On this day 29 years ago, the long-awaited “fourth network” began competing with the three-decades TV monopoly of ABC, CBS and NBC.
Fox Broadcasting launched “The Late Show” hosted by comic Joan Rivers on Oct. 9, 1986.
Prime-time programming would not begin until the following April with a Sunday night lineup featuring “Married… with Children,” “The Tracey Ullman Show,” “21 Jump Street,” “Duet” and “Mr. President.”
I’ll be honest, I didn’t realize the significance when WXIX-TV program director Patrice Mohn told me in summer of 1986 that Channel 19 had picked up Rivers’ show for fall.