December 11, 1994: 20 Years Later

[detroiter313 178]

Well, here it is, 20 years ago today, December 11, 1994, was the day television changed forever in 3 television markets. WJBK was a CBS affiliate in Detroit and formerly owned by New World Communications (same for sister stations WITI in Milwaukee & WAGA in Atlanta). Fox took a 20% stake in New World, as a result of outbidding CBS for its NFC football package which led to WJBK, (along with WITI and WAGA) dumping CBS for Fox. CBS on the other hand was forced to find new affiliates in those markets:

 

Here in Detroit, CBS approached Scripps-owned ABC station WXYZ and Post-Newsweek-owned NBC station WDIV for an affiliation. The two stations turned the offer down, same with former independent station WXON (later WDWB, now WMYD) and former Fox affiliate WKBD, However Viacom turned that offer down because it wanted to launch the United Paramount Network (in which WKBD became an charter affiliate on January 16, 1995). CBS was left with the other independent stations, WADL and WGPR. CBS broke off the negotiations with WADL due its owner (Adell Broadcasting) making unreasonable demands, although it is not known what those demands were. So by default, CBS went with WGPR (which later purchased the station in 1995 and renaming the station WWJ-TV.)

 

In Atlanta, CBS approached with Cox-owned ABC station WSB-TV, Gannett-owned NBC station WXIA-TV, and former Fox affiliate WATL, none of them was interested. CBS almost purchased then-independent station WVEU (now WUPA), but then they affiliated with then-independent WGNX 46 instead (formerly owned by Tribune, which was slated to become a charter station of The WB; that station is now WGCL-TV).

 

In Milwaukee, CBS scrambled to find a new home in the market, so they approached Journal-owned NBC station WTMJ, Hearst-owned ABC station WISN (which was affiliated with CBS from 1961-1977), then-independent WVTV (which was a CBS station as WXIX from 1955-1959), and again from 1960-1981. Like the Detroit and Atlanta scenarios, no station was interested. This left CBS to negotiate with WJJA (now WMLW) and Weigel Broadcasting-owned WDJT, along with religious station WVCY. The negotiations between WJJA and WDJT fell through and CBS considered purchasing WVCY before its ownership group decided not sell. So out of desperation, CBS agreed to affiliate with WDJT.

 

20 years later, those CBS stations whom they replaced are having trouble ratingswise, Meredith-owned WGCL keeps changing back an forth between the "CBS 46" and "CBS Atlanta" monikers until they finally adopted the "CBS 46" name (for the third time) this year. WDJT was the weaker CBS affiliate for years after the switch, but is faring better with its syndicated schedule and its being competitive in primetime due to CBS's higher ratings. WWJ-TV didn't start a news department after the switch until April 2001 when they launched an 11pm newscast produced by WKBD. The newscast was dropped in 2002 after WKBD shut down its department to allow WXYZ to produce its newscasts, which ended in 2004. As a result, WWJ-TV airs syndicated programming in those time slots. In 2008, WWJ-TV started airing weather reports, which was later accompanied by a morning program with emphasis on weather and traffic, plus news reports by Detroit Free Press in 2009. In 2012, the show was cancelled due to low ratings.

 

 

So there it is, the changes that shook the television landscape in those television markets. So what would it be like had the Fox-New World alliance had not happened? Would these stations (WJBK, WITI, or WAGA) be better off as CBS O&O's? I would like to hear your reaction and sorry for the long posting.

[Mrtraveler01 737]

You forgot the other big casualty. ABC in St. Louis.

 

KTVI was one of ABC's best performing affiliates in the nation. It still does decent with Fox especially with having the Rams and to a smaller extent, the Cardinals.

 

KDNL on the other hand is pretty much the opposite. Even with ABC News performing well in the ratings, it barely makes a dent here in St. Louis. Even GMA barely registers in the ratings. Having no local newscast doesn't help and considering that the best KDNL can come up with is a talk show hosted by a right-wing talk show host, I don't think ABC has much of a future here in St. Louis and that ABC's presence in St. Louis was the biggest casualty of the Fox-New World deal even more so than Detroit and Atlanta.

 

As far as your original question. Its really hard to say because each of these markets has an NFC team which really helps boost the ratings for these stations. For example, Packers football is a hard thing for a station like WITI to turn down even with a CBS affiliation in exchange.

[Samantha 2878]

Have you seen my New World at 20 series? I think you'd be interested in it. Also I'm still open to having people write their opinions about what exactly the deal meant in the long run.

[10Viewer 319]

My opinion is that it was the first sign that communities really didn't matter anymore in broadcasting.

 

Only big business deals made across the country that benefited shareholders really mattered.

 

Obviously, the effects on each market differed significantly. But communities just seemed to take a back seat to profit making.

[ToriElectra 291]

I'm still waiting on HulkieD to write his entries on Marvel and Fox Kids.

[Breaking News 802]

Totally can't believe it been 20 years since the big 94 switch in those markets. Didn't know CBS approach Cox about switching the big WSB over to CBS. I did know they went and ask WXIA, but they were looking at 96 Olympics coming to Atlanta, and WXIA was going to be sitting in the catbird seat.

 

WAGA, WJBK and WITI all three stations have come along way from CBS to FOX in the last 20 years, and lets see how the next few years will shape out. Do we dare to take bets that they could switch back to CBS? WBAL went from NBC-CBS back to NBC.

[GoldenShine9 1509]

Totally can't believe it been 20 years since the big 94 switch in those markets. Didn't know CBS approach Cox about switching the big WSB over to CBS. I did know they went and ask WXIA, but they were looking at 96 Olympics coming to Atlanta, and WXIA was going to be sitting in the catbird seat.

 

WAGA, WJBK and WITI all three stations have come along way from CBS to FOX in the last 20 years, and lets see how the next few years will shape out. Do we dare to take bets that they could switch back to CBS? WBAL went from NBC-CBS back to NBC.

Fox owns WAGA and WJBK, and both are in NFC markets, so I doubt they will flip. WITI is no longer owned by Fox, so maybe Tribune has a trick up their sleeve.

[Rusty Muck 4170]

Fox owns WAGA and WJBK, and both are in NFC markets, so I doubt they will flip. WITI is no longer owned by Fox, so maybe Tribune has a trick up their sleeve.

It would have to take a massive PR disaster between Fox and Tribune and a whole lot of bad will between the two... in order for any of the legacy New World stations to defect from Fox. Like a KCPQ situation times a hundred thousand.

 

The only reason why WITI would even consider it would be if Fox inexplicably lost the NFC rights when they expire in the 2020s. Why would they want to give up their airing of Packers games? (Yes, WLUK is the de facto "home station", and WTMJ has the preseason games and ancillary programming, but it still matters to carry the games, right?)

 

And remember that all of the former Fox O&Os spun off to LocalTV are all locked with Fox in a zero reverse compensation affiliation deal through 2018.