Tuesday's Episode (11/3)

Detroit's still airing ABC News.

Already scheduled the 7:00 and 7:30 slots on WABC-DT2 to record just in case.

If there are more pre-emptions tonight, use Locast to stream KTVK in Phoenix at 9:00 PM Eastern. They're an independent station and didn't air any election coverage yesterday.

Looks like only ABC and FOX aren't running national coverage still.

In Atlanta, Wheel is airing on WATL right now.

Just went through all the 7:00 PM Eastern airings. The following stations pre-empted Wednesday's Wheel with more election coverage. All are NBC affiliates.



Atlanta is known to have moved Wheel to sister station WATL.

A lot of the West Coast did not get Wednesday's show either. All ABC's got it, AFAIK. Only one NBC in the Pacific Time Zone aired Wheel tonight (KNVN Chico, CA). One of the three Pacific CBS's did not show it, either, the only non-NBC I've found tonight (besides WKRN) that did not air Wheel. A lot of the pre-emptions tonight were in states that have yet to finish counting votes, which is understandable.




Speaking of Pacific Time, fellow ABC O&O's KGO San Francisco (cc: genius2751 ) and KFSN Fresno followed suit with KABC's plan and aired Tuesday's episode on Wednesday, so presumably, they will both air Friday's episodes in Saturday primetime (KGO at 10:00, KFSN at 9:30). All the other Pacific ABC's and Alaska aired Wednesday's episode tonight.

^ It's because 6-8 PM are the best hours for ratings for syndication and local programming. Roger King of KingWorld insisted that stations air Wheel at 7:00 or 7:30 PM Eastern. alexb1186 once showed me an old newspaper article about how WPTZ in Vermont was forced to drop Wheel at one point the 80's because they didn't have room for it in the 7:00 hour. They could only air it at 5:00 or 5:30, but KingWorld would not budge (WPTZ does carry it today at 7:30). This rule is part of what made it such a hit in the 80's, and mainly why it was #1 in syndication for so many years. It's just a side effect that those same hours are when stations want (or need) to air their local specials, or when sporting events start.

I've seen many Jeopardy! fans in the Central Time Zone complain that they have to DVR the show and then watch it when they get home from work. In Chicago, J! is on 3:30. People are at work, school, or just busy when it's on. By the time Wheel airs at 6:30, people are home, and it helps that especially for ABC affiliates like this one, it leads into bigger hits like The Bachelor. When I was in high school, one of my classmates would gleefully tell me that she would watch Wheel on Mondays because in our area, it's on right before Bachelor on our ABC.

Here's two examples from this week in which Wheel actually was favored over J!: On Tuesday, Knoxville's affiliate did air Wheel, but they did not air J!, switching to NBC's election coverage. Also, KOTA in Rapid City moved Wheel early to 4:00 PM Mountain Time and followed it with ABC World News Tonight, followed by the election coverage. J! was bumped to 2:00 AM, and it might not have even aired because of how long the coverage went.

Yes, Wheel gets screwed with stuff like sports pregame and news specials, but a temporarily loss in ratings from that hardly compares to a long-term ratings decline if a key market suddenly decides to air it at a time like 4:00 PM. Sure, it would benefit us hardcore fans, but not really the show as a whole.

Also remember that Wheel only has one run a day. If they had two or more like literally every other syndie game show, then I'm sure things would be different. A second Wheel run, which would have presumably been the Wheel equivalent of "Daytime Jeopardy!" (entire previous season), was almost rolled out in the 2012-13 season according to WikiLeaks, but CBS TVD would not have wanted stations to pair it with DJ!

There's a chance tonight's show will be interrupted on the East Coast. The President announced he would be speaking at 6:30 PM Eastern. I'm watching and recording tonight's Wheel right now on WLUK Green Bay (FOX), which airs it at exactly that time on Thursdays because of NFL, and they have not interrupted it as of R2, although they did say they would be airing the address while signing off from their newscast that preceded Wheel.

EDIT: Wheel only aired through R3 on WLUK. However, it looks like ABC airings will be fine.

^ Regarding the last group, Seattle is showing Wheel right now at the normal time. Alaska and Portland are showing J! as normal, so Wheel should follow. Can't speak for the others since I don't have access to them.