March 2, 2022

The "Clash of the Indies" Game




Friend of the blog Mark Waldow, who's contributed many swell TV Guide issues for review over the last year (including last Saturday's), has an interesting idea I think you might enjoy. I'll let him explain it:

I think this could be a fun feature--which I call "Clash of the Indies".

Take two independent stations of similar market size and channel # and compare their lineups for a specific day. For example, here are the listings for two channel 11's for July 29, 1975:
You could compare the lineups either timeslot by timeslot or just overall average. Also, I think anonymity helps objectivity, so I'll tell you who Station X is after you judge.  Interesting fact:  I watched Station X on the day listed and WTCN the next day.

So what do you think out there in "It's About TV" land, especially those of you with substantial TV Guide collections? Anyone interested in taking a guess, or offering your own entry in what could become a regular feature? And be sure to stay tuned for the answer! TV  

2 comments:

  1. Was "Station X" KTVT Dallas/Fort Worth?

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  2. Based on access to the different news papers I have access to, the Channel 11 you are referring to is KSTW-TV Seattle, which was a complete match in Tacoma's News Tribune's TV Log. I suspected that it was Seattle; since first, there weren't many independents that were on 11 outside New York, L.A, Dallas-Ft. Worth, or in this case Seattle; and secondly KIRO-TV's Seattle's CBS Affiliate) owner at the time Bonneville International (aka The Mormon Church) was notorious for preempting part of CBS's game shows at the 9AM hour. In the west coast CBS programmed their morning programming to start at 9AM, while in the East, those programs started at 10AM/9 AM Central.

    KTSW has had a interesting history both as an independent and as a three time CBS affiliate! KTNT-TV (KSTW before 1974) was Seattle's first CBS affiliate from 1953-1958 when KIRO-TV went on and took away the affiliation. As an independent, KTNT filed an antitrust lawsuit on both CBS and KIRO, what ended up happening was that both KTNT and KIRO were dual affiliates from 1960-1962, before KIRO eventually became Seattle's CBS station. KTNT/KSTW would be an independent from 1962-1995. in, 1995 KSTW affiliated with CBS a third time when Gaylord (KSTW's new owner) agreed to affiliate both that station and KTVT, its Dallas Fort-Worth station (as a replacement for KDFW which went to FOX). KSTW would only be with CBS until 1997, when you guessed it, it switched affiliation, yet again with KIRO which was left as an out of place UPN affiliation. KSTW remained a UPN affiliate until its UPN's demise in 2006 when it became a CW affiliate, which it still holds to this day. Irony of ironies, KSTW-TV (after a few ownership changes) is currently owned by CBS (aka Paramount Global).

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Thanks for writing! Drive safely!