Worst TV stations ever

[wrsg915fm]

Yeah, the mistake was about the radio station, not the TV station.

I appreciate the clarification, gentlemen...thanks!

 

[jwgreek8606]

WOGX Fox 51 Gainesville-Ocala, their newscasts are done at sister station WOFL Fox 35 in Rlando!

 

[spencerkarter85]

My nominations:

Large Market: Greenville, SC #36 WNEG-TV 32 (1984-2011) it's licensed in Toccoa, Georgia. It started out as a commercial independent station in the fall of 1984, when it was bought by Spartan it became an alternate CBS affiliate (along with main CBS station WSPA 7), running smiliar shows from channel 7. After Spartan was bought by Media General in 2000, they kept the Spartan-era graphics not changing to the Media General look. Then in 2008, it was sold to University of Georgia Media Research in Athens (which is in the Atlanta DMA). It reverted back to an independent and even carried syndicated programs that other minority stations (WHNS, WMYA, and WYCW) didn't clear including Chappelle's Show, Punk'd, The Daily Buzz (picked up after WHNS dropped it), American Idol Rewind, Family Court (I think), and the Canadian import Degrassi: The Next Generation (which was unseen in it's first year in syndication in this market in 2007-08, then it was picked up unfortunately by WNEG in the 2008-09 season). Also they aired the first season of The Wendy Williams Show (before moving the following season to WHNS and dropped it the season after). And worse, they picked up Steve Harvey's first year on Family Feud (after it moved unsuccesfully on WMYA 40) in 2010. WNEG wasn't available in most of it's cable providers in it's DMA (except in the Georgia portion of the DMA, and Pickens, SC and on Dish Network), nor DirecTV. When WNEG became non-commercial WUGA in May. As a result, the eliminated the news staff. And Family Feud was unseen for the rest of the 2010-11 season in this market. But good news, WMYA regained Family Feud for 2011-12 season.

Small Market: Augusta, GA #115 WAGT-TV 26 (NBC) from 1980s-1995 when at the time it was known as 26 Power. But they didn't have newscasts until 1995.

 

[spencerkarter85]

I've forgot. The most worst station of it all is Salt Lake City's NBC station KSL-TV (owned by Bonneville/Mormons). They refused to air some of the best NBC programming like SNL and the short lived series Coupling and The Playboy Club. It's ex-sister station KIRO in Seattle (CBS) refused to air The Bold and The Beautiful when it was owned by Bonneville. I think KSL is trying to be a G-rated NBC station.

 

[mjlarochelle]

I've forgot. The most worst station of it all is Salt Lake City's NBC station KSL-TV (owned by Bonneville/Mormons). They refused to air some of the best NBC programming like SNL and the short lived series Coupling and The Playboy Club. It's ex-sister station KIRO in Seattle (CBS) refused to air The Bold and The Beautiful when it was owned by Bonneville. I think KSL is trying to be a G-rated NBC station.

What KSL does is what works for the local market, and Saturday Night Live airs on KUCW/30 so the local audience doesn't miss out on the show. Although SNL is heavily associated with NBC, I doubt many of today's viewers even care, since KUCW is readily available and many viewers today watch shows, not channels. I'm sure Utah fans of SNL are used to watching it on Channel 30 instead of on the NBC affiliate. If SNL wasn't available at all or was only available on a cable channel, then I would see a problem.

I am not a Mormon and I personally enjoy SNL, but I think that this kind of local autonomy and flexibility is what is one of the best things of the American broadcast TV model. I don't personally agree with what KSL does, but I also know that Utah is a unique market and a good business tailors its business model to suit the local marketplace.

 

[Bob1370]

One of the worst had to be the old WBJA-TV, channel 34 in Binghamton, NY. An ABC affiliate from the start, they would sign on late in the morning in the years before Good Morning America was fed down the network line. When they did news, it would be either a single announcer sitting at a desk befre a curtain with no film or visuals (at 6 PM) or that same announcer unseen on camera while a crudely drawn slide of a world globe and the word "NEWS" in large-cap type showed on screen. It was pure rip-and-read.

The statioon back then was owned by William F. Buckley Jr. It improved after he sold it. (It later became WMGC-TV and is now WIVT.)

 

[dave73]

As for worst television stations -- KTVW/13 in Tacoma in 1972 and earlier definitely would make the list. They didn't convert to color operation until either very late 1972 or 1973. And this is a station in a top 20 market...

I didn't see this when I commented on this thread a year ago (I know this reply was at least 5 years old, but worth commenting on). If you thought it was bad for KTVW to convert to color in 1972 or 1973, in Chicago, WCIU didn't convert to color until 1978. Even WTTW didn't convert to color until sometime between 1975 & 1977. In WCIU's case, they were a brokered station (until December 31, 1994, then a day later, went to an all English language independent station) with various ethnic programming, aimed at Russians, Polish, Ukranians, Chinese & I even believe in the day, Germans, & Lithuanians as well. They also had programming that was aimed at the black audience as well (that they still do today). They were using used broadcasting equipment when they went on the air. So funds were limited. With Weigel Broadcasting (WCIU, WWME-LD, WMEU-LD, plus subchannel networks MeTV & This TV) still being an independent in Chicago, they don't make the money that the top 5 stations make, but they have the freedom to program as they wish. So it took them a while to save up the money to get new equipment to convert to color. At least it didn't take as long for them to convert to digital, & HD.

 

[charlestondxman]

WNEG as a CBS was pretty bad. I remember watching it in Athens several times around 2006-08, and it looked like a station that hadn't changed in several years. No 5pm news, and I don't know if they had morning news. I believe the weekend 11pm news was taped.

They were good for a couple reasons: because they could air NFL games opposite Falcons Fox games, allowing Athens and NE Georgia to see a DH when Atlanta could not, and the local newscasts.

 

[azumanga]

Even WTTW didn't convert to color until sometime between 1975 & 1977.

Sure it took that long until WTTW colorcasted? I thought I recall seeing some of WTTW's national shows prior to 1975, including Soundstage, Book Beat and Kup's Show, in color. Also, the show that preceded Sneak Previews, "Opening Soon at a Theater Near You", was taped in color.

 

[dave73]

Even WTTW didn't convert to color until sometime between 1975 & 1977.

Sure it took that long until WTTW colorcasted? I thought I recall seeing some of WTTW's national shows prior to 1975, including Soundstage, Book Beat and Kup's Show, in color. Also, the show that preceded Sneak Previews, "Opening Soon at a Theater Near You", was taped in color.

Unless someone at fuzzymemories.tv got copies of black & white broadcasts of WTTW from 1975, then it might have been possible WTTW went color prior to 1975. That was where I based it off of. I know PBS predecessor, NET went color by 1968 or 1969, though some affiliates went color prior to that. I do know from what I read about WYCC predecessor, WXXW (then owned by WTTW), never went color before they went off the air in the mid 1970's.

 

[wbhist]

Unless someone at fuzzymemories.tv got copies of black & white broadcasts of WTTW from 1975, then it might have been possible WTTW went color prior to 1975. That was where I based it off of. I know PBS predecessor, NET went color by 1968 or 1969, though some affiliates went color prior to that. I do know from what I read about WYCC predecessor, WXXW (then owned by WTTW), never went color before they went off the air in the mid 1970's.

WTTW would've converted to color in the 1968-69 period or thereabouts. The FuzzyMemories site has many pre-1975 clips that were recorded on early home video (that is, reel-to-reel) recorders in B&W (also on such stations as WMAQ-TV and WGN-TV), but they were very much originally transmitted in color. Alas, WXXW (which went dark in 1974) never did go color, and in any case, WYCC is of a completely different license than the late WXXW. Remember, too, Chicago is the third largest market in the country (behind #1 New York and #2 Los Angeles), so WTTW would've definitely gone color before the '60's ended.

 

[LKellerIII]

Unless someone at fuzzymemories.tv got copies of black & white broadcasts of WTTW from 1975, then it might have been possible WTTW went color prior to 1975. That was where I based it off of. I know PBS predecessor, NET went color by 1968 or 1969, though some affiliates went color prior to that. I do know from what I read about WYCC predecessor, WXXW (then owned by WTTW), never went color before they went off the air in the mid 1970's.

WTTW would've converted to color in the 1968-69 period or thereabouts. The FuzzyMemories site has many pre-1975 clips that were recorded on early home video (that is, reel-to-reel) recorders in B&W (also on such stations as WMAQ-TV and WGN-TV), but they were very much originally transmitted in color. A

That was typical for some reason. When Johnny Carson would do his anniversary shows, and run old Tonight Show clips from the early 60s, they would usually be in black and white - despite the fact that the show had been broadcast in color since the beginning of the Carson era, maybe earlier.

 

[wbhist]

When Johnny Carson would do his anniversary shows, and run old Tonight Show clips from the early 60s, they would usually be in black and white - despite the fact that the show had been broadcast in color since the beginning of the Carson era, maybe earlier.

Like, how about two years before Carson assumed the reins? The program first went color in fall 1960, when it was still The Jack Paar Show.

 

[KeithE4]

Alas, WXXW (which went dark in 1974) never did go color, and in any case, WYCC is of a completely different license than the late WXXW.

WYCC is the same license as WXXW, via the never-aired WCME. Its CP goes back to the unbuilt WIND-TV in 1953.

Here's a portion of a web page about WYCC (I hope this is OK under fair-use):

In September 1965, the former construction permit for WIND-TV officially became Chicago’s second UHF station and second non-commercial outlet WXXW on channel 20. But WXXW, known as "the classroom of the air" was essentially a failure. Plagued by a weak signal and a schedule filled with what one time WTTW station manager Edward Morris called “talking heads and a blackboard,” WXXW limped along until quietly going dark in 1974. Throughout its entire broadcast life WXXW was only able to transmit in black & white, making it and WCIU Channel 26 the only non-color stations in the early 1970s. The monochrome transmissions were just another nail in the station’s coffin.

In 1977, a consortium known as the Chicago Metropolitan Educational Council acquires (and once again – legend says for $1 making it the cheapest television license ever in the Chicago area!) the long dark WXXW license from WTTW general manager Bill McCarter and renames it WCME. That station is never built. In 1982, Oscar Shabat, founding Chancellor of the City Colleges of Chicago asks the consortium to release the dormant license to them, and in late 1983 channel 20 is reborn as WYCC “We are Your City Colleges.” Credit to the development and subsequent success of WYCC goes to Elynne Chaplik-Aleskow whom we are flattered to talk with today.

Link: ChicagoTelevision.com

 

[mjlarochelle]

Virtually nobody in North America was as late as WQEX/16 in Pittsburgh - they were transmitting in black-and-white as late as February 1985.

Many Canadian stations had converted to color transmission by 1970, but some small-market stations were still producing local programming in black-and-white as late as 1972. CHEX/12 Peterborough was still producing all of its newsfilms in black-and-white as late as 1977, converting directly to ENG that year.

 

[azumanga]

Virtually nobody in North America was as late as WQEX/16 in Pittsburgh - they were transmitting in black-and-white as late as February 1985.

Most of the time during the 1970s, they were simulcasting their more-advanced sister station WQED -- they were practically forced into color in 1985 when WQEX's transmitter, which dated back to the 1950s when the station was initially WENS-TV, broke down, and the station couldn't find a way to bring it back online.

Many Canadian stations had converted to color transmission by 1970, but some small-market stations were still producing local programming in black-and-white as late as 1972. CHEX/12 Peterborough was still producing all of its newsfilms in black-and-white as late as 1977, converting directly to ENG that year.

Similar to what WHAG in Hagerstown, Maryland did -- they continued using black-and white newsfilm way into the 1970s, when, like CHEX, they began using ENG.

 

[TexasTom]

I've forgot. The most worst station of it all is Salt Lake City's NBC station KSL-TV (owned by Bonneville/Mormons). They refused to air some of the best NBC programming like SNL and the short lived series Coupling and The Playboy Club. It's ex-sister station KIRO in Seattle (CBS) refused to air The Bold and The Beautiful when it was owned by Bonneville. I think KSL is trying to be a G-rated NBC station.

I would disagree in the case of KSL, but agree in the case of KIRO. The difference is that KSL is accurately reflecting the viewing taste in what is a rather conservative market, whereas KIRO was way out of sync with the socially liberal Seattle/Tacoma market when it was owned by Bonneville. That distinction has been reflected in the relative ratings of the stations -- KSL has consistently been a very strong station in SLC ratings, whereas KIRO generally came in third when it was owned by Bonneville.

 

[BRNout]

I've forgot. The most worst station of it all is Salt Lake City's NBC station KSL-TV (owned by Bonneville/Mormons). They refused to air some of the best NBC programming like SNL and the short lived series Coupling and The Playboy Club. It's ex-sister station KIRO in Seattle (CBS) refused to air The Bold and The Beautiful when it was owned by Bonneville. I think KSL is trying to be a G-rated NBC station.

Annoying, yes; "worst", absolutely not. KSL is - and always has been - a very professionally operated station. They've generally adopted the latest technological advances before any of their competition and pretty much on par with much larger markets such as LA or Chicago. Their newscasts have long been #1 in the market (though challenged these days) because they offer not only the LDS-ish point of view, but also because they have long had the best resources and been able to obtain the best talent available.

When I worked in that market, believe me, even non-LDS talent would have jumped at the chance to move across the street to channel 5. It was always the pacesetter in the Salt Lake market. I've visited their studios and offices and the facility is first-rate.

Yes, to me it was sacrilege that they'd punt NFL football coverage on one Sunday in October (back in their CBS days) in favor of LDS General Conference. Crazy to me, but relevant in the market. And the various shows that they'd pass on were generally picked up elsewhere. But there's no substitute for success. If anything, it could be considered one of the "Best TV Stations ever" - in some regards.

 

[azumanga]

Yes, to me it was sacrilege that [KSL would] punt NFL football coverage on one Sunday in October (back in their CBS days) in favor of LDS General Conference. Crazy to me, but relevant in the market. And the various shows that they'd pass on were generally picked up elsewhere.

For the NFL games, did another station in SLC pick them up?

 

[BRNout]

Yes, to me it was sacrilege that [KSL would] punt NFL football coverage on one Sunday in October (back in their CBS days) in favor of LDS General Conference. Crazy to me, but relevant in the market. And the various shows that they'd pass on were generally picked up elsewhere.

For the NFL games, did another station in SLC pick them up?

Yes, although it was usually what was once channel 30 from Ogden which had the worst OTA signal and which wasn't offered on cable in the entire state. It has since become the market's CW affiliate with statewide coverage. But, the football aspect is now a moot point as KSL is now NBC and the only NFL games they get are Sunday night or the playoffs/Super Bowl.

The CW affiliate carries SNL to this day.