TV AFFILIATIONS DIFFERING FROM RADIO COMPANIONS

[Bob E. Nelson]

From 1981 through sometime in the '90s KDKA radio was affiliated with NBC while the TV was [and still is] CBS. The radio station rejoined NBC after having dumped it somtime around '55-'56-'57.

Adding to thread I started, this also reminded me of WHAS radio and TV in Louisville. The radio was a longtime Columbia affiliate and when the TV signed on (initially on channel 9), it joined CBS with a secondary ABC affiliation.

Then the radio dropped CBS for ABC sometime in the 60's if memory serves (only to rejoin CBS several years later).

And of course, in 1990, WHAS-TV flipped to ABC.

So, for intervals of several years, WHAS radio and WHAS-TV had differing affiliations.

 

[bpatrick]

WHAS radio was one of the charter affiliates of NBC's Red network
in the 1920s. It moved to CBS in 1937; the explanation was that
there were plenty of NBC affiliates getting into Louisville (such as
Nashville, St. Louis, Chicago) but few CBS affiliates. WAVE became
the NBC affiliate and the WAVE/NBC and WHAS/CBS affiliations carried
over into television until, as you pointed out, WHAS-TV went to ABC
in 1990.

WSB radio and television were both NBC affiliates until
WSB-TV moved to ABC in 1980. Sometime in the '80s WSB radio
picked up ABC as well.

 

[fortmill]

Richmond: WTVR/6 was CBS, while radio counterpoint WMBG/1380 was ABC. WXEX/8 was NBC while the co-owned WLEE/1480 was Mutual. WRVA/12 was ABC while co-owned WRVA/1140 was NBC.

Was WRVA-1140 once part of CBS Radio too--including during the early '90s? There were times late at night I would actually listen to parts of the "Big John" Trimble trucking radio show that aired on WRVA until about 1995 or so IIRC--and back then their national news came from CBS.

I believe WRVA/1140 did go with CBS in the 90s---of course by that time NBC was a ghost of it's former self. The info I posted above was for the 50s and 60s. In 1966, WRVA-TV (now WWBT) did get the NBC affiliation leaving ABC for WXEX (now WRIC). Being the first station in the market in 1948 and having a superior signal, WTVR was the dominant station until about 1975 when WWBT started making moves. All three stations were exceedingly cheap back in the day. WRVA didn't get a full power signal until Jefferson Pilot bought them out in the 70s. WXEX had a great signal, but it was broadcast from 20 miles south of Richmond (channel 8 is still licensed to Petersburg). Nonetheless, they could have moved the TX to Richmond anytime they wanted (which they finally did in the early 80s). WRNL/910 was the CBS radio affilate in Richmond (and owned by the Richmond Times Dispatch, seed of what is now Media General). They also intended to start a TV station, in fact they built a a very large and attractive studio building in downtown Richmond which was in stark contrast to the rather slummy studios of the other three stations. I used to hear WRNL planned to build a UHF station back in the 50s. Considering they would have had to compete with three VHFs, I guess they made a wise decision to drop their plans...

 

[Ultimajock]

...in Milwaukee, WTMJ was one of NBC's earliest affiliates on both Radio and TV. In the early '90s, though, WTMJ Radio quit NBC and picked up CBS, switching to ABC a few years later, then switching back to CBS about nine years ago IIRC...WTMJ-TV/4 remains with NBC...

 

[MattParker]

...in Milwaukee, WTMJ was one of NBC's earliest affiliates on both Radio and TV. In the early '90s, though, WTMJ Radio quit NBC and picked up CBS, switching to ABC a few years later, then switching back to CBS about nine years ago IIRC...WTMJ-TV/4 remains with NBC...

GE acquired RCA (and NBC) in 1986. They spun-off most of RCA, kept the NBC television network and the NBC owned television stations. They sold off the NBC owned radio stations and shut down the NBC radio network. They sold the rights to use the NBC "brand" (and audio from NBC News programs) to Westwood One but by the early 90s there was no NBC Radio, although Westwood and later CBS continued to use the brand name (or MSNBC) from time to time.

 

[Ultimajock]

...in Milwaukee, WTMJ was one of NBC's earliest affiliates on both Radio and TV. In the early '90s, though, WTMJ Radio quit NBC and picked up CBS, switching to ABC a few years later, then switching back to CBS about nine years ago IIRC...WTMJ-TV/4 remains with NBC...

GE acquired RCA (and NBC) in 1986. They spun-off most of RCA, kept the NBC television network and the NBC owned television stations. They sold off the NBC owned radio stations and shut down the NBC radio network. They sold the rights to use the NBC "brand" (and audio from NBC News programs) to Westwood One but by the early 90s there was no NBC Radio, although Westwood and later CBS continued to use the brand name (or MSNBC) from time to time.

...wanna knock off the silly hair-splitting? Dirk Van continues to identify his First Light early-morning radio newscast as an NBC Radio Network offering. Just because it isn't co-owned with the TV network doesn't mean the radio network ceased to exist in the mid-'90s. I worked for two NBC Radio affiliates much later than that -- WGLB in Port Washington, Wisconsin, in 1999 and WMCW in Harvard, Illinois in 2000-2001...

 

[MattParker]

@King Daevid... You say hair splitting. I say getting the facts straight.

The so-called "NBC Radio" of today has nothing to do with the NBC television network, NBC News, GE or Comcast. Actually "NBC Radio" of today has more of a historic connection with Mutual, and is operated by organization that produces CBS Radio news broadcasts (which, while owned by the same company is not part of the CBS News Division).

ABC Radio is no longer owned by ABC but at least ABC still produces the news broadcasts.

In many markets, network TV affiliates and their former "parent" radio stations are no longer owned or associated with the same company or have any form of joint operation.

The so-called radio networks have "affiliations" differing from their (former) radio companions.

I realize there is some stretching the limits of topics here but given the changed corporate nature of radio, the topic only applies into the 80s.

Even with an early morning show and an NBC tag line, this "NBC Radio" is not part of an station's public identity.

 

[Ultimajock]

...yeah, sure. Next you'll be claiming that WMAQ Radio wasn't "the real WMAQ" because it wasn't co-owned with RCA or NBC after 1988...

 

[KeithE4]

...yeah, sure. Next you'll be claiming that WMAQ Radio wasn't "the real WMAQ" because it wasn't co-owned with RCA or NBC after 1988...

It remained WMAQ because Westinghouse paid General Electric/NBC for the right to keep the call letters. Also, the FCC had changed their policy about two different companies owning the same "base" callsign as long as they were not in the same service.

 

[fybush]

The so-called "NBC Radio" of today has nothing to do with the NBC television network, NBC News, GE or Comcast. Actually "NBC Radio" of today has more of a historic connection with Mutual, and is operated by organization that produces CBS Radio news broadcasts (which, while owned by the same company is not part of the CBS News Division).

The organization that produces CBS Radio News is CBS News. It's distributed by WW1, but the news content, last I checked, is still coming from CBS News employees down the hall in the radio newsroom on W. 57th Street.

 

[Bob E. Nelson]

The organization that produces CBS Radio News is CBS News. It's distributed by WW1, but the news content, last I checked, is still coming from CBS News employees down the hall in the radio newsroom on W. 57th Street.

To keep away from further topic drift here on the Classic TV Board, I'm going to start a new thread over on Classic Radio dealing with CBS Radio and its affiliates. See you all over on Classic Radio!

 

[fybush]

OK, getting back on topic: here's an unusual one from Rochester. WHEC (1460, now WHIC) was the longtime CBS affiliate, while Mutual was on WVET (1280, now WHTK). When the FCC opened up applications for channel 10 in Rochester in 1952, WHEC and WVET both applied, as did indie WRNY (680, now WDCX 990) and ABC affiliate WARC (950, now WROC).

To avoid an interminable comparative hearing, WHEC and WVET got together to propose share-time operation of channel 10. They were jointly granted licenses, and channel 10 signed on November 1, 1953, operating some hours as WHEC-TV and some hours as WVET-TV. They had separate studios but shared a transmitter, and they programmed the station as a primary CBS affiliate with secondary ABC, regardless of which station was operating it at any given time.

So WHEC maintained its radio affiliation into the TV era, but WVET, Mutual on radio, ended up with CBS and ABC on TV.

 

[MattParker]

The so-called "NBC Radio" of today has nothing to do with the NBC television network, NBC News, GE or Comcast. Actually "NBC Radio" of today has more of a historic connection with Mutual, and is operated by organization that produces CBS Radio news broadcasts (which, while owned by the same company is not part of the CBS News Division).

The organization that produces CBS Radio News is CBS News. It's distributed by WW1, but the news content, last I checked, is still coming from CBS News employees down the hall in the radio newsroom on W. 57th Street.

In the mid 60's, Jack Schneider, the president of CBS, split up CBS News (after Fred Friendly quit). Radio news was assigned to the radio division. News for owned and operated stations was assigned to the stations division. They may be in the same building today but they are separate operations in different divisions of the company. The unit that produces newscasts for "CBS Radio" often answers the phone "network news" and produces content and programming for the network "brands" CBS Corp. operates.

 

[fybush]

The 60s were a long time ago.

Here's the boilerplate "About CBS News" that runs at the bottom of their news releases. Emphasis is mine:

About CBS News

The CBS News Division operates a worldwide news organization serving the CBS Television and Radio Networks and CBSNews.com with regularly scheduled news and public affairs programming - including, among others, the CBS EVENING NEWS, THE EARLY SHOW, 60 MINUTES, 48 HOURS MYSTERY, FACE THE NATION and SUNDAY MORNING - and special reports on breaking news. The division maintains 18 news bureaus and offices in the United States and abroad in addition to its world headquarters in New York.

 

[Dave Andrews]

A newspaper (I think in was the L.A. Times) listed KFMB AM as ABC. KFMB channel 8 is CBS.