WBC (Johnsonverse)

Western Broadcasting Company, better known as WBC, and known as Johnson TV (JTV) from 1982 to 1991, is a major television network established in 1968. It is part of the "Big Five” alongside NBC, CBS, ABC, and Fox.

History
WBC's origins can be traced back to mid-1967, when then-Johnson Industries CEO Sheldon Johnson decided he wanted to try his luck at a TV network after seeing how successful NBC, ABC, and CBS were, and bought a few small TV stations in southern California, including a former DuMont Network affiliate, KCCC, which was renamed KSC-40 in 1974. Originally named the Johnson Broadcasting Network (JBN), airing under that name in a few test markets in December 1967, the network was renamed Western Broadcasting Company (WBC), to bring it in line with NBC and ABC, on April 12, 1968. The logo used the "Blue Globe" logo of the Continental brand. The concept of a fourth network was initially ridiculed by critics and execs of the "Big Three", saying that a fourth network would fail.

On October 11, 1968, the network was launched nationally as a viable fourth network alongside ABC, NBC, and CBS. Johnson Radio personality Don George anchored the network's news broadcasts from its inception until his death in 1995, at which point Tom Stephenson, the "Roving Reporter", took over and remains in the post to this day. WBC's first broadcast was of the launch of Apollo 7. Throughout the Apollo program, WBC provided its own brand of coverage, using scale models to illustrate the missions. The network’s original announcer was John Harlan, who retired in 1992 and was replaced by Joe Leahy, who holds the position to this day.

On June 1, 1981, Phil Stacker's company Stacker and Associates bought Johnson Industries. WBC began to suffer under Phil Stacker's regime. Many beloved shows were canceled because Stacker thought they were "old-school" and "not hip or cool". He replaced them with shows that were criticized for gaudy graphics, cheap production values, synth music by Johnson's new synth music department rather than the Johnson Philharmonic Orchestra (though in hindsight, much of the synth music was positively received), poor writing, cringe-inducing 80s slang, and bad acting. Their sports broadcasts were also mocked for having graphics that tended to glitch and broadcasters being biased in favor of certain players or teams. Only Luck o' the Truth, a game show from the network's inception in 1968 hosted by Jimmie Dale Armstrong, Tales from the Rails, another TV series from the network's inception in 1968 about an engineer, named Francis McCue, played by Dick Van Dyke, and a fireman, named Edgar J. Cullen, played by Thurl Ravenscroft, and their locomotive, Baldwin 2-8-0 #1471 (which is an actual Continental Rail locomotive that is still in service), and Elk Cabin, again from 1968, designed to capitalize on the success of Green Acres and Petticoat Junction, about the Stevens family living in the titular cabin, remained on the air, but, for the latter two, also with synth music.

One of the most infamous series in this timeframe was The Cool Adventures of Chocodile, running from September 29, 1984 to April 25, 1987, in which Chocodile was not only depicted by a man in a suit with an animatronic head (but still voiced by Mel Blanc), he was joined by two sidekicks: Vanillagator (voiced by Don Messick) and Caracaimin (voiced by Tony Pope), both of whom were condo extremely annoying, with at least one critic stating that “Scrappy-Doo was a better character”; conversely, Chocodile was the best-received part of the series, as he was used by the writers as an avatar to make their displeasure with the state of the company as a whole known (it is rumored that a recurring antagonist, Sourfox, is based on Stacker himself). To make matters worse, a badly-dressed rock band, The Radicals (the idea of Stacker's wife Helga Stacker), with Den (played by Phil Stacker himself) as lead singer, Becky Jo on guitar, Jeff on drums and Betty and Ben as backup singers, became the network's mascots, and the network itself was renamed Johnson TV (JTV) on December 31, 1982, as Stacker didn't want to be associated with "the other WBC" (the Westboro Baptist Church), and because he wanted to build a brand new, "younger and hipper" identity.

On January 16, 1987, during a progress report meeting, Phil Stacker was informed of the decline of the company. Rather than brushing off these concerns, Phil was reported to have buried his face in his hands, muttering various obscenities and saying "oh god" over and over again. He soon began seeking ways to reverse the trend, and began restructuring JTV, and most notably, had production of The Transformers moved from Sunbow to JTV, along with moving production of The Chipmunks from DiC to JTV in 1990, and, for the former, began making a full fourth season, as well as eight more seasons from 1988-1989, and then 1993-1999 (1990-1992 were marked by three primetime specials: Zone, The Decepticons Strike Back, and Operation Combination; seasons seven through nine carried the subtitle Generation 2, while the remaining seasons carried the subtitle Machine Wars, the series remains one of the longest-running American cartoons in history), and for the latter, a full ninth season was created, with the series continuing to 1995, being revived in 2015. JTV also planned to start a TV satellite service called ContinentalNet (scrapped with Johnson's 1992 PrimeStar buyout). ContinentalNet later became the name of Johnson's satellite service in Europe starting in 1995, and in Australia since 2004, though the latter was rebranded as PrimeStar Australia in 2008.

During the Stacker-Johnson transition, JTV was dead-air, only showing the test card from 1968 to 1982, and added text at the bottom saying:

"The Stacker Era is over. Stay tuned."

In addition, episodes of The Transformers from the first two seasons, and episodes of The Chipmunks from the first season, along with various movies from the Johnson Studios library, were shown throughout the day, the test card being used where commercials would normally be. As this was the era before the "Emergency Tapes", and the dead-air situation was short-notice, the Transformers episodes used the pre-broadcast masters later made infamous by the Kid Rhino home video releases between 1999-2004.

JTV was rebranded back to WBC on December 31, with a new logo designed by Tammy Jo Johnson, the Radicals were removed from WBC (it was explained that the band was fired for being terrible, in keeping with the company's infamous reputation for being brutally honest; a mockumentary released in 2012, called Behind the Radicals, showed that after their firing, The Radicals tried and failed several times to reinvent themselves with jazz, heavy metal, and punk rock, among others, eventually breaking up after a botched performance at Nazareth Speedway in 1996 with the band messing up an R&B song due to being nervous, getting a molotov cocktail thrown on stage by a gang of violent hecklers as a result, killing Jeff, with the surviving members being remembered solely for their involvement with the Stacker Era, moving to Italy and living the rest of their lives in a life of crime, legally changing their names; they eventually followed through on a suicide pact on October 3, 2011, the fifteenth anniversary of their botched Nazareth performance, and were found dead of gunshot wounds to the mouth in Den's home the next day), almost all shows produced under the Stacker regime were canceled (The Transformers was allowed to finish out, and The Chipmunks was allowed to continue, and both franchises have remained a part of Johnson up until the present day), and all synth music was excised from network bumpers. In fact, in a live event shortly after the network had signed on for the day, Chocodile brutally and unceremoniously killed Vanillagator and Caracaimin by shooting them offscreen in a P-51 Mustang privately owned by Don George (it was no secret that Chocodile utterly hated them, as he was always leading them into deadly situations that they got out of thanks to sheer luck and/or stupidity, and the Johnson family regaining control, according to him, compelled him to finally get rid of them), much to the relief of longtime viewers, with critics stating that it was assurance that Johnson "was back to its roots”.

On February 1, 1994, WBC became the first network to switch to HD television. This move coincided with PrimeStar switching to widescreen around that time, as well as the premiere of WBC's first major original show since 1980, Detective Jenny.

All WBC stations transitioned to digital on June 12, 2009 at midnight, depending on the timezone. Before the final sign-off, all stations aired "High Flight", then a montage of memorable WBC moments from 1968 to 2009, including the network's very first telecast of the launch of Apollo 7, coverage of major events such as the landing of Apollo 11, the Yom Kippur War, the Fall of Saigon, the Iranian Hostage Crisis, Desert Storm, 9/11, the deaths of Elvis Presley, John Lennon, Pope John Paul II, and Ronald Reagan, shows such as NFL on WBC, Tales from the Rails, Elk Cabin, The Hatfields, Link's World, Star Pirates, Detective Jenny, EarthBound: The Series, Monster World, The Casino of Luck, Card Sharks, Luck o' the Truth, and The Wayne Knight Show. The montage was set to "Great Moments" by Gregor F. Narholz, and ended with the station's own network ID (varied between stations, and in all cases was the original ID they had either when they first began broadcasting, or became a WBC affiliate), with Chocodile, Jenny, and Rei (long considered the network mascots) giving the final farewell.

WBC experienced a major embarrassment on June 4, 2018, when a contestant on Press Your Luck repeated Michael Larson's infamous two-episode run and won $525,255 across four games. The contestant kept the winnings, but Chloe Johnson chewed out the production staff for making the spin patterns too predictable, which was the exact same reason Larson was able to rack up over $110,000.

New Year's Blocks
On New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, WBC has a 48-hour marathon of certain shows. The tradition started in 1968, and continues to this day. Commercial bumpers are accompanied by a short piano rendition of "Auld Lang Syne", except between 1981-1990, when they were accompanied by a rock rendition of "Auld Lang Syne" played by The Radicals.


 * 1968-1977: Thunderbirds
 * 1978-1980: Tales from the Rails
 * 1981-1986: The Three Stooges
 * 1987-1996: The Transformers
 * 1997-2001: Detective Jenny
 * 2002-2004: EarthBound
 * 2005-2012: Detective Jenny
 * 2013-present: Monster World

News

 * WBC World News with Tom Stephenson (1995-present)
 * WBC Local News (1968-present; name varies between affiliates)
 * The WBC Files (1992-present)
 * Hello World (1973-present)

Sports

 * MLB on WBC (MLB on JTV during the Stacker years; 1968-present)
 * Formula E on WBC (2016-present)
 * NBA on WBC (NBA on JTV during the Stacker years; 1974-present)
 * NASCAR on WBC (1969; 2014-present)
 * NFL on WBC (NFL on JTV during the Stacker years; 1971-present)
 * IndyCar on WBC (1993-1999; 2019-present)
 * IndyCar on WBC (1993-1999; 2019-present)

Animated Ser ies

 * Chocodile's Nonsensical Adventures (2016-present)
 * Transformers: The Great War (2013-present; co-production with Hasbro Studios and Toei Animation)
 * The Chipmunks (1990-1995, 2015-present; produced by Bagdasarian Productions and Ruby-Spears 1983-1987, Murakami-Wolf-Swenson 1988 and DiC Entertainment 1988-1990, rescued from NBC)
 * Duckman (2018-present; continuation)
 * Richie Rich (1993-present)
 * NASCAR Racers (1999-2004; 2016-present)
 * Sonic the Hedgehog (1995-2004, 2010-present; rescued from ABC)
 * The Bugs Bunny-Road Runner Show (1992-present)

Hybrid Series (uses both animation, miniature effects, and/or live-action)

 * Monster World (1998-2004; 2015-present)
 * Detective Jenny (1994-2001; 2017-present)
 * Vocaloid (2012-present)
 * WBC's Sgt. Frog (2013-present)
 * The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (2013-present)
 * Lucky Star (2013-present)
 * CLANNAD (2016-present)
 * Nichijou (2015-present)
 * K-On! (2016-present)
 * Squid Girl (2018-present)
 * EarthBound: The Series (2018-present)
 * The Legend of Zelda (2013-present)
 * Mega Man (2013-2017, 2018-present)
 * Moesia (2015-present)
 * Hyperdimension Neptunia: The Space War (2017-present; reruns)
 * Pokemon (2006-present; Johnson version)
 * Star Wars: Alternity (2006-present)
 * Sodor High School: Thomas & Friends Tales (2011-present)
 * Thomas the Tank Engine (2011-present)
 * The Railway Series (2011-present)

Live-Action

 * The Last Man on Earth (2018-present; rescued from Fox)
 * Star Pirates (1990-present)
 * War Kingdoms (2007-present)
 * Project Apollo (2014-present)
 * The Reapers (1969-1981; 2012-present)
 * The Illuminati (1972-1981; 2002-present)
 * Law & Order (2010-present; rescued from NBC)
 * Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2007-present; moved from NBC)
 * About a Boy (2015-present; rescued from NBC)
 * Bunheads (2014-present; rescued from ABC)
 * Smash (2014-present; rescued from NBC)
 * Firefly (2016-present; reboot with same production staff)
 * The Apprentice (2015-present; moved from NBC)
 * Elk Cabin (1968-present)
 * The Hatfields (1972-1981; 1992-present)
 * Tales from the Rails (1968-2005; 2011-present)
 * America's Funniest Home Videos (2013-present; moved from ABC)
 * The Muppet Show (2015-present)
 * Blood Judgment: The Series (2002-present)
 * The Wonderful World of Disney (1991-present; rescued from NBC)

Game Shows

 * Luck o' the Truth (1968-present)
 * The Casino of Luck (1998-present)
 * Money Wheels (1980-1983, 1995-present)
 * The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour (2005-present)
 * The $1,000,000 Pyramid (2009-present)
 * Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? (2007-present)
 * Wheel of Fortune (1991-present; rescued from NBC)
 * Jeopardy! (1991-present)
 * Monopoly (1991-present, runs during summer)
 * Card Sharks (2002-present)
 * Family Feud (1992-present)
 * Celebrity Family Feud (1993-present; runs during summer)
 * Supermarket Sweep (2005-present)
 * Press Your Luck (2005-present)
 * Let's Make a Deal (2009-present)
 * Now You See It (1999-present; runs during summer)
 * Sale of the Century (1997-present; runs during summer)
 * Tic-Tac-Dough (2001-present; runs during summer)
 * The Joker's Wild (2001-present; runs during summer)
 * To Tell the Truth (1991-present; runs during summer, rescued from NBC)
 * Catch 21 (2011-present; moved from Game Show Network, runs during summer)
 * Grand Theft Auto (2005-present)

Talk Shows

 * The Wayne Knight Show (2005-present)
 * The Steve Harvey Breakfast Hour (2008-present)
 * The Late Shift with Neil Patrick Harris (2008-present)
 * Fireside Chat with Tim Johnson (2011-present)

Documentary Series

 * War Scenarios (1992-present)
 * Kaiju (2001-2004; 2016-present)

Overnight Programming

 * WBC Yule Log (1968-present; only shown on Christmas Eve)
 * Graveyard Shift (2010-present; features preschool shows in the Johnson library that have been redubbed and reanimated to be much more violent, raunchy, and realistic)

Former Programs
This list is incomplete.

News

 * JTV NewsTime (1981-1991; was WBC NewsTime during 1981-1982)
 * WBC World News with Don George (1968-1995; was JTV World News with Don George 1982-1991)

Sports

 * Formula 1 on WBC (2002-2004)

Animated Series

 * The Transformers (1987-1999; produced by Sunbow and aired in syndication 1984-1986)
 * Machines of War (1994-1996)

Hybrid Series

 * Azumanga Daioh (2013-2017; subtitled)
 * Tengen Toppa Gurren Laggan (2013-2014)
 * Star Fox: The Next Generation (2016-2018)

Live-Action

 * EarthBound: The Series (1997-2015)
 * The Cool Adventures of Chocodile (1984-1987)
 * Tommy Wiseau’s The Neighbors (2008-2017)
 * The Radicals (1982-1984)

Game Shows

 * Match Game (1993-2005; combined with Hollywood Squares to revive The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour)

California

 * KSJ San Jose (channel 8, parent affiliate)
 * KLA Los Angeles (channel 5)
 * KAZ Azuza (channel 9)
 * KSM Santa Monica (channel 6)
 * KSC Sacramento (channel 40)
 * KSD San Diego (channel 3)

Bumpers
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