On The Cover-What's The Deal?

[Tim L]

[quote name=\'urbanpreppie05\' date=\'Aug 9 2004, 09:42 AM\']The 95' affiliation switch did cause some confusion here in NE Ohio...

Channel 8 went from CBS to Fox,
and 19 went from Fox to Cbs- but because they didn't have an news outlet there, they had to create one. And boy, did it suck. 19's news outlet is just now catching up with the rest of the market-and now it's surpassing other stations! (IMHO, I think it totally sucks)
 
Channel 8 opted not to pick up the Fox Kids lineup, it moved to religious affil. WBNX-55. For some odd reason though, a few months after the change 8 did run a lame hour of old warner brothers cartoons, called "8 Toons."

A few years later, 43 decided to keep UPN and WB moved to 55. Since both networks had weekday and saturday lineups, 55 ran Fox's in the afternoon and Wb's in the morning. WB got the saturday lineup on Saturday, and Fox's was pushed to Sunday.

Mike, correct me if I'm wrong.[/quote]
WBNX 55 though owned by Rev. Ernest Angley's Winston Broadcasting Company.  Was never a "religious" station in the TBN or Cornerstone (WPCB Pittsburgh) mold.  They have carried Anglley's shows at 9AM and 10PM at least 5 nights a week since their 1985 sign-on.  They were independednt then signed with the WB in late 1994.  Call letter combinations sometimes are in different cities, as with WONE AM 980 in Dayton, Ohio and WONE 97.5 FM in Akron even under different
Owners

[aaron sica]

[quote name=\'tommycharles\' date=\'Aug 9 2004, 12:14 AM\'] (BTW do you live in Colorado, Aaron? Or do you just know a lot about the situation?)

T [/quote]
 I don't live in Colorado, but thanks to my satellite TV days, I was able to get the Denver channels on DISH Network for a few years.......

[MikeK]

[quote name=\'Tim L\' date=\'Aug 9 2004, 12:57 PM\'] WBNX 55 though owned by Rev. Ernest Angley's Winston Broadcasting Company.  Was never a "religious" station in the TBN or Cornerstone (WPCB Pittsburgh) mold.  They have carried Anglley's shows at 9AM and 10PM at least 5 nights a week since their 1985 sign-on.  They were independednt then signed with the WB in late 1994. [/quote]
 I thought WBNX got the WB around 1996.  WUAB was airing the WB's programming until at least Fall 1996...

ObGS:  When WNBX first signed on, they had a number of syndie games including Sale of the Century, Crosswits, and, IIRC, The Joker's Wild.

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'SRIV94\' date=\'Aug 9 2004, 10:08 AM\']Contrast that with two commercial TV stations in New York that had radio counterparts, but did change their TV calls (WNEW-TV, now WNYW; and WOR-TV, now WWOR).  FOX's acquisition of WNEW-TV prolly forced the call letter change since they weren't picking up WNEW-AM/FM.  Not sure about the WOR/WWOR situation though--I know RKO General owned WOR-AM, but did they also own WOR-TV at that time?[/quote]
They did own both stations and WKYS at the time--as you probably remember, RKO was more-or-less ordered by the FCC to get out of the broadcasting business after several violations.  WOR-TV was sold to MCA in 1987, who then added the extra "W" to the calls.  When MCA/Universal was acquired by Matushita, rules barring ownership by foreign nationals had the station sold to Chris-Craft/United in the 90s.  A few years ago, after TV duopolies were allowed, most of the Chris-Craft/United stations were sold to Fox, who owns them (and WWOR) today.  (Of course, lest we forget, Rupert Murdoch became a part-U.S. citizen to keep the TV stations he bought in the 80s.)

It seems to me that WOR Radio after RKO's sale has not been owned by a station group, making it a rarity in today's radio scene, but I can't remember the exact owner.

ObGameShow:  One of our mods knows the Chris-Craft Videotape Center studio where B&E shows were taped intimately.

[SRIV94]

[quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'Aug 9 2004, 01:34 PM\'] They did own both stations and WKYS at the time--as you probably remember, RKO was more-or-less ordered by the FCC to get out of the broadcasting business after several violations.  WOR-TV was sold to MCA in 1987, who then added the extra "W" to the calls. [/quote]
 I hadn't really followed RKO's troubles, so thanks for the quick course.  ObNitpick--the FM station was WRKS (nee WXLO).

When MCA/Universal was acquired by Matushita, rules barring ownership by foreign nationals had the station sold to Chris-Craft/United in the 90s.

I'm assuming this would be around the time that WWOR got pulled off most cable systems (leaving TBS and WGN as the only superstations left), yes?  Or was that later?

Doug -- soon to celebrate 600 posts

[aaron sica]

[quote name=\'SRIV94\' date=\'Aug 9 2004, 03:11 PM\'] I'm assuming this would be around the time that WWOR got pulled off most cable systems (leaving TBS and WGN as the only superstations left), yes?  Or was that later?
 [/quote]
 The mid-90's is when WWOR started losing its "superstation" status. Starting January 1, 1990, with the syndex rules, there were basically 2 WWOR stations - a "superstation" one, and the regular WWOR-9 feed...

[SRIV94]

[quote name=\'aaron sica\' date=\'Aug 9 2004, 02:15 PM\'] The mid-90's is when WWOR started losing its "superstation" status. Starting January 1, 1990, with the syndex rules, there were basically 2 WWOR stations - a "superstation" one, and the regular WWOR-9 feed... [/quote]
Same goes for WGN--they also offer two feeds (and they're still carrying the "Superstation" tag on their national feed, not the Chicago one).  But my question was whether WWOR's acquisition by Chris Craft/United coincided with the station stopping its nationwide cablecasting, or if there was a significant gap in the time.

Doug -- soon to celebrate 600 posts (and right now tied with you [that was as of 2:23 PM CT on 8/9/04] ;-) )

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'aaron sica\' date=\'Aug 9 2004, 02:15 PM\'][quote name=\'SRIV94\' date=\'Aug 9 2004, 03:11 PM\'] I'm assuming this would be around the time that WWOR got pulled off most cable systems (leaving TBS and WGN as the only superstations left), yes?  Or was that later?
 [/quote]
The mid-90's is when WWOR started losing its "superstation" status. Starting January 1, 1990, with the syndex rules, there were basically 2 WWOR stations - a "superstation" one, and the regular WWOR-9 feed...[/quote]
Dec. 30, 1996, to be exact, when Animal Planet took over WWOR's analog satellite transponder space (it'd been distributed digitally for about a year before that).

[Tim L]

[quote name=\'hmtriplecrown\' date=\'Aug 9 2004, 01:15 PM\'] [quote name=\'Tim L\' date=\'Aug 9 2004, 12:57 PM\'] WBNX 55 though owned by Rev. Ernest Angley's Winston Broadcasting Company.  Was never a "religious" station in the TBN or Cornerstone (WPCB Pittsburgh) mold.  They have carried Anglley's shows at 9AM and 10PM at least 5 nights a week since their 1985 sign-on.  They were independednt then signed with the WB in late 1994. [/quote]
I thought WBNX got the WB around 1996.  WUAB was airing the WB's programming until at least Fall 1996...

ObGS:  When WNBX first signed on, they had a number of syndie games including Sale of the Century, Crosswits, and, IIRC, The Joker's Wild. [/quote]
 You might be right Nike.  I was trying to tie in Channel 55/WB with the Fox/CBS changes about the same time in 1994.  I had the first night of the WB on 55 on videotape.  I Think now it might have been New Years Eve 1995 with the WB Sitcoms on a Sunday Night.


Tim Lones

[mclemore63]

Well,how about this? I used to live in the Tampa-St. Petersburg market about that time and their switch occurred on December 12,1994:


WTSP-10 (Gannett) was ABC,now CBS
WTVT-13(New World,now Fox) was CBS,now FOX
WFTS-28(Scripps-Howard) was FOX,now ABC

The intersting part was CBS allowing WTSP to show TPIR from September to the official switchover in December!

BTW,Tampa Bay does have an indie,WMOR-32(Hearst-Argyle)

Travis D.McLemore,Jr.

"I think I'm in a deli...I'm on a roll!"
Mr. Baggy Pants,"Remote Control"

[trainman]

Re call letters:  As far as I know, the FCC's rule had been that AM and/or FM radio stations and TV stations could only share call letters if they were owned by the same company and in the same market.  That changed around 1988, when call letter duplication was allowed if all parties agreed.

As long as we're on the subject of Tampa, that's what I can use as an example:  in the early 1980s, Media General sold off WFLA(AM) and WFLA-FM while keeping WFLA-TV.  But they had to change WFLA-TV's call letters, so it became WXFL.  After the FCC rule change, they got permission from the then-owner of the radio stations, and the TV station became WFLA-TV again, as of January 1, 1989.

(Actually, very early in the days of TV, radio stations and TV stations weren't allowed to share call letters, but that rule was gone by the early 1950s.)

[ChuckNet]

Channel 8 opted not to pick up the Fox Kids lineup, it moved to religious affil. WBNX-55. For some odd reason though, a few months after the change 8 did run a lame hour of old warner brothers cartoons, called "8 Toons."

A number of other "second-tier" Fox affiliates that came aboard following the New World buyout also didn't air the Fox Kids shows...on a trip to Tampa in '96, I found out that the aforementioned WTVT (Ch. 13) didn't air the FK block, and instead of the customary sitcom reruns from 5-7 PM, they aired a 2-hr. news block.

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

[ChuckNet]

WOR-TV was sold to MCA in 1987, who then added the extra "W" to the calls.

And for a time in the late 80s/early 90s following the buyout, the station was actually referred to as "Universal 9".

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

[Ian Wallis]

And then there was the FCC rule that you cannot change call letters into a new 3-letter call unless your station previously had those call letters at one time in the past. That's why WJKW could revert back to the 3-letter WJW call. Chances are if you know of any station nowadays with 3-lettered calls, odds are you'll never see them changing their calls --those IDs are collectors items!

I've always wondered about that.  Since it seems like more than 98% of all calls are 4 letters, why allow 3-letter calls in the first place?  They just seem out of place.

As for superstations, TBS and WGN are the only two national superstations, but there are a couple more "regional" superstations.  WPIX New York and WSBK Boston are in most satellite "superstation" packages, but (to the best of my knowledge) are only carried in the Northeast on cable.  KTVT Dallas-Fort Worth was considered a "mini-superstation" for a while too, but lost that when they affiliated with CBS.  Their C-band signal was discontinued at that time too.

Speaking of C-band transponders, after superstation WWOR was pulled off satellite in favor of Animal Planet, they had the regular New York feed on another satellite and transponder for a while, but that only lasted a few months until it was taken off satellite altogether.  

During the times when the "superstation" feed existed, they'd run all the regular commercials and promos that would air on the regular New York feed, so you'd see a promo for (game show tie-in here) Bill Cosby's "You Bet Your Life", but it would never air on the superstation feed!

[aaron sica]

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Aug 14 2004, 12:36 PM\'] WPIX New York and WSBK Boston are in most satellite "superstation" packages, but (to the best of my knowledge) are only carried in the Northeast on cable.  KTVT Dallas-Fort Worth was considered a "mini-superstation" for a while too, but lost that when they affiliated with CBS.  Their C-band signal was discontinued at that time too.
 [/quote]
 I remember being excited about having KTVT on satellite if we would have gotten the big dish back in 1990...

WPIX and WSBK are offered on Dish Network's "superstation" package, along with WWOR, KTLA (La's WB) and KWGN (Denver's WB).