Wheel of Fortune was pre-empted in a total of 36 markets yesterday because of preseason games. This includes Nashville, which was being saluted in the episode that repeated that day and was made in partnership with Nashville's affiliate, despite them constantly pre-empting the show for Titans specials, games, and news specials, and they did not promote the reruns of the Nashville week at all.
- Huntsville, AL - WAFF/NBC (pre-empted WOF every Thursday in August with no make-goods or delays)
- ABC Alaska - KYUR Anchorage, KATN Fairbanks, KJUD Juneau (bumped to 12:37 AM)
- Bakersfield, CA - KBAK/CBS
- Los Angeles, CA - KABC/ABC
- Santa Barbara, CA - KSBY/NBC (Thursday's ep is replacing the Saturday rerun at 7:30, bumping the latter earlier to 5:00 PM)
- Washington, DC - WJLA/ABC (pre-empted WOF every Thursday in August with no make-goods or delays)
- Savannah, GA - WSAV/NBC
- Peoria, IL - WMBD/NBC (bumped WOF to 1:37 AM every Thursday in August)
- Terre Haute, IN - WTWO/NBC
- New Orleans, LA - WVUE/FOX (bumped to 11:00 PM)
- Shreveport, LA/Texarkana, TX - KTAL/NBC
- Portland, ME - WMTW/ABC (bumped to 1:07 AM)
- Baltimore, MD - WBFF/FOX (bumped WOF to 3:30 AM every Thursday in August)
- Boston, MA - WBZ/CBS (bumped to 2:37 AM)
- Flint, MI - WNEM/CBS (bumped to .2 MyTV sub, but listings still had Access)
- Biloxi, MS - WLOX/ABC
- St. Joseph, MO - KQTV/ABC
- Las Vegas, NV - KLAS/CBS
- Reno, NV - KOLO/ABC (bumped to 10:30 PM)
- Elmira, NY - WETM/NBC
- Rochester, NY - WROC/CBS (delayed to 9:00 AM Friday morning)
- Greensboro, NC - WFMY/CBS (bumped to 1:37 AM)
- Raleigh/Durham, NC - WTVD/ABC (bumped WOF to .2 Live Well Network sub every week in August, but listings always showed Food Rush)
- Washington, NC - WITN/NBC (bumped to .2 MyTV sub)
- Columbus, OH - WBNS/CBS
- Youngstown, OH - WKBN/CBS (bumped to 3:02 AM Saturday morning)
- Eugene, OR - KVAL/CBS
- Sioux Falls, SD - KSFY/ABC
- Nashville, TN - WKRN/ABC (bumped to 2:07 AM)
- Dallas/Fort Worth, TX - KTVT/CBS (bumped to indie sister station KTXA)
- El Paso, TX - KDBC/CBS
- Midland, TX - KMID/ABC (bumped to 12:37 AM)
- Salt Lake City, UT - KJZZ/IND (moved one hour early to 5:00 PM Mountain)
- Norfolk, VA - WVEC/ABC (Thursday ep delayed to 5:00 PM Sunday, with no previous season repeat that weekend)
KOTA in Rapid City, SD (ABC) was
supposed to pre-empt Wheel and Jeopardy! with the Cardinals/Broncos game, but they then surprisingly decided to air the game on a one-hour delay starting at 7:00 PM Mountain so they could air the two shows.
Fellow SD affiliate KSFY pulled an opposite move. Their game was originally scheduled for 6:30-9:30 Central, with Wheel scheduled as filler at 9:30 (if no overrun) before the 10:00 news. The game then got rescheduled to 6:00-9:00, so Wheel was taken off the schedule and their new one-hour post-game window was replaced with the second of ABC's two new episodes of Reef Break scheduled for that night.
KABC Los Angeles delayed the Thu-Fri episodes of Jeopardy! to Fri-Sat, but they did not do the same for Wheel; they just skipped the Thursday episode. Friday's episode aired tonight and presumably the previous season rerun will air tomorrow. Listings did show the weekday Wheel episodes on a delay, but KABC's website did not (this is not the first time their attempted make-goods, or lack thereof, of Wheel and/or Jeopardy! contradicted listings). Other stations have told me that they're not contractually allowed to air a weekday episode of Wheel on a weekend, but KABC does do this occasionally, and a few stations are doing so this weekend with Thursday's episode.
KJZZ Salt Lake City pulled a very rare move of airing Wheel earlier than its mandatory 6-7 PM window for Central and Mountain. Typically, stations are not allowed to do this without permission. I wish that weren't the case since that's when sporting events often start or have their pregames, and when stations love to air random "specials" for no reason. Speaking of which...
Both this Thursday and last, KTEN (NBC) in Sherman, TX/Ada, OK pre-empted Wheel with a high school football preview special. Although there were several solutions for a make-good of Wheel since they own three affiliates in the market (NBC, CW, ABC), they did not air Wheel at all on both days. Why not air the special on one of the other channels? Their ABC I believe airs two episodes each of Family Feud and Jeopardy!. Would have been more fair to pre-empt one of those since Wheel only offers one airing (that needs to change, IMO).