Both Mort Crim and George Kell *made the station*. The station had lost
credibility in the 1960's due to dictates from the station's conservative
owners who also owned the Detroit News, e.g., no replaying Huntley-Brinkley
coverage of Vietnam, downplaying the 1967 riots, and refusing to play
Saturday Night Live. Crim and Kell got the station back on track. Crim was
the best lead anchor the station ever had and Kell was the best Tigers TV
play-by-play guy.
On Saturday, November 5, 2022 at 7:53:30 PM UTC-4 Diner wrote:
> Thanks for this.
> I remember Mort Crim fondly from his days in Philadelphia, so seeing this
> story about the station where he spent most of his career is interesting to
> me.
>
>
> On Saturday, November 5, 2022 at 1:53:57 PM UTC-4 Paul Murray wrote:
>
>> NBC affiliate WDIV (originally WWJ-TV) became Detroit's first TV station
>> 75 years ago, and aired this documentary special about itself last night.
>>
>> Notably, it is not all nostalgia viewed through rose-colored glasses. The
>> station lost credibility in the 1960's due to dictates from the station's
>> conservative owners who also owned the Detroit News, e.g., no replaying
>> Huntley-Brinkley coverage of Vietnam, downplaying the 1967 riots, and
>> refusing to play Saturday Night Live. In the 1970s, their 6 pm newscast was
>> being beaten by Little Rascals reruns, with ABC affiliate WXYZ-TV
>> dominating. They went through six lead anchors in nine years trying to get
>> out of the cellar.
>>
>> While they had been grandfathered in to the FCC ruling that newspapers
>> and tv stations could no longer share ownership, they swapped stations with
>> the Washington Post (WTOP) in 1978, and the new management eventually
>> staged a serious turnaround (with assists from a surging NBC and the
>> Detroit Tigers).
>>
>> Obviously this is primarily of interest to those who know Detroit, but
>> anyone interested in TV of decades ago may appreciate at least some of it.
>>
>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T4p6EwAO1k
>>
>>
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