What are the worst local television stations you've ever seen? - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

TMC · 09-01-2022, 04:59 AM

By "worst" this simply means any station from the past or present that sets low standards. By "low standards" this could mean bad production values, terrible newscasts, subpar technically, being defined by weird and/or flamboyant personalities, poor or dated graphics, bizarre programming choices, etc.

Here are some examples (in no particular order) that can be argued about:

WSIL 3 (ABC) / Harrisburg, Illinois
WTVY 4 (CBS) / Dothan, Ala.
WDHN 18 (ABC) / Dothan, Ala.
WLBT 3 (NBC) / Jackson, Miss.
WURD 40 (Ind) / Indianapolis, Indiana

favoriteshow · 09-01-2022, 09:47 PM

Never knew until now there was a Harrisburg, IL.

In Philly, I'd say WGTW 48 during the 90s when it was run by Brunson Communications. I still kind of liked it though.

Babalu · 09-11-2022, 08:47 AM

Obviously most people are not going to be able to watch small town TV stations all over the country.

The only one I remember that sticks out was watching one local station late at night in Las Vegas (probably in the 1980's) where the same spokesman did every single commercial. They didn't run the usual national commercials or even locally produced commercials. Just the same guy, sitting in the same chair in the same studio, doing one commercial after another. Just him talking. No pictures, no props, nothing.

Yong Fang · 09-12-2022, 07:36 AM

Except for the Indianapolis station, which is a UHF independent, all of these stations are from small towns with small markets. The others were network affiliates, what is the complaint?

I lived in Jackson Mississippi in the late 1990's and the CBS affiliate took off their Monday shows (the show Leah Remini was on, Raymond and Becker) for some charity telethon they were promoting. Seeing then, I liked these shows, and the internet just began got angry and called the station and complained and got a negative response. Seems to me as a network franchise, that the station had to show the shows the network provided at the time the network stipulated but I guess the station had leeway on that. Seems that Monday night was a high rating night for the channel so why didnt they do their stupid telethon on Friday? Now it doesnt matter since I can watch my shows online.

GentlemanJim · 09-12-2022, 11:04 AM

Years ago one of our local indie stations used to just broadcast an endless loop of a fire burning in a fire place during holidays....pretty annoying

Even before that we had this ghost station really high in the UHF band, that did nothing but instructional programming....no explanation, rhyme, nor reason...no ads, no call signs....and I'd have to take a portable set upstairs, sitting in one particular window to receive it. The presentation was so abbreviated that it bordered on nonsense, making frequent reference to "the syllabus"

Only years later did I discover it had been a "home classroom" experiment of our local university.

James · 09-12-2022, 02:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GentlemanJim

Years ago one of our local indie stations used to just broadcast an endless loop of a fire burning in a fire place during holidays....pretty annoying

Two words: Yule Log!

Mario500 · 09-13-2022, 09:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yong Fang

I lived in Jackson Mississippi in the late 1990's and the CBS affiliate took off their Monday shows (the show Leah Remini was on, Raymond and Becker) for some charity telethon they were promoting.

(wonders about "the show Leah Remini was on" mentioned in this message)

irehtman · 09-13-2022, 09:16 AM

All of the WB network channel stations before its 2006 shutdown, due to too many confederate incidents in the WB's upper-level office only, nothing else.

icecream · 09-13-2022, 01:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mario500

(wonders about "the show Leah Remini was on" mentioned in this message)

The King of Queens

icecream · 09-13-2022, 01:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yong Fang

Except for the Indianapolis station, which is a UHF independent, all of these stations are from small towns with small markets. The others were network affiliates, what is the complaint?

I lived in Jackson Mississippi in the late 1990's and the CBS affiliate took off their Monday shows (the show Leah Remini was on, Raymond and Becker) for some charity telethon they were promoting. Seeing then, I liked these shows, and the internet just began got angry and called the station and complained and got a negative response. Seems to me as a network franchise, that the station had to show the shows the network provided at the time the network stipulated but I guess the station had leeway on that. Seems that Monday night was a high rating night for the channel so why didnt they do their stupid telethon on Friday? Now it doesnt matter since I can watch my shows online.

That might have been the Labor Day telethon that had a long annual tradition, and of course Labor Day is on Monday. If it was just off for that week, would have been preempting repeats as the new season wouldn't have started yet.

Yong Fang · 09-15-2022, 06:43 AM

No, it was their own local charity, I think maybe "Kids Count" or something. Took off the CBS Monday night sitcom lineup for the week (back around 1998). Now I would not care since I watch my shows online and have no need for a television.

Kids today will never know the horror and the pain of the Jerry Lewis Telethon, especially when most of us only had the three network stations and this monopolized one of them, on a day where most people were out of school and home from employment. Have to give it to Jerry howeve, his show was about 18 hours long.

Hawkee · 07-16-2023, 04:31 AM

The local station that I think was the worst of the Bay Area local stations was KICU 36 and it was an independent station and when my mom and I started watching it KICU used to be great and they would show classic sitcoms like Mama's Family and Three's Company and Family Ties and other sitcoms and they also showed movies that were never ever seen on TV before and it was great. But then KICU 36 little by little converted itself into a game show channel like Buzzr when they overplayed Louie Anderson's Family Feud way too much and it was annoying and I cannot recall what other game shows KICU aired but Family Feud with Louie Anderson as well as Richard Karn's version was their popular game show. But I think KICU 36 changed their image when KTVU 2 bought them and KICU 36 wasn't the same anymore. If local stations had decent programming today people would find local stations worth watching

dee2364 · 07-16-2023, 08:09 PM

If this this were the late 1980s, WWOR-9 would've won hands down. This was the local network that invented trash television with The Richard Bey Show and Morton Downey Jr Show. It also had The Howard Stern Show.

Hawkee · 07-30-2023, 02:55 AM

The worst thing about KICU 36 in the Bay Area was during the 80's they had this slogan that kept repeating during commercial breaks that featured celebrities saying "I See You 36" and when I looked up KICU 36's history on Youtube I couldn't figure out why they used that slogan. KICU 36 is now KTVU Plus but back in the 80's KICU 36 was the independent station of the Bay Area and was great at the time and they even had Saturday Morning cartoons too. But I think when KTVU bought them that's when they went downhill

09-01-2022, 04:59 AM	#1
TMC Member Forum Idol Join Date: Jan 09, 2001 Posts: 126,062	What are the worst local television stations you've ever seen? By "worst" this simply means any station from the past or present that sets low standards. By "low standards" this could mean bad production values, terrible newscasts, subpar technically, being defined by weird and/or flamboyant personalities, poor or dated graphics, bizarre programming choices, etc. Here are some examples (in no particular order) that can be argued about: WSIL 3 (ABC) / Harrisburg, Illinois WTVY 4 (CBS) / Dothan, Ala. WDHN 18 (ABC) / Dothan, Ala. WLBT 3 (NBC) / Jackson, Miss. WURD 40 (Ind) / Indianapolis, Indiana

09-11-2022, 08:47 AM	#3
Babalu Member Forum 4000 Club Member Join Date: Jun 22, 2014 Posts: 4,779	Obviously most people are not going to be able to watch small town TV stations all over the country. The only one I remember that sticks out was watching one local station late at night in Las Vegas (probably in the 1980's) where the same spokesman did every single commercial. They didn't run the usual national commercials or even locally produced commercials. Just the same guy, sitting in the same chair in the same studio, doing one commercial after another. Just him talking. No pictures, no props, nothing.
	__________________ . I just nailed Mrs. Trumbull

09-12-2022, 11:04 AM	#5
GentlemanJim Concerns, Support, & Feedback Forum Veteran Join Date: Dec 26, 2019 Location: The back country Posts: 5,443	Years ago one of our local indie stations used to just broadcast an endless loop of a fire burning in a fire place during holidays....pretty annoying Even before that we had this ghost station really high in the UHF band, that did nothing but instructional programming....no explanation, rhyme, nor reason...no ads, no call signs....and I'd have to take a portable set upstairs, sitting in one particular window to receive it. The presentation was so abbreviated that it bordered on nonsense, making frequent reference to "the syllabus" Only years later did I discover it had been a "home classroom" experiment of our local university.
	__________________ On my word as a gentleman!

07-16-2023, 04:31 AM	#12
Hawkee Michael Fassbender Fanatic Moderator Forum Star Join Date: Jan 17, 2016 Location: California Posts: 10,802	The local station that I think was the worst of the Bay Area local stations was KICU 36 and it was an independent station and when my mom and I started watching it KICU used to be great and they would show classic sitcoms like Mama's Family and Three's Company and Family Ties and other sitcoms and they also showed movies that were never ever seen on TV before and it was great. But then KICU 36 little by little converted itself into a game show channel like Buzzr when they overplayed Louie Anderson's Family Feud way too much and it was annoying and I cannot recall what other game shows KICU aired but Family Feud with Louie Anderson as well as Richard Karn's version was their popular game show. But I think KICU 36 changed their image when KTVU 2 bought them and KICU 36 wasn't the same anymore. If local stations had decent programming today people would find local stations worth watching
	__________________ Hawkee and Aguilar, Hoping to be a great team

09-01-2022, 09:47 PM	#2
favoriteshow Member Forum Regular Join Date: Dec 08, 2018 Posts: 587	Never knew until now there was a Harrisburg, IL. In Philly, I'd say WGTW 48 during the 90s when it was run by Brunson Communications. I still kind of liked it though.

09-12-2022, 07:36 AM	#4
Yong Fang Member Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Aug 04, 2009 Location: Memphis Tennessee Posts: 3,073	Except for the Indianapolis station, which is a UHF independent, all of these stations are from small towns with small markets. The others were network affiliates, what is the complaint? I lived in Jackson Mississippi in the late 1990's and the CBS affiliate took off their Monday shows (the show Leah Remini was on, Raymond and Becker) for some charity telethon they were promoting. Seeing then, I liked these shows, and the internet just began got angry and called the station and complained and got a negative response. Seems to me as a network franchise, that the station had to show the shows the network provided at the time the network stipulated but I guess the station had leeway on that. Seems that Monday night was a high rating night for the channel so why didnt they do their stupid telethon on Friday? Now it doesnt matter since I can watch my shows online.

09-13-2022, 09:16 AM	#8
irehtman Member Forum 4000 Club Member Join Date: Mar 15, 2013 Location: Montgomery County, Maryland Posts: 4,826	All of the WB network channel stations before its 2006 shutdown, due to too many confederate incidents in the WB's upper-level office only, nothing else.

09-15-2022, 06:43 AM	#11
Yong Fang Member Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Aug 04, 2009 Location: Memphis Tennessee Posts: 3,073	No, it was their own local charity, I think maybe "Kids Count" or something. Took off the CBS Monday night sitcom lineup for the week (back around 1998). Now I would not care since I watch my shows online and have no need for a television. Kids today will never know the horror and the pain of the Jerry Lewis Telethon, especially when most of us only had the three network stations and this monopolized one of them, on a day where most people were out of school and home from employment. Have to give it to Jerry howeve, his show was about 18 hours long.

07-16-2023, 08:09 PM	#13
dee2364 Member Forum Regular Join Date: Feb 20, 2019 Posts: 643	If this this were the late 1980s, WWOR-9 would've won hands down. This was the local network that invented trash television with The Richard Bey Show and Morton Downey Jr Show. It also had The Howard Stern Show.

07-30-2023, 02:55 AM	#14
Hawkee Michael Fassbender Fanatic Moderator Forum Star Join Date: Jan 17, 2016 Location: California Posts: 10,802	The worst thing about KICU 36 in the Bay Area was during the 80's they had this slogan that kept repeating during commercial breaks that featured celebrities saying "I See You 36" and when I looked up KICU 36's history on Youtube I couldn't figure out why they used that slogan. KICU 36 is now KTVU Plus but back in the 80's KICU 36 was the independent station of the Bay Area and was great at the time and they even had Saturday Morning cartoons too. But I think when KTVU bought them that's when they went downhill