Nice to have a complete and non-glitched open of the first WPTY/WLMT theme! All the opens we have from those first few months are either bugged out or incomplete. The 9pm show with Harleston and Houston was the first in Memphis (and in the nation!) to be anchored by two African-American men. Also, I'm a big fan of that theme bed.
The first day of operation at WPTY News Watch 24 saw the 6pm newscast go out with a really harsh buzzing sound and the 10pm open air no fewer than three times (local newspaper accounts confirm this was how it went out!):
The first WLMT 9pm show had its own big blunder, when Houston, who had been poached from WDAF, welcomed viewers to News Channel 30...
Their launch was so bad they changed lead male anchors within two weeks of going on air and fired a producer in January 1996. Within five months, they had changed news themes.
The problems weren't just presentation and technical, either (they kind of raced the clock to begin broadcasts). The opening night sports report mentioned "Memphis University" instead of the University of Memphis. The station essentially failed to convince Memphians that they knew the city.