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Stations that went from a "Big 3" affiliate to a CW or lesser network affiliate

Re: Stations that went from a "Big 3" affiliate to a CW or lesser network affiliate

One of the other two which changed is now WPMT-TV (FOX) channel 43 of York, PA, also in the Harrisburg/Lancaster DMA.

Just to nitpick, WLYH-TV is licensed to Lancaster, PA. :)
 
Re: Stations that went from a "Big 3" affiliate to a CW or lesser network affiliate

WALA-TV in Mobile, Alabama was affiliated with NBC before switching to the FOX Broadcasting Company on Sunday, December 31st, 1995 (when WALA-TV started broadcasting on a regular basis on Wednesday, January 14th, 1953, it was affiliated with CBS, NBC, and DuMont Television in addition to NBC. The affiliations with the other companies ended by the 1960s).
 
Re: Stations that went from a "Big 3" affiliate to a CW or lesser network affiliate

Mario500 said:
WALA-TV in Mobile, Alabama was affiliated with NBC before switching to the FOX Broadcasting Company on Sunday, December 31st, 1995 (when WALA-TV started broadcasting on a regular basis on Wednesday, January 14th, 1953, it was affiliated with CBS, NBC, and DuMont Television in addition to NBC. The affiliations with the other companies ended by the 1960s).

Wasn't ABC was one of WALA's affiliations back in 1953? You had NBC mentioned twice here.
 
Re: Stations that went from a "Big 3" affiliate to a CW or lesser network affiliate

And more to the point, the thread title is looking for stations that went "to a CW or lesser network affiliate." The list of stations such as WALA that went from "Big 3" to Fox is a much longer one. (And, given the thread drift here, one that will probably be posted by someone now anyway...)
 
Re: Stations that went from a "Big 3" affiliate to a CW or lesser network affiliate

RyanHoward said:
Wasn't ABC was one of WALA's affiliations back in 1953?

Yes.

You had NBC mentioned twice here.

That was a typographical error. I meant to type "ABC" between "CBS" and "DuMont Television" (I wish to have the error corrected in my previous message).
 
Re: Stations that went from a "Big 3" affiliate to a CW or lesser network affiliate

KCAL/9 Los Angeles was originally KFI-TV, which aired some NBC kinescopes, but was not a full-time affiliate.
As KHJ-TV, it also cleared some DuMont shows from 1954 until the network's demise in 1956.
But it has always been an independent, so I'm not sure the brief partnership w/NBC would count.
KFI Radio was affiliated with NBC and had anticipated getting the full time affiliation, until NBC applied for and got channel 4.
 
Re: Stations that went from a "Big 3" affiliate to a CW or lesser network affiliate

M.J. said:
One of the best examples is WAKR/23 (later WAKC) in Akron, Ohio, which was an ABC affiliate from its opening in the 1950s until 1996 when it was bought by Bud Paxson. It aired infomercials for a couple of years then as WVPX it joined the PAX network (now ION Television).

Off the top of my head, I can't think of any other PAX/ION affiliates that used to be "big 3" stations.

ION's Pittsburgh station WINP-16 started out as ABC affiliate WENS-16 in the 1950s, went off the air, came back as pubcaster WQED sibling WQEX, which went through a variety of phases from b/w educational station to Britcom outlet before WQED finally could sell it to Ion, some years after the infamous and unsuccessful "16 for 40" swap with Cornerstone's WPCB-40.
 
Re: Stations that went from a "Big 3" affiliate to a CW or lesser network affiliate

M.J. said:
One of the best examples is WAKR/23 (later WAKC) in Akron, Ohio, which was an ABC affiliate from its opening in the 1950s until 1996 when it was bought by Bud Paxson. It aired infomercials for a couple of years then as WVPX it joined the PAX network (now ION Television).

Off the top of my head, I can't think of any other PAX/ION affiliates that used to be "big 3" stations.

Oops, this is what happens when you get a glitch in a very slow computer. Please disregard this reply.
 
Re: Stations that went from a "Big 3" affiliate to a CW or lesser network affiliate

KVOS-TV Bellingham, WA started out as a DuMont/CBS to full CBS until 1980. Then independent, then briefly as an affiliate of the Canadian Global TV network for Vancouver in the '80s. Then back to independent. Now it's full blown MeTV......
 
Re: Stations that went from a "Big 3" affiliate to a CW or lesser network affiliate

WCFN-49 Springfield, IL (now WCIX) went from being a low-powered Springfield area repeater for fellow Nexstar station WCIA-3 (CBS) in Champaign to a standalone UPN affiliate on Apr. 2, 2002. This made OTA CBS reception in the Springfield area difficult, if not impossible, until the digital transition (currently 49.1 is My, 49.2 relays CBS from WCIA). In the interim OTA households either had to upgrade to cable or satellite to continue receiving a reliable CBS signal in the Springfield area, or had to attempt receiving marginal signals from WCIA and/or these alternate CBS affiliates in surrounding markets: WMBD-31 Peoria, KHQA-7 Hannibal/Quincy, or KMOV-4 St. Louis. (of those 3 stations WMBD actually delivered a weak but watchable signal to parts of the capital city with a decent antenna in the analog era).
 
Re: Stations that went from a "Big 3" affiliate to a CW or lesser network affiliate

Didn't WCOV (channel 20) in Montgomery, AL go from CBS to independent in the mid-eighties, after small market CBS affiliate WAKA (channel 8) in nearby Selma boosted power to cover Montgomery? WCOV eventually became the area's Fox affiliate, but I think they did operate for some time in between as an independent.
 
Re: Stations that went from a "Big 3" affiliate to a CW or lesser network affiliate

TexasTom said:
Didn't WCOV (channel 20) in Montgomery, AL go from CBS to independent in the mid-eighties, after small market CBS affiliate WAKA (channel 8) in nearby Selma boosted power to cover Montgomery? WCOV eventually became the area's Fox affiliate, but I think they did operate for some time in between as an independent.

WCOV was independent from 1/1/86 until the debut of Fox in the fall of '86.
 
Re: Stations that went from a "Big 3" affiliate to a CW or lesser network affiliate

Tim from Springfield said:
WCFN-49 Springfield, IL (now WCIX) went from being a low-powered Springfield area repeater for fellow Nexstar station WCIA-3 (CBS) in Champaign to a standalone UPN affiliate on Apr. 2, 2002. This made OTA CBS reception in the Springfield area difficult, if not impossible, until the digital transition (currently 49.1 is My, 49.2 relays CBS from WCIA). In the interim OTA households either had to upgrade to cable or satellite to continue receiving a reliable CBS signal in the Springfield area, or had to attempt receiving marginal signals from WCIA and/or these alternate CBS affiliates in surrounding markets: WMBD-31 Peoria, KHQA-7 Hannibal/Quincy, or KMOV-4 St. Louis. (of those 3 stations WMBD actually delivered a weak but watchable signal to parts of the capital city with a decent antenna in the analog era).

Where does ABC come from for Quincy/Hannibal?
 
Re: Stations that went from a "Big 3" affiliate to a CW or lesser network affiliate

bpatrick said:
Tim from Springfield said:
WCFN-49 Springfield, IL (now WCIX) went from being a low-powered Springfield area repeater for fellow Nexstar station WCIA-3 (CBS) in Champaign to a standalone UPN affiliate on Apr. 2, 2002. This made OTA CBS reception in the Springfield area difficult, if not impossible, until the digital transition (currently 49.1 is My, 49.2 relays CBS from WCIA). In the interim OTA households either had to upgrade to cable or satellite to continue receiving a reliable CBS signal in the Springfield area, or had to attempt receiving marginal signals from WCIA and/or these alternate CBS affiliates in surrounding markets: WMBD-31 Peoria, KHQA-7 Hannibal/Quincy, or KMOV-4 St. Louis. (of those 3 stations WMBD actually delivered a weak but watchable signal to parts of the capital city with a decent antenna in the analog era).

Where does ABC come from for Quincy/Hannibal?

In late 2007, KHQA launched a 7.2 ABC subchannel, but prior to that KTVO Kirksville/Ottumwa did serve as a de facto ABC for at least the western half of that market (and on Quincy's cable system). Those in the eastern part of the market had to attempt to receive KTVO or alternate ABC stations from surrounding markets including WQAD-8 Moline/Quad Cities, WHOI-19 Peoria, KDNL-30 St. Louis since 1995 (and before that KTVI-2), or until Sept. 2005 WAND-17 Decatur, IL (and since that time WICS-20 Springfield, IL). Some areas in that market even had WABC or WKRN Nashville, TN on cable as alternate ABC stations.

There was also the ill-fated WJJY-14 Jacksonville, IL which attempted to target Quincy with ABC from 1969-71 (while also serving as a second ABC station for Springfield):

http://www.brainmist.com/wjjy_tv/wjjy_tv.htm
 
Re: Stations that went from a "Big 3" affiliate to a CW or lesser network affiliate

KQTV/KVFD-TV on channel 21 in Ft. Dodge Iowa was an NBC affilliate from 1953 till 1976. Ed Breen was the primary owner of channel 21 during that whole time. He built a 1200 foot tower about 20 miles NW of Ft. Dodge in the early 70s. Unfortunately the 1200 footer didn't cash flow for Mr. Breen, so when Iowa Public Television (IPTV) was building its statewide network in the 70s it was "Let's Make a Deal" time.

KVFD-TV and what would become IPTV's KTIN basically swapped channels and IPTV bought the 1200' tower for channel 21. One day NBC programming went out over the channel 21 transmitter as KVFD, the next day it was running PBS as KTIN. So even though they were different licensees, you could say channel 21 went from NBC to PBS.

KVFD-TV bought a used transmitter and antenna for channel 50 and set up shop at its original 500 foot tower in Fort Dodge. A tornado took out the KVFD tower and studios in May of 1977, and it was never rebuilt.
 
Re: Stations that went from a "Big 3" affiliate to a CW or lesser network affiliate

KMOH channel 6 in Kingman AZ started was an English-language independent from sign-on in 1988 until 1996, when it became a WB affiliate, then in 1997, became an NBC affiliate after being acquired by Gannett. In 1999, the station became a satellite of KPNX Mesa, the Gannett-owned NBC affiliate for Phoenix, and remained such until 2004, when Gannett sold the station. The new owners made it a Spanish-language independent, then MTV Tr3s in 2006, and currently a MundoFox affiliate since 2012.
 
Re: Stations that went from a "Big 3" affiliate to a CW or lesser network affiliate

KMOH was a "sister" station to KNAZ in Flagstaff (Both were owned by Grand Canyon Television)...and it carried KNAZ's evening newscasts for a while. When Gannett bought KNAZ, KMOH became more-or-less a translator station for KPNX until being sold.
 
Re: Stations that went from a "Big 3" affiliate to a CW or lesser network affiliate

desertv said:
KMOH was a "sister" station to KNAZ in Flagstaff (Both were owned by Grand Canyon Television)...and it carried KNAZ's evening newscasts for a while.

Based on the chronology provided by dhett, does this mean that KMOH carried KNAZ's newscasts even when KMOH was an independent and KNAZ was an NBC affiliate?

Did KMOH ever produce its own news?
 
Re: Stations that went from a "Big 3" affiliate to a CW or lesser network affiliate

joebtsflk1 said:
KVFD-TV and what would become IPTV's KTIN basically swapped channels and IPTV bought the 1200' tower for channel 21. One day NBC programming went out over the channel 21 transmitter as KVFD, the next day it was running PBS as KTIN. So even though they were different licensees, you could say channel 21 went from NBC to PBS.

Another one who did that was Channel 49 in Muncie IN, which was CBS/NBC/ABC affiliate (CBS was dropped in 1960) WLBC-TV from 1953 to 1971. It was sold to Ball State University in October '71 and became WIPB. As the station was sold directly by WLBC to Ball State, I believe it is the same license despite going from commercial to non-commercial.
 
Re: Stations that went from a "Big 3" affiliate to a CW or lesser network affiliate

In Laredo TX, KLDO went from ABC to Univision. Laredo has been without an ABC affiliate since then.
 
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