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Whats the worst/weakest/most pathetic TV Station you've ever seen?
- Thread starter travisl5678
- Start date
KHIZ 64 from Barstow must be the most pathetic station ever. They run infomercials nearly 24/7 with a couple shows added in.
What makes them pathetic is, I believe, they're available throughout SoCal via cable and sat. They have a potential audience of millions yet choose to run infomercials with the ironic title of "Cable response" as it's cable that would bring in the ratings for them to show real programming.
When I first moved to Hesperia 64 was the only OTA station I could get. They were running Stargate SG1 and a couple other shows. You'd think they'd get back to that or maybe grab a "CoolTV" type network.
All IMHO so YMMV.
What makes them pathetic is, I believe, they're available throughout SoCal via cable and sat. They have a potential audience of millions yet choose to run infomercials with the ironic title of "Cable response" as it's cable that would bring in the ratings for them to show real programming.
When I first moved to Hesperia 64 was the only OTA station I could get. They were running Stargate SG1 and a couple other shows. You'd think they'd get back to that or maybe grab a "CoolTV" type network.
All IMHO so YMMV.
M
musicman3355
Guest
KVMD 32. They're availabile on DirecTV's LA locals, but they're programming is useless. It's just a bunch of programs in a different language (not even Spanish-language programming), does anyone even watch the station?
KHIZ isn't available in Time Warner Cable LA. I remember KHIZ did air Cheaters at 3PM in 2008, not to mention they aired the infamous spin-off of the show, "STAG: A Test of Love" (I believe they were the only station that aired that show). Then in 2009 they were a part-time affiliate of RTV, but then was dropped. Now I have no idea what exactly they air.
ajc_trw said:
KHIZ isn't available in Time Warner Cable LA. I remember KHIZ did air Cheaters at 3PM in 2008, not to mention they aired the infamous spin-off of the show, "STAG: A Test of Love" (I believe they were the only station that aired that show). Then in 2009 they were a part-time affiliate of RTV, but then was dropped. Now I have no idea what exactly they air.
In the 50s and 60s, one of the worst had to be KCOP Channel 13 - "A Chris Craft Station!" in Los Angeles. Unbelievably bad in those days - prime time consisted of Bill Burrud travelogues, they ran the same off network reruns for about 5 years (48 episodes of The Munsters, over and over), not to mention the worst C and D quality movies from the 30s and 40s.
Nobody would have believed it was a station in the nation's number 3, then number 2 market (LA grew larger than Chicago by the mid 60s). Johnny Carson used to make fun of KCOP in his monologue - telling his viewers what awful show was playing "over on Channel 13..."
Nobody would have believed it was a station in the nation's number 3, then number 2 market (LA grew larger than Chicago by the mid 60s). Johnny Carson used to make fun of KCOP in his monologue - telling his viewers what awful show was playing "over on Channel 13..."
We mentioned KHIZ in the A1 thread, I think it was. Its morning show was produced remotely from Erie PA, of all places, using that station's morning team.
musicman3355 said:
KVMD is truly awful but you might as well put up the triumvirate of uselessness and add all of Ronald Ulloa's LA stations: The triplecast of informercials and pay for play programming in KVMD/KXLA/KJLA. Now, the subchannels do contain programming of merit, most all aimed toward non-English speaking sects (Korean, Chinese, Italian, Vietnamese, Armenian etc.) but the main channels are rarely anything more than "Making a Million in Real Estate With No Money Down", "Bald-Be-Gone" and "Dyson Vacuums".
Actually, you can't swing a dead cat in Los Angeles and not hit a worthless television broadcaster. Up until a few months ago KLAU-Redlands ran a LP analog station that went up and down more than a roller coaster. All it ever ran was infomercials and even then they could barely contain to keep that "programming" on the air. I was convinced the tower was held together with chewing gum and bailing wire.
WHCT Channel 18 in Hartford, Connecticut. (For most of their existence they were financially troubled and went bye-bye in 1991 before being revived in '97. For the next few years they were being run by a bankruptcy attorney before being sold to Entravision who flipped the station to Univision WUVN, programming it out of their WUNI in Worcester, Mass).
From The UHF Morgue: http://radiodxer.bravehost.com/whct.html
From The UHF Morgue: http://radiodxer.bravehost.com/whct.html
K
kenglish
Guest
trapper12 said:
Wow! I almost took a job there 32 years ago, but my wife didn't want to work in a coal mine.
(Actually, they seemed to be doing pretty well for a small market station.)
By far, I'd have to say the most pathetic TV station I know of is KPXM-41 in St Cloud (Although they have a pending move to Minneapolis, and their current tower is actually halfway between St Cloud and Minneapolis).
They signed on in 1982 as KXLI. Rumor has it that they originally applied for a license in Minneapolis, but later moved the COL to St Cloud (transmitter in Big Lake) to save on syndication costs. Well, this backfired on them, because St Cloud is also part of the Minneapolis DMA. The station, in the early 80's, aired the cheapest syndicated programming around. Then, in the late 80's, tried to partner with a station in Minneapolis to form a network. Plans for that fell through, and the station left the air (and studio space was vacated) in 1988. It returned to the air in 1990, airing mostly HSN programming. Later bought by Bud Paxson, it changed formats to Infomercials. Pax was supposed to save the station, but we all know what happened there.
When they returned to the air in 1990, programming originated from the transmitter site. Not sure if that is still the case.
They signed on in 1982 as KXLI. Rumor has it that they originally applied for a license in Minneapolis, but later moved the COL to St Cloud (transmitter in Big Lake) to save on syndication costs. Well, this backfired on them, because St Cloud is also part of the Minneapolis DMA. The station, in the early 80's, aired the cheapest syndicated programming around. Then, in the late 80's, tried to partner with a station in Minneapolis to form a network. Plans for that fell through, and the station left the air (and studio space was vacated) in 1988. It returned to the air in 1990, airing mostly HSN programming. Later bought by Bud Paxson, it changed formats to Infomercials. Pax was supposed to save the station, but we all know what happened there.
When they returned to the air in 1990, programming originated from the transmitter site. Not sure if that is still the case.
mnradiofan said:
That other station was KTMA (WUCW) ch.23, another indy that was hit hard (though it didn't go dark), but was notable for "Mystery Science Theater 3000". The network also included a new station, KXLT channel 47 in Rochester -- that station was sold off by Paxson in 1998, shortly before Pax started, and became a new Fox affiliate for the Rockester / Mason City market.
In San Francisco its KRON channel 4 it used to be a good station in the 90's but in the last 10 years its been dying off with all the good anchors going to other San Francisco Stations or even leaving the market. Its basically a station thats been dead. one theres infomercials in the middle of the "newscasts".
They were not even in the same league as the other two stations in that market. Holston Valley Broadcasting did not seem to be investing a whole lot into that operation, unlike their radio stations where they seemed to have a bottomless bank account at one time, until the digital thing came along but by then they had very little if any local programming. I have noticed a tremendous improvement in signal quality but I am practically in their backyard now.kenglish said:
azumanga said:
Yeah, the whole situation was quite a shame, actually. Didn't the now WUCW have to even move into space donated by KTCA for a short period of time?
As a kid, I really enjoyed KTMA, would have been interesting to see if it could have survived long term, as it had very interesting programming on it. Of course, when the effort to form MIN failed, most of that was dropped, and the station was eventually sold and turned into a "Family Station" (KLGT) before becoming general entertainment again with the switch to WB-23.
I would vote for WKOB-LD in NYC. The only thing that makes this Daystar affiliate worth watching is that they recently started carrying Retro Television Network on one of their subchannels. The problem is they are low-power and broadcast on VHF channel 2, making the station almost impossible to receive even in nearby locales.
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