Family Partial To A Network

[Ultimajock]

...my mom's side of the family was pretty solidly in the NBC camp, mainly as a result of my maternal grandmother, the Milwaukee restaurateur Rosemary Bornhuetter, having been a frequent early guest in the '40s and '50s on WTMJ-TV/4 Milwaukee's local cooking shows. (She had sold the restaurant by the time the first primary affiliates for CBS and ABC in Milwaukee, WCAN-TV/25 and WOKY-TV/19 respectively, signed on in 1953.) My dad's side of the family also favoured NBC, mainly because they lived in the Fox Valley and got the best signal from WFRV/5 Green Bay; they also thought the local news anchor on CBS affiliate WBAY-TV/2, Les Sturmer, was far too stiff in his on-screen presence. By the '70s, however, my mom became a devotee of CBS' soaps, so in her home WBBM-TV/2 Chicago became the most frequently watched; whenever I visited, however, I'd most frequently turn on WFLD/32 for the daytime sitcom reruns and B.J. & Dirty Dragon...

 

[vibe]

In New Britain Ct-my grandfather was very partial to WTIC-3 and 1080 AM: very loyal. he thought 3 networks were too many choices! Give him his "Hillbillies" and he was just fine.
We lived in the same town but were more partial to NBC 30. We could not get ch 8 very well due to a large church steeple nearby; or at least that's what we felt was the issue.

 

[therealjm12]

Growing up in the Utica - Syracuse area of Upstate NY, we were solidly NBC WKTV -2 /WSYR -3), For local news and especially Huntley Brinkley. Any special event such as a Presidential news conference or space shot was watched with Frank McGee & company on NBC.
Later on when, WUTR -20 ABC came on, that figured more prominently in the family's viewing habits.

 

[charlestondxman]

For us, growing up in Charleston, SC, we were partial toward CBS. My family watches ABC for the soaps; and flips around for sports.

When WCSC, the CBS was/is one of the best rated stations in the country (even the Evening News with Couric and talk shows like Wendy Williams flourish).

My grandmother was an avid Channel 5 watcher for many years. Our routine for a while was Maury at 10, Price at 11, and the Midday news at noon with Mike Hiott. She watched CBS soaps and whatever else aired there.

We watched the Evening News until just before Rather left; when he had his interview with Saddam Hussein. We then went to NBC, back to CBS (Bob Schieffer) and we've been with ABC since Charles Gibson got there.

I'm a little partial toward ABC since I got to meet and talk to Gibson, Diane Sawyer and several of the GMA personalities when they were in Charleston a few years back.

The Early Show came to Charleston right after the 2007 fire, and 2,000 people showed up on The Battery.

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

We were CBS for local news - WJW/8 was especially dominant at the time.

Kind of a mix of CBS and ABC for prime-time, but definitely ABC dominant. I remember the ABC mid-1970s prime-time lineup like it just aired yesterday.

I only start remembering NBC for shows like "Night Court" and "Cheers", but that was later and I was making my own choices by then. Going back, there was a time in the 1970s that I wasn't sure our living room TV even could TUNE to WKYC/3 (NBC)...

 

[Al Timiter]

I think so much of this has to do with how strong a local station is in it's market regardless of its affiliation. A strong local presence with an investment in it's product, both news and entertainment, will produce a good or great station. Its affiliation is almost secondary. A powerful local station will pull a so-so network to greater heights and make it "seem" like those are the best shows because they're on said station. (and this is why the webs encouraged their affiliates to invest in their news operations) Like charlestondxman said: Even CBS's ratings cellar dwellers flourish on the strong WCSC 5 in Charleston SC.

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

Cincinnati has always had NBC, CBS and ABC almost from the start of TV here and all three were on VHF outlets. As such, I can't recall any network preference for regular shows that were watched in the 1950's & 1960's. However, when it came to national news, special coverage (space lanches, etc.), we had NBC on. It seemed the main reason was the feeling that the news people with NBC seemed to be the best. (Please understand, that was in the 1950's, 1960's and into the early 1970's. Now - I will not watch any news from that network).

 

[compubit]

We were an NBC family growing up in Houston (KPRC with Ron Stone, Jan Carson, Doug Johnson & Ron Franklin), then KXAS in Dallas (Chip Moody before he moved to 4 then 8) - even though KXAS was a "Fort Worth" station to a lot of folks in Northern Dallas - WFAA second. Never really watched CBS until recently - KTVT sure has grown up - now it's between 8 & 11 in Dallas. In Houston, I'm a little partial to 2 & 39...

For a period (KTRK 13) Dave Ward's wife was my dad's secretary and we still watched 2...

Dad's family from Western Michigan was a WOOD/WOTV/WOOD 8 family (with some WTMJ from Milwaukee on cable).

My Mom's family from the Lower Hudson River Valley of New York was always a WCBS family - Grampa always had Jim Jensen's newscast on WCBS/2 on at dinner time followed by Uncle Walter - which my dad could not stand when visiting...

I've almost always been partial to NBC Daytime's games (save "Fun Factory" and "Gong Show") - miss those days. In college, I could get both KCEN & KTVV/KXAN - and would schedule classes around game shows... That and KBTX carried the CBS 4E/3C game shows I never saw on Houston, Dallas or Austin stations...

 

[bmasters1981]

Cincinnati has always had NBC, CBS and ABC almost from the start of TV here and all three were on VHF outlets. As such, I can't recall any network preference for regular shows that were watched in the 1950's & 1960's. However, when it came to national news, special coverage (space lanches, etc.), we had NBC on. It seemed the main reason was the feeling that the news people with NBC seemed to be the best. (Please understand, that was in the 1950's, 1960's and into the early 1970's. Now - I will not watch any news from that network).

This is my first post here, and I'll tell you the truth-- you're not alone. My eyes will never meet Brian Williams on NBC News these days; I strongly believe that he is the worst of the three major anchors. When I'm eating supper at night, and he's on, I sit at the table in such a way that my back is to the screen, because he is that awful. It was so much better when the Proud N was in force and Tom Brokaw was just coming off "Today."

 

[bmasters1981]

20+ years ago, WMT-TV became KGAN, the quality declined, and my parents are now devoted KCRG local news viewers.

When I visited my nephew in Cedar Rapids in '09, that was the only station I'd ever look at. As a matter-of-fact, pretty much everywhere I've been lately, it's been ABC all the way, and that's how I still am. In Louisville, it was WHAS; in Huntsville, it was WAAY, and so on. That's how it will still be for me.

 

[OldNumber7]

I grew up in an NBC family. When I was a kid in the 60s, the newsteam came across with real gravitas and a genuine respect for the intelligence of the viewing audience. This was certainly true of the Today show then, plus Huntley-Brinkley and the political and moonshot coverage. My dad was really turned off by the preachy CBS team, particularly commentator Eric Sevareid and shameless lefty correspondent Daniel Schorr. NBC was probably still the preferred network for in-depth news after Huntley retired, but we never warmed to John Chancellor and got in the habit of watching of Howard K. Smith frequently for the dinner hour news on ABC.
As for primetime viewing in the 60s, the family had favorite shows on all three networks. ABC back then seemed to have a bunch of shows flavored to appeal to the younger generation -- so my older siblings would put on ABC often when Dad wasn't watching Gunsmoke on CBS or the whole family wasn't gathered for Laugh-in on NBC.

 

[Wright County Guy]

It wasn't so much a network for me, but I remember when each TV station had it's own personality. I remember when I was young I would say: "I think I'll like channel 4", and then I would say: "I think I'll go back to liking channel 2.

That was true in our home. I grew up in the Minneapolis/St. Paul Market, and KSTP/5 was ALWAYS on. Pre Fall '79, NBC; since '79, ABC. My mother, now retired, watches her "stories" on ABC every day, as well as their local news (at once the #1 or 2 in the market, now relegated to #4 in the ratings).

Personal note: I can go weeks without stopping by Channel 5 these days.

 

[FreddyE1977]

I guess in our house it was CBS, for various reasons.

- In Pittsburgh they were on KDKA TV2, which had a very strong carryover of legacy fans
from their radio audience.

- My parents and grandparents preferred them for news, liked the local team of Patty and Daddy Burns
and Cronkite for the national news

- Channel 2 put a clean, viewable signal into our house in the rabbit-ear era (Channel 4 was located way
down south and was always tough to tune in. 11 came in best but their news in those days was awful)

- Great CBS Prime-Time shows in those days like All in the Family, Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart Show,
Carol Burnett, Hawaii Five-O, etc.

 

[Bob E. Nelson]

I guess in our house it was CBS, for various reasons.

- In Pittsburgh they were on KDKA TV2, which had a very strong carryover of legacy fans
from their radio audience.

[...]

- Channel 2 put a clean, viewable signal into our house in the rabbit-ear era (Channel 4 was located way
down south and was always tough to tune in. 11 came in best but their news in those days was awful)

KD's signal was always good for our family regardless of where we lived (North Hills, Beaver County and finally the South Hills). That's at odds with a number of other markets where channel 2 was typically a problem due to tropo, plus the sheer size of the receiving antenna is a factor to capture a clean signal on channel 2.

When I worked for GE in Nashville, we found the change from our ABC channel 8 facility (WSIX) to channel 2 (rebranded as WNGE) didn't live up to the high expectations. Even though NTSC is now gone, I have few doubts that remaining on channel 8 would have been a better strategy in the 70's and later when OTA was still an important segment of the viewership.

The channel swap with WDCN was done in 1973. Had GE left everything alone, I think the TV would have thrived when ABC gained momentum in the mid-70's. As it was, what is now WKRN remained mired in third place and I think the move to channel 2 was one of the factors. I know some of this from experience because when I worked over on the FM side, we used to answer the general switchboard after hours. "Your station is fuzzy now" was a complaint I heard repeatedly.

 

[FreddyE1977]

As you know from living in Pittsburgh, your OTA situation could totally change by just walking a few blocks.

For example we could get WTOV 9 from Steubenville, Ohio as clearly as any local. But could not get
WJAC 6 from Johnstown at all. I had friends who lived just a few blocks away whose situation was
totally the reverse.

4 was always difficult to tune clearly which was a very bad thing when the 70's Super Steelers
were on MNF. And I was always partial to the rerun lineup on WPGH 53, but tuning THAT station
over Pittsburgh topography was like trying to watch a movie through two or three fish tanks. (it
was almost like radar, the video would start fluctuating wildly every time a plane went overhead)

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

Here in Cleveland, WKYC/3 was always hampered by the "electrical noise sparklies", the same reason low-VHF DTV is a non-starter (and just about no one could get WKYC-DT when it was on RF 2 pre-transition!).

5 was better OTA reception-wise, but 8 was always the clearest...

 

[bpatrick]

I guess in our house it was CBS, for various reasons.

- In Pittsburgh they were on KDKA TV2, which had a very strong carryover of legacy fans
from their radio audience.

[...]

- Channel 2 put a clean, viewable signal into our house in the rabbit-ear era (Channel 4 was located way
down south and was always tough to tune in. 11 came in best but their news in those days was awful)

KD's signal was always good for our family regardless of where we lived (North Hills, Beaver County and finally the South Hills). That's at odds with a number of other markets where channel 2 was typically a problem due to tropo, plus the sheer size of the receiving antenna is a factor to capture a clean signal on channel 2.

When I worked for GE in Nashville, we found the change from our ABC channel 8 facility (WSIX) to channel 2 (rebranded as WNGE) didn't live up to the high expectations. Even though NTSC is now gone, I have few doubts that remaining on channel 8 would have been a better strategy in the 70's and later when OTA was still an important segment of the viewership.

The channel swap with WDCN was done in 1973. Had GE left everything alone, I think the TV would have thrived when ABC gained momentum in the mid-70's. As it was, what is now WKRN remained mired in third place and I think the move to channel 2 was one of the factors. I know some of this from experience because when I worked over on the FM side, we used to answer the general switchboard after hours. "Your station is fuzzy now" was a complaint I heard repeatedly.

As I understand it most people in the Nashville area had their antennas turned to receive ABC on Channel 8 prior to the channel switch and never made the change to Channel 2. I also understand that the Channel 2 picture tended to be "fuzzy" because of short-spacing to Atlanta's Channel 2 (not as big a problem on Channel 5, which both Atlanta and Nashville had, since the Channel 5 analog signal was not quite as strong as 2). Either way, ABC's poor reception in Nashville practically necessitated Bowling Green's Channel 13's switch from independent to ABC.

 

[BMR]

Can I play? My Grandma and Grandad were nearly solid ITV. From Crossroads and Corrie to Play Your Cards right and Family Fortunes it was always ITV, and the evening ended with Trevor Mcdonald, the local news and bed.

Apart from a couple of comedies, it was nearly always ITV for them. Other families watched anything but. Even in the 80s my sister had a school friend who was forbidden, yes *forbidden* to watch anything if it was on ITV!

 

[BMR]

Other families watched anything but. Even in the 80s my sister had a school friend who was forbidden, yes *forbidden* to watch anything if it was on ITV!

Just as a matter of interest, was US network viewing divided by class in anyway? In the 60s and 70s ITV was an unashamedly working class and downmarket, mass appeal network.

It wasn't until the 80s when advertisers wanted to sell us more than baked beans, white bread and toothpaste the idea of ITV targetting 20-40 year old ABC1 viewers came about.

 

[BMR]

I'm too late to modify again, but I just realised ABC1 is a UK specific term. It's explained here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NRS_social_grade