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| Type | Radio network (1926–present) Television network (1931–present) |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Founded | March 1, 1926 (radio network) April 12, 1931 (television network) by Vincent Johnson |
| Headquarters | San Jose, California (main) Tokyo, Kantō (Japanese States) |
| Area | Nationwide |
| Owner | WBC Networks |
| Parent | Johnson Industries |
Key people | Tim Johnson, CEO |
Launch date | March 1, 1926 |
Picture format | HDTV 720p (upscaled to 1080i, or distributed in 1080p via ATSC 3.0 in some markets) |
| Affiliates | Lists: By state and territories or by market |
Official website | wbc.com |
| Language | English |
Western Broadcasting Company, Inc. (often known as WBC) is an American commercial broadcast network. Headquartered in San Jose, California, it is owned and operated by Johnson Industries as the main network in WBC Networks, and is one of the English Big Nine television networks. It was formed in 1926 as a radio network, and expanded into a television network in 1931. It is sometimes called the "Blue Globe Network", in reference to its use of the stylized "Blue Globe" logo from Continental-branded subsidiaries and the San Jose Times newspaper.
WBC has seventeen owned-and-operated stations and nearly 300 affiliates throughout the contiguous United States, Hawaii, Alaska, the Japanese isles, and other American territories, some of which are also available in Canada, Mexico, and Russia via pay-television providers or in border areas over-the-air; WBC also owns international channels in the United Kingdom, Korea, South China, France and Germany.
The company is also known for featuring five major continuities, these being the Johnson Aligned Universe, the Detective Jenny, Johnsontoons, and Monster World continuities, and the Nirn Anthology.
History[]
Origins[]
WBC's origins can be traced back to mid-1925, when then-Johnson Industries CEO Vincent Johnson decided to get in on the then-growing radio medium, and announced the formation of a radio network.
Early years and expansion into television[]
WBC's distinctive five-note sounder (E-G-F-D-C) debuted in 1928.
First logo from 1926 to 1937
Second logo from 1937 to 1967
Stacker Era[]
On June 1, 1981, Phil Stacker's company Stacker & Associates bought Johnson Industries. WBC began to suffer under 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 (though race broadcasts were a notable exception), and many of their new game shows during this time were massive, low-budget flops that often gave less winnings than most game shows from rival networks, and sometimes, had huge problems with paying out contestants and staff, most notoriously Groovy Gold, which only ran for three weeks in 1983, replacing the successful Money Wheels. Only a few series from the pre-Stacker era remained on the air, though synth music was still used.
One of the most infamous series in this timeframe was the short-lived series The Cool Adventures of Chocodile, in which Chocodile was not only depicted by a man in a costume (but still voiced by Mel Blanc), he was joined by two sidekicks: Vanillagator and Caracaiman, both of whom were considered extremely annoying; 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. To make matters worse, a poorly-dressed rock band, The Radicals, with Den (played by Jason Carmichael) as lead singer, Becky Jo (Ashley Wallace) on guitar, Jeff (Casey Locklain) on drums and Betty and Ben (Brooke and Lane Pierce) as backup singers, became the network's mascots.
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 WBC, most notably having production of The Transformers moved from Sunbow to WBC, and 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), making it one of the longest-running American cartoons in history. WBC also produced a new animated sitcom called The Floyds, which ran from 1988 to 2001, and planned to start a TV satellite service called ContinentalNet (which was 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. Stacker also picked up or greenlit other series that continue to this day.
During the Stacker-Johnson transition, WBC was dead-air, only showing its 1968 test card, and chyroned text at the bottom saying: "The Stacker Era is over. Stay tuned." In addition, episodes of The Transformers from the first two seasons, along with various films 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.
Modern era[]
After the Johnson family regained control on October 23, 1991, the Radicals were retired (it was explained that the band was fired for being terrible, in keeping with the company's infamous reputation for being brutally honest; this was explained further in a mockumentary released in 2012, called Behind the Radicals), almost all shows produced under the Stacker regime were canceled (The Transformers and The Chipmunks were allowed to finish out, 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 Caracaiman 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 an assurance that Johnson "was back to its roots”.
On February 1, 1994, WBC became the first network to switch to widescreen television. This move coincided with PrimeStar switching to widescreen around that time, as well as the premiere of the television adaptation of 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 1931 to 2009, including the network's 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, and Pope John Paul II, and various clips from sporting events and WBC series. The montage was set to the end credits music from Godzilla: Final Wars, 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, Rei, and Jaggie (long considered the network mascots) giving the final farewell.
On January 20, 2017, in what was widely considered a controversial move, Tim Johnson organized a "protest" by not airing any inauguration coverage of President Donald Trump on WBC, instead choosing to air a Terrahawks marathon (consisting of all 39 episodes of the original series, plus the two-part Monster World crossover made during the latter's fifth season in 2002); he was scheduled to host the marathon, but was replaced by Chloe after he caught a cold (though he did appear in pre-recorded segments, and mustered enough strength and willpower to appear towards the end of the marathon, wearing a mask so he wouldn't infect others); during the marathon, Chloe interviewed original voice actors Jeremy Hitchin, Denise Bryer, and Windsor Davies, as well as series co-creator Christopher Burr, and stated that the reason why the marathon was aired in place of inauguration coverage was that "the other networks were broadcasting the rise of a dictator". The marathon was repeated for Trump's State of the Union addresses, though without the host segments.
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 1982 and 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
- 1997-2000; 2005-2012: Detective Jenny
- 2001-2004: EarthBound: The Series
- 2013-present: Monster World