Lexington, KY (March 7, 1993)

[TR1968]

from Lexington Herald-Leader (Lexington edition) via Newspapers.com (the paper published several editions across their circulation area)

0 TLC
00 Inspirational Network
2 (27) WKYT-CBS
3 Lexington-Fayette Government Access
4 USA Network
7 WTBS
8 (18) WLEX-NBC
9 TeleCable Local Origination/E!
10 (36) WTVQ-ABC
11 MTV
12 (46) WKLE-PBS/KET
14 C-SPAN
15 KET, Etc.
16 University of Kentucky Television
17 A&E
18 CMT/Network Wildcard Channel
19 Lifetime
20 AMC/Travel Channel
21 Comedy Central
22 TNN
23 CNBC
24 HBO
25 Discovery Channel
26 ESPN
28 Family Channel
29 BET
30 Nickelodeon
31 TNT
32 CNN
33 (56) WDKY-Fox
34 VH1
35 SportsChannel
36 WGN
37 Showtime
38 Cinemax
39 The Movie Channel
40 Disney Channel
42 Viewer's Choice 1
43 C-SPAN2/Bravo
44 Viewer's Choice 2

 

[IM42A]

Did Lexington cable ever carry any Louisville-market stations not duplicated in Lexington, such as WGRB/WWWB/WBKI-34 Campbellsville?

I don't suppose they ever carried WDRB or WXIX. I know there was an issue with getting a stable OTA signal on WXIX due to being adjacent to WLEX-18 (as well as the rolling terrain between Cincinnati and Lexington), but unless something has changed, to this day WXIX is carried on cable in Winchester and Mount Sterling, both more or less equidistant to Cincinnati and about the same distance as Lexington, over similar terrain.

Georgetown and Paris are close enough that terrain probably isn't a major issue.

 

[ftballfan]

I think WWWB/WBKI did get picked up in Lexington after WGN dropped the WB from the Superstation feed.

 

[IM42A]

I think WWWB/WBKI did get picked up in Lexington after WGN dropped the WB from the Superstation feed.

I have some kind of vague memory of that, but wasn't sure whether it was a false one or not.

My guess is that the Lexington stations really don't want viewers in that city being able to get stations from other cities. They worked very hard to build that market, and for the longest time, you had those ubiquitous 30-foot towers on the sides of houses, because with a little doing, you could tease out a somewhat watchable signal from Cincinnati 5/9/12 and Louisville 3/11, this being partially a legacy from pre-1968 when Lexington had no full-time affiliates of a single network (similar to Augusta GA, though VHF rather than Lexington's UHF island). It took until 1983 (!) to pry Franklin County out of the Louisville market.

The Lexington market would blow itself out to everything in Kentucky east of I-75 if it could --- and who could blame them for wishing? --- but within a roughly 50-mile radius of Huntington, the C-H market rules the roost and probably always will. Knoxville and Tri-Cities have a more tenuous connection to their Kentucky counties, in that they do not border Kentucky and have little in common with that part of the state, and there is also the 800-pound gorilla that is WYMT.

 

[radiorob2.0]

Telecable was about new technology when they debuted in 1980. They offered a Network Wildcard channel that brought in Louisville and Cincy if local was preempting a program but that service was done a couple of years later. They claimed a decent signal couldn't be received for Channel 41 but many in Lexington would disagree. Especially those who had a high gain antenna which most of Lexington had until cable arrived.

 

[IM42A]

Telecable was about new technology when they debuted in 1980. They offered a Network Wildcard channel that brought in Louisville and Cincy if local was preempting a program but that service was done a couple of years later. They claimed a decent signal couldn't be received for Channel 41 but many in Lexington would disagree. Especially those who had a high gain antenna which most of Lexington had until cable arrived.

It is roughly 75 miles OTA from downtown Lexington to Floyds Knobs in Indiana, where the Louisville sticks are clustered. That's just about enough distance for the signal to be a little shaky, especially given the rolling terrain. So they might actually have had some justification, in terms of not being able to get a cable-quality signal, as opposed to something a little hit-or-miss, which was also easier to deal with in analog days, where the home viewer might forgive a little snow or ghosting if they wanted to watch a program badly enough. Hard to say.

 

[radiorob2.0]

It is roughly 75 miles OTA from downtown Lexington to Floyds Knobs in Indiana, where the Louisville sticks are clustered. That's just about enough distance for the signal to be a little shaky, especially given the rolling terrain. So they might actually have had some justification, in terms of not being able to get a cable-quality signal, as opposed to something a little hit-or-miss, which was also easier to deal with in analog days, where the home viewer might forgive a little snow or ghosting if they wanted to watch a program badly enough. Hard to say.

Telecable was more about satellite than over the air. As far as reception, a lion share of homes in metro Lexington had high gain antennas and Channel 41 had some noise but usable with a consumer grade antenna.

 

[IM42A]

Telecable was more about satellite than over the air. As far as reception, a lion share of homes in metro Lexington had high gain antennas and Channel 41 had some noise but usable with a consumer grade antenna.

Yes, but would it have been of a good enough quality for cable placement?

I know all about the Lexington antenna towers. If you would drive down Richmond Road, for instance, pretty much every house had this gargantuan 30-foot tower on the side. Got to wonder if some scrap metal recovery companies went through Lexington offering to dismantle and haul away the towers for free. They had to go somewhere, and that's not something the average home owner could take down on their own.

 

[radiorob2.0]

Yes, but would it have been of a good enough quality for cable placement?

I know all about the Lexington antenna towers. If you would drive down Richmond Road, for instance, pretty much every house had this gargantuan 30-foot tower on the side. Got to wonder if some scrap metal recovery companies went through Lexington offering to dismantle and haul away the towers for free. They had to go somewhere, and that's not something the average home owner could take down on their own.

It would be. Lexington sits on a plateau. Dozens of cable system had Channel 41, in Northwest Fayette county a viewable picture was possible with a loop on the back of the set. Again, Telecable wasn't into OTA groove.

 

[Gravel Switch]

Agree that Telecable wasn't into OTA, except for its Wildcard channel that would carry either the Louisville or Cincinnati network affiliate when one of the Lexington affiliates would pre-empt a show. I lived in the area during that time frame, and always wondered what the signal quality was for WDRB-TV 41, particularly when I saw a high-gain UHF antenna installed on some, not all, of the many antenna towers that dotted Lexington neighborhoods in the 1970s. Many of these towers were remnants from the 1960s and before when Lexington didn't have a full complement of network affiliates and had to rely on Louisville or Cincinnati VHF affiliates.

In 1980, and right before Telecable commenced operations, there was an outfit named Centerstage that would install a microwave antenna on your house, and it provided Showtime and WTBS to subscribers. For apartment MATV systems, Centerstage would also add a high-gain UHF antenna for WLKY-TV 32 (Louisville's ABC affiliate at the time) and WDRB-TV 41 in addition to Showtime and WTBS. (Many apartment buildings in Lexington at the time had MATV systems with high-gain VHF antennas to bring in Louisville and Cincinnati affiliates, in addition to local Lexington stations.)

Also, I remember visiting a family member at the University of Kentucky's medical center in Lexington in the early 1980s and recall that the TV in the hospital room had on an episode of The Untouchables from WDRB. The picture was pretty good. From the street outside of the medical center, I could discern what looked to be a cut-to-channel UHF antenna aimed west towards Louisville, and surmised this was how the MATV system was pulling in WDRB.

Further proof that Telecable wasn't into OTA, many CATV systems east of Lexington, even as far east as the town of Irvine, carried WDRB.

 

[Gravel Switch]

I think WWWB/WBKI did get picked up in Lexington after WGN dropped the WB from the Superstation feed.

Yes, WBKI-TV 34 (licensed to Campbellsville but positioned itself as a Louisville station) was carried in CATV in Lexington for a time in the early 2000s as the default WB station. This lasted until the launch of the CW, which WKYT carries on one of its digital sub channels, negating the need to import WBKI given it, too, became a CW affiliate. At that time, WBKI was dropped from many Lexington market CATV systems, some as far east as Irvine, Ky. (!).

 

[IM42A]

Agree that Telecable wasn't into OTA, except for its Wildcard channel that would carry either the Louisville or Cincinnati network affiliate when one of the Lexington affiliates would pre-empt a show. I lived in the area during that time frame, and always wondered what the signal quality was for WDRB-TV 41, particularly when I saw a high-gain UHF antenna installed on some, not all, of the many antenna towers that dotted Lexington neighborhoods in the 1970s. Many of these towers were remnants from the 1960s and before when Lexington didn't have a full complement of network affiliates and had to rely on Louisville or Cincinnati VHF affiliates.

In 1980, and right before Telecable commenced operations, there was an outfit named Centerstage that would install a microwave antenna on your house, and it provided Showtime and WTBS to subscribers. For apartment MATV systems, Centerstage would also add a high-gain UHF antenna for WLKY-TV 32 (Louisville's ABC affiliate at the time) and WDRB-TV 41 in addition to Showtime and WTBS. (Many apartment buildings in Lexington at the time had MATV systems with high-gain VHF antennas to bring in Louisville and Cincinnati affiliates, in addition to local Lexington stations.)

Also, I remember visiting a family member at the University of Kentucky's medical center in Lexington in the early 1980s and recall that the TV in the hospital room had on an episode of The Untouchables from WDRB. The picture was pretty good. From the street outside of the medical center, I could discern what looked to be a cut-to-channel UHF antenna aimed west towards Louisville, and surmised this was how the MATV system was pulling in WDRB.

Further proof that Telecable wasn't into OTA, many CATV systems east of Lexington, even as far east as the town of Irvine, carried WDRB.

Just out of curiosity, was there more of a preference for Louisville than Cincinnati stations in Lexington, or was it about equal? I also have to think that, prior to WBLG going on the air in 1968, it might have been more a question of "depends on what show you wanted to watch that night", and whether it was available on WLEX or WKYT.

Cincinnati stations had the bonus of being more centrally located to the northern half of Kentucky, whereas Louisville signals would have petered out somewhere around Mount Sterling at best. WCPO and WXIX were carried on cable in Morehead, and IIRC WLWT (and maybe WCPO and WXIX) were carried in Grayson. WXIX got as far east as Charleston WV on cable via microwave, and was popular in Huntington and Ashland as well.

 

[Gravel Switch]

Before WBLG signed on as a full-time ABC affiliate in June 1968, I suspect WKRC-TV 12 in Cincinnati may have seen a preference from Lexington viewers given it was Cincinnati's ABC affiliate. In the 1960s and up until 1975, WLKY-TV 32, Louisville's ABC affiliate, was somewhat out of reach in Lexington given WLKY didn't significantly up its ERP until 1975.

BTW, this relatively recent photo is the tower from TeleCable's former address, with OTA yagi antennas.

 

[radiofan2023]

Before WBLG signed on as a full-time ABC affiliate in June 1968, I suspect WKRC-TV 12 in Cincinnati may have seen a preference from Lexington viewers given it was Cincinnati's ABC affiliate. In the 1960s and up until 1975, WLKY-TV 32, Louisville's ABC affiliate, was somewhat out of reach in Lexington given WLKY didn't significantly up its ERP until 1975.

BTW, this relatively recent photo is the tower from TeleCable's former address, with OTA yagi antennas.

The picture isn’t showing up

 

[IM42A]

Before WBLG signed on as a full-time ABC affiliate in June 1968, I suspect WKRC-TV 12 in Cincinnati may have seen a preference from Lexington viewers given it was Cincinnati's ABC affiliate. In the 1960s and up until 1975, WLKY-TV 32, Louisville's ABC affiliate, was somewhat out of reach in Lexington given WLKY didn't significantly up its ERP until 1975.

BTW, this relatively recent photo is the tower from TeleCable's former address, with OTA yagi antennas.

Sounds reasonable, at the time, UHF also suffered from the handicap of continuous tuners and less-than-ideal antennas (people generally used 300 ohm twin lead, which basically acts as one long antenna, and if you don't know to twist it spirally on the way down, the results can be horrible). Even the early detent tuners left a lot to be desired.

I do know that WLEX and WKYT "cherry-picked" programs from the three networks, and unless programs were shown on tape delay, you simply couldn't cram three networks' programs onto two channels. So I imagine there had to be a lot of hopscotching around to find your desired program, and viewing it from out of town if need be. The Kentucky edition of TV Guide provided listings for Louisville, Cincinnati, and Lexington, as well as Evansville way back in the day.

WBLG going on the air, bare-bones operation though it was at the outset, pulled the fat out of fire as regards Lexington viewers being able to see all three networks in pattern.

 

[radiorob2.0]

Before WBLG signed on as a full-time ABC affiliate in June 1968, I suspect WKRC-TV 12 in Cincinnati may have seen a preference from Lexington viewers given it was Cincinnati's ABC affiliate. In the 1960s and up until 1975, WLKY-TV 32, Louisville's ABC affiliate, was somewhat out of reach in Lexington given WLKY didn't significantly up its ERP until 1975.

BTW, this relatively recent photo is the tower from TeleCable's former address, with OTA yagi antennas.

Actually WKYT was ABC when Taft owned the station. Garvis Kincaid purchased WKYT right around the time WBLG signed on. WKYT returned to CBS and WBLG was ABC.

 

[IM42A]

Actually WKYT was ABC when Taft owned the station. Garvis Kincaid purchased WKYT right around the time WBLG signed on. WKYT returned to CBS and WBLG was ABC.

But was WKYT able to carry the entire ABC schedule, in that they carried some CBS shows in tandem with WLEX?

The two Lexington stations seem to have been kind of a hodgepodge, similarly to how Dayton 2/7/22 were at one point each affiliated with all three networks. I've wondered if Dayton's proximity to Cincinnati and Columbus prompted them to mix up the schedules to provide some schedule diversity, and to draw viewers away from those two markets. It would only be in the northern parts of the Dayton market where viewers could get the networks from Dayton and only Dayton.

 

[Gravel Switch]

Looking at pre-1968 Lexington TV schedules in newspaper archives, WKYT's and WLEX's schedules were a hodgepodge of ABC and CBS (in WKYT's case) and NBC and CBS (in WLEX's case) programming. A Lexington-only viewer during those days had to hop, skip and jump around a lot between the two stations in terms of what would be cherry-picked from the three networks -- and it wasn't always consistent in terms of carriage of a weekly series.

(Also, below is the picture I intended to attach to post #13.)