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

[formeraa]

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.

I believe Midge Hill and Ken Malloy were the anchors on KTVT in the early 90's. It was a very well produced newscast that I frequently watched.

 

[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.

I believe Midge Hill and Ken Malloy were the anchors on KTVT in the early 90's. It was a very well produced newscast that I frequently watched.

You are quite right. I think Mike Hambrick was the original co-anchor with Midge Hill. Ken Malloy came along later but was pushed to mornings and replaced by Cameron Harper when channel 11 took the CBS affiliation. Harper was ditched when Trace Rowlett was hired. Malloy was a better anchor than Harper.

 

[Ultimajock]

All the Chicago independents in Chicago were pretty good. WPWR (Channel 60) WFBN (Channel 66) WSNS (Channel 44) they all had good shows, old movies and nice mixes of entertainment.

...but WSNS always had lousier visual quality to its programming than WFLD or even WCIU...they may have stripped Bob Luce's wrestling show to run five nights a week against Johnny Carson and Dick Cavett, but their film loop always looked especially dirty...

 

[Ultimajock]

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.

...I seem to recall that, for a short while between the cancellation of "The Loner" and the start of "Night Gallery," Rod Serling moved back to Ohio and did a movie hosting gig on a station in Columbus (dunno if the station was an indie or not)...

 

[RobertAnthony]

So far no one had mentioned the NYC indies. If you could get those, there was always something on. WNEW And WPIX had the best syndicted fare out there. I didn't care much for WOR. About all they showed were the programs the the other stations didin't want, the same crummy movies over & over again and Joe Franklin. Pretty much 2nd class compared to WPIX & WNEW, although WOR did have the Mets.
Also, honorable mention in their day, WCIX in Miami and WUHF in Rochester.

Glad someone mentioned the NYC indies. 5 and 11 were tops for me. And as mentioned 9 was merely an also-ran (same can be said for WOR 710 radio--but that's a horse of another color...AND BREED!)

WPIX as 11 Alive had a decent movie library, Action News at 7:30 and 10:00, Magic Garden, Time for Joya, and dare I mention the New York Yankees who during the big years of 11 Alive 1977 and 78 went back to back in world titles? And of course let's not forget the cartoons.

Same can be said for WNEW-TV. When The Choice campaign kicked off in 1977, 5 was ready to go. Despite not having local sports a lot, their movies were tops, Merv Griffin every night and the home of the 10 O'Clock News. 1977-86 were the big years for 5.

Let me also put in WLNY-TV/WLIG. Now they aired some old shows in the beginning of their run, including Bill Cullen's $25,000 Pyramid. They did also air some public domain movies and their news (with Drew Scott) was (and still is) cheap looking. But the programs they air today are what one can expect in the duldrums of synergy/corporate TV.

Connecticut really hasn't had that much of a success with indies. In the 1970's only WHCT-18 was considered that, but an underperformer. In 1982 WATR-TV 20 a second class NBC station to WVIT-30 became powerful indie WTXX-TV. Now they did some controversial things including airing R rated films and even those colorized b/w films! But they also had their kids show with a mascot, TX I think his name was. Now it's a CW station after being a UPN and WB station

Two years later, WTIC-TV 61 came on being boasted as a locally owned station and with 5,000,000 watts of power. They also aired some Celtics games from WLVI-TV. Now it's a Tribune-owned Fox affiliate

Two years after that, WTWS came on. Despite a decent run of old shows and movies, it had poor management and there was an infamous story about how one time a football game was running late-college I believe and there was a janitor in the building and at midnight, the station went to an infomercial--the janitor apparently took his job too seriously. 26 later received calls and complaints. These days it's a barely watchable ion station as WHPX.

In 1995, 59 came on the air as WTVU with wall-to-wall OJ coverage. Now when I was at UCONN Storrs, I had a mini-TV with me and I picked up WBNE-TV the next incarnation of 59. Despite the WB being a new network, I think 59 was a pretty good station with classic reruns like Hawaii Five-O and movies and was being picked up by all available cable systems. These days it's MyTV9 as WCTX--yawn.

And yes I would also like to include WSBK-TV when it was on cable--WOW what a channel!

When I visited Orlando, FL in 1991, I got to view WKCF-TV when it was on 68. This station had quite a hip edge to it. They cheated when it came to news as it was produced by WCPX (WKMG). Now it's on a powerful channel 18 and is a CW station.

 

[LKellerIII]

"I think Mike Hambrick was the original co-anchor with Midge Hill."

Jeez - how many Hambricks were there? We had two of them stop by the SF Bay Area in the 70s - Judd on independent (now Fox) KTVU, Channel 2 - and John on KRON-4, then the NBC affiliate.

I assume they're brothers.

 

[upn38fan]

Now you know by my username that I have to go with WSBK as my 'BEST' Independent station of the last 30 years. It's amazing to me how they became Independent once again this past Fall. They are doing a decent job. What I most enjoy on 38 these days is The Three Stooges, which they have notably aired forever. I'm not a sports fan, but they are doing a good job with carrying local sports and did carry a lot of sports in the past. I was born in 1989 so I never experienced the better days of 38. However even in the 90s, they aired a great number of re-runs, sports, and specials. Today, I'd say TV38 itself is better than being affiliated with The CW or MyNetworkTV. They have the Phantom Gourmet which is O.K. but the hosts are a bit annoying. They air good movies. However, they could do more with weekday mornings.

 

[NoWayNoCC]

Someone mentioned WXIX Cincinnati. I guess by some measures they were decent back in the '80s, but it bugged the hell out of me when they preempted some of their solid afternoon cartoons with specials that were really just infomercials for toys.

Also, someone told me recently that they remember WXIX running John Bircher-like editorials in the early '80s. Anyone else remember this?

WXIX is now a Fox affiliate, and it's pretty laughable now.

 

[BoscoGoldBear]

I nominate WSBK (TV 38) and WKBG/WLVI (56).

First 38's finest moments:

-Boston Bruins Hockey
-Boston Red Sox Baseball (mid 1970s to mid 1990s - really, NESN, let CBS spend the $ to put Red Sox baseball on Fridays rather than let the Red Sox drop to the obscurity status shared by the B's, C's (whose popularity is limited to African-Americans these days) and the Revs (whose popularity is limited to the illegal aliens)
-The Movie Loft
-Ask The Manager
-Tom Larson's own talk show
-classic sitcoms (Cheers, M*A*S*H, Odd Couple, Andy Griffith, Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, Bewitched, Jeannie, Seinfeld - when 38 had it, Frasier, etc.)
-classic toons (Bugs Bunny, Scooby, Alvin, Mr. Magoo, He-Man, etc.)

Now 56's finest moments:

-classic movies
-Boston Celtics Basketball (back when Bird, McHale, Chief, DJ - RIP - and Ainge were playing, and when the C's popularity went way beyond the corner of Bowdoin St. and Geneva Ave. - LOL)
-classic toons (Flintstones, Banana Splits, Tom & Jerry, Gadget, Transformers, ThunderCats, Yogi Bear, etc.) with Uncle Dale as the voiceover
-classic sitcoms (Brady Bunch, Lucy, Batman - Adam West version, Gilligan, Happy Days, etc.)
-the original Star Trek
-Lost In Space
-The Ten O'Clock News with Jack Hynes (back when Karen Marinella was just a reporter)

Let's see if anyone agrees or disagrees with me!

 

[chris12]

I'd agree that WFLD 32 in the early to mid 80s was a great station as they had all sorts of great programming. Especially as a youngster I enjoyed their Super Cartton Sunrise and Afternoon Fun line-ups. Their rise seemed to start around 1978 when Field reaquired the station from Kaiser and they went to an early morning sign-on and won the rights to top repeats such as MASH, All In the Family, Happy Days, Sanford and Son, Chips,Three's Company and top syndicated game shows like Tic Tac Dough and Joker's Wild.

 

[Jul]

What about Philadelphia?

I'm shocked that there is no discussion in this thread about the programming on Philadelphia TV stations WPHL channel 17 which was INDEPENDENT from 1965 until 1995, Channel 29 from 1965 until 1986 and WKBS channel 48 from 1965 until 1983 and channel 57 from 1985 until 1995, What are your thoughts on these 4 stations and the porgramming they aired before they became network Affiliates.

 

[Ageofquarrel]

This is a great thread!
Iam lucky to have grown up in the cradle of some great independent stations living in connecticut in the late 80s.
I grew up in Southern Ct and grew up watching WNEW/WNYW 5, WPIX 11, and WWOR 9 from NYC, as well as getting WSBK TV38 through our cable system Cablevision. And I cant leave out WTXX 20 because it was pretty good too.
Memories of these stations include.

WNEW/WNYW 5
WWF wrestling on Saturday and Sunday mornings.
Watching Diffrent Strokes, The Facts of Life, Mr. Belvedere, The Brady Bunch, Whats Happening, Threes Company, and Family Ties after school everyday.
Small Wonder and Too close for comfort being shown on the weekends.
As well as Plastic Man's Cartoon show, He Man, Thundercats, Dick Tracy, Woody Woodpecker in the mid afternoons.
All in the family late at nite.
Merv Griffins show which my grandparents watched religiously.
I Love Lucy in the late mornings.
HOUR Magazine with Gary Collins which my grandparents used to watch all the time.
PM Magazine with Bill Boggs.
They would also show great Kung Fu movies and Horror flicks. Sometimes having theme weeks for them.
Columbo episodes on late sunday afternoons.
Get Smart being show at like 2am in the morning.

WPIX 11
Transformers and GI Joe after school and in the mornings.(They would flip the schedule around some times)
As far as sitcoms, Cheers, Benson, The Odd Couple, Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, the Jeffersons and The Honeymooners were staples of WPIX when I was growing up.
Yankees Baseball, Im a Mets fan but will watch any baseball, and Phil Rizzuto announcing was reason enough to watch the Yankees.
I also remember them playing Emergency at like three in the morning.
I was a young nite owl haha.
WPIX also had lots of great movies as well.

WWOR 9
Mets Baseball. My grandfather and I spent alot of time glued to the set watching our Mets.
Howard Sterns first foray into TV, The Howard Stern show. Me and my friends used to watch this instead of SNL on saturdays.
Bosom Buddies, Soap, and Its a living being shown.
I also remember watchin Romper Room with Miss Molly when I was little.
Channel 9 also had a good library of movies and a block of game shows every afternoon.

WSBK TV38
What can I say about WSBK that hasnt been said already.
Great channel!
Red Sox and Bruins.
The Movie Loft with Dana Hershey, as well as his show Hersheys Hollywood where he would preview
current movies and interview movie stars.
Dana Hershey's distinct voice being heard in TV38's promos.
Hogans Heroes.
The Three Stooges.

WTXX 20
TX Critter hosting the late afternoon cartoon blocks.
Shows like leave it to beaver, Wild Wild West, and M*A*S*H being shown.
Along with lots of movies

The Eighties and Early Nineties were a great time for Independent TV stations.
The best thing about these channels is that they offered a wide array of programming compared to today where it seems as every channel trys to be more niche oriented or a soulless network affliate.
I have great memories of watching all of the above mentioned stations.

 

[kirkiefan]

WTTV Channel 4 Bloomington/Indanapolis...in the 1970s they had Sammy Terry's Friday late-night horror movie show along with Cowboy Bob's Chuckwagon Theater and that pretty and funny gal Peggy from "Popeye and Peggy"
WSNS in Chicago I thought was just as great as WGN..in some ways even better..they had a "spanish movie of the week" hosted by Ricardo Montoban,Bob Luce Wrestling on Saturday nights and Felix The Cat,Ultra Man and Rocky and Bullwinkle on weekday afternoons.

 

[bpatrick]

I'll bet my parents would have liked to have access
to a Metromedia station back in the '70s. I remember
that Channel 5 in New York used to run Cross-Wits
(one of my mom's favorite game shows) at 8, Merv
(my dad's all-time favorite talk show) at 8:30, and
news at 10 (when you've lived in the Central time zone
you develop a preference for 10 PM newscasts). And,
for a couple of years at least, I could have watched
Groucho at 11.

I think KTTV/11 Los Angeles and WTTG/5 Washington,
DC, had the same lineup, except that Groucho came on
KTLA.

 

[searadiofreak]

New York was impressive with three indies back in the day, but L.A. was the undisputed king of indies. On VHF, you had KTLA 5, KHJ 9, KTTW 11, and KCOP 13, ALL with local news! (I remember watching LA news as a kid and seeing 6 or 7 local newscasts on at the same time!)

 

[jwgreek8606]

I have a lot of fond memories of the old Indys from the 1970s and 1980s. They had good sitcoms, I mean nost just the classics but cult favorites. (Ex: Silver Spoons, Charles in Charge, Small Wonder etc.) I was born in 1986 and I wish I was old enough to enjoy WGN and WOR before freakin' syndex ruined it. I am a game show fan and WOR would have been heaven for me. I used to watch WGN growing up. I remember them being the flagship station of The Illinois Lottery and their Lottery game shows such as (The $100,000 Fortune Hunt, and Illinois Instant Riches). But still, I wish I was old enough to remember it before Syndex messed it up for us outside of Chi-town.

 

[KML0224]

I hear ya in terms of the New York and Connecticut offerings! As for WSBK-TV in Boston, I used to jones for "Ask The Manager". By the way, the legendary broadcaster from their station is Dana HERSEY. (Note the spelling! He's not a chocolate candy bar!)

 

[sctvman]

I'd agree that WFLD 32 in the early to mid 80s was a great station as they had all sorts of great programming. Especially as a youngster I enjoyed their Super Cartton Sunrise and Afternoon Fun line-ups. Their rise seemed to start around 1978 when Field reaquired the station from Kaiser and they went to an early morning sign-on and won the rights to top repeats such as MASH, All In the Family, Happy Days, Sanford and Son, Chips,Three's Company and top syndicated game shows like Tic Tac Dough and Joker's Wild.

Yes, WFLD-TV was the top independent station in Chicago, even over legendary WGN-TV in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Also, Field Communications helped the station with great programming and added more local programming including PM Magazine.

 

[gibby88]

For Northern California , KTVU-2 and KBHK-44 were the best in the Bay Area. For Sacramento, it was KTXL-TV 40. They were THE BEST from their October 26, 1968 sign on until they became Sacramento's Official Fox Affiliate in 1986. They had everything from "Big Time Wrestling" (The Roy Shires Promotion) to Cartoons with "Capn' Mitch" as the host. There was Saturday Night Horror with "Bob Wilkins" long before he went to KTVU with "Creature Features" and continued until 1981 (2 years after he left KTVU). They had movies in the morning, afternoon and prime time as well as "All Night Movies" with Tom LaBrie as host. (I believe it was called "Night Comfort Theatre"?). Another great station was the original KMUV Channel 31 which signed on on October 5, 1974 with an "ALL MOVIE FORMAT". The movies were shown 3 times a day with "Horror/SciFi Movies" on at 7:30AM,5:30PM and 11:30PM, "Comedy/Romances/Dramas" on at 9:AM, 1M and 7M, "Action/Westerns/Mysteries on at 11:AM, 3M and 9M plus there were half hour kiddie type shows (Old Serials, Laurel And Hardy, Little Lulu Cartoons) called "Solid Gold Heroes" at 7:AM, 5M and 11M. There were 3 on air hosts: KROY DJ "Johnny Hyde", "George Liberace" brother of famed pianist and Former Boxer/B-Movie Star "Buddy Baer".The All Movie Format only lasted until 1976 when it switched to "ALL SPANISH".

KTXL was like a neat mish-mash of both KTVU and KBHK,
which was what made it so great.

The late movie was definitely called "Night Comfort Theatre".
The movies were great, but the attraction was trying to figure
out what stimulants the host was on. LaBrie's Waterbeds was a
big deal in those days; there used to be several of them, now
it's just down to the El Camino location in Sacramento, at least
it was still there a couple of years ago. Tom LaBrie also
went into consignment toys for a while (the toy store was
carved out out of a piece of the El Camino showroom), but I
think he got out of that.

 

[vibe]

Being an east coaster from CT (don't hold it against me) it was a cultural shock when I moved to Las Cruces NM in the late 1970's to finish up school. We had the LA independents, 5, 9, 11, 13 on our cable system but L.A. was at least 600 mi away. If I remember the system only had channels on 2-13 but there was no shopping channels, pray per view etc, just broadcast stations that for the most part, could not be received OTA. And it cost something like $6.00 mo.
I remember our family putting up a large antenna in New Britain CT to watch the Celtics on Ch 27 out of Worcester, MA (about 65 mi) which had some interesting locally produced shows such as candlepin bowling. The station itself was weaker than convienence store coffee but we had a solid picture. Boston on 38 and 56 were simply too far (except for tropo conditions)although we did get the Boston networks and Ch 2 regularly (from about 95 mi). We would go to a friend's house( they lived on a hill) to watch the late nite movies on Ch 38. before cable.