RELIGIOUS STATIONS THAT ALSO CARRIED MANY REGULAR PROGRAMS

[azumanga]

Didn't Pat Robertson only agree to sell to Fox on the condition that they carry "The 700 Club"?

As far as I know, yes -- along with its annual telethon and maybe a couple other CBN programs. In addition, the contract also called for the word "family" to remain part of its name, whether or not it changes its format. The restrictions remained when Fox sold Fox Family to Disney, becoming ABC Family.

 

[Marckd]

Yes Family Channel when sold to Fox and again to Disney/ABC had to keep triple runs of 700 Club.

Now about 61 WRIP/WDSI - Technically they were not a religious station. They were technically a low budget independent. They started out with an ambitious Movie format but when financially failing in 1973 they were sold to an owner that needed to turn a profit so they opted to offer blocks of time for sale so they sold the time to anyone that could buy it. It just happened to be religious groups that bought most of the time. By 1979 WRIP TV was selling all but an hour a day to outside sources, nearly all religious. Their secualr shows were ultra low budget.

Finally in September of 1981, WRIP began adding several hours a day of barter shows and a few low priced syndicated shows. They went from an hour a day of secular shows to 3 hours a day of them. By early 1982 they were up to 6 hours a day of entertainment as they acquired movies, more sitcoms, and some drama shows. By the SUmmer of 1982 they ran about 10 hours a day of entertainment and 10 hours a day of bought time which was still nearly all religion. Then the station was sold in january of 1983 and renamed WDSI and went to about 15 hours of entertainment and 6 hours a day of religion.

By 1985 they were down to only a couple hours a day of religion and by 1986 all but a couple hours a day of religion was gone. WDSI wound up a typical Fox affiliate which they are today.

WPCB 40 Pittsburgh ran hardly any secular shows. If they did so it had to have been before 1983 maybe. Now in Greenville SC, 16 WGGS had secular shows about 5 hours a day with religion occupying 10 hours a day. By 1980 when WGGS was 24 hours they ran religion till 7 AM, secular 7-830 AM; religion 830 AM to 1 PM, Secular 1-7 PM, and religion the rest of the night. From 1982 to 1986 the secular shows gradually fell off the schedule and by 1987 WGGS was religious all but one hour a day. They remained like this until 1990 when they picked up an hour of cartoons a day from 2-4 PM; By 1993, WGGS was secular 3 to 6 PM weekdays with a syndicated Disney cartoon (that was no longer part of Disney Afternoon), some syndicated barter Hanna Barbara cartoons, Wonder Years, Gilligan's Island, and Ozzie & harriet. Then as Channel 40 WFBC seperated from WLOS in 1996 and 62 WASV came on as a UPN/WB independent in 1997, WGGS moved back to a nearly all Christian format by 1999. Their DT-2 runs Secualr shows about 1/3 of the time, mostly public domain stuff.

Carolina Christian's sister stations in Columbia SC and Myrtle Beach ran Secualr shows a third of the time. WCCT 57 was sold to a secular owner in 1987 and became a Fox Independent station. WGSE Myrtle Beach remained 1/3 secular and 2/3 Christian until 1990, when they went nearly all secular under Carolina Christian TV. In 1990 they ran Niteline at 5 AM, 700 Club at 6,a nd then Secular shows all day till 10 PM when they ran Niteline and then at 11 PM back to secular shows again. The secular shows by 1991 were all barter including cartoons, some sitcoms, some game shows, court shows, and talk shows. WGSE became a WB affiliated indie in 1995 and in 1998 they were sold to a secular owner and are now a Fox affiliate. It seemed wierd that in 1990 Carolina Christian had a nearly all Christian station in Greenville SC while in Myrtle Beach had a nearly all secular station. These stations were polar opposites of each other. Carolina Christian also launched another station in Columbia SC in 1996 which took both UPN and WB programming, and barter syndicated shows. That station was religious about 5 hours a day. They too have since been sold and I believe they are a CW station today.

 

[bpatrick]

Is it true that when Pat Robertson sold The Family Channel to Fox,
"The 700 Club" had to remain on the schedule, and that that condition
also applied when Fox sold the channel to ABC? Is it not also true that
a lot of advertisers avoid ABC Family simply because "The 700 Club" is there?
Somebody straighten me out on this.

As for WGGS I was gone from Greenville by 1996 and don't remember the
changeover to a better mix of secular/religious programs. I remember in
the '80s it was virtually all religious; I remember Peggy Denny's talk show
and "Beverly Exercise," but that's about it as far as secular programming.

WRIP/WDSI, OTOH, seemed to be a station in search of an identity before
becoming a Fox affiliate. My Atlanta retros from the '70s are illustrative of
exactly what you are saying: a station that morphed from virtually all movies
(the same three or four repeated throughout the day) to virtually all religion.
Ch. 61 was taken out of the Atlanta edition of TV Guide for a time in the early
'80s although it was listed after it joined Fox.

WHKY also had some really old stuff when it first went on in 1968; I remember
"It's A Great Life" (originally aired on NBC, 1954-56) and "My Hero" (Bob Cummings'
first sitcom, from '52) as staples on that station at the time.

 

[gregg75]

WGGS is a sister station to WATC 57 in Atlanta. Looking at their schedule (16.2) appears to be
somewhat better than 57.2. WGGS is getting more programs from Luken's My Family TV
while 57 is not (because 32.6 has them now). http://www.wggs16.com/162schedule.php

 

[Marckd]

Yes the sale of Fox Family Channel to ABC continued to have a manditory running of teh 700 club 3 times a day. WGGS evolved to a nearly all Christian lineup by 1986. Still the secualr shows they ran weekdays were New Zoo Revue, Beverly Exercise, and Peggy Denny. In 1988 they added Dricks Follies weekdays which was a mix of public domain cartoons and film shorts for 30 minutes a day. In 1992 they added Ducktales running 2 hours a day spread out of secualr shows. In 1993, they added Scooby Doo, Yogi and Friends, Flintstones, and Jetsons to the lineup. They also added Wonder years and Ozzie & Harriet in the 5 PM slot. So they were running 3 hours of secular shows plus Beverly Exercise & Peggy Denny earlier in the day. In 1996, they backed away again and was down to 2 hours a day of secular shows when the cartoons went to WFBC 40. By 1998, WGGS was back to a nearly all Christian format.

They ran about 7 hours a day of secular shows Saturday morning from 7 AM to about 2 PM. These consisted of wildlife shows, hunting shows, sporting shows, fishing shows, and other outdoor type programming. They moved away from that in the alte 90's.

 

[Markd]

I have a 1984 Atlanta TV Guide from July and WDSI 61 was back in that edition. So they were likely off TV Guide by 1981 and back in by early in 1984. Ironically, as soon as Atlanta TV Guide dropped WRIP TV, the station gradually began to get better programming. I hear they began a couple hours of cartoons in the afternoon plus a couple old sitcoms from MCA TV late in 1981. They added a couple things from Paramount and some movies early in 1982 and expanded to about 8 hours a day of secular shows. A schedule you posted from Carolina/Tennessee had WDSI back in the late summer of 1982 and by then they were secular about half the time adding some more movies and drama shows with kid shows down to an hour. My guess is they added more cartoons in the fall of 1982. I know they were sold and became WDSI early in 1983. By the fall of 1983 they had a respectable schedule. In the 1984 edition of TV Guide the station had older cartoons 7-9, religion 9-1 PM, a couple old sitcoms 1-2 PM, a mix of new and old cartoons 2-5 PM, drama shows and some old sitcoms 5-8 PM, old old movie at 8, and a mix of drama shows and first run stuff late night. So the station remained fairly low budget even in 1984 as WDSI. But they had come a long way from the summer of 1981. Today there is no trace of WRIP TV. I doubt anyone working there today was there during their WRIP days. My theory is their longest working employee probably arrived in the late 80's (and they may have crossed paths with the people there in the 70's). So its tough to trace the early days of that station except through old listings.

As for WGGS 16 Greenville SC, my guess is a handful of people there today have been there since their early days. I hear that station has had very low turnover.

 

[mjlarochelle]

CTS, the so-called religious network in Southern Ontario and Alberta (CITS Hamilton/London/Ottawa, CKCS Calgary, and CKES Edmonton), has a lot of non-religious programming. Last time I watched it, they were airing reruns of Happy Days and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. They also run some public affairs programming, although some of it is of a religious-leaning nature.

 

[azumanga]

CTS, the so-called religious network in Southern Ontario and Alberta (CITS Hamilton/London/Ottawa, CKCS Calgary, and CKES Edmonton), has a lot of non-religious programming. Last time I watched it, they were airing reruns of Happy Days and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. They also run some public affairs programming, although some of it is of a religious-leaning nature.

Isn't FamilyNet the same thing? Last time I checked, they had some religious shows along with regular programs mixed in.

 

[mjlarochelle]

CTS, the so-called religious network in Southern Ontario and Alberta (CITS Hamilton/London/Ottawa, CKCS Calgary, and CKES Edmonton), has a lot of non-religious programming. Last time I watched it, they were airing reruns of Happy Days and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. They also run some public affairs programming, although some of it is of a religious-leaning nature.

Isn't FamilyNet the same thing? Last time I checked, they had some religious shows along with regular programs mixed in.

Same with Canada's Vision TV, which has been on the air since 1988. It has aired various non-religious programs throughout its history; I remember it had a bunch of British comedies back in the early 2000s.

 

[anotherguyTN]

CTS, the so-called religious network in Southern Ontario and Alberta (CITS Hamilton/London/Ottawa, CKCS Calgary, and CKES Edmonton), has a lot of non-religious programming. Last time I watched it, they were airing reruns of Happy Days and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. They also run some public affairs programming, although some of it is of a religious-leaning nature.

Isn't FamilyNet the same thing? Last time I checked, they had some religious shows along with regular programs mixed in.

INSP and GMC would count now as well.

 

[Ultimajock]

...KXTX/39 Dallas, under CBN/Pat Robertson ownership, carried dozens of off-network reruns as well as being the production center for the syndicated version of Fritz Von Erich's World Class Championship Wrestling (the version of WCCW that was seen on KTVT/11 Fort Worth was a largely local affair). And I'm fairly sure that, in the mid-1980s, WVCY-TV/30 Milwaukee wasn't the only religious-based station to run half hours of CNN Headline News...

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

I'm fairly sure that, in the mid-1980s, WVCY-TV/30 Milwaukee wasn't the only religious-based station to run half hours of CNN Headline News...

And you're fairly right-- I don't remember which religious-oriented affilliate carried it, but CNN Headline News ran, seemingly as filler, on the Cable outfit servicing Roswell NM in the '80s.

 

[Marckd]

KXTX 39 Dallas was mostly a general entertainment station under Pat Robertson's CBN. It signed on Channel 33 in early 1973 with religious shows about 6 hours a day and secular low budget shows 2 hours a day. Channel 39 where KXTX is still located in some way shape and form began as a conventional low budget entertainment station owned by DOubleday. They were on about 8 hours a day. Doubleday decided after 5 years of losing money to go dark but they donated the Channel 39 license to CBN along with its programming inventory.

CBN then turned off Channel 33, put it up for sale excluding programming, moved the KXTX intellectual unit to Channel 39, combined programming assets and made a strong indepenent station broadcasting about 15 hours a day and eventually by 1974 the full broadcast day.

They were not as strong as KTVT but close behind and on most cable systems in Texas along with KTVT. KXTX remained a strong station until the 1980's. When Grant Broadcasting signed on part time indie 21 KTXA, Channel 39 began to weaken slightly. By 1983, KTXA surpassed KXTX by getting strong shows that fell off network affiliates that no longer had room for them. Also as KTVT did not renew some older shows, KTXA picked them up. In 1984, 33 KNBN (which went back on the air as a business news channel by day and Spanish by night in the mid 70's) was sold to metromedia and also became a general interest station with mostly gane shows and drama shows. By 1986 that station too got stronger sitcoms and cartoons and KXTX began to move away from sitcoms and cartoons. By 1990 another player KDFI came around and by then CBN lost interest in running KXTX, which resorted to paid programming, westerns, dramas, and religious shows.