WMUR

[Mark Watson]

Kevin Vahey wrote:

> We fed a Wide World of Sports out of there around 1970 and the ABC
> guys were in shock at how primitive we were. They actually gave us a
> new switcher as they felt sorry for us.
>
> Jim McKay was doing his voice overs in Gus' announcing booth and
> actually had to do our ID.

  Wow!! I didn't know that ABC ever fed anything out of WMUR back in the 
United era. It was nice on ABC's part to give the station a switcher. Did 
Jim McKay read the evening's program lineup along with the ID? That was a 
very common practice to fill time when there were no commercials.

> I was told once that the reason local news was never seriously covered
> was that if we became a factor the Union Leader would forbid
> advertisers to be on our news. I remember one night ABC called looking
> for footage of a plane crash and we never knew there had been one.

  And since at that time the Union Leader had a fair amount of clout in NH 
presidential politics, plus the sad state of the equipment and the studio at 
1819 Elm St. those factors certainly hampered 9's news operation. Now WMUR 
co-sponsors presidential debates with CNN, and no doubt the Union Leader's 
clout has diminished.

Mark Watson