7.20.20 Bee-otches of the Day: NBC affiliates that pre-empted the 30 Rock reunion

Bee-otch of the Day honors are awarded Monday through Thursday; Bee-otch of the Week is awarded Sunday morning on Chuck69.com.

 

Name: various
Age: various
Occupation: owners of NBC affiliates
Last Seen: everywhere
Bee-otched For: not giving their viewers lemons

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Once upon a time, there was a radio station engineer from Pennsylvania named Lester Biederman.

In the late 1930s, the 20-something had a dream: to own his own radio station. He did his research and discovered the biggest city in America that didn't have a radio station: Traverse City, Michigan. On January 8th, 1941, WTCM was born. 

Through the 40s, Biederman started other small stations in other communities in northern Michigan. But in 1954, television came to town. WWTV - originally on Channel 13 - debuted New Years Day from Cadillac. Nine months later, Biederman signed on WPBN-TV Channel 7 from M-72, just on the outskirts of Traverse City. 

When what is now 7&4 signed on, they were only on in the evening. By the early 60s, most TV stations usually were on 7 a.m. until 1 a.m. However, 7&4 signed on around noon and signed off at 12:30 a.m. during The Tonight Show. As a matter of fact, according to Les' son Ross, Jack Paar would occasionally say "Goodnight, Traverse City!" since they were the sole NBC affiliate that didn't air the whole program. Back then, Tonight lasted until 1 a.m.

What's even more embarrassing was that 7&4 did not air The Today Show until 1964. Yet, their main rival, CBS affiliate WWTV 9&10 was on the air bright and early for Captain Kangaroo. In the 1970s, 7&4 was Michigan's sole NBC outlet that didn't air The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder. For Biederman, a 2 a.m. sign-off was a little too late for northern Michigan. 

Biederman sold off 7&4 in 1980 to focus more on his radio stations. Today, like most TV stations, 7&4 is on the air 24 hours per day, seven days per week. They have not gone off the air for the evening in some 30 years. They clear the entire NBC schedule, making Seth Meyers and Lily Singh a little happier. 

True, under Biederman's aegis, 7&4 was far from perfect. Then again, they had their bright spots. According to old TV listings, 7&4 picked up Saturday Night Live in 1976 (for the show's first season, they showed old movies in its slot instead). Other NBC outlets were skeptical about the program, including Detroit's WWJ-TV (now WDIV). 

But, comparing to other NBC stations, it was business as usual at WPBN-TV. Other NBC stations had their flaws, too. New Jersey's WMGM-TV was still broadcasting local programming in black and white well into the 1970s (and surprise, they didn't sign on until around noon, either). In the 1960s, NBC viewers in Lansing had to miss some of their favorite shows since WILX-TV 10 shared its frequency with MSU-owned WMSB until 1972. As a matter of fact, when JFK was assassinated, it was during WMSB's time on the air. WILX had to wait until WMSB signed off to air NBC's coverage of the assassination. It was common for big city stations to move some of their daytime programming to smaller independent stations to air more-profitable programming. When they were Detroit's CBS affiliate, WJBK-TV 2 farmed out many of their shows to independent WADL-38. 

Last Thursday, WPBN, along with all but one NBC affiliate here in Michigan opted not to show NBC's much-ballyhooed virtual reunion of the stars of their 2006-2013 hit sitcom 30 Rock. Allegedly, the reason for the skipping was because 1) the special had no commercials and 2) some station owners complained that it was simply one giant infomercial for NBC's new Peacock streaming service. 

The only NBC station showing the program was 7&4's sister station in Saginaw, WEYI-25. 

Several station groups pulled the special, including 7&4 and WEYI's current owner, Sinclair. Other groups included Gray Television (WLUC-6 Marquette and the aforementioned WILX), Graham Media (WDIV-4 Detroit) and Nexstar, which owns my local NBC station, WOOD-TV 8 here in Grand Rapids. 

In the 30 Rock special's slot, WOOD-TV aired two locally-produced news specials dealing with COVID-19 and the area's problems with shoreline erosion.

Not to worry for people in need of their Liz Lemon fix, the 30 Rock special is now streaming... on Peacock.

All this bullshit about NBC affiliates protesting over this new service only reminds me of the war between terrestrial and satellite radio some 15 years ago. Look at what happened to Citadel: they dropped Howard Stern on all their stations - including here in Grand Rapids - and eventually, they add Opie and Anthony on many of those same stations. We all remember the outcome: KLQ died and Citadel went belly-up. 

Folks, I remember the battle between terrestrial and digital and guess who ended up being the winner? Digital! Simply put, people are tired of the same 50 songs repeated over and over and the constant censorship. Look at Northern Broadcast in northern Michigan. They purchased a popular top 40 station - 106.7 The Peak - and foolishly flipped it to boring soccer mom music. They alienated their audience and many of them would go to Pandora, Spotify and the rest. The company ended up selling five of their six radio signals with only geriatric rocker WKLT 97.5 not changing format. Of the signals sold, three are now non-commercial. Last week, NBI sold 105.5 WSRJ in Honor, near Traverse City to Good News Media, which owns non-commercial Christian stations up north. 

The irony of all this is that 106.7 was sold not long ago to Trish MacDonald-Garber, who owns The Peak's former competitor, 106 KHQ. The only station left for NBI to sell is the former 92.5 WFDX in Atlanta, whose signal mostly reaches Alpena and Petoskey. 

Right now, northern Michigan has many silent radio stations. And yes, the fact that people know that digital is better is a huge reason why. Not everybody up north is into country, classic rock and they're definitely not into adult contemporary. 

Simply put, the NBC stations that yanked the 30 Rock special are afraid of change. Buying a new TV? Good luck finding one that ISN'T a smart TV. And guess what? The amount of free programming on internet TV is astounding. Not only is there Peacock, but there's also Viacom/CBS's Pluto TV and my personal favorite for dirt cheap, these guys. 

Look, when television entered American homes in the 1950s, radio had to change. Amos 'N Andy and Fibber McGee and Molly had to begat themselves to I Love Lucy and Leave It To Beaver. Music formats saved radio. Movie theater owners knew that TV was going to kill them in the 1950s. Thankfully, wide screens, stereo sound, multiplexing and more provocative movies saved the cinema business. 

TV needs to do the same. But, we all know the truth: thanks to Telecom 96, most TV stations are owned by groups. Here in Grand Rapids, we have Sinclair, Nexstar, Scripps and TEGNA. Northern Michigan is somewhat lucky since WWTV is still locally owned by the Iacobelli family after 31 years. But 7&4 is now a Sinclair property, and has to air their content and bow to their rules. Not only that, both Sinclair and the Iacobellis created umbrella companies for Sinclair to run ABC WGTU 29&8 and 9&10 to run WFQX Fox-er, I mean, Local 32. 

The sad truth is that back in the olden days, one could have simply bitched at TV station management for pulling their favorite shows. Now, they can simply wait until it's online, no harm, no foul. But, it's sad that stations like WOOD-TV were airing NBC's promos for the 30 Rock special only to air something else in its slot because of corporate calling the shots. And since the FCC allowed more and more corporate ownership of radio and TV outlets, it's definitely more bad news for viewers and listeners alike. 

If NBC's affiliates want to go back into the dark ages, that's their problem.

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