Why did they preempt those shows?
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Worst TV stations ever
- Thread starter rwells2265
- Start date
I dunnoWhy did they preempt those shows?
I don't know if I mentioned this yet, but this is a story about a particularly dumb preemption by WCPO Cincinnati, circa early 1990s. It was a CBS affiliate back then. It wasn't '60 Minutes' that was preempted, but it was some other news-type show CBS had. It might have had Ed Bradley. Anyway, I read that this show was going to do some really interesting investigative report on something. I waited all week to watch it.
But then of course WCPO preempted it.
I remember trying to watch it on the Dayton affiliate instead, which was full of snow and fuzz, and having to hold the antenna just right throughout the program.
But then of course WCPO preempted it.
I remember trying to watch it on the Dayton affiliate instead, which was full of snow and fuzz, and having to hold the antenna just right throughout the program.
I don't know if I mentioned this yet, but this is a story about a particularly dumb preemption by WCPO Cincinnati, circa early 1990s. It was a CBS affiliate back then. It wasn't '60 Minutes' that was preempted, but it was some other news-type show CBS had. It might have had Ed Bradley. Anyway, I read that this show was going to do some really interesting investigative report on something. I waited all week to watch it.
But then of course WCPO preempted it.
I remember trying to watch it on the Dayton affiliate instead, which was full of snow and fuzz, and having to hold the antenna just right throughout the program.
WLWT and WCPO (especially WLWT) pre-empted shows pretty much anytime they took a notion. Cincinnati is culturally very much a world unto itself, and I suppose that, in many cases, they saw local content as being more compelling than what the network might be offering in a desired time slot. Can't speak so much for WKRC.
WXIX ended up the winner in such situations, assuming they could run the shows instead.
I used to watch WTVY. It was the first 24-hour station in the area and ran old Warner Bros. movies and cartoons in the wee hours back in the 70s. That was one of its good points.
Aside from straw-hatted Gene Ragan and screaming good-ol'-boy Red Holland (we used to call him "Red Hollerin'") one of the station's longest lasting personalities was morning show host Ann Varnum, who wore the worst wigs this side of Sam Donaldson. And station owner Charles Woods would make occasional appearances - a plane crash in WW2 left him minus his hair, ears, and an eye.
The commercials - aside from those featuring Red, there were the spots from King Furniture featuring the owner's son Howard King. He would be up in the loft of the store's stockroom, or sitting on a stack of mattresses, and his dad yelled "Hey Howard, whatcha doin' up there?" and Howard would go into his spiel he read off cue cards. At the end, a shot of a $20 bill with a superimposed Clutch Cargo mouth saying "A $20 bill free if you can find anyone who beats our prices!"
However, the worst show they ran (I think it ran on both WTVY and WDHN) was probably "Fort Rock" - an attempt at a religious kids' show. The cast consisted of three or four rednecky guys wearing camo uniforms with "God's Army" on the name patches. To diversify the cast, they added Rufus... a hand puppet of a black man, speaking in an Amos-&-Andy dialect. I kid you not. The production values were as horrid as that stereotype. And this aired in the mid-late 80s!
After Gray Television bought WTVY, things weren't the same.
Been watching some Good morning tri-states on YouTube and only time Red screamed was during the commercials. He used his normal voice when hosting GMTS. When growing up in Elba, AL in the 90s I would try to watch Rescue 911 on WAKA because I knew even then it was far superior than Channel 4 and during the opening of R911 it would cut off and I was forced to watch 4. The Montgomery ABC affiliate however never did cut off.
Regarding KTZZ in the early nineties, they were in a tough spot as a mainstream independent station competing against five VHF commercial stations, so I'm not surprised that they struggled. I don't think that station ever did well in its pre-WB years, but they did manage to sort of hang on during their first several years by being the only other stations (aside from KSTW) with weekday children's programming. During that period, KCPQ was largely out of the children's TV business -- but once Fox entered that business, KCPQ jumped in and KTZZ just couldn't compete. It's hard to imagine it now, but that children's TV programming really was key to the success of most independent stations in the seventies, eighties, and first half of the nineties.
And Frankly I still think it’s the only good thing about PBS!
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.
My nominations for the Anti-Emmy (or Antie Em?) awards:
WSIL 3 (ABC) / Harrisburg, Illinois (1978-82, when I lived in the market)
About as bargain-basement low-budget as it got for television of the late '70s. At least the people on-air *knew* they were outflanked and outclassed by the other stations in the market; you could see they were having a ball "playing TV"
Station back then was defined by sports director Briggs Gordon's alter ego UNCLE BRIGGS, who hosted a late afternoon 'kiddie show'; the guy literally had just minutes to get out of costume and into a regular attire to do the sportscast.
WSLA 8 (ABC, later CBS) / Selma, Ala. (1960s-1970s)
Low-power station went on the air as an ABC affiliate, owned by the Brennan family (a Deep South radio dynasty back in the day - owned several top-40 stations). Operated out of a Jim Walter home on the outskirts of town.
Had no network line. ABC programs came not via kine ... they made arrangements with WBRC-TV 6, 90 miles away in Birmingham to air ABC matter RIGHT OFF THEIR SIGNAL! If the engineer wasn't paying attention, local WBRC breaks and IDs would air on WSLA. And, more than a few times, they did. Also, when they got ready to 'join the network', fingers would be crossed that ABC would come up -- that WBRC hadn't preempted something at the last minute!
And during times of temp inversion or e-skip, WSLA would magically transform itself into a CBS station; the antenna sometimes picked up WCTV, channel 6 out of Thomasville, Ga.-Tallahassee, Fla.
I'm told one of their program hosts kept a (loaded) gun with him on set, and would sometimes wave it around as he talked.
The Brennans put the station on the air in the hopes that they could secure a power boost, and then sell the station at a good profit. Problem was, Montgomery (50 miles to the east) was a mostly-UHF market and the Us vigorously protested any such move.
The studio and transmitter went up in flames in 1968 ... Brennans chose to walk. Station was dark until another concern put it back on the air in 1973 as a CBS. Things were a bit better, but the station was still a joke.
Dereg in the '80s allowed 8 to go full-tilt ... today it's in Montgomery as the market's CBS, WAKA.
WTVY 4 (CBS) / Dothan, Ala. (pre-1998)
Launched and for years owned by perennial fringe presidential candidate and disfigured war hero Charles Woods. The first station in the South to go 24/7 (early '70s), but aside from that it was defined by two personalities: Farm director Gene Ragan, who for decades hosted the noon farm report. The opening theme and set were practically unchanged from the '60s -- same recorded theme and V/O, and same wood-paneling background and desk mic. This was the case well into the '90s, until after Woods lost the station amidst financial difficulties.
Then there was RED HOLLAND, who hosted a weekend hunting/fishing show Outdoors With Red, and his weekday early-morning show Good Morning Tri-States was a spectacle of bad television. Red didn't talk, he SCREAMED. Imagine Crazy Eddie with a "John Deere" cap and a redneck accent. Did most all sponsors' commercials himself. And the rural trailer-dwellin' folk worshipped him.
WTVY's graphics were pathetic -- just two (2) fonts. Picture wasn't very crisp, and audio was muffled.
When WTVY transferred to new ownership late in 1997, their first order of business was to axe Red.
WDHN 18 (ABC) / Dothan, Ala.
Dothan, Alabama was (and probably still is) bad TV capital of the world. 18 made WTVY above look major-market. Had a very cheap Chyron-esque device - one font. SAME as the one used most by WTVY. Newscast in the early '90s was done by the News Director - who had a pronounced lisp and a HEAVY Southern accent. Intro was done by someone trying to imitate the 'voice-of-God' guy who used to do rock concert promos in the '80s.
WLBT 3 (NBC) / Jackson, Miss. (prior to 1971)
Station Manager for years was a guy named Fred Beard. Fred was very tight with the White Citizens' Council of Mississippi (little more than a country-club level k lan), and his practices caused WLBT to have its license ordered vacated. On the fly preemptions - plenty of anecdotal evidence point to a common practice of interrupting network programming with a TECHNICAL DIFFICULTY slides whenever NBC did anything remotely advocating for integration. Whenever a black leader appeared on camera, suddenly WLBT would have "cable trouble."
A disclaimer was broadcast prior to the Today show: "The following program contains biased, managed Northern news. Be sure to stay tuned at 7:25 for your LOCAL news."
Oh, and a "Freedom Bookstore" operated in the lobby of WLBT -- selling white supremacist literature.
A black church organization challenged the station's license ... toward the late '60s, Lamar Life Insurance (WLBT's parent company) got nervous and fired Beard. But it didn't stop WLBT's license from getting yanked, and Lamar Life (while by then a bit subdued in its racism) cleaned out their desks in 1971.
Russell, I know you did not get this when you lived in Troy in the 1990s. But it was a good thing you did not.
WDAU the Fox affiliate in Ozark and Dothan was not much to look at. Dothan was the bad tv capital of the world without a doubt. The pictures on those sucked. It was bad in the 1990s. But it has gotten better over the years thank goodness.
Growing up in Elba, AL in the 90s, I had access to both Dothan and Montgomery stations. We had both on our cable system until 2003 when with the exception of WSFA it became all Dothan.
The Bud Paxson-owned full power UHF stations that aired infomercials 24/7 (or almost 24/7) in the 90s certainly deserve mention.
Thanks to "Must Carry" laws that were enacted in early 90s, these awful stations gained cable system carriage in many instances.
Program quality improved once Pax TV launched (this was the forerunner to the present-day ION Television), but even then, the stations continued to have an outdated and low budget visual look.
Thanks to "Must Carry" laws that were enacted in early 90s, these awful stations gained cable system carriage in many instances.
Program quality improved once Pax TV launched (this was the forerunner to the present-day ION Television), but even then, the stations continued to have an outdated and low budget visual look.
As it relates to both worst quality and pre-emption happy stations, WRDU/WPTF/WRDC 28 in the Raleigh/Durham NC market during their days as an NBC affiliate deserves mention.
Some NBC daytime soaps/game shows never got aired on the station, they were bumped in favor of syndicated reruns/cartoons and sometimes even primetime programming got bumped for second run movies because the station figured they would rake in more ad money for those than the mandated NBC programming.
Naturally, NBC was very fed up with these pre-emptions and when they finally found an opening to dump 28, they took it in 1995 when fledging independent station WYED 17 got bought out by a company that already owned two of NBC's best performing affiliates in the country (the affiliates in Columbus, Ohio and Providence, Rhode Island respectively) and the new owners changed the station's name to WNCN, upgraded its facilities and signal power to the point where NBC jumped to that station at the first opportunity.
This meant WRDC had to carry the newly launched UPN network and oddly enough, they went from being labeled as sometimes the worst NBC affiliate in the country to one of the strongest performing UPN affiliates in the country; the lack of programming hours UPN had also meant that the station was no longer pre-emption prone as they cleared the entire UPN schedule during its 11 year existence.
Now though as a MyNetworkTV affiliate under Sinclair ownership, they seem to have reverted back to their former low grade station status as their schedule is now full of infomercials, Sinclair mandated propaganda shows, about a dozen hours of court shows on weekdays (some of which are reruns of shows that were cancelled years ago) and very low level syndicated shows that no one else in the market will touch.
Some NBC daytime soaps/game shows never got aired on the station, they were bumped in favor of syndicated reruns/cartoons and sometimes even primetime programming got bumped for second run movies because the station figured they would rake in more ad money for those than the mandated NBC programming.
Naturally, NBC was very fed up with these pre-emptions and when they finally found an opening to dump 28, they took it in 1995 when fledging independent station WYED 17 got bought out by a company that already owned two of NBC's best performing affiliates in the country (the affiliates in Columbus, Ohio and Providence, Rhode Island respectively) and the new owners changed the station's name to WNCN, upgraded its facilities and signal power to the point where NBC jumped to that station at the first opportunity.
This meant WRDC had to carry the newly launched UPN network and oddly enough, they went from being labeled as sometimes the worst NBC affiliate in the country to one of the strongest performing UPN affiliates in the country; the lack of programming hours UPN had also meant that the station was no longer pre-emption prone as they cleared the entire UPN schedule during its 11 year existence.
Now though as a MyNetworkTV affiliate under Sinclair ownership, they seem to have reverted back to their former low grade station status as their schedule is now full of infomercials, Sinclair mandated propaganda shows, about a dozen hours of court shows on weekdays (some of which are reruns of shows that were cancelled years ago) and very low level syndicated shows that no one else in the market will touch.
I believe that program was called "Street Stories With Ed Bradley" which was part of CBS's response to ABC and NBC adding more primetime news shows onto their schedules.I don't know if I mentioned this yet, but this is a story about a particularly dumb preemption by WCPO Cincinnati, circa early 1990s. It was a CBS affiliate back then. It wasn't '60 Minutes' that was preempted, but it was some other news-type show CBS had. It might have had Ed Bradley. Anyway, I read that this show was going to do some really interesting investigative report on something. I waited all week to watch it.
But then of course WCPO preempted it.
I remember trying to watch it on the Dayton affiliate instead, which was full of snow and fuzz, and having to hold the antenna just right throughout the program.
The show didn't last long unfortunately as it delved into deeper and more scandalous investigative reporting that the other CBS News shows normally didn't touch.
As it relates to both worst quality and pre-emption happy stations, WRDU/WPTF/WRDC 28 in the Raleigh/Durham NC market during their days as an NBC affiliate deserves mention.
Some NBC daytime soaps/game shows never got aired on the station, they were bumped in favor of syndicated reruns/cartoons and sometimes even primetime programming got bumped for second run movies because the station figured they would rake in more ad money for those than the mandated NBC programming.
NBC had a tough time in Raleigh for many years. The best alternative for full NBC service was a rimshot signal from WITN in Washington NC, and after they moved their transmitter further inland in the early 1970s, WECT Wilmington could also reach the immediate Raleigh area. Indeed, in recent years WECT was carried on cable in Fayetteville and Dunn, and may still be. There would be no other reason to keep WECT on those systems aside from historical carriage. At one time WECT identified as "Wilmington-Fayetteville", but their connection to Fayetteville, aside from the cable carriage, is long gone.
One of the most fascinating "what if" stories was discovering that NBC very nearly dumped the then-WPTF 28 for the then struggling independent station WKFT TV 40 (now Univision O & O station WUVC) out of Fayetteville in 1989.NBC had a tough time in Raleigh for many years. The best alternative for full NBC service was a rimshot signal from WITN in Washington NC, and after they moved their transmitter further inland in the early 1970s, WECT Wilmington could also reach the immediate Raleigh area. Indeed, in recent years WECT was carried on cable in Fayetteville and Dunn, and may still be. There would be no other reason to keep WECT on those systems aside from historical carriage. At one time WECT identified as "Wilmington-Fayetteville", but their connection to Fayetteville, aside from the cable carriage, is long gone.
Only hurdle was that NBC insisted on WKFT having a local news department and WKFT had just cancelled their 10pm newscast and fired the entire news department a few months earlier due to poor ratings and lack of ad revenue so it wouldn't had been financially feasible for them to then spend more money to rebuild a news department from scratch, especially since both their own 10pm newscast and the WPTF 6pm and 11pm newscasts were always getting lower ratings than syndicated reruns on WLFL 22, let alone the newscasts on channels 5 and 11.
One of the most fascinating "what if" stories was discovering that NBC very nearly dumped the then-WPTF 28 for the then struggling independent station WKFT TV 40 (now Univision O & O station WUVC) out of Fayetteville in 1989.
Only hurdle was that NBC insisted on WKFT having a local news department and WKFT had just cancelled their 10pm newscast and fired the entire news department a few months earlier due to poor ratings and lack of ad revenue so it wouldn't had been financially feasible for them to then spend more money to rebuild a news department from scratch, especially since both their own 10pm newscast and the WPTF 6pm and 11pm newscasts were always getting lower ratings than syndicated reruns on WLFL 22, let alone the newscasts on channels 5 and 11.
WKFT as NBC on channel 40 is indeed an interesting scenario to consider. In all likelihood they would have needed at least their newsroom in Raleigh or Durham, remaining a Fayetteville station in name only, as Fayetteville is not a negligible distance from Raleigh and Durham, and "watching news from Fayetteville" would have been a weird fit for the Triad. (Of course, they could have kept their location kind of vague, as does WHNS Greenville in its news presentation. The other main GSAA stations are highly localized to their respective cities, but WHNS tries to be a little bit of everything to everybody, and does a good job of it.)
I recall WKFT as having a fairly generous signal from my days in Myrtle Beach (1996-1997). It was not unusual for me to receive them there as near-haul DX.
The Bud Paxson-owned full power UHF stations that aired infomercials 24/7 (or almost 24/7) in the 90s certainly deserve mention.
Thanks to "Must Carry" laws that were enacted in early 90s, these awful stations gained cable system carriage in many instances.
Program quality improved once Pax TV launched (this was the forerunner to the present-day ION Television), but even then, the stations continued to have an outdated and low budget visual look.
Man you ain’t kidding! WOPX was that way until it became a Pax affiliate!
The Bud Paxson-owned full power UHF stations that aired infomercials 24/7 (or almost 24/7) in the 90s certainly deserve mention.
Thanks to "Must Carry" laws that were enacted in early 90s, these awful stations gained cable system carriage in many instances.
Program quality improved once Pax TV launched (this was the forerunner to the present-day ION Television), but even then, the stations continued to have an outdated and low budget visual look.
The thing that I remember most, aside from the family friendly programming & the infomercials, about PAX TV, or at least my local PAX TV station (KPXE-TV, Ch. 50 in Kansas City, MO.) is the frequent technical difficulties that they would have.Man you ain’t kidding! WOPX was that way until it became a Pax affiliate!
Most of the technical difficulties that they had were caused by sunspots & solar flares interfering with PAX TV's satellite signal.
I managed to catch & upload a couple of their technical difficulties to YouTube.
One of these days I'm going to have to find the TV Guide I have from 1971. It's a wonder anyone in Raleigh-Durham ever found anything that was on CBS or NBC,As it relates to both worst quality and pre-emption happy stations, WRDU/WPTF/WRDC 28 in the Raleigh/Durham NC market during their days as an NBC affiliate deserves mention.
Some NBC daytime soaps/game shows never got aired on the station, they were bumped in favor of syndicated reruns/cartoons and sometimes even primetime programming got bumped for second run movies because the station figured they would rake in more ad money for those than the mandated NBC programming.
Naturally, NBC was very fed up with these pre-emptions and when they finally found an opening to dump 28
Triangle. Triad is Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point."watching news from Fayetteville" would have been a weird fit for the Triad.
I never used an antenna in Myrtle Beach. And they never had it on cable.I recall WKFT as having a fairly generous signal from my days in Myrtle Beach (1996-1997). It was not unusual for me to receive them there as near-haul DX.
For whatever reason when it went digital, WECT moved closer to the coast. I would doubt they still have the station, but they might.NBC had a tough time in Raleigh for many years. The best alternative for full NBC service was a rimshot signal from WITN in Washington NC, and after they moved their transmitter further inland in the early 1970s, WECT Wilmington could also reach the immediate Raleigh area. Indeed, in recent years WECT was carried on cable in Fayetteville and Dunn,
For whatever reason when it went digital, WECT moved closer to the coast. I would doubt they still have the station, but they might.
It was carried on cable in Dunn in 2009 when I was there, and in Fayetteville around 2015. For what this is worth, TVTV shows them as still on Charter Spectrum in Fayetteville, and Dunn is shown with the Fayetteville cable lineup (among others).
WECT probably wanted a better signal throughout its own market, and moved its transmitter closer to the coast for that reason. I'm just guessing. With the advent of viable NBC stations in the Raleigh market (first WNCN and then WRAL), there was little need for a full-service NBC affiliate from out of market.
Just checked WECT's website and their weather map still includes Fayetteville in their coverage area (as well as Myrtle Beach). Also on TVTV, they are still carried in Southern PinesIt was carried on cable in Dunn in 2009 when I was there, and in Fayetteville around 2015. For what this is worth, TVTV shows them as still on Charter Spectrum in Fayetteville, and Dunn is shown with the Fayetteville cable lineup (among others).
WECT probably wanted a better signal throughout its own market, and moved its transmitter closer to the coast for that reason. I'm just guessing. With the advent of viable NBC stations in the Raleigh market (first WNCN and then WRAL), there was little need for a full-service NBC affiliate from out of market.