View Full Version : WWOR EMI Service (1979 - 1997)


jasonbigley
04-30-2010, 10:53 AM
Does anyone remember this channel? It was based out of Seacaucus New Jersey. It had reruns of Hazel, Please Don't Eat The Daisies, I Dream Of Jeannie, That Girl and Mod Squad. It was like a pre TVLand station.

MikeLutton
04-30-2010, 01:39 PM
ido i loved that station lot of classic shows

Robert 13
05-03-2010, 11:26 AM
They used to air the short-lived Gloria as well as Gimme a Break too. I think they aired It's a Living too but I'm not 100% sure about that.

treky
05-04-2010, 01:42 AM
I remember it. They also showed "TAXI", "THE FUGITIVE", "BONANZA", "BARNABY JONES", and "THE COURTSHIP OF EDDIES FATHER".

I remember they used to show the same promos over and over again though. Except for that; I used to love that station, I used to think of it as a good alternative to Nick at Nite.

TeeVeeCloset
05-04-2010, 04:56 PM
Unfortunatley people in the NY/NJ metro area didn't get that feed, what you are describing is what cable subscribers got when WWOR was a superstation and the FCC rules syndex applied, as they still do, so stations have to provide alternate programming for the rest of the country (which to us classic TV lovers was better)...I have Hazel taped off the feed from someone else, as I sat in New Jersey 15 minutes from their headquarters watching the same awful syndicated talk shows and court shows, programming which was also seen in other markets and couldn't be shown in those areas that had superstation WWOR....hope that all makes sense.

ThomasE
05-06-2010, 10:51 PM
Sorry you guys but I hated that station. I hated it with a passion! That stupid rule about some shows not being aired made me miss some shows I really wanted to see like 227 and Amen and they were not airing in Tampa, FL as the time. I hated the lame programming with the execption of a few shows like Gimmie A Break. Shows like "Taxi", "It's A Living", etc DID NOT air on EMI but WERE WWOR shows. Sorry ya'll, but I hated that mess. Just as a show of mine was playing a theme song, the picture froze, faded and then some other show popped up. I thought it was awful.

DSfan
05-07-2010, 11:51 PM
Unfortunatley people in the NY/NJ metro area didn't get that feed, what you are describing is what cable subscribers got when WWOR was a superstation and the FCC rules syndex applied, as they still do, so stations have to provide alternate programming for the rest of the country (which to us classic TV lovers was better)...I have Hazel taped off the feed from someone else, as I sat in New Jersey 15 minutes from their headquarters watching the same awful syndicated talk shows and court shows, programming which was also seen in other markets and couldn't be shown in those areas that had superstation WWOR....hope that all makes sense.

I don't really understand what the rules you're talking about are. Could you please explain more what the difference between this channel and the alternate feed and what role that corresponds with? I'm interested to find out more.

TeeVeeCloset
05-10-2010, 11:55 AM
I don't really understand what the rules you're talking about are. Could you please explain more what the difference between this channel and the alternate feed and what role that corresponds with? I'm interested to find out more.

Unfortunately right now I am on the road on business but will promise to add and clarify to my post when I can or if member "TV Knowledge" happens to read this, he always has the "complete" correct, factual, educated and "knowledge" as well if he wishes to participate in this thread topic.

Dr. Jazz
05-10-2010, 02:58 PM
I got the superstation version and it was one of my favorite channels. For many years the afternoon lineup never changed - "Kojak" at noon followed by "Barnaby Jones" at 1, "Streets of San Francisco" at 2, "Baretta" at 3, Love Boat came on at 5 and Mod Squad always aired sometime in the evening. Great channel

bencasey
05-10-2010, 03:53 PM
Unfortunately right now I am on the road on business but will promise to add and clarify to my post when I can or if member "TV Knowledge" happens to read this, he always has the "complete" correct, factual, educated and "knowledge" as well if he wishes to participate in this thread topic.


The syndex rules, as they were known, did not allow a station to bring in shows that aired in a local market. So if WWOR was running The Cosby Show for example and a local station also had licensed the show, then the satellite provider had to black out Cosby on WWOR and replace it with alternative programming. That was how WWOR ran great shows like Owen Marshall, It Takes a Thief, Captain Nice, Hot Off the Wire (The Jim Backus Show), Fibber McGee and Molly, My World and Welcome To It and many other great and rare shows. Of course here in NY, WWOR completely sucked and we never got to see any of those shows, just the usual new garbage.

TeeVeeCloset
05-11-2010, 12:14 PM
The syndex rules, as they were known, did not allow a station to bring in shows that aired in a local market. So if WWOR was running The Cosby Show for example and a local station also had licensed the show, then the satellite provider had to black out Cosby on WWOR and replace it with alternative programming. That was how WWOR ran great shows like Owen Marshall, It Takes a Thief, Captain Nice, Hot Off the Wire (The Jim Backus Show), Fibber McGee and Molly, My World and Welcome To It and many other great and rare shows. Of course here in NY, WWOR completely sucked and we never got to see any of those shows, just the usual new garbage.

Couldn't have put it better myself! thanks for helping out, still a "travelin' man"

DSfan
05-11-2010, 11:29 PM
Oh!! Wow, so pretty much they just made your television viewing a more diverse experience. Imagine if it was like that now and only one channel could air a certain show like Friends or something and then the rest of the channels had classic shows on instead....

TeeVeeCloset
05-13-2010, 11:28 AM
Oh!! Wow, so pretty much they just made your television viewing a more diverse experience. Imagine if it was like that now and only one channel could air a certain show like Friends or something and then the rest of the channels had classic shows on instead....

The "syndex" rules still apply to this day, that's what killed cable companies from being able to bring in distant signals. Like here in the ny metro area in the early 80's, many people received WSBK-TV/Boston, and many philly channels......so you could watch Mash on your local channel at 6PM and then watch it from philly at 7PM. The locals complained because they felt it devalued the show they were paying so much money for, so all distant signal channels vanished from cable companies. Today shows are syndicated to local channels and national cable channels, so thats why Seinfeld can air locally and on TBS at the same time, because TBS is now considered a national cable channel, but was also once Superstation WTBS and was considered a local signal being imported nationally.

jasonbigley
01-25-2011, 08:00 PM
I used to have some VHS tapes of Hazel on WWOR EMI Service from 1994 - 1996. They had these really WEIRD commercials on there. They had one with these adults eating some Basic 4 cereal and they were eating it like morons. Then there was this one awful commercial about some phychic reading challenge. The one lady in the commercial goes, " I called for my free reading right away and the daily lucky number did it for me." They would air these commercials over and over again. I think when WWOR EMI Service left in 1997, it was replaced by The Animal Planet in our area. Also, the others on here talk about a show starting to air, then in would freeze up and another show would air, what was that about because I don't remember that happening in our area.

1960'sTVfan
01-25-2011, 08:45 PM
I also have some Hazel shows recorded from WWOR EMI. The shows are hacked to pieces and to make it worse they would cut away for the commercial at the worst times, one of the actors could be in mid-sentence, and the scene would cut for a commercial. I don't know if this was standard procedure with the other shows they aired, but the Hazel's were sure chopped up and badly edited.