WSBK 38 Boston

[upn38fan]

I'd just like to know what people think about UPN38 (soon TV38) of Boston. I got DISH network just to recieve it. I know it's occasionally talked about on these boards, but I never saw any posts on general opinions of the station.

 

[mrpariot]

> I'd just like to know what people think about UPN38 (soon
> TV38) of Boston. I got DISH network just to recieve it. I
> know it's occasionally talked about on these boards, but I
> never saw any posts on general opinions of the station.
>
WSBK is not what it used to be, not that any TV station is. They're still doing a great job with the Red Sox, but I'd love to see CBS get a little "out of the box" with 38 and try a few local programming ideas on when UPN dies. For now, they're too much a WBZ-little sister station, much like other CBS-owned UPN duopoly stations around the country.

 

[WMC2005]

> They're still doing a great job with the Red Sox,


The Red Sox did not renew their over-the-air contract with WSBK for 2006 although WBZ, I believe, may still be producing "Red Sox This Week" broadcasts for TV38.

 

[Garrett]

Garrett's take on WSBK TV38...

> I'd just like to know what people think about UPN38 (soon
> TV38) of Boston. I got DISH network just to recieve it. I
> know it's occasionally talked about on these boards, but I
> never saw any posts on general opinions of the station.
>

I grew up for much of the 80's watching channel 38. Mind you, they did not have the energetic expensive production value that rival WLVI 56 had, and they did not sell many commericals during the day (if I recall, memory foggy). What they did have where some very creative promo ID's set to music cuts from the "And You" package, also used by WCVB around the same time (but different cuts). Also, they had some pretty cool programming on the weekends, if you enjoyed Star Trek, and as has been discussed here, the station's in-house Voice over artist, Dana Hersey (sp?) hosted the Movie Loft and Ask the Manager. Afternoon and morning cartoons were pretty intersting also, as they were hosted by Willie Wistle. Not sure if Willie was in house, or syndicated. The station also ran reruns of the old Batman tv series, popular with us grade school kids back then. I think they usually ran the obligitory 8'oclock movie that most independents ran.

Also, they have a very famous Tower that used to say in red on top "TV 38" visible from the Massachusetts turnpike that remains next to their old studio building on Birmingham Parkway in Allston Brighton (remember that, it will be important later). This is called "the TV 38 tower" and is often referred to in Boston Traffic reports as a refernce point.

Some time in the 90's, Storer sold off its station. 38 went to Viacom, which lead to it's current position under CBS. When Viacom launched UPN, 38 became an affilate and was renamed. This included changing the famous tower (see, I told you), by removing the old red letters and replacing them with the new UPN 38 logo (which is the old Traingle Circle Square logo they no longer use). On and off since the 90's they have had a 10pm newscast produced by WBZ. The newscast came back when Viacom merged with CBS, putting 38 and 4 under the same mangement as a duopoly. At first the newscast was hosted by Jack William and ran at 7. Then it returned as "Nightcat at 10," but was dropped all together early last year. As UPN 38, they've been your basic "Court show by day, network at night" UPN affiliate, often swapping daytime talk shows with sister WBZ, such as Dr. Phil. Most recently, they wer calling themselves "the U." Ok, whatever. They also have (or had) a morning show that is something of a simulcast with sister radio station Newsradio 1030 WBZ AM.

Oh yeah, they have long tradition of being the Bruins flagship TV station (even getting ribbed on SNL), and was also the Red Sox station, along with WBZ in the 80's.

I hope that answers your quesetion (and then some...)

 

[pqgeorge]

Bring back Dana Hersey (was Re: WSBK 38 Boston)

A rebirth of TV38 would NOT be complete without "the voice", that of Dana Hersey. He was a part of TV38 from 1972 until early 1990's. I'm not talking about a complete "retro look" on the rebuilt WSBK. But, people would recognize Dana (and his voice) and he would be an immediate selling point in the re-packaging of the new TV38. "Sunday With The Stooges" with Dana Hersey (also seen on Channel 28) intro'ing the shorts would be excellent. Even "The Movie Loft" with Dana would be great for prime time in it's original time slot. Just my $0.02.

> > They're still doing a great job with the Red Sox,
>
>
> The Red Sox did not renew their over-the-air contract with
> WSBK for 2006 although WBZ, I believe, may still be
> producing "Red Sox This Week" broadcasts for TV38.
> <P ID="signature">______________
Peter Q. George (K1XRB)
Whitman, Massachusetts</P>

 

[Ageofquarrel]

I used to recieve TV38 via cablevision of southern ct in the late 80s early 90s.
When the syndex rules took effect they replaced WSBK with TNT(which was actually a pretty cool channel back then).
It was a sad day and i truly miss the Old school WSBK TV38.
There sports coverage was great as well as their sitcoms and movies.
Ask the manager was a real hoot of a show.
Dana Herseys voice is classic and they used to show alot of the movies totally uncut on the movie loft.
I havent seen WSBK since it got taken off the air but i still have many fond memories of it.
I just wish there was a website that had old WSBK commercials on it.
TV ark only has UPN 38 stuff.