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Network stations that don't refer to their channel numbers

N

nomadcowatbk

A lot of these are low rated former independent/Fox stations that took an old Big 3 network after Fox went to stronger VHF stations during the mid 90s. Many CW and MyNet don't refer to their channel numbers


KSHB "NBC Action News"
WFTS "ABC Action News"
(both Scrips stations that were Fox before the mid 90s affiliate switches)
WWJ "CBS Detroit"
WGCL "CBS Atlanta"
WFLD "Fox Chicago"
 
WVIT-TV (NBC) channel 30 of New Britain/Hartford only refers to themselves now as NBC Connecticut, never mentioning channel 30 or their digital frequency of channel 35. The same goes for WTIC-TV (FOX) channel 61 of Hartford, only going by FOX-CT and/or FOX Connecticut. A viewer will see a tiny "WTIC-DT 31" on a station ID, if they look at the right time. Antenna TV on WTIC-TV 61-2 will ID as "WTIC-TV 61-2 Hartford/New Haven."
 
KML-224 said:
WVIT-TV (NBC) channel 30 of New Britain/Hartford only refers to themselves now as NBC Connecticut, never mentioning channel 30 or their digital frequency of channel 35. The same goes for WTIC-TV (FOX) channel 61 of Hartford, only going by FOX-CT and/or FOX Connecticut. A viewer will see a tiny "WTIC-DT 31" on a station ID, if they look at the right time. Antenna TV on WTIC-TV 61-2 will ID as "WTIC-TV 61-2 Hartford/New Haven."
Click to expand...

Does any station refer to their digital frequency (unless it's the same as their old analog frequency)?
 
WYFX-LD "Fox Youngstown" (also on full-power WKBN/27.2)

This station started as a combo of two low-power analog stations, first "Fox 31/62" and later "Fox 17/62". It adopted the "Fox Youngstown" banner before eventually dropping the 17 half (WFXI-CA/Mercer PA) and then converting analog WYFX-LP 62 to digital WYFX-LP 19.

But it's probably the placement on 27.2 that led to the dropping of the "Fox 17/62" branding.
 
The NBC O&O in the San Francisco Bay Area now brands as "NBC Bay Area." It broadcasts on channel 11, channel 3 on cable, and God knows what on satellite. Channel numbers are becoming increasingly irrelevant.
 
Yeah, and that's too bad. Channel numbers can slice through any other imaging a station might provide. Can anyone think of WABC, or WLS, or KABC, or KGO, without thinking of Channel 7? This number is an extremely important part of these stations branding. As the tv universe changes, this type of identification is going by the wayside, and I think it is a big loss, not only for the viewer, but for the stations, who depend on precise identification and branding. It will be much harder in the future.
 
nomadcowatbk said:
A lot of these are low rated former independent/Fox stations that took an old Big 3 network after Fox went to stronger VHF stations during the mid 90s. Many CW and MyNet don't refer to their channel numbers


KSHB "NBC Action News"
WFTS "ABC Action News"
(both Scrips stations that were Fox before the mid 90s affiliate switches)
WWJ "CBS Detroit"
WGCL "CBS Atlanta"
WFLD "Fox Chicago"
Click to expand...

Not to mention KSMO TV First The WB Kansas City no channel number reference and now My KSMO TV. The same in Oklahoma City KOCB TV The WB Oklahoma City Then The CW Oklahoma City now its back to the The CW34
 
WBNX/55, the CW affiliate in the Cleveland market, is branding as "WBNX-The CW", and no longer uses "55"...at one point, they were "WB55", and even before that, had a rather interesting graphic animation with the "55" logo.

As soon as I say that, of course, I see they have a new legal ID graphic that has a "55" in the background. :D
 
KML-224 said:
WVIT-TV (NBC) channel 30 of New Britain/Hartford only refers to themselves now as NBC Connecticut, never mentioning channel 30 or their digital frequency of channel 35. The same goes for WTIC-TV (FOX) channel 61 of Hartford, only going by FOX-CT and/or FOX Connecticut. A viewer will see a tiny "WTIC-DT 31" on a station ID, if they look at the right time. Antenna TV on WTIC-TV 61-2 will ID as "WTIC-TV 61-2 Hartford/New Haven."
Click to expand...

Doesn't WCTX do something similar? I don't remember them mentioning a channel number since way back in the days of "WB 59". Then later they became "The X" (which I thought was pretty lame). They even did "MY 9" at one point in reference to their cable channel number. What are they now? How about WCCT?
 
In NJ, PBS affiliate NJN has never referred to a channel number as long as I can remember.They have always been "NJN". In NYC all the major networks refer to their channel number.
 
ansky212: That's because NJN is actually four different stations (WNJS, WNJT, WNJM, WNJB) simulcasting the same signal on four different channels numbers.

WTXF 29 bills itself as "Fox Philadelphia" which is odd because "Channel 29" always had a great image both pre- and post-Fox.
 
nomadcowatbk said:
KML-224 said:
WVIT-TV (NBC) channel 30 of New Britain/Hartford only refers to themselves now as NBC Connecticut, never mentioning channel 30 or their digital frequency of channel 35. The same goes for WTIC-TV (FOX) channel 61 of Hartford, only going by FOX-CT and/or FOX Connecticut. A viewer will see a tiny "WTIC-DT 31" on a station ID, if they look at the right time. Antenna TV on WTIC-TV 61-2 will ID as "WTIC-TV 61-2 Hartford/New Haven."
Click to expand...

Does any station refer to their digital frequency (unless it's the same as their old analog frequency)?
Click to expand...

KCEN, the NBC station in Temple/Waco TX, uses the DTV channel on their IDs.
 
nomadcowatbk said:
Does any station refer to their digital frequency (unless it's the same as their old analog frequency)?
Click to expand...

It's my understanding a small number do.

It's pretty rare as the ATSC standard (incorporated by reference into FCC regulations) requires stations to use their old analog channel as their virtual channel. WTMJ-TV may be on RF channel 28, but if the station is compliant with the regulations (it is) it will come up as channel 4 on TV sets.

The FCC doesn't care what channel number you promote yourself as. WTMJ could call itself "NBC 95" if it wanted to, as far as the FCC is concerned. However, if viewers have to punch in "04" to receive the station, referring to "95" or "28"* doesn't make much sense.


* yes, I realize punching in "28" will tune in WTMJ on most OTA receivers... but the TV will continue to tell the viewer the station is channel 4, and if the viewer goes someplace that has cable or satellite, 28 isn't going be WTMJ..
 
WUHF here in Rochester has been exclusively "Fox Rochester" for many years now, with no reference to "channel 31" even in the last years of analog. Interestingly, its sister Sinclair stations in Buffalo and Syracuse are still "Fox 29" and "Fox 68" in their branding, and WUHF operates under a shared-services agreement with Nexstar's WROC-TV here, which is very much "channel 8" in its own branding.

My own sometimes employer, WXXI, hasn't used "channel 21" in its TV branding for many years, either.

In both cases, it's a direct result of the very high cable penetration here. Many more people see us on cable 11 or cable 1011, and WUHF on 7 or 1007, than see "21.1" or "31.1" OTA or "21" or "31" on satellite. None of the PBS outlets upstate use a channel number - we're all just "WNED" or "WCNY" or "WSKG" or "WMHT" or "WPBS."

South of here, Elmira's WENY-TV dropped its "36" branding around the time of the DTV conversion, when it also added a subchannel carrying CBS. It's just "WENY-TV" on both 36.1 (ABC) and 36.2 (CBS). The Fox station down there, WYDC, has never used "48" that I can recall; it's always just been "Big FOX WYDC."

Most of the other network affiliates across upstate New York use channel numbers still. The only other exception I can think of is the Nexstar cluster in Utica, which brands just as "WUTR" and "WFXV," no "20" or "33."
 
searadiofreak said:
Yeah, and that's too bad. Channel numbers can slice through any other imaging a station might provide. Can anyone think of WABC, or WLS, or KABC, or KGO, without thinking of Channel 7? This number is an extremely important part of these stations branding. As the tv universe changes, this type of identification is going by the wayside, and I think it is a big loss, not only for the viewer, but for the stations, who depend on precise identification and branding. It will be much harder in the future.
Click to expand...

I don't disagree - and its getting increasingly hard for me in my...uh...advanced years - to remember from day to day where to find cable networks. I have HD now, of course, so that complicates things - Comcast gives HD "700" designations, so the old-line networks in HD are 702 (Fox 2), 705 (CBS 5) and 707 (ABC 7 - KGO). That's easy to recall - but it gets murkier with all the cable channels.

The problem with KNTV ("NBC Bay Area") is that its a recent O&O (since 2003, I think) and hasn't been around since the dawn of television like the other locals. They flopped around for a couple of years, first branding as "NBC 3" (cable position), then changing to "NBC 11" (broadcast dial position) - so I don't think their branding was well established in the minds of consumers anyway.
 
Lkeller said:
searadiofreak said:
Yeah, and that's too bad. Channel numbers can slice through any other imaging a station might provide. Can anyone think of WABC, or WLS, or KABC, or KGO, without thinking of Channel 7? This number is an extremely important part of these stations branding. As the tv universe changes, this type of identification is going by the wayside, and I think it is a big loss, not only for the viewer, but for the stations, who depend on precise identification and branding. It will be much harder in the future.
Click to expand...

I don't disagree - and its getting increasingly hard for me in my...uh...advanced years - to remember from day to day where to find cable networks. I have HD now, of course, so that complicates things - Comcast gives HD "700" designations, so the old-line networks in HD are 702 (Fox 2), 705 (CBS 5) and 707 (ABC 7 - KGO). That's easy to recall - but it gets murkier with all the cable channels.

The problem with KNTV ("NBC Bay Area") is that its a recent O&O (since 2003, I think) and hasn't been around since the dawn of television like the other locals. They flopped around for a couple of years, first branding as "NBC 3" (cable position), then changing to "NBC 11" (broadcast dial position) - so I don't think their branding was well established in the minds of consumers anyway.
Click to expand...


How about KQED, KTEH, KCET, KRCB and KCSM sometimes its just refered by Call letter and not by channel numbers. Also KTLA tried to phase out the Channel numbers and brand it only by Call letters in 2004-2005.
 
Pab Sungenis said:
ansky212: That's because NJN is actually four different stations (WNJS, WNJT, WNJM, WNJB) simulcasting the same signal on four different channels numbers.
Click to expand...

True, and each of these stations has their own individual top of the hour ID (i.e. WNJN-Montclair, WNJS-Camden). If they really wanted to they could call themselves "NJN 50" or "NJN 23" in the local areas. But since it's the same programming all around it doesn't make much difference.
 
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