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Network stations that don't refer to their channel numbers

WPSD-TV, channel 6 in Paducah, Kentucky, now uses their channel number in their name ("Newschannel 6," unless it has changed lately), but for a while there back in the '70s, they actually used the year in their name ("Newsbeat '74," "Newsbeat '75," "Newsbeat '76," etc.), until at the beginning of 1977, they dropped the year and simply became "Newsbeat 6." They used the "Newsbeat" name until adopting "Newschannel 6" sometime in the '90s.
 
OhioMediaWatch said:
* WEWS/5 (ABC) has actually started using the WEWS calls to some degree as of late, but is otherwise just "Channel 5". News is "NewsChannel 5", branding that used to extend to the entire station.
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If you go to www.newschannel5.com, you will get Newschannel5 from here in Nashville. Their call letters are WTVF (and have been since, I think, 1975), but there is hardly, if ever, a mention of "WTVF" on the air. I actually heard the WTVF call letters being used more by one of their advertisers in a commercial spot ("just tell 'em that you heard about it on WTVF" or something like that) than anywhere else in their programming.
 
searadiofreak said:
Yeah, and that's too bad. Channel numbers can slice through any other imaging a station might provide. Can anyone think of WABC, or WLS, or KABC, or KGO, without thinking of Channel 7? This number is an extremely important part of these stations branding. As the tv universe changes, this type of identification is going by the wayside, and I think it is a big loss, not only for the viewer, but for the stations, who depend on precise identification and branding. It will be much harder in the future.
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Don't forget WBBJ-TV in Jackson, Tennessee! (Although some of us would like to! ;D)
 
firepoint525 said:
If you go to www.newschannel5.com, you will get Newschannel5 from here in Nashville. Their call letters are WTVF (and have been since, I think, 1975), but there is hardly, if ever, a mention of "WTVF" on the air.
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For quite a few years, WEWS treated those call letters like they were a communicable disease on-air. (And that's very odd, since the calls are quite historic - "EWS" stands for "E.W. Scripps", the company's founder.)

While they are still aren't the primary branding, Channel 5 does use WEWS on the air from time to time these days.

firepoint525 said:
OhioMediaWatch said:
firepoint525 said:
WPSD-TV, channel 6 in Paducah, Kentucky, now uses their channel number in their name ("Newschannel 6," unless it has changed lately),
Click to expand...
A quick check of the WPSD website shows that they are still using the channel number, but they're now branding as "Local 6".
http://www.wpsdlocal6.com/
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Wow, that's boring!
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I'm waiting for station to brand as "Out-of-Town 6". ;)
 
WZMY - Derry, NH (My NetworkTV affiliate for the Boston DMA) does not mention their virtual channel number (50). After being purchased by Shooting Star Broadcasting they went with the My TV moniker. (Before My NetworkTV was even thought of by FOX).
 
ATLANTA

CBS ATLANTA (CBS 46 and Clear News previously)

MY ATL TV (WB 36 previously)

CW 69 (CW ATLANTA, UPN ATLANTA and UPN 69 previously)
 
KUAS-TV/v27 Tucson (PBS affiliate that simulcasts KUAT-TV/v6; only "6" is ever used, no mention of "27" at all)
 
Nexstar doesn't have any consistent policy that I can see.

WTVW is branded as Fox 7 despite being channel 8 on most cable systems.
WTWO was "Newschannel 2" for a number of years starting in the mid 90s. Then they became "Newschannel WTWO" around 2004. In 2010, they switched again to "NBC 2" to go along with a new news set.
WFXW has been "Fox 38" under all of its owners dating back to the big network shakeup of the 90s.
 
Raymie said:
Part of it is that Nexstar seems to dislike high channel number branding (KTAB 32, WUTR 20, WBRE 28...). Oh yeah, and their crazy webpages.
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As for KTAB, they've been KTAB going back before Nexstar owned the station - both KRBC/KACB and KTAB went by just call signs back in the early 90s. After KACB split from KRBC (operating as a separate station, rather than a satellite), KRBC starting branding the channel 9, and KACB (then KSAN) used the 3, but KTAB has always been KTAB - probably due to the fact that it was the only UHF station in that area of Texas.
 
DToTheJ said:
Tell that to WKMG in Orlando - the original "Local 6". ::)
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I KNEW that sounded familiar, but I couldn't remember which market.

I still want to see "Out-of-Town 6". Or another variation on a TV news slogan... "Local 6. Not On Your Side. Working Against You At Every Turn."

;)
 
nomadcowatbk said:
A lot of these are low rated former independent/Fox stations that took an old Big 3 network after Fox went to stronger VHF stations during the mid 90s. Many CW and MyNet don't refer to their channel numbers


KSHB "NBC Action News"
WFTS "ABC Action News"
(both Scrips stations that were Fox before the mid 90s affiliate switches)
WWJ "CBS Detroit"
WGCL "CBS Atlanta"
WFLD "Fox Chicago"
Click to expand...
Add these two.....

KTVD 20 9NEWS (Named after Big Brother KUSA 9)
WATL 36 11 Alive (Named after Big Brother WXIA 11)

Someone from the ATL can correct me on the latter ;D

Cheers :D
 
PTBoardOp94 said:
Nexstar doesn't have any consistent policy that I can see.

WTVW is branded as Fox 7 despite being channel 8 on most cable systems.
Click to expand...

(Edited to include a link that shows their short-lived logo)

There was a period after Nexstar acquired the station that they branded as "WTVW Newschannel 7" (with FOX is itty-bitty letters inside the leg of the 7). They quickly - and I mean within 6 or 8 months - went back to "Fox 7". At the time, I seem to recall rumors that Nexstar was interested in the market's CBS affiliate, WEVV-44. Which made me wonder (at the time) if they were thinking they could pull the CBS contract (for WTVW) by buying co-owning 44.
 
WPIX used the "11 Alive" branding in the 80's (I think it was the 80's).


Pat Cook said:
nomadcowatbk said:
A lot of these are low rated former independent/Fox stations that took an old Big 3 network after Fox went to stronger VHF stations during the mid 90s. Many CW and MyNet don't refer to their channel numbers


KSHB "NBC Action News"
WFTS "ABC Action News"
(both Scrips stations that were Fox before the mid 90s affiliate switches)
WWJ "CBS Detroit"
WGCL "CBS Atlanta"
WFLD "Fox Chicago"
Click to expand...
Add these two.....

KTVD 20 9NEWS (Named after Big Brother KUSA 9)
WATL 36 11 Alive (Named after Big Brother WXIA 11)

Someone from the ATL can correct me on the latter ;D

Cheers :D
Click to expand...
 
KTVD brands as "My20" except when they're carrying a KUSA newscast, don't they? "9NEWS" isn't a brand for KTVD, the station - it's a brand for the 9 PM newscast that KTVD carries from KUSA. Same thing for WATL, though WATL at least fits this category in general, since it brands as "MyATL" outside of news.
 
How about KOFY it does not refer itself by Channel number because Xfinity has it on 13 but OTA, Dish and Directv has it on 20.
 
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