Re: WNHT's fatal error

[brouder@juno.com (Ed Brouder)]

>...the 1984 NH primary that finally enabled WMUR to win back trust....
>>Why did they lose the trust of the viewers? ( I was not in the area
>>then)......  {don't worry, it wasn't your fault!}

WMUR TV lost its trust in a three step chain of events:

1) On July 12, 1956 Governor Murphy notified the FCC he intended to sell
to Miami's Storer Broadcasting Company, which announced nothing would
change, but promptly embarked on a secret agenda to get permission to
move the transmitter to the Georgetown section of Haverhill, MA in order
to make it a player in the fledgling Boston market (I believe only 4 & 7
existed then).  After a prolonged series of accusations, public hearings
and FCC petitions, during which Murphy retained ownership, he suddenly
died on December 19, 1958.  His estate sold WMUR TV to a subsidiary of
United Broadcasting Co., on January 7, 1959.  

2) United arrived in town the first week in March and fired 20 of the 59
staffers, outraging the community.  Among the departees were some of
their favorite on-air hosts like sports director Ernie Saunders &
announcer Ken Whitmore.  On March 23rd, the IBEW local struck Channel 9,
knocking it off the air as 14 camera ops, control room techs and
transmitter engineers walked.  United had to send engineers from
Washington to get it back on the air.  On March 27th, popular news
director Tom Power, who had been
retained, suffered a heart attack in the middle of a story about Gov.
Powell. On April 12, while he was home recuperating, Power was laid off
along with fellow announcer Gerry Kearney and eight engineers.  Only 9
people were left on staff (including the venerable Uncle Gus Bernier). 
United had cemented its relationship with the people of New Hampshire.

3) In 1971, an ABC employee allegedly offered bribes to get favorable
network affiliation renewals with certain stations and the FCC ordered
United to show cause why its license shouldn't be revoked.  Beset by
financial losses owner Richard Eaton said he would sell all of his TV
stations.  Any technical improvements or equipment upgrades were frozen
from that moment 'cuz Eaton wasn't going to spend cash on a property he
would eventually lose.  While the legal wrangling continued, WMUR was
fined ($6,000) in 1973 for improperly logging program length commercials.
 The station's credibility was zero.  It didn't change until Imes came
along in '81.

Incidentally, since you apparently work at WHOM FM, who replaced JGS as
GM?

Ed (Brouder@Juno.com)
Man From Mars Productions

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