Lesser UHF stations that became "Big 3" stations

[nomadcowatbk]

KSHB got NBC from WDAF when Fox got the NFL, KSHB has never gotten above 4th place
KDNL got ABC from KTVI a year later, but they're still a lesser station with no news department or high budget syndicated programming
WWJ got CBS when no other stations would take them, station has no news department like KDNL

 

[anotherguyTN]

WPTY 24 in Memphis started out as an independent in 1978. Then in the early 90's they picked up Fox from WLMT 30. In 1995 Fox bought WHBQ ABC 13, and the 2 stations swapped networks. WPTY has been an ABC station ever since then.

 

[charlestondxman]

WRET Charlotte, an independent serving the Carolinas picking up NBC in 1978.

 

[rnigma1]

46 in Atlanta picking up CBS when WAGA 5 flipped to Fox.

 

[Mario500]

WPMI-TV in Mobile, Alabama became an affiliate of NBC on Sunday, December 31st, 1995 due to WALA-TV becoming an affiliate of the FOX Broadcasting Company on the same day after being purchased by Savoy-FOX Broadcasting (WPMI-TV had been affiliated with the FOX Broadcasting Company since 1986. By then, it had been broadcasting independently, or without being affiliated with a national broadcasting company, since its first regular broadcast on Friday, March 12th, 1982).

 

[bpatrick]

Has anyone mentioned WXLV Winston-Salem, NC? It went from
independent to Fox to ABC when WGHP became a Fox o&o.

WNCN Raleigh/Durham went from independent to an NBC o&o;
Media General owns it now, but it's still an NBC affiliate.

KDEB (I guess those are still the call letters) Springfield, MO has
been an ABC affiliate for years, having gotten the affiliation when
ABC moved from Ch. 27 to Ch. 33.

I believe KNSD San Diego was an independent that got ABC when
the FCC forced the Alphabet Network to drop Tijuana-based XETV
in 1972; it then moved to NBC in 1977 when ABC moved to KGTV,
and is now an NBC o&o.

WGNO New Orleans got the ABC affiliation when WVUE went to Fox;
likewise, WGBA Green Bay when WLUK went from NBC to Fox.

 

[NeilRattigan]

WFTS Tampa is a former Fox affiliate-turned-ABC affiliate. WTVT switched its CBS affiliation as part of New World's agreement with Fox. Scripps used its leverage in Cleveland and Detroit to get ABC affiliations for WFTS and KNXV Phoenix. CBS was trying to get WEWS and WXYZ to switch because it didn't want to be on UHF in both markets.

 

[AKA]

Has anyone mentioned WXLV Winston-Salem, NC? It went from
independent to Fox to ABC when WGHP became a Fox o&o.

WNCN Raleigh/Durham went from independent to an NBC o&o;
Media General owns it now, but it's still an NBC affiliate.

KDEB (I guess those are still the call letters) Springfield, MO has
been an ABC affiliate for years, having gotten the affiliation when
ABC moved from Ch. 27 to Ch. 33.

I believe KNSD San Diego was an independent that got ABC when
the FCC forced the Alphabet Network to drop Tijuana-based XETV
in 1972; it then moved to NBC in 1977 when ABC moved to KGTV,
and is now an NBC o&o.

WGNO New Orleans got the ABC affiliation when WVUE went to Fox;
likewise, WGBA Green Bay when WLUK went from NBC to Fox.

bpatrick, I mean no offense whatsoever, but is there any particular reason your posts are formatted this way? Your posts are throughtful and insightful, but are somewhat hard to read.

 

[fybush]

Since most of the examples so far have been stations that picked up their Big 3 affiliation in the wake of the Fox/New World deal, maybe it'd be better to focus here on stations that didn't.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_United_States_broadcast_TV_realignment

I think every TV thread here that involves lists of stations eventually devolves into a rehash of the 1994-95 realignments, doesn't it?

 

[SteveRichards]

KDEB (I guess those are still the call letters) Springfield, MO has
been an ABC affiliate for years, having gotten the affiliation when
ABC moved from Ch. 27 to Ch. 33.

I think you have KDEB confused with KSPR...

KMTC/27 signed-on in 1967 or '68 and was Springfield's original primary ABC affiliate.

KMTC changed its call-letters to KDEB around 1985, and the ABC affiliation went to KSPR/33 in 1986. KSPR had signed-on as Springfield's first independent station in 1983 or so.

KDEB was a charter Fox affiliate when that network commenced operations.

KDEB became an LMA partner of CBS affiliate KOLR/10 in the early 2000s. KDEB changed its calls to KSFX around 2005 and lost its Fox affiliation nearly 2 years ago as part of Nexstar's dispute with Fox over retransmission fees. The Fox affiliation went to MyNetwork affiliate KRBK/49 (signed-on in 2009) and KSFX became an independent station, changing its calls to KOZL. Along with Fox programming, KRBK continues to air MyNetwork shows on a 2-hour delay following Fox prime-time.

KSPR continues as the market's ABC affiliate, and is now an LMA partner of KYTV/3, the NBC affiliate.

 

[radiorob2.0]

This could be a stretch since Evansville, Indiana is a mixed market. However, WEVV Channel 44 was a late comer in the early eighties. They became a Fox affiliate in the late eighties. The 1995 affiliation switch gave WEVV the CBS affiliation. They had just started an hour newscast when the affiliation switch happened but shuttered the news department six years later.

 

[bpatrick]

KDEB (I guess those are still the call letters) Springfield, MO has
been an ABC affiliate for years, having gotten the affiliation when
ABC moved from Ch. 27 to Ch. 33.

I think you have KDEB confused with KSPR...

KMTC/27 signed-on in 1967 or '68 and was Springfield's original primary ABC affiliate.

KMTC changed its call-letters to KDEB around 1985, and the ABC affiliation went to KSPR/33 in 1986. KSPR had signed-on as Springfield's first independent station in 1983 or so.

KDEB was a charter Fox affiliate when that network commenced operations.

KDEB became an LMA partner of CBS affiliate KOLR/10 in the early 2000s. KDEB changed its calls to KSFX around 2005 and lost its Fox affiliation nearly 2 years ago as part of Nexstar's dispute with Fox over retransmission fees. The Fox affiliation went to MyNetwork affiliate KRBK/49 (signed-on in 2009) and KSFX became an independent station, changing its calls to KOZL. Along with Fox programming, KRBK continues to air MyNetwork shows on a 2-hour delay following Fox prime-time.

KSPR continues as the market's ABC affiliate, and is now an LMA partner of KYTV/3, the NBC affiliate.

Sounds like I do have Chs. 27 and 33 confused; I haven't seen a Springfield schedule in years and I normally think of two stations if I think about the market at all: KYTV and KOLR. The post-2000 information is new to me. My dad used to call on WalMart's headquarters in Bentonville, AR when we lived in Dallas, and would bring back the Missouri edition of TV Guide; Ch. 27 was still KMTC and the ABC affiliate at the time. I do remember when ABC changed affiliates there, but yes, I do have my call letters mixed up. Thanks for the correction.