Alliance, NE (July 7, 1989)

[TR1968]

from Alliance Times-Herald via Newspapers.com

2 ESPN
3 CNN
5 TNT
6 HBO
7 KMGH-CBS Denver
8 KTNE-PBS Alliance
9 KUSA-PBS Denver
10 USA Network
11 Disney Channel
12 KCNC-NBC Denver
14 Discovery Channel
16 Public Access
17 Cinemax
18 WTBS
19 CNN Headline News
20 CVN
21 TNN
22 MTV
23 KWGN Denver
24 CBN
25 Showtime
26 KSTF-CBS/NBC Scottsbluff
27 KDUH-ABC Scottsbluff
28 Lifetime
29 C-SPAN
30 QVC
31 (daytime) C-SPAN2
(night) AMC

 

[IM42A]

Got to wonder why they gave the Denver stations low channel numbers, while putting local stations way up on the dial. For one thing, you had to tune to channel 27 for ABC.

That whole part of western Nebraska is weird, in that they are served from North Platte and Cheyenne via satellite stations (as well as, at one time, Rapid City), as well as having historical carriage of Denver stations. It is as though you have several TV markets layered over top of one another.

 

[Mr Tony]

Got to wonder why they gave the Denver stations low channel numbers, while putting local stations way up on the dial. For one thing, you had to tune to channel 27 for ABC.

I assume it had to do with Alliance being (as it is now) in the Denver market. Looking at old guides from early 80s confirms that. The Cheyenne/Scottsbluff market has changed since the 80s but Box Butte county (where Alliance is located) is in the Denver market
Interesting ABC is not from Denver but Scottsbluff

That whole part of western Nebraska is weird, in that they are served from North Platte and Cheyenne via satellite stations (as well as, at one time, Rapid City), as well as having historical carriage of Denver stations. It is as though you have several TV markets layered over top of one another.

pretty much. Denver being scattered everywhere is the main reason that area is so wonky. It also doesn't help that back in the 80's and 90s North Platte was KNOP NBC and Nebraska PBS. Scottsbluff was KDUH (ABC) and KSTF (CBS)
Interesting in 1988 Scottsbluff/Cheyenne market had 6 counties and 3 years later it was down to 2 (the counties that Cheyenne and Scottsbluff were in)

Rapid City market was huge back in the early 80's but shrank as the decade went along probably due to Denver 5 being available on big dish. Thats probably why there are a couple counties in northern Wyoming (between the SD border and Sheridan) that are in the Denver market

 

[IM42A]

I assume it had to do with Alliance being (as it is now) in the Denver market. Looking at old guides from early 80s confirms that. The Cheyenne/Scottsbluff market has changed since the 80s but Box Butte county (where Alliance is located) is in the Denver market
Interesting ABC is not from Denver but Scottsbluff


pretty much. Denver being scattered everywhere is the main reason that area is so wonky. It also doesn't help that back in the 80's and 90s North Platte was KNOP NBC and Nebraska PBS. Scottsbluff was KDUH (ABC) and KSTF (CBS)
Interesting in 1988 Scottsbluff/Cheyenne market had 6 counties and 3 years later it was down to 2 (the counties that Cheyenne and Scottsbluff were in)

Rapid City market was huge back in the early 80's but shrank as the decade went along probably due to Denver 5 being available on big dish. Thats probably why there are a couple counties in northern Wyoming (between the SD border and Sheridan) that are in the Denver market

It's a hodgepodge, that's for sure, always has been. I didn't realize Box Butte county was in the Denver market. I had also forgotten that KTVS-3 Sterling was once a satellite of KYCU/KGWN.

I have a vague memory of an old TV Guide map (circa 1976) that showed the area around the Rapid City market as having no local edition of TVG, it was cross-hatched or something. Later on they came out with the curiously named "Northern Colorado Edition" (I guess because "South Dakota-Wyoming-Nebraska Edition" would have been too much) that was basically the TVG for the Cheyenne/Scottsbluff, Casper, and Rapid City markets.

Here's a lineup, taken from Jim Ellwanger's excellent site (fun fact, I created the TVG channel slug conventions used in the days when everything had to be represented via text, [xx] slugs represented white numbers on black background, "xx" slugs represented black numbers on white background, [=xx=] was for those funky little notched slugs for distant stations available via cable, and so on --- my channel slug conventions became "industry-standard" among the small army of TVG collectors).

Northern Colorado Edition​ August 11-17, 1990​ Broadcast Stations [2] KWGN (Ind.) Denver [4] KCNC (NBC) Denver [6] KRMA (PBS) Denver [7] KMGH (CBS) Denver [9] KUSA (ABC) Denver [20] KTVD (Ind.) Denver [31] KDVR (Fox) Denver [12] KBDI (PBS) Broomfield/Denver [3] KTVS (CBS/ABC/Fox) Sterling "2" KTWO (NBC) Casper, WY "14" KGWC (CBS/Fox) Casper, WY "20" KFNB (ABC) Casper, WY [5] KGWN (CBS/ABC/Fox) Cheyenne [33] KKTU (NBC) Cheyenne "12" KSGW (ABC) Sheridan/Gillette [13] KTNE (PBS) Alliance, NE "4" KDUH (ABC) Scottsbluff [10] KSTF (CBS/Fox) Scottsbluff "3" KOTA (ABC) Rapid City, SD "7" KEVN (NBC) Rapid City, SD "9" KBHE (PBS) Rapid City, SD "15" KCLO (CBS) Rapid City, SD Satellites and their originating stations: For programs on 11 Lead S.D., see "3"; on Lead-Deadwood, S.D., see "7"; on 13 Faith-Eagle Butte, S.D., see "9".

 

[Mr Tony]

So between 1984 and 1985 is when Alliance (Box Butte County) switched from Rapid City to Denver markets
1986 is when more counties in Nebraska moved from Rapid City to Denver

 

[ZantennaG1]

@Mr Tony @IM42A
Thank you both for your insights on this. (Nebraska-born Wyomingite here) It really surprises me how much influence Denver and Rapid City has over the whole area. This has been an interesting thread, so I might lurk for awhile.

 

[IM42A]

So between 1984 and 1985 is when Alliance (Box Butte County) switched from Rapid City to Denver markets
1986 is when more counties in Nebraska moved from Rapid City to Denver

TV markets do not always fit into neat, precise divisions, and there is a lot of blurriness around the fringes, something that is suppressed by satellite providers who do the "one market and one market only" thing, but satellite is not the only way people get TV stations. DMAs are only based upon a preponderance of viewing.

In the end, people watch programs, not stations or networks, and if it is a question of OTA, it becomes a case of "what stations can I actually get?". I once asked someone at a community radio station in Pocahontas County, West Virginia, what stations they got, and they said "depends on what side of the mountain you're on", viewers on the north side got Clarksburg, viewers on the south side got Roanoke. In Newberry, South Carolina, they get both Columbia and GSA stations on cable, and even though technically it's in the Columbia market, as a practical matter it's "neither fish nor fowl". Such situations are duplicated throughout the US.