Pretty straightforward topic. The one that instantly pops up is Nickelodeon that stuck to regular programming to give kids a respite from the news.
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Channels that didnt go all-news on 9/11
- Thread starter installLSC
- Start date
What was the local coverage like? Outside of a bunch of interviews about how horrible the events were what could a station in Arizona add?
Not much that I recall. A bunch of interviews, like you said, and reactions from local politicians that were next to useless (both the reactions and the politicians). That's about all I remember.
also Cartoon Network
Here's an example of Phoenix independent KTVK briefly leaving CNN's coverage for a local angle (go to 48:08 if not taken there automatically):
I did some "band scans" during the attack on an adjacent television. I think the last non-children's cable network I saw still airing regular programming was The Weather Channel. The forecaster I saw, who was a female but whose name I don't remember, sounded and looked incredibly nervous -- shaken, really -- as she continued walking back and forth in front of her green screen, gesturing at the maps while giving utterly mundane temperature and storm forecasts. I remember thinking, "what in the hell is wrong with these people?", making her continue to work at such a moment. It was well into the attacks, possibly after even the Pentagon was struck.
Eventually, when I checked back one last time, they had finally begun relaying CNN or some other news network.
Also, here is a recording of the entire live C-band affiliate feed of the Regis & Kelly show from the morning of 9/11. What makes it "special" is that most affiliates would have cut away from all regular programming, to go to their local (or network) news, just before it started. So very few regular viewers would have actually seen this "episode" air. As could only be expected, the show went over like a lead balloon for its first 10 minutes or so, after which it began passing through a raw WABC-TV feed for the remainder of the hour, for the benefit of unstaffed/automated affiliates -- i.e. so those stations wouldn't end up airing 60 minutes of C-band SMTPE bars when the show prematurely shut down. That also makes the recording rather unique, because WABC stayed in local news mode for a long time, while most VHS recordings of that morning on the internet are of the big networks.
P.S. 32:00 to 34:35
Eventually, when I checked back one last time, they had finally begun relaying CNN or some other news network.
Also, here is a recording of the entire live C-band affiliate feed of the Regis & Kelly show from the morning of 9/11. What makes it "special" is that most affiliates would have cut away from all regular programming, to go to their local (or network) news, just before it started. So very few regular viewers would have actually seen this "episode" air. As could only be expected, the show went over like a lead balloon for its first 10 minutes or so, after which it began passing through a raw WABC-TV feed for the remainder of the hour, for the benefit of unstaffed/automated affiliates -- i.e. so those stations wouldn't end up airing 60 minutes of C-band SMTPE bars when the show prematurely shut down. That also makes the recording rather unique, because WABC stayed in local news mode for a long time, while most VHS recordings of that morning on the internet are of the big networks.
P.S. 32:00 to 34:35
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The weather is something that is important in many people's lives regardless of what happens in the nation and the world, such as farmers, those with commutes where weather would be a factor, building contractors, and so on. I can see why The Weather Channel would have carried on. As to children's networks, of course they had to continue with something for their young viewers, a kind of shelter, you could say.
It's been so long ago, I don't recall, and we didn't have cable, what kind of news feeds did various cable networks carry?
I recall the cable networks pulling news mostly from co-owned sources. Lots of people were using CNN, and several MSNBC. I remember some taking CNBC for some reason. (Somewhere around here, I have a VHS tape that was rolling continuously while I was scanning around.)
That's what I was thinking, co-owned sources. For those channels that didn't have such a source, I am guessing that, given the circumstances, on that one day, the major news providers might have given them a pass and allowed themselves to be carried free and clear by any channel that needed news of the event.
I think our local UPN station (WQHB, now WKTC Columbia SC) just carried the feed from WPIX in NYC.
WSBK Boston took CBS. In Chicago, WGN took CNN, interspersing it with its own coverage. WFLD took Fox News.
Compare that to the JFK assassination, when the few independents around were given special permission to take network feeds. In Chicago, for instance, WGN took CBS – it had been a CBS affiliate in the early days of TV. In Fort Worth-Dallas, KTVT took NBC in exchange for loaning its mobile unit to NBC via affiliate WBAP.
WTTV Indianapolis aired ABC's coverage. That had to have helped ABC with full-market coverage, given that their affiliate WLWI had poor coverage at the southern end of the market (barely viewable in Bloomington and Columbus, but those cities weren't where the Indy market money was, or is). Of course, ABC dumped WTTV for WLWI in 1957, so as a Bloomington resident at the time, I can't sympathize.
This popped up in Youtube's recommended category today, and I remembered this thread.
I'm assuming this was recorded in the eastern time zone. A number of cable networks were still in regular programming when this video's creator did his channel scan despite the pentagon having already been hit. (One of those channels, sure enough, was The Weather Channel. It was in a commercial break when he zapped past it.)
I'm assuming this was recorded in the eastern time zone. A number of cable networks were still in regular programming when this video's creator did his channel scan despite the pentagon having already been hit. (One of those channels, sure enough, was The Weather Channel. It was in a commercial break when he zapped past it.)
Very interesting video!I did some "band scans" during the attack on an adjacent television. I think the last non-children's cable network I saw still airing regular programming was The Weather Channel. The forecaster I saw, who was a female but whose name I don't remember, sounded and looked incredibly nervous -- shaken, really -- as she continued walking back and forth in front of her green screen, gesturing at the maps while giving utterly mundane temperature and storm forecasts. I remember thinking, "what in the hell is wrong with these people?", making her continue to work at such a moment. It was well into the attacks, possibly after even the Pentagon was struck.
Eventually, when I checked back one last time, they had finally begun relaying CNN or some other news network.
Also, here is a recording of the entire live C-band affiliate feed of the Regis & Kelly show from the morning of 9/11. What makes it "special" is that most affiliates would have cut away from all regular programming, to go to their local (or network) news, just before it started. So very few regular viewers would have actually seen this "episode" air. As could only be expected, the show went over like a lead balloon for its first 10 minutes or so, after which it began passing through a raw WABC-TV feed for the remainder of the hour, for the benefit of unstaffed/automated affiliates -- i.e. so those stations wouldn't end up airing 60 minutes of C-band SMTPE bars when the show prematurely shut down. That also makes the recording rather unique, because WABC stayed in local news mode for a long time, while most VHS recordings of that morning on the internet are of the big networks.
P.S. 32:00 to 34:35
It was probably a good thing that these channels continued with regular programming. Young children needed to have something to watch that would keep their minds off the events of the day.
I can't speak for Phoenix but I can speak for Dayton, Ohio. There was plenty to cover locally, with an Air Force base in town, and who knew for sure if a military base could be targeted? The AF base sent civilian employees home for the day, so of course heavy traffic and extra security around it. Downtown, Federal Buildings being closed and having extra security, business closures, school closures, and the resulting traffic issues. In addition, someone called law enforcement with a bogus report of a small plane crash near the VA hospital, which a lot of people apparently believed.
I seem to remember several channels, including home shopping, that just put up a slide directing viewers to a news channel.