11/19/1972: When NBC Screwed NFL Fans Over

[@thedude19766]

I am from Toledo Ohio and thanks for this story you talked about, I am a huge Cleveland Browns fan and as a kid in the 80's and 90's, WSPD (now WTVG) show Browns games until the switch of 1995 when NBC went from channel 13, to channel 24 (was WDHO and now WNWO, and now channel 11 (WTOL) show Browns games and as a kid, I always see as Browns on channel 13 (WTVG) and Lions on Channel 11 (WTOL)

[@chrisguardiano6143]

This is very similar to what happened in Orlando in 1995 with CBS & NASCAR's biggest race in the Daytona 500. Instead of showing the race like the majority of CBS affiliates around the country did including the one in nearby Tampa, the CBS affiliate in Orlando did not & instead showed an entirely different sport in a Big East college basketball game between Syracuse & Georgetown (in which in addition to Orlando both Syracuse & Washington DC got in place of the Daytona 500). The main reason why the CBS affiliate in Orlando did not show the Daytona 500 was because Daytona International Speedway wanted tourists who were in Orlando to visit Disney World to drive 55 miles & attend the race in person. Because of this, NASCAR fans in Orlando were screwed out of seeing NASCAR's biggest race (which also happens to be the season opener for NASCAR). Those fans did not miss much as Sterling Marlin dominated the race & won his second Daytona 500 in a row.

[@marquan1976]

🎉 Love the broadcasting controversies and the finger pointing/ denial afterwards from all parties

[@mrmoose6619]

I always thought Toledo would be Browns/Lions if possible... weird...

[@thedude19766]

It is and back then Browns was on channel 13 and Lions on channel 11 And this is before the switch of 94-95

[@andrewpadaetz5549]

Meanwhile, fans in Miami were irate about the coverage, or lack thereof, of the Fins on Monday Night Football's halftime highlights and the next week, made that crystal clear when St. Louis came to the Orange Bowl..as always, "click the card in the upper right corner" for more on why Dolphins fans made life difficult for Howard Cosell and company..

[@drewzuhosky6826]

In Youngstown, this is a non-issue, since Cleveland and Pittsburgh are near-equal distance from each other.

[@leogetz3570]

I was just thinking if someone in Youngstown had a powerful enough antenna they could have gotten the Pittsburgh feed and watched the game

[@pathutchison7688]

Plus if you lived in Youngstown, you were probably more likely to get murdered then you were to even watch football.

[@CTubeMan]

Is it more than 75 miles either way?

[@drewzuhosky6826]

The distance between Youngstown and Cleveland is 77 miles, while the distance between Youngstown and Pittsburgh is roughly 73 miles.@@CTubeMan

[@drewzuhosky6826]

_Especially_ in the 70s.@@pathutchison7688

[@ricknibert6417]

If you lived in Wayne County, OH and had cable, you might have seen this game on WTRF Wheeling WV.

[@CTubeMan]

If those helmets really belonged to Mercury Morris and Don Cockroft they both must have had really small heads.

[@Tubewings]

Maybe those were mini-helmets signed by the men themselves.

[@CTubeMan]

@@TubewingsHello Captain Obvious, I’m Captain Sarcasm. Nice to meet you!

[@arelyt]

I have been a Dolphin fan since 1970, I was at that Jet Game, but you are correct, Toledo screwed their fans there, they should have gotten the Browns game 😂

[@dongabenski783]

I am also from Toledo, and if you had cable back then you could have gotten WWJ now WDIV Channel 4 in Detroit also NBC. They may have shown the Miami game.

[@Musicradio77Network]

WNBC-TV (channel 4) in NYC did aired the Jets-Dolphins game rather than showing the wrong game. Good job for a local NBC affiliate in New York City.

[@ECG3485]

Not just any affiliate, but an owned-and-operated flagship station of the NBC network right from the start

[@leogetz3570]

well they had to. Jets were the local team and playing an away game. The station could not show any other game

[@andrewpadaetz5549]

@@leogetz3570 Just like Channel 2 WCBS-if the Giants were playing a road game, they had to show that game. That's why the two New York teams almost never played at the same time, especially once the blackout rule was lifted in 1973 unless there was a special circumstance or they were playing each other, in which instance the road team network got the game (example-1974, Jets-Giants was shown on channel 4 since the game was at the Yale Bowl).

[@anthony0358]

Excellent video. 1972 was the first year I watched the entire NFL season . I loved the Jets and I remember seeing that game due to the Dolphins being undefeated and the Jets , my team, being a contender.

[@CTubeMan]

This unofficial Official Jaguar Gator 9 historian will remind everyone you made videos about the following: 1. How in 1971 NBC affiliates in Virginia were forced to switch from a Washington game that was an hour in to a Baltimore game. 2. Franco Harris’ performance in the second Cleveland-Pittsburgh game that season.

[@randytracy1742]

I wonder if somebody else at wpsd thought of switching from this game to the one they got instead to really screw the fans! Well,that’s my guess! 😮😮😮😮

[@dongabenski783]

It's WSPD, WPSD is in Paducah, Kentucky. It is the NBC station on Channel 6.

[@daveerhardt1879]

Leave it to my hometown to screw things up.

[@ricknibert6417]

Wonder if TV13 stayed with Raiders-Oilers on 11/8/81 or switched to a late game like many stations in Ohio did?

[@marcus813]

I would love to know what then-WSPD's reasoning was for this because it makes zero sense. I know those Dolphins were special and played a good Jets side, but the Browns were good and were right there to be shown to the Toledo DMA.

[@kennytilley1506]

The Dolphins beat the Bills, Colts, Jets, and Patriots twice each plus Oilers, Chargers, Cardinals and Giants in 1972 and the only Playoff teams they beat were the Vikings and Chiefs. That does not make the Dolphins the greatest team ever.

[@CTubeMan]

The Vikings and Chiefs didn’t make the playoffs in 1972.

[@kennytilley1506]

Minnesota and Kansas City both made the playoffs in 1971 so they were considered playoff teams on the schedule for 1972

[@francishollingshead2134]

Are you going to do more Super Bowl commercials? How about Super Bowl XLIX, where Nationwide (an insurance company) ran one of the most controversial ads in Super Bowl history. Or some more of the ads from this year's Super Bowl that don't involve a Kennedy nephew (Starry, State Farm, etc.).

[@Musicradio77Network]

What about the “Bud Bowl” ads? That was part of the tradition during several Super Bowls.