• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Chucktown Network Affiliate Switch of August 1996 (WCBD and WCIV)

S

spencerkarter85

Does anybody in the Lowcountry remember the great Chucktown Network Switch of August 19, 1996 when WCIV 4 which was NBC became ABC thanks to their owner's (Allbritton) deal with ABC, and WCBD 2 went from ABC to NBC that day? How did it impact viewers in the Lowcountry and the employees (especially Dean Stephens and Tom Crawford at 4, and Rob Fowler at 2) of WCIV and WCBD?

Also do you remember those network switch promos in 1996 when WCIV became ABC, and WCBD became NBC?
 
"Chucktown"??? Seems a bit like calling San Francisco "Frisco," doesn't it? A little on the insulting side, it sounds like to me. But I'm uptight anyway, so maybe it's not that bad.

From what I know about that market, it didn't really change things, as CBS affil WCSC pretty much has stayed on top ever since TV began down in the Lowcountry. News and everything, just about. According to Wikipedia, WCBD is in second on newscasts and had been so even before the network flip, going back to the 1980s.
 
I've never heard Charleston called "Chucktown"!

Is there any ABC affiliate in South Carolina (including WLOS,
which, despite being in Asheville, NC, serves Greenville and
Spartanburg) that ranks higher than third in local news?

It was about the same time this switch took place that Allbritton's
ABC33/40 became Birmingham's ABC affiliate; Fox had bought WBRC
in 1994 in the New World deal but had to wait two years until WBRC's
contract with ABC ran out before that station could become FOX6.
That made all of Allbritton's stations ABC affiliates:

WCIV/4 Charleston, SC
KATV/7 Little Rock
WJLA/7 Washington, DC
KTUL/8 Tulsa
WSET/13 Roanoke/Lynchburg, VA
WHTM/27 Harrisburg, PA
WCFT/33 Tuscaloosa, WJSU/40 Anniston, WBMA/58 Birmingham (now
collapsed into one market)
 
bpatrick said:
I've never heard Charleston called "Chucktown"!

Is there any ABC affiliate in South Carolina (including WLOS,
which, despite being in Asheville, NC, serves Greenville and
Spartanburg) that ranks higher than third in local news?

It was about the same time this switch took place that Allbritton's
ABC33/40 became Birmingham's ABC affiliate; Fox had bought WBRC
in 1994 in the New World deal but had to wait two years until WBRC's
contract with ABC ran out before that station could become FOX6.
That made all of Allbritton's stations ABC affiliates:

WCIV/4 Charleston, SC
KATV/7 Little Rock
WJLA/7 Washington, DC
KTUL/8 Tulsa
WSET/13 Roanoke/Lynchburg, VA
WHTM/27 Harrisburg, PA
WCFT/33 Tuscaloosa, WJSU/40 Anniston, WBMA/58 Birmingham (now
collapsed into one market)
Click to expand...

And when WJXX-25 siigned on in Jacksonville, it was owned by Albritton and took the ABC affiliation on the First Coast away from WJKS-17.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom