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Places where General Hospital was pre-empted over the years

S

spencerkarter85

In Dayton, Ohio (home of Martin Sheen, The Ohio Players, Tommy James & The Shondells, and Heatwave) then-ABC affilate WDTN 2 pre-empted General Hospital (along with OLTL also until it was cleared in 2002) from 1980-2000 meaning Western Ohio viewers missed Luke & Laura's 1981 wedding unless watching it OTA from then-ABC WKRC 12 (later moved to WCPO 9) in Cincinnati, or WRTV 6 in Indianapolis, Indiana, or WTVN 6 (now WSYX) from Columbus, Ohio. Also, WKEF 22 passed on GH and OLTL when it was in its first stint as ABC until 1980.

Similar thing for then-ABC affiliate WVUE 8 (sadly FOX) in New Orleans, LA where they pre-empted the majority of ABC soaps including GH, OLTL, AMC, and others during the 1960s/1970s. AMC debuted in the 1970s, sadly AMC and OLTL gone.

Do you know other areas where General Hospital was pre-empted by a local ABC affiliate and/or picked up by an Independent in place of ABC?
 
22 WKEF was only a quasi ABC affiliate. They ran prime time programs and sports from ABC. They also ran ABC shows preempted by 12 WKRC TV which was the ABC affiliate from Cincinatti which had a grade A signal into Dayton and reached the area easily (being Dayton was only 45 miles from Cincinnati.). Plus Cable systems carried both sets of stations. WKEF ran like a conventional independent during the day with a mix of cartoons, sitcoms, and old movies. In 1980 they became a more conventional NBC affiliate and 2 WDTN took ABC affiliation running not just prime time and sports but also Good Morning America, any show from ABC not on WKRC TV, Daytime morning ABC shows, Saturday and Sunday Cartoons. They basically continued to preempt One Life To Live and General Hospital. They picked up a few cartoons and sitcoms to run in afternoon time slots. WKRC was still on cable so ABC viewers could see ABC shows there plus as said before Cincinnati stations reached Dayton easily. Eventually cartoons and sitcoms on WDTN would make way for Oprah and other talk shows. At some point WDTN ran One Life To Live in the early 90's only for it to be gone again in the mid 90's. WCPO took ABC affiliation in 1996 with a minimal preemption agreement as CBS went to WKRC TV. WDTN continued preempting One Life To Live and General Hospital. In 2000, WCPO was removed from Dayton's largest cable system. General Hospital was added that Fall. In 2002, One Life To Live was added. Then 2 years later WDTN returned to NBC in 2004.
 
In the Burlington/Plattsburgh market, WVNY 22 spiked GH in the 80s and up until 1995 in favor of cartoons. Anyone wanting to view GH had to pick up CFCF Montreal on either cable or antenna.
 
Bluenoser said:
In the Burlington/Plattsburgh market, WVNY 22 spiked GH in the 80s and up until 1995 in favor of cartoons. Anyone wanting to view GH had to pick up CFCF Montreal on either cable or antenna.
Click to expand...

I think it was their intention -- as many viewers in the region could get CFCF over-the-air and on cable, as well as to avoid simsubs for cable viewers in Montreal, WVNY purposedly pre-empted General Hospital. This way, they could still get viewers in Montreal without having to be blocked by CFCF.
 
Not pre-empted but on delay in the mornings: WTVQ Lexington, KY,
until "GH" either went to an hour or became daytime's top-rated soap.

WXIA briefly tried delaying "GH" to 9:30 AM the following day in the fall
of 1978 and putting kids' shows at 3. Didn't work; "GH" returned to 3 PM
in January 1979. However, "GH" was one of the first ABC shows 11 Alive
handed off to WSB in August 1980, which may have been because the new
NBC soap "Texas" debuted at 3 PM August 4, 1980; WSB became an ABC
affiliate four weeks later, so it wouldn't have made sense for "Texas" to
air on Channel 2 for four weeks, then move. So "Texas" was on 11 from
day one.
 
Also in Boston in the late 1960s, then-ABC (now NBC WHDH) WNAC 7 delayed GH on day-behing (via B&W kinescope) in the mornings, also on then-Group W/ABC WJZ 13 (now CBS O&O) in Baltimore did the same thing too around 1968, I don't know if it's videotaped or B&W kinescoped.
 
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