NBC's NIS All-News Affiliates (1977-78)

[Gregg.]

Here is the list of NIS (News and Information Service) affiliates from the 1977 Broadcasting Yearbook. NIS was an all-news network set up by NBC that offered live news around the clock. Dual anchors were heard weekdays, solo anchors nights and weekends. NIS had an hourly wheel with nothing broadcast between :00 to :07 so stations could insert their own local news. That's the same time NBC sent its regular affiliates the top of the hour NBC News. Top stories aired at :07 and :37, with segments on sports, entertainment and other features at other times around the hour.

Some stations that wanted to continue running network news at the top of the hour, either NBC or another network, would use the segment from :07 to :15 for its local news insert. NIS was live 24/7 except for a few hours Sunday mornings when the regular NBC network sent its affiliates special programs.

................

Arkansas....KMYO Little Rock

California....KGUY Palm Springs
...KFBK Sacramento
...KNAI-FM San Francisco (NBC-owned - now KMVQ)
...KAAP Ventura

Colorado....KRDO Colorado Springs

Connecticut.....WPOP Hartford (stayed all-news after NIS shutdown)

Delaware.....WILM Wilmington (stayed all-news after NIS shutdown)

District of Columbia.....WRC Washington (NBC-owned...stayed all-news after NIS shutdown)

Florida....WINZ Miami (stayed all-news after NIS shutdown)
...WQSA Sarasota
...WPOM West Palm Beach

Hawaii.....KHVH Honolulu

Idaho.....KSPD Boise

Illinois....WNIS-FM Chicago (NBC-owned - now WKQX)

Indiana.....WNTS Indianapolis

Kansas.....KWBB Wichita

Kentucky....WNNS-FM Louisville (WHAS's FM station - now WAMZ)

Louisiana.....KJOE Shreveport

Maine.....WLBZ Bangor
...WCSH Portland (stayed all-news after NIS shutdown)

Maryland.....WBAL-FM Baltimore (WBAL was a long-time NBC affiliate - now WIYY)

Massachusetts.....WNWS Springfield

Michigan....WCAR Detroit
...WMAX Grand Rapids

Minnesota....WWTC Minneapolis

Mississippi....WRBC Jackson

Missouri....KUDL Kansas City

Nebraska....KLNG Omaha

Nevada....KMBI Las Vegas
...KOH Reno

New Jersey....WBUD Trenton

New Mexico....KNWZ Albuquerque

New York....WABY Albany
...WHPN Poughkeepsie
...WNWZ Rochester
...WNWS-FM New York (NBC-owned - now WQHT)

North Carolina....WSOC Charlotte (stayed all-news after NIS shutdown)
...WURL Winston-Salem

Ohio.....WSTV Steubenville

Oregon....KJSN Klamath Falls
...KROW Salem
...KASH Eugene

Pennsylvania....KQV Pittsburgh (stayed all-news after NIS shutdown)
...WBRE-AM-FM Wilkes-Barre (stayed all-news after NIS shutdown - now WKRZ)

Rhode Island....WEAN Providence

Tennessee....WBIR Knoxville

Texas....WRR Dallas (stayed all-news after NIS shutdown - now KTCK)
...KURV Edinburg
...KTSM El Paso
...KRSV Fort Worth (yes, two affiliates in the DFW market)

Utah....KWMS Salt Lake City

Virginia....WRNL Richmond

Washington....KSPO Spokane

Wisconsin....WRIT Milwaukee

Wyoming....KRNK Cheyanne

 

[KeithE4]

Arizona...KRUX Phoenix

 

[Mediafrog+]

Texas....WRR Dallas (stayed all-news after NIS shutdown - now KTCK)
...KURV Edinburg
...KTSM El Paso
...KRSV Fort Worth (yes, two affiliates in the DFW market)

The Fort Worth station was KRXV, which reflected its “Radio 15” slogan.

As for two affiliates in DFW: The WRR signal into Tarrant County (Fort Worth) was at best mediocre at the time. This was from the old transmitter site at White Rock Lake, which ran 5kw.

Meanwhile KRXV had a highly directional signal that served Fort Worth well, but in Dallas County the 50kw day coverage was mediocre, while night reception of the 1kw pattern was nonexistent.

So in practical use there was limited audience overlap on the 1310 and 1540 signals.

 

[Weiserguy]

There were no 1978 NIS affiliates. NBC pulled the plug on NIS in mid-1977. (I forget if it was May or June or July, but it was within spitting distance of the end of the second quarter.) WNWS was the NBC FM O&O during the NIS experiment, but they bailed on NIS at the end of '76, and as of 1/01/77 became WYNY with a soft rock format. It's hard to believe that, with the end of NIS staring them in the face, the Springfield, Mass station would switch to the same calls for the remaining few months of the format, and even harder to believe that their management had the money to stay all-news since it would need to be produced in-house.

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

It's interesting to see that Los Angeles didn't get NIS affiliation directly. But then again in Los Angeles KFWB and KNX dominated in the all news format at the time NIS came out. Here is KLJR one of the former NIS affiliates close to Los Angeles but it's COL is in Ventura.

KLJR-FM - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

KAAP Ventura is now known as KLJR as of 2024. Interestingly it's 280 watts as it's erp.

 

[Weiserguy]

It's interesting to see that Los Angeles didn't get NIS affiliation directly. But then again in Los Angeles KFWB and KNX dominated in the all news format at the time NIS came out. Here is KLJR one of the former NIS affiliates close to Los Angeles but it's COL is in Ventura.

The key difference was NBC had only KNBC Channel 4 as an O&O in L.A., no radio back in those days (or since). In the major markets they had O&O's, the edict came from on high that one of the stations (usually the FM) shall, SHALL carry NIS at launch. (Don't know why Cleveland's missing from the list, BTW.)

 

[Doctor_Technical]

Mississippi....WRBC Jackson

Where some 6 years earlier, a certain current CEO of a certain large radio chain was one of the jocks: Bob Pittman. No real connection, just "ain't that interesting".

 

[Gregg.]

There were no 1978 NIS affiliates. NBC pulled the plug on NIS in mid-1977. (I forget if it was May or June or July, but it was within spitting distance of the end of the second quarter.) WNWS was the NBC FM O&O during the NIS experiment, but they bailed on NIS at the end of '76, and as of 1/01/77 became WYNY .

Yes, NIS was from 1975 to 1977. The Wikipedia article on WQHT says that 97.1 in New York switched from WNBC-FM to WNWS-FM on June 18, 1975. The NIS format in New York only lasted a year and a half.

At midnight on New Year's Eve 1976, 97.1 ended All-News, flipping to Soft Rock. The call letters changed to WYNY as Movin' Easy 97.1. NIS continued for its remaining affiliates for a few more months. As I noted, some stations were successful with it and continued all-news with their local staffs after NIS's sign off.

Of course, Broadcasting Yearbook was a big undertaking. So it still listed the NIS affiliates in its 1977 edition. I'm sure the NBC page was set, well before the network announced it would be discontinuing the service.

 

[Gregg.]

Don't know why Cleveland's missing from the list.

I'm not sure either. I looked up Cleveland and WERE 1300 is listed as All News. But it is an ABC Information Network affiliate, not NIS.

Did a Cleveland station on 1300 with 5,000 watts days and 1,000 watts nights really do its own All-News format, not affiliating with NIS?

 

[bigdonho]

I remember talking with some of the folks that had worked at NIS. One of the problems (other than high cost and lack of affiliates) was the fact that both NBC and NIS used the same single telco circuit to deliver its programming. This seriously limited the networks ability to serve regular NBC affiliates. Limited time for to feed news cuts or long form programming, no availability for refeeds of programs or elements to affiliates, etc. With more regular affiliates than NIS affiliates and the cost of an additional telco circuit for the NIS programming being prohibitive, it was just decided to can the whole NIS service.

This was sort of a problem when Mutual was on a single circuit and would pre-feed newscasts before things like Notre Dame football.

I wonder NIS would have been more successful had come about during the time of satellite distribution when multiple channels were available.

Didn't AP Radio run an all news service for a while?

 

[PTBoardOp93]

Didn't AP Radio run an all news service for a while?

The only all news syndication I can remember were:
1. CNN Headline News audio (distributed by Westwood One)
2. TRN's "America's Radio News Network", which only ran M-F and did not run at night.

Of those, I think CNN Headline News had the most affiliate uptake.

 

[Weiserguy]

This digression got me thinking. I have a LasercraftTM wood stand (for Post-It notes) next to me on my desk. I got that in the early 80's when I was running datacom for a cable TV service bureau. 1983 or so. The laser carving is of a communications satellite. It was a promotional giveaway from RCA SatCom, trying to get us to move our circuits from terrestrial to RCA's bird. Keep in mind, same parent company as NBC and NIS. So, given the lead times involved in designing/building/launching/financing geostationary satellites, this stuff had to already be on the drawing board at the time NBC made the decision to pull the plug on NIS.

If, instead, they'd waited a little longer, had a bit more patience, they could have put NIS up on the bird as one of their early customers. They could have had multiple channels -- for program, newscut distribution, a standby for live breaking events -- and NBC could have done with audio what it ended up doing anyway, moving the network to sat distribution. They could have asked the FCC for permission to have a temporary parallel telco-line network for just NIS until the satellite was launched and turned on. Instead, they threw away all those $millions they'd invested in the classy NIS, all the sunk costs, because they couldn't think outside the box. Typical NBC.

 

[Mark Roberts]

This digression got me thinking. I have a LasercraftTM wood stand (for Post-It notes) next to me on my desk. I got that in the early 80's when I was running datacom for a cable TV service bureau. 1983 or so. The laser carving is of a communications satellite. It was a promotional giveaway from RCA SatCom, trying to get us to move our circuits from terrestrial to RCA's bird. Keep in mind, same parent company as NBC and NIS. So, given the lead times involved in designing/building/launching/financing geostationary satellites, this stuff had to already be on the drawing board at the time NBC made the decision to pull the plug on NIS.

If, instead, they'd waited a little longer, had a bit more patience, they could have put NIS up on the bird as one of their early customers. They could have had multiple channels -- for program, newscut distribution, a standby for live breaking events -- and NBC could have done with audio what it ended up doing anyway, moving the network to sat distribution. They could have asked the FCC for permission to have a temporary parallel telco-line network for just NIS until the satellite was launched and turned on. Instead, they threw away all those $millions they'd invested in the classy NIS, all the sunk costs, because they couldn't think outside the box. Typical NBC.

RCA in its later years was not exactly known for managerial competence. The only reason GE wanted it was the NBC television network and TV stations, as shown by multiple subsequent divestitures. Even if you have a good product, and NBC radio had a good product, mismanagement can kill it.

 

[K.M. Richards]

It's interesting to see that Los Angeles didn't get NIS affiliation directly. But then again in Los Angeles KFWB and KNX dominated in the all news format at the time NIS came out. Here is KLJR one of the former NIS affiliates close to Los Angeles but it's COL is in Ventura.

KLJR-FM - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

KAAP Ventura is now known as KLJR as of 2024. Interestingly it's 280 watts as it's erp.

Actually, it was AM 1400 (now KUNX) which was the NIS affiliate. I know this because the station linked to above went on the air as KAAP-FM in the summer of 1976 with an automated MOR format. After NBC pulled the plug, they started simulcasting, decided it sounded terrible, and brought me in to fix it. Went from a no-show in the Arbitrons to #5 in 12+ the first book.

Oxnard-Ventura is my hometown market, so I remember it all quite vividly,

 

[K.M. Richards]

Didn't AP Radio run an all news service for a while?

Yes, they did. 1260 here in Los Angeles ran it for a year or two.

 

[Mark Roberts]

Yes, they did. 1260 here in Los Angeles ran it for a year or two.

I heard the AP all-news service, “The News Station”, when driving through Albuquerque on my way to California in my 1999 move. It was on 610; I don’t remember what the call letters were then. KNML was on 920 then, I believe.

 

[Gregg.]

The Associated Press did its All-News format using its existing lines. If you were an AP member, you could take just the top of the hour newscasts. Or you could air some other elements (sports updates, business news, other features). And for a while, AP filled in the other parts of the hour with more news. So a station taking everything could do an All-News format. Depending on how much you wanted to invest, you could do local news in several places in the news wheel.

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

Actually, it was AM 1400 (now KUNX) which was the NIS affiliate. I know this because the station linked to above went on the air as KAAP-FM in the summer of 1976 with an automated MOR format. After NBC pulled the plug, they started simulcasting, decided it sounded terrible, and brought me in to fix it. Went from a no-show in the Arbitrons to #5 in 12+ the first book.

Oxnard-Ventura is my hometown market, so I remember it all quite vividly,

KUNX - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Here it is the former KAAP is now known as KUNX at erp 1000 watts. Yes this makes more sense now on the other factor that lead to Los Angeles not getting a NIS affiliate too. Its just when I hear about this all news outlet its always overshadowed by the local ones like KNX and KFWB for Los Angeles.

But Somehow New York prior to August 2024 managed to run with three all news stations at different points like in the 1970's with WNWS-FM and in 2011-2012 with WEMP while being overshadowed with WINS and WCBS-AM. That is until Audacy had the data showing WINS-AM and WINS-FM has more listeners than WCBS-AM.

 

[K.M. Richards]

I heard the AP all-news service, “The News Station”, when driving through Albuquerque on my way to California in my 1999 move. It was on 610; I don’t remember what the call letters were then.

The call letters on 610 back then were KSVA, which were two calls removed from the heritage call letters now used on the station running The Eighties Channel™ in Albuquerque ... KRKE.

 

[K.M. Richards]

Here it is the former KAAP is now known as KUNX at erp 1000 watts. Yes this makes more sense now on the other factor that lead to Los Angeles not getting a NIS affiliate too. Its just when I hear about this all news outlet its always overshadowed by the local ones like KNX and KFWB for Los Angeles.

Actually, NBC did try to get its primary affiliate in L.A. -- KFI/640 -- to take NIS, but Cox had just purchased it from original owner Earle C. Anthony a couple of years earlier and totally rebuffed the network. I know this because NBC told KAAP's owner (Bill Wallace) when they pitched him on it, and he told me when he was "interviewing" me for the PD slot post-NIS. (I put "interviewing" in quotes because Mr. W called me, I never formally applied, and our original conversation started out as a discussion of the terrible MOR format and the market in general ... it wasn't until he said he thought a gold-heavy "adult top 40" would work and I agreed with him that he suddenly offered me the PD chair. I think he had that in mind all along.)

The all-news format was very successful on AM 1400 and even with the FM simulcast it was the one period in the station's history that I was unable to exceed the billing for.