When did kooky local TV stations die?

We still have one, in the St. Louis Metropolitan Area. They operate on analogue. They play old reruns, and the odd creature feature.

We had a station that showed a weekly show called Chiller in the 60’s. It was a scary show that we kids loved on Saturday nights.

I miss those Saturday afternoon creature double features or the Saturday night Screams.
Many were laughable like Reptilicus
The good ones I will still watch like The Outer Limits or The Twilight Zone or Night Gallery

I however loved being scared to death by them as a kid and trying to even walk to my bedroom and try to go to sleep. after ones like Carnival of Souls

KDOC and KTLA are still kickin’ in L.A.

I miss all the reruns of The Munsters and Gidget. Oh, and the Family Film Festival.

Ooh, channel 20! I do miss those days, when the guy who played “Captain 20” morphed into the “Count” on weekend nights. Scary movie fun! I loved them and they terrified me at the same time. I remember jumping from one piece of furniture to another, making sure nothing could grab me from under the couch or bed. Good times.

We have never had as many stations as you guys in the US do. We do have local community television… some of that is of dubious quality.

I love, really love, community radio at times though. Like you are driving through some rural area and you get “George” the local DJ who is 99 in the shade doing his spot on community radio. Funny as!

I think that those types of local wacko channels largely died when the costs of broadcasting went up. In addition, as the value of stations and licenses went up, the family owned TV station concept – and yes, that’s how it was in the 50s and 60s – went away.

Throw in the rise of cable TV and the little guys just couldn’t compete.