bpatrick

I`m not sure it was the first. but Tom York's Morning Show on WBRC might be in the running, having also started in 1957. Unlike WFMY's show it is no longer on the air, having ended in 1989. If you were looking at the first local morning show, you'd have to go with one that had news but was more or less a comedy show. That was Ernie Kovacs' 3 To Get Ready on WPTZ (now KYW) in Philadelphia. The success of that show prompted Pat Weaver to create the Today show, which wasn't strictly a news program in the Dave Garroway era.

Don't look for her to be on WSB, also a Cox station. WAGA has her in Atlanta and that station is a Fox o&o.

Somebody forgot Texas, the Another World spinoff that tried to capitalize on the Dallas craze in 1980. NBC put it on against General Hospital (then in the Luke and Laura craze) and Guiding Light at 3 PM, and it made few if any inroads against the established hits on ABC and CBS. NBC made another goof when it moved Texas to 11 AM, against The Price Is Right. Texas and The Doctors had their last episodes Dec. 31, 1982. Texas was actually the first soap to debut as an hour show and, yes, it was on NBC. Does anybody realize that only three NBC soaps lasted more than ten years: Days, The Doctors, and Another World? I don't count Search for Tomorrow, because it was on CBS for 31 years but only four on NBC. By contrast, CBS has had eight (Y&R, B&B, Guiding Light, As the World Turns, Edge of Night (19 of its 28 years), Search for Tomorrow (31 of 35 years), Love of Life, and Secret Storm; ABC has had five (GH, One Life to Live, All My Children, Ryan's Hope, and Loving--I don't count Edge of Night because it was on for nine years on ABC).

I wouldn't put money on B&B going to an hour. Brad Bell has been adamant that that's not going to happen, and I think the actors like the half-hour format because, normally, they can rehearse and tape the show in an eight-hour working day rather than the 12-14-hour days common on the hour soaps. 0p-

I can see a CBS newscast at 11 AM outside the Eastern time zone, but there are five stations which run Y&R at 11:30: Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Nashville, and Springfield, MO. Also, KFMB has a local newscast from 11-12:30, delaying Y&R to 1 PM. In the Eastern time zone, you seem to be suggesting that CBS's newscast air at 1 PM, directly opposite GMA3 and NBC News Daily. Do you think people will want three news/public affairs shows head-to-head in the middle of the day? And does Y&R get the boot? Perhaps those five stations that run Y&R at 11:30 expand their midday news (or, in Nashville, "Talk of the Town") to 11-12, then go along with the East Coast with network news at 12 (CT/PT). The question then becomes: what happens to the soaps? It looks to me like B&B is headed for the boneyard sometime in 2025, and the new Black-oriented soap The Gates is still on the drawing boards. Does Y&R go to 2/1? And a few other complications: there are CBS affiliates (WBTV Charlotte and WANF Atlanta among them) that start their news blocks at 3. That doesn't bode well as a potential timeslot for a soap; further, I don't see CBS giving up Let's Make A Deal, which seems to work just fine either at 10 AM or 3 PM. This is a truly complicated situation.

WPGA already dropped ABC one time, objecting to the content of some of the network's programs. I don't know if they'd find Fox to be any better.

I think the idea was to get a jump on All My Children and Days Of Our Lives; for a little over a year in 1980-81 all three soaps were on at 1 (ET). Ryan's Hope was beating Search For Tomorrow (still on CBS), and The Doctors on NBC was past its peak; CBS had to figure that neither was so formidable that they couldn't be taken. As for AMC and Days, well, they were among the most popular soaps, so it was more valuable to CBS to top both of them. By putting Y&R at 12:30, it would be in progress when AMC and Days came on, and its viewers would be less likely to change channels. Having Bold and the Beautiful at 1:30 was the same strategy; AMC and Days would be in progress, and CBS viewers would be less inclined to turn away. One thing I don't understand is why ABC doesn't do a split feed of GMA3. It airs at 1 (ET), noon everywhere else, and ABC affiliates in the earlier time zones have to run their news at 11 AM (WFAA Dallas, for example, was running All My Children at 11, followed by news at noon; GMA3 forced them to move the news to 11 so the network show could air at 12.) The Eastern time zone would still see GMA3 at 1 (like CBS's Eastern affiliates see Y&R at 12:30), but everyone else would have the choice of GMA3 at 11 and news at noon, or vice versa (like Y&R outside the Eastern time zone...11 or 11:30 AM).

In those markets where GL was moved to 10 AM it was getting hammered by General Hospital and had been for years. But there had also been the loss of several popular characters: some longtime fans stopped watching when Maureen Bauer (Ed's wife, if you know the show) was killed off because Procter & Gamble wanted to bring in Buzz Cooper, father of Frank and Harley and who had been MIA in Vietnam for years. (A focus group had told P&G that they didn't care either way if Maureen (Ellen Parker) was let go.) Then Michael Zaslow, who played Roger Thorpe, died in real life and his replacement lasted about a month. Finally Jerry ver Dorn (Ross Marler) walked in one morning and was handed his pink slip. Losing popular characters like these didn't help; fortunately the show didn't write out Josh and Reva. My own take on all this is that, after 72 years on radio and television, GL was out of stories. I don't doubt they'll get another year. However, if I were a CBS affiliate manager, I wouldn't dare drop either show but I'd be praying for the day I could expand my noon newscast to an hour and go head-to-head with the ABC, NBC, or even Fox affiliates from 12-1. I know, there are a few stations doing it (WLKY, KOTV, to name two) but right now I don't think many stations want to mess up viewing habits in the middle of the day.

I never watch soaps unless I'm somewhere where a TV is on. I was in such a place at lunchtime one day last week, and Y&R was on. I'm almost shocked at how Peter Bergman and Melody Thomas Scott have aged, and--along with Eric Braeden--they could be considered the stars of the show. Braeden says his cancer is in remission, but he's in his 80s so how many years does he have left? Over at B&B Katharine Kelly Lang definitely looks 63. And these people are identified with their respective shows! It makes me wonder just what will happen when they go--just like I wonder what will happen to Wheel of Fortune when Vanna goes. As for Drew, not only does he acknowledge that Bob Barker had TPIR before him, he'll even mention the host who had it even before that--Bill Cullen. I don't recall but once when Barker acknowledged Cullen at all, and that was when Cullen appeared to promote his short-lived game show Child's Play.

There is one station that airs "Y&R" at 4: WLKY Louisville. And I don't look for them to move it, because its 5 PM newscast is number one in the timeslot.

Except for WLS, where Oprah's show originated and aired live at 9 AM, stations were not allowed to air her in the morning. The most common time for her show was 4 PM (local time), although there were some stations that aired her at 5 as lead-in to the news and some, like KABC, that had her at 3, before the 4 PM news. Now as to whether Kelly and Mark should be on in the afternoons: I can remember, back in the '70s, when Mike Douglas was considered better suited for the morning and Merv Griffin for the afternoon. That did not deter stations from reversing that; Mike dominated 4:30-6 PM in Atlanta and Jacksonville for years, and Merv did likewise in the mornings in Birmingham until then-ABC affiliate WBRC started carrying "Good Morning America" (Merv had been on at 8 AM). So I don't know about this "such-and-such a show is a morning show (or an afternoon show)." I don't know what difference it makes if Kelly and Mark are on at 9 AM or 3 PM with one exception: For CBS affiliates to put "Y&R" at 3 would be a gamble. CBS affiliates, particularly in the Eastern time zone (like Fort Wayne), tend to dominate at noon; their noon newscasts are bracketed by "The Price Is Right" at 11 and "Y&R" at 12:30. ABC and NBC affiliates are probably in a better position to run Kelly and Mark in the afternoons...not that I think any of them are going to.

WESH also carries Live at 9 AM, with the third and fourth hours of Today at 10 and 11 AM respectively. WESH is also a Hearst station.

I don't recall GL airing in Atlanta at 10 AM; in fact, I recall only two stations south of the Mason-Dixon line airing the venerable soap in the morning; WFOR and WKMG. As for LMAD, I see WKMG has moved it back to 10 AM.

Do you mean that ET is moving from WXYZ to WJBK? It's been on WXYZ at 7:30 for as long as I can remember.