Special Feeds for Utah -- Another TV "Urban Myth?"

[Stanislav]

I have heard from more than one source that there was a time (usually mentioned as back around the 80's) when one or more of the broadcast networks actually provided a special feed of certain programs to their affiliates in heavily-Mormon Utah -- i.e., a slightly edited or censored version of what the rest of the country was watching. Has this ever actually been the case, or is this just a TV urban myth?

 

[desertv]

KSL-TV in Salt Lake City was the CBS affiliate in those days (they are now NBC). They are owned by Bonneville, which is owned by the LDS church. It was not uncommon for KSL to "edit" or preempt CBS programming for the SLC area. I don't know if they do that as much now that they are NBC.

 

[fred flintstone]

It may be different now, but for a long time the networks only had East Coast and West Coast feeds. Stations in the Mountain Time Zone (two hours behind Eastern Time; one hour ahead of Pacific Time) usually took the East Coast feed and ran prime time network shows on delay (at one point the Denver stations handled the delayed feeds for the rest of the Mountain Time stations). In any case, stations in the Rockies would have the opportunity to censor network shows if they wished.It was also much more common at one time for local stations to pre-empt network programming, sometimes because local management had a problem with show's content. More often stations would dump weaker network programs because they could make more money with a local or syndicated show. Also in markets with less than three commercial VHF stations, the VHF stations would usually be primary CBS or NBC affiliates but dump weaker shows from their primary networks to clear more popular shows from ABC.

 

[desertv]

The TV stations in Kansas City did a lot of this in the 70s

 

[formeraa]

KIRO in Seattle was also owned by Bonneville in the 60's, 70's and 80's. They refused to show the movie "The Graduate" and were always pre-empting CBS programming. They flat out refused to air some shows. They would end up on KSTW/11 or we would get them on KVOS/12 out of Bellingham.

 

[oldiesfan6479]

It was not uncommon for KSL to "edit" or preempt CBS programming for the SLC area.I don't know if they do that as much now that they are NBC.

KSL currently does not air SNL. I do not find it in any other SLC station'slistings for late Saturday evening (I didn't check the non-comms).I have some SLC TV Guides from the early 1980s in which (then-NBC affil)KUTV delayed SNL until 11:30pm, so I guess it's always been a bit too"dangerous" for the locals.