KVOS Seattle (???)

[SomeRadioGuy]

Can they get by with doing it with Morse code very rapidly, or inserting it in the vertical blanking interval?

Im not sure what the rules are behind TV IDs... im pretty sure a visual would suffice but i dont think theres an inaudible methods like fm translators

 

[The New Chico]

There have been mutiple efforts over the years to make KVOS a "Seattle" station, for obvious financial benefits. When Barry Ackerley owned both KVOS and the Seattle Sonics, he leveraged basketball broadcasts to make sure he got cable carriage throughout the region. Back in 2009, the current owners (i believe) tried to move the COL and the tower down to a tall hill just north of Granite Falls, which would have gotten the signal as far south as Tacoma. The feds said no to that move.

The heyday for KVOS is way back in the rear-view mirror. It did its best when it could sell ads into the Vancouver market (they had an office and fulll time sales/production staff in Vancouver) as a US indy staiton- we are talking the 60s and the 70s. Once the Canadian government dropped the bomb on advertising write-offs most of that money quicky dried up. I love living up here, but there's no way that Bellingham can support a full power station with actual personnel by itself.

In the days of analog, you absolutely could get KVOS on north facing hills in the Seattle area. My aunt got it fine on her big antenna on the Renton Highlands. When I was a little kid living in the Edmonds bowl, I got my cartoons on Frisky Frolics on KVOS.

 

[valvashon]

Is it possible that KVOS is feeding cable headends with the Seattle COL but feeding the transmitter with the correct legal ID? I remember when I lived in Federal Way (back in the paleolithic era) that channel 12 was on my cable feed but too noisy for any useful OTA reception. It may be that once you get up to your own xmtr and have access to KVOS's OTA signal, you'll find they do ID correctly. Or not, but you can't truly know until you see their OTA legal ID.

That picture is from OTA reception up on Tiger Mt. The antenna is at one end of the transmitter building at WTM-2. It's a cut 33 antenna mounted facing up so that we can receive a signal on our station on RF33. KVOS comes blasting in even though I took no special measures to receive it.

 

[Bongwater]

There have been mutiple efforts over the years to make KVOS a "Seattle" station, for obvious financial benefits. When Barry Ackerley owned both KVOS and the Seattle Sonics, he leveraged basketball broadcasts to make sure he got cable carriage throughout the region. Back in 2009, the current owners (i believe) tried to move the COL and the tower down to a tall hill just north of Granite Falls, which would have gotten the signal as far south as Tacoma. The feds said no to that move.

The heyday for KVOS is way back in the rear-view mirror. It did its best when it could sell ads into the Vancouver market (they had an office and fulll time sales/production staff in Vancouver) as a US indy staiton- we are talking the 60s and the 70s. Once the Canadian government dropped the bomb on advertising write-offs most of that money quicky dried up. I love living up here, but there's no way that Bellingham can support a full power station with actual personnel by itself.

In the days of analog, you absolutely could get KVOS on north facing hills in the Seattle area. My aunt got it fine on her big antenna on the Renton Highlands. When I was a little kid living in the Edmonds bowl, I got my cartoons on Frisky Frolics on KVOS.

It wasn't the current owners of KVOS that tried to move it to Granite Falls as a Telemundo affiliate. It was Michael Dell, who bought the station from (then) Clear Chanrel after Ackerley sold out his broadcasting properties.

I too was a Frisky Frolics freak. Fun-O-Rama too

 

[Bongwater]

I love living up here, but there's no way that Bellingham can support a full power station with actual personnel by itself

It will one day. It's just not today

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

It's been fixed and the .1 is IDing correctly. The person I spoke to is not sure how it ended up being done wrong but it's been fixed

 

[TexasTom]

The heyday for KVOS is way back in the rear-view mirror. It did its best when it could sell ads into the Vancouver market (they had an office and fulll time sales/production staff in Vancouver) as a US indy staiton- we are talking the 60s and the 70s. Once the Canadian government dropped the bomb on advertising write-offs most of that money quicky dried up. I love living up here, but there's no way that Bellingham can support a full power station with actual personnel by itself.

In the days of analog, you absolutely could get KVOS on north facing hills in the Seattle area. My aunt got it fine on her big antenna on the Renton Highlands. When I was a little kid living in the Edmonds bowl, I got my cartoons on Frisky Frolics on KVOS.

One correction: in those days, KVOS was a CBS affiliate, although by the mid-70s they ran a lot of CBS programming out of pattern and preempted more than was usual for a network affiliate. In essence, it was programmed almost as a hybrid between a network affiliate and an independent station. And, yes, it was obviously targeting Vancouver, BC.

And on a good day, I could get the station down in Lakewood (southwest suburb of Tacoma).

 

[The New Chico]

One correction: in those days, KVOS was a CBS affiliate, although by the mid-70s they ran a lot of CBS programming out of pattern and preempted more than was usual for a network affiliate. In essence, it was programmed almost as a hybrid between a network affiliate and an independent station. And, yes, it was obviously targeting Vancouver, BC.

And on a good day, I could get the station down in Lakewood (southwest suburb of Tacoma).

They are so old, they were once a Dumont station!

Always were kind of a funky CBS afilliate, which is why I tend to characterize them as more of an indy. They most certianly didn't clear the whole CBS schedule.

Pretty impressive to get them down in Lakewood, especially with 11 and 13 right in the neighborhood. AND with KPTV Portland throwing in a powerful (if distant) co-channel signal as well. For most of the 70s our cable system in Lynnwood WA carried both channel 12s- KVOS was on 12 and KPTV was on 10.

 

[RF101]

Is it possible that KVOS is feeding cable headends with the Seattle COL but feeding the transmitter with the correct legal ID? I remember when I lived in Federal Way (back in the paleolithic era) that channel 12 was on my cable feed but too noisy for any useful OTA reception. It may be that once you get up to your own xmtr and have access to KVOS's OTA signal, you'll find they do ID correctly. Or not, but you can't truly know until you see their OTA legal ID.

I believe this to be the case. I can see Mt Constitution from my residence and KVOS "12.1" was ID'ing correctly the whole time.