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Network feed question

I was reading a article about how KOOL in Tucson in 1979 couldn't show the Suns-Lakers NBA game from CBS's West Coast feed, because it would preempt the CBS Evening News and 60 Minutes, because Tucson was in the Mountain Time Zone. Wouldn't it make more sense for KOOL to tape the Evening News and 60 Minutes, and play it back after the NBA game?
 
The other option would have been for CBS to air the network news at 6pm, so that way all the Arizona stations could take the live feed at 6pm then the NBA game. The West Coast wouldn't have this issue, since the game started at 3:45 PDT.
 
For the record, KOOL-TV was in Phoenix (now KSAZ, Fox 10), while KOLD-TV was and is in Tucson. This probably would have affected both stations, however. IIRC, Tucson got its network feeds via microwave from Phoenix back in those days.
 
It would have made more sense back then for Phoenix and Tucson to be on the west coast feed. We know that CBS did have a habit of showing select NBA games to the West Coast only, so it's entirely plausible that Phoenix and Tucson could have been placed on the west coast feed.
 
There were cases where the ABC stations in Tucson and Phoenix would take 3 ABC college football games when there was a west coast only game- one at 10:00, one at 1:30 and one at 5:00. I wonder if those stations simply tape delayed prime time shows so that they air in full following the 5:00 game.
 
It would have made more sense back then for Phoenix and Tucson to be on the west coast feed. We know that CBS did have a habit of showing select NBA games to the West Coast only, so it's entirely plausible that Phoenix and Tucson could have been placed on the west coast feed.

IIRC, the coax was fed east to west nationwide. Phoenix got its services via DFW, through either El Paso or Albuquerque, not from LA. That's why Arizona was Dallas Cowboys country before 1988, when the Cardinals arrived from St. Louis, and why the natives were Cowboys fans, and not Rams fans.
 
What this conversation ignores is that this is mainly a discussion between a local GM and the CBS VP of Affiliate Relations, based on the contract the affiliate has with the network. So while there may be a technical possibility for a station to carry a certain game, the station may be forced to black it out for contractual reasons. We're talking about something that happened almost 40 years ago, and it's hard to know exactly what contracts were in place at the time.
 
When I worked at WLFI in Lafayette IN, we had to get permission to carry Chicago Bears games instead of what CBS called the "Southwestern Feed" which WISH in Indianapolis had to carry.
 
My CBS station was always part of the Falcons network, since it was based in Spartanburg, but the Charlotte station aired the Redskins.
 
When I worked at WLFI in Lafayette IN, we had to get permission to carry Chicago Bears games instead of what CBS called the "Southwestern Feed" which WISH in Indianapolis had to carry.

When was this? I grew up in Bloomington (1957-73) and I don't remember a time where WISH-TV didn't air a Bears game if it was available.
 
Back then, CBS couldn't feed more than two NFL games out of New York. So games had regional "control stations" that would take the truck feed from the stadium, insert the network commercials, and feed it to a regional network of stations. These days, it so much easier for New York to do all the heavy lifting of inserting the commercials and feeding games.
 
I'd be interested in knowing how the system worked for NFL games. For example, if NBC was carrying a doubleheader, and the "A" game ended and let's say that another game was going on. NBC would likely switch to that game so that The Wonderful World of Disney starts at the same time. CBS did the same thing with 60 Minutes too.
 
If CBS carried a NBA game(this was in the late 70s) on tape delay and the two team markets got that game live, how would the prime time schedule be handled? Tape the live net feed while carrying the game, or a CBS offering a separate feed?
 
IIRC, the coax was fed east to west nationwide. Phoenix got its services via DFW, through either El Paso or Albuquerque, not from LA. That's why Arizona was Dallas Cowboys country before 1988, when the Cardinals arrived from St. Louis, and why the natives were Cowboys fans, and not Rams fans.

IOW "America's Team" was begat as much of technology as of Staubach's Hail Mary against the Vikes...

ixnay
 
My guess with the NBA, the stations would tape the live net feed while carrying the NBA game. in 1979 for example, WUSA would have carried aired game 2 of the 79 finals live-with the Bullets playing- and taped the prime time shows to air after the news.
 
For the record, KOOL-TV was in Phoenix (now KSAZ, Fox 10), while KOLD-TV was and is in Tucson. This probably would have affected both stations, however. IIRC, Tucson got its network feeds via microwave from Phoenix back in those days.

Tucson and Phoenix got a divorce in the summer of '77. At that time, KOLD got its own Telco line and didn't have to rely on KOOL for network shows (live or tape-delayed).

Perhaps not mentioned yet in this thread was...(although a start time of "3:45 PDT" was)...did this game occur between late April and late October (DST), or in the "winter" half of the year (late October to late April, or standard time)?
 
It would have made more sense back then for Phoenix and Tucson to be on the west coast feed. We know that CBS did have a habit of showing select NBA games to the West Coast only, so it's entirely plausible that Phoenix and Tucson could have been placed on the west coast feed.

You mean for part of one day, or permanently? Arizona would not be shifted to the left coast feed, because in winter prime time wouldn't have been on until 9:00 PM to midnight (and 8-11 in summer). You want your late news on at 12:00 AM? (I think we'll let Florida deal with that one next winter and see how long it lasts.)
 
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