Local Affiliate Technical Difficulties during a Major Televised Event (sports, etc.)

[Tim from Springfield IL]

What instances are you aware of (past or present) of the ultimate instances of bad timing--a local affiliate's network technical problems that knocked the station off the air temporarily during a major televised event (e.g., major sporting events, big televised specials, awards shows, etc.)? (Or even major cable technical difficulties during a major televised broadcast).

This happened in the Quad Cities last weekend during the Packers-Redskins game (and the QC and the surrounding areas have always had a significant amount of Packers fans in spite of being about 2 1/2 hours west of downtown Chicago and Soldier Field). Microwave problems between Fox affiliate KLJB-18.1's studio and their transmitter in Orion, IL took them off the air during last Sunday's game. Quad City Times story:

http://qctimes.com/news/local/ask-t...cle_a8288847-f3ee-5530-a05e-b40529ff3fa7.html

I also remember in 1994--one month to the day of the start of the MLB strike--Peoria NBC affiliate WEEK-25 suffered the misfortune of a major transmitter problem that knocked them off the air during the All-Star Game (the first year of the ABC-NBC joint Baseball Network venture). IIRC they were only able to return to the air within an hour after the game's exciting conclusion (8-7 NL win on the Expos' Moises Alou's game-winning double that scored Tony Gwynn). WEEK was able to air a tape-delayed/abbreviated version of the game the following weekend, however.

Also in Peoria, the 2003 Miss America Pageant live broadcast went unseen in Peoria (unless you had cable or were able to get WQAD-8 Moline or then-ABC affiliate WAND-17 Decatur) because of transmitter problems at WHOI-19 which knocked that station off the air for nearly a week in September 2003.

And more locally, I don't think this example counts, but most of the Tony Awards broadcast last June 7 on local CBS affiliate WCIA-3.1/49.2 Champaign/Springfield was frequently interrupted for severe weather coverage--mainly in the eastern (Champaign area) half of the viewing area.

Any more past or recent examples?

 

[JRH]

Back in 1967, the long-running ABC-TV show Fugitive would end with a two-part conclusion, on consecutive Tuesday nights at 9pm.

KCRG/9 in Cedar Rapids went off the air (power failure at the transmitter site) on the first Tuesday, sometime prior to 9pm. They recorded the program, and it was played Thursday at 9pm. This was mentioned very frequently on their radio station... that the Fugitive would be shown.

Of course the station was swamped with calls that Tuesday night, staff members were getting calls at home, even the police department was getting calls because channel 9 was off and couldn't show part one of the Fugitive finale.

 

[JeeperOne]

I remember a Sunday afternoon when KCNC 4 was airing a Broncos regular season home game (It was either against the Los Angeles Raiders or San Diego Chargers, can't remember which one now) when the game suddenly dropped

After a few minutes of audio only (With a graphic still of now-old Mile High Stadium) followed by "We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties. Please Stand By" audio messages (BTW i could NEVER figure out why they used INDUSTRY SLANG to explain their problems to US VIEWERS, could you ??), there was a (Somewhat prophetic look into the future ??) quick (Yet accidental) switch to A CBS televised game from Los Angeles featuring the Rams (I forget who they were playing but I think Sam Rosen was handling the play-by-play call as I distinctly remember hearing his voice in the brief accidental broadcast)

After a few seconds, the CBS game was yanked & after a couple more minutes of technical difficulties, the Broncos game returned (But the game kept going throughout the technical issues as league rules didn't mandate the game be delayed due to broadcaster difficulties (And they wouldn't now))

Because it was a Broncos HOME game, KMGH 7 (Then the CBS affiliate) couldn't televise (And wasn't televising) ANY game from CBS & was doing something else (I don't know what because we were watching the Broncos game)

That's the only one I can think of.....

Cheers & 73

 

[mvcg66b3r]

This one's from 2015, and it's buried in the National TV thread, so I thought you want to revisit it:

Viewers in IL, KY and MO miss major portions of Super Bowl XLIX

When you’re watching a sporting event that goes down to the wire, the last things you want are power outages, breaking news or technical difficulties. For viewers of WPSD in Paducah, KY which serves Western Kentucky, Southern Illinois and the Missouri Bootheel, they got the latter. The station suffered lengthy outages three times during the second half as well as the postgame and other minor ones throughout the game.

According to a station official, a house fire nearby the transmitter located in Monkeys Eyebrow, KY may have caused the outage, an investigation is ongoing. The Southern Illinoisan reports that the fire may have caused the transmitter to shut itself down in order to prevent a power surge or spike.

Of course, it caused viewers to go to social media to express their outrage at losing the signal:

http://awfulannouncing.com/2015/vie...lix&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Original thread: http://www.radiodiscussions.com/sho...and-MO-miss-major-portions-of-Super-Bowl-XLIX

 

[anotherguyTN]

That would have affected viewers in NW TN well.

 

[davect]

Not during a huge game, but I know a master control operator who fell asleep during an NFL game and missed rolling the two local breaks at halftime. Viewers were treated to much black and network ID slide during those breaks.

 

[BD Sullivan]

Can't recall the year, but WKYC in Cleveland ended up taking some heat because they "lost power" during the final few moments of a Cheers season-ender. They noted the mistake at the start of their 11 p.m. news program--but didn't bother to show the final few moments until right near the end of the broadcast. The cynics had a field day, saying that it was done on purpose for local ratings purposes.

 

[danderson6500]

I remember a Cowboys-Giants game where the stadium went dark. FOX switched to the Rams-49ers game for a while until the lights were restored. Then when the Cowboys pulled away early in the 4th, FOX went back to the Rams-49ers game. It wasn't technical problems, but it was because the stadium had lost power.

 

[hamster]

Not TV but rather radio. In 2003 ( I think ) Martinsburg, West Virginia's WEPM aired the final Martinsburg Bulldogs football game by satellite from Charleston. Halfway into the broadcast that satellite went dead and stayed dead so therefor no rest of the football game. The next day the station manager had to take to WEPM airwaves to say "things happen...we are sorry". Oh Martinsburg won the game.

 

[BD Sullivan]

I recall the Indians playing the Washington Senators (which obviously makes it 1971 and before), when the Senators had runners at first and second with nobody out. The next batter grounded to third, with the 3B stepping on the base and starting an around the horn triple plays. The only problem was that during the throw from third to second, a glitch by the Cleveland affiliate (WJW) came up and lasted just after the first baseman caught the ball.

 

[MarcB]

Not technical problems, but I remember in the mid-90s WVIT Channel 30 buying airtime on WTWS (now WHPX/ION) Channel 26 the Paxon owned all-infomercial channel to show Boston Celtics basketball games. The commercial breaks would consist of promos for shows on Channel 30 and a full-screen WTWS Logo.

 

[Prescott Joe]

KNAZ, the fabulous NBC affiliate from Flagstaff, AZ, went down several times
during the Olympics..... Needless to say, people were enraged by the frequent
issues they had and continue to have........

 

[EricStein]

KNAZ, the fabulous NBC affiliate from Flagstaff, AZ, went down several times
during the Olympics..... Needless to say, people were enraged by the frequent
issues they had and continue to have........

TEGNA is not concerned about the upkeep of KNAZ. They might as well just turn in the license to the FCC and write it off.

Staying on topic, I do remember KNXV's transmitter taking a dump during a 1995 World Series game (when MLB was still shared as part of "The Baseball Network" between ABC and NBC).

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

And more locally, I don't think this example counts, but most of the Tony Awards broadcast last June 7 on local CBS affiliate WCIA-3.1/49.2 Champaign/Springfield was frequently interrupted for severe weather coverage--mainly in the eastern (Champaign area) half of the viewing area.

Any more past or recent examples?

It wouldn't surprise me if this year's Tonys broadcast tonight might get locally interrupted by WCIA Champaign for at least one severe weather warning in their viewing area. Like it did in 2015. The National Weather Service has central Illinois in a Slight Risk of Severe Weather rest of today. For mostly scattered pop-up summertime potentially severe storms this afternoon and tonight. And a Severe Thunderstorm Watch too until 8PM, one hour into the telecast. Let alone the potential during "60 Minutes" locally.

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/watch/ww0168.html