Local stations that you hate.

[FreddyE1977]

I have never liked KDKA-TV due to their self-serving, sanctimonious, "our you-know-what
does not smell bad" attitude. Particularly as it relates to their news department.

One incident in particular involved a truckers strike that they were covering. Some trucking company
started using supervisors to deliver critical loads. Of course they had to run a picket line outside the terminal.
A KDKA cameraman named Ed Romano was standing on a traffic island shooting video when a truck driven by a
supervisor turned a corner and clipped him. He died from his injuries.

The Pennsylvania State Police investigated. They decided it was an accident and that they were not going to
pursue charges. Patti Burns took to the KDKA airwaves that night at 6, giving an emotional review of Romano's
life and started crying on the air. Basically they tried and convicted the guy on the six o'clock news that night.
The State Police reversed course and I think the guy did end up facing some kind of vehicular homicide charge.

I doubt they would have done this if one of the strikers or anyone else had been killed.
But THEIR cameraman was special! And therefore he deserved his own Public TV Show Trial, regardless
of the circumstances.

THAT sort of thing has turned me off to KDKA over the years.

 

[anotherguyTN]

The pre-emptions that WMC did that irritated me the most were the daytime game shows and their pushing David Letterman back, first by 30 minutes then later by an hour. One pre-emption WMC did that I didn't mind was that they dropped Notre Dame football from NBC and carried the syndicated SEC games instead until the SEC games were moved to WLMT.

WREG in Memphis pre-empted CBS's late night programming from the late 70's until David Letterman moved there and carried reruns of MASH and later Cheers, followed by late movies. I actually liked that better most nights.

 

[Kurt Toy]

Actually the strike in Pittsburgh was by oil haulers. Romano was shooting a scene of trucks owned by ARCO-when they were still marketing in Pittsburgh-and it was one of the tank trucks that killed him. This was 1979.

 

[rnigma1]

I have to agree with you, anotherguy. First, the affiliates took back
4 PM, then most added noon newscasts (pushing "Jeopardy!," "Password,"
and the then-new "Young And The Restless" to other times), then came
the loss of 10-11 AM to Phil and Sally Jessy. Now only CBS programs anywhere
near a full day of shows (if you get "Let's Make A Deal" in the afternoon, as we do);
NBC has only the "Today" show and "Days Of Our Lives." Let's make a comparison
between 40 years ago and today (in 1973 there were 34 daytime shows and no hour
soaps; today there are nine, not counting "Today," "Good Morning America," and "CBS
This Morning"):

ABC: 10 shows:
2 sitcoms ("Bewitched," replaced by "The Brady Bunch" in July; "Love, American Style")
5 games ("Password," "Split Second," "Let's Make A Deal," "The Newlywed Game," "The
Dating Game," replaced by the reality show "The Girl In My Life" in July)
3 soaps ("All My Children," "General Hospital," "One Life To Live")

CBS: 12 shows:
(CBS had the "CBS Morning News" and "Captain Kangaroo," but I'll confine this to
10 AM-4:30 PM)

5 games ("Joker's Wild," "Pyramid"(debuted March 26)," "Gambit," "Price Is Right," "Hollywood's Talking"
(replaced by "Match Game" in July))
7 soaps ("Love Of Life," "Young And The Restless" (which replaced "Where The Heart Is"
in March), "Search For Tomorrow," "As The World Turns," "Guiding Light," "Edge Of Night,"
"Secret Storm")

NBC: 12 shows:

6 games ("Concentration" (replaced by "Baffle" in March), "Sale Of The Century"
(replaced by Alex Trebek's "Wizard Of Odds" in July), "Hollywood Squares," "Jeopardy!,"
"Who, What Or Where," "Three On A Match")
5 soaps ("Days Of Our Lives," "The Doctors," "Another World," "Return To Peyton Place,"
"Somerset")
1 talk show ("Dinah's Place")


Today there are only nine, not counting the early-morning shows:

ABC: 3 shows ("The View," "The Chew," "General Hospital")

CBS: 5 shows ("The Price Is Right," "The Young And The Restless," "The Bold And The
Beautiful," "The Talk," "Let's Make A Deal")

NBC: 1 show ("Days Of Our Lives")

And where do the ratings seem to be going? To Judge Judy, Maury, Jerry, and the other
staples of Fox stations during the day.

Think about all this.

And don't forget Dr. Phil and Ellen...

I remember many of those 1973 shows (I was 12 then). "The Girl in My Life" was more or less a reworking of "Queen for a Day," but not as bathetic. "Baffle" was definitely a retooling of the late '60s game "PDQ." And I think "The Wizard of Odds" was Alex Trebek's first American game show. He had the biggest fro on a white guy before Bob Ross came along.

 

[FreddyE1977]

Actually the strike in Pittsburgh was by oil haulers. Romano was shooting a scene of trucks owned by ARCO-when they were still marketing in Pittsburgh-and it was one of the tank trucks that killed him. This was 1979.

Thanks for the added detail. It's been a long time.