Getting network TV to Hawaii (and other places outside the main 48)

[BMR]

Forgive me if this has come up before-I don't think it has in the couple of years I've been a member.

I've been reading recently about the extreme lengths UK engineers went to to get TV to the Channel Islands and the Shetland Islands. Both are about 100 miles from the UK mainland, and right on the edge for either off air reception and rebroadcast or microwave links. But they did it with very selective and very hi-gain aerials and it worked- most of the time! The link to the channel islands was used until 2002 when they finally went fibre optic.

Which got me thinking- how did Hawaii go on? Much, much further. What about Guam? Obviously much, much, much further than the channel islands!

 

[cd637299]

From 1978 to 1980, I was stationed in Alaska. Any live programming, mainly sports, but maybe other important news events, came off satellite, but I am sure it cost a bundle in those days.

Network programming went thusly for Anchorage:

Ch 2 (NBC) - 3 week delay
Ch 7 (PBS) - became same-day during my tour, and was not sure how it was accomplished; not sure how much delay prior to that, maybe 1 week
Ch 11 (CBS) - 2 week delay
Ch 13 (ABC) - 1 week delay

Evening network news, Today Show & similar programs were same day but delayed for the time slot.

In the mid 80s, I'd say, satellites were more common, and now all programming is same-day delay.

We have a member here on r-i in Fairbanks, Alaska, who maybe can explain further; I would say that their delays were even longer, and they had less TV stations when I was stationed in Alaska---one had to pick from 2 networks (before that, TWO stations shared programming from ABC, IIRC).

I believe the regular network programming was mailed to Honolulu first (after the run in the "48 states"), then sent to Alaska & then maybe Guam---or, maybe duplicated for both Guam & Alaska; I am not sure. Do we have an r-i member in Hawaii? He/she would explain better than I.

For many years, maybe until the early 90s, Guam had only 1 commercial TV station, KUAM-TV, which cherry-picked from all networks.

Confused yet? I am.

cd

 

[K6JHU]

The same was true in many rural areas for a while when there was only one TV station in town, they got to cherry pick from all the networks. That is what drove the popularity of cable. Not TBS and WGN (early providers via satellite), but the ablility to pull in out of market stations that would allow you to get signals from all the major networks. The first cable system was not in a big city but out on the fringes of Philadelphia in a valley so they could watch the Philadelphia stations.

 

[BMR]

Sure. A similar thing happened in Ireland where they only had 1 channel until the late 70s, and only 2 until the late 90s. Cable networks grew up which used huge aerials on hilltops to bring in stations from the UK.

But not even the biggest aerial would work in Alaska, Hawaii or Guam!!!!!!!!

 

[w9wi]

Until satellite feeds came along, national programs were recorded (originally on film, later on videotape) and shipped to Alaska, Hawaii, and Guam. "Time-value" programs (newscasts etc.) might be shipped by air; less-critical shows (dramas, comedy, etc.) might be sent by ship, resulting in pretty significant delays.

Early U.S. TV stations produced a LOT more programming locally. (and aired a lot more films) Of course, they didn't operate 24/7 either. (so there wasn't nearly as much programming required)

Actually, that happened with many mainland stations as well in the early days of TV. Often, a new TV station would be completed before the coaxial or microwave network feed reached their city. In some cases they'd rebroadcast another station off-air, but in others that wasn't possible. The same shipping of recordings thing was the only option.

I know of a hybrid system that existed in North Dakota. A station in the center of the state put up a receiving point as far west of Fargo (in the southeast) as they could get reliable off-air reception. They then used microwave hops to bring that signal to their facility in Bismarck.

Chris: I'm pretty sure PBS was the first network to go to satellite distribution.

 

[bpatrick]

At present, I think Guam gets everything (with the possible exception
of sports) on a day-behind (for example, "60 Minutes" airs there on Monday
night since it's 10 AM Monday when the broadcast airs on the U.S. East
Coast at 7 PM Sunday).

I know Hawaii uses the Central time version of primetime, but sports events
go live; it's not unusual for a college football game airing at noon (ET) to be
seen at 7 AM in Hawaii.

Bermuda, one hour ahead of New York, simply goes along with the U.S.
network feeds. Scott, Diane, and Brian air at 7:30 PM (Atlantic time),
while primetime is 9 PM-midnight. (Local news airs at 7 PM and midnight.)

 

[cd637299]

Bermuda is an interesting situation. They are not even part of the US, so I wonder how they get to affiliate with the major networks (FOX still needs a station there). If it's okay w/ Bermuda, why not the Bahamas, Jamaica, Antigua, etc.?

cd

 

[BMR]

Bermuda is an interesting situation. They are not even part of the US, so I wonder how they get to affiliate with the major networks (FOX still needs a station there). If it's okay w/ Bermuda, why not the Bahamas, Jamaica, Antigua, etc.?

cd

Well Bermuda only has a population of 65,000 people, which is rather small to make a 3 channel TV service viable unless you mostly relay someone elses programming. Although it is a British colony it is much nearer the US than the UK, so I'm not that surprised TV has developed along US network lines.

According to Wiki, TV came to the island in 1958, and it's 600 miles offshore so I'm guessing they showed only pre recorded shows for a good while after opening.

 

[bpatrick]

Besides, the UK is four hours ahead of Bermuda, which
would make for some awkward airtimes for British programs.

 

[pab]

Besides, the UK is four hours ahead of Bermuda, which
would make for some awkward airtimes for British programs.

No more so than US East-coast generated programs airing in Hawaii.

 

[Markxxx]

According to the Wikipedia before Bermuda had its own TV stations they could receive TV from the American Kindley Air Force Base, so maybe they had some kind of arrangement for network programs with that

 

[cyberdad]

!

I spent my junior year of high school in Honolulu....1964-65 TV season.

The network stations (2 NBC, 4 ABC, 9 CBS) generally carried the prime time lineups on a one-week delay.  Schedule was the same as Central time (shows aired an hour earlier local time than their usual Eastern and Pacific time slots)

There were two exceptions that I recall.

KGMB-TV, the CBS affilliate on Channel 9, carried a tape of the evening's CBS news anchored by Walter Cronkite just before signoff.  Meaning it generally came on at around 12:30 or 1am.

The other exception was NFL and college football tapes which aired a day after the games were played.  College games on Sundays....NFL (basically 49ers) Monday late afternoons.  I believe World series games were also broadcast one day after being played.  I think Johnny Carson might have also been a one-day delay, but I'm not sure.

One quirk that went on in those days was that practically nothing came on at its scheduled/announced time.  Programs typically came on anywhere from five to fifteen minutes later than scheduled. This varied on a day by day and channel by channel basis.  

"Bonanza at 8pm Sunday night on channel 2?  Well....maybe 8:05, maybe 8:10 or whenever we get around to it".  Of course if Channel 9 was further behind with the CBS schedule than channel 2 was with NBC, hanging around for the end of Ed Sullivan's program meant you could miss the first few minutes of Bonanza!  

Of course, the next Sunday, things might be just the opposite!  Nobody seemed to mind...or care.  The stations or the viewers.

 

[Sammi Brie]

Nowadays I believe stations record then play back the satellite feeds. (KGMB couldn't do CBS HD primetime shows until they got the proper equipment to record and play back in HD.) I believe the Phoenix stations (there's no satellite feed for their awkward situation) do the same thing.

 

[BMR]

According to the Wikipedia before Bermuda had its own TV stations they could receive TV from the American Kindley Air Force Base, so maybe they had some kind of arrangement for network programs with that

Yes I hadn't realised that there was a US military presence in Bermuda from 1940 until fairly recently. That, coupled with the fact that the local currency is pegged 1:1 with the US dollar would further explain why they would look west rather than east for their TV.

Plus the US network feeds are there and ready and waiting to be used. Any feeds from the UK would need to be set up, paid for, possibly time delayed. And since 2 of the main British channels don't take commercials, there would be little possiblity for recouping the cost with adverts.

 

[azumanga]

I hadn't realised that there was a US military presence in Bermuda from 1940 until fairly recently. That, coupled with the fact that the local currency is pegged 1:1 with the US dollar would further explain why they would look west rather than east for their TV.

Plus the US network feeds are there and ready and waiting to be used. Any feeds from the UK would need to be set up, paid for, possibly time delayed. And since 2 of the main British channels don't take commercials, there would be little possiblity for recouping the cost with adverts.

Though they could've imposed a license fee to fund the non-commercial channels. But as mentioned, because of logistical purposes, they opted to get their TV from the states instead.

 

[formeraa]

As for Hawaii, at one point during the 70's, I remember watching the network evening newscasts first thing in the morning and the morning newscasts later on in the day. My understanding is that they were flying taped newscasts on the last evening flight out of LA. Then, at some point, CBS had a special Hawaii edition of the CBS Evening News via satellite (updated similar to the West Coast version with Terry Drinkwater in LA).

 

[cyberdad]

Though they could've imposed a license fee to fund the non-commercial channels. But as mentioned, because of logistical purposes, they opted to get their TV from the states instead.

I think there may have also been an audience appeal factor. My personal observation is that British TV sometimes has flashes of brilliance (news coverage is superb), but much of what's on is pretty boring. My daughter has lived in London for ten years and bought a slingbox just so she doesn't have to be captive to the local British fare.

 

[compubit]

I recall reading at some point Johnny Carson aired same day - as soon as taping was done in Burbank (6pm-ish?), a copy headed to LAX to get to Honolulu on the next plane out - thus if the plane were delayed a few minutes, it might not air until 10:40...

I'm pretty sure films and tapes were "bicycled" around Hawaii, Guam and Alaska (just like syndicated programs were shipped around the US before tape and digital storage were as common as they are now).

Jim