It’s the premiere episode of a special seven-part Pop Culture Affidavit miniseries, IT CAME FROM SYNDICATION! Starting with THIS VERY EPISODE, I will be taking a look at syndicated television from the 1980s and the early 1990s, covering a variety of genres and shows. For our first time around, I start off by talking about the history of syndication in the United States and then move on to my personal history with syndication as a kid on Long Island. Then, I go into the first type of programming that I’m covering: movies. From Siskel & Ebert’s weekly review show to WPIX’s Godzillathon, I discuss why coming across movies in syndication was so important to me as a kid.
Pop Culture Affidavit podcast page
After the cut is some fun stuff that was featured in the episode …
Dinosaur Dracula’s WPIX blog post:
“The Ultimate Tribute to WPIX”
Station identifications for WNYW, WWOR, WPIX, and WLIG:
Part of the “At the Mall With Drew Scott” show:
The Magic Mirror segment from an episode of Romper Room:
WOR’s “Catch the Rising Stars” promo for the 1985 Mets:
The Yule Log:
The opening for Siskel & Ebert: The Movies:
Siskel & Ebert review Predator:
The opening/intro to the WPIX 8:00 movie:
Censored/Edited for television Robocop clips:
The Godzillathon promo:
Pop Culture Affidavit 
Tom-
Very much enjoyed this side project! Growing up in 1970s Philly I had Channel 48, which had an unbeatable line-up of cartoons/re-runs for a kid who wanted to stay indoors and draw: Lost in Space, The Monkees, Batman, Star Trek, Speed Racer, Super Friends, various Sid and Marty Kroft stuff, even Ultra Man! I don’t think I ever changed the channel in those days.
Then when we moved to NJ, we still got the channel, and there’s where I first saw Abbott and Costello, the Universal horror movies, even some Hammer stuff. To that day, I can’t hear the word “Blondie” without following it in my mind with “starring Penny Singleton and Arthur Lake.” I think there were like forty of those movies.
Then, a few years later, Channel 48 went off the air. Even as a teen that sort of baffled me, the idea of a channel going “off the air.” How does that even work? I still remember watching it until the very end, which had the station manager sitting on a stool, thanking everyone for watching, and then a fade to black. Still sorta makes me sad.
Looking forward to the rest of this series!
rob!