Network Differences in Number of Affiliates

[KeithE4]

It is difficult to tell whether WVAH (Huntington WV) or KSTU (Salt Lake City) are on reduced power for interference reduction. Both stations have extremely high antennas. And both are directional.

KSTU runs 112 kW ERP and nulls to the west & southwest, probably to protect Sacramento & Las Vegas. Since their tower is west of SLC, that probably doesn't affect much of their real viewing area.

Link: KSTU Pattern

 

[w9wi]

KSTU runs 112 kW ERP and nulls to the west & southwest, probably to protect Sacramento & Las Vegas. Since their tower is west of SLC, that probably doesn't affect much of their real viewing area.

A quick check (with a piece of paper and a U.S. map) suggests that SLC is 350 miles from Vegas and over 400 miles from Sacramento. I'm pretty confident KSTU isn't protecting either city's channel 13 stations.

It looks like the closest channel 13 station is KGWR in Rock Springs, Wyoming, only about 145 miles away from the center of SLC. (since the KSTU transmitter is west of SLC the distance to KGWR will be somewhat greater - and the KGWR transmitter might be east of Rock Springs as well) I think the notch on the northeast side of the KSTU pattern protects KGWR.

The big notch in the back of KSTU's pattern is probably to keep power from bouncing off taller mountains to the west and creating multipath problems. Or simply an inadvertent result of a side-mounted antenna, considered acceptable because nobody lives west of SLC...

There's also a channel 13 station in Twin Falls, Idaho (KIPT) which is about 180 miles from SLC, right at the edge of what's required. Twin Falls also has a station on channel 11, same as Provo's KBYU-TV.

 

[bpatrick]

I suppose I should consult my Broadcasting Yearbook
before I go spouting off about technical information.
WFXI and WVLT do operate at full power. In WFXI's
case, it sits between 7 (Washington, NC) and 9 (Greenville,
NC) (as a channel, not geographically), and I suppose,
knowing how spread out that market is, it's not really
a big reception problem. I do recall, however, that there
were issues about Channel 8 in Knoxville short-spacing
Channel 8 in Nashville and Athens, GA; perhaps the lower
antenna takes care of that.

Interestingly, UHF stations moved to VHF in Knoxville,
Charleston/Huntington, Salt Lake City, and Johnstown/
Altoona. WVLT was WTVK/26, WVAH moved from 23
to 11, KSTU from 20 to 13, and (as I believe someone
noted) WWCP(?) was WOPC/23.

 

[kenhawk1160]

"the owner tells me there's rules prohibiting LPTV's from having full-
powered station network affiliations."

Who's rule? No such rule that I know of. I believe CBS in Milwaukee and ABC in South Bend have them.

The owner told me it was an FCC reg. I'm not in the TV business, so I'm not in a position to refute or deny that.

 

[vibe]

FWIW-we lived on top of a hill in Rutland, MA and received "only" 3 CBS affilaties vs 6 each for NBC, ABC, and 8 for PBS. This was in the mid 80's before Fox. We received 2 Ch 8's , one from about 80 mi OTA in New haven and about 100-110 mi OTA from Mt. Washington. Neither interfesed w/ one another when the antenna was locked on to the station we were watching wihich was very occasional except for the news once in a while.
Why CBS had only 3 stations, who knows?

 

[clichemoth]

"the owner tells me there's rules prohibiting LPTV's from having full-
powered station network affiliations."

Who's rule? No such rule that I know of. I believe CBS in Milwaukee and ABC in South Bend have them.

The owner told me it was an FCC reg. I'm not in the TV business, so I'm not in a position to refute or deny that.

No such thing. All four networks have some LPTV affiliates in smaller markets, which are counted towards the total in the first post.