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Retro Low Budget UHF stations

Based on the first video it looks like they were higher budget than another Channel 62, WGPR in Detroit. Pre-CBS I've only seen clips from the late 70s but I've heard they used art cards and a 1970s-era character generator in the early 1990s.

Either way, either Channel 62 could have been a candidate for sale to George Newman.
 
Another example of a low-budget UHFer is WOPC, Ch. 38 in Altoona, PA, back in the 1970's. That station was owned by only one person, and was an ABC affiliate that also carried low-budget
cartoons and movies, as well as religious shows(e.g., The 700 Club) for its non-network slate.
It's owner used mostly old and used equipment to operate the station, which also had no local
programs at all.
 
RyanHoward said:
Another example of a low-budget UHFer is WOPC, Ch. 38 in Altoona, PA, back in the 1970's. That station was owned by only one person, and was an ABC affiliate that also carried low-budget
cartoons and movies, as well as religious shows(e.g., The 700 Club) for its non-network slate.
It's owner used mostly old and used equipment to operate the station, which also had no local
programs at all.
Click to expand...

Just down the road in Johnstown was WFAT (19). When I lived there in 85-6 they had a primetime lineup of 60s reruns (like I Dream of Jeannie) and an ID slide with the slogan: "We're Fat!"
 
OldNumber7 said:
Just down the road in Johnstown was WFAT (19). When I lived there in 85-6 they had a primetime lineup of 60s reruns (like I Dream of Jeannie) and an ID slide with the slogan: "We're Fat!"
Click to expand...

According to the old retro listings here, back when they were WJNL-TV, the station was practically on the air during prime-time only, signing on with Walter Cronkite at 6:30Pm, then an hour of cheap syndicated shows at 7PM, then CBS prime time, then signoff at 11PM after the cast prime-time show. Merging the Johnstown market into Altoona, CBS taking away channel 19's affiliation (as a result, making WTAJ the sole affiliate) and later, the sign-on of WWCP on channel 8 practically did the station in by 1991, when they ceased operations as WPTJ.

The station's reversal of fortune did not come until it became a WB affiliate in 1995, then later, a CW station for Pittsburgh.
 
I've mentioned this station in several other threads, but WJAN-17 in Canton, Ohio from 1967-77, could definitely be considered "low budget"..

First weeks' sign on was about 4:30-10:30 Monday-Friday..No weekends at first..At one time on Sundays they were on 8:25AM only to sign off at 1:30 PM..

Most movies were really old Black and white ones before 1950..They didnt go color really till probably 1970 or later..Syndicated network shows at first were very much forgotten ones for the most part, until 74-75 when they had a package of Revue Universal shows such as Dragnet, The Bold Ones, Emergency and The Virginian..

The few syndicated talk shows were second/third tier..Local news was very much done on the cheap..

The station owner, Theatrical Equipment manufacturer Janson Industries of Canton just didnt have the capital to really run the station right in the long run..
 
Anyone recall how WCPT in Crossville, Tennessee was? That station lasted from 1977 to 1982, though today's CW station, WBXX, uses the same license as WCPT.
 
...brought them up before, and I'll do it here -- KFIZ-TV/34 Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Most of its life it subsisted on American International drive-in movies constantly rerun in all manner of packaging (Shock Theater, Sci-Fi Theater, Bikini Theater), sporting events picked up OTA from WTMJ-TV/4 and WVTV/18 Milwaukee, Sesame Street and The Electric Company picked up OTA from WMVS/10 Milwaukee and WHA-TV/21 Madison, Larry Harmon and Mr. Magoo cartoons, AWA All-Star Wrestling, Roller Game of the Week, Kup's Show and the CBS version of The Merv Griffin Show (both also OTA from WVTV), a daytime talk show co-hosted by a columnist from the co-owned Fond du Lac Commonwealth Reporter newspaper and a disc jockey from co-owned KFIZ Radio, the Saturday local half-hour agricultural talk show RFD 34, and The Avengers (which American International was syndicating at the time). By the final year of their existence, 1972, they managed to score a few of the better syndicated reruns of network film series (Dragnet, I Love Lucy, Hogan's Heroes, Make Room for Daddy) and local high school and college sports. But the company owning KFIZ Radio, KFIZ-TV and the Commonwealth Reporter decided to bail out of the media business in Eastern Wisconsin in '72, and while there were buyers for the radio station and newspapers, they couldn't find a buyer for Channel 34. They couldn't even interest Gaylord into buying 34 to be a 100% satellite of WVTV. In November the station folded and the license was turned back to the FCC...
 
I believe WNYE/25 - a public broadcasting station - in New York City would qualify. They were off the air quite often (off times even being listed in TV Guide as "intermittently off the air"). Today, they're owned by the City of New York but air different programming. In fact, they may have been owned by the City back when they were a PBS-oriented station based in Brooklyn, I'm not sure.
 
DToTheJ said:
I believe WNYE/25 - a public broadcasting station - in New York City would qualify. They were off the air quite often (off times even being listed in TV Guide as "intermittently off the air"). Today, they're owned by the City of New York but air different programming. In fact, they may have been owned by the City back when they were a PBS-oriented station based in Brooklyn, I'm not sure.
Click to expand...

Until about a decade ago, WNYE/25 was actually owned by the city's Board of Education (predecessor to today's Department of Education).
 
OldNumber7 said:
RyanHoward said:
Another example of a low-budget UHFer is WOPC, Ch. 38 in Altoona, PA, back in the 1970's. That station was owned by only one person, and was an ABC affiliate that also carried low-budget
cartoons and movies, as well as religious shows(e.g., The 700 Club) for its non-network slate.
It's owner used mostly old and used equipment to operate the station, which also had no local
programs at all.
Click to expand...

Just down the road in Johnstown was WFAT (19). When I lived there in 85-6 they had a primetime lineup of 60s reruns (like I Dream of Jeannie) and an ID slide with the slogan: "We're Fat!"
Click to expand...


ahh, yes....WFAT put a killer signal into the place where I was living in Pittsburgh.
I used to prefer their prime-time lineup of The Beverly Hillbillies and Hawaii Five-O to most
of what else was on. Really cheesy production values though. I think the station ID tagline
was "We're FATtening up our programming for you!"
 
Re: Retro Low Budget UHF stations - WRIP/WDSI 1974 until 1983

One of the hugest low budget operations was Channel 61 in Chattenooga, Tennessee. They had a very promising start in 1972 with a 12 hour a day schedule of movies from the 30's to the 50's along with Bugs Bunny, Popeye, Little Rascals, and Three Stooges shorts in the 3 to 5 PM weekday time slot with only a couple hours of religion Sunday Mornings. Soon they expand to much of the day with a morning lock of cartoon and comedy shorts mentioned, more movies in between 9 AM and 3 PM, back to the theatrical shorts till 5, and movies after.

By the middle of 1973, the station hits hard times, and cuts back its schedule again, adds a few low budget syndicated shows, and more religion Sunday mornings. The station gives up and goes up for sale. Its sold soon after. At that point, they do not renew the movies, which gradually fall off by 1975. They also begin selling huge blocks of time to nearby churches and national syndicated shows like the 700 Club and PTL Club. By 1976 the station is on about 15 hours a day with syndicated religion about 5 hours a day, local religion another 6 hours a day or so, and very low budget syndicated shows about 3 hours a day. Sundays were all religious and Saturdays had a bit more secular shows. By 1978 the weekday schedule was just about half syndicated religion and half local religion and only an hour of secular shows. By then they had no commercials. They made all their money through selling blocks of time. Unsold time which was not much had the very cheap secular shows. By the summer of 1981, they had virtually no entertainment programming on weekdays or sundays.

The fall of 1981, WRIP added an hour of cartoons and a couple hours aof more desirable sitcoms in the late afternoon. In the fall of 1982, most of the local religion was gone, the syndicated religion remained, and the station had about 3 hours of cartoons a day, some old sitcoms, and a couple drama shows. Early in 1983, WRIP was sold, calls were changed to WDSI, religion remained in the 9 AM to Noon slot and SUnday mornings. Entertainment programming gradually got stronger adding newer cartoons and more recent sitcoms and movies. . By 1985 they were a conventional independent with strong programming. They got Fox in 1986. Ever since they have been typical small market Fox affilliated independent changing with the times. So today they are like any UHF Fox Affiliate. Today they have moderate amounts of news, plenty of talk and reality shows, some 90's and 2000's sitcoms, Fox programs, etc.
 
Lkeller said:
Here's a sample of the local newscast on KFTY Channel 50 in Santa Rosa, CA - circa 1972. Actually, you have to give them credit for even attempting to produce local news on a low budget UHF.

Anchor Stan Atkinson went on to a distinguished career in Sacramento, and retired a couple of years ago.
Click to expand...

That kid doing sports went on to bigger and better things as well.
 
"That kid doing sports went on to bigger and better things as well."

Amd they'd be well advised to bring him back to ESPN, IMHO...no disrespect to the current crew, but he added class to the national broadcasts. Oh, well, he gets to call all the games of the defending World Series champs....
 
Bob1370 said:
"That kid doing sports went on to bigger and better things as well."

Amd they'd be well advised to bring him back to ESPN, IMHO...no disrespect to the current crew, but he added class to the national broadcasts. Oh, well, he gets to call all the games of the defending World Series champs....
Click to expand...

He was offered the ESPN Radio gig but turned it down, saying he was tired of the excess travel, and not being comfortable with having to deal in production meetings with the crew that replaced him. And he sounds even better doing Giants games than he did on ESPN (of course, not having Joe Morgan as his broadcast partner helps).
 
WKYH Hazard, KY definitively falls into this category. Long time mayor Bill Gorman signed the station on the air as a response to the CBS News special report on the plight of Appalachia. He believed the special presented an unfair representation.

Channel 57 signed on in 1968 and was a bare bone operation with used equipment but for Southeastern Kentucky it was a regional voice. The closest stations were Lexington, Tri-Cities, TN, Knoxville and Huntingon/Charleston. They were an affiliate with NBC and received their network feed via WCYB Bristol or WLEX Lexington. Network delivery evolved to satellite in their final years.

Gorman sold the station in 1985 to Kentucky Central television, owner of WKYT Lexington. Their built the station from the ground up and changed the call letters to WYMT (We're Your Mountain Television) and changed affiliation to CBS.

Don Mussell caught the final days of WKYH around Labor Day 1985. The defects are probably as they aired and not the fault of the home video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Y82yOv9NQE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjP03VjsmwM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSYx_zcxWNE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HHTuLrTTh0

A final note. Yes, this is bad but WKYH did have cable coverage and for years was the only station for this region that had Kentucky news. They don't receive the highest grades for production but an "A" for serving the community.
 
azumanga said:
Anyone recall how WCPT in Crossville, Tennessee was? That station lasted from 1977 to 1982, though today's CW station, WBXX, uses the same license as WCPT.
Click to expand...

That station was also known as WINT from 1982 to about 1991. Anyone remember what shows
aired on WINT?
 
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