AMERICA'S BEST INDEPENDENT STATIONS IN THE 1970s, 1980s and 1990s?

[Madmansam]

Also for the Bay Area, let's not forget KGSC Channel 36 in the 1970's! Before they became KICU.

 

[LKellerIII]

"Also for the Bay Area, let's not forget KGSC Channel 36 in the 1970's! Before they became KICU."

I remember they were "The Perfect 36" - and stripper Carol Doda did their..uh...image work.

 

[searadiofreak]

For a brief shining moment, KTVW, Channel 13 in Tacoma/Seattle was an irresistible draw with its eclectic mix of classic TV shows and locally produced programs. While it wasn't the "best" independent, "The Blaidon Station" was fun and unpredictible. It was purchased by Blaidon Mutual Investors Corp. in 1972, a company with no broadcasting experience, from a bankrupt J. Elroy McCaw estate. Blaidon and Channel 13 burned through whatever money they had invested in the station and less than two years later, declared bankruptcy themselves.

Yes, this Seattle native remembers Channel 13...always seemed to be the "black sheep" of Sea/Tac TV...but look where they are today...that bankruptcy eventually evolved into them becoming Seattle's Fox, with a decent news operation and beating the other net affilitates in a lot of slots. BTW, I can't remember, when did KTVW change to KCPQ?

 

[mbatchelor]

KPLR Channel 11 in St. Louis was a great independent station before the WB network. In addition to a large library of great classic movies, cartoons,and TV shows; KPLR's "Wrestling at the Chase" was a St. Louis institution for many years into the 80s. Also, I seem to recall KPLR as being one of the first independents to offer a daily 9pm newscast.

 

[truthsayer]

WFLD Chicago, before they became a Fox station really was a sitcom game show heaven. After the demise of WSNS channel 44 it seemed that WFLD channel 32 picked up where WSNS left off. They were quickly picked up by many cable operators to replace WSNS. I remember thier prime time line up included several game shows and the Honeymooners and PM Magizine which was a local production. They had a slick image and many sitcoms all day and night. Dont remember any infomercials they did run some religous shows in the morning.

There was a new independent in Central Illinois WBLN Bloomington Normal who came on the air in 81 and rand local news which was awful from the set of earthtone carpet backround with blue letters NEWSCHANNEL 43
a ugly oversized white desk with a blue strip along with a very large weather guy that blocked the free standing weather map. Some of the shows they played get ready now....George and Gracie, Flipper, Car 54, and many religous shows. They came on at 4pm and off at 11pm. They soon were bought out and changed to WYZZ it took a year or so befor they too Jump Street over too Fox! They adventully became decent over time. They really cover the region now with the 9pm news. They share quarters with WMBD TV 31 in Peoria.

Hope you liked the history lesson. WBLN was important to independent tv it gave ground to many medium size markets to give it a go. I say WBLN was a ground breaker therefore a great one even if they really were bad milk. They deserve mention!

 

[fredflintstone]

I like classic TV shows more than most. But I really can't give points for "best independent station" for TV stations recycling old shows. I wish there were more stations still doing that, instead of infomercials, home-shopping and brokered preachers. But syndicated re-runs only get an indie a passing grade but not A.

The top indies had local - often live - shows (local kids shows, game shows, cooking shows, bowling shows, court shows, movie shows with interesting hosts) and an underdog local news department that had to out-hustle the network affiliates.
That makes for a small, select group: Metromedia in New York and DC, Tribune in Chicago and Denver, Gene Autry in LA and Kaiser. Maybe a handful of others.

Was channel 13 in Seattle the station that had a local movie show hosted by Producer and Director Stanley Kramer? An Oscar winner as a local movie host scores lots of points for best indie.

 

[Corky Marlowe]

Another question about Ch 13 in Seattle...Was that the station that produced "Almost Live"?

 

[MACK184]

I don't know about the "best" independent TV station, it probably wasn't, but I liked WTCN-TV 11 in Minneapolis. I spent some time there in 74 & 75, and they had an afternoon movie with Mel Jazz as the host. Mel always seemed like he was bagged when he was on the air..probably was, but I liked to watch the movie just for Mel. They had a number of differrent programs and were the host station for Verne Gagne's wrestling group as well.

 

[searadiofreak]

Another question about Ch 13 in Seattle...Was that the station that produced "Almost Live"?

No, that show was produced by Seattle's NBC KING 5. A rarity...a local comedy sketch show! Too bad it died.

 

[azumanga]

... it probably wasn't, but I liked WTCN-TV 11 in Minneapolis. I spent some time there in 74 & 75...

At the time, WTCN was an indy, under Metromedia ownership. It became affiliated with NBC in 1979. Today, it is now , owned by Gannett.

 

[LKellerIII]

"However, my favorite of the four indies (five, if you count KDOC) in L.A. was KCOP."

KCOP ("A Chris Craft Station!") must have improved after I left LA in 73. I have heard they did some good live programming at the dawn of the TV age - late 40s and early 50s. But in the late 50s to the early 70s, they were awful. They ran an evening block of Bill Burrud travelogues - grainy silent footage with Burrud's corny narration and syrupy music overlayed ("As the sun sets in the west, we bid Aloha to the beautiful Kanapali Coast...")

Then there was "Dialing for Dollars" - no movie mind you, just Alan Sloane making phone calls and talking to the camera for an hour. They added $10 to the jackpot each time nobody answered, and the jackpot usually got big because nobody was watching!. Not exciting television. The late movies were grade D el-cheapos from the 30s and 40s that none of the other stations would touch, not even KHJ-TV. In the afternoon, they ran The Munsters and a couple of other off network sitcoms over and over for years - they were repeated more than Sanford and Son on TVLand.

KCOP was a local joke in those days. In his monologue, Johhny Carson would make fun of what was playing "over on Channel 13..."

 

[EnbyCee]

WFLD Chicago, before they became a Fox station really was a sitcom game show heaven. After the demise of WSNS channel 44 it seemed that WFLD channel 32 picked up where WSNS left off. They were quickly picked up by many cable operators to replace WSNS. I remember thier prime time line up included several game shows and the Honeymooners and PM Magizine which was a local production. They had a slick image and many sitcoms all day and night. Dont remember any infomercials they did run some religous shows in the morning.

Actually WFLD was already a big deal by the time WSNS headed down the subscription/eventual Spanish road. Thanks to the sitcoms and game shows they acquired, they were actually running neck and neck with WGN by the late 70's, even beating them on occasion ratings-wise. Also don't forget Rich Koz's "Svengoolie" and Three Stooges reruns.

WFLD's peak as an indy was certainly just before Fox signed on the air, with all this stuff plus the rights to White Sox and Bulls games (watching Michael Jordan in his first few seasons on otherwise mediocre teams was great).

 

[searadiofreak]

"

Then there was "Dialing for Dollars" - no movie mind you, just Alan Sloane making phone calls and talking to the camera for an hour. They added $10 to the jackpot each time nobody answered, and the jackpot usually got big because nobody was watching!. Not exciting television. The late movies were grade D el-cheapos from the 30s and 40s that none of the other stations would touch, not even KHJ-TV. In the afternoon, they ran The Munsters and a couple of other off network sitcoms over and over for years - they were repeated more than Sanford and Son on TVLand.

KCOP was a local joke in those days. In his monologue, Johhny Carson would make fun of what was playing "over on Channel 13..."

One of my favorite local indie programs of all time was "Bowling For Dollars" with Chick Hearn, also a target of Carson's.
Anybody remember what channel that was on, when it ran, and if there is anyway to get copies of it? It was so corny it was priceless!

 

[sctvman]

Personally, KPTV was a premier independent station in Portland, Oregon during the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s. They had local programming, including Portland Wrestling (which aired between the 1960s and 1992). They launched their 10'O Clock News program in 1970 and is still on the air today (as a Fox station). Also, Perry Mason has aired every weekday at Noon since 1966. KPTV was owned by Chris-Craft until 2000.

I think KPTV hit their peak in the early 1990s when they aired shows like the Arsenio Hall Show, Roseanne, Cheers, Night Court, Star Trek: the Next Generation, Married...with Children, and Matlock. At this time, KPTV was one of the highest rated independent stations in the country.

Today, KPTV is a strong Fox station and is owned by Meredith Corporation.

 

[arnoldevns]

I think any discussion of best independents in the 70s-90s must include KTVT in Fort Worth/Dallas.
Channel 11 ran lots of classic TV shows and movies. They had an early morning kids show called "Slam Bang Theater" that was very popular.

The station got great ratings with the Texas Rangers games in the late 80s and early 90s. They wound up with very big ratings in the early evening hours when they got the rights to The Cosby Show and Cheers. Frequently they'd wind up beating 2 or 3 of the network affiliated news shows with these entertainment programs.

They had a decent news operation that was limited to a noon show in the 70s and early 80s. It was cut back to news briefs in the mid 80s. Then the station re-launched their news in 1990 with an hour at 7pm - which was later moved to 9pm. There was a time when I felt they had the very best news operation in town. It was just a really well-done show that covered everything in the area that anyone could need to know. The news went in the tank when they became a CBS affiliate in 1995.

 

[TexasTom]

For a brief shining moment, KTVW, Channel 13 in Tacoma/Seattle was an irresistible draw with its eclectic mix of classic TV shows and locally produced programs. While it wasn't the "best" independent, "The Blaidon Station" was fun and unpredictible. It was purchased by Blaidon Mutual Investors Corp. in 1972, a company with no broadcasting experience, from a bankrupt J. Elroy McCaw estate. Blaidon and Channel 13 burned through whatever money they had invested in the station and less than two years later, declared bankruptcy themselves.

Yes, this Seattle native remembers Channel 13...always seemed to be the "black sheep" of Sea/Tac TV...but look where they are today...that bankruptcy eventually evolved into them becoming Seattle's Fox, with a decent news operation and beating the other net affilitates in a lot of slots. BTW, I can't remember, when did KTVW change to KCPQ?

That station, as KTVW, made my "worst" list by virtue of the fact that they didn't even broadcast in color until 1972 (when Blaidon bought it). That's pretty amazing for a top 20 market VHF commercial station!

But to answer your question regarding the call letter change, that happened at the start of 1976 when channel 13 returned to the air as a public TV station -- the "CP" in the KCPQ call letters stands for Clover Park, as in the Clover Park School District -- the owners of this station until it was sold to Kelly Broadcasting and returned to commercial operation on November 4, 1980. It remained a rather weak competitor to Gaylord Broadcasting's KSTW, channel 11, until the rise of Fox. Truthfully, while Kelly was an exemplary owner for NBC-affiliated KCRA (channel 3) in Sacramento, they never quite seemed to know what to do with an independent station. I've long thought that the other commercial bidder for channel 13 in 1979/80 (Roadrunner Broadcasting, owner of then KZAZ, channel 11, Nogales/Tucson) would have done a better job of running this station.

This is a station with a truly fascinating history -- but much as I have a soft spot for this station, it was never a very good independent station. What's also fascinating is a look at how much this station sold for at various times:

1975: $378,000 for transmitter, tower, and license in bankruptcy sale
1980: $6.25 million for transmitter, tower and license. New owners built a new tower and donated the old tower to another PBS station
1999: $370 million to the current owner (Tribune Broadcasting)

That's almost a thousand-fold increase in the station's value in a 24 year period -- better than owning Microsoft stock!

 

[Madmansam]

Personally, KPTV was a premier independent station in Portland, Oregon during the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s. They had local programming, including Portland Wrestling (which aired between the 1960s and 1992). They launched their 10'O Clock News program in 1970 and is still on the air today (as a Fox station). Also, Perry Mason has aired every weekday at Noon since 1966. KPTV was owned by Chris-Craft until 2000.

I think KPTV hit their peak in the early 1990s when they aired shows like the Arsenio Hall Show, Roseanne, Cheers, Night Court, Star Trek: the Next Generation, Married...with Children, and Matlock. At this time, KPTV was one of the highest rated independent stations in the country.

Yes it was, in the 1970's and 1980's. KTXL-40 in Sacramento, CA was the Second Highest Rated Independent Stations In The Country!

 

[Madmansam]

KPLR's "Wrestling at the Chase" was a St. Louis institution for many years into the 80s.

Until, Koplar back stabbed Sam Mushnick and dropped "Wrestling At The Chase" in 1983 in favor of Vince McMahon's Then Expanding "World Wrestling Federation".(Now WWE).

 

[only1moore]

Well, here's three more that I would nominate: WVTV-18 and WCGV-24/Milwaukee, and WPTY-24/Memphis.

 

[fredflintstone]

Well, here's three more that I would nominate: WVTV-18 and WCGV-24/Milwaukee, and WPTY-24/Memphis.

Why?