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most infuriating! pre-emptions by local stations
- Thread starter skippercollector
- Start date
anotherguyTN
Walk of Fame Participant
kingskip said:
You're right. WREG would use those 3 shows and their classic movie library (until the 90's when Ted Turner bought up the rights to a lot of them) to fill any non-network time late nights and weekends. Now they run almost nothing but infomercials.
In August last year there were a few Saturday or Sunday afternoons with no sports on CBS, and you can guess what they filled the time with - 5 hours or more of infomercials! They used to be one of the best stations in Memphis about not running infomercials, but now they're one of the worst! I guess corporate greed took over there.
briancraig
Leading Participant
There was an article in the Memphis paper back in the 1970s that said WREG had more films than any other station in the U.S. It said they had 1500 movies while WHBQ had 500 and WMC had 100.
At the time, WREG showed movies from 10:30 pm to 6 am Monday thru Saturday and from 10:30 pm to 2 am on Sunday nights. WHBQ showed a movie every morning and 2 or 3 over the weekend while WMC showed one film a week on Saturday night at Midnight. This was before WPTY signed on in 1978.
At the time, WREG showed movies from 10:30 pm to 6 am Monday thru Saturday and from 10:30 pm to 2 am on Sunday nights. WHBQ showed a movie every morning and 2 or 3 over the weekend while WMC showed one film a week on Saturday night at Midnight. This was before WPTY signed on in 1978.
skippercollector
Frequent Participant
I thought of another situation, this one involving Cincinnati's WKRC Channel 12, then the ABC affiliate, in the early 1970s.
During the 1969-1970 season, WKRC didn't air Here Come the Brides on Friday nights. I don't remember what was on instead. HCTB aired, not the next day, but the following Saturday afternoon, eight days later.
During the 1971-1972 season, WKRC didn't show The Brady Bunch on Friday nights, replacing it with a local version of Bowling for Dollars. TBB aired the following Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
During 1973? 1974?, WKRC played over all closing credits (remember those?) of prime time programming. The credits were shown, but some generic instrumental music was played instead. I've NEVER figured that one out!
During the 1969-1970 season, WKRC didn't air Here Come the Brides on Friday nights. I don't remember what was on instead. HCTB aired, not the next day, but the following Saturday afternoon, eight days later.
During the 1971-1972 season, WKRC didn't show The Brady Bunch on Friday nights, replacing it with a local version of Bowling for Dollars. TBB aired the following Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
During 1973? 1974?, WKRC played over all closing credits (remember those?) of prime time programming. The credits were shown, but some generic instrumental music was played instead. I've NEVER figured that one out!
skippercollector said:
Usually when a station is pre-empting an upcoming network program (usually the next program), they would mute out the audio, usually with the station announcer pitching the next program. Did WKRC have an announcer talk over the music, or did they just play the music? Also, was it for all programs, or only those that had the network announcer announcing a program pre-empted by WKRC?
firepoint525
Walk of Fame Participant
Did they ever get a call from Elvis back in those days? ;Dbriancraig said:
firepoint525
Walk of Fame Participant
This is true. However, I have noticed that in recent years, they are making it harder for the local affils to do things like that, by intertwining actual programming with the closing credits, while also putting something onscreen about the upcoming program, etc. They also seem to like having a program end a minute late, or starting one a minute early, anything to make it tougher for the affils to cover up the fact that they are pre-empting network programming.azumanga said:
Of course, some of this could just be so that they could squeeze in one or two more commercials somewhere during the program. :
skippercollector
Frequent Participant
to firepoint
It was ALL the prime time programming. And it wasn't an announcer speaking about an upcoming program or even an advertisement. It was just generic instrumental music!
It was ALL the prime time programming. And it wasn't an announcer speaking about an upcoming program or even an advertisement. It was just generic instrumental music!
My local CBS affilate used to delay CBS late night by 30 mins to air an episode of "Mama's Family" following the news. The NBC affiliate used to air a "Cheers" right after "The Tonight Show" delaying Letterman.
Most recently the local CBS affiliate pre-empted Survivor (the episode where Brandon goes balistic) to air SEC basketball. even though they have 2 subchannels they could use. CBS programming didn't come on until 1:37 and few people knew where to find it. The same station moves CBS to a subchannel when they have two games on at the same time, but they won't do it for prime time.
Most recently the local CBS affiliate pre-empted Survivor (the episode where Brandon goes balistic) to air SEC basketball. even though they have 2 subchannels they could use. CBS programming didn't come on until 1:37 and few people knew where to find it. The same station moves CBS to a subchannel when they have two games on at the same time, but they won't do it for prime time.
One of my two CBS affiliates aired the first hour of a 90-minute "Survivor,"
then cut away to an ACC basketball game, putting the last half-hour of
"Survivor" on its subchannel. And because of the ACC basketball tournament,
that same station was airing Thursday's and yesterday's episodes of "The Young
And The Restless" and "The Bold And The Beautiful" overnight Thursday and last
night. The other had "Elementary" at 4:37 this morning and I don't know what
before that.
It used to be fairly common for ABC and CBS affiliates to delay their 11:30/10:30
shows a half-hour; in the case of these two CBS affiliates, one carried "Newhart"
and the other, "Amen." And I remember for years WAGA, when it was a CBS affiliate,
carried "Maude" at 11:30 (it also carried Arsenio Hall and handed off the CBS latenight
block to Ch. 69), and ABC affiliate WSB carried "Who's The Boss?" and, later, "Benson."
But the most infuriating pre-emption I ever encountered happened on the night of
Friday, December 18, 1970. I was living in Birmingham but had picked up a Hawks game
on Atlanta's Ch. 11. Following the game the station's 11 PM news came on and the lead
story was that outgoing Georgia governor Lester Maddox (Jimmy Carter had just been
elected governor) had walked off "The Dick Cavett Show" earlier that evening after a
set-to with football great Jim Brown. Then Bob Neal, who was 11's anchor at the time,
announced that Atlanta viewers would have to wait until Sunday night at 11:30 (which
is when the station carried Cavett's Friday show, putting a movie into the Friday slot)
to see it. WBRC in Birmingham did show it that night, sometime after midnight (CT) and
I suppose I could have stayed up to watch it. But what infuriates me is that this was
a story of more interest to Atlanta viewers and they had to wait until its news value had
eroded somewhat before they could see it (obviously Ch. 11 had sold the ad time for the
movie and had no time to make a change). (BTW, Cavett's wife was in her home town in
Mississippi attending some function and everything stopped when the show came on.)
then cut away to an ACC basketball game, putting the last half-hour of
"Survivor" on its subchannel. And because of the ACC basketball tournament,
that same station was airing Thursday's and yesterday's episodes of "The Young
And The Restless" and "The Bold And The Beautiful" overnight Thursday and last
night. The other had "Elementary" at 4:37 this morning and I don't know what
before that.
It used to be fairly common for ABC and CBS affiliates to delay their 11:30/10:30
shows a half-hour; in the case of these two CBS affiliates, one carried "Newhart"
and the other, "Amen." And I remember for years WAGA, when it was a CBS affiliate,
carried "Maude" at 11:30 (it also carried Arsenio Hall and handed off the CBS latenight
block to Ch. 69), and ABC affiliate WSB carried "Who's The Boss?" and, later, "Benson."
But the most infuriating pre-emption I ever encountered happened on the night of
Friday, December 18, 1970. I was living in Birmingham but had picked up a Hawks game
on Atlanta's Ch. 11. Following the game the station's 11 PM news came on and the lead
story was that outgoing Georgia governor Lester Maddox (Jimmy Carter had just been
elected governor) had walked off "The Dick Cavett Show" earlier that evening after a
set-to with football great Jim Brown. Then Bob Neal, who was 11's anchor at the time,
announced that Atlanta viewers would have to wait until Sunday night at 11:30 (which
is when the station carried Cavett's Friday show, putting a movie into the Friday slot)
to see it. WBRC in Birmingham did show it that night, sometime after midnight (CT) and
I suppose I could have stayed up to watch it. But what infuriates me is that this was
a story of more interest to Atlanta viewers and they had to wait until its news value had
eroded somewhat before they could see it (obviously Ch. 11 had sold the ad time for the
movie and had no time to make a change). (BTW, Cavett's wife was in her home town in
Mississippi attending some function and everything stopped when the show came on.)
flytrap said:
During the 1980s and 1990s, WTVT in Tampa Bay would show The CBS late Movie / CBS Late Night on a week delay at 12 Midnight, in order to show a syndicated program at 11:30PM. Shows I remember off the bat included Benny Hill and Married With Children. The week delay ended when Letterman moved to CBS and WTVT started clearing him "live" for a few weeks, before showing him on a delay (a half-hour delay this time) at 12 Midnight.
romer979fm
Star Participant
back in the late 60's...in Louisville...WAVE-3 did not show Laugh In the first two seasons (subbed the "WAVE-3 Monday Night Movie").
WHAS-11 bumped "The Wild Wild West" for years...also for a local movie. I could rarely pull in WCPO-9 Cincinnati or WISH-8 Indianapolis for CBS...
of WFBM-6 Indianapolis for NBC. WAVE also regularly pre-empted "The Tonight Show" at 11:30p for taped replays of UK basketball.
Long time ago...on a portable TV with only a whip antenna.
WHAS-11 bumped "The Wild Wild West" for years...also for a local movie. I could rarely pull in WCPO-9 Cincinnati or WISH-8 Indianapolis for CBS...
of WFBM-6 Indianapolis for NBC. WAVE also regularly pre-empted "The Tonight Show" at 11:30p for taped replays of UK basketball.
Long time ago...on a portable TV with only a whip antenna.
From some of the issues of the Kentucky edition of TV Guide
I've seen from the years "Wild Wild West" was on CBS (1965-69)
WHAS usually pre-empted for "Perry Mason." I know that WDBO
(now WKMG) Orlando used to do the same thing, and that WAGA
used to pre-empt for "I Spy" after NBC canceled it in 1968.
I think it was after the Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy assassinations,
with concern in Congress about violence on television (John Pastore usually
led the call to tone it down), that WFMY and WBTV also dropped "Wild Wild
West" and ran "The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour" from 7-8 on Fridays; WFMY
then filled the 8-8:30 slot with "The Good Guys" while WBTV carried, IIRC,
either "Marshal Dillon" or "Wanted Dead Or Alive." Both stations carried movies
on Wednesday nights (a common practice on CBS affiliates in the late '60s, just
as movies on Friday nights was a common practice on ABC affiliates, at least in
the South--I can't speak for the rest of the country).
One other irritant was ABC affiliates' pre-empting the network news, a practice
that gradually ended after the teaming of Howard K. Smith and Harry Reasoner,
and Reasoner's 1971 remarks that "any station with a network affiliation and not
carrying that network's news is a disgrace." Some of that goes back to 1968,
when Frank Reynolds (the first time) was anchoring ABC's newscast and included
commentaries which some station owners judged too liberal. Why couldn't they
let their viewers decide, and if they didn't like it and the ratings dropped, then drop
the newscast, rather than arbitrarily make that kind of decision for the audience?
I've seen from the years "Wild Wild West" was on CBS (1965-69)
WHAS usually pre-empted for "Perry Mason." I know that WDBO
(now WKMG) Orlando used to do the same thing, and that WAGA
used to pre-empt for "I Spy" after NBC canceled it in 1968.
I think it was after the Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy assassinations,
with concern in Congress about violence on television (John Pastore usually
led the call to tone it down), that WFMY and WBTV also dropped "Wild Wild
West" and ran "The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour" from 7-8 on Fridays; WFMY
then filled the 8-8:30 slot with "The Good Guys" while WBTV carried, IIRC,
either "Marshal Dillon" or "Wanted Dead Or Alive." Both stations carried movies
on Wednesday nights (a common practice on CBS affiliates in the late '60s, just
as movies on Friday nights was a common practice on ABC affiliates, at least in
the South--I can't speak for the rest of the country).
One other irritant was ABC affiliates' pre-empting the network news, a practice
that gradually ended after the teaming of Howard K. Smith and Harry Reasoner,
and Reasoner's 1971 remarks that "any station with a network affiliation and not
carrying that network's news is a disgrace." Some of that goes back to 1968,
when Frank Reynolds (the first time) was anchoring ABC's newscast and included
commentaries which some station owners judged too liberal. Why couldn't they
let their viewers decide, and if they didn't like it and the ratings dropped, then drop
the newscast, rather than arbitrarily make that kind of decision for the audience?
perfidia08
New Participating Member
skippercollector said:
Actually, that "generic" music was likely an instrumental cut of whatever ABC's fall campaign jingle was at the time (probably "This is The Place To Be"). WPVI in Philly used to pre-empt a lot back then too, and used cuts like that, or promo versions of specific shows.
I remember the same thing happening on a Brady Bunch episode here.
Perf
retrosmart
Frequent Participant
Have that ever happen in Houston, Texas?
firepoint525
Walk of Fame Participant
Mama's Family was one of the programs that channel 6 in Paducah used to air while delaying Saturday Night Liveone hour delayed. The other program was usually the Crook and Chase program This Week in Country Music. They even delayed SNL on Miss America night when they were already one hour late! :flytrap said:
This from the same TV station that signed off at 12:30 a.m. weekdays rather than carry Later with Bob Costas. :
F
FredLeonard
Guest
I'm starting to realize why network promos always included the phrase "over most of these same stations." Not even "tonight on ______ (ABC) (CBS) (NBC)." Even in the voice over during the credit it was "stay tuned for ______ over most of these same stations."
Most stations much have preempted routinely.
In Detroit, Storer's WJBK-TV never showed CBS' morning show, preempted the evening news for several years, delayed See It Now to some dead time on the weekend, and did not show Person to Person or most CBS Reports broadcasts.
On the other hand, we got to see a lot of NTA and Ziv shows with local spots.
Most stations much have preempted routinely.
In Detroit, Storer's WJBK-TV never showed CBS' morning show, preempted the evening news for several years, delayed See It Now to some dead time on the weekend, and did not show Person to Person or most CBS Reports broadcasts.
On the other hand, we got to see a lot of NTA and Ziv shows with local spots.
FredLeonard said:
The Philadelphia Phillies' announcers certainly liked the "most of these ... stations" phrase, so much they semi parodied it. WPHL-17 (an indie station then) was the Phils' flagship in the '70s and early '80s, with IIRC WLYH-15 Lebanon, WNEP-16 Wilkes-Barre, and WGAL-8 Lancaster (Big 3 affils all)*. Harry Kalas or Whitey Ashburn routinely pitched the next Phillies telecast as airing "on Channel 17 and most of these stations".
*One time while visiting a great aunt in Baltimore's southern suburbs, I watched a Phils game on a snowy Channel 8.
ixnay
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