WPTV and WSM to become ABC affiliation in the 80s

[DucNguyen0131]

January 5, 1989

Thanks to a greater amount of network affiliates who carried the program ,CBS is giving The Howard Stern Show an important victory against a number of CBS affiliates who helped to carry the program.

The Howard Stern Show is expected to be on the rise, setting a standard for new late night television talk shows.

Another competitor, for first-run syndication, The Arsenio Hall Show will made its debut on syndication, which are independent stations and ABC affiliates.

Stern expected that his late night talk show would be important to all of the viewers.

 

[DucNguyen0131]

January 7-10, 1989

The Winter CES 1989 in Las Vegas is here, and we bring some excitement. Color Dreams, a new Nintendo licensee has the first Disk System title, a conversion of Bally/Sente's arcade title Street Football. Nintendo showed the Power Pad, as well as the World Class Track Meet, as well as newer titles Dance Aerobics, and Cobra Triangle, plus the new Zapper with To The Earth, Trick Shoot, Faxanadu and PinBot. Tengen showed four new Nintendo Disk System games, which include Tetris, as well as two licensed from Atari, which are Super Sprint, and Vindicators, as well as Rolling Thunder. (OTL's license of Sega games on the NES has been totally butterflied away), plus Atari's new Tengen163 (a localized version of the NAMCO163 chip) audio chip. Acclaim had Rambo and Airwolf, which is shipping now and WWF WrestleMania next month. We also had Knight Rider and IronSword: Wizards & Warriors II, on the Nintendo Disk System on the booth. Three new Activision titles which are Predator, The Three Stooges, and flight simulation Stealth Eagle.

American Sammy displayed Amagon, as well as Ninja Taro, and Bandai America would re-release Athletic World for use with the Nintendo Power Pad, as well as Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, and Challenge Pebble Beach, plus the recently-released FMV game Charlotte. Announced were Star Trek V, Monster Party, Mask Rider and Street Cop. Broderbund has introduced the force-field controller U-Force, as well as the RPG title Legacy of the Wizard, action game Guardian Legend, an action game The Battle of Olympus, and a Cinemaware-licensed title The King of Chicago, all for the Nintendo Disk System. Sony Interactive Entertainment brought us with Super Dodgeball, Super Sushi Pinball, Super Rescue and Final Fantasy, plus the Cassette System title When Dolphins Attack (a FMV title) and Skateboarders. Capcom USA brought us Bionic Commando, as well as Mega Man II, Strider, Willow, Street Fighter, as well as a licensing deal with Disney to bring DuckTales, Rescue Rangers and Adventures in Disneyland, and doing The California Raisins via another licensing agreement. Culture Brain shows the same four titles previewed last June at the Chicago CES. Data East got Bad Dudes, Rampage and RoboCop. FCI got Ultima for the NES, as well as a new title Hydlide. GameTek offered the junior editions of Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy, as well as Hollywood Squares and Double Dare. HAL America got Adventures of Lolo, Rollerball, Air Fortress (Disk System) and Vegas Dream. Hi-Tech Expressions displayed Sesame Street ABC and Sesame Street 123, as well as new family games The Chessmaster, Win, Lose or Draw and Muppet Adventure.

Hudson Soft USA, Inc. said that Starship Hector and Adventures of Dyno-Riki, the next games announced for Hudson Soft. Three new Jaleco USA titles were offered, which are Goal!, Hoops and Robo Warrior. Koei had its new Nintendo licensee with its first game Nobunga's Ambition. Konami and Ultra brought us Skate or Die, Track & Field II, The Adventures of Bayou Billy, Defender of the Crown, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Konami/Ultra got arcade classics Gyruss and Q*Bert. As the Game Boy and the Nintendo CD System unveiled, Konami/Ultra bought us Snatcher for the CD-ROM, as well as the first handheld games Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Double Dribble, Contra and Gradius. Konami completed its licensing agreements to bring mega computerhits to the NES, like Silent Service by MicroProse and Jack Nicklaus' Greatest 18 Holes of Major Championship Golf by Accolade. LJN Toys also had Daredevil on the cassette adapter, as well as the Disk System games Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Marvel's X-Men, and NFL Football, as well as movie titles Back to the Future and Beetlejuice, and another Marvel licensee The Punisher, as well as a game based on Pictionary, and a original World War III. LJN also offered two gory titles Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street. The first three NES games got from Milton Bradley were Summer Games, World Games and California Games, as well as a NES version of Jordan vs. Bird: One on One. Mattel got the Power Glove, which is a concept in game controllers, which was futuristic, and Mattel obtained the first NES game Bad Street Brawler. Mindscape obtained two titles 720 and Road Runner, plus an additional NES title Infiltrator. Romstar offered the first NES game Air Hawk. SNK got Guerilla War, P.O.W. as well as a new game Baseball Stars.

Kemco-Seika had the previously announced Spy vs. Spy II: The Island Caper, and added Desert Commander and Shadowgate. The new Nintendo licensee Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Sunsoft had the recently released Xenophobe, and introduced two new Disk System games The Terminator and Fester's Quest. Taito showed two Disk System titles Operation Wolf and Sky Shark. Taxan displayed Mappy Land, as well as Fist of the North Star and Mystery Quest. Tecmo offered Tecmo Baseball, and Tecmo Bowl, as well as Ninja Gaiden, Professional Wrestling and Silkworm. Toho would make its first NES game Godzilla: Monster of Madness. Tradewest offered three new Nintendo games John Elway's Quarterback, Magic Johnson's Fast Break and Taboo: The Sixth Sense. Vic Tokai would display its upcoming NES version of Terra Cresta, along with Kid Kool and Clash at Demonhead.

For the Sega side, we have Rambo III, Altered Beast, Vigilante, Time Soldiers, Rastan, Super Basketball, California Games, Reggie Jackson Baseball and Walter Payton Football, plus we have Alex Kidd: High-Tech World, Alf, Poseidon Wars 3-D, Out Run 3-D, Maze Hunter 3-D, Casino Games, Y's: The Vanished Omens, Lord of the Sword and Warrior Quest, plus the FMV game Street Night on the cassette adapter. Sega got three licensees Parker Brothers, Activision and Absolute Entertainment Parker Brothers displayed King's Quest: Quest from the Crown, as well as Montezuma's Revenge, while Activision got Cyborg Hunter, Rampage and Bomber Raid, as well as Galaxy Force. Absolute Entertainment got its first two projects R.C. Grand Prix and James Bond 007: Countdown to Meltdown.

 

[DucNguyen0131]

January 12, 1989

The Fox independent XETV was in negotiations to became a Spanish-language station, while KUSI's owners was in negotiations with the owners of XETV to move its stronger English-language programming, along with the Fox affiliation to KUSI.

XETV operates on channel 6, while KUSI operates on channel 51.

This left XETV with Spanish-language programs, which was sold off to Univision and became a network O&O.

XETV was located in Baja California, and it was part of the Mexico market, while KUSI was located in the San Diego TV area.

 

[DucNguyen0131]

January 16, 1989

It is reported that WLKT was looking to merge its programming with upstart and fast-rising Fox television station WDKY-TV in Lexington, and decided that the Tri-State Christian Television would purchase channel 62 in Lexington.

The programming's merger was to explore our viewers and one of their announcements.

All of the programs could help us make the bold management and one of their strategy moves.

WLKT and WDKY were now best friends, and were looking for a proposed merger, to combine our strength of independent programming.

 

[DucNguyen0131]

January 18, 1989

Fox affiliates began to push towards newscasts, starting a newscast on its own at WDKY, which planned to compromise 250 people in the newsroom, which was to came from the old Lexington studios at WKYT.

Fox announced plans to launch newer affiliates to be built and signed on by other companies.

WNYB's news operation posted a lower rating, slightly comparted to WUTV, which offered no news, and better Toronto coverage.

It is reported that newer Fox television stations helped them to build their own news operations.

 

[DucNguyen0131]

January 20, 1989

The Fox Broadcasting Company said that they will unveil its plans for a new Friday night schedule, to be determined for the 1989-1990 television season, and they had hopes to expand its strength.

Fox already had its roots back in 1986, when Fox aired its first late night talk show that starred Joan Rivers.

Fox already had four daytime game shows on the air, as well as three prime time nights which are Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

Concerned by fierce competition from CBS, ABC and NBC, Fox expected that they would drop Money in the Blank for Eye Q, which is a show part of Fox's contract with the show's producer Bob Stewart Productions/Basada, Inc., and Fox came close with Peter Tomarken for a development deal.

 

[DucNguyen0131]

January 23, 1989

Fox will do another block of game shows as replacements/backups, which include The Last Word from Merrill Heatter Productions, Celebrity Secrets, from The Buff Granoff Company and Mac III Productions, a new version of Jackpot, from Bob and Sande Stewart Productions and Talk About, from the CBC.

These four game shows would replace the original four that was introduced in early 1988, out of concerns from NBC and CBS.

Fox executives found out that the game shows both have disappointing ratings from audience members.

Members of Fox affiliate relations, including our affiliate, WLVI-TV in Boston could hold a candle to the Fox viewership.

 

[stratonapba]

But that's not all: FOX wants the NHL in the Fall of 1989 by getting Hockey Night in Canada on CBC in addition to picking up Talkabout with Wayne Cox more as it develops.

 

[DucNguyen0131]

January 25, 1989

A new game show/syndicated program is planned for use by Tribune Entertainment, called Fast Group, which was to be a celebrity game show, with four celebrities and four contestants playing each.

Fast Group is a game show that was minted for Tribune itself on its stations.

Host Richard Dawson, formerly of Family Feud is tapping on to host the series, which was done for Tribune.

It will be taped at the KTLA Studios in Los Angeles, in which the studio Tribune Entertainment is distributing, and Dick Clark Productions was to produce the show.

 

[DucNguyen0131]

But that's not all: FOX wants the NHL in the Fall of 1989 by getting Hockey Night in Canada on CBC in addition to picking up Talkabout with Wayne Cox more as it develops.

Seems likely, as Fox had a Friday night lineup. WNYB has the Buffalo Sabres games, which Fox aired the NHL games.

 

[DucNguyen0131]

January 27, 1989

Sony Interactive Entertainment, Inc. of Japan formally announced that the Game Boy TV Adapter is nearly completed. It has all 56 colors, working on a Game Boy TV screen, something that they would work on TV.

The Game Boy TV Adapter was expected to be released on the same day as the original Game Boy.

Both developers took advantage of the TV Adapter by programming it first in monochrome, then color it for the TV Adapter.

The Game Boy TV Adapter was for the Family Computer in the Japanese market, and it was planned that Tetris, a title licensed from multiple companies was set to be released via a link cable on Game Boy and via 2 players on the TV Adapter. Sony also announced that Quinty, a pet project of Satoshi Tajiri via Game Freak would be released for the Family Computer.

 

[DucNguyen0131]

January 30, 1989

Color Dreams, who announced as a Nintendo licensee, and got their first Nintendo title to be announced this year at the Winter CES 1989, is promising expansion to their big growth in line.

Color Dreams, a Nintendo licensee, based in Brea, has obtained the rights of Street Football from Bally/Sente, in order that programming is underway.

Programming was derived in-house, rather than from Japan, but from California game developers.

It is reported that Color Dreams would have to become the world's largest Nintendo licensee, producing five games a year (unlicensed cartridges are butterflied away).

 

[DucNguyen0131]

February 1, 1989

Fox said they wanted to schedule Hockey Night in Canada for a Friday night lineup under the new moniker Friday Night Hockey, in an effort to compete with the comedy block, which aired on ABC.

ABC already had sporting on primetime, when it had Monday Night Football, which was set to go next fall.

The reason why Fox had built a momentum on Friday nights, while Saturday nights had built down on unscripted programming.

Fox would now have four days in a row on a night. It would soon gradually expanded to seven days.

 

[DucNguyen0131]

February 6, 1989

A group of former North American Soccer League employees joined Major Indoor Soccer League, as a group that was used for the 1994 World Cup, and eventually expanded to include new teams.

FOX signed up for the Major Indoor Soccer League, thanks to the pending launch of the British channel Eurosport.

FOX already signed up the National Hockey League for the new Hockey Night in Canada game.

It is reported that the newly minted Cox-Taft joint is looking for several television stations in a much larger market.

 

[DucNguyen0131]

February 8, 1989

A new major product was in the works from Sega of Japan, a videocassette adapter, called Mega Cassette, which allows the ability and function to play full-motion video games, once at a time.

It is expected to be completed in the June of 1989, as they helped 16-bit VHS technology.

It included backward compatibility with pre-existing Mark III/Master System video cassettes from its own adapter.

Odyssey Video, a company that helped reverse-engineering the Mark III to develop VHS cassettes said it was happy to get its adapter.

 

[DucNguyen0131]

February 10, 1989

The new Game Boy portable handheld, and its add-on counterpart for the Famicom, the full-color Game Boy TV Adapter is shy two months away as Nintendo prepares to get Tetris on the way for the new Game Boy, by licensee on behalf of other companies.

Among the companies on behalf of Nintendo were Academysoft-Elorg, Andromeda Software Ltd., Mirrorsoft Ltd., Sphere Inc., Tengen Inc. and Bullet-Proof Software Inc.

These companies obtained the rights to Tetris, who offered the licensee, and Nintendo offered the console rights.

The Sega Mega Drive rendition of the famous puzzle game Tetris was also two months away, but eight companies offered the Tetris licensee.

 

[DucNguyen0131]

February 13, 1989

A new construction permit for a television station on channel 43 in Laredo, Texas was built, possibly as a joint ABC/Fox affiliate, donated by a new broadcasting group KLFT (for Laredo Forty-Three).

The station was owned and managed by Channel 43, Inc., a consortium that was made of former KGBT staff.

KLFT was operating on channel 43, so they would not want to interfere with other Texas stations that was forced to go on channel 43, with a directional antenna attached.

KLFT was in negotiations to acquire barter syndicated programming, in cash or in prizes.

 

[DucNguyen0131]

February 16, 1989

Bandai America, who worked on the upcoming Star Trek V game for the NES, is helping with FMV game ideas in collaboration with Silicon Video Software, following the success of Charlotte, a title SVS developed in collaboration with employee Frank Ward.

Bandai America is developing tool kits for the Nintendo Compact Disk System, the US version of the Famicom Compact Disk System.

Meanwhile, at Sony Interactive Entertainment, the company developed the sound chip for the new Super Famicom, set to come out later this year.

Marlene Sharp, another Bandai employee is helping with game development concepts for the Nintendo Cassette System, in collaboration with Silicon Video Software.

 

[DucNguyen0131]

February 20, 1989

Cinemaware Corporation is scoring a major expansion, which included the highly successful movie genre, and they wanted to obtain a licensee from Viacom International for the Terrytoons characters, which was made into an interactive video game.

One of Cinemaware's options included a Mighty Mouse video game, of which Cinemaware has been acquiring the video game licensee from Viacom.

Cinemaware is currently in the works on various TV Sports video games after the success of its Football title.

The next Cinemaware project, would be a throwback to classic cartoons, which is a classic film genre, that Cinemaware obtained.

 

[DucNguyen0131]

February 22, 1989

Nintendo and Sony said they promised that they would help them releasing the Nintendo Compact Disk System in the Western market as late as 1989, as to honor the anniversary of Nintendo's founding.

Sony Interactive Entertainment's upcoming project would be Quinty, a title Game Freak developed (IOTL Namco released it).

Sony also released several titles under the Epic/Sony Records label, as well as its American imprint Sony Interactive Entertainment America.

Nintendo and Sony had good relations, developing their own technology for the Nintendo Famicom, who reverse-engineered the console.