Author Topic: Woolery/Two & Two (Read 17250 times)

Ian Wallis · « **Reply #15 on:** November 23, 2005, 09:02:46 AM »

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You and I are probably old enough to remember that stations actually signed off daily! And came back on about 5:30 or 6:00 a.m. with the farm report or somesuch.

Yes, and old TVGuides used to stop the listings at around 1:30 a.m. because most stations didn't program anything in the wee hours (come to think of it, the new TVGuides do too - but that's another story!)

As for the longer commercial breaks, I fully understand why it's done and realize it's here to stay, but it's still very annoying to see them run on so long these days. It's the same thing on radio too. Sometimes if I have to drive just a short distance away, I'll have the car radio on and hear nothing but commercials for those few minutes. But I guess we've got to live with it!

Neumms · « **Reply #16 on:** November 23, 2005, 10:29:03 AM »

While the NAB may have limited the amount of commercial time in a break, it was the FCC that limited how much a station could run in an hour. The stunningly successful broadcast lobby got that overturned--along with ownership limits, foreign ownership rules and virtually anything else holding back their profit margins--and THAT'S what gave us the infomercial.

Don Howard · « **Reply #17 on:** November 23, 2005, 11:32:00 AM »

[quote name=\'Neumms\' date=\'Nov 23 2005, 10:29 AM\']The stunningly successful broadcast lobby got that overturned--along with ownership limits, foreign ownership rules and virtually anything else holding back their profit margins--and THAT'S what gave us the infomercial.

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There's a hot spot reserved for them in the afterlife. The first two I remember were a half-hour informercial for "financial independence" anchored by some woman and Charlie O'Donnell. The other was for a hair-growth product called New Generation under the guise of a talk show called Conversation With Fred Lewis. "It won't grow hair on this table. It works in follicles". The pimper of this product was busted a few years later as a fraud on the ABC newsmagazine 20/20.
But sure, being a former LIVE! booth announcer, I remember the sign-offs very well and specifically recall reading the following copy while the aforementioned NAB symbol was shown on viewers' screens:
"WJKW-TV 8 Cleveland subscribes to the NAB Code and is proud to display this seal of good practice".
25 years later, I now finally know what that code means. Or meant.

tvrandywest · « **Reply #18 on:** November 23, 2005, 11:58:15 AM »

[quote name=\'Neumms\' date=\'Nov 23 2005, 07:29 AM\']While the NAB may have limited the amount of commercial time in a break, it was the FCC that limited how much a station could run in an hour. The stunningly successful broadcast lobby got that overturned--along with ownership limits, foreign ownership rules and virtually anything else holding back their profit margins--and THAT'S what gave us the infomercial.

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YES! Stunning is the word!

"Duopoly" was an unknown word. Moguls from Australia were not broadcast licensees. Media conglomerates exerting undue market influence over cable MSOs to get carriage was unimagineable. Nobody dreamed we'd see programming "repurposed" across corporate outlets through in-house deals that stole residuals from writers, producers and talent. Owning a newspaper and a TV station (or two) in the same market was considered to be not in the public's best interest.

How about one company owning eight radio stations and other advertising media in a market, and over 1,200 stations in total, continuing to lobby for the right to further concentrate and consolidate. And don't even start the discussion of how every TV set in your house will be obsolete in a few years.

On the anniversary of JFK's assassination (in Texas) if you wanted to theorize about conspiracies you'd question whether the owner of the huge radio company (based in Texas) is an old friend and neighbor of the current President. And you'd ask why the Australian owner previously referred to runs a cable TV "news" channel that has a clear bias. In fact, you'd expand that specific to ask why virtually every radio talk outlet and personality rants from a right-wing Republican point of view. Could they be furthering each others' agendas?

Perhaps somebody should build studios in Dealy Plaza for the FOX News Channel. Maybe Rush Limbaugh could broadcast from the School Book Suppository(!) Building. I think there's a drug store up the street!!

My tongue is firmly in my cheek. Where's Lowry Mays'? ;-)

Randy
tvrandywest.com

clemon79 · « **Reply #19 on:** November 23, 2005, 12:20:32 PM »

[quote name=\'tvrandywest\' date=\'Nov 23 2005, 08:58 AM\']My tongue is firmly in my cheek. Where's Lowry Mays'? ;-)

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Thing is, I'm still not sure whether to laugh or to cry....

mmb5 · « **Reply #20 on:** November 23, 2005, 12:53:57 PM »

Doesn't the additional 'choices' of channels have to do something with the infomercial explosion as well? In the old days of getting a 5-10 no matter what you put on eliminated the economics of the infomercial, but with now that number at 1 an infomercial seems like a sad necessity.

Jimmy Owen · « **Reply #21 on:** November 23, 2005, 02:24:48 PM »

Sometimes I wonder where Rupert really stands? With the Fox News audience or the Fox Network audience? Either way he's got a knack for collecting pictures of American presidents.

To the infomercial, didn't anybody else ever have those Art Instruction School or Changing Times magazine quarter-hour shows in the 60s-70s? How did those fly under the radar?

clemon79 · « **Reply #22 on:** November 23, 2005, 02:40:02 PM »

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' date=\'Nov 23 2005, 11:24 AM\']Sometimes I wonder where Rupert really stands? With the Fox News audience or the Fox Network audience? Either way he's got a knack for collecting pictures of American presidents.

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I'd suspect it's safe to say that where he stands fluctuates so as to maximize the growth of his presidential portrait collection, if you know what I mean.

clemon79 · « **Reply #23 on:** November 23, 2005, 02:41:43 PM »

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' date=\'Nov 23 2005, 11:24 AM\']didn't anybody else ever have those Art Instruction School or Changing Times magazine quarter-hour shows in the 60s-70s? How did those fly under the radar?

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I dunno, but I bet if you worked in Master at those stations that carried it, you could draw the _hell_ out of Tippy.

sshuffield70 · « **Reply #24 on:** November 23, 2005, 05:26:12 PM »

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Perhaps somebody should build studios in Dealy Plaza for the FOX News Channel. Maybe Rush Limbaugh could broadcast from the School Book Suppository(!) Building. I think there's a drug store up the street!!

Must be tongue in cheek, Randy, since FOX 4 is the closest to Dealey Plaza, and most downtown drug stores are underground.

tvrandywest · « **Reply #25 on:** November 23, 2005, 05:37:34 PM »

[quote name=\'sshuffield70\' date=\'Nov 23 2005, 02:26 PM\']Must be tongue in cheek, Randy, since FOX 4 is the closest to Dealey Plaza, and most downtown drug stores are underground.

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Actually I know that area very well. Some great restaurants in that "old town" corner of the city. Belo Broadcasting is nearby; damned if I can remember why I was there once. And you're right, there are no drug stores of supermarkets in sight. But Rush's drug purchases were always "underground"! ;-)

Randy
tvrandywest.com

Neumms · « **Reply #26 on:** November 23, 2005, 07:40:49 PM »

[quote name=\'tvrandywest\' date=\'Nov 23 2005, 11:58 AM\']On the anniversary of JFK's assassination (in Texas) if you wanted to theorize about conspiracies you'd question whether the owner of the huge radio company (based in Texas) is an old friend and neighbor of the current President. And you'd ask why the Australian owner previously referred to runs a cable TV "news" channel that has a clear bias. In fact, you'd expand that specific to ask why virtually every radio talk outlet and personality rants from a right-wing Republican point of view. Could they be furthering each others' agendas?

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Crazy thing is, the huge telecom bill came about during the 90s--from Bill Clinton's FCC! Geez, you'd think that'd buy him a little gratitude! Boy, some days us Democrats just can't win.

Steve McClellan · « **Reply #27 on:** November 23, 2005, 10:31:58 PM »

Just a thought: how much does the FCC's increasing laxity with multiple-outlet-owning entities have to do with the fact that TV, radio, and newspapers are no longer the only practical ways of getting one's information about recent events?

(...or are they just concentrating too much on a boob seen two years ago to be concerned with anything else?)

Kevin Prather · « **Reply #28 on:** November 23, 2005, 10:38:49 PM »

[quote name=\'Steve McClellan\' date=\'Nov 23 2005, 08:31 PM\'](...or are they just concentrating too much on a boob seen two years ago to be concerned with anything else?)

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I don't think they cared much about Donny Osmond.

Adam Nedeff · « **Reply #29 on:** November 24, 2005, 12:14:21 AM »

[quote name=\'davemackey\' date=\'Nov 23 2005, 06:29 AM\'][quote name=\'tvrandywest\' date=\'Nov 23 2005, 02:17 AM\']Best in view, Channel 2". "This is WNBC, your community-minded station". And other great quaintness...

Randy
tvrandywest.com

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You and I are probably old enough to remember that stations actually signed off daily! And came back on about 5:30 or 6:00 a.m. with the farm report or somesuch.

(What would a high-definition test pattern look like?)

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I'm 22 years old and I'm old enough to remember signing off, because a TV station here still does it! WTAP TV-15 signs off every Saturday & Sunday at 1:30 am with a montage of scenes from the Mid-Ohio Valley, followed by 4 1/2 hours of test pattern and tone. Frankly, I think they could stand to take a lesson from WSAZ Channel 3 in Huntington and use the weather radar as their test pattern. If you're going to disappear for four hours, at least have something practical on that screen, ya know?

11/25/05 EDIT: And working an overnight shift at the radio station through the week, I just discovered it's not limited to weekends. They sign off right after Carson Daly and come back for Early Today. Are you kidding me? Surely there's a juicer manufacturer trying to tap into the lucrative WV-OH border market.