

Jim

 

[Newshawk]

> I believe I have seen a Channel 4 mic flag on Law & Order a
> few times, but it was nothing resembling WNBC.
>
I'm not sure about the WNBC/L&O connection, but ER often has both WMAQ-5 and WSNS-44 in story lines. MAQ is, of course, the NBC O&O, and WSNS, or T-44, is the NBC/Universal Telemundo O&O.<P ID="signature">______________
"Radio is like musical chairs. When the music stops, I sit down and say something."</P>

 

[fybush]

"That Thing You Do!," set in Erie, Pennsylvania, had the WICU calls displayed several times in the TV shop where some of the opening scenes were set.

Tom Hanks is pretty good on the accuracy thing, too!<P ID="signature">______________
Tower Site Calendar 2006 ON SALE! - <a target="_blank" href=http://www.fybush.com/nerw.html#calendar>www.fybush.com</a></P>

 

[kyleP]

> > > Baltimore's WBAL-TV was depicted in an older flick,
> > > probably "He Said, She Said" (1991).
> >
> > ...try DINER. In fact, one scene is set in their utility
> > announcer's booth...
>
> I'm pretty sure the TV station in "He Said, She Said" is
> WBAL.
>

It is !!

Actually when WBAL-TV had their 50th anniversary a number of years back not only did they show clips from "he Said, She Said", but WBAL also made the claim that they are seen in more movies than any other local station.

 

[Joey1986]

> > I believe I have seen a Channel 4 mic flag on Law & Order
> a
> > few times, but it was nothing resembling WNBC.
> >
> I'm not sure about the WNBC/L&O connection, but ER often has
> both WMAQ-5 and WSNS-44 in story lines. MAQ is, of course,
> the NBC O&O, and WSNS, or T-44, is the NBC/Universal
> Telemundo O&O.
>
The 1997 movie George of the Jungle had San Francisco ABC affiliate KGO Channel 7. And the version of Dr. Doolittle with Eddie Murphy had Fox affiliate KTVU Channel 2 from the same market. And 2005's Fantastic Four had New York Fox affiliate WNYW Channel 5.

 

[kyleP]

a few examples and one that turned down the chance

A Fire In The Sky, the 1978 TV movie about a comet ( or something destroying Phoenix featured a scene of a TV studio, KTAR's now KPNK-TV 12.

Death of Ocean View Park, another TV movie, this one from 1979 about the destruction of a Virginia amusement part, featured a Norfolk city bus with an ad telling their viewers to watch "Ed Hughes" ( real life Norfolk TV anchor who has since passed away ) on "News 3 WTAR-TV" now WTKR. Interesting tidbit about that one was the film aired on ABC which back then as it is now means WVEC channel 13.

The 1972 TV movie "Visions" about a bomber on the rampage in Denver with Telly Salvalas showed a clip of KLZ-TV 7 which of course now is KMGH. I read elsewhere that the anchor used in the film was Bob Palmer. Palmer for many years mainly on KCNC channel 4 was a popular anchor in Denver.

speaking of KCNC...

The 1991 TV movie "The Chase" about KCNC getting involved with the police thanks to the News 4 helicopters, well of course KCNC was featured throughout the movie. However the film was so bad I remember reading that even KCNC employees were embarrised.

True someone already mentioned about WKBW's role in Bruce Almight, the 2004 Jim Carrey flick. Here is some interesting trivia about that. WGRZ channel 2 almost became the station used in the movie. At first WKBW didn't want to even be involved, not sure if its money related or what but Carrey who grew up in nearby Canada and was a longtime viewer of WKBW, wanted WKBW and only WKBW. And with Carrey being the big star as he was/still is, he got what he wanted.

BTW despite being in Bruce Amighty, a hit comedy, well it didn't help WKBW in the Buffalo news ratings. Heck, WKBW even dropped the Eyewitness News name which they had for decades ( and used in the movie ) not long after the Bruce was released.

How about an example of a station who TURNED DOWN the chance to be in a movie..

I can think of only one. The 1985 Patsy Cline bio "Sweet Dreams" with Jessica Lange. Patsy got her start doing local radio and TV before she hit it big in Nashville. Among the stations she made appearances were WSVA-TV 3 in Harrisonburg, VA. The movie people had planned to feature WSVA-TV in the film but WHSV ( the former WSVA-TV ) said no. At the time I heard that there was some bad blood between WHSV and WSVA radio and that WHSV didn't want their channel 3 be associated with "those call letters" in any movie. Also at the time there was a rumor that the then-owners of WHSV didn't want to bring back memories of all those "hillbilly music shows" that channel 3 aired back in the 50s and 60s, which some of course feaured Patsy Cline. However times have changed. When WHSV celebrated their 50th a few years back, quite often on the air they talked about the "good ole WSVA-TV days" so I guess the two stations are friends again. Oh, WHSV even showed some still photos of scenes from those hillbilly shows. I bet they Wished they had some film to show of it, with the Statler Brothers and Patsy Cline, both of which were on WSVA-TV.

 

[SweetT8201]

"Flight of the Navigator" featured a clip of WSVN 7's (Miami) newscast, with anchor Jill Beach. This was in the "present day" (1986) part of the movie. I remember off the top of my head that she was talking in this scene about a story development and said "more on this at 11".

Also, one scene in the movie "PCU" (with David Spade) featured a clip of a newscast from WFSB 3 Hartford.

At least one episode of "Hawaii Five-O" featured KGMB 9, the Honolulu CBS affiliate. I recall in one episode seeing a camera with the KGMB calls on it.

And, toward the end of the movie "Illegally Yours", a 1988 comedy with Rob Lowe, you may notice a truck with a logo which reads "The News on 12". That is from WTLV 12 in Jacksonville, which at the time used that newscast title. What's more is that it was filmed in St. Augustine (south of Jacksonville).<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by alternativemedium on 04/16/06 05:03 PM.</FONT></P>

 

[Alan Criswell]

> > > > Baltimore's WBAL-TV was depicted in an older flick,
> > > > probably "He Said, She Said" (1991).
> > >
> > > ...try DINER. In fact, one scene is set in their utility
> > > announcer's booth...
> >
> > I'm pretty sure the TV station in "He Said, She Said" is WBAL.
> >
>
> It is !!

Thanx, I couldn't find any confirming data on the Web.


> Actually when WBAL-TV had their 50th anniversary a number of
> years back not only did they show clips from "he Said, She
> Said", but WBAL also made the claim that they are seen in
> more movies than any other local station.

And oddly enough, "He Said, She Said" and "Diner" are Baltimore-based
movies with Kevin Bacon in the cast.

 

[RobertMoore]

WTAE/Pittsburgh and their famous channel 4 logo was featured in the 1979 comedy "The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh."

 

[Met10013]

> Like the ubiquitous "555-" prefix for telephone
> numbers(***), TV and radio station depicted in movies and TV
> shows are usually fictitious, with fake call letters and a
> channel not assigned to the city in question.
>
> There ARE exceptions, usually in docudramas and the like
> that depict real events. The one that comes to mind is the
> movie "Apollo 13." One scene, depicting the media crush on
> the Lovell family's front lawn, includes a really
> nice-looking mock-up of a mid-1960's mobile unit from, I
> believe, KHOU-11 (Houston). (And knowing Ron Howard's
> fetish for authenticity, I'm sure he researched it well,
> probably right down to the model of the van and the color of
> the paint!) There is also a scene in which a local news
> report is seen playing on a TV set, and I think it is
> identified as coming from KPRC-2. (I may have those mixed
> up and, if so, forgive and correct me -- I don't have a copy
> of the movie and am going on memory here).
>
> So, can you think of any other movies or shows that depict
> an actual existing broadcast TV station? (I'm thinking of
> local stations, and not some recent movies in which CNN or
> Fox News or other cable outlet has a "product placement"
> agteement! And deliberately created/recreated footage, not
> actual documentary footage that happens to show call letters
> or whatnot).
>
> ***(The 555- convention was memorably lampooned in an
> episode of "The Simpsons" in which the police are trying to
> trace Homer's phone number. Chief Wiggums watches the
> computer readout: "Hmmm.....here it comes....5-5-5.....ah,
> geez, that's gotta be phony!")
>

The film "Eyewitness" (starring Sigourney Weaver) from the early 1980s featured a (then) WNEW-TV (New York) "5" mic flag and hand held news camera with the "WNEW-TV Metromedia Television" and that "5" logo labeling on it. It also featured then-station anchor John Roland and sports anchor Bill Mazer. Channel 5 even mentioned the film in a segment on "PM Magazine" which the station used to run during the early 80s.

 

[zman]

> "The Day After Tomorrow" had both KTTV and WNYW depicted.
> There was plenty of shots of FOX 11 and FOX 5 footage of the
> disasters taking place.



They also had a brief shot of FOX NEWS CHANNLE when they sent it to FOX 11 for the tornado hitting LA. FOX 11 was also in "Independence Day"
Also WLS AM 89 was at the beginning of "Farris Bulers Day Off". with a audio clip of Fred Winstons' morning show playing on the alarm clock.

>
>

 

[kyleP]

Midnight Cowboy

> > "The Day After Tomorrow" had both KTTV and WNYW depicted.
>
> > There was plenty of shots of FOX 11 and FOX 5 footage of
> the
> > disasters taking place.
>
>
>
> They also had a brief shot of FOX NEWS CHANNLE when they
> sent it to FOX 11 for the tornado hitting LA. FOX 11 was
> also in "Independence Day"
> Also WLS AM 89 was at the beginning of "Farris Bulers Day
> Off". with a audio clip of Fred Winstons' morning show
> playing on the alarm clock.
>
> >
> >
>

speaking of radio, in the 1969 movie "Midnight Cowboy", as he was about to enter
New York City on the bus, Jon Voight was listening to Ron Lundy on 77 WABC.

Speaking of Midnight Cowboy, the apartment scene where Jon Voight and his woman were making out, the TV came on. I remember the clip of the Jolly Green Giant cream corn ad but what other stuff was shown? Something called "Spaceline". What was that? There was also another TV scene of some guy ( Wally Cox ? ) dressing up a dog in women's clothes.

 

[Rollo-Smokes]

> "That Thing You Do!," set in Erie, Pennsylvania, had the
> WICU calls displayed several times in the TV shop where some
> of the opening scenes were set.
>
> Tom Hanks is pretty good on the accuracy thing, too!>

Speaking of Tom Hanks...

...in Forrest Gump (1994), during the scene where Forrest's speech at the anti-Vietnam War protest in Washington was sabotaged by someone who cut the audio, you'll see trucks bearing the logos of then-CBS affiliate WMAR-TV Baltimore, and the then-WTOP-TV Washington (which, of course, is now WUSA).

if I'm not mistaken, there may be at least one more real station that makes an appearance in that movie, but I haven't seen it some time.

And, one more from something I saw last night: In Waiting to Exhale (1997), Whitney Houston's character worked as a producer for KUTP in Phoenix. At least one scene was shot in the KUTP studios, for what looked like a Phoenix Suns pregame show.
<P ID="signature">______________
"Good luck and be well" -- Bill Beutel</P>

 

[FreddyE1977]

> Like the ubiquitous "555-" prefix for telephone
> numbers(***), TV and radio station depicted in movies and TV
> shows are usually fictitious, with fake call letters and a
> channel not assigned to the city in question.
>

In the movie Flashdance, the former WPTT-TV 22 comes to mind (currently WCWB, in the fall, who knows?) The film very prominently features a cheesy 5-minute newscast that they used to do several times per day (I think to provide the bare minimum in "public service" that the FCC required back then). It featured an ear-piercing intro that was right up there with the NBC Mystery Movie theme! When they first went on-air, they just threw up a station ID slide and did a radio newscast via voice over....very crude for 1979 or 80. Later they did put the announcer on camera, though they did not use any news footage or graphics that I can recall. The studio was described to me as being in a closet! They used 2 announcers at the time. One was Kevin Evans (pretty sure not his real name), who is the one featured in Flashdance. Everyone I knew made fun of him because the dude had some weird haircuts! Sometimes they would fade into bad chromakey backgrounds and look even worse! The other was Eddie Edwards, who went on to own the station for a time in the 90's. WPTT had the most bare-bones, crudely run newscast by far in the entire market, so I was always intrigued as to why the producers of Flashdance chose to feature this station in their movie.

 

[KingDaevid]

Re: Midnight Cowboy

> speaking of radio, in the 1969 movie "Midnight Cowboy", as
> he was about to enter
> New York City on the bus, Jon Voight was listening to Ron
> Lundy on 77 WABC.

...similarly, WABC's Dan Ingram is heard over radios at a couple of points in RICH KIDS, and The Real Don Steele is heard giving one of his "Fractious Friday" sign-offs over KHJ Los Angeles in TARGETS...<P ID="signature">______________
King Daevid MacKenzie
WLSU Wisconsin Public Radio, La Crosse
heard weekly on http://www.radio4all.net/
"Kill Ugly Radio." FRANK ZAPPA</P>

 

[KingDaevid]

> Also WLS AM 89 was at the beginning of "Farris Bulers Day
> Off". with a audio clip of Fred Winstons' morning show
> playing on the alarm clock.

...that movie also has Harry Caray calling a Cubs game on TV (the one where Ferris catches a foul ball) but I don't think there's an actual reference to WGN-TV/9 seen or heard...

...just remembered these:

MURROW (the '86 HBO biography of Ed Murrow starring Daniel J. Travanti) and GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK: Various references to WCBS-TV/2, including recreations of Don Hollenbeck's comments on the local 11:00 news immediately after Murrow's first McCarthy installment of "See It Now."

THE VERDICT: Both James Mason and Jack Warden make verbal references to WGBH/2, the Boston PBS station.

QUIZ SHOW: I'm fairly positive there's references to WNBC/4 throughout the film.

THE LATE SHIFT: The HBO movie about the Jay Leno-David Letterman "Tonight Show" dust-up starts with Leno's manager telling him about his trip to Green Bay, including the fact that WLUK/11 was the NBC affiliate there. (Ironically, by the time THE LATE SHIFT first ran on HBO, WLUK had switched affiliations from NBC to Fox.)

THE CANDIDATE: Robert Redford is seen taping a program for KBHK/44 San Francisco; the KBHK logo is clearly visible throughout the sequence.<P ID="signature">______________
King Daevid MacKenzie
WLSU Wisconsin Public Radio, La Crosse
heard weekly on http://www.radio4all.net/
"Kill Ugly Radio." FRANK ZAPPA</P>

 

[leach]

Re: Midnight Cowboy

> > speaking of radio, in the 1969 movie "Midnight Cowboy", as
>
> > he was about to enter
> > New York City on the bus, Jon Voight was listening to Ron
> > Lundy on 77 WABC.
>
> ...similarly, WABC's Dan Ingram is heard over radios at a
> couple of points in RICH KIDS, and The Real Don Steele is
> heard giving one of his "Fractious Friday" sign-offs over
> KHJ Los Angeles in TARGETS...
>

I was told that a sound clip from Kansas City's WDAF-AM was in the 70's porno flick "Kansas City Trucking Company". Wonder if WDAF knew about that?

The Real Don Steele I believe was in at least one episode of Batman playing himself.

A bus billboard for LA's KDAY ( "Fun all KDAY" ) was seen in the opening credits of the Elvis Presley/ Mary Tyler Moore 1969 flick "Change of Habit"

 

[gr8oldies]

Re: Midnight Cowboy

Just today I was told of an old episode of "What's Happening" that aired over the weekend which Wolfman Jack appeared on. I saw Disney's "The Kid" a few years back with the "open" of the newscast from L.A.'s channel 7.<P ID="signature">______________
"Your right to know supersedes your right to exist"..Gary Burbank</P>