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Classic TV Guide Editions: Most and Fewest Stations Listed?

S

Stanislav

I wonder, prior to cable channels being added to the listings, which TV Guide edition at what point in history had the most stations listed, and which the fewest?

I know from childhood memories of Vermont summers that the old Montreal-St.Lawrence edition was a beast, and listed at least 20 or 25 channels -- I'm sure there might be a few that listed more. I also have seen a few TVG editions from way back in the day (primarily from out west) that listed just 3 or 4 stations. Did any ever list fewer, or were editions simply not available for areas with only 1 or 2 receivable stations? Any nominations from you TVG buffs?
 
...the earliest issues of the Wisconsin edition in ?March 1954 had only four stations listed -- three in Milwaukee (WTMJ-TV/4, WOKY-TV/19 and WCAN-TV/24) and one in Green Bay (WBAY-TV/2). There were no stations in Madison, Wausau, or La Crosse at the time, and WEAU-TV/13 Eau Claire wasn't listed for several years...
 
The old Washington-Baltimore edition of TV Guide I have been told ranked as one with the most channels listed.

Besides the main Baltimore and Washington channels, the edition also listed all of the Maryland Eastern Shore channels plus Hagerstown and even Lancaster, PA though I never quite understood what was the purpose of having WGAL listed.

Over the years some channels were dropped. Fredericksburg's NBC affiliate WHFV had their listings there as well as the Shenandoah Valley's FOX affiliate, Martinsburg's WYVN but when those channels went dark, of course their listings went away too. When WYVN came back on the air after a time of being dark and without FOX, for some reason TV Guide didn't carry their listings. From about 1964 until the mid 70's York, PA's then WSBA channel 43 was listed too.

The 2 Northern Virginia PBS stations, WNVT and WNVC, TV Guide carried their listings too then out of the blue they were dropped.

There was talk at one point about adding Richmond's listings to that edition since many cable companies in central and even parts of Northern Virginia at the time got one or two Richmond channels, but that never happened.
 
My nominations for the most would probably be the Washington-Baltimore edition from the 70s to the 90s, and maybe the Northern Colorado Edition. All had considerable amounts of stations listed,

Fewest?

Well, there was that Greater Omaha edition which emerged for a brief time. Only had seven stations listed, the fewest I've ever seen.

Ultimajock said:
...the earliest issues of the Wisconsin edition in ?March 1954 had only four stations listed -- three in Milwaukee (WTMJ-TV/4, WOKY-TV/19 and WCAN-TV/24) and one in Green Bay (WBAY-TV/2). There were no stations in Madison, Wausau, or La Crosse at the time, and WEAU-TV/13 Eau Claire wasn't listed for several years...
Click to expand...

Actually I found WEAU is listed in the 4/23/55 "Northwest" edition featuring the Twin Cities and other Minnesota stations.
 
bk77 said:
though I never quite understood what was the purpose of having WGAL listed.
Click to expand...

Interestingly on the flip side the Southeast Pennsylvania edition carried all of Baltimore and WTTG from DC.
 
Some TV Guide editions I know of with the fewest channels (OTA only) listed:

--Omaha Edition (IIRC consisted only of the Omaha channels, which were also listed in the Nebraska edition along with Lincoln, Sioux City, etc.)

--St. Louis Edition (circa 1990): St. Louis: 2-KTVI; 4-KMOV; 5-KSDK; 9-KETC; 11-KPLR; 30-KDNL. Mt. Vernon, IL: 13-WPXS (formerly WCEE). And that was it, despite much of the DMA also being served by stations out of Quincy/Hannibal, Springfield, IL/Decatur, Cape Girardeau, etc., which if they were included could have made it more of a regional edition (I think the St. Louis edition may have even been sold in Hannibal, MO--but no Quincy stations KHQA-7 and WGEM-10 listed in it ironically if that was the case). I don't remember if KNLC-24 was listed, while the current 46-WRBU (licensed to East St. Louis) was not listed back when it was a Home Shopping Network affiliate.
 
Tucson edition, 1966: four stations, the ABC/CBS/NBC affils
plus one non-comm edu.

A fifth station (indie) was added when it came on in 1967.

Tucson and Phoenix had been the same edition but earlier
in the 60s they were split apart.

For years after the split the :20 film TV Guide trade-out
spots had a booth tag over the music trail-out at the end:
"Tucson listings only." And that wasn't enough--the tag
also called for a B&W TV Guide logo slide over the end of
the color film! I'm guessing the films may have been
B&W earlier on and the client/agency/station sales rep.
(pick one or more of the above) never thought about
getting the slide updated to color.

Then there was the practice of multiplexing on the air from
film to slide. The GE vertical mirror was bad enough, but
the RCA mirror flop... ::)
 
Ultimajock said:
...the earliest issues of the Wisconsin edition in ?March 1954 had only four stations listed -- three in Milwaukee (WTMJ-TV/4, WOKY-TV/19 and WCAN-TV/24) and one in Green Bay (WBAY-TV/2). There were no stations in Madison, Wausau, or La Crosse at the time, and WEAU-TV/13 Eau Claire wasn't listed for several years...
Click to expand...

There were indeed no TV stations in Wausau or La Crosse until later in 1954, but two stations signed on in Madison in late June and early July of 1953. Not sure why they wouldn't be listed in TV Guide.
 
I think the most listings I've seen in a TV Guide was the Saskatewan-Alberta edition. I wish I knew where I put that old TV Guide. It had six or seven different channel 2's. One black, one white, one with lines across, one with a white box with black borders, then one with a K (maybe for Kamloops?) next to it and one with another letter next to it. In addition to those two Canadian provinces, it also carried listings for several Montana and maybe Spokane stations (another Channel 2 in Spokane), but maybe Salt Lake City too? (Another Channel 2 there.)

But the actual listings didn't get too complicated because nearly all the Canadian stations were either CBC or CTV affiliates, most of the day carrying the network, with a couple of Radio-Canada (French) channels, always carrying the network. And the U.S. channels were all either ABC, NBC, CBS with one or two PBS stations. I think four of the Channel 2's were CBC stations.

Interestingly, I think there were almost no UHF stations listed. I suppose at that time, in the 70s, that part of Canada didn't need any UHF stations because all the cities listed were so far apart... which was why there were so many Channel 2's. Each city only needed maybe two or three VHF outlets. I'm sure this edition covered more territory than any U.S. TV Guide, considering Alaska I don't believe ever got an edition.

I think to save money, TV Guide did have quite a few editions that only listed ONE market, if the city was big enough. So I think there was a Minneapolis-St. Paul edition, with only that market's five stations, even though most of those stations were also listed in the Minnesota edition, which also included Duluth and a few other cities in Minnesota and nearby Wisconsin that had only one station. I suppose more Minnesotans got the Minneapolis version because they lived within 30 or so miles of the city, and TV Guide could save paper that way.

I know there were also editions for ONLY St. Louis and Chicago. There was one for only Cleveland and one station in nearby Akron when Akron had its own ABC outlet. I'm sure nearly all those cities' VHF stations got included in larger TV Guide editions that surrounded those cities. But again, TV Guide likely saved paper by making sure the subscribers who lived within 25 - 30 miles of those cities got the smaller version.



Gregg
[email protected]
 
Interestingly on the flip side the Southeast Pennsylvania edition carried all of Baltimore and WTTG from DC.
Click to expand...

The odd thing is, that for the SE PA edition - 2, 11, and 13 were carried, but it wasn't until 1985 or 1986 that 45 was added to the edition.

The Montana edition of the TVG is the one I've seen the most broadcast stations in. South Georgia also comes close.

Oh how I miss TVG.....
 
w9wi said:
Ultimajock said:
...the earliest issues of the Wisconsin edition in ?March 1954 had only four stations listed -- three in Milwaukee (WTMJ-TV/4, WOKY-TV/19 and WCAN-TV/24) and one in Green Bay (WBAY-TV/2). There were no stations in Madison, Wausau, or La Crosse at the time, and WEAU-TV/13 Eau Claire wasn't listed for several years...
Click to expand...

There were indeed no TV stations in Wausau or La Crosse until later in 1954, but two stations signed on in Madison in late June and early July of 1953. Not sure why they wouldn't be listed in TV Guide.
Click to expand...

...WHA-TV/21, WKOW-TV/27 and WMTV/33 were all eventually listed by the autumn of 1954, as was WMBV/11 Marinette (now WLUK/11 Green Bay). However, neither WNAM-TV/42 Neenah [ABC/DuMont] (now WFRV/5 Green Bay) or WOSH-TV/48 Oshkosh [NBC] (whose physical assets were used to build WMBV later that year) were ever listed, even though both were up and operating by the time the Wisconsin Edition started publishing...
 
Gregg said:
old TV Guide. It had six or seven different channel 2's. One black, one white, one with lines across, one with a white box with black borders, then one with a K (maybe for Kamloops?) next to it and one with another letter next
Click to expand...

There is no channel 2 in Kamloops - maybe Kelowna? Seems a long way from anywhere in Alberta, but I don't see any more reasonable possibility. Unless they meant K as in KREM as in Spokane?

Interestingly, I think there were almost no UHF stations listed. I suppose at that time, in the 70s, that part of Canada didn't need any UHF stations because all the cities listed were so far apart... which was why there were so many Channel 2's. Each city only needed maybe two or three VHF outlets. I'm sure this edition covered more
Click to expand...

There are *still* no originating UHF stations in Saskatchewan. There's *one* CBC relayer on channel 45, nine of the French network, two CTV relays, and seven 10-watt wireless-cable transmitters. All of them low-power.
 
I'm surprised no one mentioned the South Georgia edition -- this edition was the home edition for the Tallahassee, Albany, Columbus and Macon markets, plus listings for Jacksonville (WJXT, WTLV, WJKS/WJWB, plus WPXC in Brunswick), Panama City (WJHG, WMBB), Dothan (WTVY, WDHN), Savannah (WSAV, WTOC, WJCL) and Atlanta (WSB, WAGA, WXIA, WTBS, WGCL). The edition also had a "GPB" bullet for Georgia Public Broadcasting stations, which encompassed six stations in the South Georgia region; it also mentioned a channel 17 in Tallahassee (W17AB, which was a religious station when the edition folded).

In 2002, the edition carried listings for 34 stations (39 if the GPB stations were counted separately). This edition had two "3"s (WRBL, WSAV), two "4"s (WTVY, WJXT), three "11"s (WFSU, WTOC, WXIA) and two "17"s (WTBS, WJWB).
 
Stanislav said:
I wonder, prior to cable channels being added to the listings, which TV Guide edition at what point in history had the most stations listed, and which the fewest?

I know from childhood memories of Vermont summers that the old Montreal-St.Lawrence edition was a beast, and listed at least 20 or 25 channels -- I'm sure there might be a few that listed more. I also have seen a few TVG editions from way back in the day (primarily from out west) that listed just 3 or 4 stations. Did any ever list fewer, or were editions simply not available for areas with only 1 or 2 receivable stations? Any nominations from you TVG buffs?
Click to expand...

The Huntington WV edition of 11/20/1953 listed only two stations: WSAZ-TV 3 & WKNA-TV 49.
 
Stanislav said:
I know from childhood memories of Vermont summers that the old Montreal-St.Lawrence edition was a beast, and listed at least 20 or 25 channels.....
Click to expand...

I might mention, BTW, that the TV Guide was a source of great frustration to me as a young child during those Vermont summers. See, back home in the suburbs of New York, we could get every channel in the NYC TVG (save for the two "white" channels -- 3 in Hartford and 8 in New Haven). In Vermont, the TVG listed twice as many channels, but we could only get two (3 in Burlington and 5 in Plattsburgh). Until I learned about VHF/UHF propagation, terrain, etc., I was very frustrated -- why can't I see any of these channels?!? :mad:
 
The (Northern) Illinois-(Southern) Wisconsin Edition had a large amount of channels in their lineups...

By 2001, you had the following:

Milwaukee (where this edition was published; black bullets)
4 WTMJ (NBC)
6 WITI (Fox)
10 WMVS (PBS)
12 WISN (ABC)
18 WVTV (WB)
24 WCGV (UPN)
36 WMVT (PBS)
55 WPXE (Pax; now Ion)
58 WDJT (CBS)

Madison (white bullets)
3 WISC (CBS)
15 WMTV (NBC)
21 WHA (PBS)
27 WKOW (ABC)
47 WMSN (Fox)
57 WHPN (UPN; now WUCW)

Rockford (white bullets)
13 WREX (NBC)
17 WTVO (ABC)
23 WIFR (CBS)
39 WQRF (Fox)

Chicago (black bullets)
2 WBBM (CBS)
5 WMAQ (NBC)
7 WLS (ABC)
9 WGN (WB)
11 WTTW (PBS)
26 WCIU (Ind.)
32 WFLD (Fox)
50 WPWR (UPN)
66 WGBO (Univision)

Mentioned, but listed in the programming listings:
WVCY (Ch. 30, Milwaukee), WJJA (Ch. 49, Racine/Milwaukee), WEHS (Ch. 60, HSN, Chicago; now Telefutura's WXFT), TV Wisconsin (WB, Madison; now My Madison TV 14), WBR (cable 14, Rockford; now Stateline's CW, WREX-DT2)

If you throw in the unlisted channels, you have a total of 33 channels.
 
The earliest TV Guides I've seen from 1953 listed 5 stations:

Lake Erie Edition

Cleveland
4 WNBK-NBC
5 WEWS-CBS
9 WXEL-DuMont/ABC


Youngstown
27 WKBN-CBS/ABC/DuMont
73 WFMJ-NBC

In December 1953 WAKR 49-ABC from Akron was added though they had been on the air since July '53


There was a pre-TV Gude listing magazine in the Pittsburgh area called TV Digest. In February 1953 there were only 3 stations listed:

2 WDTV (DuMont Owned but carried all networks) Pittsburgh
6 WJAC NBC CBS Johnstown, Pa.
27 WKBN CBS ABC DuMont Youngstown
 
At one time in the early '80's, the Nashville edition had only the listings for WKRN-2 (ABC), WSMV-4 (NBC), WTVF-5 (CBS), WDCN-8 (PBS) and WZTV-17 (Ind.) from Nashville; WBKO-13 (ABC) and KET (Kentucky Educational TV) from Bowling Green, and Channel 22 (PBS, I can't recall the call letters) from Cookeville. As more channels in the area signed on, of course, they were added. Still, this was basically a "1 1/2-market" edition even until TV Guide scrapped their original format.

The first time I recall seeing a TV Guide while standing in the check-out line of the grocery store was in '68. I was 8 years old at the time. The Northern Alabama edition had the listings for four stations from Birmingham (6, 10, 13 and 42); four stations from Huntsville (19, 25, 31 and 48); two from Florence (15 and 36); one from Mount Cheaha State Park (7); one from Tuscaloosa (33), one from Columbus, MS (4), and three from Nashville (4, 5 and 8 )---a total of 16 stations. I'm sure that, except for the largest cities in the U.S., was pretty much the norm as far as the number of channels and markets served by one edition at that time.
 
I have seen some Detroit area editions that listed 2,4,7,9,20,38,50 and 56, plus 11, 13, 24 from the Toledo area, 12 from Flint, 25 and 5 from Saginaw, 6 from Lansing, and 42 from Sarnia, Ontario. 16 in total. A few years later there were a few added, but TVG had gone to a cable matrix by then.
 
The Cleveland edition TV Guide, by the mid 1970's..had these stations listed..(December 1974)

3 WKYC-NBC
5 WEWS-ABC
8 WJW-CBS
25 WVIZ-PBS
43 WUAB
61 WKBF

Akron
23 WAKR-ABC

Canton
17 WJAN

Youngstown
21 WFMJ-NBC
27 WKBN-CBS
33 WYTV-ABC

Steubenville
9 WSTV-CBS/ABC

Wheeling, W. Va.
7 WTRF NBC/ABC

Erie, Pa.
12 WICU-NBC
24 WJET-ABC
35 WSEE-CBS
54 WQLN-PBS

Columbus
4 WLWC-NBC
6 WTVN-ABC
10 WBNS-CBS
34 WOSU-PBS

Alliance
45 WNEO-PBS

Toledo
11 WTOL-CBS
13 WSPD-NBC

(24 WDHO-ABC was around, but unlisted)

Total:24
 
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