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MY AREA FINALLY HAD ALL 3 (ABC, CBS, NBC) WHEN ____ SIGNED ON IN 19??
- Thread starter gregg75
- Start date
In the Raleigh-Durham market, that would have been, on a permanent basis, between 1968 and 1971. Let me explain: When WRDU-TV 28 in Durham signed on in 1968, it was officially the market's NBC affiliate, though Durham's WTVD, channel 11, then the market's CBS affiliate, was also affiliated with NBC and had cherry-picked stronger programmingto work into its schedule since WRAL-TV, channel 5 in Raleigh, dropped NBC for ABC in 1962. The FCC had to get involved so that WTVD went with CBS fulltime and WRDU with NBC in 1971.
Delving even further back into our market's unique history, we actually had all three networks for a brief period from 1956-1959: The first station to sign on here, in 1953, was WNAO-TV, channel 28 in Raleigh, a CBS affiliate. In 1954, Durham's WTVD signed on as an NBC affiliate with a secondary ABC affiliation. In 1956, Raleigh's second station, WRAL-TV, signed on as an NBC affiliate, with CBS shifting to WTVD and ABC, to WNAO. With the major disadvantages of UHF at that time, especially in a vast market such as this one going up against two VHFs, WNAO went out of business in 1959, with WRAL and WTVD splitting ABC until 1962.
Except for operating on the same channel, the 1968 Durham-licensed WRDU-TV is in no way connected to the 1953 Raleigh-licensed WNAO-TV. NBC would stick with channel 28 as WRDU (1968-1978), WPTF-TV (1978-1991) and WRDC (1991-1995) before moving to a 1988 sign-on, Goldsboro-licensed WNCN, channel 17, which has an interesting history all its own (but perhaps one for another thread). As one can imagine with all the changes, NBC is traditionally not very strong in this market.
Delving even further back into our market's unique history, we actually had all three networks for a brief period from 1956-1959: The first station to sign on here, in 1953, was WNAO-TV, channel 28 in Raleigh, a CBS affiliate. In 1954, Durham's WTVD signed on as an NBC affiliate with a secondary ABC affiliation. In 1956, Raleigh's second station, WRAL-TV, signed on as an NBC affiliate, with CBS shifting to WTVD and ABC, to WNAO. With the major disadvantages of UHF at that time, especially in a vast market such as this one going up against two VHFs, WNAO went out of business in 1959, with WRAL and WTVD splitting ABC until 1962.
Except for operating on the same channel, the 1968 Durham-licensed WRDU-TV is in no way connected to the 1953 Raleigh-licensed WNAO-TV. NBC would stick with channel 28 as WRDU (1968-1978), WPTF-TV (1978-1991) and WRDC (1991-1995) before moving to a 1988 sign-on, Goldsboro-licensed WNCN, channel 17, which has an interesting history all its own (but perhaps one for another thread). As one can imagine with all the changes, NBC is traditionally not very strong in this market.
In Hartford/New Haven, the timing of this is tricky. WGTH-TV channel 18 of Hartford was the first CBS affiliate in the market. WTIC-TV channel 3 of Hartford signed on in 1957 as an independent and wouldn't take over as the CBS affiliate until 1960 or so.
WNHC-TV channel 6 of New Haven signed on in 1948 as Connecticut's first TV station. The ABC affiliate would become channel 8 with a frequency shift.
Channel 30 of New Britain signed on in 1953 and has always been a primary NBC affiliate. We also had WATR-TV channel 20 of Waterbury who was another NBC affiliate in the market, since channel 30 didn't reach the entire market until a signal upgrade around 1978. By then, the signal overlap of the two became to much to handle and channel 20 eventually became independent WTXX-TV in 1982.
As for those WTIC call letters, they now belong to channel 61 of Hartford. They signed on as an independent in 1984 and is one of the original FOX affiliates from 1986-87 who wasn't an O & O.
WNHC-TV channel 6 of New Haven signed on in 1948 as Connecticut's first TV station. The ABC affiliate would become channel 8 with a frequency shift.
Channel 30 of New Britain signed on in 1953 and has always been a primary NBC affiliate. We also had WATR-TV channel 20 of Waterbury who was another NBC affiliate in the market, since channel 30 didn't reach the entire market until a signal upgrade around 1978. By then, the signal overlap of the two became to much to handle and channel 20 eventually became independent WTXX-TV in 1982.
As for those WTIC call letters, they now belong to channel 61 of Hartford. They signed on as an independent in 1984 and is one of the original FOX affiliates from 1986-87 who wasn't an O & O.
Columbus, Georgia didn't get their last network NBC until 1970, WYEA 38 (now WLTZ 38). They
had a rough time as they were the only UHF (besides PBS).
They signed on one late evening just before prime-time. Their first program was "Gilligan's
Island" YEAH! I remember they had a lot of Popeye cartoons in mornings and afternoons
to cheaply fill their schedule. They had a 4PM movie, usually something from the 40s-50s
which was probably inexpensive also.
The other two stations had 11PM news, but TV 38 aired "Alfred Hitchcock" instead......YEAH.
had a rough time as they were the only UHF (besides PBS).
They signed on one late evening just before prime-time. Their first program was "Gilligan's
Island" YEAH! I remember they had a lot of Popeye cartoons in mornings and afternoons
to cheaply fill their schedule. They had a 4PM movie, usually something from the 40s-50s
which was probably inexpensive also.
The other two stations had 11PM news, but TV 38 aired "Alfred Hitchcock" instead......YEAH.
Phoenix
CBS - KPHO 5 (1949); NBC - KTYL 12 (1954); ABC - KTVK 3 (1955)
Tucson
CBS - KOPO 13 (1953); NBC - KVOA 4 (1953); ABC - KDWI 9 (1956)
Yuma/El Centro
NBC - KIVA 11 (1953); CBS - KBLU 13 (1963); ABC - KECC 9 (1968)
Yuma/El Centro lost ABC in 1970 when KIVA folded, KBLU took NBC, and KECC took CBS. ABC returned as a full-time affiliate in 1988 when KYMA signed on; shortly afterward KYMA and KYEL (formerly KBLU) switched affiliations. ABC disappeared again in 1995 when KSWT (formerly KYEL) switched to Fox and didn't return until 2007, when KECY (formerly KECC) added ABC as a secondary subchannel.
CBS - KPHO 5 (1949); NBC - KTYL 12 (1954); ABC - KTVK 3 (1955)
Tucson
CBS - KOPO 13 (1953); NBC - KVOA 4 (1953); ABC - KDWI 9 (1956)
Yuma/El Centro
NBC - KIVA 11 (1953); CBS - KBLU 13 (1963); ABC - KECC 9 (1968)
Yuma/El Centro lost ABC in 1970 when KIVA folded, KBLU took NBC, and KECC took CBS. ABC returned as a full-time affiliate in 1988 when KYMA signed on; shortly afterward KYMA and KYEL (formerly KBLU) switched affiliations. ABC disappeared again in 1995 when KSWT (formerly KYEL) switched to Fox and didn't return until 2007, when KECY (formerly KECC) added ABC as a secondary subchannel.
WBKB (now WBBM-TV) signed on in 1946 on channel 4, but moved to channel 2 in 1953 to eliminate interference with WTMJ-TV on the same channel. WTMJ-TV also moved themselves from 3 to 4 to eliminate interference with WKZO (now WWMT) Kalamazoo, MI on channel 3. Originally was a Paramount Network station, & Paramount in the day also owned a stake in Dumont with CBS as the secondary affiliate. When WBKB was sold to CBS, it became a CBS O&O station & took the CBS affiliation from WGN-TV. Moving to channel 2 also forced Phonevision (an early pay TV service) off the air.
WENR (later WBKB & now WLS-TV) signed on on September 17 1948 on channel 7, & has been an ABC station from the beginning. Was an ABC affiliate until ABC & UPT merged, & they retained WENR, & changed the call letters in 1953 to WBKB. It was the same year that it became an ABC O&O station. The old WBKB was sold to CBS & calls were changed to the present WBBM-TV.
A month later, WBNQ (now WMAQ) signed on in October 1948, & has been an NBC O&O station from the beginning. They were on channel 5 the entire time in the analog days.
Now if we go beyond the current O&O stations, then in April 1948, WGN-TV signed on and was the CBS affiliate from 1948 to 1953 with Dumont as the secondary affiliate. It became the Dumont affiliate fulltime in 1953 to the network's demise in 1956. From 1956 to 1995, WGN-TV had been an independent station, & was a successful independent in its day.
This is the Chicago market, which got their stations on the air early on. The 5th VHF station allocated to Chicago was allocated non-commercial, & was one the early NET (National Eucational Television) stations in the country, signing on in September 1955. That station is WTTW. Chicago didn't get their first official UHF station until 1964 with WCIU.
WENR (later WBKB & now WLS-TV) signed on on September 17 1948 on channel 7, & has been an ABC station from the beginning. Was an ABC affiliate until ABC & UPT merged, & they retained WENR, & changed the call letters in 1953 to WBKB. It was the same year that it became an ABC O&O station. The old WBKB was sold to CBS & calls were changed to the present WBBM-TV.
A month later, WBNQ (now WMAQ) signed on in October 1948, & has been an NBC O&O station from the beginning. They were on channel 5 the entire time in the analog days.
Now if we go beyond the current O&O stations, then in April 1948, WGN-TV signed on and was the CBS affiliate from 1948 to 1953 with Dumont as the secondary affiliate. It became the Dumont affiliate fulltime in 1953 to the network's demise in 1956. From 1956 to 1995, WGN-TV had been an independent station, & was a successful independent in its day.
This is the Chicago market, which got their stations on the air early on. The 5th VHF station allocated to Chicago was allocated non-commercial, & was one the early NET (National Eucational Television) stations in the country, signing on in September 1955. That station is WTTW. Chicago didn't get their first official UHF station until 1964 with WCIU.
In Syracuse, it was clean and simple: WNYS ch. 9 signed on Sunday, September 9, 1962 (ninth month, ninth day), completing the triad of net affils. Original calls, original channels, and their sign on dates:
WHEN/8 - CBS (sign on: 12/1/48) (moved from ch. 8 to ch. 5 when WNYS signed on)
WSYR/5 - NBC (sign on: 2/15/50) (moved from ch. 5 to 3 in about 1952)
WNYS/9 - ABC (sign on: 9/9/62)
And none of them have changed their affiliations. But all have changed their calls.
WNYS signed on with local personality Phil Markert playing a piano, and his first words were "A cat has nine lives." He remarked years later he thought it was just the right thing to say.
BTW, today (Dec. 1) is the 62nd anniversary of WHEN/WTVH, as noted in "this day in history." Sad to see what they've become -- one of the original 108 VHFs is now LMA'd by WSTM/3, run out of Ch. 3's master control, no news department, and its huge building at 980 James St. up for sale. Their owner Granite went bankrupt.
During the freeze, Syracuse was the only upstate city with two TV stations. Not sure which station in which city broke that monopoly. I am GUESSING it was WHEC/WVET/10 in Rochester. Scott or Bob1370, care to chime in?
WHEN/8 - CBS (sign on: 12/1/48) (moved from ch. 8 to ch. 5 when WNYS signed on)
WSYR/5 - NBC (sign on: 2/15/50) (moved from ch. 5 to 3 in about 1952)
WNYS/9 - ABC (sign on: 9/9/62)
And none of them have changed their affiliations. But all have changed their calls.
WNYS signed on with local personality Phil Markert playing a piano, and his first words were "A cat has nine lives." He remarked years later he thought it was just the right thing to say.
BTW, today (Dec. 1) is the 62nd anniversary of WHEN/WTVH, as noted in "this day in history." Sad to see what they've become -- one of the original 108 VHFs is now LMA'd by WSTM/3, run out of Ch. 3's master control, no news department, and its huge building at 980 James St. up for sale. Their owner Granite went bankrupt.
During the freeze, Syracuse was the only upstate city with two TV stations. Not sure which station in which city broke that monopoly. I am GUESSING it was WHEC/WVET/10 in Rochester. Scott or Bob1370, care to chime in?
Re: MY AREA FINALLY HAD ALL 3 (ABC, CBS, NBC) WHEN ____ SIGNED ON IN
Actually, I have a North Carolina edition of TV Guide from 1957 that shows WTVD as ABC and WNAO as CBS; I think somebody got it wrong on wikipedia.
I lived in Raleigh/Durham during the WRAL/WTVD/WNAO years; the next time I lived in a market with three stations was 1965:
Greenville/New Bern/Washington, with WITN (NBC), WNCT (CBS), and WNBE (now WCTI) (ABC).
RadioDaze said:
Actually, I have a North Carolina edition of TV Guide from 1957 that shows WTVD as ABC and WNAO as CBS; I think somebody got it wrong on wikipedia.
I lived in Raleigh/Durham during the WRAL/WTVD/WNAO years; the next time I lived in a market with three stations was 1965:
Greenville/New Bern/Washington, with WITN (NBC), WNCT (CBS), and WNBE (now WCTI) (ABC).
dhett said:
KOOL-TV Channel 10 Phoenix (on film) started out as an ABC affiliate from 1953 to KTVK's sign-on in '55. What was left of Dumont was split between 5 and 12.
Indianapolis
NBC: WTTV 10 (1949), CBS: WFBM-TV 6 (1949), ABC: WISH-TV 8 (1954)
Between 1954 and 1957 there was one channel move (WTTV from 10 to 4), and a bunch of network swaps: CBS from 6 to 8 (1955), NBC from 4 to 6 (1956), and ABC from 8 to 6 (1955) to 4 (1956) to WLWI 13 (1957).
Terre Haute
CBS: WTHI-TV 10 (1954), NBC: WTWO 2 (1965) , ABC: WIIL-TV 38 (1973). Terre Haute currently has no ABC affiliate.
Wausau-Rhinelander
CBS: WSAU-TV 7 (1953), ABC: WAOW-TV 9 (1965), NBC: WAEO-TV 12 (1966)
1970 seemed to be a ripe year for third-station UHFs. In addition to Columbus, Ga., there was Savannah, Ga. (WJCL-22, giving the city its first ABC primary) and Jackson, Miss. (WAPT-16, also ABC) All those stations powered up that year.
Adding to their distress were three NBC affils within decent reach - WSB-2/ATL (pre 1980), WALB-10/Albany and the closest one at hand, Montgomery's WSFA-12. Matter of fact, 38 had to drop a lot of money on legal expenses in the mid '70s, as WSFA originally planned to build their much-ballyhooed "tall tower" in Union Springs - and that would have given Phenix City, right across the river from Columbus, a city-grade signal from 12. 38 cried foul ... a skirmish ensued, and 12 ended up building in south Montgomery County instead, not far from their original stick (Mt. Carmel, north Crenshaw County).
WLTZ's station IDs in the late '90s were nerve-grating: clips of people-on-the-street saying their slogan: "It just feels great, on NBC-38."
Often it came out "It jus' feels graaaaaaayt, on N-B-C Tharty-Ayyyyyyyyyt!!!!"
At that point they were competing nicely with Andy Griffith repeats at 11 PM. Sometimes "no news is good news" pays off. ;D
--Russell
gregg75 said:
Adding to their distress were three NBC affils within decent reach - WSB-2/ATL (pre 1980), WALB-10/Albany and the closest one at hand, Montgomery's WSFA-12. Matter of fact, 38 had to drop a lot of money on legal expenses in the mid '70s, as WSFA originally planned to build their much-ballyhooed "tall tower" in Union Springs - and that would have given Phenix City, right across the river from Columbus, a city-grade signal from 12. 38 cried foul ... a skirmish ensued, and 12 ended up building in south Montgomery County instead, not far from their original stick (Mt. Carmel, north Crenshaw County).
WLTZ's station IDs in the late '90s were nerve-grating: clips of people-on-the-street saying their slogan: "It just feels great, on NBC-38."
Often it came out "It jus' feels graaaaaaayt, on N-B-C Tharty-Ayyyyyyyyyt!!!!"
At that point they were competing nicely with Andy Griffith repeats at 11 PM. Sometimes "no news is good news" pays off. ;D
--Russell
Oldschooler-
Situation in Rochester, NY was similar-
For years Rochester had 2 stations NBC and CBS
NBC was originally WHAM channel 6 and about 1952-1953, WHAM sold out and it became WROC channel 5- where it stayed until a frequency swap in the early 60s put it where it is now, on channel 8.
CBS was originally WHEC/WVET (shared time- WVET actually took over WROC in the late 50s/early 60s, thus ending the timeshare agreement) on channel 10.
Then in late 1962, WOKR signed on as the area's ABC outlet (I remember so well- I was just a little bit of a thing, and they had what I thought were the best kid's shows).
Since then, in the mid-late 80s a couple of the many things that occurred were a network swap between WROC and WHEC (I guess both affiliates were up for renewal, and one of the networks wanted the switch- I think it was CBS, so NBC took what was left ).
Also in the last couple of years, WOKR changed their call letters (WOKR still lives, but on a little radio station outside of Utica, in a little place called Remsen). Not hard to understand why they went to WHAM- talk about some heritage call letters (and oddly enough, their "sister station" in Syracuse went from WIXT to WSYR about the same time, and probably for the same reasons).
Situation in Rochester, NY was similar-
For years Rochester had 2 stations NBC and CBS
NBC was originally WHAM channel 6 and about 1952-1953, WHAM sold out and it became WROC channel 5- where it stayed until a frequency swap in the early 60s put it where it is now, on channel 8.
CBS was originally WHEC/WVET (shared time- WVET actually took over WROC in the late 50s/early 60s, thus ending the timeshare agreement) on channel 10.
Then in late 1962, WOKR signed on as the area's ABC outlet (I remember so well- I was just a little bit of a thing, and they had what I thought were the best kid's shows).
Since then, in the mid-late 80s a couple of the many things that occurred were a network swap between WROC and WHEC (I guess both affiliates were up for renewal, and one of the networks wanted the switch- I think it was CBS, so NBC took what was left ).
Also in the last couple of years, WOKR changed their call letters (WOKR still lives, but on a little radio station outside of Utica, in a little place called Remsen). Not hard to understand why they went to WHAM- talk about some heritage call letters (and oddly enough, their "sister station" in Syracuse went from WIXT to WSYR about the same time, and probably for the same reasons).
biggguy said:
A little later than that, actually: while WHAM-TV moved from 6 to 5 in 1952 as part of a reorganization of channels upstate, it wasn't until 1956 that Stromberg-Carlson got out of broadcasting, selling WHAM-TV and WHAM(AM)/WHFM to separate owners. Bill Rust bought the radio stations and the WHAM calls, while the TV station went to Transcontinent TV (which also owned WGR-TV in Buffalo). That's when the calls became WROC.
September 15, 1962 - just a week after WROC moved from 5 to 8, which cleared the way for WHEN-TV in Syracuse to move from 8 to 5 and thus for WNYS to sign on at channel 9 in Syracuse.
It was about a year earlier, sometime in 1961, when Transcontinent sold WROC-TV and WROC-FM to Veterans Broadcasting (WVET 1280 and WVET-TV, half of channel 10), and Veterans sold its half of channel 10 to WHEC-TV.
It was WHEC that really wanted NBC in 1989; CBS was pretty weak at that point, and so was WROC, and WHEC saw an opportunity to upgrade.
WOKR and WIXT changed calls in what turned out to be a misguided attempt at corporate synergy; Clear Channel had bought the TV stations and the heritage radio stations in both markets, and thought they'd reap ratings rewards by reimaging their TV stations with the heritage radio calls. They never made it much beyond changing the calls; a shift in Clear Channel corporate strategy led to the TV stations being sold off to a different owner not long afterward.
RadioDaze: RE: the Raleigh-Durham market: The FCC had to get involved so that WTVD went with CBS fulltime and WRDU with NBC in 1971.
I'm just curious why the FCC had to get involved. They were very adamant about not controlling those kinds of things.
I'm just curious why the FCC had to get involved. They were very adamant about not controlling those kinds of things.
oldschooler1 said:
I believe that's correct. It's certainly true of the Vs: WHEC/WVET signed on Nov. 1, 1953, while WGR-TV didn't get on the air until 1954. Two UHFs had made it on the air in Buffalo before that: the short-lived WBES 59 and the somewhat longer-lived WBUF 17 both signed on in 1953.
WGR's debut made Buffalo the first three-network upstate market: CBS on WBEN-TV (1948), NBC on WBUF (1953) and ABC on WGR-TV (1954); in 1958, Buffalo would become the first three-V upstate market with WKBW-TV's debut on channel 7. ABC moved from 2 to 7, NBC from 17 to 2, and 17 ended up going dark and being donated to educational TV (WNED).
Albany also became a three-network market in 1954, when WTRI 35 (ABC) joined WROW-TV 41 (CBS) and WRGB 6 (NBC). The two Us would later move to VHF as part of the early-sixties upstate allocations shuffle.
Rochester and Syracuse, as has been discussed, got all three in 1962. So did Binghamton (WBJA 34, ABC, joining CBS on WNBF-TV 12, on since 1949, and NBC on WINR-TV 40, on since 1957).
Pittsburgh had DuMont's WDTV-3 (now KDKA-2) from 1949 (when it signed on with four network affiliations).
Pittsburgh's remaining TV in the early 50s was UHF. WENS-16, originally an ABC affiliate, was on the air from 1953 to 1957.
WQED-13 signed on in 1954 as the city's second V and first non-commercial station. WENS eventually would become the second, WQEX (soon to be WINP, ION Media).
WPXI signed on as WIIC with the NBC affiliation it retains to this day in 1957.
WTAE, first licensed to Irwin, PA, signed on as an ABC affiliate in 1958.
Many east of Pittsburgh could watch WJAC-6 from Johnstown. Or, more accurately from 1949 until 1952, WJAC-13. It started out with all four networks as well.
WARD-56 signed on in Johnstown in 1953, carrying what network shows WJAC didn't carry. It of course went through many transitions until today it is WPCW-19, licensed to Jeannette and serving as KDKA's secondary signal.
Pittsburgh's remaining TV in the early 50s was UHF. WENS-16, originally an ABC affiliate, was on the air from 1953 to 1957.
WQED-13 signed on in 1954 as the city's second V and first non-commercial station. WENS eventually would become the second, WQEX (soon to be WINP, ION Media).
WPXI signed on as WIIC with the NBC affiliation it retains to this day in 1957.
WTAE, first licensed to Irwin, PA, signed on as an ABC affiliate in 1958.
Many east of Pittsburgh could watch WJAC-6 from Johnstown. Or, more accurately from 1949 until 1952, WJAC-13. It started out with all four networks as well.
WARD-56 signed on in Johnstown in 1953, carrying what network shows WJAC didn't carry. It of course went through many transitions until today it is WPCW-19, licensed to Jeannette and serving as KDKA's secondary signal.
Re: MY AREA FINALLY HAD ALL 3 (ABC, CBS, NBC) WHEN ____ SIGNED ON IN
Basically what was happening was this: on Saturday nights WTVD carried Jackie Gleason and "My Three Sons" from CBS (7:30-9), then switched over to NBC for the movie at 9. WRDU then picked up the remainder of the CBS lineup: "Hogan's Heroes," "Petticoat Junction," and "Mannix". At some point, probably in 1969, someone at WRDU noticed that WFMY (and to a lesser extent, WNCT) was showing up with significant numbers in the Raleigh/Durham rating book from 9 to 11 on Saturday night (then again from 9 to 10 on Sunday, when WTVD carried "Bonanza" and handed off the Smothers Brothers to WRDU). The two out-of-market stations, on Chs. 2 and 9 respectively, were easier to tune to than to struggle with trying to tune in a UHF station.
That was the immediate cause, but WTVD was also picking off the strongest CBS and NBC programs all week, such as "Gunsmoke" and Lucy on Monday, Red Skelton on Tuesday, "The Virginian" on Wednesday, the whole NBC Thursday block of "Daniel Boone," "Ironside," "Dragnet," and Dean Martin, and "Gomer Pyle" and the CBS Friday night movie, not to mention Disney (on delay), Ed Sullivan, and "Mission: Impossible" on Sunday. With 28 repeatedly being stuck with lower-rated shows, coupled with the situation where people were tuning to Greensboro or Greenville, NC, in order to watch CBS, WRDU complained that WTVD's having first crack at CBS and NBC shows was giving it an unfair advantage. So the FCC ended up ordering WTVD to pick one network, and since CBS shows tended to do better, that's the network they picked, went fulltime CBS in 1971, and remained with the Eye Network until becoming an ABC o&o in 1985. WRDU still never gained much of a foothold, not with three strong VHF NBC stations available around the market: WECT, WITN, and WXII.
An identical situation resolved itself in Birmingham in 1970; WAPI was also getting first pick of CBS and NBC and leaving the lower-rated shows to WBMG. WAPI was also forced to pick one network; it chose NBC basically for two reasons: its ties to NBC going back to radio and the station owner's personal dislike of Bill Paley.
My guess is that the year's gap between the resolution of the problem in Birmingham and in the Triangle was due to affiliation contracts, just as WBRC continued as an ABC affiliate even after being purchased by Fox, not carrying Fox programming until 1996, two years after Fox bought the station.
I wonder if the Federal Trade Commission might have ultimately gotten involved on grounds of fair competition if the FCC hadn't intervened.
Al Timiter said:
Basically what was happening was this: on Saturday nights WTVD carried Jackie Gleason and "My Three Sons" from CBS (7:30-9), then switched over to NBC for the movie at 9. WRDU then picked up the remainder of the CBS lineup: "Hogan's Heroes," "Petticoat Junction," and "Mannix". At some point, probably in 1969, someone at WRDU noticed that WFMY (and to a lesser extent, WNCT) was showing up with significant numbers in the Raleigh/Durham rating book from 9 to 11 on Saturday night (then again from 9 to 10 on Sunday, when WTVD carried "Bonanza" and handed off the Smothers Brothers to WRDU). The two out-of-market stations, on Chs. 2 and 9 respectively, were easier to tune to than to struggle with trying to tune in a UHF station.
That was the immediate cause, but WTVD was also picking off the strongest CBS and NBC programs all week, such as "Gunsmoke" and Lucy on Monday, Red Skelton on Tuesday, "The Virginian" on Wednesday, the whole NBC Thursday block of "Daniel Boone," "Ironside," "Dragnet," and Dean Martin, and "Gomer Pyle" and the CBS Friday night movie, not to mention Disney (on delay), Ed Sullivan, and "Mission: Impossible" on Sunday. With 28 repeatedly being stuck with lower-rated shows, coupled with the situation where people were tuning to Greensboro or Greenville, NC, in order to watch CBS, WRDU complained that WTVD's having first crack at CBS and NBC shows was giving it an unfair advantage. So the FCC ended up ordering WTVD to pick one network, and since CBS shows tended to do better, that's the network they picked, went fulltime CBS in 1971, and remained with the Eye Network until becoming an ABC o&o in 1985. WRDU still never gained much of a foothold, not with three strong VHF NBC stations available around the market: WECT, WITN, and WXII.
An identical situation resolved itself in Birmingham in 1970; WAPI was also getting first pick of CBS and NBC and leaving the lower-rated shows to WBMG. WAPI was also forced to pick one network; it chose NBC basically for two reasons: its ties to NBC going back to radio and the station owner's personal dislike of Bill Paley.
My guess is that the year's gap between the resolution of the problem in Birmingham and in the Triangle was due to affiliation contracts, just as WBRC continued as an ABC affiliate even after being purchased by Fox, not carrying Fox programming until 1996, two years after Fox bought the station.
I wonder if the Federal Trade Commission might have ultimately gotten involved on grounds of fair competition if the FCC hadn't intervened.
Toledo was surprisingly late in getting all 3, maybe because of close proximity to Detroit...WSPD/13 (now WTVG) hit the aircame along in 1948 and for a long time cherrypicked from all 3 but was NBC primary. WTOL/11 signed on in 1958 and was primary CBS but carried some ABC. The Glass City's 3rd station, WNWO/24 didn't come along until 1966, after which 13 was NBC, 11 was CBS, and 24 was ABC. (That's until 13 and 24 switched in 1996.) I'm doing this all without looking it up, so there may be a mistake or 2.
Re: MY AREA FINALLY HAD ALL 3 (ABC, CBS, NBC) WHEN ____ SIGNED ON IN
To elaborate on the WTVD/WRDU situation, when WSB
and WXIA were scheduled to swap affiliations in Atlanta
in 1980, there was some speculation that WXIA would
cherry-pick ABC and NBC in October and November, because
WSB's contract with NBC was to expire Sept. 30; WXIA's with
ABC, Dec. 5, and WXIA g.m. Jeff Davidson had said he was
going to hold ABC to its contract to the last day.
Apparently, 11 Alive's lawyers determined that such a move
could not be brought off legally, and there were other complications:
would the shows 11 turned down be offered to WSB, which would,
in fact, have been an independent for two months, or to an existing
independent, namely WATL/36? And then those shows would have to
move again, to their new homes, in December (especially if 36 had them
during the two-month interim; an ABC show, for example, would go from
11 to 36 to 2).
At any rate, the two stations agreed to make the change on Sept. 1, giving
both time to promote their new networks' fall schedules. Some of the soaps
changed stations on Aug. 4, mostly owing to the debut of NBC's "Texas" that
day; it would have made no sense for WSB to carry it for four weeks and then
hand it off to WXIA, so it, "Another World", and "The Doctors" moved to 11,
while "One Life To Live," "General Hospital," and "Edge Of Night" moved to 2
(along with "Family Feud" and "Love Boat" reruns). "All My Children," "Days Of
Our Lives," and "Ryan's Hope" did not change stations until Sept. 1. (11 had
been carrying David Letterman's morning show since July, IIRC.)
To elaborate on the WTVD/WRDU situation, when WSB
and WXIA were scheduled to swap affiliations in Atlanta
in 1980, there was some speculation that WXIA would
cherry-pick ABC and NBC in October and November, because
WSB's contract with NBC was to expire Sept. 30; WXIA's with
ABC, Dec. 5, and WXIA g.m. Jeff Davidson had said he was
going to hold ABC to its contract to the last day.
Apparently, 11 Alive's lawyers determined that such a move
could not be brought off legally, and there were other complications:
would the shows 11 turned down be offered to WSB, which would,
in fact, have been an independent for two months, or to an existing
independent, namely WATL/36? And then those shows would have to
move again, to their new homes, in December (especially if 36 had them
during the two-month interim; an ABC show, for example, would go from
11 to 36 to 2).
At any rate, the two stations agreed to make the change on Sept. 1, giving
both time to promote their new networks' fall schedules. Some of the soaps
changed stations on Aug. 4, mostly owing to the debut of NBC's "Texas" that
day; it would have made no sense for WSB to carry it for four weeks and then
hand it off to WXIA, so it, "Another World", and "The Doctors" moved to 11,
while "One Life To Live," "General Hospital," and "Edge Of Night" moved to 2
(along with "Family Feud" and "Love Boat" reruns). "All My Children," "Days Of
Our Lives," and "Ryan's Hope" did not change stations until Sept. 1. (11 had
been carrying David Letterman's morning show since July, IIRC.)
Amarillo:
(NBC) KGNC/4 - March 1953
(CBS) KFDA/10 - April 1953
(ABC) KVII/7 - 1957
I'm not sure what KVII's first show was (or what part of the day they debuted).
--KGNC is now KAMR
Dallas/Fort Worth:
(NBC) WBAP/5 - 1948
(DuMont; later NBC; in 1957-- ABC) KBTV(II)/8 - Sept 1949
(CBS) KRLD/4 - Dec 1949
This market had all 3 stations by the end of 1949, but not all 3 nets primary/separately until 1957. In either case, it is not known what programming started off the debut of each net at each station or what part of the day each got their nets started.
--WBAP is now KXAS, KBTV(II) is now WFAA, KRLD is now KDFW (and flipped to Fox in 1995; KTVT/11 would then become CBS)
Tyler/Longview:
In the case of this market, 1 station (later, a pair of stations) had the mixed bag of all 3 nets early on, so the more applicable question would be when was there a *separate* station for each net:
(mix of all 3/eventually just ABC) KLTV/7 - 1954, KTRE/9 - 1955
(CBS) KLMG/51 - 1984
(NBC) KETK/56 - 1987
KETK debuted Monday night, March 9, 1987 (http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?topic=122105.0), sometime after 8:30pm (central), which would have been during an NBC Monday Night Movie (not sure which one). Ch.56's first local non-network show was later that same night at 10pm: TV-56 News at 10. As I brought up in the March 9 link above, the debut of KETK finally broke the multi-net stranglehold that KLTV/KTRE had held for 3+ decades. Also, it finally gave local viewers a full choice of newscasts; KETK's news (back then, at least) did more to cover the whole market than the newscasts on 7 / 9 (which focused mainly on each COL and the next biggest town) and 51 (which couldn't be bothered with anything outside of Longview (it's COL) and Gregg County).
--KLMG is now KFXK (and also flipped to Fox); no station replaced CBS in the market until KYTX/19 in 2004
(NBC) KGNC/4 - March 1953
(CBS) KFDA/10 - April 1953
(ABC) KVII/7 - 1957
I'm not sure what KVII's first show was (or what part of the day they debuted).
--KGNC is now KAMR
Dallas/Fort Worth:
(NBC) WBAP/5 - 1948
(DuMont; later NBC; in 1957-- ABC) KBTV(II)/8 - Sept 1949
(CBS) KRLD/4 - Dec 1949
This market had all 3 stations by the end of 1949, but not all 3 nets primary/separately until 1957. In either case, it is not known what programming started off the debut of each net at each station or what part of the day each got their nets started.
--WBAP is now KXAS, KBTV(II) is now WFAA, KRLD is now KDFW (and flipped to Fox in 1995; KTVT/11 would then become CBS)
Tyler/Longview:
In the case of this market, 1 station (later, a pair of stations) had the mixed bag of all 3 nets early on, so the more applicable question would be when was there a *separate* station for each net:
(mix of all 3/eventually just ABC) KLTV/7 - 1954, KTRE/9 - 1955
(CBS) KLMG/51 - 1984
(NBC) KETK/56 - 1987
KETK debuted Monday night, March 9, 1987 (http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?topic=122105.0), sometime after 8:30pm (central), which would have been during an NBC Monday Night Movie (not sure which one). Ch.56's first local non-network show was later that same night at 10pm: TV-56 News at 10. As I brought up in the March 9 link above, the debut of KETK finally broke the multi-net stranglehold that KLTV/KTRE had held for 3+ decades. Also, it finally gave local viewers a full choice of newscasts; KETK's news (back then, at least) did more to cover the whole market than the newscasts on 7 / 9 (which focused mainly on each COL and the next biggest town) and 51 (which couldn't be bothered with anything outside of Longview (it's COL) and Gregg County).
--KLMG is now KFXK (and also flipped to Fox); no station replaced CBS in the market until KYTX/19 in 2004
- Status