Does anybody know of any independant TV stations that show good old classic programming. It's becoming more and more frustrating to find every station on the grid affiliated with a Network - they all show the same programming.

I remember back in the day before there was UPN and WB and "I" network and whatever else is out there nowadays .... stations like WSBK, KTLA, WPIX, WOR, WGN, etc .... all had great stuff on at some time during the week. These days, it seems like they're all the same station except for some local news.

Curious to know, do any Independant stations still exist out there?

Aside from Chicago's METV, which I think should go nationwide, just these so far as I know:
KDOC (Los Angeles)
WBXH (Baton Rouge LA)
WFMZ (Allentown PA)
WBGNLP (Pittsburgh PA)

And some of them may have been bought out recently as I haven't looked at them for a while.

I guess it all comes down to dollars and cents. There seems to be agreement on this board that stations should show more old, seldom-seen, shows. But I suspect that in terms of the general population, that is not the case and it is more profitable for stations to air the same common, recent, stuff as everybody else.

Thanks Graeme for the list.

In Canada, I think the only ones we have is CKXT-TV (Sun-TV from Toronto) and CJON-TV (from NFLD)
All the other ones have been swallowed up by A-Channel, City-TV or Global.

All the other ones have been swallowed up by A-Channel, City-TV or Global.
That A-Channel thing really pisses me off. When they were The NewVx family of stations they showed great stuff late night: the 1980s Dragnet that Lamont has been asking about, Harry and the Hendersons that I've seen a few request for lately, Munsters, Ironside, Marcus Welby, Emergency - all uncut! Then that stupid A-Channel took over and their programming went down the toilet.

Global used to be good too about 15 years ago - Barnaby Jones, Mod Squad, Room 222 were some shows I know they aired. Now it too sucks. I remember watching Barnaby Jones and knowing that I should be recording it, but was young and poor and didn't have the money to buy blank tapes, or the space to keep them. Been kicking myself ever since.

FYI, here are the zip codes and providers to use if you want to check Zap2It for listings, and websites:

90025 – KDOC, any provider, http://www.kdoctv.net/ - great website!
70801 – WBXH, Cox Communications
18102 – WFMZ, RCN Cable, http://www.wfmz.com/
15232 – WBGNLP, Local Broadcast, http://www.wbgn.com

Does anybody here get KDOC? Would like to hear from somebody with a dvd recorder who does.

I live here in Southern Cali and get KDOC. I don't have a DVD recorder though, sorry.

there was a station i used to get from minneapolis

i think its 29

i know that they played mary tyler moore twice a day for the last 6 months

since its my friends favorite show

they did the tivo thing and watche dthem after work every day

i cant verify if its truly still independant

there was a station i used to get from minneapolis
KITN?

the FEW indy stations in my area tend to be "urban" based
they cater to Black comedies
i guess the only way for an indy to make it is to find a niche market
the channels near me play a lot of SANFORD, GOOD TIMES, MOESHA, JEFFERSONS, GIRLFRIENDS, MARTIN, etc etc etc

Even the Sports Networks have suffered from buyouts and mergers with bigger Networks
Does anybody remember Classic Sports Network before it was bought out by ESPN?? Period between 1995-1997

Programming was much more original back then

Even the Sports Networks have suffered from buyouts and mergers with bigger Networks
Does anybody remember Classic Sports Network before it was bought out by ESPN?? Period between 1995-1997

Programming was much more original back then

when they first showed up

they had numerous games from back in the day on

and all the nfl funny hilite shows

anymore espn classic is reruns of arlis, and old movies for the most part

but they know what advertisers want to spend their $$ on, so thats what they run

just like mtv, as soon as they stopped playing videos we all liked, they started the money making phase at mtv

its not for our entertainment, its to tell us what we should want to buy

my dad always called it the idiot box

classic sports before espn bought it seemed to be more on the CLASSIC then it is now,they have the knack for showing games that are only a yr or 2 old..i liked it better when thye showed baseball games from the 70s early 80s..not movies and the cant blame stuff thats on there now.

as for indy stations here in pittsburgh we get wbgn,which now has family ties,married with children,hawaii five 0 and mission impossible

WFMZ in Allentown has been shifting more and more to reality programming over the past few months. We used to have several independent stations locally, but several of them shifted to all religious programming, or Home Shopping Network knockoffs. We have a local station (WYBE) that's a PBS hybrid that shows a remarkable range of shows - and they aren't limited to English-speaking programming. I've occasionally found some interesting shows there.

All praise the wonders of the low-wattage station - that's where the treasure is to be found! :>

I work at an old UPN station and I was going through the tape archives and my station does not show but has old betas of things like Taxi, classic Star Trek, Animanics, Sylvester/Tweetly mysteries etc and lots of old movies (TV edits though)..... that my boss said I could copy off for "personal use" (although I was warned that just because the tape is labeled something, there is no guarantee that is still what is on the tape).

There are basically no such thing as independent operators anymore. Even most independent-looking stations tend to be owned by a major network. Very often, they get cast-off network programming that the main station doesn't want to show (Saturday morning cartoons, for example). And then they fill up the schedule with cheap re-runs of various shows.

It's not bad, but don't be fooled into thinking they are an indy.

Does anybody know of any independant TV stations that show good old classic programming. It's becoming more and more frustrating to find every station on the grid affiliated with a Network - they all show the same programming.

I remember back in the day before there was UPN and WB and "I" network and whatever else is out there nowadays .... stations like WSBK, KTLA, WPIX, WOR, WGN, etc .... all had great stuff on at some time during the week. These days, it seems like they're all the same station except for some local news.

Curious to know, do any Independant stations still exist out there?

I miss WSBK, WWOR, WPIX and there was another NYC station, channel 5, I can't remember the call letters though, I think it was WNYW, not sure. Those channels had great shows.

I'd like to know this as well. The first couple years I lived in Upstate, NY, we used to get channel 56 from Hartford. That was the late 70's early 80's.

Well, WSBK is not with any of the big networks now that UPN is no more. But I haven't found anything of note in their new schedule. I like having a Boston channel on my DISH distance line-up (I lived in Boston for over 20 years), but there's not a lot going on with it right now.

I find some of the more obscure satellite channels are starting to be interesting sources for shows. It takes some effort to find information, and even then it may not be accurate. Even the online listings on the channel web sites may not be accurate, which is a bummer ...

I remember when WSBK TV-38 used to have this show every so often where the station manager or somebody like that, would come on and talk about what new shows the station had purchased to air in the upcoming season and what they were looking to add in the future and how well or not so well, certain current shows were doing for them. He would also answer fan mail where people would write in with requests for what they'd like the station to pick up and start showing.... It was a neat, behind the scenes look at the station and I was always hoping they would add something good to the schedule
Back in the day, before cable, I remember trying to pull in this station on UHF dial (grainy snowy picture only) just to pickup Bruins, Celtics and Red Sox games.

Well so much for WBGN here in pittsburgh pa,or at least on our newly converted to Comcast cable from Adelphia,,they took WBGN off our cable system the other day

we have a few INDY stations where i live
HOWEVER they do not air ANYTHING useful at all