Any Love For The "Love Network"?

[OhioMediaWatch]

Here in NE Ohio, CW affiliate WBNX/55 (listed as "WBN" in the affiliate list) is carrying it 9 PM-7 AM. WGN America also enjoys wide cable carriage here on most of the Time Warner systems.

The list also has WTRF/7 Wheeling listed twice - in Steubenville, on WTRF-DT2, and in Wheeling, on WTRF. Zap2It/Tribune says it's the former, WTRF-DT2 ("Fox Ohio Valley")...the main CBS affiliate is carrying regular programming, including the U.S. Open.

And it looks like Comcast in the Wheeling area finally supplanted WTAE/4 Pittsburgh with WTRF-DT3 ("The Ohio Valley's ABC") on cable channel 4.

 

[wrsg915fm]

Kudos to WTRF for their continuing run of the telethon. They also do the "Easter Seals" telethon. Even with obvious belt-tightening, belying the fact that they run the top three networks and SHOULD BE making boatloads of money, they continue to run it. They do a GREAT job, and consistently bring in the big money in an ever-shrinking market.

 

[johnnya2k6]

Once again, KTVF (Fairbanks) and KTUU (Anchorage) will cut away from the telethon for golf at 10:00 am, and if it goes past 2:00 pm when they rejoin for the conclusion (i.e., the final toteboard with "What The World Needs Now" followed by "You'll Never Walk Alone", all on a delay), then it's off to either WGN or good ol' YouTube.

But if I get the chance, I may see those LIVE on WWOR on my satellite.

 

[Prais]

Kudos, schmudos. They do it because business is slow around Labor Day and it comes from the bird. Easy money. NOBODY does it for "free" believe me. TV is a big money machine - that's all.

Bad news about the cubs interruption? WGN is in business to make MONEY - just like the MDA is.

I've seen this crap since 1965. It's TIRED. Jerry can swear at people, be disgusing and hateful -(he does nearly every year and is a putz to media when he does theater around the country)...then it's Labor Day and you should "forget" that when he rattles his cup.

After he's gone, someone will write a book about this guys REAL story. It's probably almost ready, now.

I'd rather give to find a Cancer cure.

 

[Prais]

PS I met a very nice couple who lived this last 30 years in France
and they said thst they never met any Jerry Lewis fan.

 

[LKellerIII]

PS I met a very nice couple who lived this last 30 years in France
and they said thst they never met any Jerry Lewis fan.

That "Jerry Lewis is a superstar in France" thing was from the 1970s or even the 1960s. So if the couple is younger than their late 50s, that's no surprise. Or maybe it was never particularly true ???

Many Europeans think all Americans own an arsenal of guns and rifles. I've never owned a single firearm, and neither have most of my friends. Stereotypes are stereotypes for a reason - they're often true, but certainly not anywhere near always.

 

[Prais]

I just heard the "superstar in France" most recently on wgn, yesterday.

Many Europeans think all Americans own an arsenal of guns and rifles.

Mr. L, I don't either, but have many friends that do.

 

[Tim-In-Houston]

Bad news is damn WGN America will interrupt the Jerry Lewis telethon for Cubs baseball!

Which is something WGN has always done the last 30 or so years that WGN had the telethon.

I don't recall them cutting away from the telethon for sports while I was growing up in southern Illinois...but I do recall them airing the first 2 hours of the telethon live, then delaying the rest by one hour (so they could air their Sunday 9pm newscast). In my neck of the woods you could watch Rip Torn's stand up rountine live (on the local NBC, WFIE-Evansville) and then watch him again an hour later on WGN (this was back when WGN more-or-less broadcast their local feed to the satellite)!

 

[azumanga]

In my neck of the woods you could watch Rip Torn's stand up rountine live (on the local NBC, WFIE-Evansville) and then watch him again an hour later on WGN...

Don't you mean "Rip Taylor" -- the flamboyant man with all the confetti?

 

[azumanga]

For the record, WGN America's HD feed [in 2009] was all standard-def only, including the local segments. Did any Chicagoland viewers see their local segments in HD on WGN proper?

WGN-TV is all HD now for any programming that originates in their studios and for remotes.

For this year's coverage on WGN America, everything is again in SD upconverted to HD, with everything, including the local segments, pillarboxed. How does it look in Chicago?

As for the telethon itself, just finished the first hour on WGN, and was rather blah, especially the Parents Magazine bomb that closed the segment. Comes to show that the big show is getting long in the tooth.

 

[dave73]

For the record, WGN America's HD feed [in 2009] was all standard-def only, including the local segments. Did any Chicagoland viewers see their local segments in HD on WGN proper?

WGN-TV is all HD now for any programming that originates in their studios and for remotes.

For this year's coverage on WGN America, everything is again in SD upconverted to HD, with everything, including the local segments, pillarboxed. How does it look in Chicago?

As for the telethon itself, just finished the first hour on WGN, and was rather blah, especially the Parents Magazine bomb that closed the segment. Comes to show that the big show is getting long in the tooth.

You beat be to the posting. I'm actually surprised that the local WGN-TV portion of the MDA Telethon isn't in HD. I expected the national portion with Jerry Lewis to be in SD. So I don't know if the local portion of the filming is actually being done with Tribune equipment, or someone else's equipment. If it's Tribune's equipment, then it surprises me that they haven't completely eliminated their SD equipement, as all other local programming is in HD.

Bad news is damn WGN America will interrupt the Jerry Lewis telethon for Cubs baseball!

Which is something WGN has always done the last 30 or so years that WGN had the telethon.

I don't recall them cutting away from the telethon for sports while I was growing up in southern Illinois...but I do recall them airing the first 2 hours of the telethon live, then delaying the rest by one hour (so they could air their Sunday 9pm newscast). In my neck of the woods you could watch Rip Torn's stand up rountine live (on the local NBC, WFIE-Evansville) and then watch him again an hour later on WGN (this was back when WGN more-or-less broadcast their local feed to the satellite)!

If there's any sports programming today that WGN-TV has the rights to, they'll just have it moved to WCIU in order to commit to the MDA Telethon. They already do that with CW programming that they must air. They can't pre-empt a lot of CW programming in order to retain their affiliation. MDA is only once a year, and WGN-TV can make room for it once a year as long as they feel like it.

 

[Frank Ferreri]

Like the Ed Sullivan show....something for everyone. Thought this year's entertainment is outstanding. Manilow blew the roof off with a American Bandstand salute. Excellent.

 

[hubcity]

Set's a lot better this year, too. Looks less cheap than previous years.

 

[azumanga]

SPOILER ALERT












END SPOILER

Tuned in just in time (about 5:25PM ET) for the final tote -- about $58 million, $2 million lower than last year. Jerry is sobbing, barely able to complete his song.

And no "What The World Needs Now" this year.

(I take that back -- that song did play, but only for a little bit during the closing credits, which ran at the end of the show for the first time in many years.)

 

[crainbebo]

The final tote was almost $59-$58,919,858. It's 2.5% lower than last year's tote at $60,481,231.

-crainbebo

 

[crainbebo]

EDIT

It's actually $58,919,838, not 858.

-crainbebo