OTA: The Thrill is Gone (July 23, 2010)
From San Diego Radio News
http://www.sandiegoradionews.com/
It's a good thing there's broadband Internet cable so we can catch some of the network programming some of our local (depending on what city you live in) affilliates may pass on.
If you miss an episode of, say, a prime time episode, a soap opera (or 'my stories' as your elderly mother may put it), a network, late night talk show, etc., you can look them up on the network's websites the day after they're broadcast and watch most of them for a limited time.
That's because over the air TV in 2010 isn't the same as TV was back in 1960s through 2009.
I'm not talking about the quality of the shows this time around, which is another long subject, but it's the availability of the local and nearby distant signals we once could get on analog or cable television in the 60s and 70s.
Back in the day, we had it made, as long as you lived in an area where you could get at least two of each of the network affilliates and/or owned and operated stations. If you were lucky in the San Diego area, you could get the local CBS affilliate channel 8, the local NBC affilliate on channel 10 through mid-1977 and channel 39 afterwards, and the local ABC affilliate on channel 6 through mid-1973, then channel 39 through mid-1977, then channel 10 afterwards. On cable, you could get all of them on 3 (for 39), 6, 8, and 10.
Also back in the day, with an antenna, you could get some or all of the major Los Angeles network stations. CBS channel 2, NBC channel 4, and ABC channel 7. If you were lucky enough, your cable system carried all of them on your system in the 60s and 70s, though network programming that appearred at the same time as the San Diego affilliates were blacked out per request to protect the local affilliates. If you were really lucky, you could have gotten another ABC affilliate, channel 3, from Santa Barbara.
Many times, the local stations replaced the network programming with syndicated movie packages, off network reruns, news, special movie presentations, local kid shows, paid religious programs, and public affairs programs. To get whatever the local stations wouldn't carry, you tuned in channels 2, 4, or 7, and maybe 3 (which wasn't on any cable systems in San Diego) to watch what the affilliates passed up on airing.
Some of the network programs were timeshifted to other dayparts by means of mechanical video recording or were carried on an independent station such as 39 (through mid-1973) or 6 (from mid-1973).
Some network programs that were not seen in San Diego in the 60s and 70s include many daytime shows such as these that were seen on the L.A. stations below.
* Let's Make a Deal, noon on NBC 4, 1960s (never carried locally in that time slot)
* Three on a Match, noon on NBC 4, 1960s (never carried locally)
* One Life to Live, 3:30pm on ABC 7 in 1968-73 (39 picked it up when it became an ABC affilliate in July 1973).
* Jeopardy, noon on NBC 4, 1974 (carried on 6)
* Captain Kangaroo, 8am on CBS 2 (carried on 6 from 1974-78, 8 aired SunUp, a local news show).
* General Hospital, 3pm on ABC 7 in 1963-71 (channel 6 picked it up in April 1971)
* All My Children, 1pm on ABC 7 (picked up by channel 39 in 1971, two years before becoming an ABC affilliate in July 1973).
* Tattletales, 3pm on CBS 2 in 1974-75 (channel 8 picked it up when it moved 1/2 hour earlier in 1975).
* Match Game, 2:30pm on CBS 2 in 1974-75 (picked up by channel 6 during those years before 8 picked it back up again)
* Musical Chairs, 3pm on CBS 2 in 1975 (never carried locally).
* Ryan's Hope, 1pm on ABC 7 in 1977 (was dropped by 39 in April of that year, never got picked up by channel 10 when it got the ABC affilliation in July 1977.)
* Edge of Night, 3pm on ABC 7 in 1977-84 (was no longer seen on a San Diego station when ABC moved from 39 to 10).
* Somerset, 3pm on NBC 4 in 1975-76 (was dropped by channel 10 when NBC shifted its three hour afternoon block to start 1/2 hour later).
* The Gong Show, 11:30am on NBC 4 in 1976 (never carried on channel 10, which aired "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" in that time slot.)
* The Gong Show, 3pm on NBC 4 in 1977 (was picked up by channel 39 briefly and aired at 4:30pm when it picked up the NBC affilliation in July 1977.)
* Card Sharks, 9am on NBC 4 in 1978-1980 (never carried on 39 until it moved to 11am in June 1980.)
* Love, American Style reruns, 4pm on ABC 7 1971-1973 (never carried until 39 picked it up when it became an ABC affilliate).
* In June of 1975, channel 39 cancelled "One Life to Live" and "General Hospital" in favor of an afternoon movie block hosted by Bob Dale. Due to complaints, 39 ran the missed episodes of the soaps in the 2:30-4:30pm time slot until they were caught up, then aired the shows from 9:30-10:30am. ABC 7 ran OLTL and GH from 2:30-3:30pm in 1975. Later, 39 moved them back to the regular network fed time slots.
* Sometime in 1975 or 1976, channel 39 began airing the midday news at 11:30am first, then moved it to noon. This impacted the midday shows from 11:30am-12:30pm. Depending on the time period from 1975-76, you had to tune in ABC 7 to watch "$10,000 Pyramid", "Break the Bank", "Family Feud", and maybe "Rhyme and Reason."
* Channel 39 ran "Phil Donahue" from 9-10am since about 1976. When it was an ABC affilliate, it had no shows to preempt. When it became an NBC affilliate in July of 1977, it shifted "Hollywood Squares" from 9:30am to 4 or 4:30pm in 1977-78, reruns of "Sanford and Son" to 4:30pm in late 1977, and pre-empted most of all of the other shows instead of timeshifting them. Many daytime game shows and reruns that ran from 9-10am were not seen on a local station. Channel 39 also pre-empted "The Doctors" when NBC shifted it to before NOON sometime in the early 80s; the soap died in 1982. In the 80s, it shifted "Wheel of Fortune" to 3pm because it began airing "Sally Jesse Raphael" at 10am. It also preempted various shows at 11am or 11:30am due to moving the midday news from NOON to an earlier time slot in 1979.
* In the 1980s, channel 10 began pre-empting 3/4ths of the network shows from 10am-NOON to carry syndicated shows and the midday news once "Family Feud" was cancelled by ABC in 1985.
* In 1986-87, in a bizarre arrangement, channel 10 carried the first hour of CBS's daytime programs from 9-10am because channel 8 moved SunUp to 9am. Channel 10 timeshifted Robin Leach's show from 10 to 11am, and ran a syndicated show from 10-11am. Also during the time, channel 69 carried the first hour of NBC's daytime shows from 9-10am.
As for prime time and other dayparts, I remember:
* channel 10 running the syndicated "Science Fiction Theater" on Thursday nights.
* Channel 8 airing "The Jeffersons" a week later Saturdays at 7pm in 1975,
* Channel 39 picking up CBS's "Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour" in 1971-72,
* Channel 8 airing whatever aired on Fridays from 8-9pm on Saturdays at 5-6pm because it ran public affairs programming,
* Channel 8 not airing CBS's Sunday morning cartoon shows 7-8am,
* Channel 6 and 10 not airing ABC's Sunday morning cartoon shows 10am-Noon,
* Channel 10 running "Cool McCool" instead of "The Flintstones" that aired at 10:30am on NBC 4 in 1970,
* Channel 10 not carrying the delayed "Krofft Supershow" during college football season in 1977 when "Krofft" shifted to 4pm on ABC 7, Depending on the week, ABC's delayed two hour shows started anywhere from 1pm to 4pm and ran as late as 6pm.
* Channel 6 and 10 didn't carry ABC's cartoon shows during their respected eras when ABC aired them late after live sports programing. earlier Saturday mornings and afternoons. Channel 39 did carry the delayed ABC cartoons though In many cases, "American Bandstand" and "Wide World of Sports" were not seen because the network had no time available to feed the shows that were bumped by live sports earlier.
* Channel 10 not carrying the NBC Saturday morning shows that normally would air from 11am-NOON on Saturdays during baseball season (because NBC aired the games at 11am locally from April-September). NBC 4 aired the one-hour block from 8-9am on Sundays during the time. In 1977, 39 aired them from 11am-NOON when it became an NBC affilliate that year, then stopped the practice afterwards.
* Channel 6 may have delayed some of the ABC cartoon shows that ran on Sunday mornings to run weekdays at 7am, then stopped carrying them later. In 1973, channel 39 cleared 10am-NOON to air ABC's cartoon shows.
* In the 1960s and 70s, channel 6 preempted one half-hour of the ABC Saturday morning block to air "Tijuana, Window to the South", a public affairs program. The cartoons were seen on ABC 7 instead.
* In 1975 or 1976, channel 8 aired a kid show instead of an hour of CBS's Saturday morning shows seen on CBS 2 from about 9:30-10:30am.
* In the 1980s when CBS changed the Saturday morning show start time to an hour earlier, channel 8 stopped carrying the first hour of CBS's Saturday morning shows in favor of public affairs programming it's been running for a few decades from 7-8am. CBS shifted the Saturday morning block ahead an hour to begin at 7am instead of 8am. The first hour of shows such as "The Muppet Babies" for example were seen on CBS 2 instead.
* In 1977 when channel 10 picked up ABC, it didn't clear the 10:30am-NOON slot until 1978 when ABC began airing "Kids are People Too." The show was actually 90 minutes long, but the show was produced so that affilliates could pass on the first half hour of the show (seen on ABC 7 at 10am), and join it in progress at 10:30am as channel 10 did.
* Channel 10 delayed the "Heckle and Jeckle" hour when it ran on NBC 4 Saturdays at 7:30am and aired it Sundays at 7am in 1970.
* Some timeshifted Saturday morning shows were seen on CBS 2 and pre-empted by channel 8 when they ran in late afternoon due to live sports airing earlier that day.
* In a most bizarre time shift ever, 39 took "ABC's Wide World of Entertainment" which ran from 11:30pm-1am weeknights, and shifted them to the 3:30-5pm time slot in early 1975. 39 signed off around midnight. Not sure what was going on from the wizards at channel 39 for doing these weird things with ABC shows.
Somehow, it was fun tuning in to another network channel to catch some of the shows the local stations passed up on. My favorites that weren't seen here were "Three on a Match" hosted by Bill Cullen, "The Gong Show", and "Card Sharks".
Back in the day before there was more electrical interference, I could get channel 3 on some days, plus channels 2, 4, and 7 from Los Angeles. When cable began dropping the Los Angeles network stations in the 80s, I had to rely on over the air to see shows the local stations wouldn't carry for various reasons.
Nowadays, with digital television replacing analog, picking up the Los Angeles stations from my area is impossible. They just don't come in, especially with low powered stations on 7 and 43 firing up in the area. There are also two low power channel 9 stations in the area, preventing most anybody from watching the away Los Angeles Laker games on channel 9 in Los Angeles.
I used to get channel 11 from Los Angeles, both on cable and over the air. It was an independent until it became a Fox flagship station in 1986. Now I don't get the station anymore. Cable has dropped it in 1991. Channel 11 went digital in 2009. Also gone are channel 3 in Santa Barbara, and other VHF stations from Los Angeles 5 and 13.
If you missed some network programming, you can now catch them on the Internet since that's the only way you can now get the shows you missed. The upside is that they come in clear enough instead of full of snow and scratchy sounds. The downside is that the picture is small, you need to pay money for broadband because it's too fast for dial-up to handle, and you can't tape it for later viewing or archiving.
The thrill of over the air television is gone. Thank God for the Internet for television you can watch anytime.
From San Diego Radio News
http://www.sandiegoradionews.com/
It's a good thing there's broadband Internet cable so we can catch some of the network programming some of our local (depending on what city you live in) affilliates may pass on.
If you miss an episode of, say, a prime time episode, a soap opera (or 'my stories' as your elderly mother may put it), a network, late night talk show, etc., you can look them up on the network's websites the day after they're broadcast and watch most of them for a limited time.
That's because over the air TV in 2010 isn't the same as TV was back in 1960s through 2009.
I'm not talking about the quality of the shows this time around, which is another long subject, but it's the availability of the local and nearby distant signals we once could get on analog or cable television in the 60s and 70s.
Back in the day, we had it made, as long as you lived in an area where you could get at least two of each of the network affilliates and/or owned and operated stations. If you were lucky in the San Diego area, you could get the local CBS affilliate channel 8, the local NBC affilliate on channel 10 through mid-1977 and channel 39 afterwards, and the local ABC affilliate on channel 6 through mid-1973, then channel 39 through mid-1977, then channel 10 afterwards. On cable, you could get all of them on 3 (for 39), 6, 8, and 10.
Also back in the day, with an antenna, you could get some or all of the major Los Angeles network stations. CBS channel 2, NBC channel 4, and ABC channel 7. If you were lucky enough, your cable system carried all of them on your system in the 60s and 70s, though network programming that appearred at the same time as the San Diego affilliates were blacked out per request to protect the local affilliates. If you were really lucky, you could have gotten another ABC affilliate, channel 3, from Santa Barbara.
Many times, the local stations replaced the network programming with syndicated movie packages, off network reruns, news, special movie presentations, local kid shows, paid religious programs, and public affairs programs. To get whatever the local stations wouldn't carry, you tuned in channels 2, 4, or 7, and maybe 3 (which wasn't on any cable systems in San Diego) to watch what the affilliates passed up on airing.
Some of the network programs were timeshifted to other dayparts by means of mechanical video recording or were carried on an independent station such as 39 (through mid-1973) or 6 (from mid-1973).
Some network programs that were not seen in San Diego in the 60s and 70s include many daytime shows such as these that were seen on the L.A. stations below.
* Let's Make a Deal, noon on NBC 4, 1960s (never carried locally in that time slot)
* Three on a Match, noon on NBC 4, 1960s (never carried locally)
* One Life to Live, 3:30pm on ABC 7 in 1968-73 (39 picked it up when it became an ABC affilliate in July 1973).
* Jeopardy, noon on NBC 4, 1974 (carried on 6)
* Captain Kangaroo, 8am on CBS 2 (carried on 6 from 1974-78, 8 aired SunUp, a local news show).
* General Hospital, 3pm on ABC 7 in 1963-71 (channel 6 picked it up in April 1971)
* All My Children, 1pm on ABC 7 (picked up by channel 39 in 1971, two years before becoming an ABC affilliate in July 1973).
* Tattletales, 3pm on CBS 2 in 1974-75 (channel 8 picked it up when it moved 1/2 hour earlier in 1975).
* Match Game, 2:30pm on CBS 2 in 1974-75 (picked up by channel 6 during those years before 8 picked it back up again)
* Musical Chairs, 3pm on CBS 2 in 1975 (never carried locally).
* Ryan's Hope, 1pm on ABC 7 in 1977 (was dropped by 39 in April of that year, never got picked up by channel 10 when it got the ABC affilliation in July 1977.)
* Edge of Night, 3pm on ABC 7 in 1977-84 (was no longer seen on a San Diego station when ABC moved from 39 to 10).
* Somerset, 3pm on NBC 4 in 1975-76 (was dropped by channel 10 when NBC shifted its three hour afternoon block to start 1/2 hour later).
* The Gong Show, 11:30am on NBC 4 in 1976 (never carried on channel 10, which aired "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" in that time slot.)
* The Gong Show, 3pm on NBC 4 in 1977 (was picked up by channel 39 briefly and aired at 4:30pm when it picked up the NBC affilliation in July 1977.)
* Card Sharks, 9am on NBC 4 in 1978-1980 (never carried on 39 until it moved to 11am in June 1980.)
* Love, American Style reruns, 4pm on ABC 7 1971-1973 (never carried until 39 picked it up when it became an ABC affilliate).
* In June of 1975, channel 39 cancelled "One Life to Live" and "General Hospital" in favor of an afternoon movie block hosted by Bob Dale. Due to complaints, 39 ran the missed episodes of the soaps in the 2:30-4:30pm time slot until they were caught up, then aired the shows from 9:30-10:30am. ABC 7 ran OLTL and GH from 2:30-3:30pm in 1975. Later, 39 moved them back to the regular network fed time slots.
* Sometime in 1975 or 1976, channel 39 began airing the midday news at 11:30am first, then moved it to noon. This impacted the midday shows from 11:30am-12:30pm. Depending on the time period from 1975-76, you had to tune in ABC 7 to watch "$10,000 Pyramid", "Break the Bank", "Family Feud", and maybe "Rhyme and Reason."
* Channel 39 ran "Phil Donahue" from 9-10am since about 1976. When it was an ABC affilliate, it had no shows to preempt. When it became an NBC affilliate in July of 1977, it shifted "Hollywood Squares" from 9:30am to 4 or 4:30pm in 1977-78, reruns of "Sanford and Son" to 4:30pm in late 1977, and pre-empted most of all of the other shows instead of timeshifting them. Many daytime game shows and reruns that ran from 9-10am were not seen on a local station. Channel 39 also pre-empted "The Doctors" when NBC shifted it to before NOON sometime in the early 80s; the soap died in 1982. In the 80s, it shifted "Wheel of Fortune" to 3pm because it began airing "Sally Jesse Raphael" at 10am. It also preempted various shows at 11am or 11:30am due to moving the midday news from NOON to an earlier time slot in 1979.
* In the 1980s, channel 10 began pre-empting 3/4ths of the network shows from 10am-NOON to carry syndicated shows and the midday news once "Family Feud" was cancelled by ABC in 1985.
* In 1986-87, in a bizarre arrangement, channel 10 carried the first hour of CBS's daytime programs from 9-10am because channel 8 moved SunUp to 9am. Channel 10 timeshifted Robin Leach's show from 10 to 11am, and ran a syndicated show from 10-11am. Also during the time, channel 69 carried the first hour of NBC's daytime shows from 9-10am.
As for prime time and other dayparts, I remember:
* channel 10 running the syndicated "Science Fiction Theater" on Thursday nights.
* Channel 8 airing "The Jeffersons" a week later Saturdays at 7pm in 1975,
* Channel 39 picking up CBS's "Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour" in 1971-72,
* Channel 8 airing whatever aired on Fridays from 8-9pm on Saturdays at 5-6pm because it ran public affairs programming,
* Channel 8 not airing CBS's Sunday morning cartoon shows 7-8am,
* Channel 6 and 10 not airing ABC's Sunday morning cartoon shows 10am-Noon,
* Channel 10 running "Cool McCool" instead of "The Flintstones" that aired at 10:30am on NBC 4 in 1970,
* Channel 10 not carrying the delayed "Krofft Supershow" during college football season in 1977 when "Krofft" shifted to 4pm on ABC 7, Depending on the week, ABC's delayed two hour shows started anywhere from 1pm to 4pm and ran as late as 6pm.
* Channel 6 and 10 didn't carry ABC's cartoon shows during their respected eras when ABC aired them late after live sports programing. earlier Saturday mornings and afternoons. Channel 39 did carry the delayed ABC cartoons though In many cases, "American Bandstand" and "Wide World of Sports" were not seen because the network had no time available to feed the shows that were bumped by live sports earlier.
* Channel 10 not carrying the NBC Saturday morning shows that normally would air from 11am-NOON on Saturdays during baseball season (because NBC aired the games at 11am locally from April-September). NBC 4 aired the one-hour block from 8-9am on Sundays during the time. In 1977, 39 aired them from 11am-NOON when it became an NBC affilliate that year, then stopped the practice afterwards.
* Channel 6 may have delayed some of the ABC cartoon shows that ran on Sunday mornings to run weekdays at 7am, then stopped carrying them later. In 1973, channel 39 cleared 10am-NOON to air ABC's cartoon shows.
* In the 1960s and 70s, channel 6 preempted one half-hour of the ABC Saturday morning block to air "Tijuana, Window to the South", a public affairs program. The cartoons were seen on ABC 7 instead.
* In 1975 or 1976, channel 8 aired a kid show instead of an hour of CBS's Saturday morning shows seen on CBS 2 from about 9:30-10:30am.
* In the 1980s when CBS changed the Saturday morning show start time to an hour earlier, channel 8 stopped carrying the first hour of CBS's Saturday morning shows in favor of public affairs programming it's been running for a few decades from 7-8am. CBS shifted the Saturday morning block ahead an hour to begin at 7am instead of 8am. The first hour of shows such as "The Muppet Babies" for example were seen on CBS 2 instead.
* In 1977 when channel 10 picked up ABC, it didn't clear the 10:30am-NOON slot until 1978 when ABC began airing "Kids are People Too." The show was actually 90 minutes long, but the show was produced so that affilliates could pass on the first half hour of the show (seen on ABC 7 at 10am), and join it in progress at 10:30am as channel 10 did.
* Channel 10 delayed the "Heckle and Jeckle" hour when it ran on NBC 4 Saturdays at 7:30am and aired it Sundays at 7am in 1970.
* Some timeshifted Saturday morning shows were seen on CBS 2 and pre-empted by channel 8 when they ran in late afternoon due to live sports airing earlier that day.
* In a most bizarre time shift ever, 39 took "ABC's Wide World of Entertainment" which ran from 11:30pm-1am weeknights, and shifted them to the 3:30-5pm time slot in early 1975. 39 signed off around midnight. Not sure what was going on from the wizards at channel 39 for doing these weird things with ABC shows.
Somehow, it was fun tuning in to another network channel to catch some of the shows the local stations passed up on. My favorites that weren't seen here were "Three on a Match" hosted by Bill Cullen, "The Gong Show", and "Card Sharks".
Back in the day before there was more electrical interference, I could get channel 3 on some days, plus channels 2, 4, and 7 from Los Angeles. When cable began dropping the Los Angeles network stations in the 80s, I had to rely on over the air to see shows the local stations wouldn't carry for various reasons.
Nowadays, with digital television replacing analog, picking up the Los Angeles stations from my area is impossible. They just don't come in, especially with low powered stations on 7 and 43 firing up in the area. There are also two low power channel 9 stations in the area, preventing most anybody from watching the away Los Angeles Laker games on channel 9 in Los Angeles.
I used to get channel 11 from Los Angeles, both on cable and over the air. It was an independent until it became a Fox flagship station in 1986. Now I don't get the station anymore. Cable has dropped it in 1991. Channel 11 went digital in 2009. Also gone are channel 3 in Santa Barbara, and other VHF stations from Los Angeles 5 and 13.
If you missed some network programming, you can now catch them on the Internet since that's the only way you can now get the shows you missed. The upside is that they come in clear enough instead of full of snow and scratchy sounds. The downside is that the picture is small, you need to pay money for broadband because it's too fast for dial-up to handle, and you can't tape it for later viewing or archiving.
The thrill of over the air television is gone. Thank God for the Internet for television you can watch anytime.
...but I DO remember watching TV stations from both SD and LA.