Let's go back - The September 1995 Denver TV Affiliation Swap

[Rob]

Just after midnight on September 10, 1995 each of Denver’s major network-affiliated television stations switched networks, upsetting nearly five decades of Denver television tradition. The change was a relatively small, single-market manifestation of a much larger structural shift in the television industry prompted by Fox’s acquisition of certain football rights. As a result of Fox’s acquisition, many stations throughout the country switched their affiliations to Fox, leaving the other networks looking for new outlets for their programming in the affected markets. The result was a massive wave of affiliation switches in about 30 markets throughout the country, affecting a number of major markets like Philadelphia, Miami, Phoenix, and Denver.

Denver was affected because KCNC, owned by, and affiliated with, NBC, was traded to CBS. CBS, naturally, switched KCNC’s affiliation from NBC to CBS, leaving NBC in search of a new home in Denver. It ultimately landed on KUSA, then the ABC affiliate, and ABC ended upon KMGH, then the CBS affiliate. The ultimate result was not particularly surprising as KUSA was owned by Gannett, which had a number of other stations affiliated with NBC and KMGH was owned by McGraw-Hill, which also owned a substantial number of ABC affiliates.

In the weeks leading up to the affiliation switch, each of the stations launched major promotional efforts to explain the transition to viewers and how certain programs – network shows – would be switching stations, but others – syndicated and local programming – would not be.



Here's KCNC's 30 minute Promo "The big Switch" about the changes:







Here's a news report from KMGH:


Here's news reports from KUSA:




Here's news reports from KCNC:





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[PC Bigboy]

I remember watching the 30 minute promo special that KCNC did. If I remember right, NBC had the Rockies game that night since it was part of the (Thankfully now-defunct) "Baseball Network" which ABC was also a part of

Thanks for the trip down memory lane

Cheers & 73