Columbia, SC (May 29, 1988)

[TR1968]

from The State via Newspapers.com

Columbia Cable TV
2 Showtime
3 WIS Columbia
4 MTV
5 WTTG Washington
6 WCCT Columbia (station would rebrand to WACH on June 13th, becoming the local Fox affiliate)
7 WTBS Atlanta
8 Disney Channel
9 WLTX Columbia
10 Augusta programs from WRDW and WAGT
11 WOLO Columbia
12 WRLK Columbia
14 A&E
15 WJBF Augusta/Tempo
16 CVN
17 Weather Channel
18 CBN
19 VH1
20 C-SPAN
21 HBO
22 TNN
23 The Movie Channel
24 CNN Headline News
25 Cinemax
26 FNN
27 CNN
28 USA Network
29 ESPN
30 Nickelodeon
31 Lifetime
32 ACTS

MC Cable
2 Discovery Channel
3 WIS Columbia
4 HBO
5 FNN/AMC
6 WLTX Columbia
7 WTBS Atlanta
8 WOLO Columbia
9 CNN
11 WRLK Columbia
12 Disney Channel
13 ESPN
14 WGN Chicago
15 Lifetime
16 WRJA Sumter
17 WCCT Columbia
18 CNN Headline News
19 MTV
20 Nickelodeon
21 USA Network
22 Weather Channel
23 Showtime
24 A&E
25 Cinemax
27 VH1
28 C-SPAN
29 CBN
31 CVN

Star TV
2 WLTX Columbia
3 Showtime
4 WIS Columbia
5 WOLO Columbia
6 WRLK Columbia
7 WCCT Columbia
8 WOR New York
9 WGN Chicago
11 WTBS Atlanta
12 HBO
12 WRDW Augusta
13 C-SPAN
17 ESPN
18 CBN
19 CNN
20 Disney Channel
21 MTV
22 Lifetime
23 Discovery Channel
24 TNN

 

[IM42A]

I was told by someone whose family lived here, that by the time WTTG got to Columbia via microwave, the signal wasn't all that good, and was kind of muddy and lacking sharp detail, similar to low-bitrate online video. WTTV Bloomington had similar issues by the time it got to Huntington, WV via microwave in the late 1970s. "Watching it through wax paper" is the best way I know how to put it.

I also noticed a similarly degraded picture when I saw WPSD-6 from Paducah KY on Mount Vernon IL cable in the mid-1980s. They probably didn't get it via microwave, though. Might have been some deficiency in the cable system, and to be fair, the same could have been true of WTTG and WTTV.