Odd analog-era VHF adjacent pairings in markets

[RadioDaze]

The topic on this board about a signal on every available VHF channel prompted another thought: what are some examples of markets in the analog era with adjacent VHF signals NOT INCLUDING those where there was band space in between (channels 4 and 5 or channels 6 and 7). Discuss how this come about and how was it maintained to conform to FCC interference specs?

Three examples of which I'm aware:

Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News, VA-NC market (adjacent channels 2, 3, and 4): Norfolk-licensed CBS affiliate WTKR, channel 3 was joined in 2001 by Manteo, NC-licensed independent WSKY on channel 4, though the two antenna sites were a good distance apart with WTKR at the market's traditional antenna farm at Driver, Va., while WSKY's signal came from Powell's Point, NC. A few years later in a paper-only move to gain must-carry status, UNC-TV transmitter WUND, channel 2, licensed to Columbia, NC (in the Greenville-New Bern-Jacksonville, NC market) changed its city of license to Edenton, NC, technically making it the fifth VHF signal in Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News and giving the market adjacent channels 2, 3, and 4 (though the channel 2 transmitter, west of Columbia is even farther away from Driver than WSKY's Powell's Point site.

Greenville-New Bern-Jacksonville, NC market (adjacent channels 7, 8, and 9) : The market's first station (1953) was Greenville CBS affiliate WNCT, channel 9, followed by Washington, NC-licensed NBC affiliate WITN, channel 7 (1955)--both even sharing the same tower at Grifton, NC by 1977. In 1989, the market got a new VHF on channel 8, Fox affiliate WFXI in Morehead City. This works, though because WFXI is located in far-eastern Carteret County, which juts out into the Atlantic Ocean and is a log ways from Grifton--so far, in fact, that the station had to sign on a UHF repeater in Greenville (WYDO, channel 14) to cover the market's core cities.

El Dorado-Monroe, AR-LA market (adjacent channels 10, 11, 12, and 13: I'm not familiar with this market or its layout, so I'll defer to others for the inside story. However, El Dorado, AR-licensed NBC affiliate KTVE, channel 10, Columbia, LA-licensed ABC affiliate KAQY, channel 11, El Dorado-licensed Arkansas Educational TV/PBS station KETZ, channel 12, and Monroe-licensed Louisiana Public Broadcasting/PBS station KLTM, channel 13.

 

[fybush]

The Phoenix market sprawled out to include most of the state of Arizona except the southern third, and as a result it included not only channels 3, 5, 8, 10 and 12 right in Phoenix but also signals on 2, 4, 9 and 13 in Flagstaff (two hours north), 11 in Holbrook (three hours northeast), 7 in Prescott (two hours northwest) and 6 in Kingman (three-plus hours northwest).

Albuquerque, Denver and Salt Lake worked much the same way - 6/8/12 in Farmington/Durango against 5/7/11/13 in Albuquerque; 3 in Sterling against 2/4 in Denver; and Salt Lake City's market is so vast that it even included a co-channel pair, 4 in both St. George and Salt Lake itself.

Moving back east, most of northern Michigan's all one big market, including WPBN 7 Traverse City, WGTQ 8 Sault Ste. Marie, WWTV 9 Cadillac and WWUP 10 Sault Ste. Marie. (The latter two even branded as "9&10" for many years.)

 

[ShawnHill1]

Albuquerque, Denver and Salt Lake worked much the same way - 6/8/12 in Farmington/Durango against 5/7/11/13 in Albuquerque; 3 in Sterling against 2/4 in Denver; and Salt Lake City's market is so vast that it even included a co-channel pair, 4 in both St. George and Salt Lake itself.

Albuquerque also had Channels 2 (KASA) and 4 (KOB-TV).

 

[KeithE4]

Moving back east, most of northern Michigan's all one big market, including WPBN 7 Traverse City, WGTQ 8 Sault Ste. Marie, WWTV 9 Cadillac and WWUP 10 Sault Ste. Marie. (The latter two even branded as "9&10" for many years.)

The Marquette market (the western and central parts of the UP) had WBKP Channel 5 in Calumet and WLUC-TV 6 in Marquette.

In the '50s, before allocations were changed, Champaign IL had WCIA-TV Channel 3 and Springfield had a CP for WMAY-TV Channel 2. WMAY-TV never made it to air, and Springfield was made all-UHF, the FCC moving its Channel 2 allocation to St. Louis (swapped with 36, which WMAY got a CP for but never built AFAIK) and Terre Haute (WTWO beginning in 1965).

 

[fybush]

Albuquerque, Denver and Salt Lake worked much the same way - 6/8/12 in Farmington/Durango against 5/7/11/13 in Albuquerque; 3 in Sterling against 2/4 in Denver; and Salt Lake City's market is so vast that it even included a co-channel pair, 4 in both St. George and Salt Lake itself.

Albuquerque also had Channels 2 (KASA) and 4 (KOB-TV).

Which only matters in the context of this thread if there were a channel 3 somewhere in the vastness of the ABQ market, too...and I think KENW in Portales counts. (It's on either Dish or Direct serving all of the Albuquerque market...)

 

[crainbebo]

If you had a good antenna, you had 11 [KSTW], 12 [KVOS] and 13 [KCPQ]. KVOS is licensed to Bellingham and serves NW WA and BC, but its signal still makes it a ways South if you have a good antenna. 11 and 13 both licensed to Tacoma [has that changed? I don't think so]

-crainbebo

 

[gbranch]

El Dorado-Monroe, AR-LA market (adjacent channels 10, 11, 12, and 13: I'm not familiar with this market or its layout, so I'll defer to others for the inside story. However, El Dorado, AR-licensed NBC affiliate KTVE, channel 10, Columbia, LA-licensed ABC affiliate KAQY, channel 11, El Dorado-licensed Arkansas Educational TV/PBS station KETZ, channel 12, and Monroe-licensed Louisiana Public Broadcasting/PBS station KLTM, channel 13.

I don't think that KETZ ever operated on channel 12 analog. There would have been a co-channel interference issue with KSLA Shreveport, which is only about 80 miles from El Dorado.

 

[fybush]

The Portland, Oregon market at one time had both KATU 2 (ABC Portland) and KVDO 3 in Salem, 60 miles or so to the south but still very much within the market. KVDO was that rarest of things, a failed commercial VHF station, and the allocation ended up being moved way out to Bend after KVDO failed.

Another failed V was channel 11 in Houma, Louisiana, which for a time operated adjacent to WYES-TV 12 in New Orleans.

And there's another 11/12 pairing that existed for a bit in the Salt Lake City area, both educational stations: KBYU 11 Provo, to the south of SLC, and KUSU-TV 12 in Logan, way to the northeast of SLC. KBYU survived, but KUSU-TV did not.

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

In the '50s, before allocations were changed, Champaign IL had WCIA-TV Channel 3 and Springfield had a CP for WMAY-TV Channel 2. WMAY-TV never made it to air, and Springfield was made all-UHF, the FCC moving its Channel 2 allocation to St. Louis (swapped with 36, which WMAY got a CP for but never built AFAIK) and Terre Haute (WTWO beginning in 1965).

If the channel 2 CP here in Springfield had made the air, IMO it is likely they would have had to build their tower west of the city (most likely halfway between here and Jacksonville), rather than with most of the present Springfield-allocated stations at Mechanicsburg, IL, due to WCIA (and to some extent WBBM Chicago). This would have resulted in the east side of its Grade B signal not reaching far beyond Decatur, and perhaps the separation of Champaign and Springfield into separate markets--or perhaps combining the latter with Peoria (which originally had channel 8 before it was moved to Moline as WQAD, which signed on in 1963).

 

[Charles1]

Although Birmingham and Montgomery are about 90 miles apart, how about WSFA-12 in Montgomery and WVTM-13 in Birmingham? Likewise, about 90 miles apart, how about WTOK-11 in Meridian and WJTV-12 in Jackson?

 

[fybush]

Although Birmingham and Montgomery are about 90 miles apart, how about WSFA-12 in Montgomery and WVTM-13 in Birmingham? Likewise, about 90 miles apart, how about WTOK-11 in Meridian and WJTV-12 in Jackson?

There are plenty of 90-mile first-adjacent spacings in adjoining markets; it's more the norm than the exception, in fact. Here in Rochester NY, we had an 8 and 10 sandwiched between 7 in Buffalo (60 miles west) and 9 in Syracuse (70 miles east).

(I've blessedly forgotten the old analog VHF spacing rules now that they don't matter anymore, but I suspect w9wi can weigh in on them - full spacing can't have been much more than 90 miles in even the least congested zone.)

 

[Bob1370]

WKTV, Channel 2 in Utica, NY, was every bit as close or closer to its adjacent channel neighbor WSTM, Channel 3, in Syracuse. They may have barely made the minimum spacing for Zone I.

 

[KML0224]

What about if you were in Thompson, CT? It's the far northeast corner of the Hartford/New Haven DMA (and for the state of Connecticut). Head one town east-southeast and you're in northwestern RI and the Providence/New Bedford DMA. Head one town due north and you're in southern Worcester County, MA and the western portion of the Boston/Worcester DMA. Since these three TV markets touch, you'd get this:

WGBH-TV (PBS) channel 2 Boston
WFSB-TV (CBS) channel 3 Hartford
WBZ-TV (CBS) channel 4 Boston
WCVB-TV (ABC) channel 5 Boston
WLNE-TV (ABC) channel 6 New Bedford
WHDH-TV (NBC) channel 7 Boston
WTNH-TV (ABC) channel 8 New Haven
WMUR-TV (ABC) channel 9 Manchester, NH
WJAR-TV (NBC) channel 10 Providence
WENH-TV (PBS) channel 11 Durham, NH
WPRI-TV (CBS) channel 12 Providence

The stations in italics are further out from Thompson, CT, but are still parts of the affected DMAs. As for channel 13, the closest ones are in Portland, ME (WGME-TV), Albany, NY (WNYT-TV) and Newark, NJ (WNET-TV).

 

[w9wi]

(I've blessedly forgotten the old analog VHF spacing rules now that they don't matter anymore, but I suspect w9wi can weigh in on them - full spacing can't have been much more than 90 miles in even the least congested zone.)

I don't remember either, but the FCC has yet to remove the analog rules, even though no stations are allowed to operate under them...

The minimum adjacent-channel separation for analog stations was 95.7km (roughly 60 miles) for VHF, 87.7km (roughly 55 miles) for UHF. It didn't matter which zone.

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2009-title47-vol4/xml/CFR-2009-title47-vol4-sec73-610.xml

 

[fybush]

That is somewhat tighter than I'd recalled, and it clearly explains how easily it was possible to have adjacent pairings like that in (geographically) larger markets that could easily sprawl out hundreds of miles in length.  (It's, what, 400+ miles from St. George to Logan, all within the Salt Lake City market?)

 

[dhett]

It's about 290 miles from St. George to Farnsworth Peak, and about another 90 miles to where KUTF Logan had its transmitter. Within that sprawling market, one could find, in the analog days, co-channel stations on channel 4 in Cedar City (about 60 mi. N of St. George) and Salt Lake City, and on channel 12 in St. George and Logan. In the digital age, there are no longer any co-channel full power stations in the market.

There still exist spacing requirements for adjacent channel full power stations, but, if I remember correctly, the prohibition only applies to stations located between 20 km and 110 km apart, or 12 mi to 68 mi. Those are for Zone II, Western US. I don't know if the distances are the same for Zones I (NE US) and III (Gulf States). Adjacent channel stations are allowed if co-located, or within 12 miles of each other.

 

[WGU20]

I always wondered about the spacing of NTSC channel 6 in New Bedford. Seemed pretty close to NTSC 5 in Boston.

 

[mjlarochelle]

On the Canadian side of the border...

- CIII-TV-2 Bancroft (ch. 2) and CBOT-6 Pembroke (ch. 3) were less than 60 miles apart, with both signals available in Pembroke. The CIII tower was (and still is) located near Denbigh, while the now-defunct CBOT transmitter was near Deep River. With the right antenna, that area could also get CBOT Ottawa (ch. 4).