Timing decided for TV shift
The Spokesman-Review
KREM-TV officials have decided to drop their affiliation with ABC and pick up programming from CBS “sometime this fall,” Dean Woodring, vice president and general manager for KREM, said Monday.
A specific date for the change hasn’t been determined yet, Woodring said, “but it definitely will be after the Summer Olympics are over.”
KREM’s decision put an end to rumors of a complete changeover in network affiliations in Spokane which had been circulating since Feb. 19, when CBS announced its decision to drop its ties with KXLY-TV.
CBS officials reportedly had approached the management at KHQ-TV, as well as KREM-TV, and some speculation indicated KHQ might drop NBC in favor of CBS’ record in the national ratings for the last 20 years.
KREM, on the other hand, was reportedly eyeing NBC, with which KREM sister stations in Seattle and Portland are affiliated.
“CBS exchanged information with us, but no offers were made on either side,” J. Birney Blair, president and general manager of KHQ, said Monday. KHQ is more than happy with its position in Spokane’s television market, he said.
Meanwhile, Wayne F. McNulty, general manager of KXLY-TV, confirmed Monday that station management is negotiating with ABC.
“I’m not ready to make any statement at this time,” McNulty said.
McNulty is vice president of Spokane Television Inc., a subsidiary of the Evening Telegram Corp., a Superior, Wis. Newspaper and television chain, which owns ABC television, affiliates in Yakima and Fargo, N.D.
Affiliating KXLY-TV with ABC would “make business a little easier” for that corporation, McNulty said.
CBS’ cancellation notice, sent Feb. 19 to KXLY, is effective Aug. 19. KREM’s notice to ABC will be effective Oct. 1, Woodring said.
“The logical time for both of us to change (if KXLY picks up ABC) would be the third week in September when the new fall shows premiere,” Woodring said.
Tuesday, March 30, 1976
