ABC Affiliate Upgrades in the late 1970s

[TMC]

When ABC achieved #1 status among the Big 3 networks in the late '70s, the network used the situation as an opportunity to upgrade its affiliates in a number of markets across the country. This was done mainly at the expense of NBC, which was languishing in third place at the time. Some of the higher-profile stations that switched to ABC during this time were KSTP-St. Paul/Minneapolis, WSB-Atlanta, WRTV-Indianapolis, WDTN-Dayton, etc.

I was wondering if anyone knew of any NBC or CBS affiliates that ABC went after during this period, but, for whatever reason, ABC could not seal the deal. At least in the beginning, the status of ABC News as not being quite on-par with NBC News or CBS News could have contributed misgivings to some stations about affiliating with ABC (that was soon remedied by Roone Arledge).

[TMC]

When ABC achieved #1 status among the Big 3 networks in the late '70s, the network used the situation as an opportunity to upgrade its affiliates in a number of markets across the country. This was done mainly at the expense of NBC, which was languishing in third place at the time. Some of the higher-profile stations that switched to ABC during this time were KSTP-St. Paul/Minneapolis, WSB-Atlanta, WRTV-Indianapolis, WDTN-Dayton, etc.

I was wondering if anyone knew of any NBC or CBS affiliates that ABC went after during this period, but, for whatever reason, ABC could not seal the deal.

[KentB3]

Originally Posted by TMC

When ABC achieved #1 status among the Big 3 networks in the late '70s, the network used the situation as an opportunity to upgrade its affiliates in a number of markets across the country. This was done mainly at the expense of NBC, which was languishing in third place at the time. Some of the higher-profile stations that switched to ABC during this time were KSTP-St. Paul/Minneapolis, WSB-Atlanta, WRTV-Indianapolis, WDTN-Dayton, etc.

I was wondering if anyone knew of any NBC or CBS affiliates that ABC went after during this period, but, for whatever reason, ABC could not seal the deal.

There was an affiliation switch in Charlotte on July 1, 1978. WSOC-TV 9 switched from NBC to ABC. The then-Ted Turner owned WRET-36 went from independence to NBC, and WCCB-TV 18 lost its ABC affiliation and went independent. NBC chose WRET-36 due to the fact that Ted Turner spent millions of dollars making upgrades to the TV station, including a news department comparable to WSOC's. Cy Bahakel, owner of WCCB, always operated his TV stations on a tight budget and was unwilling to make the upgrades NBC wanted. Ironically, WCCB-TV 18 was far more successful as an independent TV station than WRET was (perhaps due to its reputation as Charlotte's third TV station, and that WCCB had a much stronger signal, even after the 1978 upgrades at WRET), and as a consequence, WCCB was the last top 50 market TV station to sign with the Fox network in 1986; becoming the Fox affiliate by default since there was no other TV station in Charlotte to turn to!