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The first "Baltimore Switch" from August 1981 request

H

harrisburgpatv

Guest
When, of course, WMAR-2 went from CBS to NBC and WBAL-11 did the opposite..Looking for some listings around that time for Baltimore if anyone has any....Bonus points if I can be pointed in the direction to get a TV Guide for that week.....

For example, what was the last show WMAR aired as CBS and the first one they aired as NBC? Vice versa for WBAL of course...

Although from looking at old TVGs I have *before* the switch, WMAR got a head start on things during the summer by airing "Facts of Life"...
 
I have a copy of the Aug. 30 Washington/Baltimore tv schedules from the Washington Post. According to that, the last CBS program carried by WMAR-TV was a preseason NFL game (I don't have it in front of me right now, but I remember the Cowboys being involved). Over on WBAL-TV, their 13 1/2-year break from NBC began after a Saturday Night Live rerun (of course).
 
Rollo-Smokes said:
I have a copy of the Aug. 30 Washington/Baltimore tv schedules from the Washington Post. According to that, the last CBS program carried by WMAR-TV was a preseason NFL game (I don't have it in front of me right now, but I remember the Cowboys being involved). Over on WBAL-TV, their 13 1/2-year break from NBC began after a Saturday Night Live rerun (of course).
Click to expand...

I remember from the Philly switch in '95, 1:01 a.m. was the magic time for the official switch. Was this the case in '81, too?
 
harrisburgpatv said:
When, of course, WMAR-2 went from CBS to NBC and WBAL-11 did the opposite..Looking for some listings around that time for Baltimore if anyone has any....Bonus points if I can be pointed in the direction to get a TV Guide for that week.....

For example, what was the last show WMAR aired as CBS and the first one they aired as NBC? Vice versa for WBAL of course...

Although from looking at old TVGs I have *before* the switch, WMAR got a head start on things during the summer by airing "Facts of Life"...
Click to expand...

Interesting! Another station got a "head start" in the summer prior to a switch by picking up something from its new network ahead of time. There was almost a total daytime switch in Atlanta in the summer of 1980 (switch date: Sept. 1), with WSB getting "General Hospital," "One Life To Live," "Edge Of Night," "Family Feud," and "Love Boat" reruns; WXIA getting "Another World," "The Doctors" (the soap), "Texas" (which debuted Aug. 4 and made no sense to air on WSB for four weeks), and Letterman's morning show, which WSB didn't want to begin with. Their switch officially began at 7 AM on Sept. 1, when "Good Morning America" began airing on WSB and "Today" on WXIA. I suspect something like that in Baltimore, with WMAR and WBAL officially making the switch effective with their new network morning shows.

I lived in Maryland for a short time after the switch and there's one show whose viewers were probably glad to see it back in its old "home": "Search For Tomorrow," which returned to WMAR when the show switched from CBS to NBC in 1982.
 
bpatrick said:
I lived in Maryland for a short time after the switch and there's one show whose viewers were probably glad to see it back in its old "home": "Search For Tomorrow," which returned to WMAR when the show switched from CBS to NBC in 1982.
Click to expand...

I recall, from Wesley Hyatt's book on daytime television, one of the soap's promos of the move included a slogan, "Follow the Search to NBC", but in Baltimore, in consequence, the "Search" led viewers back to where it started, WMAR.
 
Don't know about the rest of you, but I found out about the imminent "Baltimore Switch" (kudos on the labeling, harrisburgpatv) literally the day before - from the Delmarva edition of TVG that was laying around the TV room at my cousin's house in Delaware (I lived in Wallingford, PA at the time and was visiting her before going back to college in east central PA for the fall '81 semester a couple of days later).

ixnay
 
ixnay said:
Don't know about the rest of you, but I found out about the imminent "Baltimore Switch" (kudos on the labeling, harrisburgpatv) literally the day before - from the Delmarva edition of TVG that was laying around the TV room at my cousin's house in Delaware (I lived in Wallingford, PA at the time and was visiting her before going back to college in east central PA for the fall '81 semester a couple of days later).

ixnay
Click to expand...

The funny thing is, I could have sworn there was a note about in the TVG for the previous week (Aug 22-28 1981) which I *do* have, but looking back (I was also 6 at the time), there was probably some heavy on-air advertising on one or both stations hawking the change. I know on YouTube someone uploaded some WBAL commercials with some CBS stars talking about it. I never found anything with the guide itself.
 
bpatrick said:
harrisburgpatv said:
When, of course, WMAR-2 went from CBS to NBC and WBAL-11 did the opposite..Looking for some listings around that time for Baltimore if anyone has any....Bonus points if I can be pointed in the direction to get a TV Guide for that week.....

For example, what was the last show WMAR aired as CBS and the first one they aired as NBC? Vice versa for WBAL of course...

Although from looking at old TVGs I have *before* the switch, WMAR got a head start on things during the summer by airing "Facts of Life"...
Click to expand...

Interesting! Another station got a "head start" in the summer prior to a switch by picking up something from its new network ahead of time. There was almost a total daytime switch in Atlanta in the summer of 1980 (switch date: Sept. 1), with WSB getting "General Hospital," "One Life To Live," "Edge Of Night," "Family Feud," and "Love Boat" reruns; WXIA getting "Another World," "The Doctors" (the soap), "Texas" (which debuted Aug. 4 and made no sense to air on WSB for four weeks), and Letterman's morning show, which WSB didn't want to begin with. Their switch officially began at 7 AM on Sept. 1, when "Good Morning America" began airing on WSB and "Today" on WXIA. I suspect something like that in Baltimore, with WMAR and WBAL officially making the switch effective with their new network morning shows.

I lived in Maryland for a short time after the switch and there's one show whose viewers were probably glad to see it back in its old "home": "Search For Tomorrow," which returned to WMAR when the show switched from CBS to NBC in 1982.
Click to expand...

KTVT aired "The Price Is Right" and "The Bold and the Beautiful" for several months before the official DFW "big switch".
 
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