Worst TV stations ever

[vchimpanzee]

The only Saturday green section I remember was in the Atlanta Journal. The Charlotte Observer and the Greensboro News and Record had inserts called TV Week that ran on Sunday (Greensboro's eventually moved to Saturday). They were not any special color.

This was before the News and the Record merged.

 

[ohdxer]

There might have been another paper that had a similar section. We usually traveled to Myrtle Beach the morning (Saturday) after my father got off work on Friday. We'd stop in either Salisbury or Albemarle and I'd get the News. I thought it was cool that a paper would have a separate section for TV and entertainment, and, of course, those listings! (And gotta love that green paper.)

The Sunday Columbus Dispatch had a similar section and I liked that one too. It was very thick. It was just on regular white newsprint. They carried listings in separate boxes for WSAZ and WHTN from Huntington, WTAP from Parkersburg, and I'm almost certain, WHIZ Zanesville.

I do remember that during the week in the 1970's, the Columbus Dispatch newspaper carried daily tv program listings from WSAZ and WHTN from Huntington, WTAP from Parkersburg, WHIZ from Zanesville, and WOUB from Athens. It would carry the listings from 7:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. for that day. Then by 1980 the Columbus Dispatch newspaper no longer carried daily listings for out of town tv stations.

One time during the late 1980's or early 1990's, I got the Sunday weekly tv magazine in the Columbus Dispatch for the region east of Columbus by accident instead of my normal Columbus region tv magazine.

I noticed that the east of Columbus region had listings for WTRF from Wheeling and WHIZ from Zanesville in addition to listing the Columbus stations.

I also remember that years ago the Toledo Blade newspaper from Toledo, Ohio had the Peach color section that carried the tv listings for Toledo and out of town stations in a tv guide bullet format.

The out of towns tv stations that the Toledo Blade newspaper carried in the Peach section were stations from Detroit, Fort Wayne, Lansing, Lima, and Windsor. I can't remember if it also carried the Cleveland tv stations.

 

[IM42A]

I do remember that during the week in the 1970's, the Columbus Dispatch newspaper carried daily tv program listings from WSAZ and WHTN from Huntington, WTAP from Parkersburg, WHIZ from Zanesville, and WOUB from Athens. It would carry the listings from 7:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. for that day. Then by 1980 the Columbus Dispatch newspaper no longer carried daily listings for out of town tv stations.

They probably didn't list WSAZ and WHTN for this reason, but I know back in the days when TV Fool's Longley-Rice maps were halfway-updated (that is basically a zombie site nowadays), the WSAZ map showed a large area to the west of Columbus, around Grove City, where they supposedly could be received. If that were accurate (and that's a huge caveat with TV Fool's heat maps), there is a huge population of southern Appalachian transplants out that way, and if they could have gotten WSAZ, I'm sure they would have been very pleased. I have to doubt many were even aware of it, again, if TV Fool's map was accurate.

 

[ftballfan]

I do remember that during the week in the 1970's, the Columbus Dispatch newspaper carried daily tv program listings from WSAZ and WHTN from Huntington, WTAP from Parkersburg, WHIZ from Zanesville, and WOUB from Athens. It would carry the listings from 7:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. for that day. Then by 1980 the Columbus Dispatch newspaper no longer carried daily listings for out of town tv stations.

One time during the late 1980's or early 1990's, I got the Sunday weekly tv magazine in the Columbus Dispatch for the region east of Columbus by accident instead of my normal Columbus region tv magazine.

I noticed that the east of Columbus region had listings for WTRF from Wheeling and WHIZ from Zanesville in addition to listing the Columbus stations.

I also remember that years ago the Toledo Blade newspaper from Toledo, Ohio had the Peach color section that carried the tv listings for Toledo and out of town stations in a tv guide bullet format.

The out of towns tv stations that the Toledo Blade newspaper carried in the Peach section were stations from Detroit, Fort Wayne, Lansing, Lima, and Windsor. I can't remember if it also carried the Cleveland tv stations.

I'm a little surprised Dayton never made the Columbus daily TV listings considering Madison County (just west of Columbus) could have easily picked up 2 and 7 from Dayton.

I've seen snippets of a few Toledo Blade Peach editions and they did have Cleveland

 

[bpatrick]

This was before the News and the Record merged.

I think I was living in Texas when that happened.

 

[IM42A]

I'm a little surprised Dayton never made the Columbus daily TV listings considering Madison County (just west of Columbus) could have easily picked up 2 and 7 from Dayton.

I've seen snippets of a few Toledo Blade Peach editions and they did have Cleveland

Just a guess, maybe the Columbus stations (which were also advertising clients) discouraged the paper from carrying Dayton listings to preserve the western end of the market, and to steer viewers away from Dayton stations. That may sound Machievellian, but still...

If Columbus didn't exist, Madison County would easily fall into the Dayton market.

 

[ohdxer]

I'm a little surprised Dayton never made the Columbus daily TV listings considering Madison County (just west of Columbus) could have easily picked up 2 and 7 from Dayton.

I've seen snippets of a few Toledo Blade Peach editions and they did have Cleveland

Just a guess, maybe the Columbus stations (which were also advertising clients) discouraged the paper from carrying Dayton listings to preserve the western end of the market, and to steer viewers away from Dayton stations. That may sound Machievellian, but still...

If Columbus didn't exist, Madison County would easily fall into the Dayton market.

Yes, folks in Madison County were able to receive the Dayton area tv stations.

I remember during the 1980's that folks in Madison County got the Dayton Edition of TV Guide and folks in Columbus got the Columbus Edition of TV Guide.

The Dayton edition carried listings for Dayton, Cincinnati, and Columbus tv stations while the Columbus Edition only carried listings for Columbus and Zanesville.

I also remember that back then the Columbus Dispatch newspaper and WBNS 10 in Columbus were owned by the Wolfe Family.

I would suspect that the newspaper and tv station being owned by the same owners were the likely reason why listings for Dayton tv stations weren't published in the Columbus Dispatch.

 

[IM42A]

Yes, folks in Madison County were able to receive the Dayton area tv stations.

I remember during the 1980's that folks in Madison County got the Dayton Edition of TV Guide and folks in Columbus got the Columbus Edition of TV Guide.

The Dayton edition carried listings for Dayton, Cincinnati, and Columbus tv stations while the Columbus Edition only carried listings for Columbus and Zanesville.

I also remember that back then the Columbus Dispatch newspaper and WBNS 10 in Columbus were owned by the Wolfe Family.

I would suspect that the newspaper and tv station being owned by the same owners were the likely reason why listings for Dayton tv stations weren't published in the Columbus Dispatch.

Ross County (Chillicothe) was also assigned to the Dayton TVG, probably because of carriage of WHIO and WCPO on cable there. To this day, per TVTV.com, Chillcothe cable carries WHIO. Not sure why, there is little economic or cultural nexus between Dayton and Chillicothe, but evidently it is just historic viewer preference.

It would have made sense just to restore the old Southern Ohio edition, and WSAZ and WHTN/WOWK from Huntington really should have been in that edition as well. Chillicothe cable used to carry both.

 

[Mike711]

> What are the worst television stations you've ever seen?
>
> By "worst" I mean stations which, now or then, set low
> standards ... i.e., bad production values, terrible
> newscasts, subpar technically, those defined by weird and/or
> flamboyant personalities, poor or dated graphics, bizarre
> programming choices, etc.
---------
In Canada...

CFPL 10 / London

In 1987 they had a 60s film animation ident with primative synthesized music. The ident was fairly new, as the logo had only been around since 1981. Their graphics were always very, very cheap through the 80s and 90s. They still used 80s-type Chryon until the fall of 2001, and they only had a tiny collection of fonts (four at the most). They still used 80s colour gradiation backgrounds until then as well. I have seen both their news intro and WVII's news intro from 1992, and the CFPL one make WVII look like WSVN. CFPL used extremely primative computer graphics that had trails behind flying words. The sad thing was that in 1979, they were a much more advanced, futuristic looking station, with a computer-generated news intro and an excellent news set.

Also, from the time they disaffiliated from the CBC in 1988 until they were bought by Baton (CFTO), most of their programming was obscure. Kind of stuff you'd find on Pax/i now.


CIII 6 / Paris

They act like a Toronto station yet their city of license is over halfway from there to London, at Paris. They have managed to rise to become Toronto's #2 newscast from a very distant last place a few years ago when they didn't pretend to be a Toronto station. If the CRTC followed the rules that station would be walking on very thin ice right now.


CHEX-2 22 / Oshawa

They are a Class A station serving as a CBC affiliate for Durham Region. Thing is, there already are two nearby CBC affiliates - Peterborough (CHEX 12) and Toronto (CBLT 5). They have a certain degree of local programming. They are fairly redundent, as Toronto is close enough to provide programming relevant to Durham Region, and CBC is already readily available.


CKWS 11 (CBC) / Kingston

The current newscast on CKWS looks very, very cheap. The studio is set up so that there are four monitors positioned behind each anchor, and when transitioning from one anchor to the other, it looks like the other anchor magically took the place of the other one on the same background - almost like chromakey, yet you can see a slight difference in the lighting. I remember the local newscasts were more professional in the late 90s - they weren't great, but they were better than CFPL. Their current 5:30 local program "Newswatch @ 5:30" is very cheap and fluffy, and the host is annoying. Additionally I am told that they had a 70s film animation news intro as late as 1993.


ATV / Halifax, Sydney, Saint John, Moncton

One newscast feed for all four stations across the Maritimes, and most of the news is aimed at Halifax. Terrible setup as it stands now.


MCTV / Sudbury, North Bay, Timmins, Sault Ste. Marie

Same reason I don't like ATV. Most of the news is aimed at Sudbury, even more so than ATV aims at Halifax. Oh sorry CTV, I think I'm supposed to call it CTV Northern Ontario now. What a long name. Also before 2001 they were very cheap looking - they were still using 80s Chryon and I only remember two fonts. They were the last CTV O&O to adopt the CTV graphics. Although I like differences between stations, what MCTV had instead was cheap. I don't even remember much in the way of a news intro before 2001.


CKVR 3 / Barrie

They are a Barrie station, but when they adopted the A-Channel brand this past August they ditched Barrie and became a station serving the northern half of the GTA. Now they have left one of Canada's fastest growing cities without a local voice.


CJON 6 / St. John's

Music videos during commercial breaks is just the beginning. They used to be known as NBC until about 1977 too.


WWJ 62 (CBS) / Detroit

What I don't like about that station is their local newscast...or lack thereof. They are just a generic CBS feed for the Detroit area with mostly court shows for syndicated programming (the good stuff they have the rights to all airs on sister station WKBD 50). Unfortunately they are very widely carried on cable in Ontario, instead of much closer, higher quality CBS affiliates (WOIO, WSEE, WIVB, WROC, WTVH, WWNY, WCAX) that not only have local news, but have good syndicated programs.


WWBI-LP 27 / Burlington, VT

Yahoo | Mail, Weather, Search, Politics, News, Finance, Sports & Videos - read for yourself<P ID="signature">______________
From WNBC-TV New York this is Liiiiive at Fiiiiive!</P><P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by mjlarochelle on 10/28/05 03:51 PM.</FONT></P>

NTV is still the worst CTV Station ever, they need to remove all CTV shows on NTV. They need a new St. John’s Station!

 

[Dondd]

Ross County (Chillicothe) was also assigned to the Dayton TVG, probably because of carriage of WHIO and WCPO on cable there. To this day, per TVTV.com, Chillcothe cable carries WHIO. Not sure why, there is little economic or cultural nexus between Dayton and Chillicothe, but evidently it is just historic viewer preference.

You keep linking to that site, but all it goes to is an Alaska news site.

 

[IM42A]

You keep linking to that site, but all it goes to is an Alaska news site.

You're right. I always just assumed it was TVTV.com, but it is actually TVTV.us

Thanks for catching that. I'd never noticed.

 

[Jman8606]

Re: WBMG 42 (was Worst TV stations ever)

> > Given Russell's outstanding website on all things having
> to
> > with Birmigham
> > I'm surprised that he didn't nominate WBMG-42.
>
> > >
>
>
> As for the 33 and 40 move-ins, they had the advantage of an
> entirely new 'product' for the market (and James Spann
> defecting from channel 6, no doubt, didn't hurt things).
>
> In any event, I chose to go easy on poor ol' channel 42.
> [g]
>
I think everyone's forgetting that 33 and 40 had local
news operations when they were separate CBS affiliates;
it's not like WXLV, which went into local news cold when
it got the ABC affiliation in Greensboro. I haven't seen
the changes 33/40 made, but Birmingham has been one of
ABC's best markets since 1961, and people there were probably
more willing to give the new ABC affiliate a try than in some
markets.

42, especially in the early '70s, was fun to watch BECAUSE
they didn't take themselves as seriously as 6 and 13. I
used to think that if 42 had been in Atlanta or the Carolinas
it might have been an ABC, rather than a CBS, affiliate (and
might have lost ABC when that network became number one).

My pick for the worst station I've ever seen is WGGS/16
Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville. It's a religious station,
which is commendable, but when I lived in that market in the
'80s I remember a snowy picture even on cable and primitive
graphics. Runner-up is WTWB/20, the WB affiliate in Greensboro/
Winston-Salem/High Point, which constantly punches up the wrong
show or commercial and never seems to get a non-WB show on and
off on time.

One other joke is WOLO/25, ABC in Columbia, SC. I mean, come
on, the newscast originates in Charlotte at sister station
WCCB!<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by bpatrick on 10/26/05 03:53 PM.</FONT></P>

If you think that WOLO is a joke then I sm sure you can say the same about WOGX in Gainesville/Ocala their newscast originates from sister station WOFL in Orlando!

 

[IM42A]

If you think that WOLO is a joke then I sm sure you can say the same about WOGX in Gainesville/Ocala their newscast originates from sister station WOFL in Orlando!

The hubbed newscast from Charlotte didn't last long. It was fairly obvious that it didn't originate from Columbia.

Fast-forward to today, WOLO doesn't do a bad job for what they are, their newscast is very no-frills, and they lack the resources of WIS (Gray) and WLTX (Tegna), but they still do a respectable job. And their morning show (before GMA) is very free-form, let's just say it's interesting.

 

[Jman8606]

> What are the worst television stations you've ever seen?
>

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 looked like they were shot with a home video camera too, and their chron had maybe 2-3 fonts, one of which was butt-ugly. Don't forget the Brady Bunch reruns and cartoons in late afternoon well into the 90s. I have a tape of a 1992 WVII newscast. The open consisted of poorly-shot images of Bangor with a blue tint to them with electronic music playing. Some of their stories came from WMTW in Portland, graphics and all.

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." It was ideally a variety show, but it seemed anyone who wanted to go on, could. The results would make Simon Cowell scream in horror, but probably not as loud as the screams which were apparently songs. The show had a cult following.

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

> What are the worst television stations you've ever seen?
>

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 looked like they were shot with a home video camera too, and their chron had maybe 2-3 fonts, one of which was butt-ugly. Don't forget the Brady Bunch reruns and cartoons in late afternoon well into the 90s. I have a tape of a 1992 WVII newscast. The open consisted of poorly-shot images of Bangor with a blue tint to them with electronic music playing. Some of their stories came from WMTW in Portland, graphics and all.

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." It was ideally a variety show, but it seemed anyone who wanted to go on, could. The results would make Simon Cowell scream in horror, but probably not as loud as the screams which were apparently songs. The show had a cult following.

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

Looks like Dick Stacy is a hillbilly version of Chuck Barris and Country Jsmboree was The hillbilly’s equivalent of The Gong Show

 

[IM42A]

> What are the worst television stations you've ever seen?
>

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.

And just to add insult to injury, the Presque Isle market (Aroostook County) has to get its ABC from Bangor on MVPDs, as the WAGM multiplex carries all networks except ABC.

Gray has corralled all or almost all major networks onto a single channel (in some cases with the help of LPTVs) in Harrisonburg, Parkersburg, and perhaps other infill markets as well. Got to wonder what effect this is having on Dish Network subscribers in these markets these days. (As an aside, Gray is also in a pending acquisition of WLIO Lima OH, which is similarly situated as regards carrying all major networks on its main station as well as an LPTV.)

 

[Jman8606]

Sorry for bumping this, but I found this report from WDHN in Dothan from 1986. It looks like 1966.

I tried watching it but it looks like the video is not available anymore, Hopefully it will be available again. This is the year of my birth. Would have loved to have seen what it looked like back then.

When I was growing up in Elba, AL in the 1990s I received both WDHN and WHOA (now WNCF) did not have much of a news department. We received both Montgomery and Dothan ABC and CBS affiliates until 2003 when with the exception of WSFA it became all Dothan.

Both WDHN and WTVY have gotten their acts together. WDHN has a news department like a normal TV station and newscasts at 5, 6, and 10.

 

[Jman8606]

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.

Not surprising since Utah has a Mormon population. But an NBC station not airing SNL?! SNL is an NBC staple and should be treated as such.

Talking about TV stations not airing network staples.

WPRI in Providence Rhode Island in 2004 did not air one of the Price is Right Million Dollar Spectacular and preempted it and they also preempted 60 minutes around the same time. Now that is a BIG no-no

 

[Jman8606]

Any TV station Sinclair owns and then spewing their right wing bullshit.

 

[K.M. Richards]

Any TV station Sinclair owns and then spewing their right wing bullshit.

Well, that goes without saying, doesn't it?

 

[IM42A]

Not surprising since Utah has a Mormon population. But an NBC station not airing SNL?! SNL is an NBC staple and should be treated as such.

KOOG channel 30 (now KUCW) picked up SNL when KSL declined to air it.