The courtship of NBC by the Hearld-Traveler

[Maureen Carney]

NBC was angry at Westinghouse/Group W because 1) when they got KDKA from DuMont they signed them as a primary CBS affiliate; 2) WPTZ (as KYW was known before the swap) and WBZ were notorious for preempting programming (WPTZ refused to air "Today" and aired a local show with Ernie Kovacs instead; WBZ refusing to clear "Tonight" well into the Carson era being prime examples) and 3) Group W started syndicating competing programming in the early 60s (Steve Allen and Merv Griffin had shows from them that competed with "Tonight" in many markets).