From the 1960s to the 1990s, preemptions on the station were more common (examples include those involving NBC's daytime game show and soap opera lineup; "Sanford and Son" airing on Saturday nights instead of Fridays during the 1973-74 season, in which the sitcom's normal time slot was occupied by the second half-hour of "The Lawrence Welk Show"; and its removal of "Gimme a Break!" and "Mama's Family" from the schedule in favor of the syndicated drama "Fame" on Thursday nights during the 1983–84 season). Until 1974, WTMJ-TV aired a movie on nights when "The Midnight Special" wasn't airing; this preempted "The Tomorrow Show". Although NBC had long been less tolerant of preemptions of its programming than the other networks, it usually did not raise objections to those made by WTMJ, since it has been one of the network's strongest affiliates. NBC was also helped by then-independent station WVTV often picking up NBC programs declined by channel 4 for their own schedule, with WCGV also doing so when that station signed on in March 1980.