TV Stations and Affiliates

tjpeople

Site Administrator
Staff member
He probs is. WHy do they all start with W or N. What with all the initialls anyway - int they all owned by like 3 people in total - why the different names? (im not nthat knowledgeable to us tv stations - surprisenly)

im sure Mike knows :D
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
When the stations are formed, the affiliates are allowed to pick their letters--they're called call letters. Most states required the first one. (In Wisconsin, it's W) and then they're free to choose the other three.

In my case, the call letters are WBAY, WFRV, WGBA, and WLUK all of which actually mean something. WBAY: Bay (as in Green Bay); WFRV: Fox River Valley (the area just south of Green Bay); WGBA: Green Bay Area, and WLUK: LUC-ky--you know, because it's Fox and they're lucky to be on the air. :D
 

reese35

New member
Nice, Sam.

Here in O-Town, Channel 2's WESH (after founder Wright Esch)
6 is WKMG (After Katherine M. Graham, the late widow of Phillip L. Graham, former president of the Washington Post Company). Previous calls include WDBO (Way Down By Orlando) and WCPX (Columbia Pictures (X). They were about to buy the station in '82, but the deal didn't go through. The calls stayed.)
9 is WFTV (Wonderful Florida Television)
18 is WKCF (I'm definitely sure the last 2 letters stand for Central Florida)
35 is WOFL (Orlando, Florida)
 

Amigo22

Super Moderator
I haven't been inside a TV studio before, but if I knew where to go I'd be heading down to the Channel 9 studio with a sack full of bricks & eggs :D

Would have been cool to visit the MITM set at whichever studio it was filmed in (have to say 'was' now since filming is over :( )
 

reese35

New member
Did you know that the National Nine News theme was the same one used on the ABC flagship stations, part of the Eyewitness News Format? Except, the 9 one's more updated. Frank Gari, a news music champ in the States, created an update of the 1960's "Cool Hand Luke: Tar Sequence" theme in 1984 called "News Series 2000" (with a new signature) and "News Series 2000 Plus" (update for NS2k) in 1992 for WLS, which continues to use it today. Because of royalties by CHL composer Lalo Schrifin, the "Tar Sequence" music eventually got phased out. But I can't speak for National 9! ;) http://www.southernmedia-nmsa.com <- go there, click on broadcast under "station", go to WABC, click on the music note next to "Cool Hand Luke...", and you'll hear what I mean. Plus, click on the note next to "News Series 2000", then you'll REALLY hear the difference!
 

Amigo22

Super Moderator
I didn't know that, but I do know they changed the theme when they changed their logo. I don't watch the TV news much since I hear all the latest on the radio at work.
 

tjpeople

Site Administrator
Staff member
Talking bout channel 9, wen i went to Austrailia, They had chanels 7, 9 , 10 as free channels, and they where auful (hope you dont take offensese) they did unbeleivble amounts of advertising constanyl there seemed to be no content, anyone agree or was it just me?
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
Man, I've been looking for a site like that for ages for some music for my high school's news show. Right now, we're using this thing that sounds like 1950s Egyptian music. :D I could find something real nice at that site.
 
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