ME TV In Chicago Shows Classic TV Over The Air-Why not in NYC ?

[xmradiopro]

I recently discovered ME TV a UHF Channel 23 in Chicago that airs all vintage TV shows from Get Smart,
Green Acres, Munsters, Adams Family, I Love Lucy, Sandford & Son, GoodTimes, Honeymooners,
Many more...these shows as I said are shown over the air on Channel 23 in Chicago.
The question is why isn't such a TV Channel on the air in New York City ? Why must we pay top dollar to see these same programs on cable TV such as TV Land ? Here's a link to Me TV

http://www.wciu.com/metv.asp

http://www.wciu.com/schedule.asp

Does anyone know if the New My TV on WWOR TV 9 have any plans in adding these same TV Sitcoms to their TV Channel ?

Also their sister TV Channel 26 shows a Three Stooges Marathon every Saturday Night...are we missing good TV here ?

 

[toby]

Which station would do it?
It would have to be a suburban UHF-er.
WMBC is making too much money with infomercials and ethnic shows.
WRNN is getting the infomercial/home shopping money.
WFME is running infomercals for Satan.
WLNY seems OK with its format.
It seems that we ran out of "independent" stations.

 

[oldschooltv]

This would be a perfect fit for WSAH-43 in Bridgeport, if only the Shop At Home network would finally be put out of its misery!

 

[toby]

I think the only way for that to work is if they got must carry status in the city.

 

[xmradiopro]

What about all the low power UHF TV Channles, why can't one of these show Vintage TV ?
Why limit to UHF TV, why not VHF TV Channels ? As I mentioned before MY TV WWOR would be a good canidate to show the kind of programming Me TV has.

 

[neo11]

Let's see:

17 - Seems to air hispanic religious programming
25 - has updated its programming and is a pretty cool station nowadays as NYCTV
26 - low power station that seems to show the same three things over and over again
31 - "i"tv - a useless waste of a station
32 - America's Store
34 - Completely useless and overmodulated rebroadcast of 31
35 - More hispanic religious programming
39 - Azteca America
42 - Yet another hispanic jesuscaster with a very poor signal
43 - Shop at Home out of CT...kind of a poor over-the-air signal in New York...at my home in Flushing I actually get Ch. 20 and 59 out of CT much better over the air than this
46 - English-lanuage jesuscaster
55 - No longer over-the-air except for HDTV
60 - Home Shopping Network
62 - No longer on the air except for HDTV
63 - Infomercials and the lamest newscast ever
66 - Jesus 24-7

Then let's not forget the LPTV on Channel 6, which I don't even believe is broadcasting any video anymore, while the audio is used as a Russian radio station on 87.7 FM.

Out of all the above, I am sure that we could have had at least one or two good indies, but there just doesn't seem to be anyone willing to invest in such a station, while other cities seem to have at least one or two such stations.

 

[Markxxx]

The key to ME-TV is WCIU is running the old series on a low power station from the top of the 5th tallest building in the world. That give it a good reach.

You will not WCIU doesn't air the old series on the "real" channel.

Also NYC is about 2 1/2 times as big as Chicago. So the low power TV channels serve the ethnic minorities more.

Outside of Mexicans there isn't a sizable minority which speaks another language. (Mexicans outnumber Puerto Ricans almost 4 to 1). A small Korean community makes up the next largest numbers. But all the minority programs can be served by another lower power channel run by WCIU which is WFBN-TV Channel 48. The two other low powers Korean Channel 41 and Spanish Channel 13 are so weak they don't cover their markets well. In fact low power Channel 13 to protect Rockford to the Northwest loses nearly 1/2 the Latino population who live on the NW side of Chicago.

WWME started out only from 12 noon to 3pm. Then went to 5pm but that took years to build 5 hours of programing.

I think this question is better asked WHAT is going to happen when we switch to digital. Will all the TV stations use their bandwidth to air HDTV or will they run 5 SDTV channels. If so what programs will be on it.

Where do your NYC stations come from? The Empire State Building? All of Chicago's regular TV stations come from the John Hancock or the Sears Tower which helps as the buildings are close to each other and don't really block each other.

 

[neo11]

Channels 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 17, 25, 31, 41, 47 and 68 are from the Empire State Building.

Low-power Channel 6 is from the Citicorp Tower in Queens, a rather tall building. The video, when it was on, was heavily directional, but the audio, which is used as a Russian-language radoi station, blasts loud and clear all over NYC and into the suburbs. I think some of the low-power stations such as 39 also use that building, and are also heavily directional, while some others use a tower site in Long Island City near the Citicorp Tower.

HSN on Channel 60 is out of lower Manhattan, I think.

The other stations are from suburbia mostly...21 is out in Nassau County somewhere, 50 is from the campus of Montclair State University in New Jersey and puts in a nice signal over the NYC area. 34 and 63 are from West Orange, NJ and also come in nicely in NYC.

Before the Twin Towers came down, most of the full-power stations were there and not on ESB. I believe only Channels 25 and 68 were on ESB, as well as CBS-2's backup, which switched on automatically on 9/11 when all the other major stations were off the air for days.

 

[rch66]

Maybe Tribune could start a WPIX DT-3, as a alternative digital subchannel, filling the void of the lack of independent type stations in the NY area. Its programming would be without talk shows, court room shows, and a network lineup in the evening, but still have WPIX's professionalism, so it'd go back to a time before WB11 days. Be like the WGN cable channel sans the WGN Chicago news, (with runs of Happy Days, Matlock, Magnum PI, and Rockford Files) and some other shows - including Laverne & Shirley, I Love Lucy, Andy Griffith, Bewitched, Jeannie, etc., and some shows already on WB11 including Good Times, Jeffersons, Welcome Back Kotter, and Frasier, though aired during the day.

Also, air WB11 10:00 News as a rebroadcast at 11PM or midnight (for those who missed the 10pm news).

I heard Sinclair started a digital channel called Good TV for WBFF 45 (FOX) in Baltimore,
http://www.sbgi.net/press/release_200652_159.shtml

But I'm not sure if its still on the air in Baltimore. New York would be a better market to test a channel like this. Lot of people don't want cable or satellite's monthly bills, but would settle for a digital tuner to pick up more channels.

 

[ultravox]

I live in Chicago. We get 23 on Cable and Dish / Direct tv as well as OTA. This is a great station. Every season they change the programming. Right now its The Summer on ME. Starting the second week of September they will change thier programming and take off some shows and put on some new ones. everyone in chicgo cant wait till they release thier upcoming schedule. I TiVo this station all the time. it is a LP UHF station. its call letters are WWME-CA But don't fret "i" (PAX) hes just signed with Sony and other companies to give them rights to old the old shows of the 50s, 60s, 70, and some 80s. They already started with Mammas Family and Green acres. It will be turned into a Classic staion.

 

[rch66]

I just went down to Baltimore, and got a chance to watch some digital OTA. Apparently, Sinclair's WBFF 45 DT .2 does run some classic programming including "Little House on the Prairie", "Magnum, P.I." and "Mission Impossible" , "All in the Family" and "Sanford & Son", "In the Heat of the Night". The classic TV on the digital subchannel is about the one thing Sinclair does right. Note: The programming is sometimes the same as the primary feed, but primetime is different with different programming. But, maybe Tribune or Fox could start a subchannel classic OTA channel for the NYC market or other markets, esp. where there is no indy station around.