Well into the 70s, there were large parts of this country that got only one or two stations. If you lived in one of these areas, how did the stations typically handle two or more networks? Were there any oddities in programming or promotion? Were there any shows you really want to see but couldn't? And did you watch as much TV as compared to areas with multiple stations?
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Ever live in a one/two station area?
- Thread starter installLSC
- Start date
Maybe not the 70s, but until the late 60s there was no ABC station in my area. (We actually had public, or as it was then called educational television, several years before we had ABC here.) The CBS and NBC stations here "divvied up" a number of ABC shows between them, using kinescopes or 16mm prints sent thru the mail, and running about two weeks delayed and in odd time slots. As they were only secondary ABC affiliates, a lot of shows, especially daytime, were left out.
The NBC station took 5 of ABC's Saturday morning cartoons and ran them Mon-Fri late afternoons, tacked on to the local "Bozo the Clown" show; (it allowed "Bozo" time to get out of his costume and makeup to do the weather on the early news!), the CBS sometimes ran 5 ABC prime-time dramas Mon-Fri after the late news (opposite Johnny Carson.) Some ABC comedies and variety shows (Ozzie & Harriet, Hollywood Palace, etc.) were slotted into weekend afternoons if there were no live sports events. I recall little if any promotion of ABC shows; they were pretty much regarded as filler.
For that reason, this area was not a particularly fat market for syndicated shows, though I do remember a few (Highway Patrol, Huckleberry Hound, Sea Hunt, Woody Woodpecker, Championship Bowling, and reruns of The Life of Riley and My Little Margie.)
The NBC station took 5 of ABC's Saturday morning cartoons and ran them Mon-Fri late afternoons, tacked on to the local "Bozo the Clown" show; (it allowed "Bozo" time to get out of his costume and makeup to do the weather on the early news!), the CBS sometimes ran 5 ABC prime-time dramas Mon-Fri after the late news (opposite Johnny Carson.) Some ABC comedies and variety shows (Ozzie & Harriet, Hollywood Palace, etc.) were slotted into weekend afternoons if there were no live sports events. I recall little if any promotion of ABC shows; they were pretty much regarded as filler.
For that reason, this area was not a particularly fat market for syndicated shows, though I do remember a few (Highway Patrol, Huckleberry Hound, Sea Hunt, Woody Woodpecker, Championship Bowling, and reruns of The Life of Riley and My Little Margie.)
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Charleston had two stations until 1962 when NBC signed on full time. WUSN was the NBC at the time, while WCSC was CBS. ABC programs were mixed between Channels 2 and 5.
Savannah had two stations (WSAV/WTOC) until 1970 when WJCL signed on, and ABC programs were mixed between 3 and 11.
In the Pee Dee (Florence) area, they only had one station (WBTW 13) until 1980. They carried mostly CBS programs, while ABC was a secondary network on that station, only running the popular shows and football along with their evening news at 5:30pm.
They didn't get full-time NBC until 2008 with WMBF. You basically had to have cable to get NBC in the market unless you were north of Myrtle Beach where you could get WECT, and south of Myrtle where WCIV/WCBD came in. All the inland areas carried WIS solely while the coastal areas (plus Conway) carried WECT and WIS, along with WCBD/WCIV in some cases.
Savannah had two stations (WSAV/WTOC) until 1970 when WJCL signed on, and ABC programs were mixed between 3 and 11.
In the Pee Dee (Florence) area, they only had one station (WBTW 13) until 1980. They carried mostly CBS programs, while ABC was a secondary network on that station, only running the popular shows and football along with their evening news at 5:30pm.
They didn't get full-time NBC until 2008 with WMBF. You basically had to have cable to get NBC in the market unless you were north of Myrtle Beach where you could get WECT, and south of Myrtle where WCIV/WCBD came in. All the inland areas carried WIS solely while the coastal areas (plus Conway) carried WECT and WIS, along with WCBD/WCIV in some cases.
Ottumwa IA/Kirksville MO was a one station market for years, with KTVO 3, primary CBS from 1955 to 1968, then primary ABC from 1968 on. (In the late 50s, KTVO trumped up its one station status in Broadcasting magazine by calling its market "Monopolyville.") Before 1968, KTVO ran a delayed American Bandstand on one of the weekday afternoons. And a delayed Bonanza on Sunday afternoons. After 1968, KTVO kept As The World Turns, picking it up directly from the CBS network feed. They ran ATWT at the usual 12:30 CT slot into the early 70s. If I weren't so cheap, I'd get a Newspapers.com subscription and dive into the old Des Moines Register's TV listings for more info, I'm sure there were other instances. These are just the ones a young kid at the time remembers.
Into the 70s, KTVO became almost exclusively ABC. Translators (now defunct) in Ottumwa and Kirksville picked up out-of-market NBC and CBS stations. KTVO became sort of the de facto ABC for Quincy/Hannibal, although it just barely put a signal over those two towns. The Quincy/Hannibal market, as noted in other threads, had a tough time with ABC affiliates. First came WJJY 14 Jacksonville IL with its famously top-heavy 1400 foot tower that fell in the early 70s. Then KTVO proposed its 2000 footer in 1975, fighting legal battles with the FCC that it would hinder UHF development in the region for ten years before its CP was granted. That tower didn't last two years before collapsing. KTVO retreated to the original tower and Quincy/Hannibal would remain a two network market until the advent of HDTV and multi-plexing.
Into the 70s, KTVO became almost exclusively ABC. Translators (now defunct) in Ottumwa and Kirksville picked up out-of-market NBC and CBS stations. KTVO became sort of the de facto ABC for Quincy/Hannibal, although it just barely put a signal over those two towns. The Quincy/Hannibal market, as noted in other threads, had a tough time with ABC affiliates. First came WJJY 14 Jacksonville IL with its famously top-heavy 1400 foot tower that fell in the early 70s. Then KTVO proposed its 2000 footer in 1975, fighting legal battles with the FCC that it would hinder UHF development in the region for ten years before its CP was granted. That tower didn't last two years before collapsing. KTVO retreated to the original tower and Quincy/Hannibal would remain a two network market until the advent of HDTV and multi-plexing.
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WJJY-14 only lasted two years (1969-1971) but its tower survived until the infamous Easter weekend ice storm in central Illinois (March 26, 1978)--which also claimed a similar tower for WAND-17 Decatur about 75 miles to the east. The Jacksonville virtual 14 allocation (RF 15) is now used (since 1984) for a rimshot PBS signal for Springfield as WSEC (with a "peashooter" transmitter near Waverly, IL--and full-power translator stations in Quincy and Macomb).
http://www.dougquick.com/wanddecatur4.html (includes information on the 1978 WAND tower disaster, and another brief mention of WJJY's tower collapse that same weekend)
http://www.brainmist.com/wjjy_tv/wjjy_tv.htm
Thanks for corrections on dates, Tim. I was writing from best memory as opposed to looking up things. I type and think too slow, then I get logged off. Must go into profile and fix that.....
G
Groove1670
Guest
Big Lake Texas has one radio station (CP). Don't know if it is on the air yet, but you can hit the scan on the dial and it will go around without stopping.
I grew up in LA, so we had 7 stations - the 3 network O&Os, and 4 independents. But I was a TV Guide junkie, and recall that KEYT 3 in Santa Barbara (95 miles to the north-west, and included with the LA listings) ran programs from all 3 networks in the 50s and into the early 60s. Their Wikipedia page notes that they went on air in 1953, and initially ran programming from the Big 3 and Dumont. They lost NBC in 1964 to a new station in nearby Santa Maria, but kept CBS until 1969, when the Santa Maris station switched to CBS, and NBC went to a still newer affiliate in San Luis Obispo. Since 1969, they have been exclusively ABC.
It would be interesting to hear from an (older) Santa Barbara resident that recalls this era. If you were up on the right hill, you could have probably pulled in LA stations with a roof-top antenna, but otherwise you were limited to only one (then 2) TV stations until 1969.
It would be interesting to hear from an (older) Santa Barbara resident that recalls this era. If you were up on the right hill, you could have probably pulled in LA stations with a roof-top antenna, but otherwise you were limited to only one (then 2) TV stations until 1969.
We lived in Macon GA for a couple of years back in 1965, and all they had was WMAZ/ch. 13. It had CBS as primary and ABC as secondary. To get full network service, cable was necessary. The cable system back then had 2 (NBC), 5 (CBS) and 11 (ABC) out of Atlanta, 8 (NET) out of Athens and 3 (CBS) and 9 (NBC primary, ABC secondary) out of Columbus. An unoccupied channel had the audio of WSB-FM radio in Atlanta.
I remember in the 90s in the Coachella Valley where CBS was only on cable or SAT unless you had an antenna and were able to get KCBS 2 from LA. KECY El Centro/Yuma put a repeater/Translator on Channel 40 for the valley. They were a CBS (primary)FOX station we were getting CBS shows on Arizona time and Fox shows on days and times that were different from the primary FOX stations. Then KECY became a full time FOX station and it was back to satellite for CBS. Now KECY is a FOX/My network combo.
And their news operation is the only one left thanks to consolidation. NPG manages all of the Big Four plus CW and Telemundo. The only other US station operator in the market is Entravision.
And it's why Yuma is one of the Worst Markets for Local TV. More over on that thread:
http://www.radiodiscussions.com/sho...for-Local-TV&p=5978917&viewfull=1#post5978917
http://www.radiodiscussions.com/sho...for-Local-TV&p=5979081&viewfull=1#post5979081
http://www.radiodiscussions.com/sho...for-Local-TV&p=5982534&viewfull=1#post5982534
http://www.radiodiscussions.com/sho...for-Local-TV&p=6005809&viewfull=1#post6005809
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