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One sports event bumping another sports event to a different station?

Ultimajock

Ultimajock

...I'm asking this one because I distinctly recall an incident circa 1974 in which either a Divisional Playoff or World Series MLB game, then carried on NBC, was carried in Green Bay one Sunday afternoon not on the then-affiliate of NBC, WFRV/5, but on the then-affiliate of ABC, WLUK/11. I'm under the impression that NBC may have also had regional rights on the same afternoon to an NFL game in which an AFC team was hosting the Green Bay Packers, but I'm also questioning whether (a) NBC had the technology to feed two separate live programs to different stations in the same market in the 1970s, or (b) such a game wouldn't have also caused the baseball game to get bumped in Milwaukee (WTMJ-TV/4), Escanaba/Marquette (WJMN/3), Rhinelander (WAEO/12), Madison (WMTV/15) and Eau Claire (WEAU-TV/13)? Perhaps Bluenoser has the goods on that one...

...anyway, what other examples have there been over the years in which a sports event of some sort has led a network affiliate to bump another network-originated sports event over to a competing station (affiliate or independent)?...
 
I've cited this instance several times, but in the early to mid '70's, Birmingham's NBC affiliate WAPI-13 did not carry any of the late afternoon NFL package, forcing that package to be aired on CBS affiliates WCFT-33, WHMA-40 and WBMG-42 in Tuscaloosa, Anniston and Birmingham. This was done so that Channel 13 could carry the Bear Bryant Show (Alabama football highlights) from 4:00-5:00, then the Auburn Football Review with Shug Jordan from 5:00-6:00.
 
On October 13, 1984, Omaha's then CBS affiliate, WOWT 6, picked up NBC's coverage of the Cubs-Padres World Series for one day. KMTV 3 was the NBC affiliate, but KMTV was also Omaha's affiliate for syndicated Big 8 football games. The game this day? Missouri at Nebraska. So KMTV carried football and a special arrangement was made to carry the World Series on a rival station. KMTV and WOWT switched networks two years later in 1986.
 
Here in Charleston, this has been done sometimes. WCIV and WCBD, the NBC affiliates in Charleston, frequently preempted Notre Dame football games in the early and mid 90s in order to show ACC football.

The locals usually passed off the preempted games, that would have been joined JIP, to WTAT Fox 24. They had the #1 Florida State-#2 Notre Dame game in '93. In '91, they did JIPs of games. They stopped doing that after '97. After that, most Notre Dame games were JIP on WCBD.
 
During the NFL pre-season, some stations with pre-empt, tape delay, or move to another station the network preseason game for the local or regional team's preseason games.
 
On October 11, 1970, the NBC-TV Network aired Game 2 of the 1970 World Series between the Reds and Orioles from Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. This was shown locally by WLW-T, Channel 5 in Cincinnati, an NBC affiliate. As a result, the network did not carry any of the NFL games that began at 1 P.M. that afternoon. Curt Gowdy, Tony Kubeck and Jim McIntyre announced that game on NBC which was won by Baltimore 6-5.

With much interest in the Cincinnati Bengals-Cleveland Browns game that started at 1 P.M. that day, WCPO-TV, Channel 9 in Cincinnati, then a CBS affiliate, originated the telecast of that contest from Municipal Stadium in Cleveland with WCPO-TV Sports Director Jack Moran doing the play-by-play and former Browns' quarterback Otto Graham doing the color commentary. Cleveland won the game, 30-27.

I assume I was one of many in the area who had two TV sets in the room that afternoon; one tuned to the Reds-Orioles World Series game and the other on the Bengals-Browns contest.
 
spb said:
On October 13, 1984, Omaha's then CBS affiliate, WOWT 6, picked up NBC's coverage of the Cubs-Padres World Series for one day.
Click to expand...
That was a playoff game. Cubs in the World Series? Like that'll ever happen! ;D
Cincinnati Kid said:
I assume I was one of many in the area who had two TV sets in the room that afternoon; one tuned to the Reds-Orioles World Series game and the other on the Bengals-Browns contest.
Click to expand...
Interesting to note that those Browns eventually became the Baltimore Ravens, so in effect, two Cincinnati-Baltimore matchups that day! :eek:
 
A radio version of this, that I can recall, because I was working at the station at the time. The then- management of WDXN in Clarksville, Tennessee, decided to carry coverage of the 13-year-old Clarksville All-Stars playing in some baseball tournament in (I think) Athens, Georgia, instead of carrying the Atlanta Braves game scheduled for that day. And they simulcast the 13-year-old All-Stars coverage over our two (then) sister stations (WJZM and WTWL-FM), the latter of which had a transmitter site an hour away, and was thus barely listenable in Clarksville. So we had baseball being played in Georgia; it just wasn't the Braves. Needless to say, some listeners weren't too particularly happy about this.

Previous managment of WDXN actually decided not to carry a Braves game because it interfered with our afternoon drive-time! They changed their minds after some phone calls from irate listeners! :eek:
 
Well, it's not a sports event, but there's a local telethon in the Quad Cities that will air this Sunday on WQAD. Of course, it will run all day and cause the pre-emption of the NBA game to take place, so WBQD will air the game instead...
 
I remember one occasion (I think it was in December 1989) when
ABC was carrying a Duke basketball game and Charlotte affiliate
WSOC opted out, having already committed to the North Carolina-
South Carolina high-school all-star football game. Fox affiliate WCCB
stepped in and carried the Duke game; ironically, WCCB was the ABC
affiliate in Charlotte before the switch to WSOC in 1978.

A couple or so years later, the unthinkable happened in the Triad:
ACC basketball moved from WFMY, where it had aired since the '50s,
to WXII (seems the GM at WFMY at the time was from DC and wanted
to show Big East games), and one Sunday, WXII was locked into an
ACC game while NBC was carrying an AFC playoff game; WFMY carried
the football game despite being a CBS affiliate, probably the first time
the station had carried anything from NBC since WXII (then-WSJS) signed
on in 1953. Triad viewers were never happy with ACC basketball on Ch. 12,
and when the contract ran out, it returned to Ch. 2 (by that time with new
management) and has been there ever since.
 
spb said:
On October 13, 1984, Omaha's then CBS affiliate, WOWT 6, picked up NBC's coverage of the Cubs-Padres World Series for one day. KMTV 3 was the NBC affiliate, but KMTV was also Omaha's affiliate for syndicated Big 8 football games. The game this day? Missouri at Nebraska. So KMTV carried football and a special arrangement was made to carry the World Series on a rival station. KMTV and WOWT switched networks two years later in 1986.
Click to expand...

Correction: it was the Padres and Tigers in the 1984 World Series. Should have been the Cubs and Tigers, but the Cubbies blew the 2-0 NLCS series lead.
 
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