Here in Hartford WFSB Channel 3.1, the Merideth-owned CBS affiliate is airing the normal Kewlopolis block of Kids Cartoons from CBS instead of CBS's coverage of Senator Kennedy's funeral. WFSB bumped CBS's coverage of Senator Kennedy's Funeral to Channel 3.3 which is Eyewitness News Now, their 24 hour news and weather station. (WFSB tapes the cartoons and airs them on a delay 9AM-12PM, so they can show their own local news 6AM-9AM and not show the CBS Saturday Morning Show. That's how WFSB is able to show CBS-branded programming on both Channel 3.1 and 3.3). In Springfield, Mass one would assume that co-owned/operated WSHM-LP/67 (also channel 3.2 in Hartford) is running the Funeral Service as there is no digital sub channel to put it on. Plus they don't have a Saturday Morning Newscast and run all the CBS programming as scheduled.
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Coverage of Senator Kennedy's Funeral
- Thread starter MarcB
- Start date
On Charter Cable in Jackson, TN, WREG (CBS) and WMC (NBC) in Memphis and WBBJ (ABC) and WJKT (Fox) in Jackson are carrying the funeral, but WHBQ, the Fox station in Memphis, isn't. Considering that all Fox has on Saturday morning is infomercials I'm surprised that WJKT is even carrying it.
Although I think carrying Senator Kennedy's funeral is more justified than Michael Jackson's, I still don't see why it is necessary for all the broadcast networks to drop regular programming for this. This is getting plenty coverage from the cable networks, and it could be carried on subchannels by the local stations. But then since it's Saturday morning the networks probably think they could get away with this easier than if it had been during the week or when major sporting events are happening.
I just wonder what local stations will have to do to get the required E/I programming in that is normally done with the Saturday morning kid's shows. My guess is that it will be shown in the extreme early morning and/or in place of infomercials.
Although I think carrying Senator Kennedy's funeral is more justified than Michael Jackson's, I still don't see why it is necessary for all the broadcast networks to drop regular programming for this. This is getting plenty coverage from the cable networks, and it could be carried on subchannels by the local stations. But then since it's Saturday morning the networks probably think they could get away with this easier than if it had been during the week or when major sporting events are happening.
I just wonder what local stations will have to do to get the required E/I programming in that is normally done with the Saturday morning kid's shows. My guess is that it will be shown in the extreme early morning and/or in place of infomercials.
I'm sure a lot of kids were upset that Saturday morning cartoons were not on today! I know I would have been!
Massachusetts TV is covering the funeral of a Massachusetts Senator who died. He did not represent the other 49 states, so it would be reasonable that the other 49 states would carry regular programming. It is a Kennedy family matter, a private and personal affair in fact, just as your funeral would be.
I
imhomerjay
Guest
Well, except for the fact that the many, many pieces of legislation he championed and authored had significant bearing on the lives of many Americans. Little details like that might be why it was carried on national news networks and in many markets around the country.
As for kids being upset, it happens, they get over it. News sometimes happens on a Saturday morning.
As for kids being upset, it happens, they get over it. News sometimes happens on a Saturday morning.
I was absolutely stunned to turn on at 5:30 my time (Eastern)
and find only one broadcast network (NBC) airing coverage of
Sen. Kennedy's burial; ABC had the Little League World Series,
CBS had golf, Fox had the Mets-Cubs game. ABC, on the other
hand, did stay on past 7 (and since I get the New York and LA
o&os, except for Fox LA, I think this was deliberate; Tom Brokaw
handed off NBC's coverage to MSNBC at 7).
Yes, Sen. Kennedy had his share of peccadilloes, but his reputation
as one of the great legislators is deserved (plus the Kennedy name
would warrant more coverage than this, I would think). Today, at
least, I think saying goodbye to him is more worthy of coverage than
whatever Tiger Woods did.
and find only one broadcast network (NBC) airing coverage of
Sen. Kennedy's burial; ABC had the Little League World Series,
CBS had golf, Fox had the Mets-Cubs game. ABC, on the other
hand, did stay on past 7 (and since I get the New York and LA
o&os, except for Fox LA, I think this was deliberate; Tom Brokaw
handed off NBC's coverage to MSNBC at 7).
Yes, Sen. Kennedy had his share of peccadilloes, but his reputation
as one of the great legislators is deserved (plus the Kennedy name
would warrant more coverage than this, I would think). Today, at
least, I think saying goodbye to him is more worthy of coverage than
whatever Tiger Woods did.
I
imhomerjay
Guest
Ah, the lunacy of the E/I nonsense. News coverage is far more "E/I" than 99% of what passes as E/I crud anyway. I can't imagine why we'd need to stuff a Hannah Montanna repeat in the middle of a dead zone when no one will know its there just to appease some bean counters wasting our tax money in D.C. It's devoid of any common sense.
I
imhomerjay
Guest
Yes--where, let's say, a bunch of infomercials are scheduled (or some other filler programming), like the middle of the afternoon on a Sunday. What good does it do to be there when, realistically, no one knows it's there. That benefits...who, exactly?
S
searadiofreak
Guest
Interesting. In my market, infomercials precluded Kennedy coverage on most stations, but the ABC affiliate ran with it. My NBC affiliate carried coverage through their local news block, but as soon as 6pm arrived it was "Entertainment Tonight", despite the burial not being over. ET clearance is evidently much more important.
Bigger picture, this story is big because of the historical context. (Third brother, past funerals of his siblings, etc...I wonder how many media decisions are being made today by those who just are too young to remember the historical context. If so, sad.)
Bigger picture, this story is big because of the historical context. (Third brother, past funerals of his siblings, etc...I wonder how many media decisions are being made today by those who just are too young to remember the historical context. If so, sad.)
Prais said:
I expected the cable news channels to cover it; I was referring to the
broadcast networks (note I didn't even mention CNN, Fox News Channel,
or MSNBC--for the simple reason that it would be a no-brainer that they
would cover it). I'm glad the coverage was as it was, too, but for a different
reason: I still remember the train that carried Bobby's body to Arlington and how
it took until after midnight before he was finally laid to rest--with the networks
(ABC, CBS, and NBC) going on hour after hour after hour covering the route
of the train to the point of absolute boredom.
M
Mario500
Guest
After airing "The Saturday Early Show" live as usual from 6:00 AM to 8:00 AM and KEWLopolis programming for one hour, WKRG-TV aired CBS News programming until shortly after 12:00 PM when the network switched to sports programming.
After airing educational/informative programming (including "Gladiators 2000") for a couple of hours, WALA-TV aired news programming from FOX until shortly after 12:00 PM, when the station joined the syndicated movie "Baby Geniuses" all ready in progress.
After airing "Today" pre-recorded between 7:00 AM and 9:00 AM and NBC News programming from 9:00 AM until shortly after 12:00 PM, WPMI-TV began showing qubo programming all ready in progress. At 1:30 PM, the station showed paid programming instead of the network sports programming until the "New Orleans Saints Pregame Show" from COX Sports Television at 2:30 PM and the simulcast of the football game between the New Orleans Saints and the Oakland Raiders with WJTC-TV, an independent station, at 3:00 PM. Both WPMI-TV and WJTC-TV are owned by Newport Television.
WPMI-TV did not show NBC News programming between 4:30 PM and 6:00 PM. After the football game ended shortly after 6:00 PM, WPMI-TV returned to regular programming beginning with paid programming all ready in progress instead of the weekend edition of "Entertainment Tonight", which used to air at 6:00 PM on Saturdays. WPMI-TV still airs this edition of "Entertainment Tonight" at about 2:00 AM on Mondays. WJTC-TV also showed paid programming all ready in progress until 7:00 PM, when the station began airing syndicated episodes of "Family Guy".
"The CBS Evening News" on WKRG-TV was the only network newscast at 5:30 PM on Saturday, since WEAR-TV doesn't air ABC's "World News Saturday" (or "World News Sunday"), but aired ABC News programming from 9:00 AM until shortly after 12:00 PM, when the network switched to sports programming, and from 6:00 PM until shortly after 7:00 PM when the network switched to the movie "Flightplan" all ready in progress.
After airing educational/informative programming (including "Gladiators 2000") for a couple of hours, WALA-TV aired news programming from FOX until shortly after 12:00 PM, when the station joined the syndicated movie "Baby Geniuses" all ready in progress.
After airing "Today" pre-recorded between 7:00 AM and 9:00 AM and NBC News programming from 9:00 AM until shortly after 12:00 PM, WPMI-TV began showing qubo programming all ready in progress. At 1:30 PM, the station showed paid programming instead of the network sports programming until the "New Orleans Saints Pregame Show" from COX Sports Television at 2:30 PM and the simulcast of the football game between the New Orleans Saints and the Oakland Raiders with WJTC-TV, an independent station, at 3:00 PM. Both WPMI-TV and WJTC-TV are owned by Newport Television.
WPMI-TV did not show NBC News programming between 4:30 PM and 6:00 PM. After the football game ended shortly after 6:00 PM, WPMI-TV returned to regular programming beginning with paid programming all ready in progress instead of the weekend edition of "Entertainment Tonight", which used to air at 6:00 PM on Saturdays. WPMI-TV still airs this edition of "Entertainment Tonight" at about 2:00 AM on Mondays. WJTC-TV also showed paid programming all ready in progress until 7:00 PM, when the station began airing syndicated episodes of "Family Guy".
"The CBS Evening News" on WKRG-TV was the only network newscast at 5:30 PM on Saturday, since WEAR-TV doesn't air ABC's "World News Saturday" (or "World News Sunday"), but aired ABC News programming from 9:00 AM until shortly after 12:00 PM, when the network switched to sports programming, and from 6:00 PM until shortly after 7:00 PM when the network switched to the movie "Flightplan" all ready in progress.
Make-goods.azumanga said:
imhomerjay said:
You're right homerjay!
All of these media drones who have amnesia with regard to the good Senator's deeds have me thinking that wall-to-wall adoration of him for three days isn't enough. No, more needs to be done.
In honor of his shining legacy, I truly hope that someone names a bridge after Teddy. Perhaps in the Town of Edgartown, MA. It just seems right. And, while we're at it, an underwater diving park (as they have in the Great Lakes) would be a wonderful tribute. Again, in a certain coastal waterway on the east side of the Vineyard. I heard they installed a mini diving reef there in the form of a 1969 Buick. Other fitting tributes that should bear his name definitely should include an HMO, the slow line at the DMV, and the Ted Kennedy memorial "Press 1 for English" greeting when you call a business or government office.
Perhaps the good folks at Johnny Walker will even come out with a commemorative line for him: TK's Brown Label.
Because the man really needs to be recognized for how he lived and that which he left behind. :
It used to be that we all shared basic standards of civility: for instance, when someone died, even if you didn't agree with what they stood for or how they lived their life, the civilized thing to do was to at least respect their accomplishments and, if you couldn't say anything nice at all, then to say nothing at all while those who cared and respected that person were mourning.
Those standards appear to have fallen by the wayside, and I think our civilization (if you can still call it that) is the worse for it.
Yes, Ted Kennedy did an awful thing 40 years ago, and even if he escaped criminal punishment for it, he paid the price for the rest of his life. There's not one obituary of the man that doesn't have Chappaquiddick as an early and important factor in his life.
You may not like what he spent the rest of his life and political career doing. You may believe that his actions, or his political views, or the accidents of heredity over which he had no control, all made him somehow ineligible for any hope of redemption for what he did. You may believe that after what happened at Chappaquiddick, he should have vanished from the public eye, or been locked up for the rest of his life, or whatever it is that you believe. It's a free country. You're welcome to that opinion. But I hope you'll at least pause from your sarcasm and your attempts at humor for a moment and consider all those people lined up along the route of his funeral procession yesterday. They're Americans, too, and they certainly seemed to believe that what Ted Kennedy did for them in the last 40 years of his life outweighed that awful deed that happened before many of them were even born.
Then consider what the more civil members of your own political faction had to say about the man. If you can get beyond your preconceptions long enough, listen to the remembrances Orrin Hatch and John McCain delivered Friday night, and see if perhaps somewhere in there you can find a shred of respect for all of the other things beyond Chappaquiddick that also contributed to the man Ted Kennedy was. Or read any of the very civil, respectful, and dare I say even admiring statements about Kennedy's passing that came from friends and colleagues of all political stripes. Even Sarah Palin had the grace and respect to put out a nice comment expressing her sympathies for the family.
Oh, and spare me the whole, "but the libs are going to go to town on Dubya when he dies" attempts at equivalency. Go back and look at what happened after the deaths of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. Yes, you can point to a handful of disrespectful columns and letters to the editor and such, because there's always somebody on either side who'll say something outrageous to get noticed. But I think you'll find the vast majority of those who disagreed with them still managed to rise to the occasion and respect their service to America - and that if they couldn't muster that, they at least kept their mouths shut and avoided acting like uncultured boors. I'm hard-pressed to remember any comments suggesting that a Ronald Reagan monument should be built in the form of a statue of Bonzo, or that Nixon should be honored with a plaque on a jimmied door at the Watergate.
I fear that we are losing the ability not only to respect, but even to attempt to understand, those with whom we disagree. That's not a healthy thing.
Those standards appear to have fallen by the wayside, and I think our civilization (if you can still call it that) is the worse for it.
Yes, Ted Kennedy did an awful thing 40 years ago, and even if he escaped criminal punishment for it, he paid the price for the rest of his life. There's not one obituary of the man that doesn't have Chappaquiddick as an early and important factor in his life.
You may not like what he spent the rest of his life and political career doing. You may believe that his actions, or his political views, or the accidents of heredity over which he had no control, all made him somehow ineligible for any hope of redemption for what he did. You may believe that after what happened at Chappaquiddick, he should have vanished from the public eye, or been locked up for the rest of his life, or whatever it is that you believe. It's a free country. You're welcome to that opinion. But I hope you'll at least pause from your sarcasm and your attempts at humor for a moment and consider all those people lined up along the route of his funeral procession yesterday. They're Americans, too, and they certainly seemed to believe that what Ted Kennedy did for them in the last 40 years of his life outweighed that awful deed that happened before many of them were even born.
Then consider what the more civil members of your own political faction had to say about the man. If you can get beyond your preconceptions long enough, listen to the remembrances Orrin Hatch and John McCain delivered Friday night, and see if perhaps somewhere in there you can find a shred of respect for all of the other things beyond Chappaquiddick that also contributed to the man Ted Kennedy was. Or read any of the very civil, respectful, and dare I say even admiring statements about Kennedy's passing that came from friends and colleagues of all political stripes. Even Sarah Palin had the grace and respect to put out a nice comment expressing her sympathies for the family.
Oh, and spare me the whole, "but the libs are going to go to town on Dubya when he dies" attempts at equivalency. Go back and look at what happened after the deaths of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. Yes, you can point to a handful of disrespectful columns and letters to the editor and such, because there's always somebody on either side who'll say something outrageous to get noticed. But I think you'll find the vast majority of those who disagreed with them still managed to rise to the occasion and respect their service to America - and that if they couldn't muster that, they at least kept their mouths shut and avoided acting like uncultured boors. I'm hard-pressed to remember any comments suggesting that a Ronald Reagan monument should be built in the form of a statue of Bonzo, or that Nixon should be honored with a plaque on a jimmied door at the Watergate.
I fear that we are losing the ability not only to respect, but even to attempt to understand, those with whom we disagree. That's not a healthy thing.
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