How bad was channel One?

[chrish]

I once had an early Philco with channel 1, does anyone know how bad it really was? For it to be eliminated it must have been horrendous. Channel 2 co channel was always very bad in some coastal parts of Massachusetts with WCBS fighting WGBH expecially on Cape Cod and along the North and South Shores especially during the summer. Early low band short spacing in the Northeast must have been very bad if channel 7 IE: WJZ-TV - WDEL-TV - WMAL-TV problems were
so severe that WDEL-TV was eliminated from the high band.

 

[ercjncpr]

I once had an early Philco with channel 1, does anyone know how bad it really was? For it to be eliminated it must have been horrendous. Channel 2 co channel was always very bad in some coastal parts of Massachusetts with WCBS fighting WGBH expecially on Cape Cod and along the North and South Shores especially during the summer. Early low band short spacing in the Northeast must have been very bad if channel 7 IE: WJZ-TV - WDEL-TV - WMAL-TV problems were
so severe that WDEL-TV was eliminated from the high band.

It was not a question of reception. Channel 1 was allocated for more localized community and public service at lower power, possibly similar to the later concept of Educational TV. Unfortunately there were too few applicants for the channel and other radio services were clamoring for the new VHF spectrum space, so the idea was abandoned. The channel numbering system was not updated because it had been, too many times, throughout the late 30s and early 40s. So that is why we have always had channel 2 as the lowest number.

 

[azumanga]

Unfortunately there were too few applicants for [channel 1] and other radio services were clamoring for the new VHF spectrum space, so the idea was abandoned.

I thought I read somewhere that the frequencies used for channel 1 were given to the US government for military use?

 

[KeithE4]

Unfortunately there were too few applicants for [channel 1] and other radio services were clamoring for the new VHF spectrum space, so the idea was abandoned.

I thought I read somewhere that the frequencies used for channel 1 were given to the US government for military use?

Channel 1 was 44-50 MHz. That spectrum is used for several services, including old cordless phones, a small Part 15 band, military, public safety, etc. It was also part of the pre-war FM band. IIRC, the last of those FM stations didn't move to the current band until sometime in 1948.

No TV stations ever aired on post-war Channel 1, although there were a couple of CPs assigned - KARO Riverside CA and WSBE South Bend IN.

 

[Mike Stroud]

Aside from all the technical concerns, wonder if the FCC had in mind the fact that stations assigned to channel 1 would have a tremendous marketing advantage in the public mind over rivals, as if to say, "we're channel one because we're number one?" Sounds stupid, I know, but given that the public wasn't especially sophisticated about such things prior to the 1960s, the idea probably isn't all that far-fetched as a secondary consideration in the decision not to allocate the channel to OTA stations.

 

[LKellerIII]

I once had an early Philco with channel 1, does anyone know how bad it really was? For it to be eliminated it must have been horrendous. Channel 2 co channel was always very bad in some coastal parts of Massachusetts with WCBS fighting WGBH expecially on Cape Cod and along the North and South Shores especially during the summer. Early low band short spacing in the Northeast must have been very bad if channel 7 IE: WJZ-TV - WDEL-TV - WMAL-TV problems were
so severe that WDEL-TV was eliminated from the high band.

I don't know anything about low band short spacing, but I remember that in the pre-cable Los Angeles world I grew up in (big antenna on the roof in the late 50s and 60s), the low number channels actually came in better than those higher on the dial, in terms of reception. So KNXT Channel 2 (CBS) came in a bit better than KNBC 4. which came in bit better than KTLA 5 (indy) whose picture was a bit more clear than KABC-7, etc...thru KHJ-TV 9, KTTV-11, and finally KCOP-13. I have no idea if this was typical or not.

 

[KeithE4]

Aside from all the technical concerns, wonder if the FCC had in mind the fact that stations assigned to channel 1 would have a tremendous marketing advantage in the public mind over rivals, as if to say, "we're channel one because we're number one?" Sounds stupid, I know, but given that the public wasn't especially sophisticated about such things prior to the 1960s, the idea probably isn't all that far-fetched as a secondary consideration in the decision not to allocate the channel to OTA stations.

Such marketing didn't exist in those days. Like radio, the call letters were emphasized more than frequency/channel until the late '40s. Look at old WNBT ID slides from that era, and you'll find "Channel 4" in small letters until 1949, when they started emphasizing the channel number. I'm guessing that they figured out that people were saying "I saw that show on Channel 4" rather than "I saw that show on WNBT."

 

[cd637299]

If I had an old TV with a Channel 1, in pristine shape, and I just happened to receive F2 or TEP DX from Chilean "Muzak" (like is on 47.9 MHz), I wonder what the TV screen would look like, given the same sensitivity of a nice scanner? Just wondering.

cd

 

[KeithE4]

If I had an old TV with a Channel 1, in pristine shape, and I just happened to receive F2 or TEP DX from Chilean "Muzak" (like is on 47.9 MHz), I wonder what the TV screen would look like, given the same sensitivity of a nice scanner? Just wondering.

Without a picture carrier, you'd get absolutely nothing but snow and noise from all the services that are transmitting inside the 44-49 MHz picture bandwidth - all at the same time.

 

[bpatrick]

I always though Channel 1 was reallocated for police (and possibly
other emergency services) radio, and that there was a rumor that
Channels 2-6 were going to be turned over to the military; hence,
ABC's decision to buy the five largest stations on Channel 7 (New
York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Detroit) in 1948 and '49.

 

[Bob1370]

Channel 1 started out in 1941 as just like any other channel--licensed for metropolitan coverage using 5 KW visual transmitter power, 2.5 kW aural transmitter power, and whatever ERP you could get out of an elevated, multi-bay antenna. WNBT in New York was the only station ever licensed and operated on the original Channel 1 between 1941 and 1946 for commercial operation. The first Channel 1 (50-56 mHz) was abolished in 1946 as part of the FCC's reorganization of the VHF band. WNBT was toldd it would not get the OK to operate on the new 44-50 mHz Channel 1 and was pushed up to 66-72 mHz (channel 3 pre-war, Channel 4 on the postwar allocation table). The rest of the few existiing stations and CPs issued by the spring of 1946 were also moved around...WCBS-TV was moved from the old Channel 2 (60-66 mHz, the postwar Channel 3) to the new one at 54-60 mHz. WPTZ in Philadelphia also was re-assigned...from the old Channel 3 to the new one which had been Channel 2. Confused? GE's WRGB in the Capital District changed channels without moving or doing a thing to their transmitter and antenna. It had been assigned to the old Channel 3, and its new assignment was Channel 4--the same 66-72 mHz they'd been using, which meant all they had to do was change their ID slides. (They'd have to move up to Channel 6 in 1953, where they remain today, though they got to more than double their power.)

The new Channel 1 would be reserved for limited range community stations allowed only 1/5 of the transmitter power of their metropolitan brethren, although community stations could also be squeezed in on other channels if room could be found . Some community stations--the ancestors of today's LPTV--WERE licensed on other channels in smaller markets and actually made it to air, although they would all later be upgraded to full power on different VHF channels in the early 1950s. Channel 1 after the war? A couple stations were granted CPs, but never got on the air. KARO in Bakersfield, CA never made it to air at all. WSBE in South Bend, Indiana didn't get on the air as Channel 1, but eventually, in 1953, it WAS built by the South Bend Tribune as a pioneer full power UHF and continues on the air as WSBT-TV, Channel 22.


As far as all the ABC O&Os being put on Channel 7 in 1948 and 1949, when they first went on the air? ABC's technical brass believed the low band channels were going to go away and all television moved up into the upper VHF and UHF realms to provide space for higher resolution color signals. Didn't happen that way, of course...RCA made color work within a standard NTSC channel, and later generations of engineers would get a still higher resolution digital signal to work within the same space almost six decades later. But Channel 7 has proven a good all-purpose channel over the years, and it so continues today.

And what was wrong with Channel 1, aside from the fact that the authorities decided to re-allocate it for emergency communications in the 1952 re-drawing of the TV allocation table? Not a lot, really...occasional skip or tropospheric ducting could cause distant stations to interfere with each other, but that is just as true of Channels 2-6, and even infrequently on Channel 7 and up. It would happen just often enough to worry the FCC and make them conclude that TV should be moved off the under-50 mHz territory just as FM broadcasting had been during the late 1940s.