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One Network Affiliate Picking Up Another's "Discards"

bpatrick said:
Oddly, fortmill, the only ABC affiliate in the I-85 corridor carrying
the network's news between 1968 and 1970 was WCCB/18 in
Charlotte. WGHP and WLOS began carrying it in 1970 (WLOS had
also dropped it after the switch from Jennings to Reynolds, and
WGHP had never carried it); WRAL and WQXI (WXIA) added it
in 1971.

Add WKAB-32 (now WNCF) in Montgomery -- the southern end of I-85. :)

--Russell
 
During the winter of 1976-77, WIIC in Pittsburgh [now WPXI] picked up CBS's "The Waltons" when KDKA-TV ran a ten-part documentary titled "Ten Who Dared", thus WIIC pre-empted whatever NBC Thursday at 8:00 entry aired.
 
Russell W. said:
bpatrick said:
Oddly, fortmill, the only ABC affiliate in the I-85 corridor carrying
the network's news between 1968 and 1970 was WCCB/18 in
Charlotte. WGHP and WLOS began carrying it in 1970 (WLOS had
also dropped it after the switch from Jennings to Reynolds, and
WGHP had never carried it); WRAL and WQXI (WXIA) added it
in 1971.

Add WKAB-32 (now WNCF) in Montgomery -- the southern end of I-85. :)

--Russell
If we're talking about the entire length of I-85, certainly WXEX-TV/8 (now WRIC) in Petersburg-Richmond never prempted ABC news or any other network program. The previous ABC affiliate WRVA-TV/12 (now WWBT) carried ABC News as well. The truth of the matter is that none of the Richmond-Petersburg stations cared enough about their local programing to even think about pre-empting any network programing during that era.
 
The I-85 corridor is generally considered by
people who study urban growth to be the
stretch between Raleigh/Durham and Atlanta,
which is now built up practically all the way
between the two metro areas (much as the
I-95 corridor is considered Boston-Washington,
or maybe now, Boston-Richmond). At least one
book, Pierce and Hagestrom's (sp?) "The
Book of America," throws in I-20 between
Atlanta and Birmingham as part of the "corridor."
As I think we all know, WBRC/6 was one of the last
two ABC affiliates to clear Smith and Reasoner,
starting August 7, 1972 (WJRT in Flint was the
other).

But if we're going to add Richmond and
Montgomery (and ABC News did air in those
markets when it didn't in Atlanta, Greenville,
Greensboro, or Raleigh), we could throw in
Columbus, GA, which is not actually on I-85
(I-185 connects it with LaGrange, GA), where
ABC News aired (and airs) on WTVM/9.
 
I've seen a Wasington DC listing from 1975 and also the ABC station down there picked up Gambit, Spin-Off and Musical Chairs from CBS.
Also, in late 1975 Detroit had an interesting situation when Edge Of Night switched from CBS to ABC where the ABC station channel 7 then an o&o dropped the You Don't Say revival to pick up Edge Of Night from the CBS feed where ABC would pick it up a few weeks later.

Another situation was in Milwaukee where when David Letterman debuted on CBS and the then CBS station channel 6 was still airing off net reruns so WCGV 24 picked it up at 11 after Chevy Chase and once CBS moved to WDJT 58 in late 1994 it was on the CBS station at the right time.
 
fortmill said:
Russell W. said:
bpatrick said:
Oddly, fortmill, the only ABC affiliate in the I-85 corridor carrying
the network's news between 1968 and 1970 was WCCB/18 in
Charlotte. WGHP and WLOS began carrying it in 1970 (WLOS had
also dropped it after the switch from Jennings to Reynolds, and
WGHP had never carried it); WRAL and WQXI (WXIA) added it
in 1971.

Add WKAB-32 (now WNCF) in Montgomery -- the southern end of I-85. :)

--Russell
If we're talking about the entire length of I-85, certainly WXEX-TV/8 (now WRIC) in Petersburg-Richmond never prempted ABC news or any other network program. The previous ABC affiliate WRVA-TV/12 (now WWBT) carried ABC News as well. The truth of the matter is that none of the Richmond-Petersburg stations cared enough about their local programing to even think about pre-empting any network programing during that era.

Very true with Richmond. Rare did they pre-empt anything network wise.

Actually for years Richmond may have had the least amount of local programming than most markets. I do know that was the case with their local news. Even as recently as the mid 80s, When it came to dinner time local news, strictly 6 to 6:30 and thats it on all three stations even though many, many far smaller markets had already started doing 90 minutes of local news. For the record, Charlottesville's WVIR was the first local Virginia station to launched a 5-6:30 newscast back in the early 90s and back then then they actually recieved some heat from other markets in the state for doing just that. Not really a surprise considering that in Virginia back then, many cities there did not even have a Sunday paper because of the "day of rest" thing. Even that holds true today in Harrisonburg and Winchester. I wonder if this "day of rest" was the reason why so few Virginia TV stations for years offered local news on Sundays?

Yes WTVR did had the own news at 7 after CBS News but I believe that was a newscast geared state-wide, not just Richmond since WTVR back then had rather large cable coverage area.

Even at Noon, WXEX aired network ( as did Hampton Roads' WVEC ) , and for a time WWBT did too. And this was back in the 80s.
 
When I lived in Norfolk (1966-68), we didn't have a lot of
pre-emptions either. I remember WTAR (now WTKR)/3 (CBS)
pre-empting daytime reruns of "Candid Camera" in favor of
Merv Griffin; WAVY/10 (NBC) pre-empting NBC's Saturday
newscast in favor of wrestling; and WVEC/13 (ABC) running
"Where The Action Is" at 8 AM because its kids' show "Bungles
And His Friends" started at 4:30. A little later Channel 13
pre-empted "Dateline: Hollywood," a talk show hosted first
by Joanna Barnes, then by Rona Barrett. That show made
history of sorts twice: it was Jayne Mansfield's last public
appearance before her death in an auto accident; and
Joanna got into a battle of words with Agnes Moorehead
(then playing Endora on "Bewitched") that got so heated
that ABC refused to air it. But we got "Divorce Court"
instead. However, none of the pre-empted shows was
picked up by another station. And I've already mentioned
that Channel 3 picked up Joey Bishop when 13 turned him down.

I also remember that, early in 1972, WXII/12 (NBC) in Winston-
Salem picked up daytime reruns of "Love, American Style," pre-empted
on WGHP/8 at 4 PM. By the fall, however, Channel 8 was carrying
it. And back about 1965, WFMY/2 (CBS) and WSPA/7 (CBS in
Spartanburg, SC) carried ABC's "Wide World Of Sports," pre-empted
on WGHP and WLOS, respectively.
 
One that stands out was in the 70s, when WANE-TV, the CBS affiliate, passed on "Good Times". It aired almost two weeks later on the NBC affiliate, WKJG, Saturday nights at 6:30pm.

When I worked at a CBS affiliate, we got a form from our network teletype machine that required us to notify them of our intent to clear each and every show.
 
[

Very true with Richmond. Rare did they pre-empt anything network wise.

Actually for years Richmond may have had the least amount of local programming than most markets. I do know that was the case with their local news. Even as recently as the mid 80s, When it came to dinner time local news, strictly 6 to 6:30 and thats it on all three stations even though many, many far smaller markets had already started doing 90 minutes of local news. For the record, Charlottesville's WVIR was the first local Virginia station to launched a 5-6:30 newscast back in the early 90s and back then then they actually recieved some heat from other markets in the state for doing just that. Not really a surprise considering that in Virginia back then, many cities there did not even have a Sunday paper because of the "day of rest" thing. Even that holds true today in Harrisonburg and Winchester. I wonder if this "day of rest" was the reason why so few Virginia TV stations for years offered local news on Sundays?

Yes WTVR did had the own news at 7 after CBS News but I believe that was a newscast geared state-wide, not just Richmond since WTVR back then had rather large cable coverage area.

Even at Noon, WXEX aired network ( as did Hampton Roads' WVEC ) , and for a time WWBT did too. And this was back in the 80s.


[/quote]

I don't think "the day of rest" had anything to do with a lack of news coverage or local programing on Richmond or Harrisonburg TV stations. In Richmond, WTVR was for many years the dominant station, because of its far superior signal. WRVA-TV, before Jefferson Standard bought them, broadcast at half power from a short tower. WXEX had a decent tower and full power but was located way south of Richmond--in a swamp. But WTVR was owned by Havens and Martin, a notoriously cheap company--not only did they spend NO money on news, but their local syndicated programing was rediculous--mainly repeats of Death Valley Days and Amos and Andy---even into the early 80s! Being bought by Roy Parks didn't help a bit. WXEX, and WRVA just followed along. Jeff Standard slowly made improvements in WWBT, but even they were nothing to write home about for many years. In the 70s and 80s, WWBT began to pre-empt MANY NBC programs. I believe this was more to thrart upstart WVIR in Charlottesville, who depended on WWBT to recieve their NBC programing (if it wasn't aired on WWBT, it couldn't be aired on WVIR either!) than to be competitve in Richmond. Regarding newspapers in Winchester and Harrisonburg (both owned by the notorious Byrd family) not publishing on Sunday---you have to remember both were small farming towns prior to the 80s, who were probably lucky to have a daily paper during the week. Meanwhile, the Washington Post had built a powerful presence in the area with home delivery and racks everywhere--this is still true to this day. Sorry to have more or less high-jacked this thread...
 
Stanislav said:
bpatrick said:
I know it can be confusing, and I wonder if WFTV was besieged
with callers wanting to know if the station had changed networks.
But, AFAIK, it's still perfectly legal...

Oh, sure, I know it's legal, but the point is that it is more often done by independents (like your WTOG example) -- it's more unusual for a station that is strongly identified with their network, and in competition with the others, to do so. I think in the WFTV example, if they had "borrowed" a show that wasn't blatantly branded as "NBC" in the title and graphics, there would have been little to no confusion. Sure, they'd still have to be careful to cover any NBC promos that might pop up, but at least viewers wouldn't have had "NBC" blatantly stuck in their faces at every break. :)
Then CBS affiliate, KXTV Channel 10 in Sacramento carried THE CBS LATE MOVIE from Mondays through Thursdays only and somehow decided not to pick up the FRIDAY NIGHT EDITION in favor of their own package of Late Movies. Then Independent KTXL Channel 40 picked up the FRIDAY CBS LATE MOVIES from 1974-76. In 1976, The FRIDAY EDITION of THE CBS LATE MOVIE moved back to KXTV but they decided to move it to Sunday Nights?
 
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