TRIVIAL PURSUITS: The Heidi Bowl
November 17, 2009 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - On this day in 1968, with the New York Jets ahead of the Oakland Raiders 32-29 and just 1:05 left in the game, NBC cut away so that it could start its TV special “Heidi” on schedule.
Bad move. The Raiders wound up beating the Jets 43-32 – and so many angry viewers phoned to complain that the network issued a public apology.
Trivial Pursuits
While the “Heidi” decision by NBC executives has become the stuff of “legend”, it isn’t as though they didn’t try to make the call to stay with the game. So, why didn’t they?
Answer
While NBC had contractual obligations with advertisers to run “Heidi” starting at 7 p.m. ET, they reportedly had decided to air the Jets/Raiders game through to the end, delaying “Heidi”, if necessary.
However, because so many football viewers were calling the network requesting that they NOT cut away from the game (and presumably at least a few asking if Heidi would air on-schedule) the NBC executives could not get through to communicate their decision.