The BIZARRE CBS BROADCASTING CONTROVERSY of the 1983 NFL Season | Lions @ Oilers (1983)

In week 11 of the 1983 NFL season, the CBS affiliate in Austin, KTBC, was supposed to show the game at the Astrodome between the Detroit Lions and the Houston Oilers. However, they decided to go off script, air a completely different game without informing anyone, and then, gave no justification as to why they did this, even though the Oilers were tremendously popular in the city. Backlash ensued. This is the story behind the 1983 CBS broadcasting controversy
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#nfl #cbs #nflthrowback #oilers #houston #lions #detroitlions #cbssports #cbsnews #football #sports #highlights #nflhighlights #nflhistory
Members of the 1983 Oilers:
Florian Kempf
John James
Archie Manning
Oliver Luck
Gifford Nielsen
Willie Tullis
Tate Randle
Derrick Hatchett
Bill Kay
Greg Hill
Steve Brown
Keith Bostic
Darryl Meadows
Larry Moriarty
Gary Allen
JC Wilson
Earl Campbell
Stan Edwards
Carter Hartwig
Mike Reinfeldt
Curtis Brown
Donnie Craft
Vagas Ferguson
Dwayne Crutchfield
Daryl Hunt
Ted Thompson
Robert Brazile
Avon Riley
Gregg Bingham
Robert Abraham
Tim Joiner
David Carter
John Schumacher
Mike Munchak
Ralph Williams
Elvin Bethea
Pat Howell
Mike Stensrud
Les Studdard
Al Steinfeld
Malcolm Taylor
Brian Sochia
Harvey Salem
Bruce Matthews
Jesse Baker
Morris Towns
Doug France
Jerome Foster
Steve Bryant
Mike Renfro
Tim Smith
Mike Holston
Carl Roaches
Herkie Walls
Dave Casper
Walt Arnold
Chris Dressel
Mike McCloskey
Bob Hamm
Ed Biles (head coach)
Chuck Studley (interim head coach)
Members of the 1983 Lions:
Eddie Murray
Mike Black
Gary Danielson
Eric Hipple
Billy Sims
Demetrious Johnson
Maurice Harvey
Dexter Bussey
Horace King
Hector Gray
Bobby Watkins
Bruce McNorton
James Jones
Ken Jenkins
Rick Kane
William Graham
Danny Wagoner
Alvin Hall
Vince Thompson
Leonard Thompson
Jim Caver
Al Latimer
August Curley
James Harrell
Steve Mott
Garry Cobb
Roosevelt Barnes
Tom Turnure
Ken Fantetti
Steve Doig
Jimmy Williams
Homer Elias
Curtis Green
Martin Moss
Larry Lee
Amos Fowler
Mike Cofer
Don Greco
Keith Dorney
Rich Strenger
Chris Dieterich
Mike Dawson
Mike Fanning
Doug English
William Gay
Ulysses Norris
Reese McCall
Robbie Martin
Rob Rubick
Mark Nichols
Freddie Scott
Jeff Chadwick
Monte Clark (head coach)

[@CTubeMan]

Fun Fact: This was the only NFL game with Billy Sims and Earl Campbell going against each other.

[@DolFan316]

Even better, they both rushed for over 100 yards.

[@libertarianclips6370]

And Billy kicked a guy

[@jimnfl7134]

never heard of either of them. Sorry, only watched a Few NFL Games until about 1990! Walter Payton and Franco Harris were best RB's ever at that time.

[@Official_Kings_Versus]

🆒!

[@teen_laqueefa]

Fun fact: the prefacing of a fact as fun, is rarely accurate. However, Tom Brady threw a pick on his final attempt as a Patriot Quarterback 🚬😎🗣💨

[@Disengage]

I'm a simple man. I see JG9 post a video about a broadcasting controversy, I watch it.

[@teen_laqueefa]

You certainly are high functioning, champ. Today was a big day, commenting a cliche ego stroke to a channel is haaaawd.

[@libertarianclips6370]

The 2 QBs for the Oilers both had sons drafted 1st overall by the Colts.

[@jamesmorgan7299]

As a resident of Austin. I can tell ya it wasn’t that austin was oilers fans. They were Earl Campbell fans even till this day you can get earl Campbell breakfast tacos at the airport. People will follow longhorn players there whole career in the NFL.

[@Uncultured_Barbarian465]

I loved watching Campbell run, and I'm a Packers fan.

[@Matt-ng4tj]

@@Uncultured_Barbarian465 John Riggins fan is a little kid then, now, here at the age of 48. Yet NOTHING like Earl Campbell back in the day. Those INDEED were some different times!

[@nasetvideos]

Another amazing video/story--How you are able to find these stories, report on them so well, get video footage, and do such a professional job is absolutely awesome.

[@markkrull556]

Agreed!!

[@bioLarzen]

Agreed.

[@AdamJ617]

I love when I hear “I’m sorry, WHAT?”😆

[@DolFan316]

IRL I've actually been looking for ways to use that in verbal interactions but so far the right opportunity hasn't come yet. 🙁

[@RobertJohnson-hq6jq]

The Billy Sims drop kick game. Those of us here in Detroit remember Billy knocking over a bunch of Gatorade cups on the sideline near the end of this game.

[@jefferypalmer8998]

With as many Oiler vids as you do I'm starting to wonder if you're a closet Oilers fan. Another great vid and love seeing the baby blues again

[@Rockhound6165]

Or Cardinals. He has a lot of Cardinal videos.

[@mattyust6127]

I would agree but being a native Houstonian I’m not going to argue! 😆

[@christopherengel7436]

Another Fun fact; of the 3 starting QB's on Houston that year. 14-Neilson, 8-Manning, & 10-Luck only Oliver Luck-ed into any wins with 2.

[@leogetz3570]

About like Dan Orlovsky in 2011 with the Colts. Manning (injured), Kerry Collins, Curtis Painter... and Orlovsky gets the only 2 wins of the season!!

[@Rockhound6165]

@@leogetz3570 or yesterday's highlighted team, the 1991 Phoenix Cardinals with Tom Tupa, Stan Gelbaugh, and Chris Chandler with only Tupa winning games(4).

[@aarondersnah863]

@@leogetz3570 Orlovsky also had a chance to ruin the Lions perfect 0-16 season in 2008 if he hadn't run out of the end zone for a safety against the Vikings.

[@mangrove]

Ah yes, the Billy Sims karate-kick game.

[@CTubeMan]

I’ll never tire of 11:35!

[@msarzo]

They could have definitely saved a lot of heartache by simply announcing it two weeks prior, but no, they had to make a decision worse than the Bears drafting Mitchell Trubisky with the No. 2 overall pick, wait until the last possible second to announce it, and then have nothing to justify it. That whole situation was worse than if you did nothing but spike the ball into the ground on every single play. Yet another well done story!

[@PAGoTribe1963]

*applause*

[@CTubeMan]

Just think, if the networks did their job JG9 might not have one.

[@DolFan316]

@@CTubeMan Oh, he'd find a way to get onto KZbin. (Whispers.) He'd find a way...

[@Matt-ng4tj]

Using his classic Jag/Gator signature of "You'd have a better quarterback rating SPIKING THE BALL ball every other time!" Agreed, unfortunately!

[@marcus813]

If Greater Houston's KHOU couldn't air it, the CBS affiliate in Beaumont and Port Arthur was SOL, too (secondary market rules). As for KTBC, which has since become the FOX station in the Austin DMA thanks to the New World deal, what it did was inexcusable. That's just piss-poor communication and the Oilers fans in the area had every right to be upset.

[@DolFan316]

The outright coverup when they knew they wouldn't be showing the game 2 weeks ago was what irked me the most. Who did they think they were, the CIA?

[@anonymousgoogle8462]

By 1983 nobody was watching the Oilers. When they got Moon all they did was choke in the playoffs. He couldn't read NFL defenses. Much higher level than the CFL. Oilers aren't in Houston anymore because people didn't watch them and didn't want to invest in them.

[@teen_laqueefa]

They choked cause Moon was a choker(ask his wife)

[@Musicradio77Network]

WCBS-TV (channel 2) in NYC at the time had the Giants/Redskins game right after they ran an Oilers game, but the New York Giants were the local team at the time.

[@bretthosmer6770]

Leave it to the Lions to lose to an 0-10 team on a season when they make the playoffs. That sort of stuff epitomizes Lions football over the past 60+ years

[@Younima4]

Cool Brett. Thanks for giving us your very unpopular opinion about the Lions. Can't wait to not hear this ever again 🙄

[@CTubeMan]

This unofficial Official Jaguar Gator 9 historian will remind everyone you made videos about the following: 1. How in 1979 Oilers fans in OKC didn’t get to see the Oilers host another NFC team, the Eagles, in the season finale. 2. How CBS decided fans in the home of the University of Texas at Austin would have preferred tennis to the Cowboys in 1981. 3. How in 1987 the CBS affiliate in Indianapolis turned inexplicable laziness into a great Sunday of football broadcasts.

[@DolFan316]

It's actually been very educational for me to know that the NFL having a TV contract in the late '70s and '80s as essentially meaningless, and stations could just decide not to show games whenever they didn't feel like it. Makes me glad I never lived in an NFL market.

[@thomasmacon6661]

All good things to look at except no.1. If the Texans lose to the eagles again this season the city of Houston has not defeated the eagles in profession for a half a century. Don’t take my word for it look it up the Texans have never beat them and check the oilers stats , and no tenn. oilers do not count , this about houston.

[@DolFan316]

@@thomasmacon6661 It could be worse. The Jets have also never beaten the Eagles in almost 50 years (0-12).

[@DolFan316]

3:58 David Kilson's one NFL moment of glory. Who is David Kilson, you ask? (Or maybe not.) He was an undrafted rookie DB who never played again after the '83 season. He did recover 2 more fumbles, but this was essentially the only significant thing he ever did in his career.

[@thunderlightning1980]

Good ol’ KTVV which became KXAN in 1987.

[@Rockhound6165]

The Lions actually won their division that year and lost to the 49ers by a point. Sure footed Eddie Murray missed a 36 yard FG as time expired. Gary Danielson threw 5 picks so it wasn't so much the 49ers winning but the Lions losing.

[@johnwiesner9590]

Which is typical of the Detroit Lions throughout their history, a team with only one playoff win over the last 64 seasons. Last year Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker made an NFL record 66 yard field goal in Detroit as time expired.

[@johnwiesner9590]

Plus back then with five teams from each conference making the playoffs, the three seed, which the Lions were, got a first round bye but had to go on the road for their first game, but the 4 seed got to play at home the first game, but no bye.

[@Rockhound6165]

@@johnwiesner9590 wouldn't have mattered. No way they beat Washington in the NFCCG.

[@DolFan316]

@@Rockhound6165 Especially since the Lions' 18-game losing streak VS the *Redskins* from '68-99 was the longest by any tea against a non-division foe in NFL history.

[@bababooey7641]

Losing to SF saved the Lions from getting destroyed by the Redskins again like they did in '82

[@LeatherHelmetMafiaProductions]

I love how they showed the game right after the Tom Landry Show.

[@leogetz3570]

lol...yeah, I saw that too!!

[@samhouston9162]

Why do most of these broadcast controversies either cover Texas in general or the Oilers?

[@runrafarunthebestintheworld]

Because the Texas CBS stations sucked back then I guess.

[@samhouston9162]

@@runrafarunthebestintheworld It absolutely seems like it

[@MarkAHoltz]

Because the official religion of Texas is football.

[@DolFan316]

@@MarkAHoltz That actually makes it even worse.

[@cancerstinks1]

Likely because of how large the state is, and as a resident who’s lived here all my life, I can tell you that most of the people in charge here, whether I’m private industry or the government, aren’t the best when it comes to communication or backup planning.

[@ancestralFromWesnoth]

Before you leave a comment, we need some context to understand this video…

[@russellpavlov1343]

Don't feel bad Austin, Texas, my CBS station (WKBN 27, Youngstown, Ohio) also had Green Bay at Minnesota at 1pm that afternoon. The reasons: 1. The Browns vs. Buccaneers game from Cleveland was blacked out in Northeast Ohio (including Youngstown) 2. The Steelers week 12 opponent is u guessed it, the Minnesota Vikings.

[@michaelreich4827]

Fun fact: at 3:59 , that would be considered a forward pass today.

[@bioLarzen]

Imagine a channel deciding not to broadcast an NFL game today :D

[@eddiepetrick6222]

Excellently explained.

[@johnnysama]

Couple sidenotes: Of course, KTBC is now a Fox-owned station, and the aforementioned KTVV @ 13:40 is still with NBC, but it is now KXAN.

[@altfactor]

KTBC was for many years affiliated with all three networks as it was the only commercial TV station in the market. I would think that in the 1970's, KTBC always had an NFL doubleheader every week, sometimes two NBC games, occasionally two CBS games, and sometimes, a CBS game preceded or followed by an NBC game. BTW, KTBC was once owned by President Lyndon Johnson, which might explain why the station had a monopoly on commercial television in Austin for many years.

[@MarkAHoltz]

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KTBC_%28TV%29?wprov=sfla1 because, at the time the station went on the air, only one VHF channel was available due to neighboring markets, and nobody wanted to go UHF at the time.

[@garryharris3777]

CBS was playing for the advertising dollar. There weren't many spectators in the stands in one game; the stadium was full in the other.

[@jcurnutte2007]

And KTBC is now a FOX affiliate

[@dgendvil]

I can also imagine that KGW in Portland might've not aired some Seahawks games, even at times when their team as bad.

[@irishpanic]

I started following sports in the mid 80s. Being an oilers fan was a very difficult job. I saw what bandwagon fans looked like from a young age. I noticed by the early 90s that a lot of my classmates started becoming fans of other teams (mostly cowboys). I got teased when I wore my oilers starter jacket to school the day after 35-3

[@classicrockbeagle]

That horrific play at 3:15 was by HOF TE Dave Casper

[@steelersfan1903]

@Official JaguarGator9 Thanks for the video! Do you happen to know any brawls that had more than 2 players disqualified during the 1983, 1984, 1985, or 1986 seasons?

[@aarondersnah863]

There was a Cardinals-Bears preseason game in 1986 where at least 4 players got ejected (Keith Van Horn of the Bears and 3 Cardinals). I was visiting family in Chicago and saw it on TV as it happened. I've seen a video of the fight on KZbin.

[@steelersfan1903]

@@aarondersnah863 Yeah I do remember that one, it was really good. Back when the Bears were legit in the NFL.

[@TexFan85]

Austin was a major hub for the Oilers because Earl Campbell play for the Longhorns in Austin.

[@jacksonpriestap3685]

Could you do a video about the 2005 Saints Giants game?

[@chrisguardiano6143]

Fun Fact: Oliver Luck would later become the GM of the Frankfurt Galaxy in NFL Europe in the early 90's & the commissioner of the revived XFL in 2020.

[@AdamJ617]

Luck deserved better with the XFL 2.0 than the fate it got as a result of the pandemic.

[@anonymousgoogle8462]

The people running the tv station weren't Texans. It happens in San Antonio all the time. If Cowboys or Texans having a bad season, then they will broadcast other nfl games

[@Jay_Cannon]

13:54 more like the ironic part is Texas didn’t get to see this game and they wanted to, Lions fans did get to see it and they wished they didn’t.

[@DolFan316]

I have just one question: where's Matthew Daley at???

[@arizonawrestlinginterviews1040]

I actually watched this entire game on KZbin and was rooting HARD for the Oilers

[@DolFan316]

Let me get this straight...you were watching a nearly 40-year old game rooting for a team you already knew was going to win? Or even more bizarre, you actually DIDN'T know the outcome before watching this??? 😲😲😲

[@arizonawrestlinginterviews1040]

@@DolFan316 Actually I did know the outcome, I just happened to be looking up the 1983 Houston Oilers because I have a weird fascination of teams after they have winning runs and are in rebuild mode. I like the see the good times for a fanbase dealing with a rough season. And I was heavily baked, that always works 🤣🤣🤣 Seriously though, it sickens me that Oilers fans had to tolerate Bud Adams for so long.

[@yoshifan331]

In addition to Austin being a little closer to Houston than Dallas, another thing to consider is that the Oilers' star player at this time was University of Texas at Austin legend Earl Campbell.

[@eugenedenbrook322]

Ah, yes, the Tyler Rose. At the very least, still a top 3 Longhorn, all-time.

[@mikerodgers7620]

Why the Detroit Lions logo?

[@floodsterssportszone3814]

Oliver Luck, the great father of Andrew 😅

[@DolFan316]

That Vikings loss to the Packers was part of a slide that saw them plummet from 6-2 to 7-8 that season before a meaningless win in the finale BTW.

[@richardadams4928]

Luck less "rotten" than usual....

[@seanmaury7844]

Wow. Takes forever to get to the point.

[@GarkKahn]

If they said that the team was so bad they didn't wanted to air a game they would surely lose wouldn't had caused so much trouble

[@troyc4250]

Lions fans deserve better.

[@mrmonty86]

Here's my reason, I doubt the Oilers would win another game.

[@colbyhansen8923]

KTBC is now fox 7

[@user-ps5ux2sp6w]

kurokawa kokujin akihito!

[@NuRm69]

Karate kick game

[@jovongarrison974]

Is this the game where Billy Sims drop kicked the guy in the chest?

[@leogetz3570]

Sounds like a communication breakdown behind the scenes at this station. or management in turmoil. Can't blame the station for wanting to show a better game, but they definitely dropped the ball in what they advertised. In 2011 when Peyton Manning didn't play at all because of his neck, the Colts absolutely sucked and started out 0-13. After about 7 games, I kept praying they wouldn't sell out at home so the game would be blacked out and we could watch another game here in Indy, but they kept selling out, so we were forced to watch Curtis Painter...lol. Which brings up another question. With the Oilers being so bad that year, did this game sell out in Houston, or was it blacked out there?

[@stevenbauer4799]

'i don't shine no shoes no more'. leo getz things done.

[@leogetz3570]

@@stevenbauer4799 lol

[@stevenbauer4799]

@@leogetz3570 yep. lol indeed.

[@giantsr1eva]

@@leogetz3570 The game was blacked out in Houston. It was mentioned at 13:15 in the video.

[@leogetz3570]

@@giantsr1eva okay... guess I missed that part somehow. Thanks!!

[@stevenbauer4799]

lions won the division that year with gary #kn danielson at qb lion hater. and that is the game where billy sims tried to karate leap an oiler defender and blew out his knee pretty much effectively ending his career. he tried to comeback from it the next season but that knee was shot.

[@pompeyallen2488]

No he didn't blow out his knee till the next season on the road against the Minnesota Vikings!!!

[@stevenbauer4799]

@@pompeyallen2488 you are correct. did the karate jump in oiler game. blew out knee on metrodome turf the next season. oh well another rb from the state of ok. that also wore no. 20 was on the way a few years later.

[@patrickracer43]

From the context, it sounds like CBS just decided that no one in the state of Texas needed to see the Oilers suck the life out of the Houston Astrodome