Re: WNHT's fatal error

["Chris Beckwith" <beckwith@ime.net>]

>When Channel 21 first came on the air, they should have been able to win
>the war with WNDS and WGOT and given WMUR a battle. Had they stayed as an
>independent they may still be on the air today, instead of being nothing
>more than a translator for WABU.

Their leverage as a CBS affiliate was extraordinary.  The timing was indeed
bad; they should have gone for a Fox affiliation instead.  That way they
could have had the brand name recognition of a network without the overhead
of a news department, at least for the first few years.  But even now NH
independent TVs are struggling, aren't they?

>But what doomed them was when they made the switch, they lost the audince
>base they had built as an independent, since the viewers they did have,
>were not interested in network programming.

Or they were watching CBS programming on Channel(s) 7 and/or 13 and saw no
point in defecting.

>WMUR started to treat news seriously in 1984, when they became a major
>player in the NH Primary and new ownership bought the ENG equipment needed
>to compete with Boston.

Which raises another point.  WMUR, for all their acumen in covering things
going on in the Manchester area, have yet to establish a full news presence
in the Seacoast region of New Hampshire.  I know a lot of people who live on
the Seacoast who can't be bothered with Channel 9's news product because it
doesn't relate to their lives.  About the only thing WMUR is good for in
that part of the world is to see ABC programs like "The View" or "In
Concert" that are not cleared or buried overnights on affiliates in the
Portland-Poland Spring and Boston markets.

>The way Flatley shutdown 21 with no notice was horrific, but it was a
>classic case of a successful person in other fields coming into
>broadcasting, and not have a clue.

I knew something was up when Channel 21 slashed news programming.  If
Flatley was indeed a class operator, a prime time "Three's Company" marathon
(with a crude text scroll between episodes stating that they were leaving
the air at midnight) was a hell of a way to bow out.  Does anyone know why
they didn't at least run CBS' prime time schedule on their final night?

Take care,

Chris

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