(Adapted from a post in the Texas TV board -- but this does seem relevant here)
For the past couple years, I've read the posts on programming schedules for stations like KDOC in Los Angeles and "ME-TV" in Chicago, and felt that something like what they're doing would work well in Dallas/Fort Worth. However, the direction of TV programming around here was away from classic TV shows until a year ago. A couple of stations had flirted with it earlier in the decade, but then backed off.
Back around the start of 2004, KFWD-TV, channel 52, in the Dallas/Fort Worth area started running a bunch of older TV shows during the day -- picking up programs like "McHale's Navy", "Gomer Pyle", "Mister Ed", Green Acres", "Leave it to Beaver", and a few others. The evening hours (5 to 7 PM) at the time were still filled with newer (but third rate) sitcoms like "Becker" and "Mad About You". During the same period, Fox-owned KDFI-TV, channel 27, carried a number of older shows, like "Little House on the Prairie" and "Hawaii Five-O".
But when KFWD signed their joint operations agreement with Belo's WFAA-TV, the classic shows quickly got sidelined, with most of them getting burned off late at night. And KDFI dumped most of their older shows in favor of "My Network TV" and newer syndicated product that Fox bought for its entire station group. And so it remained for two years.
A year ago, KFWD picked up a handful of the classics -- "The Twilight Zone" for late nights, "The Brady Bunch" in the early evening, and "Little House on the Prairie" (which Fox-owned KDFI/27 had recently dropped) during the day. A couple months back, they added a couple more classic shows.
Apparently, the strategy is working, because the folks at KFWD are going heavily on the classic TV shows starting this fall. Here's the weekday schedule for KFWD, starting the week after next (week of 9/10):
10:00 AM Jack Hanna’s Animal Adventures
10:30 AM My Three Sons
11:00 AM Mork & Mindy
11:30 AM Lucy Show
Noon Gomer Pyle, USMC
12:30 PM Beverly Hillbillies
1:00 PM Perry Mason
2:00 PM Hawaii Five-O
3:00 PM Matlock
4:00 PM Little House
5:00 PM Brady Bunch
5:30 PM Happy Days
6:00 PM Hogan’s Heroes
6:30 PM SW Kia Sports Talk
7:00 PM News 8
7:30 PM Insider
8:00 PM Oprah Winfrey
9:00 PM Charlie’s Angels
10:00 PM Married With Children
10:30 PM Twilight Zone
11:00 PM New 8 Update
11:35 PM SW Kia Sports Talk
12:05 AM Mission Impossible
1:05 AM The Nanny
1:35 AM Mad About You
A few of these programs are ones that KFWD carried before the WFAA agreement ("Hogan's Heroes", "Gomer Pyle"). Others (the entire 1 to 5 PM block of hour shows) are ones that had been running on KDFI a couple years ago, but which were cleared out to make room for "My Network TV" and for Fox's group buys. Still others are shows that haven't run in Dallas in many years, such as "Mission Impossible" and "My Three Sons".
I hope that this works for them -- while not a pure classics schedule like KDOC in Los Angeles or "ME-TV" in Chicago, this schedule does look pretty good. And it does provide a nice alternative in the area.
For the past couple years, I've read the posts on programming schedules for stations like KDOC in Los Angeles and "ME-TV" in Chicago, and felt that something like what they're doing would work well in Dallas/Fort Worth. However, the direction of TV programming around here was away from classic TV shows until a year ago. A couple of stations had flirted with it earlier in the decade, but then backed off.
Back around the start of 2004, KFWD-TV, channel 52, in the Dallas/Fort Worth area started running a bunch of older TV shows during the day -- picking up programs like "McHale's Navy", "Gomer Pyle", "Mister Ed", Green Acres", "Leave it to Beaver", and a few others. The evening hours (5 to 7 PM) at the time were still filled with newer (but third rate) sitcoms like "Becker" and "Mad About You". During the same period, Fox-owned KDFI-TV, channel 27, carried a number of older shows, like "Little House on the Prairie" and "Hawaii Five-O".
But when KFWD signed their joint operations agreement with Belo's WFAA-TV, the classic shows quickly got sidelined, with most of them getting burned off late at night. And KDFI dumped most of their older shows in favor of "My Network TV" and newer syndicated product that Fox bought for its entire station group. And so it remained for two years.
A year ago, KFWD picked up a handful of the classics -- "The Twilight Zone" for late nights, "The Brady Bunch" in the early evening, and "Little House on the Prairie" (which Fox-owned KDFI/27 had recently dropped) during the day. A couple months back, they added a couple more classic shows.
Apparently, the strategy is working, because the folks at KFWD are going heavily on the classic TV shows starting this fall. Here's the weekday schedule for KFWD, starting the week after next (week of 9/10):
10:00 AM Jack Hanna’s Animal Adventures
10:30 AM My Three Sons
11:00 AM Mork & Mindy
11:30 AM Lucy Show
Noon Gomer Pyle, USMC
12:30 PM Beverly Hillbillies
1:00 PM Perry Mason
2:00 PM Hawaii Five-O
3:00 PM Matlock
4:00 PM Little House
5:00 PM Brady Bunch
5:30 PM Happy Days
6:00 PM Hogan’s Heroes
6:30 PM SW Kia Sports Talk
7:00 PM News 8
7:30 PM Insider
8:00 PM Oprah Winfrey
9:00 PM Charlie’s Angels
10:00 PM Married With Children
10:30 PM Twilight Zone
11:00 PM New 8 Update
11:35 PM SW Kia Sports Talk
12:05 AM Mission Impossible
1:05 AM The Nanny
1:35 AM Mad About You
A few of these programs are ones that KFWD carried before the WFAA agreement ("Hogan's Heroes", "Gomer Pyle"). Others (the entire 1 to 5 PM block of hour shows) are ones that had been running on KDFI a couple years ago, but which were cleared out to make room for "My Network TV" and for Fox's group buys. Still others are shows that haven't run in Dallas in many years, such as "Mission Impossible" and "My Three Sons".
I hope that this works for them -- while not a pure classics schedule like KDOC in Los Angeles or "ME-TV" in Chicago, this schedule does look pretty good. And it does provide a nice alternative in the area.