Retro: WTCG, Atlanta, May 16, 1978

[Hollykinkade]

Tuesday, May 16, 1978
5:50 a.m.-World At Large
6:10 a.m.-News
6:30 a.m.-Romper Room
7:00 a.m.-Three Stooges/Little Rascals
8:00 a.m.-Lassie
8:30 a.m.-Lucy Show
9:00 a.m.-Jim Nabors
10:00 a.m.-Movie-“Send Me No Flowers”
11:55 a.m.-News
12:00 p.m.-High Hopes
12:30 p.m.-Movie
2:25 p.m.-News
2:30 p.m.-I Love Lucy
3:00 p.m.-New Mickey Mouse Club
3:30 p.m.-Flintstones
4:00 p.m.-Addams Family
4:30 p.m.-Gilligan’s Island
5:00 p.m.-I Dream Of Jeannie
5:30 p.m.-Family Affair
6:00 p.m.-Andy Griffith
6:30 p.m.-My Three Sons
7:00 pm.-Gomer Pyle, USMC
7:30 p.m.-Hogan’s Heroes
8:00 p.m.-Baseball-Braves at Mets
10:30 p.m.-Wanted-Dead Or Alive
11:00 p.m.-Let’s Make A Deal
11:30 p.m.-Movie-“Back To Bataan”
1:30 a.m.-Baseball
4:00 a.m.-News
4:20 a.m.-Perry Mason

 

[4dude]

Looking at schedules like that makes ya sad...

What happend to the good days???


Thank you!!

 

[CTListener]

A check of Baseball Reference shows that the Braves-Mets game was rained out, so some movie or sitcom reruns must have been shown in its place. Likewise, the 1:30 replay never happened. The teams played a doubleheader on May 17.

 

[Hollykinkade]

This was a year before the station changed its call letters to WTBS.

 

[4dude]

Wow I didnt know they were this before that!!

Very interesting...

 

[wm2k19]

A check of Baseball Reference shows that the Braves-Mets game was rained out, so some movie or sitcom reruns must have been shown in its place. Likewise, the 1:30 replay never happened. The teams played a doubleheader on May 17.

In later years, TBS was known for playing a block of Andy Griffith reruns in place of rained out Braves games under the name "Rain Delay Theater".

The Andy Griffith Show was cited as Ted Turner's favorite show for how it turned around the financial fortunes of both WTCG/WTBS in Atlanta and his short lived ownership of WRET (now known as WCNC) channel 36 out of Charlotte, NC.

 

[Mediafrog+]

My cable system added WTCG in early April, 1978, just a few weeks prior to the listing in the OP. It was the first satellite delivered service on that system, and I was watching when it hit the lineup as the launch time had been widely publicized. The first program was the Braves at the San Francisco Giants. I recall being amazed at how good the video quality was.

At that time WTCG was pretty much a typical independent TV station, with lots of reruns, as well as the Braves. Mostly local Atlanta advertising which was also seen across the country. Programming usually had either a “17” or “Super 17” logo in the lower right corner.

This was a year before the station changed its call letters to WTBS.

Correct, the call change came in 1979 when the station fully embraced its branding and positioning as a national superstation.

The station’s original call was WJRJ:

History of UHF Television

uhfhistory.com

 

[CTListener]

In later years, TBS was known for playing a block of Andy Griffith reruns in place of rained out Braves games under the name "Rain Delay Theater".

The Andy Griffith Show was cited as Ted Turner's favorite show for how it turned around the financial fortunes of both WTCG/WTBS in Atlanta and his short lived ownership of WRET (now known as WCNC) channel 36 out of Charlotte, NC.

The "RET" in WRET stood for Ted's initials. His legal name was Robert Edward Turner.

 

[wm2k19]

The "RET" in WRET stood for Ted's initials. His legal name was Robert Edward Turner.

That is absolutely correct and his sale of that station to Westinghouse in 1978 is what led to CNN being created since he used the funds made from that sale, which was at the time the largest amount of money ever paid for a single TV station ($20 million) to start up CNN.

Turner got the station its NBC affiliation right before the sale (an affiliation WCNC still has to this day), Westinghouse changed the name to WPCQ which it was known as from 1979 until 1989, when it was changed to the current WCNC name in a much broader effort to revive sagging ratings and revenue at the station which included ramping up newscasts, not pre-empting NBC network programming as much as it had throughout the previous decade and the most significant part of the facelift which was to sign a long-term deal with NBC to build a newsgathering operation out of Charlotte called NBC News Channel that still exists to this day.

 

[IM42A]

a newsgathering operation out of Charlotte called NBC News Channel that still exists to this day.

Where is this still available? I have driven by WCNC's studios numerous times (not recently, though) and have seen their signage, but I haven't seen the show in quite a while.

 

[wm2k19]

The show that was filmed out of the NBC News Channel building (NBC Nightside) was cancelled way back in 1998, but the operation has still existed since then as a function to produce and run stories that air on the various NBC affiliates across the country during their local newscasts.

These are usually news pieces that would resonate on a more national scale, they are normally between five to fifteen minutes combined depending on length and number of stories for the day that are allotted on NBC affiliates' multiple hours of local news throughout each day devoted to these pieces that emanate out of NBC News Channel HQ in Charlotte; affiliates are usually mandated to carry them and insert them into the newscasts as they see fit.

It's not all that much different from how CBS stations are mandated to air select pieces from the CBSN streaming service/CBS News throughout the day on their local newscasts or how Fox affiliates are mandated to air select national pieces from Fox News on their newscasts.

 

[TexasTom]

Looking at schedules like that makes ya sad...

What happend to the good days???

So many things happened.

First was the rise of a multitude of basic cable networks that splintered the mass audience that made schedules like that viable. When the kids started watching Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, and Disney Channel instead of the cartoons on their local stations, that took away the audience for those morning and afternoon children's blocks. Then the local sports franchises moved their game packages from stations like this one to regional sports networks that could pay more because they collected affiliate fees from subscribers as well as selling ads. The movie packages disappeared when the same films were available on basic cable, pay cable, and via rental at your local video store. And while those late afternoon/early evening sitcom reruns still exist, that audience also became diluted when those shows started appearing on basic cable.

Add in the launch of multiple new broadcast networks, which meant that most of the former independent stations were now affiliated with Fox, the WB (later the CW), or UPN. And the few truly independent stations that were left were now competing now competing against six broadcast networks (along with all the cable channels) instead of just three. At the same time, ownership consolidation meant that these stations were increasingly part of duopolies in their local markets, and in turn those duopolies were part of much larger media companies. No longer were stations individually programmed to maximize audience and revenue, but were instead programmed to maximize corporate synergies.

And so it was that the traditional independent station was already looking like a sad shadow of what it had once been by the early 2000s. Around that time, something new came along, which was the Netflix DVD-by-mail service. Not initially much of a threat to anyone other than Blockbuster, that evolved into the first major streaming video-on-demand service, and that has proven to be catastrophic for all forms of "conventional" television -- whether broadcast affiliates, broadcast independent stations, or cable networks. Soon enough, the success of Netflix led to multiple competing streaming services. Why tune into a rerun of an old TV show or movie on your local station when you can watch the same show/movie at your convenience?

While it's a minor part of the overall saga, I'll also mention the rise and fall of home video. At the time of that schedule for WTCG, VCRs were in just a couple hundred thousand homes, but that would change in the eighties and add some complication to the TV business. Eventually, home video included not just VCRs, but also DVRs, various incarnations of videodisc players, and (briefly) videodisc recorders. The predicted impact of these technologies was expected to be huge, but in the overall scheme of things I think it ultimately proved to be pretty minor. But for the sake of being thorough, they are worth mentioning.

 

[IM42A]

Eventually, home video included not just VCRs, but also DVRs, various incarnations of videodisc players, and (briefly) videodisc recorders. The predicted impact of these technologies was expected to be huge, but in the overall scheme of things I think it ultimately proved to be pretty minor. But for the sake of being thorough, they are worth mentioning.

I have a Sony DVR that not only records onto DVD, but also has a digital tuner (as well as an analog one, not like that matters anymore). I got it at Goodwill for just a few dollars and it works flawlessly. Indeed, I didn't know it was a DVR until I read up on it and started fiddling around with it. It's a real unicorn.

 

[wm2k19]

So many things happened.

First was the rise of a multitude of basic cable networks that splintered the mass audience that made schedules like that viable. When the kids started watching Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, and Disney Channel instead of the cartoons on their local stations, that took away the audience for those morning and afternoon children's blocks. Then the local sports franchises moved their game packages from stations like this one to regional sports networks that could pay more because they collected affiliate fees from subscribers as well as selling ads. The movie packages disappeared when the same films were available on basic cable, pay cable, and via rental at your local video store. And while those late afternoon/early evening sitcom reruns still exist, that audience also became diluted when those shows started appearing on basic cable.

Add in the launch of multiple new broadcast networks, which meant that most of the former independent stations were now affiliated with Fox, the WB (later the CW), or UPN. And the few truly independent stations that were left were now competing now competing against six broadcast networks (along with all the cable channels) instead of just three. At the same time, ownership consolidation meant that these stations were increasingly part of duopolies in their local markets, and in turn those duopolies were part of much larger media companies. No longer were stations individually programmed to maximize audience and revenue, but were instead programmed to maximize corporate synergies.

And so it was that the traditional independent station was already looking like a sad shadow of what it had once been by the early 2000s. Around that time, something new came along, which was the Netflix DVD-by-mail service. Not initially much of a threat to anyone other than Blockbuster, that evolved into the first major streaming video-on-demand service, and that has proven to be catastrophic for all forms of "conventional" television -- whether broadcast affiliates, broadcast independent stations, or cable networks. Soon enough, the success of Netflix led to multiple competing streaming services. Why tune into a rerun of an old TV show or movie on your local station when you can watch the same show/movie at your convenience?

While it's a minor part of the overall saga, I'll also mention the rise and fall of home video. At the time of that schedule for WTCG, VCRs were in just a couple hundred thousand homes, but that would change in the eighties and add some complication to the TV business. Eventually, home video included not just VCRs, but also DVRs, various incarnations of videodisc players, and (briefly) videodisc recorders. The predicted impact of these technologies was expected to be huge, but in the overall scheme of things I think it ultimately proved to be pretty minor. But for the sake of being thorough, they are worth mentioning.

One surprising exception to the rule in regards to independent stations surviving into the 2020's is WFMZ 69 out of Allentown, PA.

They are the rarest of rarities in this day and age; an independent station when that is hard to find, a station owned by a local business rather than a corporate conglomerate that owns 30 to 50 other stations and it has a strong news department with a solid investigative journalism unit in a day and age when investigative journalism has rapidly eroded and faded away in local news.

They are the rare example where not being beholden to a network with their mandated agendas/edicts and a national corporate conglomerate with their mandated agendas/edicts has benefited them greatly and made them more trusted by their community.

 

[IM42A]

One surprising exception to the rule in regards to independent stations surviving into the 2020's is WFMZ 69 out of Allentown, PA.

They are the rarest of rarities in this day and age; an independent station when that is hard to find, a station owned by a local business rather than a corporate conglomerate that owns 30 to 50 other stations and it has a strong news department with a solid investigative journalism unit in a day and age when investigative journalism has rapidly eroded and faded away in local news.

They are the rare example where not being beholden to a network with their mandated agendas/edicts and a national corporate conglomerate with their mandated agendas/edicts has benefited them greatly and made them more trusted by their community.

One thing that WFMZ has on its side, is that it is based in a fairly large metropolitan area (Allentown) that is not its own TV market, in that it is wedged between Philadelphia and Scranton. I am assuming that their news tilts more toward that area, rather than trying to cover the entire Philadelphia market in competition with the major stations there.

I'm tempted to compare it with WDVM (ex-WHAG) in the Washington market, but there are some significant differences, (a) WHAG had been an NBC affiliate for the Hagerstown area, but NBC pulled their affiliation, leaving them high and dry, whereas WFMZ was never a major-network affiliate, (b) Hagerstown is not nearly as large as Allentown and the whole area is largely rural, and (c) while still licensed to Hagerstown, WDVM has sought to become a bona fide DC-area station, setting up shop in Washington proper, whereas WFMZ remains in Allentown.