On 9/11 which cable networks changed their programming for that day only? In other words, some of the cable networks decided to co-air sister news channel programming instead of their own programming. Some even displayed messages asking viewers to tune into a news channel for information. Which cable networks did this, and what did they do on the air?
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On 9/11 which cable networks changed their programming for that day only?
- Thread starter tlyle
- Start date
tlyle said:
Anything associated with Viacom was running CBS News. I also recall the shopping channels had signed off with a statement expressing remorse for the victims of 9/11. Premium movie channels continued uninterrupted. The other cable networks often rebroadcast Headline News or CNN.
I recall our local Fox affiliate stayed with Judge Joe Brown for at least 30 minutes after the first plane crashed into the WTC. They jumped to Fox News finally. The independent stations in our market continued regular programming.
If you recall, there was also a conscious decision for children-oriented cable networks to stay with regular programming as a safe harbor for kids traumatized by the events.
Comcast Sports had a blank screen and maybe an advisory to tune into news. ESPN ran ABC news IIRC
CNN showed the entire day's events starting from when the first plane hit the tower,when that happened immediately Headline News switched over to CNN and covered it all there. MSNBC and CNBC immediately went to the Today Show where both stations carried it in its entirety and then when the Stock Market closed for the day whenever both towers fell,CNBC went into all news mode. Even QVC closed up for the day right about noon and showed a black screen for the rest of the day.
...below is an email I posted to several lists I'm on on the evening of 11 September 2001; it details some of the activity I was able to see over Dish Network that day...
+++++++++
I am sending this to various e-mail lists that I am on. I fully realise
that this subject matter is expressly off-topic for at least half of
these lists, but I have seen posts on all but one of them pertaining to
this morning's events, and the one that has been silent I happen to own.
I do hope all of my fellow list-owners and moderators will allow me this
indulgence considering the context.
One additional thing I would like to suggest is that each person reading
this message, to the best of their capabilities, print out this and all
other messages on their lists pertaining to today's events and present
the printouts to their community's nearest Historical Society as
documentation of the Internet's reach and capacity for immediate
communication. I collect recordings of news broadcasts from World War
Two, and occasionally play them on my radio shows. I have stated many
times, while introducing these broadcasts, how I would dearly love to
have heard the communication between common folks as these events were
going on. Today, we have this capacity, and I hope this will allow for
at least one tiny positive element to arise from the sheer blackness
this day has been indellibly stamped with.
As coincidence would have it, I had fallen asleep last night while
watching WPIX-TV in New York on my satellite TV system. I began waking
up around 7:30 Central Time, at which time I heard their screening of
Maury Povich's talk show. I briefly fell asleep, reawakening around
8:10, when I noticed there was no sound coming from the TV. I
immediately glanced over to the TV and saw DishNetwork's standard
character generator message stating that "the programming provider was
having technical difficulties." I switched at that time to KTLA in Los
Angeles (coincidentially, co-owned with WPIX by Tribune Broadcasting),
as I frequently watch their morning newscast.
The first image I saw was of the World Trade Center on fire, the image
being marked as coming from WPIX. My immediate thought was, "No wonder
11 is having technical difficulties." WPIX transmits on Channel 11 in
the local New York area, and IIRC, WPIX was one of the stations
transmitting from the WTC. In fact, I believe WPIX switched its "11"
logo some years back to purposely resemble the twin WTC towers (perhaps
a sudden redesign or outright dropping of channel reference is in the
works in the next few days?). I briefly switched back to WPIX, which was
still out, and then to the other New York area station I receive via
satellite, WWOR, which was also out (I suspect that WWOR, though
licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey, is also one of the stations
transmitting from the WTC.) I don't know this for a fact, but I think
DishNetwork also used the WTC as one of their uplink locations to send
signals from New York to its Denver technical operations center; as both
WWOR and WPIX have since reappeared on the system, DishNetwork has a
backup uplink in place elsewhere in NYC.
Then I switched back to KTLA, at which time I saw the footage run back
of the second plane crashing into the WTC. I immediately grabbed a blank
VHS tape and started recording the coverage. I stayed with it for a
while, then went to wake up my father who was asleep in another room and
turned on the TV in his room. I then went to the bathroom and showered
with Chicago news station WBBM on the radio; it was during the shower
that the first tower collapse came. I was back in frnt of the TV by the
time the second tower collapsed; in the same period I felt horror at the
event I was watching and annoyance that KTLA anchors Carlos Amezcua and
Emmett Miller weren't reacting to the collapse as it was happening. Then
Amezcua commented that we were seeing "videotape of the [first tower]
collapse from a different angle" a few seconds before realising that
what he was seeing was a _live_ picture from New York.
After a few more minutes, I switched to KCBS-TV, the Los Angeles local CBS
network outlet.
Leaving the VCR recording, I then left to go to the radio station I work for.
Ironically, the station has been off the air since Thursday morning after its
tower and transmitter were hit by lightning in a thunderstorm, but I suspected I
could do something useful if need be. As it turned out, calls were pouring in to
the station from organizations cancelling their events and churches notifying us
of hurriedly-scheduled prayer services. We also were getting calls from
listeners who were aware that we were off the air but still wanted to know if
we had any community news to pass along.
After a couple of hours, I came back home. I flipped around the
satellite system to see what the different networks were doing. Some,
like The Food Network, Shop At Home TV, The Do-It-Yourself Channel and
HGTV, shut down their programming completely. Home Shopping Network
switched over to coverage from the Canadian CBC network (which I'm
currently taping), while QVC repeated a simple appeal for viewer
assistance through the American Red Cross. (Crassly, some of the
shop-at-home channels continued running infomercials.) Some networks
switched to news coverage from their co-owned services -- TBS, TNT and
the various CNN specialty networks switched to CNN; Fox Movie Channel,
FX and the Fox Sports Net channels switched to Fox News; MTV, VH1, and
CMT switched to CBS; MSNBC, ShopNBC and CNBC simulcast NBC; ESPN was
running ABC. Among the other channels and networks, WSBK Boston (the
local UPN affiliate) was showing CBS, PAX was running CNN, ESPNews
continued its sports news programming but displayed a graphic in the
lower right of the screen telling viewers to tune to their local ABC
stations for coverage of the attack. Incredulously, such comedy-based
networks as Comedy Central, Cartoon Network, Boomerang and the
Nickelodeon channels were continuing to show cartoons and sitcoms, as
was The Hallmark Channel. In fact, Hallmark was running an old episode
of "Bewitched" on which, as I tuned in, Dick York could be heard
decrying something as being "a very bad idea" -- which is what I
considered the continued screening of that show on this afternoon to be.
Finally, I see on one of the collectors' lists that I'm on that some
sicko(s) took to eBay to try to auction off WTC memorabilia, including a
couple of subway signs from the WTC depot. To its apparent credit, eBay
appears to be removing these items as soon as they hear about them.
That's all from Chicagoland at this moment. More when events warrant.
+++++++++
I am sending this to various e-mail lists that I am on. I fully realise
that this subject matter is expressly off-topic for at least half of
these lists, but I have seen posts on all but one of them pertaining to
this morning's events, and the one that has been silent I happen to own.
I do hope all of my fellow list-owners and moderators will allow me this
indulgence considering the context.
One additional thing I would like to suggest is that each person reading
this message, to the best of their capabilities, print out this and all
other messages on their lists pertaining to today's events and present
the printouts to their community's nearest Historical Society as
documentation of the Internet's reach and capacity for immediate
communication. I collect recordings of news broadcasts from World War
Two, and occasionally play them on my radio shows. I have stated many
times, while introducing these broadcasts, how I would dearly love to
have heard the communication between common folks as these events were
going on. Today, we have this capacity, and I hope this will allow for
at least one tiny positive element to arise from the sheer blackness
this day has been indellibly stamped with.
As coincidence would have it, I had fallen asleep last night while
watching WPIX-TV in New York on my satellite TV system. I began waking
up around 7:30 Central Time, at which time I heard their screening of
Maury Povich's talk show. I briefly fell asleep, reawakening around
8:10, when I noticed there was no sound coming from the TV. I
immediately glanced over to the TV and saw DishNetwork's standard
character generator message stating that "the programming provider was
having technical difficulties." I switched at that time to KTLA in Los
Angeles (coincidentially, co-owned with WPIX by Tribune Broadcasting),
as I frequently watch their morning newscast.
The first image I saw was of the World Trade Center on fire, the image
being marked as coming from WPIX. My immediate thought was, "No wonder
11 is having technical difficulties." WPIX transmits on Channel 11 in
the local New York area, and IIRC, WPIX was one of the stations
transmitting from the WTC. In fact, I believe WPIX switched its "11"
logo some years back to purposely resemble the twin WTC towers (perhaps
a sudden redesign or outright dropping of channel reference is in the
works in the next few days?). I briefly switched back to WPIX, which was
still out, and then to the other New York area station I receive via
satellite, WWOR, which was also out (I suspect that WWOR, though
licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey, is also one of the stations
transmitting from the WTC.) I don't know this for a fact, but I think
DishNetwork also used the WTC as one of their uplink locations to send
signals from New York to its Denver technical operations center; as both
WWOR and WPIX have since reappeared on the system, DishNetwork has a
backup uplink in place elsewhere in NYC.
Then I switched back to KTLA, at which time I saw the footage run back
of the second plane crashing into the WTC. I immediately grabbed a blank
VHS tape and started recording the coverage. I stayed with it for a
while, then went to wake up my father who was asleep in another room and
turned on the TV in his room. I then went to the bathroom and showered
with Chicago news station WBBM on the radio; it was during the shower
that the first tower collapse came. I was back in frnt of the TV by the
time the second tower collapsed; in the same period I felt horror at the
event I was watching and annoyance that KTLA anchors Carlos Amezcua and
Emmett Miller weren't reacting to the collapse as it was happening. Then
Amezcua commented that we were seeing "videotape of the [first tower]
collapse from a different angle" a few seconds before realising that
what he was seeing was a _live_ picture from New York.
After a few more minutes, I switched to KCBS-TV, the Los Angeles local CBS
network outlet.
Leaving the VCR recording, I then left to go to the radio station I work for.
Ironically, the station has been off the air since Thursday morning after its
tower and transmitter were hit by lightning in a thunderstorm, but I suspected I
could do something useful if need be. As it turned out, calls were pouring in to
the station from organizations cancelling their events and churches notifying us
of hurriedly-scheduled prayer services. We also were getting calls from
listeners who were aware that we were off the air but still wanted to know if
we had any community news to pass along.
After a couple of hours, I came back home. I flipped around the
satellite system to see what the different networks were doing. Some,
like The Food Network, Shop At Home TV, The Do-It-Yourself Channel and
HGTV, shut down their programming completely. Home Shopping Network
switched over to coverage from the Canadian CBC network (which I'm
currently taping), while QVC repeated a simple appeal for viewer
assistance through the American Red Cross. (Crassly, some of the
shop-at-home channels continued running infomercials.) Some networks
switched to news coverage from their co-owned services -- TBS, TNT and
the various CNN specialty networks switched to CNN; Fox Movie Channel,
FX and the Fox Sports Net channels switched to Fox News; MTV, VH1, and
CMT switched to CBS; MSNBC, ShopNBC and CNBC simulcast NBC; ESPN was
running ABC. Among the other channels and networks, WSBK Boston (the
local UPN affiliate) was showing CBS, PAX was running CNN, ESPNews
continued its sports news programming but displayed a graphic in the
lower right of the screen telling viewers to tune to their local ABC
stations for coverage of the attack. Incredulously, such comedy-based
networks as Comedy Central, Cartoon Network, Boomerang and the
Nickelodeon channels were continuing to show cartoons and sitcoms, as
was The Hallmark Channel. In fact, Hallmark was running an old episode
of "Bewitched" on which, as I tuned in, Dick York could be heard
decrying something as being "a very bad idea" -- which is what I
considered the continued screening of that show on this afternoon to be.
Finally, I see on one of the collectors' lists that I'm on that some
sicko(s) took to eBay to try to auction off WTC memorabilia, including a
couple of subway signs from the WTC depot. To its apparent credit, eBay
appears to be removing these items as soon as they hear about them.
That's all from Chicagoland at this moment. More when events warrant.
B
Baldecki
Guest
One station that I was shocked didn't go off the air was The Weather Channel. I remember cause i was watching it and they never even mentioned the attacks or had a scroll or anything. I know they only talk about weather, but you think they would have suspended programming. Even the shopping networks did.
Shop-At-Home Network ran CNN Headline News. WSAH/43 the Summit America owned S@Home affilate in Bridgeport, CT went dark showing pictures of peace and god bless america and stuff like that.
PAX 26 New London, CT began simulcasting NBC 30 at around 12 Noon.
WB20 Watebury, CT simulcast sister station FOX 61 for a while. But I think one of them also showed Jenny Jones too. At 3PM the normal start time for Kids WB! something called The WB Network News Came on and I think it was being fed from WPIX.
UPN 59 New Haven, CT simulcast sister station WTNH/ABC News Channel 8, except for the overnight when they switched over to their regular Shop-at-Home Network feed, which was sitll running CNN Headline News.
Telemundo-13 Hartford, CT ran Telemundo's feed all night long instead of switching to Jewelry Television at 12AM. (So I have no idea what Jewelry Television was doing).
TLC was simulcasting BBC American.
One of the CSPAN Channels was simulcasting Washington's WUSA CBS 9.
The PBS affiliate CPTV also had a cable only service called CPTV2, but I'm unsure what they did. CPTV2 was also a partime station only on the air 8AM-4PM. (The rest of the time they'd show CT-N the CT Government channel).
PAX 26 New London, CT began simulcasting NBC 30 at around 12 Noon.
WB20 Watebury, CT simulcast sister station FOX 61 for a while. But I think one of them also showed Jenny Jones too. At 3PM the normal start time for Kids WB! something called The WB Network News Came on and I think it was being fed from WPIX.
UPN 59 New Haven, CT simulcast sister station WTNH/ABC News Channel 8, except for the overnight when they switched over to their regular Shop-at-Home Network feed, which was sitll running CNN Headline News.
Telemundo-13 Hartford, CT ran Telemundo's feed all night long instead of switching to Jewelry Television at 12AM. (So I have no idea what Jewelry Television was doing).
TLC was simulcasting BBC American.
One of the CSPAN Channels was simulcasting Washington's WUSA CBS 9.
The PBS affiliate CPTV also had a cable only service called CPTV2, but I'm unsure what they did. CPTV2 was also a partime station only on the air 8AM-4PM. (The rest of the time they'd show CT-N the CT Government channel).
JeeperOne
Banned
Hi everyone:
CNN Pipeline was showing the event as it happened from about 8:30 AM till 12 MIDNIGHT ET.
It'd be interesting to see what ABC News Now was showing when there weren't breaking news developments of the events yesterday. I'm only sorry I wasn't able to see.
As for programming on the Denver stations, since all the major events of 9/11 took place rather early, all the Denver stations were able to run much of their regular programming (including network programming) yesterday, leaving the minor developments to the cable news outlets. I suspect that sometime after 8:00 AM Denver time (Which was about the time the story of the crash of United Flight 93 in Shanksville, PA was confirmed) and after the ceremonies in Shanksville were over, there really wasn't much left for them to air.
And for the West Coast stations, it was even earlier (7:00 AM).
How did West Coast stations compensate for the breakaways the networks had to do for viewers on the East Coast when they (West Coast stations) ran the morning news shows?
Cheers
Pat
CNN Pipeline was showing the event as it happened from about 8:30 AM till 12 MIDNIGHT ET.
It'd be interesting to see what ABC News Now was showing when there weren't breaking news developments of the events yesterday. I'm only sorry I wasn't able to see.
As for programming on the Denver stations, since all the major events of 9/11 took place rather early, all the Denver stations were able to run much of their regular programming (including network programming) yesterday, leaving the minor developments to the cable news outlets. I suspect that sometime after 8:00 AM Denver time (Which was about the time the story of the crash of United Flight 93 in Shanksville, PA was confirmed) and after the ceremonies in Shanksville were over, there really wasn't much left for them to air.
And for the West Coast stations, it was even earlier (7:00 AM).
How did West Coast stations compensate for the breakaways the networks had to do for viewers on the East Coast when they (West Coast stations) ran the morning news shows?
Cheers
Pat
It was all pretty much one national feed around 6:15 or 6:30 on all the west coast stations.
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