It's been 25 years today

[bpatrick]

Twenty-five years ago today the first big
network switch took place in Atlanta:
WSB/2 moving from NBC to ABC, WXIA/11 Alive
moving the other way.

Given the kind of programming ABC was doing
at the time, ABC seemed like a poor fit for
Channel 2, but the station has proven to be
one of ABC's strongest affiliates. Likewise,
11 has proven quite loyal to NBC and has probably
done better ratings-wise that it might have if it
had never left the confines of ABC.

I wasn't around the Atlanta area when the switch
took place; I went to UGA earlier in the '70s, and
it took a long time to reconcile myself to the
change. (I still feel that Fox ruined Channel 5,
however, but that's another story.)

At any rate, a new era began on this date in 1980,
and for us older viewers it's worth noting.

 

[RoyGreen]

> Twenty-five years ago today the first big
> network switch took place in Atlanta:
> WSB/2 moving from NBC to ABC, WXIA/11 Alive
> moving the other way.
>
> Given the kind of programming ABC was doing
> at the time, ABC seemed like a poor fit for
> Channel 2, but the station has proven to be
> one of ABC's strongest affiliates. Likewise,
> 11 has proven quite loyal to NBC and has probably
> done better ratings-wise that it might have if it
> had never left the confines of ABC.
>
> I wasn't around the Atlanta area when the switch
> took place; I went to UGA earlier in the '70s, and
> it took a long time to reconcile myself to the
> change. (I still feel that Fox ruined Channel 5,
> however, but that's another story.)
>
> At any rate, a new era began on this date in 1980,
> and for us older viewers it's worth noting.
>

The weird thing is, I *still* occasionally reflexively switch to 2 when looking for an NBC program and 11 when looking for an ABC program.

Of course, most of the time I just look it up by program title on the TiVo.

 

[bpatrick]

> > Twenty-five years ago today the first big
> > network switch took place in Atlanta:
> > WSB/2 moving from NBC to ABC, WXIA/11 Alive
> > moving the other way.
> >
> > Given the kind of programming ABC was doing
> > at the time, ABC seemed like a poor fit for
> > Channel 2, but the station has proven to be
> > one of ABC's strongest affiliates. Likewise,
> > 11 has proven quite loyal to NBC and has probably
> > done better ratings-wise that it might have if it
> > had never left the confines of ABC.
> >
> > I wasn't around the Atlanta area when the switch
> > took place; I went to UGA earlier in the '70s, and
> > it took a long time to reconcile myself to the
> > change. (I still feel that Fox ruined Channel 5,
> > however, but that's another story.)
> >
> > At any rate, a new era began on this date in 1980,
> > and for us older viewers it's worth noting.
> >
>
> The weird thing is, I *still* occasionally reflexively
> switch to 2 when looking for an NBC program and 11 when
> looking for an ABC program.
>
> Of course, most of the time I just look it up by program
> title on the TiVo.
>
I know exactly what you mean. When I'm in Georgia I still
expect to find ABC on 11 and NBC on 2. Personally, I wish
the switch had never taken place; I've never been able to
square Channel 2's image with ABC's or Channel 11's with
NBC's (of course, I'm thinking about the '70s), but, as
I said, the change didn't seem to hurt either station and
may have actually helped 11 (plus the fact that CBS is on
a very weak UHF now).