WLUK-WFRV 1983 Affiliation Switch

[Wisco TV Watcher 11]

The events that led to the big affiliation switches in Green Bay in the 1990s are well documented, but does anyone know the back story on WLUK and WFRV swapping in 1983? For those that may not remember, when WLUK and WFRV signed on, they were affiliated with NBC and ABC, respectively, but swapped affiliations in 1959, making WLUK an ABC affiliate and WFRV an NBC affiliate. The two stations swapped back to their original affiliations in 1983.

 

I have heard that during the 1970s and 1980s, ABC used their strength at the time to affiliate with stations with lower channel numbers (I believe this was the case in Minneapolis, going from KMSP-9 to KSTP-5), so perhaps this played a role?

[TheRob 920]

ABC was #1 at the time, and more aggressive at trying to align itself with stronger stations whenever the opportunity presented itself. That didn't necessarily mean finding stations with lower channel numbers, but it happened to be the case most of the time. In the '70s, WFRV was the stronger, more stable station of the two.

[johnothy 43]

I have heard that during the 1970s and 1980s, ABC used their strength at the time to affiliate with stations with lower channel numbers (I believe this was the case in Minneapolis, going from KMSP-9 to KSTP-5), so perhaps this played a role?

 

Was it more desirable to be on low VHF rather than high VHF? I had read before that low VHF signals traveled farther, however locally our high VHF station had better signal strength and quality than a low VHF station on channel 2 that was always subject to interference.

[Guest Former Member 207]

In ABC's case, it wasn't (more by coincidence) just them changing affiliates from high-VHF to low-VHF, but also going from UHF to VHF (a few examples being Knoxville, Jacksonville, and Baton Rouge).

[Wisco TV Watcher 11]

In the '70s, WFRV was the stronger, more stable station of the two.

That makes sense. AFAIK, WLUK's newsroom was still relatively new at the time (they had suspended newscasts for a few years in the late '60s/early '70s) -- at least compared to WBAY and WFRV. The whole switch really worked out for ABC in the end, especially after CBS acquired WFRV, moving the ABC affiliation to heritage station WBAY.

 

Was it more desirable to be on low VHF rather than high VHF?

In my experience during the analog days, high VHF was always stronger than low VHF. I believe this is why many high VHF stations moved back to their original channel numbers after the DTV transition, while many low VHF stations stayed on UHF.

 

In ABC's case, it wasn't (more by coincidence) just them changing affiliates from high-VHF to low-VHF, but also going from UHF to VHF (a few examples being Knoxville, Jacksonville, and Baton Rouge).

Before the Fox/New World deal of 1994, was ABC the network that did the most moving around? It seems like most ABC affiliates have been with other networks, while NBC and CBS affiliations were more stable.

[Guest Former Member 207]

 

Before the Fox/New World deal of 1994, was ABC the network that did the most moving around? It seems like most ABC affiliates have been with other networks, while NBC and CBS affiliations were more stable.

 

Come to think about it, you may very well be right. ABC got into television later than CBS and NBC, coupled with the latter two signing-up as many station affiliations as possible, ABC got the leftovers. Their O&Os have been always historically strong stations (even the ones that they would end up acquiring later like Philly, Houston, and Fresno), and their stations' revenues kept the network afloat in the early days. ABC's first get as far as landing a market-leading station had to be when they affiliated with WBRC Birmingham in 1961 (at the same time, you also had ABC-CBS swaps in both Cincinnati and Milwaukee).

 

I guess what could potentially be a good topic is looking back, and see how many times a network has moved in a single market. CBS in Milwaukee is good example--going from WCAN to WXIX (what's now WVTV) to WITI to WISN, back to WITI, and is now on WDJT.

[Nelson R. 560]

That makes sense. AFAIK, WLUK's newsroom was still relatively new at the time (they had suspended newscasts for a few years in the late '60s/early '70s) -- at least compared to WBAY and WFRV. The whole switch really worked out for ABC in the end, especially after CBS acquired WFRV, moving the ABC affiliation to heritage station WBAY.

 

 

In my experience during the analog days, high VHF was always stronger than low VHF. I believe this is why many high VHF stations moved back to their original channel numbers after the DTV transition, while many low VHF stations stayed on UHF.

 

 

Before the Fox/New World deal of 1994, was ABC the network that did the most moving around? It seems like most ABC affiliates have been with other networks, while NBC and CBS affiliations were more stable.

 

WSOC was another VHF who affiiliated with upstart ABC at that time, they dumped NBC for ABC in 1978. The outgoing ABC affiliate, WCCB, lost out on the NBC affiliation to what was then Ted Turner's WRET (now WCNC).

[mrschimpf 2063]

It was also about the Warner and Cablevision (the other company not in NY not named Cablevision) beginning to launch their cable systems throughout northeast Wisconsin, so ABC was probably looking to be on WFRV rather than being 'crowded away' buried between other basic networks on WLUK. I remember WLUK pretty much reluctantly despite NBC building up in the late 80's taking the affiliation; WFRV fully embraced ABC until the CBS buy-out forced the 1992 switch, while WLUK's attitude when they got Fox pretty much was 'finally, a real network and all the Packer games'.

 

When they were with NBC they were stuck with the dud Packers home games against AFC opponents and despite the futility of the Packers in the 80's, WBAY was still an easy #1. WLUK also was more Fox Cities and rural-specific about news and advertising back then, so even with NBC, there was little opportunity for WLUK to build a steady audience than WFRV had with MNF, some Olympics and ABC's shows.

[Wisco TV Watcher 11]

I remember WLUK pretty much reluctantly despite NBC building up in the late 80's taking the affiliation; WFRV fully embraced ABC until the CBS buy-out forced the 1992 switch, while WLUK's attitude when they got Fox pretty much was 'finally, a real network and all the Packer games'.

Your assessment seems pretty spot-on. I don't recall WLUK promoting their NBC affiliation very much on air. It was always "WLUK-TV 11" or "News 11" in on air branding, usually with just their "circle 11" logo (changed later to an 11 in a square box), although they did have a version with the NBC peacock beside it.

 

Do you remember how the Green Bay stations covered/promoted their respective network affiliation changes? There are a lot of videos of network affiliation changes in other markets on YouTube, but I haven't been able to find anything from Green Bay.

[mvcg66b3r 97]

Were there frequent preemptions of NBC programs on WLUK? And did it carry over to WGBA?

[mrschimpf 2063]

Were there frequent preemptions of NBC programs on WLUK? And did it carry over to WGBA?

 

Other network programming never got shoved to WGBA or WXGZ (now WACY) because the VHF's usually tried to ignore the existence of the UHF stations outside of WPNE until the NFL moved to Fox. Most of the schedule aired in-pattern outside of the rare game show bombs in GB, which just never got carried at all, but that was fine as if it wasn't on in GB it was usually on in Wausau, Traverse City or Milwaukee too, which had stations that got good range into the GB market in the analog age.