Actual TV Stations Depitcted in Movies or TV Shows

[Savage]

mleach, not to publicly correct you but I believe that the newspaper being read by Goldie Hawn's father in "Best Friends" was actually The Courier-Express which was then Buffalo's morning daily. Given the film's production date (1982) and the last issue of the Courier-Express on September 19, 1982, the newspaper must have barely made it in time to be featured in the film before expiring. Barnard Hughes played Goldie's dad.

 

[nightfly61]

American Dreams depicted WFIL in Philadelphia...wasn't it really WPHL?

 

[Ultimajock]

...what was the Marx Brothers film in which Chico uses "WJZ" as the punchline for a gag? (And, yes, I realise that the reference actually was to the radio station then in New York, but since the call sign has since been used by TV stations in New York and Baltimore, that would connect it to this thread)...

 

[wbhist]

American Dreams depicted WFIL in Philadelphia...wasn't it really WPHL?

If the time period in which the show took place is correct, it would be WFIL - the TV station of which changed its call letters to the current WPVI in 1971.

 

[mleach]

mleach, not to publicly correct you but I believe that the newspaper being read by Goldie Hawn's father in "Best Friends" was actually The Courier-Express which was then Buffalo's morning daily. Given the film's production date (1982) and the last issue of the Courier-Express on September 19, 1982, the newspaper must have barely made it in time to be featured in the film before expiring. Barnard Hughes played Goldie's dad.

Thanks for the info !!!!

A similar thing happened with the long defunct Washington ( DC ) Star newspaper in 1981 ( The Star would end its run on 8/7/81 ). The paper wasn't in a movie or TV show but rather..a comic strip. Bil Keane's The Family Circus !!!

Sometime during the first six months of 1981 Keane drew a series of strips having the family checking out the sites of Washington DC. As was Keane's style, he would give thanks in the strip itself to the local paper who ran his strip. As i recall Keane did this with the old Philadelphia Bulletin paper. The last DC/Family Circus strip ( or one of the last ) showed the family in a taxi heading to Dulles Airport..and on the back of that cab it said "The Washington Star".

However by the time that strip ran, the Star went out of business and as result Keane's tribute to the Star ended up in the Washington Post.

 

[nightfly61]

KABC, Los Angeles is mentioned in the original Helter Skelter, where the t.v crew timed themselves & went on a lead from a newspaper article that one of the the killers said they "threw their clothes over an embankment". Again making the LAPD look stupid the t.v crew went out & found the bloody clothing Watson, Krenwinkel, Kasabian(who never got her clothes bloody though) & Adkins threw over the cliff a month or so earlier.

 

[easttxtv]

In one of the early eps of the former NBC soap Texas, a TV station is shown in exterior facade and interior lobby shots. I've heard that it was the actual Houston (where Texas was set) station KPRC/2, but I'm not certain. The reason for a TV station being shown or referenced was because one of the show's main characters owned/ran a TV station (dubbed 'KVIK' on the show). The sale of 'KVIK' and the firings of all it's employees was a plot point in the finale ep of Texas, supposedly as a bit of a comeback to the show having been cancelled itself.

Found a YouTube of a later opening of Texas that has a brief showing of the facade of the station (about :30 into it):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UgSS9CP3w4

 

[ChuckTiller]

Yes, it is KPRC-TV Channel 2 studio's entrance used in the opening scene for "Texas." It's located on the Southwest Freeway (US-59) near Beechnut St. It is still in that building.

 

[dtuba]

The movie Life or Something Like It with Angelina Jolie and Ed Burns (1999?)
Takes place in Seattle, she's a reporter, he's a photog, they fall in love... anyway, after being turned down by Fox affiliate Q13 (maybe because Jolie's character too closely resembled anchor babe Leslie Miller), they went over to KOMO-TV and used their gear. Studio, live trucks, mic flags, etc. Only they changed KOMO to KOMQ for the film. So, you almost saw an actual local station in the movie. (Which, granted, wasn't very good anyway)

 

[nightfly61]

Re: Nitpick 3

> Although you didn't ask and this probably isn't the right
> forum, I also have a couple of radio instances.

It isn't and if I find even one more radio station reference in here, this thread gets closed.<P ID="signature">______________


</P>

Casey Kasem let his voice be used in Ghostbusters talking about the fearless ghost chasers & ended with..."and now, on with the countdown.
Larry King did the same thing in GB only with a CNN guest appearance.
I'm too lazy to break out my dvd, but Scatman Cruthers character in The Shining was sitting in his Florida hotel room watching the local news of the huge snow storm about to hit the hotel.

 

[mleach]

Re: Nitpick 3

> Although you didn't ask and this probably isn't the right
> forum, I also have a couple of radio instances.

It isn't and if I find even one more radio station reference in here, this thread gets closed.<P ID="signature">______________


</P>

Casey Kasem let his voice be used in Ghostbusters talking about the fearless ghost chasers & ended with..."and now, on with the countdown.
Larry King did the same thing in GB only with a CNN guest appearance.
I'm too lazy to break out my dvd, but Scatman Cruthers character in The Shining was sitting in his Florida hotel room watching the local news of the huge snow storm about to hit the hotel.

In the case of the Steven King's the Shining..there were actually TWO local TV stations whose newscasts were featured. Miami's WPLG channel 10 ( the one with Scatman Cruthers was watching ) and Denver's KBTV ( now KUSA ) channel 9, the one Shelley DuVall was watching. The late Glenn Rinker was seen on the WPLG newscast. Now for Denver's KBTV...I seem to remember it was Paula Woodward and weatherman Nick Carter who were seen and both are still with KUSA today, however I can't really say for 100% sure if it was them but I do remember "9 News" ( Gee how long has that name been in use in Denver ?? ).

 

[nightfly61]

8 Mile had Detroit's real WJLB radio but the studio was a fake.

 

[bpatrick]

Anybody mention "A Face In The Crowd," with
Andy Griffith? When, as Lonesome Rhodes, he's
judging the baton-twirling contest in Arkansas,
there's a mobile truck with WMC on the side;
that's NBC5 in Memphis. Also, in the studio
where he does his local Memphis show (and this
one requires a close look), you can barely
make out the call letters WFMY on the camera.
WFMY is Channel 2 in Greensboro, NC, where
(arguably) Andy's biggest fans are. Those call
letters have never been assigned to a Memphis
station.

 

[jwgreek8606]

WALA was depicted in the movie Hometown Legend. Which was filmed around Foley and Baldwin County

 

[mattthepm]

Since 'Night Of The Living Dead' was mentioned earlier, how about the opening scenes from 'Dawn Of The Dead" that take place
in the studios of "WGON"? Which TV station was used for those scenes? The carpet on the walls for sound absorption in the control room are awesome

 

[nightfly61]

Anyone know if the T.V station in The Howling was an actual functioning station?