SteveKendall

KYTV ("KY3") in Springfield, Mo. has not prominently featured the peacock since it introduced its current logo when it went HD years ago. However, in 2016 or '17, the station started using the peacock in its bug during newscasts. I just noticed tonight that the peacock is no longer part of the bug. I don't watch regularly, so I'm not sure when the change occurred. Incidentally, KY3 is still using the graphics that were commissioned by Schurz in 2015, right before the station was sold to Gray.

Is WDTV pining to be an ABC affiliate? It's still better than the WEWS logo.

KTVI had lousy news ratings in the late 1980s, as stated in my post above. I'm not sure how well ABC programming performed, but ABC's St. Louis ratings must have been a bit of an issue for ABC to talk to Koplar. KTVI nearly lost the rights to "Nightline" around 1990 or 1991. KTVI had just gotten the rights to "The Arsenio Hall Show," which KTVI planned to air at 10:30 (or 10:35). Paramount (Arsenio's syndicator) came out with a companion show to Arsenio called "The Party Machine with Nia Peeples," which was designed to follow Arsenio. KTVI planned to air the Nia Peeples show at 11:35, delaying "Nightline" to 12:05. However, ABC had a made a rule that ABC affiliates could not delay "Nightline" by more than an hour. KMBC in Kansas City and KSAT in San Antonio (and maybe one or two other stations) were granted exceptions because those stations had aired "Nightline" at midnight since the show's inception. KTVI initially stuck to its guns and planned to air the two syndicated shows back-to-back. Briefly, it looked like "Nightline" wouldn't be seen in St. Louis unless ABC could get the show on KPLR or KDNL (and that seemed somewhat unlikely). However, KTVI finally relented and stuck "Nightline" in at 11:35 between Arsenio and Nia Peeples.

Sinclair is a big ABC affiliate, plus ABC hasn't been a player in St. Louis since the affiliation went from KTVI to KDNL back in 1995 (prior to Sinclair owning KDNL)...that's nearly 23 years now. ABC essentially not mattering in St. Louis has become the status quo. The ratings and potential money ABC has lost over the years because of a lousy St. Louis affiliate apparently hasn't mattered too much. To my knowledge, ABC has never made even a halfway serious attempt to find a new St. Louis affiliate. In defense of ABC, the station deck in St. Louis has been stacked against them: No way KMOV or KSDK were going to switch; KPLR was owned by Acme for a number of years and tied to the WB; KPLR became the CW affiliate and Tribune is heavily tied to that, etc. Add to that, if the Sinclair-Tribune deal goes down, ABC will be dealing with Sinclair anyway. ABC's best hope would be to end up on KPLR with the CW being sent elsewhere. The only real alternative outside of Sinclair would be for ABC to strike up a deal with Weigel, who just bought KNLC and made the station a full-power Me-TV affiliate. I really can't think of a logical reason why ABC's ratings would be better on KNLC than KDNL. ABC apparently tried harder to get off of KTVI back in late 1988 or so when the network was upset about KTVI's lousy ratings at the time (plus ditching the 6PM local news for "Geraldo"). ABC had a meeting with Koplar (then-owner of KPLR) in New York that was supposedly about the technology of interactive TV, but the subject of an ABC affiliation for KPLR was apparently on the table. ABC didn't realize just how bad things were going to get just a few short years later.

Elvis probably would have done a better job than Larry Tisch!