bpatrick

I don't see any reason why the ABC o&os would move "General Hospital" back to 2.  It's no doubt the best lead-in they can have for their 4 PM newscasts.  I won't be surprised, though, if  WABC and WTVD add 10 AM newscasts (the o&os outside the Eastern time zone have "The View" at 10).

Just learned that Harold Crump, longtime general manager of WTVF Nashville, has passed away at age 91.  If I'm reading the obituary correctly Crump instituted the NewsChannel 5 ID; he did change the station's call letters from WLAC-TV to WTVF.  During Crump's years at NewsChannel 5 a few nationally syndicated shows were produced there: "Hee Haw," "Candid Camera," and "The Jimmy Dean Show."  WTVF is unique in that it is a CBS affiliate which is stronger in Nashville and its suburbs while NBC affiliate WSMV does better in the rural areas; this is the reverse of most markets where NBC tends to do better in the city and suburbs, while CBS does better in the countryside.  And frankly, NewsChannel 5 does seem more "big city" than does Channel 4.  An R.I.P. to Mr. Crump.
 

Criswell did the "A.M." show at 7 AM before "Good Morning America" took over the time slot.  From the looks of that intro, was this before or after Iola Johnson?

I believe WXIA had the same idea when it revived a midday newscast during the COVID pandemic.  But they kept it.

My next question: With Dr. Phil ending his run, might 11 Alive move Jennifer Hudson back to 3 and finally start a 4 PM newscast?

Who has it in Atlanta?

Regardless of whether or not CBS goes somewhere else, I plan to drop dead if WANF passes WXIA for third place in Atlanta news.  I haven't seen WANF's new look, but my gut tells me to keep an eye on the battle for third between the two.  For me the last good newscast on 11 Alive was "Pro News" in the mid-'70s; Virgil Dominic lived up to the newscast's name.

It wouldn't matter.  WCNC is an NBC affiliate; WFTV, an ABC one.

The ABC o&os in the Eastern and Pacific time zones air "Jeopardy!" first, and there are a  few other places (Charlotte and Orlando come to mind) where that is also true.

There's a lot being made about the CBS logo being absent from Channel 46's.  Channel 2 does not incorporate the ABC logo into its own, yet ABC is not about to part ways with WSB.  (LIkewise, my NBC affiliate, WRAL, does not have a peacock in its logo; this is a station which is as dominant as WSB.) While it is not out of the question that CBS might move its programming to WUPA  and move the CW somewhere else (69.2, maybe?), I don't see why it matters whether the network logo is there or not.

On that same note I wonder if WXIA will add a 4 PM newscast; it's the only one of the Big Four affiliates in Atlanta that does not have one now.

What happened to docudramas?  Remember in the '70s "Pueblo" and "The Missiles of October," to name just two?  Why can you not find a program like "The World at War" on a broadcast station?  I even remember one year in the '60s when ABC had "FDR," CBS had "World War I," and NBC had "Profiles in Courage" either in prime time or just before.
My students have a very limited knowledge of history; shows like these could entertain as well as teach, and perhaps we teachers could use some of the made-for-TV movies to point out factual errors.

That takes me back to Atlanta in 1976.  "11 Alive Newsroom" on WXIA was an attempt to be different; surveys showed that "Pro News" was too much like the newscasts on WSB and WAGA, and people were not going to change from either of them.  WXIA did attract a younger audience for a time but it didn't last, and by 1978 it had begun to resemble Channels 2 and 5 again.  But if you're in third you can take a chance; remember that until the late '60s WCBS was number one in New York and then WABC started "Eyewitness News" and we know how that worked out.

I don't remember whose routine it was, but I remember Eyewitness Action Newscenter.

Adam Rich, 54, the youngest child Nicholas Bradford on "Eight is Enough."   No cause of death has been revealed.

For me, the death knell was when old shows like "Hawaii Five-O" and "Magnum, P.I." were revived.  However good they may be, it indicates to me that the Hollywood creative community is woefully dry on ideas.  And all the game, reality (including news), and contest programs (such as "America's Got Talent") are ways to fill prime time as cheaply as possible (come on, do we really need two hours of "20/20" and "Dateline" on Friday nights?). One problem, I think, is that there are too many channels and not enough programming to fill them all. Also, I can't think of a lineup today that excites people like CBS's Saturday-night block in the '70s or NBC's "must-see-TV" Thursday block in the '80s and '90s. Further, it's the very fact that we have computers and online streaming that makes it so hard for television as we've always known it to attract an audience.  The simple fact is what is happening is the same thing that happened to old-style "30s and '40s radio when television came in.  

I just checked TVPassport.  Kelly is back at 10 AM, repeating at 1:36 AM; Tamron is back at 3 PM.

I fail to see what is so confusing about my thinking. Any NBC affiliate manager in his/her right mind would want to run local news at 10/9 because of the potentially larger audiences and revenues.  The only problem I could see would be on Saturdays if SNL were to move to 11/10 and, in the fall,  a football game was still in progress. What time would SNL start? Sundays, I think NBC affiliates would gladly let NFL games run over so they could inherit their large audiences.  Personally, I would be good with a 10 PM local newscast (after all, if I ran a station in the Central or Mountain time zones I'd have one anyway).  And I don't give a rip what NBC does with Fallon.

It won't surprise me if, within the next decade or so, NBC is streaming the majority of its programming on Peacock, and all this is going to be a moot point.  I am thoroughly convinced that, although I may not live to see it, daytime and prime time entertainment shows will go online just as the network radio shows of the '30s, '40s, and early '50s moved either to television or off the air altogether.

The thought occurred to me yesterday: if WXIA and WCNC had to be sold, a group no one here has mentioned is Graham Media.  They're the former Post-Newsweek and I know they own stations in Detroit, Houston, Orlando, San Antonio, Jacksonville, and Roanoke--to be precise, three NBC (Detroit, Houston, Roanoke), one CBS (Orlando), one ABC (San Antonio), and one independent (Jacksonville).  Does anyone think they might be interested in going into Atlanta and/or Charlotte?

I don't understand why this is so complicated!  If you're a Fox affiliate, it's almost a snowball's chance you-know-where that you're going to be running anything but local news at 10/9.  Now, imagine that you are the manager of an NBC affiliate.  Are you not going to want the potential revenue for a newscast that's sure to do better at 10 than at 11?  I certainly would.  And if NBC wants to move Fallon to 11:05 or keep him at 11:35,  or move SNL to 11, I don't care.  I'm sticking to my guns until I'm proven wrong.

Why would any affiliate want that?  There are more potential viewers for local news at 10 than at 11; in the Central and Mountain time zones the news is more heavily watched at 10 than at 6.  No, I think NBC's affiliates will demand the time for themselves (NOTE: there's no such thing as the access rule anymore so Sunday night football could run past 10 without complaint; it is consistently THE number one show, period).  Now some NBC affiliates are going to have problems against established Fox-affiliate newscasts (such as WXIA against WAGA or WVTM against WBRC), but a powerhouse like WRAL should be OK.  CBS is saying it's not giving back 10--for now.  ABC may be the first of the two to follow NBC's lead.

OK.  I remember when this topic first came up, Standard General was saying it was keeping the Cox stations in Atlanta, Charlotte, Memphis, Jacksonville, and Seattle, all markets where Tegna also has stations.  So are they still planning to sell WXIA/WATL, WCNC, WATN, WTLV/WJXX, and KING/KONG?  If Hearst is capped out, I wouldn't mind if Scripps picked up some of these stations.

I don't think there's any chance of either WSB or WXIA switching networks.  Both turned CBS down when WAGA became a Fox o&o;  Tegna is  very tight with NBC, and ABC will do whatever it takes to keep WSB in the fold.

JHud seems to be off to a good start.  I don't see 11 Alive dropping her at this point.

I wouldn't be surprised if this transferred to other Gray markets; it already has in Nashville, Louisville, and Greenville/New Bern/Washington, while Charlotte and Roanoke have lifestyle shows.  I think that Gray's ultimate goal is to eliminate syndicated shows and go all-local when the networks are down.  That may take awhile; I know of Gray stations that have Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!,  and some, like WIS Columbia, SC, and WWBT Richmond, have Entertainment Tonight.  Obviously, the contracts for these shows have to expire and I can't tell you how far into their contracts each station is.

So does WFTS in Tampa.  WAVE in Louisville also has one.