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 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/88a79e8d-5e77-4030-9f8a-de5e53d78048n%40googlegroups.com.
