Fox 25's Pat Robertson Roots

[raccoonradio]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WFXT-TV

He turned one TV station in the Tidewater area of Virginia into a national and international cable network. He owned TV stations and "prayed away" hurricanes from his Virginia Beach, VA, headquarters. He's Pat Robertson (last heard saying the crack in the Wash. Monument was a warning from God), formerly
a Presidential candidate... and he helped launch what is now Fox 25 in Boston. (Fox might have
wound up affiliating with WSBK/38 or WLVI/56 but didn't)

WXNE: "Christ-New England"
I remember when it went on the air in 1977..I was 15 and remember seeing ads for it on the MBTA
buses. Gomer Pyle! McHale's Navy! King Kong! And of course the 700 Club, praise JHY-suzz. After while
Rev Pat (whose onetime assistants were Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker of course) sold the station to
News Corporation. That's right--Fox Television, home of Animation Domination, baseball and football
(OK, now I have that George Carlin routine popping up in your head...), House, Glee, American Idol,
and whose sister cable all-news network drives liberals insane with their very presence.

As Wiki. notes, during the process when the sale was to be completed, they were SUPPOSED to
run Joan Rivers' late night show. But no, that was not exactly for a family audience (it's 11 pm though)
so instead WMRE-AM 1510 (now WWZN) ran the audio. I think there were incidences where certain
episodes of shows like McHale's Navy weren't aired because they had ghosts--or, people dressed up as ghosts--and the fundamentalists didn't quite like that! Anyway, you're talking "and now for something completely different", how about Ch 25 switching from family friendly Pat Robertson to
stuff like Married...with Children? etc.

Your memories?

http://ts4.mm.bing.net/images/thumbnail.aspx?q=1056101185895&id=e3f3747713502ac9a18adadce37fe9aa

Promo, Sat aft. westerns. "Boston turns, New England turns, everybody turn 25 today"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pf7KRJTPpYU&feature=player_embedded

 

[MCarney]

I remember an interview with someone in management (he was on a radio show - not sure which station) and it was mentioned that WXNE had a censor and no other station in Boston had one. I also remember the local prayer line, and that they picked up Boomtown for a short time after it was cancelled by WBZ. They were in a really small building in Needham, across 128 from WCVB.

 

[raccoonradio]

Ah..Yes Boomtown was indeed on 25 for awhile.

WMRE 1510 eventually went "dark" and I remember, just before then,tuning in (and recording) a part of Morgan
White Jr's trivia show. Morgan: "If you're owed a prize by us, I wouldn't wait too long if I were
you...stop in at our studios on Brookline Ave. and claim it because this station is going away")
There was a farewell party held at what was then "The Breakfast Club", on the corner of Brookline
and Boylston. Bob Katzen was there, I think Morgan too; think I spotted Christopher Lydon somewhere for some reason. This was a bar that served breakfast anytime--seriously--including on a late Wed night. At one point they had the radio turned up, to 1510, and Joan Rivers was on there
with WMRE's general manager (guy named Roberts?) and they explained the whole bit about the
radio having to pick up the audio portion of the show, and even that would soon be gone...

 

[RobertAnthony]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WFXT-TV

He turned one TV station in the Tidewater area of Virginia into a national and international cable network. He owned TV stations and "prayed away" hurricanes from his Virginia Beach, VA, headquarters. He's Pat Robertson (last heard saying the crack in the Wash. Monument was a warning from God), formerly
a Presidential candidate... and he helped launch what is now Fox 25 in Boston. (Fox might have
wound up affiliating with WSBK/38 or WLVI/56 but didn't)

WXNE: "Christ-New England"
I remember when it went on the air in 1977..I was 15 and remember seeing ads for it on the MBTA
buses. Gomer Pyle! McHale's Navy! King Kong! And of course the 700 Club, praise JHY-suzz. After while
Rev Pat (whose onetime assistants were Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker of course) sold the station to
News Corporation. That's right--Fox Television, home of Animation Domination, baseball and football
(OK, now I have that George Carlin routine popping up in your head...), House, Glee, American Idol,
and whose sister cable all-news network drives liberals insane with their very presence.

As Wiki. notes, during the process when the sale was to be completed, they were SUPPOSED to
run Joan Rivers' late night show. But no, that was not exactly for a family audience (it's 11 pm though)
so instead WMRE-AM 1510 (now WWZN) ran the audio. I think there were incidences where certain
episodes of shows like McHale's Navy weren't aired because they had ghosts--or, people dressed up as ghosts--and the fundamentalists didn't quite like that! Anyway, you're talking "and now for something completely different", how about Ch 25 switching from family friendly Pat Robertson to
stuff like Married...with Children? etc.

Your memories?

http://ts4.mm.bing.net/images/thumbnail.aspx?q=1056101185895&id=e3f3747713502ac9a18adadce37fe9aa

Promo, Sat aft. westerns. "Boston turns, New England turns, everybody turn 25 today"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pf7KRJTPpYU&feature=player_embedded

That station you talk of was WYAH-TV (YAHweh) Portsmouth, VA. The station from what I read was sold to Centennial Broadcasting and became WGNT in 1989. It's now Local TV LLC owned.

 

[pqgeorge]

WXNE-TV (Channel 25) was a unique station. Yes, they did run CBN programming.... but for the most part, they were a full-fledged general entertainment station from day one (October 12, 1977). Surprisingly, they were rather good. For the first three years, Channel 25 would have nothing but CBN programming on Sundays and ran The 700 Club twice a day. Otherwise, they ran some good shows. Eventually, Sundays would be general-entertainment, namely westerns. Many times, WXNE would even play some rather strong movies like "Network" (complete without editing.... surprised?). I got the notion that Pat Robertson did not totally keep an eye what Boston was doing all the time. Who knows.

 

[TexasTom]

WXNE-TV (Channel 25) was a unique station. Yes, they did run CBN programming.... but for the most part, they were a full-fledged general entertainment station from day one (October 12, 1977). Surprisingly, they were rather good. For the first three years, Channel 25 would have nothing but CBN programming on Sundays and ran The 700 Club twice a day. Otherwise, they ran some good shows. Eventually, Sundays would be general-entertainment, namely westerns. Many times, WXNE would even play some rather strong movies like "Network" (complete without editing.... surprised?). I got the notion that Pat Robertson did not totally keep an eye what Boston was doing all the time. Who knows.

In this respect, it wasn't much different from the CBN-owned stations in other markets. KXTX TV39 in Dallas ran mostly general entertainment programming such as "Star Trek", "Hogan's Heroes", "The Brady Bunch", and many childrens' shows for the entire time that it was owned by CBN. Similarly, every schedule that I've ever seen for WANX TV46 in Atlanta had an extensive schedule of general entertainment programming. I believe that this was even true for flagship WYAH by the mid-seventies.

So "Boston 25" really wasn't all that unique compared to the programming on CBN's other station in the late seventies to mid-eighties.