What editions of TV Guide covered the state of Kentucky?
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Classic TV Guide Question-Kentucky
- Thread starter classictvfan
- Start date
K
KML0224
Guest
Cincinnati, Kentucky and Evansville/Paducah Edition. E/P was meant for the central time zone portions of southwestern Indiana as well.
I can remember the Evansville/Paducah edition also covered Cape Girardeau, MO and Southern IL channels. Although there were no stations in the area, it was also available in parts of NW TN because they were covered by those stations better than Memphis or Nashville area stations.
What did the Kentucky edition cover?
Whitesburg, Kentucky received both the West Virginia edition and the Carolina-Tennessee edition. Home delivery was the West Virginia edition for years while the retail racks had both. You had to look before you bought it. The cable system carried signals from both editions so TV Guide was really only handy for network programming.
By the way, WKYH (57) NBC Hazard didn't receive a listing in TV Guide for years. It was around 1980 it showed up in the West Virginia Edition and Tri-Cities edition and finally the Kentucky Edition. The station today is WYMT (CBS)
By the way, WKYH (57) NBC Hazard didn't receive a listing in TV Guide for years. It was around 1980 it showed up in the West Virginia Edition and Tri-Cities edition and finally the Kentucky Edition. The station today is WYMT (CBS)
anotherguy said:
Paducah/Cape/Southern Illinois are all one DMA (now, DMA 88), which is why those stations were all included. Additionally, the Evansville/Paducah edition was available as far west as Poplar Bluff, Missouri because of the presence of KPOB-15, which was and still is, a repeater for WSIL-Harrisburg/Carbondale. KPOB did not have its own grid information, it was simply referred back to WSIL's by TVGuide.
radiorob2.0 said:
Slightly off-topic, since this is about WYMT and not TV Guide:
WYMT has proven to be a big success story; former Sen. Wendell Ford
said it is "the best thing to happen to eastern Kentucky since roads."
And from everything I hear about it, it does a fine job of covering eastern
Kentucky. It's on cable in parts of Virginia and West Virginia (why it was
in the West Virginia and Tri-Cities editions), and in Claiborne County, TN.
True, it duplicates WKYT at times, but it has its own personalities and
schedules, and thus an identity separate from the mother station in
Lexington. It would seem to have every disadvantage: a small station
in a small town on a high UHF channel (57), but it has some astute
management that has made the station as professional as possible.
I remember when the old WKYH was added to the West Virginia edition.
I wonder, though, why it took so long to add Ch. 57 to the Kentucky one?
Long time Mayor and cable TV operator Bill Gorman signed on WKYH around 1969. Gorman motivation to sign on Channel 57 was a CBS documentary on the blight of Appalachia. He felt the station would give Southeastern Kentucky a platform to show the better side of the region with news and locally produced programming.
The station was Independent early on before its affiliation with NBC. For many years, WKYH received its network feed from the off the air signal of WCYB Bristol or WLEX Lexington when atmospheric conditions made WCYB unusable. The master control operator would cover the origination station’s CG ID's with a station ID slide; sometimes they would miss. Its operation was very simple but was a launching pad for many who needed entry level training. Channel 57 did two newscasts a night and was small town in nature. The opening of Hazard's first McDonald's was a major news story since it was the only McDonald's for about 50 miles.
But the station had viewers thanks to cable; the 214,000 watt UHF signal in the mountains didn't have much over the air potential. In 1980, the station's klystron tube died and replacements were either faulty or didn't make the trip. Channel 57's phone lines rang off the hook for the week or so the station was off the air wondering when the station was returning to the air.
Gorman sold WKYH to Ralph Gabbard and Kentucky Central Television around 1985 and switched it to CBS though NBC fought to keep the affiliation. Gabbard rebuilt the entire station. It's been awhile but I believe the old WKYH tower still stands on a mountain top over Hazard. It took years for a TV Guide listing since the publisher didn't feel the station had enough coverage to justify a listing.
The station was Independent early on before its affiliation with NBC. For many years, WKYH received its network feed from the off the air signal of WCYB Bristol or WLEX Lexington when atmospheric conditions made WCYB unusable. The master control operator would cover the origination station’s CG ID's with a station ID slide; sometimes they would miss. Its operation was very simple but was a launching pad for many who needed entry level training. Channel 57 did two newscasts a night and was small town in nature. The opening of Hazard's first McDonald's was a major news story since it was the only McDonald's for about 50 miles.
But the station had viewers thanks to cable; the 214,000 watt UHF signal in the mountains didn't have much over the air potential. In 1980, the station's klystron tube died and replacements were either faulty or didn't make the trip. Channel 57's phone lines rang off the hook for the week or so the station was off the air wondering when the station was returning to the air.
Gorman sold WKYH to Ralph Gabbard and Kentucky Central Television around 1985 and switched it to CBS though NBC fought to keep the affiliation. Gabbard rebuilt the entire station. It's been awhile but I believe the old WKYH tower still stands on a mountain top over Hazard. It took years for a TV Guide listing since the publisher didn't feel the station had enough coverage to justify a listing.
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