Worst TV stations ever

[FreddyE1977]

Though they have improved in recent years, at one time WPXI (nee WIIC) in Pittsburgh would have been a serious contender, due to a whole host of issues, most of them having to do with their perennially third-place newscast.

- the infamous night in 1977 when anchor Beverly Byer picked up the live update phone and was told that Groucho Marx, who had been gravely ill for several days, had passed away. The camera caught her as she was hanging up the phone. She looked right into the teleprompter and issued those now immortal words, "Groucho Marx took a turn for the worse today......in fact, he died."

That quote seemed right out of something Groucho would've said, but still . . . : :-X

Yes, everyone says that she would have brought the duck down!

I was reminded today that they also had a horrible feature on their news for some time called the
Steeler Song. Thinking that absolutely ANYTHING having to do with the Steelers would be popular
in Pittsburgh, they cut a highlight reel of the prior week's game and then had a bunch of studio
singers make up a song about it. I think this ran Thursday or Friday during the 6PM newscast, so
if the game was on Sunday (or Monday night) they had to work with breakneck speeed.
How do you set a three-minute recap of an NFL game to music on three-days notice
and not have it come out sounding absolutely horrible? I think 'PXI proved it can't be done!

"and Matt Bahr's field goal makes it 9 to 6, da dum dum dum......."

 

[RicoGregg]

Historically, in 1960s Southern California, the worst was KCOP, Channel 13, (a "Chris-Craft station").

Let me count the ways: prime time consisted of multiple Bill Burrud travelogues ("as the sun sets slowly to the west, we bid aloha to the tropical breezes...").

The worst "C" quality late night movies from the 1940s. The LA based comedy group Credibility Gap (Harry Shearer, now of Simpsons fame) produced a parody of KCOP late night commercials, which were basically slide shows of local small businesses..."Come to Ramone's Beauty Salon in downtown Carson..."

Also of note: A half decade worth of Munsters and Patty Duke reruns...26 or 39 episodes over and over. The worst Hanna-Barbera cartoons that nobody else would buy (Touche Turtle, Wally Gator). Not to mention Dialing for Dollars - no movie or interviews, just Alan Sloane talking to the camera for an hour, and making phone calls to people who could win the prize jackpot of around $25 if they could tell Alan the "count and the amount." Problem is, they usually weren't home, or if they did answer - they had never heard of his show.

I have in storage a VHS cassette that contains three movies. They are three films that I'll forever associate with Channel 13 as back in the day, they seemed to have a film library of about 12 movies that showed repeatedly.

The three movies are: The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown, starring Jane Russell; Hollywood Canteen, with an assortment of mostly Warner Bros. contract players; and Four Jills in a Jeep, with Carole Landis and Martha Raye.

I refer to this videocassette as my KCOP Trilogy.

KCOP did a lot of strange things back then, yet somehow I miss that.

 

[wbhist]

I have in storage a VHS cassette that contains three movies. They are three films that I'll forever associate with Channel 13 as back in the day, they seemed to have a film library of about 12 movies that showed repeatedly.

The three movies are: The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown, starring Jane Russell; Hollywood Canteen, with an assortment of mostly Warner Bros. contract players; and Four Jills in a Jeep, with Carole Landis and Martha Raye.

I refer to this videocassette as my KCOP Trilogy.

In the latter half of the 1960's, Four Jills in a Jeep was held by WNBC-TV in New York, where it was played to death on their once-prestigious Movie 4, once a poor man's Late Show (as in the venerable WCBS-TV institution), but by the time the daily afternoon edition was put to sleep in 1974 had become an even poorer man's 4:30 Movie (as in the WABC-TV series). That station had some of the lowest-grade movies in their library over the years, two of the most infamous being The Babe Ruth Story (which led a list of the worst baseball movies ever in The Baseball Hall of Shame book) and Fire Maidens of Outer Space (two stints at Channel 4: 1959-60 and 1965-68); plus, from the mid-1960's onwards, having second- and third-hand film packages that played previously on one or more of the other New York metro area VHF stations (including that region's Channel 13 when it was commercial WATV/WNTA-TV). While WNBC, in the years prior to 1964, had some NY TV debuts of certain films that are classics today (such as High Noon, The Quiet Man, Spellbound, The Third Man, The Ladykillers, East of Eden and Blackboard Jungle), there were also the dogs (such as countless Vera Ralston movies from Republic). For a network-owned station in the nation's largest market, WNBC had the thinnest film library of all (an average of 400-500 films in one given period, as opposed to over 2,000 at one point at WCBS; it only seemed like 12 or 13 a la KCOP).

As for the others: During the latter half of the 1960's, The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown played frequently on WOR-TV; and Hollywood Canteen was on WCBS-TV (as a frequent staple on The Late Late Show).

 

[LKellerIII]

I remember Four Jills in a Jeep, though I have no memory of when and where I saw it. But it was a classic compared to the junk KCOP ran in late nights - at least during the mid and late 60s. Their late movie was mostly Grade C theatrical releases with no name "stars." You could tell they were the kind of movies shot on tiny budgets in just a few days. It's hard to imagine what the market could have been for such films. I can't see them even being the second feature on a double-bill at any self-respecting movie theatre.

I remember seeing a really bad 40s mystery-comedy about a private detective, and his secretary...who was secretly in love with him, of course. She kept calling him "boss." In the last scene, when he finally figures out she digs him, and kisses her, she whispers dreamily to him "Ohhhhh....boss!" [/i]

The Credibility Gap's satire of KCOP late night commercials was a scream.

 

[Al Timiter]

My nominations for worst stations ever is limited to my experiences:

MAJOR MARKET: WOR TV-9 New York-Looked like it belonged in a market much, much smaller.

MEDIUM MARKET: WCCB-18 Charlotte-It has improved over time but...as both an ABC affiliate and later as an Indy, it looked pitiful.

SMALL MARKET: WAIM TV-40 Anderson SC-Rebroadcasting (with permission) over the air network shows from WLOS-Asheville and WSPA-Spartanburg and airing things like Army training films at other times to fill time.

 

[LKellerIII]

My nominations for worst stations ever is limited to my experiences:

MAJOR MARKET: WOR TV-9 New York-Looked like it belonged in a market much, much smaller.

You don't mention the time-period, but WOR-TV in the 60s (and later) was owned by RKO General, which also owned KHJ-TV 9 in Los Angeles. I've heard KHJ-TV referred to as a "worst." It was pretty bad, but in LA, they couldn't compete with KCOP for the "worst" prize. At least KHJ-TV ran decent old movies, and enjoyed some reflected glory from their radio sister station - 93/KHJ, considered by many to be the most successful Top 40 station of all time.

 

[FreddyE1977]

My nominations for worst stations ever is limited to my experiences:

MAJOR MARKET: WOR TV-9 New York-Looked like it belonged in a market much, much smaller.

MEDIUM MARKET: WCCB-18 Charlotte-It has improved over time but...as both an ABC affiliate and later as an Indy, it looked pitiful.

SMALL MARKET: WAIM TV-40 Anderson SC-Rebroadcasting (with permission) over the air network shows from WLOS-Asheville and WSPA-Spartanburg and airing things like Army training films at other times to fill time.

I would concur with you on WOR. I had them on my cable system in Pittsburgh in the 80's.
You'd look at some of the commercials and the production values and say "THIS is from the Big Apple?"
They were doing a more professional job down in Wheeling, WV.

 

[Maine-i-ac]

Any discussion of bad TV stations HAS to include WVII (ABC, ch. 7) in Bangor, Maine. They're the #3 station in town in every way imaginable.

In the 80s they were even worse. Their newscasts were on a bare-bones blue and marble set.

They are still #3 in the market. Their news consists of 5 hours a week and 2 1/2 hours on their Fox affiliate. Plus the 10 p.m. Fox and 11 p.m. ABC newscasts are PRE-RECORDED!

The most popular local program on WVII in the 70s and 80s was Dick Stacey's Country Jamboree, which aired on Saturday nights. Dick Stacey was an owner of a group of Citgo stations in the area who put in his own commercials: "See these hands? They smell like gas."

"Stacey's Country Jamboree" is definitely an acquired taste. Saturday late night it was either "Stacey's" on 7, wrestling on 5 or "Saturday Night Live" on 2. The older crowd went for Stacey's. And they were a phenomenon! Especially in Atlantic Canada! They even toured up there. In 2009, a DVD/CD was put together. I bought a copy for my parents at Christmas. It was playing in the DVD player before I left. : http://www.staceyscountryjamboree.com/ If you click on the link, look for the play button at the bottom of the page. You will find the Stacey theme song and then the big star Jennie Shontell singing her signature tune "On The Wings of a Dove". Miss Shontell passed away in the last decade, but on her tombstone is a picture of a snow white dove. The surviving Stacey performers are having a reunion in Bangor this year. They already have confirmed buses from Canada to attend.

WVII hasn't improved that much. Last time I was in Bangor I turned it on expecting to see a newscast and got an infomercial. The next morning, their "local" update during GMA was a Bloomberg business report and an AccuWeather forecast. I see their website has a Deer Stand Makeover contest now.

JPK

Yes, the GMA fill-ins still have the Bloomberg report, AccuWeather and a minute of local news taped the day before, usually a fluff piece or PSA. Gotta love their tag line though, "If it's news, you'll see it on ABC7!" They still don't fill in with the quick weather reports during ABC Morning News or GMA.

I do remember during the early 80's that they gave it a good try with now WABI News Director Jim Morris heading up the news with Bangor's first hour news cast starting at 5:30. I haven't seen the ratings, but I would guess that if they filled with alternate programming, not that many people would miss the news on ABC and Fox.

 

[azumanga]

SMALL MARKET: WAIM TV-40 Anderson SC-Rebroadcasting (with permission) over the air network shows from WLOS-Asheville and WSPA-Spartanburg and airing things like Army training films at other times to fill time.

Most of the filler programs were either religious programming or travelogues. Furthermore, for most of its life, the station signed on late (usually around 11:30AM, later on weekends) and signed off early (when prime time ended at 11PM).

 

[Tim-In-Houston]

I'm somewhat surprised no one has mentioned KXGN-5 the CBS affiliate in Glendive, MT (the nations smallest media market). They produce a daily 5 minute "newscast" at 10:30 called "Montana East News". I could describe, but its worth taking a look.

Another I would suggest is Helena's KTVH-12 aka "Beartooth NBC" (and the default NBC affiliate for Great Falls) owned by the same folks who operate KSNV (nee KVBC)-Las Vegas and KRNV-Reno, the station does a 6 and 10 pm newscast M-F only. Their weather "graphics" are, literally, a powerpoint slideshow.

 

[KML0224]

WOW! How low budget was that? One camera, rip-and-read and no chyron! Definitely market #210!

 

[charlestondxman]

This is from at least 3 or 4 years ago (when they posted it). I love how she goes through her scripts and puts them aside. WAIM was always a cheap station.

Some of the stations here back in the late 1980s were really bad, but Charleston has always been a good news market. WCBD was really cheap back in these days, but they were pretty normal for a small Southern town (which was what Charleston was at the time).

Here is WCBD (at 0:54)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lvoo_6fcWCQ

 

[travisl5678]

I'd like to nominate KEMO 20 in San Francisco, which was later bought by the Bay Area Radio/TV God James Gabbert and became the leadendary KOFY TV 20

 

[Tim-In-Houston]

WOW! How low budget was that? One camera, rip-and-read and no chyron! Definitely market #210!

No "was"...that video is fairly recent (within the last year)...it was part of the online extra for a Billings Gazette story about KXGN's switch to digital last summer.

 

[FRR]

WLIO in Lima Ohio had to take the prize back in the 1980's If I remember correctly, their weather map even had Ohio cities in the wrong locations. The anchor desk appeared to be plywood with carpet on the front. I asked one of the weather girls on the station how she got the job, since she had no training in meteorology or television, and she said it was because the PD said she had great #*ts. ( I'm sure it is much more professional now)

 

[FreddyE1977]

WLIO in Lima Ohio had to take the prize back in the 1980's If I remember correctly, their weather map even had Ohio cities in the wrong locations. The anchor desk appeared to be plywood with carpet on the front. I asked one of the weather girls on the station how she got the job, since she had no training in meteorology or television, and she said it was because the PD said she had great #*ts. ( I'm sure it is much more professional now)

Quite a few women I know who interviewed for broadcast jobs in the 70's and 80's told me that their
#*ts were generally a major subject of focus in the interview.

 

[cd637299]

Wao.....OTOH, there was the Christine Craft issue.

cd

 

[zaddick]

But anyway the new owner Lester White put it back on the air in 1972 with the local Bozo replaced by "Lighthouse Louie" singing "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts" and airing Paramount/Famous Studios' cheeziest cartoons (under the UM&M banner) which included "Screen Songs" and "Little Lulu." The most boorish show geared to children I ever saw. (KKK,JBS,Liberty Lobby et. al) to this day.

I think before you talk bad about Lighthouse Louie you need to prove your statements because my dad, Sonny Haire, just recently died, and cannot defend that statement, and his show, Lighthouse Louie, was more popular than it was boring and it was set to be syndicated until that crook White was caught stealing, and, in fact, after White got out of prison, White sold the rights to my dad's show to someplace in Japan, illegally, and behind my dad's back of course. If it was so boring, why was it about to be syndicated? Why wasn't it syndicated anyway you might ask, well, white was tied into the mafia and the mafia was not very popular at that time. The FBI kept my dad for a week for questioning. -zaddick.com

 

[Mike Sheridan]

I am sure that this one qualifies, only because likely their money was low:

WAJA 23 Miami FL (now WLTV).

I watched it a lot as a kid after signing on in 1967, not knowing any better.....but they had old reruns of shows in which the films had so many scratches, dots, and splices, missing some scenes, that no self-respecting TV station would ever air today. (Get this....even a filmed *commercial* had these scratches! And it wasn't a PSA either.)

They bragged having lots of sports each night as well....which included jai-alai and---yes---bullfighting. (I did get interested in Roller Derby thanx to WAJA---really "Roller Games.") Also wrestling from other areas of the USA, apparently. [Where did the wrestling originate, which had Danny Williams as announcer, and the best "face" wrestlers Art Becker & Johnny Weaver?]

By maybe 1969 they briefly added old reruns in Spanish on Saturday nights for a few hours, prior to changing calls to WLTV and going Spanish weeknights from 7pm on, eventually going 100% Espanol.

They are now a major major player here....but oh those old days....!!

cd

You forgot WKID 51. They ran it out of a defunct amusement park and then a cheap warehouse. Dick Vance did a sports talk show and actually held a mic up to a cheap cassette recorder. You could also sometimes see flies on the set.

 

[Mike Sheridan]

WHKY Hickory,North Carolina (near Charlotte) is still bad. Bad audio, bad video, bad programming. Preachers yelling, and lots of QVC type programming. Local news with no style at all. When the Long family finally sells it somebody is going to make a TV station out of it!