WBAL not airing "Facts of Life" when it was NBC the first time

[harrisburgpatv]

I have noticed in several of my TVG's, from 1979 up until the WMAR/WBAL switch of 1981, that WBAL opted not to air "The Facts of Life" on a pretty regular basis. As a matter of fact, in the summer of 1981, it was regularly pre-empted on WBAL for "Edition Eleven", but oddly enough, WMAR would run it (sometimes before an O's game), a few months before they officially made the switch to NBC.

Does anyone know why this would be?

 

[bpatrick]

A network can offer a pre-empted show to another station in the market;
it's possible that an O's game started at 8:30 (especially if they were playing
in the Central time zone), CBS had an hour show from 8 to 9, and WMAR
needed to fill a half-hour. So someone apparently figured "Facts Of Life" would
do nicely.

 

[retrothoughts]

I recall, about the same time, that Channel 8, the NBC affiliate in the Tampa Bay area, bumped Facts of Life for probably M*A*S*H reruns around 1980-81 or so, which proved how bad NBC was back then.

NBC's doing worse now, and yet you don't see those kinds of pre-emptions. And even when the NBC affiliate in Boston tried to bump Jay Leno for local news at 10 pm before its premiere, the affiliation was put in jeopardy before the station changed its mind.

 

[azumanga]

I recall, about the same time, that Channel 8, the NBC affiliate in the Tampa Bay area, bumped Facts of Life for probably M*A*S*H reruns around 1980-81 or so, which proved how bad NBC was back then.

I recall them having done the same thing later on for "Love, Sidney", mainly due to the controversy of Tony Randall's character, who was gay. (The reason they pre-empted Facts was unknown (probably to recoup ad money), though they could also get controversial at times.)

 

[bpatrick]

The networks are tougher on pre-emptions now than
thirty years ago; you'll notice that one station with a
long history of pre-emptions, WSB, carries virtually
all ABC programs in pattern now (the exception may be
on Saturday mornings). Now if ABC could get WFAA to
carry "All My Children" in pattern at noon instead of
day-behind at 11 AM...

 

[The King Bee]

It's my understanding that, of the Big 4 nets, NBC and Fox are reasonably understanding with affiliates about pre-empts as long as the affiliate doesn't over-do it, CBS takes a harder line, and ABC wants a pound of flesh and your first-born child for even a net delay, let alone a pre-empt!

But, after all, Uncle Walt's companies (ABC, ESPN, Buena Vista/Touchstone/Hollywood/Walt Disney Pictures, even their music licensing and theme park divisions) are notoriously hard-line and difficult to deal with.

 

[Mario500]

WEAR-TV in Pensacola, Florida has been pre-empting "World News Saturday" and "World News Sunday" for years, regularly delaying "Nightline" for over 25 years, and occasionally pre-empting two hours of the network's evening programming in favor of a syndicated movie. When will ABC finally get tough with this station?

 

[FreddyE1977]

I'm guessing that they were afraid too many parents would see that title in the listings,
presume that it was some sort of sex-ed program and start bombarding the switchboard

 

[firepoint525]

I personally wish that channel 6 in Paducah had bumped Facts of Life back then. Not because of any salacious content, but because the show (at least in those early years) was mainly about whiny spoiled rotten little girls who got into arguments all the time! And my sister loved that stupid show! : It got a little better in those last couple of years, but by then, the girls were grown, and keeping them together as adults didn't make much sense.

Channel 6 was the one that tape-delayed SNL by an hour for the better part of 20 years!

 

[Mario500]

Here is an update to my previous post after finding today's news release from Sinclair Broadcast Group, the owners of WEAR-TV:

"In addition, the Company announced that the affiliation agreements with the ABC Network for nine stations it owns and/or operates have been extended for one month while the two sides continue to negotiate. The network affiliation agreements were due to expire on December 31, 2009."

http://www.sbgi.net/site_mgr/temp/Q4%2009%20Preliminary%20Results%202%5Fpj655l6w%2Eshtml

 

[anotherguyTN]

NBC should have taken a harder line in the 80's, not only in prime time but also in the daytime and late night. WMC in Memphis was notorious for dropping vitrually all of NBC's game shows except Wheel of Fortune and replacing them with talk shows. I believe that NBC allowing stations like WMC to get away with this is the beginning of the collapse of their daytime schedule to where now it is nothing but an extended Today show and Days of Our Lives.

WMC also delayed David Letterman for years, at first by 30 minutes and then a full hour. In the period between Letterman's last show on NBC and when Conan O'Brien took over Late Night when NBC carried classic Letterman reruns WMC dropped it completely. Yet when Conan took over WMC began to carry him at the correct time.

There were a lot of viewer complaints to the point that even the local TV columnist in the Commercial Appeal brought it up, but they went ignored by WMC's management. It stayed that way until the station was sold in the mid-90's to what eventually became Raycom, and Ron Klayman, the station manager who was rresponsible for all the pre-empted and delayed programs, left.

 

[mleach]

I have noticed in several of my TVG's, from 1979 up until the WMAR/WBAL switch of 1981, that WBAL opted not to air "The Facts of Life" on a pretty regular basis. As a matter of fact, in the summer of 1981, it was regularly pre-empted on WBAL for "Edition Eleven", but oddly enough, WMAR would run it (sometimes before an O's game), a few months before they officially made the switch to NBC.

Does anyone know why this would be?

WMAR would lose CBS in September 1981 because of WMAR's constant pre-emptions of CBS programming due to Baltimore Orioles baseball. By the summer 0f 81, WMAR knew this and of course WBAL knew they would be CBS and it was hardly a secret. The Baltimore Sun even noticed the large number of CBS stars in Baltimore walking around the Inner Harbor area such as the casts from The Jeffersons, WKRP, Dallas, etc...all proudly sporting WBAL-TV 11 sweatshirts. Even Dan Rather !! Actually his pic was made into a billboard " Dan would RATHER be on Baltimore 11 WBAL-TV".

Anyway knowing they will be part of NBC soon, I would imagine NBC just gave Facts to WMAR and WBAL couldn't had cared less.

 

[MarcB]

For years WFSB in Hartford has been delaying the 12:35AM Talk show by a half hour. They show a rerun of Entertainment tonight that ran at 730.