DMAs that should be merged into others

[vchimpanzee]

Florence and Myrtle Beach were split until the late 1980s. Myrtle Beach and Horry County was in the Wilmington market while the Florence area was its own market.

The Wilmington stations used to show MB during their weather forecasts. All of them were available until the mid 1990s, and WECT was the last one to be dropped in 2008. All were easy grabs on an antenna.

Now MB and Florence is its own market.

Wilmington didn't have its own CBS station. Myrtle Beach had WBTW from Florence. And Florence didn't have its own NBC station. Or ABC, for that matter, for many years.

 

[RadioDaze]

Wilmington didn't get its first (one could argue only) standalone CBS affiliate until 1984 when WJKA, channel 26, signed on. Longtime NBC affiliate WECT, channel 6, had carried some CBS programming on a secondary basis before then.

In 1994, WJKA became Fox affiliate WSFX (neither Wilmington or Myrtle Beach had a Fox affiliate before this time, and WSFX originally identified as "Wilmington-Myrtle Beach" before the latter's WGSB, channel 43, went Fox as WFXB in 1997).

In 2000, low-power Wilmington UPN affiliate WSSN, channel 10, became CBS affiliate WILM, owned by Capitol Broadcasting of Raleigh and rebroadcasting flagship WRAL-TV's newscasts.

As for the now Florence-Myrtle Beach market, WBTW, channel 13 (originally channel 8 ) was the only commercial station there until ABC affiliate WPDE, channel 15, signed on in 1981. Locally-based NBC didn't come until 2008 with the sign on of WMBF, channel 32. The market actually had Fox and former weblets UPN and WB before that time.

 

[KeyTimes950]

WTOV despite being on digital VHF puts out a good singal and at one point I heard the talk of moving ch 9 into Pittsburgh but that was after a planned ch 8 for Pittsburgh went to johnstown instead.

As for the market being folded into Pittsburgh, they have only 2 full power stations, 2 stations WVTX-CA and WJPW-CD owned by WBGN 59 out of Pittsburgh, a mTV 2 station WSSS-LP owned by Abacus Television who owns WBYD-CA and WIIC-LP out of Pittsburgh and a repeater for West Virginia public media so in theory it could be done as other than WTRF (.1 cbs, .2 fox,.3 abc) and WTOV (.1 nbc, .2 me-tv) there are no other stations and since ch 9 will soon be owned by sinclair who owns WPGH and WPMY, they could very well merge the two markets.

I'm not sure Channel 8 ever was discussed for Pittsburgh. It would have been too close to Cleveland.

As it happened it was short-spaced in Johnstown against both Cleveland and Lancaster.

I do remember how WDTV (now KDKA) was moved from Channel 3 to Channel 2, how Channel 13 was moved to Pittsburgh (originally, in fact, to McKeesport) from Johnstown and how Channel 4 started off as an Irwin/McKeesport channel.

Channel 9 indeed has range -- as old WSTV it once was on cable as far east as Philipsburg, Centre County.

A merger of the two markets also would require Pittsburgh news coverage of areas that are now beyond the fringe for KDKA, WTAE and WPXI, even in WTAE's case as a long-time ABC affiliate in several adjacent markets including Wheeling-Steubenville.

 

[bpatrick]

Wilmington didn't get its first (one could argue only) standalone CBS affiliate until 1984 when WJKA, channel 26, signed on. Longtime NBC affiliate WECT, channel 6, had carried some CBS programming on a secondary basis before then.

In 1994, WJKA became Fox affiliate WSFX (neither Wilmington or Myrtle Beach had a Fox affiliate before this time, and WSFX originally identified as "Wilmington-Myrtle Beach" before the latter's WGSB, channel 43, went Fox as WFXB in 1997).

In 2000, low-power Wilmington UPN affiliate WSSN, channel 10, became CBS affiliate WILM, owned by Capitol Broadcasting of Raleigh and rebroadcasting flagship WRAL-TV's newscasts.

As for the now Florence-Myrtle Beach market, WBTW, channel 13 (originally channel 8 ) was the only commercial station there until ABC affiliate WPDE, channel 15, signed on in 1981. Locally-based NBC didn't come until 2008 with the sign on of WMBF, channel 32. The market actually had Fox and former weblets UPN and WB before that time.

IIRC, WECT used to identify as "Wilmington/Myrtle Beach" as well.

We have a house at Myrtle Beach and used to get NBC on both WECT (cable channel 6) and WIS (cable channel 10); when WMBF signed on the other two stations were kicked off the cable and WMBF put on 10.

I wonder if WWAY was Myrtle Beach's de facto ABC affiliate before WPDE signed on?

 

[pkffrom724]

If the Wheeling-Steubenville market is still a distinct DMA there is a good argument for merging it into
Pittsburgh (that area has lost a ton of population in the past 30-40 years)

Wheeling-Steubenville is still a distinct DMA, No. 158 in the country with 130,110 households says TVNewsCheck. Pittsburgh now is No. 23 with 1.166 million.

The argument has pros and cons. I'm not sure what you'd consider pros or cons, but some factors:

Steubenville advertises itself as a Pittsburgh suburb and the casinos of the West Virginia Northern Panhandle compete with The Meadows and Rivers Casino in Western Pennsylvania.

Cox is trying to sell its WTOV-9 (and WJAC_6 in Johnstown). Otherwise I could see a WPXI/WTOV combine of some sort that puts WTOV on other networks. (Cox is NBC on the primary channels in all three cities.)

The CW probably could retain both affiliates in the two markets, WPCW which actually transmits from the Laurel Mountains and still I believe has a Jeannette-Johnstown city-of-license combination (even if KDKA in Pittsburgh does program it) while in Wheeling-Steubenville there is WBWO, a cable-only outlet.

Pittsburgh stations do occasionally carry news stories from west of Wheeling and Steubenville, but it might be a hard sell to put the various Pittsburgh stations on cable west of those cities.

In short ... who knows?

WTOV despite being on digital VHF puts out a good singal and at one point I heard the talk of moving ch 9 into Pittsburgh but that was after a planned ch 8 for Pittsburgh went to johnstown instead.

As for the market being folded into Pittsburgh, they have only 2 full power stations, 2 stations WVTX-CA and WJPW-CD owned by WBGN 59 out of Pittsburgh, a mTV 2 station WSSS-LP owned by Abacus Television who owns WBYD-CA and WIIC-LP out of Pittsburgh and a repeater for West Virginia public media so in theory it could be done as other than WTRF (.1 cbs, .2 fox,.3 abc) and WTOV (.1 nbc, .2 me-tv) there are no other stations and since ch 9 will soon be owned by sinclair who owns WPGH and WPMY, they could very well merge the two markets.

If Wheeling/Steubenville does perhaps fold into Pittsburgh, would this mean WTRF-7 and WTOV-9 could lose their CBS and NBC affiliations? Please keep in mind that WTRF has CBS/DT1; FOX-MY/DT2 and ABC/DT3, and WTOV has NBC/DT1 and MeTV/DT2. How would this impact WTRF? Would it become a satellite of KDKA or WPCW? And would WTOV become a FOX affiliate outright, or become a satellite of WPGH-53?

 

[charlestondxman]

WCBD actually used to serve the area and was on cable in Florence until WPDE signed on as I searched some old archives. All the CHS stations used to be on Myrtle Beach cable until the late 90s I believe.

WCSC is still on the HTC cable in Conway.

There was a YouTube video from I think 1992 or 1993 where WWAY's weather had Wilmington and Myrtle Beach equal. I remember until the DTV transition WWAY was much easier to see and hear OTA than WPDE on the beach because the Myrtle Beach stations have their transmitters in the Dillon area, farther inland.

WECT could be heard on 87.7 all the way to Georgetown normally.

 

[mavtv]

If the Wheeling-Steubenville market is still a distinct DMA there is a good argument for merging it into
Pittsburgh (that area has lost a ton of population in the past 30-40 years)

Wheeling-Steubenville is still a distinct DMA, No. 158 in the country with 130,110 households says TVNewsCheck. Pittsburgh now is No. 23 with 1.166 million.

The argument has pros and cons. I'm not sure what you'd consider pros or cons, but some factors:

Steubenville advertises itself as a Pittsburgh suburb and the casinos of the West Virginia Northern Panhandle compete with The Meadows and Rivers Casino in Western Pennsylvania.

Cox is trying to sell its WTOV-9 (and WJAC_6 in Johnstown). Otherwise I could see a WPXI/WTOV combine of some sort that puts WTOV on other networks. (Cox is NBC on the primary channels in all three cities.)

The CW probably could retain both affiliates in the two markets, WPCW which actually transmits from the Laurel Mountains and still I believe has a Jeannette-Johnstown city-of-license combination (even if KDKA in Pittsburgh does program it) while in Wheeling-Steubenville there is WBWO, a cable-only outlet.

Pittsburgh stations do occasionally carry news stories from west of Wheeling and Steubenville, but it might be a hard sell to put the various Pittsburgh stations on cable west of those cities.

In short ... who knows?

WTOV despite being on digital VHF puts out a good singal and at one point I heard the talk of moving ch 9 into Pittsburgh but that was after a planned ch 8 for Pittsburgh went to johnstown instead.

As for the market being folded into Pittsburgh, they have only 2 full power stations, 2 stations WVTX-CA and WJPW-CD owned by WBGN 59 out of Pittsburgh, a mTV 2 station WSSS-LP owned by Abacus Television who owns WBYD-CA and WIIC-LP out of Pittsburgh and a repeater for West Virginia public media so in theory it could be done as other than WTRF (.1 cbs, .2 fox,.3 abc) and WTOV (.1 nbc, .2 me-tv) there are no other stations and since ch 9 will soon be owned by sinclair who owns WPGH and WPMY, they could very well merge the two markets.

If Wheeling/Steubenville does perhaps fold into Pittsburgh, would this mean WTRF-7 and WTOV-9 could lose their CBS and NBC affiliations? Please keep in mind that WTRF has CBS/DT1; FOX-MY/DT2 and ABC/DT3, and WTOV has NBC/DT1 and MeTV/DT2. How would this impact WTRF? Would it become a satellite of KDKA or WPCW? And would WTOV become a FOX affiliate outright, or become a satellite of WPGH-53?

In the case of WTOV it would become FOX, WPGH becomes a indie, and WPMY stay's with MY-TV. WPMY would probably be sold or moved to either Cunningham or Deerfield Media as sinclair likes to operate as many stations in a market. WTRF my guess would just become an independent or be sold to someone like TBN as TBN has no station in the market or be sold to hearst as they could become a duopoly. But there are cases where there are two affilates in a market such as Tampa or Grand Rapids as they have 2 ABC stations.

They could also try to get NBC as if a moved in WTOV would allow it as the new ch 9 Pittsburgh would be at the bottom of the ratings so sinclair for example could make a deal for NBC to move to the new ch 9 fro WPXI and ch 11 goes independent.

 

[KML0224]

I have a question that's unrelated to owns the Wheeling/Steubenville stations:

Is the WTOV-TV (NBC) channel 9 transmitter in Pennsylvania? If so, why isn't it in Ohio?

 

[mavtv]

I have a question that's unrelated to owns the Wheeling/Steubenville stations:

Is the WTOV-TV (NBC) channel 9 transmitter in Pennsylvania? If so, why isn't it in Ohio?

It is at the WTOV studio in Mingo Junction Ohio south of Steubenville. I went there for a job interview and it is a small market station as it is located in the middle of nowhere but they have some fancy equipment and they have a half HD setup as they produce the news in HD but by the time it gets though the equipment that is still SD it comes out with less quality. They also have a small office/news studio in downtown Wheeling.

 

[Markxxx]

Wheeling is only about 55 or 60 miles from Pittsburgh, but that area is pretty mountainous. I would see how it would be hard to get signals through the mountains.

 

[bpatrick]

WCBD actually used to serve the area and was on cable in Florence until WPDE signed on as I searched some old archives. All the CHS stations used to be on Myrtle Beach cable until the late 90s I believe.

WCSC is still on the HTC cable in Conway.

There was a YouTube video from I think 1992 or 1993 where WWAY's weather had Wilmington and Myrtle Beach equal. I remember until the DTV transition WWAY was much easier to see and hear OTA than WPDE on the beach because the Myrtle Beach stations have their transmitters in the Dillon area, farther inland.

WECT could be heard on 87.7 all the way to Georgetown normally.

I remember coming back from Myrtle Beach one Sunday and being able to listen to the U.S. Open golf tournament on WECT at 87.7 (I also once picked up "The Bugs Bunny And Tweety Show" one Saturday on WJBF Augusta at 87.7; all stations on analog Ch. 6 had an FM signal at 87.7).

The Myrtle Beach Sun still carries the listings for WCBD, WWAY, WCIV, WCSC, and WECT, as well as WBTW, WPDE, and WMBF.

 

[Poledo]

Has there ever been an attempt to reclassify TV stations in the way AM and FM stations are? Say have a certain amount of TV stations that have "flamethrower" licenses spread around so they could cover multiple DMAs, entire states in some cases. Then have a whole lot of regional and local frequencies... making Class A TV stations legitimate local stations and leaving LP and TV translators for the home shopping and religious networks or to fill in white areas.

I know some may say that was essentially the way things were in the VHF/UHF analog days but why not try it out now? Or would it just be impossible with today's DTV technology?

 

[Morgan Wick]

Maybe not a complete merger, but could there be some consolidation of stations between Cincinnati and Dayton, and maybe Columbus? Those three markets and Indianapolis are so close that Cincinnati and Columbus are the largest markets where either the CW or MyNet has to settle for a subchannel, and it might be by a substantial margin depending on how you look at it, and there's next to no openings for a new station.

 

[Markxxx]

Has there ever been an attempt to reclassify TV stations in the way AM and FM stations are? Say have a certain amount of TV stations that have "flamethrower" licenses spread around so they could cover multiple DMAs, entire states in some cases. Then have a whole lot of regional and local frequencies... making Class A TV stations legitimate local stations and leaving LP and TV translators for the home shopping and religious networks or to fill in white areas.

I know some may say that was essentially the way things were in the VHF/UHF analog days but why not try it out now? Or would it just be impossible with today's DTV technology?

Many competitors to Nielsen try with different methods, but they can never seem to get enough TV to sign up. So they fold.

You have to remember Nielsen is there to serve the TV stations, which are there to serve the advertisers. The viewer is incidental, unless they're likely to buy something.

 

[DrC]

The Myrtle Beach Sun still carries the listings for WCBD, WWAY, WCIV, WCSC, and WECT, as well as WBTW, WPDE, and WMBF.

In Surfside Beach in the summer of '89, the cable system (Jones?) at the condo we were staying at carried WWAY, WECT, WCSC, WBTW, and WPDE, and 43 (religious / independent) in MB. WCIV was on channel 33 or 34 (on a 36 channel system). WIS was carried part-time on channel 10 for some reason, which was a local access channel at other times (I remember them switching over to WIS on a Saturday night for news and some local program). WCBD wasn't on the lineup. Strangest thing was there was no Fox affiliate on the system at all, which surprised me in 1989. I thought they'd carry WTAT 24 in Charleston for Fox. Tried picking WTAT up on a small antennaed B&W TV in another room, but that TV just pulled in ch 43 and (barely) WBTW and nothing else, so no luck there.

 

[charlestondxman]

There was no Fox in the area other than WTAT, which had only been on a few years at the time.

WJKA went to Fox in '94 and became the Fox for Myrtle Beach in addition to Wilmington until WGSE went to Fox in '97.

Tiny WEYB in Florence served the Pee Dee until WFXB switched.

WCSC and WTAT are on Surfside Beach cable now, and WCIV is the only ABC HD signal offered.

The Murrells Inlet (Georgetown County) system carries all the major Charleston stations, even WCSC's subchannel Live 5 Plus in addition to the Myrtle stations.

 

[DToTheJ]

Trivia: WTAT is the callsign of a fictitious talk radio station on Tatooine in a "Star Wars"-themed episode of Fox's "Family Guy."
http://video.adultswim.com/family-guy/tatooine-radio-sucks.html

 

[SixtiesGuy]

...Geographically, Boston and Providence could be one...

Absolutely true. Boston is roughly 40 air miles from Providence; the Providence transmitters are located about the same distance south of Boston.

 

[Herb Tarlek]

What about combining Dothan, AL and Panama City, FL? Dothan has an OTA CBS, ABC and Fox affiliate, while Panama City has a full-power NBC, ABC and Fox affiliate, and just added a LP CBS affiliate.

I never could understand why this wasn't done years ago. WTVY in Dothan (CBS)has a huge coverage area with its 2,000 ft tower only 45 miles north of Panama City. WTVY is owned by Gray which also owns WJHG (NBC) in Panama City. Each market has its own ABC and Fox affiliates. Raycom owns both Fox stations. The ABC affiliates could have been combined and WDHN be a translator for WMBB in Panama City, much like ABC 33/40 in Birmingham. It wont happen now that Gray has a CBS LP in Panama City and is launching a LP NBC in Dothan. WTVY and WJHG will be off the cable and satellite in Panama City and Dothan respectively.

 

[KML0224]

On top of this, the WTVY-TV broadcast tower is in Bethlehem (Holmes County), Florida, presently the tallest man mad structure in the entire state:

http://goo.gl/maps/HySHh

Is Holmes County part of the Panama City DMA or Dothan/Ozark DMA?