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Worst Stations and Markets for Local TV

Florence AL was home to two cursed stations.

WOWL was the NBC affiliate for northwest Alabama from 1957-1999. It couldn't compete with the Huntsville stations, so it changed its callsign to WHDF, moved its stick to Giles County TN and became a UPN station (and later The CW affilate) for the entire market.

Even more cursed was WTRT/WYLE, which signed on in 1988 and was in trouble from day one. It briefly held The WB affiliation in the mid-'90s (before the network moved to cable only WAWB and then to WZDX-DT2). It never built digital facilities, a deal to sell the station to WHDF's owners fell through, and its license was canceled in 2009.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WHDF
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WYLE_(TV)
 
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A cursed LPTV: KXOC-LP Oklahoma City. Its programming now airs on KSBI-DT2.

Drew Stone is the Engineer Supervisor for KSBI-TV and KXOC-LP said "Unfortunately KXOC-LP will not be making the transition to high definition or even digital. It is going to be shut down within the next few weeks."

On March 26th, 2014, KXOC is off the air.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KXOC-LP
 
WKDH Houston MS - served as the ABC affiliate for Columbus-Tupelo from its sign-on in 2001 to its closing in 2012. Its programming now airs (in HD!) on WTVA-DT2.

From Wikipedia:

The station did not offer much local content, serving largely as a "pass-through" for ABC programming. It did produce a public affairs show, Community Edition, hosted by Stan Allen.

WKDH ceased broadcasting at 11:59 p.m. on August 31, 2012 after more than 11 years on the air; this is due to the Spain family's decision not to renew its LMA with Southern Broadcasting. The ABC affiliation for the Columbus-Tupelo-West Point market moved to the second digital subchannel of WTVA; before this announcement, Comcast had planned to import an out-of-market ABC affiliate. Though a sale of the station was explored, the only buyer found pulled out of the deal, and on January 31, 2013 Southern Broadcasting surrendered the WKDH license to the Federal Communications Commission, which canceled it on February 7.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WKDH

...upon the September 1, 2012 switchover to ABC, the subchannel [of WTVA] began offering a schedule of local newscasts and syndicated programming during non-network hours. As a result of the move, the market's Me-TV affiliation was moved to the second digital subchannel of sister station WLOV-TV (resulting in Me-TV sister network This TV moving to a newly created third digital subchannel). In addition, WTVA also upgraded the subchannel from 4:3 standard definition to 16:9 high definition with the new ABC affiliation.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WTVA-DT2
 
jamesjimcie said:
Gannett would be eligible to purchase KUQI under a failed station waiver to allowed KUQI to be combined with KIII with KIII bring able to keep KUQI going under Gannett control. It would allow Gannett to have a real duopoly of an ABC station and a FOX station in a small size TV market in the Corpus Christi market.
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Or, Gannett could acquire KUQI's non-license assets and move FOX programming to a KIII subchannel, just like in the last post. KUQI's owners would then return its license to the FCC. BTW, ABC and FOX both broadcast in 720p HD.
 
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The third and fourth place stations in the 100 plus markets will be getting snuffed on a regular basis over the next few years.

1080p, it's been nice knowing you.
 
Birmingham, Alabama is considering shutting down its ABC station, which is a low powered station. Sinclair plans to transfer ABC onto WABM, channel 68, which is MyNetworkTV.
 
KUSI-TV Ch. 51 in San Diego I think should go under the category of "cursed stations."

Their news department consists of a boneyard of former San Diego, LA, and CNN reporters. Their news anchors are truly unlikeable. One of the most unlikeable characters is Dan Plante, who is son of CBS veteran correspondent, Bill Plante. He has a reputation of arriving at the station seven minutes before airtime, barking and being very unpleasant to production assistants. Worse yet, he pushes some very right wing opinions after many news stories. After a run in with a co-anchor, he was reportedly let go. For a time he was popping up doing commercials for real estate agents when he supposedly moved to Phoenix. Shockingly (maybe not for KUSI), he seems to be back in town. The graphics on the station are way overdown, overblown, with a mid-1990s feel. The station owners have a reputation for underfunding replacement and new equipment. When KGTV ch. 10 was up for sale recently, they reportedly put in a bid, but KGTV went to Scripps Howard. Meanwhile, Fox5/69 is giving KUSI a real run for it money giving it some major competition in the morning, evening, and at 10 p.m., and now CW6 (XETV) has premiered a one hour news show which actually is quite watchable (after doing a half-hour show at 10 p.m. for the longest time.).

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblo...ws-anchor-dan-plante-transplants-to-phoenix/#
 
WSJV Elkhart IN, the FOX affiliate for the South Bend DMA, is what I call a "semi-cursed" station. When it switched from ABC in 1995, it canceled its 5, 6 and 11pm newscasts and now only has news weekdays from 6-9 and nightly at 10 (an hour on weeknights, half-hour on weekends). Its only first-run syndicated offerings are Dr. Oz, Arsenio Hall and some of those lesser-known shows mentioned on other threads. And it has infomercials left and right, especially on weekends. This has to be one of Quincy's weakest stations. It even makes WBND-LD "uncursed" by comparison. I sure wish either WNDU or WSBT buy this station's non-license assets and put it on a subchannel. BTW, right now South Bend is DMA #96, but it could easily go below 100 in a few years.

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WSJV
Schedule: http://tvschedule.zap2it.com/tvlistings/ZCSGrid.do?stnNum=11843&channel=9&aid=tvschedule&type=print
 
thomwim said:
Birmingham, Alabama is considering shutting down its ABC station, which is a low powered station. Sinclair plans to transfer ABC onto WABM, channel 68, which is MyNetworkTV.
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I don't think WBMA will be effected as it's a low-powered station and stations can own multiple of low-powered or translator stations. Only WCFT/WJSU will be effected.
 
From Marc B on RadioInsight, with more on cursed station WHCT:

Connecticut – During the analog days Channel 18 was WHCT. In the 50s it was owned by CBS, but they didn’t want to be on UHF and they sold it and CBS went to WTIC-TV Channel 3 owned by Traveler’s Insurance Company. WHCT had a hard knock life for most of its existence. In the 60s it spent time as a subscription service. People watched, but didn’t pay. Charles Osgood (CBS Sunday Morning) was GM there for a while. The late Dr. Eugene Scott owned (or ran the station) for a while in the late 70s/early 80s. Even running Hartford Whaler’s Hockey did nothing to increase revenue.

Then there was a huge embarrassing screw-up. – The owner of Sports bar had some troubles with minors using fake IDs to get into the bar. So he decided to buy 3 commercials during a true-story movie from Mother’s Against Drunk Driving to talk about the dangers of underage drinking and drinking and driving. Well in the scene in the movie right after the girl was in the car crash WHCT showed a beer commercial. And then instead of the 3 Public Service Commercials the owner of the Sports Bar did, they aired 3 commercials for his Sports Bar instead.

In April 1991 the station died. It was brought back from the dead in February 1997, two days before WHCT would’ve lost its license for good. It was on the air and being run by a Bankruptcy Lawyer. It was on the air limited hours. 9AM-5PM Monday-Friday and less hours on Saturdays, running Bud Paxson’s Worship Network. Eventually the stationed resumed 24/7 operations. WHCT was supposed to be the Hartford affiliate of PAX-TV, but that went to Channel 26 in New London instead. The station ran the Shop-At-Home Network 24/7 (aside from E/I programming). After being unable to secure a station WHCT ended up showing The Boston Redsox for one season. This despite WHCT not being available on most cable companies in the state. (Note: The Redsox are no longer on Free-TV). WHCT then switched from Shop-At-Home to the ValueVision Shopping Networks. They did a really cheesey top of the hour legal ID. Sound Effects of Champagne Cork Popping. Confetti on the Screen. Congratulations you’re watching WHCT Channel 18 Hartford, Connecticut.

In 2000 or 2001 Entravision bought WHCT for $27 million. They converted the station to Univision affiliate WUVN operated out of WUNI Chanel 27 in the Boston Market. WUVN has a sales office at 1 Constitution Plaza 7th Floor in downtown Hartford. Since the DTV switch WUVN has been operating on Channel 46.

18.1 Univision
18.2 Univision Springfield Feed (They call it WHTX long story for another day)
18.3 UniMas (WUTH-LD 47)
18.4 LaTV

http://www.noticias18.com/

All 3 COX systems carry WUVN on Channel 18. A couple of the COMCAST systems do too, but not the one in Waterbury/Wolcott or Seymour/Middlebury.
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mvcg66b3r said:
The CW shares time with MeTV on WPTZ-DT2. CW programming is aired in pattern, except for Bill Cunningham who’s delayed to 12:30 a.m. And all this time, The CW never aired in HD in Burlington/Plattsburgh.
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MeTV is now its own channel on 5.3. Bill Cunningham now airs "live" at 3pm on 5.2. And The CW is still not in HD, just widescreen SD.
http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=WPTZ

On September 15, 2014, WPTZ separated The CW and Me-TV into their own subchannels, 5.2 and 5.3 respectively...WPTZ 5.2 now airs syndicated programming outside of CW network hours via The CW Plus.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WPTZ#WPTZ-DT2

WPTZ 5.2, now called The Valley CW, will feature popular programs like "The Vampire Diaries", "The 100" and "The Originals", plus exciting new fall offerings "The Flash" and "Jane the Virgin". In addition to The CW’s signature primetime programming, The Valley CW will also exclusively offer favorites like "Seinfeld", "Rules of Engagement", "King of the Hill" and "Cougar Town" in other time periods.

On The Valley’s MeTV, WPTZ 5.3, viewers will find a slate filled with memorable TV moments, including classics like "The Rifleman", "M*A*S*H", "CHiPs" and "Cheers".
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http://www.wptz.com/entertainment/w...-programming-of-two-popular-networks/27644264
 
mvcg66b3r said:
[WADL] transmits from Mount Clemens, not Southfield like the other Detroit stations. And it's not in HD, just crappy 4:3 SD. That last thing matters when WADL airs NBC programming not cleared by WDIV. Either it's letterboxed or the sides are chopped off.
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WADL is now in full HD OTA and on Comcast 295 & 1038, WOW! 207, Bright House 219 and Wyandotte 159.
http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=WADL

From mibuzzboard.com:

This was on my Comcast bill at the end of March which was due in mid-April:

"Effective May 22, 2014...WADL HD (channels 295 and 1038) will be added to Limited Basic HD service."
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http://mibuzzboard.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?p=485802&sid=3d7ce1631bab2d25034b94207387743c
 
Marc's description of WHCT is much too simplistic.

When the UHF History site Clarke Ingram and I is online, you can read the entire story. (I've already researched and written it.)
 
From the "Areas where a station puts a city-grade OTA signal but is not seen on cable" thread:

unclehonkey said:
forgot to mention KCWV in Duluth. Channel 27. It went through a few affiliations...most recently AMG TV (previously The Walk)
Never was on charter or Mediacom (Mediacom is in the surrounding Duluth towns like Hermantown, Proctor, Cloquet) but was on Dish

Right now they are off the air as they are replacing the tower which was over 60 years old (was the old KDLH CBS 3 tower)
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Judging by the callsign, this station could have affliated with The CW, or under George Flinn's ownership, maybe ION.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KCWV

Speaking of The CW, KDLH-DT2 is off the air, but may still be seen on cable.

As of January 2014, this broadcast is no longer available and CW2 is currently not being broadcast. It is unknown if it will be re-established via a different transmitter channel.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KDLH-DT2
 
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thomwim said:
Birmingham, Alabama is considering shutting down its ABC station, which is a low powered station. Sinclair plans to transfer ABC onto WABM, channel 68, which is MyNetworkTV.
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I think Sinclair is having to return two licenses due to a buy and that would cause a duopoly...so the FCC under new rules have ordered the surrender of two of the licenses...the programming will go to new subchannels on the other stations..I have the info somewhere and think this is the market it is happening in...
 
mvcg66b3r said:
18.2 Univision Springfield Feed (They call it WHTX long story for another day)
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WHTX was itself a cursed station. From Wikipedia:

WUVN's Springfield feed has its origins in W10CG, a low-power station on channel 10 in Hartford that signed on in February 1997, became WHTX-LP on March 31, and shut down in December 1998 to make room for WTNH (channel 8)'s digital signal; its programming from America One and the American Independent Network moved to former simulcast partner WMLD-LP (channel 6, now WRNT-LP on channel 48). As the station did not return to the air within a year of going dark, the license was deemed to have expired by the Federal Communications Commission on October 11, 2002. However, original owner Harvard Broadcasting claimed to the FCC that WHTX had briefly resumed operations on an annual basis, and the license was reinstated a month later; it was sold to Entravision soon thereafter. Entravision moved the station to channel 43 in Springfield, and signed the new WHTX-LP on the air in November 2003 as a semi-satellite of WUVN. WHTX was picked up by Comcast's Springfield-area systems on July 10, 2006, replacing the national Univision feed.

Soon after WHTX made its move, however, Meredith Corporation filed an objection, stating that the station's claimed resumptions were not enough to avoid the automatic expiration of its license, and that there were sufficient channels available in the Hartford area for WHTX to use to accommodate WTNH. As a result, the move was never formally granted even a construction permit, and was operated by a series of special temporary authority grants; in the end, on March 9, 2009, the FCC overturned the reinstatement of the WHTX license and permanently revoked its operating authority. Nonetheless, its programming continues to remain available on cable and on WUVN's digital channel 18.2.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WUVN#WUVN-DT2

http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getimportletter_exh.cgi?import_letter_id=11325
 
ContinuousWave said:
I think Sinclair is having to return two licenses due to a buy and that would cause a duopoly...so the FCC under new rules have ordered the surrender of two of the licenses...the programming will go to new subchannels on the other stations..I have the info somewhere and think this is the market it is happening in...
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You are correct, sir.

Sinclair Broadcast Group purchased all seven television stations owned by Allbritton Communications Company, including WJSU-TV and WCFT-TV. Sinclair was forced by FCC rules to reduce the number of stations in owns in the market, and unable to find a buyer within the time frame allowed it is surrendering those two licenses.
 
Atlanta's WATL/ch. 36 could have fallen into the cursed category, seeing as how it went on and off the air twice (1954-55 as WQXI, 1969-71 as WATL, was supposed to sign on in 1967 as Overmyer). When it went back on in 1976, their programming consisted of threadbare-budget local programming (airing from 5 PM to midnight), slowly transitioning to syndicated fare and discarded network shows. But the station would go off the air suddenly without a moment's notice, and tape delays of network shows look like they were recorded on a home VCR at the slowest speed. In the early 80s, WATL was part of the Subscription TV service in prime time that didn't last long as virtually zero people watched. They've changed ownership a number of times, having been owned over the past 25 years by Fox, Qwest, Tribune, and now Gannett (duopoly with WXIA). They've been back on for 38 years, so they must be doing something right.
 
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