Oddities in Non-Commercial Channel Allocations

[Stanislav]

Here's something that has bugged me for a long time. Why is it that, particularly in certain states, the educational/non-commercial channel allocations were officially assigned to tiny communities rather than to the nearby major markets that they were to serve?

Georgia is probably the most egregious example. Why assign the non-comm channels to places like Pembroke (instead of Savannah), Warm Springs (instead of Columbus), Dawson (not Albany), Wrens (why not Augusta?), etc. Some of the others make sense in that they were intended to serve a more rural "between the markets" region (thus, channels in places like Waycross, Pelham, or Chatsworth), but assignments like the ones cited mystify me.

Alabama has a few, too. I mean, how does a hole in the road like Dozier (population 391....SAAAA-LUTE!!!) get the channel instead of Dothan? Or Louisville, which at 612 souls ain't much higher on the food chain?

I'm thinking that in some cases, the shakeout of assignments geographically (and taking into account spacing issues) allowed some of these channels to fall "between the cracks" and left them a little too far from the major city to be actually called by that city's name? I think most are close enough, though, that they could have been assigned to the city with a site restriction or other caveat. It just seems odd that they chose to assign so many of these allocations to towns that can barely support a Piggly Wiggly, let alone a TV station. :

 

[KML0224]

What about the Alabama PBS station that's licensed to Mount Cheaha State Park?

 

[w9wi]

Here's something that has bugged me for a long time. Why is it that, particularly in certain states, the educational/non-commercial channel allocations were officially assigned to tiny communities rather than to the nearby major markets that they were to serve?

Georgia is probably the most egregious example. Why assign the non-comm channels to places like Pembroke (instead of Savannah), Warm Springs (instead of Columbus), Dawson (not Albany), Wrens (why not Augusta?), etc. Some of the others make sense in that they were intended to serve a more rural "between the markets" region (thus, channels in places like Waycross, Pelham, or Chatsworth), but assignments like the ones cited mystify me.

Alabama has a few, too. I mean, how does a hole in the road like Dozier (population 391....SAAAA-LUTE!!!) get the channel instead of Dothan? Or Louisville, which at 612 souls ain't much higher on the food chain?

Several Wisconsin Public Radio stations have also had strange cities-of-license over the years - for example, WHAD-FM licensed to Delafield but providing city-grade coverage to Milwaukee.

The station had to establish a "main studio" from which programming originates. They chose to establish that main studio at the transmitter site. The WHAD-FM transmitter was located in Delafield; the main studio was in the transmitter building; FCC rules required the main studio to be in the city of license; so the station had to be licensed to Delafield. (even though all the main studio did was punch up the network feed and pop up an hourly ID)

More recently main studio waivers became routinely available, allowing the main studio to be outside the city of license. Some stations have been relicensed to more "sensible" cities.

_________________________________________________

The 1966 Yearbook lists WVAN-9 as licensed to Savannah, though with a mailing address in Pembroke. It's still technically a Savannah station today. However, the other GPTV stations are listed with their current cities: Chatsworth (spelled "Chattsworth" in the Yearbook...), Cochran, Dawson, Pelham, Waycross, and Wrens. Oh, WJSP-28 Columbus is licensed to Columbus today and was in 1966 as well.

 

[w9wi]

What about the Alabama PBS station that's licensed to Mount Cheaha State Park?

That one *is* interesting. Under current policy the FCC requires a showing that the city-of-license is a bonafide community. I suppose they could argue that the park ranger & their family were the community to be served ???

You will find a number of stations licensed to places that aren't cities - for example, military bases - for example, one each AM and FM station licensed to Fort Campbell, Kentucky - there is no such civilian community. But a few thousand military personnel live on-post at Fort Campbell, forming a bonafide community. It's awfully hard to make that argument for a state park that would be lucky to have ten permanent residents...

 

[Stanislav]

What about the Alabama PBS station that's licensed to Mount Cheaha State Park?

From an allocations standpoint, it's odd, but for AETV, it makes sense. I've only been in that area once, but as I recall there are a lot of terrain-shielded areas in that part of the state where receiving WBIQ out of B-ham is problematic at best. To put an AETV transmitter atop the highest point in the state makes sense as a sort of "gap filler."

 

[azumanga]

Why assign the non-comm channels to places like Pembroke (instead of Savannah), Warm Springs (instead of Columbus),...

According to the FCC database, WVAN and WJSP are licensed to Savannah and Columbus, respectively. GPB, of course, insisted that two cities are listed in its station IDs, with the second city being its transmitter location (WVAN's in Pembroke, WJSP's in Warm Springs).

... Dawson (not Albany)...

Albany's GPB station of record is WABW, which is licensed in Pelham, between Albany and Thomasville. The station in Dawson, WACS, belongs to Americus, but covers both Albany and Columbus.

What about the Alabama PBS station that's licensed to Mount Cheaha State Park?

The last couple of years ago, the station's COL was changed to merely Mount Cheaha, so says the FCC.

 

[radiorob2.0]

There was a discussion somewhere else, the East Tenn. Board maybe, discussing the Channel 2/Sneedville allocation. Sneedville received a TV allocation because that was as the FCC put it an island where a Channel 2 could go. Since it couldn't serve a metro like Knoxville or Tri-Cities it was designated as a Non-Com. The same goes for several other allocations. Channel 9 Evansville was originally allocated for Hatfield, IN for the same reason. It was a commercial allocation before becoming a Non-Com.

Kentucky Educational Television main transmitters are licensed to cities with a few dual city ID's (Lexington/Richmond, Owensboro/Henderson, Murray/Mayfield). The old translator system had a few unique towns served with translators.

 

[Stanislav]

According to the FCC database, WVAN and WJSP are licensed to Savannah and Columbus, respectively. GPB, of course, insisted that two cities are listed in its station IDs, with the second city being its transmitter location (WVAN's in Pembroke, WJSP's in Warm Springs).

I'm almost certain that channel 28 was originally assigned as Warm Springs. (Maybe someone with access to an old allocation list could prove me right or wrong). Perhaps, if that is the case, they eventually asked the FCC to reassign it to Columbus.

Albany's GPB station of record is WABW, which is licensed in Pelham, between Albany and Thomasville. The station in Dawson, WACS, belongs to Americus, but covers both Albany and Columbus.

OK....I was probably assuming what I did because I used to work in that area of the country (North FL/South GA) and at our business we always lumped Dawson with Albany on the basis on distance and such, with Pelham being grouped more with Thomasville and Bainbridge.

 

[Tim L]

Another odd allocation was WNEO-45 Alliance, Ohio..This is a PBS outlet run jointly by Akron University, Kent State and Youngstown State Universities..The original allocation was for New Castle, Pa, then Youngstown, Ohio (originally 45 was ABC, then Independent under different owners)..The City of license is Alliance and the transmitter is located in rural Salem, Ohio..There never was a studio In Alliance or Salem, though their station ID-said "Salem-Alliance" for their first few years..They have been on the air since 1973, simulcasting with WEAO-49 Akron since 1975. The Main Studios and offices have been in Kent..

 

[Markxxx]

Well part of it may be that the allocations were assigned early. The FCC figured only two stations per city were needed. One for NBC and one for CBS. Then along came DuMont and ABC. Channel 1 was early on designated for educational, then for "city (municipal) use TV."

Channel 1 went away, DuMont and ABC were clinging to life so it wasn't a concern to see that major cities got more than two allocations. Then came pressure to put educational allocations in. This came around the time DuMont collapsed and it ABC and Paramount merged giving the network a new lease on life.

It was also a status symbol to have a TV station in your town and back in the 50s the FCC cared about giving something to that community. Even as late at 1994 WPWR (licensed to Gary Indiana) which broadcasts from Chicago's Sears Tower had a half hour show about Gary Indiana politcs. Now it has no local directed programs.

Politicians also put pressue to get TV stations in their town and the educational TV groups wanted a "chains" of stations. This is why some states have successful state PBS networks today and some states don't.

I believe politics had a lot to do with it. I mean LA got 7 VHFs and neither in LA or DC was an educational station allocated.

 

[RadioDze]

Are the non-commercial TV frequencies actually allocated to these small communities, or is it a situation similar to the FMs below 92 MHz where the frequency was applied for and engineered in versus being allocated early on to a given community (for example, the FCC didn't allocate 90.1 FM to Buies Creek, North Carolina or 88.3 to Boiling Springs, North Carolina in the same way they assigned FM frequencies 94.7, 96.1 and 101.5 to Raleigh, North Carolina or 105.1 and 107.1 to Durham, North Carolina) . For instance, did the FCC specifically allocate VHF channel 4 to Chapel Hill, North Carolina? Very early on, channel 4 was allocated to nearby Durham for commercial use.

 

[Stanislav]

Well part of it may be that the allocations were assigned early. The FCC figured only two stations per city were needed. One for NBC and one for CBS. Then along came DuMont and ABC. Channel 1 was early on designated for educational, then for "city (municipal) use TV."

Channel 1 went away, DuMont and ABC were clinging to life so it wasn't a concern to see that major cities got more than two allocations. Then came pressure to put educational allocations in. This came around the time DuMont collapsed and it ABC and Paramount merged giving the network a new lease on life.

It was also a status symbol to have a TV station in your town and back in the 50s the FCC cared about giving something to that community. Even as late at 1994 WPWR (licensed to Gary Indiana) which broadcasts from Chicago's Sears Tower had a half hour show about Gary Indiana politcs. Now it has no local directed programs.

Politicians also put pressue to get TV stations in their town and the educational TV groups wanted a "chains" of stations. This is why some states have successful state PBS networks today and some states don't.

Consider also that when educational TV was first envisioned, networks like NET/PBS and the like were not yet envisioned -- it was assumed that they would be much more locally-focused affairs. Moreover, part of the utopian vision of non-commercial TV was for broadcasts of school/instructional programming to provide an education of sorts to those in areas where access to decent schools was limited. (Such programming is still a part of many non-comms today, but it is certainly not the focus.) In this respect, some of the more rural allocations might make more sense -- they weren't thinking so much of serving a specific metropolitan area as in reaching areas (think, for example, of the isolated "hollers" of KY/WV, or of vast areas of the rural west) where poverty, geography, and societal/cultural factors made regular schooling at a bricks-and-mortar institution difficult for many, impossible for some.

 

[w9wi]

Are the non-commercial TV frequencies actually allocated to these small communities, or is it a situation similar to the FMs below 92 MHz where the frequency was applied for and engineered in versus being allocated early on to a given community ... For instance, did the FCC specifically allocate VHF channel 4 to Chapel Hill, North Carolina? Very early on, channel 4 was allocated to nearby Durham for commercial use.

No, they were actually allocated.

The difference between TV and FM is that non-commercial FM frequencies are (mostly) segregated into their own band between 88 and 92MHz. For the most part it isn't necessary to coordinate between non-commercial assignments below 92MHz and commercial ones above 92. (you do have to keep them separated at the 92 boundary - couldn't have a 91.9 and a 92.3 in the same city - but for the most part they're independent issues.)

Non-commercial TV channels are in the same band as commercial stations. Channel 4 might be non-commercial reserved in Chapel Hill and available for commercial use in Greenville, S.C..

In the 1952 table, channel 4 was allocated to Chapel Hill and reserved non-commercial. Two applications for channel 4 in Durham appear in an early 1951 list, but with no indication as to whether they're commercial. I'm not entirely clear that any TV channels were allocated before the 1950-1953 freeze - it could have been that *all* TV channels were chosen in the "frequency was applied for and engineered in" method you describe above.

_________________________________________________

I'm almost certain that channel 28 was originally assigned as Warm Springs. (Maybe someone with access to an old allocation list could prove me right or wrong). Perhaps, if that is the case, they eventually asked the FCC to reassign it to Columbus.

In the initial 1952 table, channel 28 was assigned as Columbus -- and was available for commercial use. The non-commercial reservation was channel 34. The other initial non-commercial assignments in Georgia:

• Athens: 8
• Atlanta: 30
• Columbus: 34
• Macon: 41
• Savannah: 9

That's it. Obviously the rest were added later.

_________________________________________________

Another odd allocation was WNEO-45 Alliance, Ohio..This is a PBS outlet run jointly by Akron University, Kent State and Youngstown State Universities..The original allocation was for New Castle, Pa, then Youngstown, Ohio (originally 45 was ABC, then Independent under different owners)..The City of license is Alliance and the transmitter is located in rural Salem, Ohio..There never was a studio In Alliance or Salem, though their station ID-said "Salem-Alliance" for their first few years..They have been on the air since 1973, simulcasting with WEAO-49 Akron since 1975. The Main Studios and offices have been in Kent..

Indeed, the channel 45 assignment to New Castle appears in the initial 1952 table.

As of 1966, FCC regulation 73.613(a) required that TV stations have a main studio within the principal community. ("city of license") In cases where the principal community doesn't have specifically defined political boundaries, basically the FCC would use its judgement as to whether the main studio location was proper. (Mt. Cheaha State Park...)

73.613(b) allowed the FCC to waive 73.613(a) given good cause. So that may have happened in WNEO's case. Or, they may have had an official main "studio" at the transmitter, even if the only capability of that studio was to select between a test pattern and the microwave feed from Kent.

Strangely enough, "main studio" is not defined in the regulations.

_________________________________________________

There was considerable controversy over the idea of reserving TV channels for non-commercial use. Especially VHF channels. There was an enormous amount of commercial demand, which would be difficult to meet if some channels were off-limits. It may be (my memory stinks...) that the decision to reserve some channels for non-commercial stations passed the FCC by a single vote.

 

[TexasTuner]

I believe politics had a lot to do with it. I mean LA got 7 VHFs and neither in LA or DC was an educational station allocated.

Note that LA and NYC all had operating VHF facilities long before the 6th Report and Order, which, among other things, made non commercial educational facilities possible in television. NYC got their NCE-TV station when a group got together to buy out then-commercial channel 13. In Los Angeles, that never happend, and they're stuck with KCET TV 28 (although now, since DTV's coming, the difference between VHF and UHF is probably moot).

Texas Tuner

 

[KeithE4]

In the 1952 table, channel 4 was allocated to Chapel Hill and reserved non-commercial. Two applications for channel 4 in Durham appear in an early 1951 list, but with no indication as to whether they're commercial. I'm not entirely clear that any TV channels were allocated before the 1950-1953 freeze - it could have been that *all* TV channels were chosen in the "frequency was applied for and engineered in" method you describe above.

Jeff Miller's site has an allocations table from 1947 (all VHF, of course, including Channel 1!). Durham (along with Raleigh & surrounding areas. I assume) was allocated Channels 4 & 7. Needless to say, this table was very flawed and didn't last long.

 

[IdentityProgramming]

You'll notice there is no commercial or non-commercial allocations for channel 37.
The frequency for channel 37 is assigned for radio astronomy.

Gary Begin/Consultant
Identity Programming
Jackson, TN
www.garybegin.com

 

[TexasTom]

As has already been noted by several folks, the FCC did indeed assign non-commercial TV allocations to specific communities. However, for non-comms, they allowed the flexibility for a non-commercial applicant to actually file for any city of license within 20 miles of the allocation -- as long as the city that they filed for didn't already have an allocation. The result was that an NCE TV station could end up in a nearby smaller community.

For example, from 1960 until 1975, the non-commercial channel 56 allocation in Tacoma, WA was actually used by a station licensed to Lakewood Center (now Lakewood), WA -- an unincorporated suburban area of Tacoma at the time, but also the location of the Clover Park School district, which owned and operated the station under the KPEC-TV call letters. When the school district managed to acquire a better channel, they let this station go dark, and the replacement station that eventually went on the air is licensed to Tacoma.

During the same time period, a commercial allotment on channel 23 in Garland, TX (a Dallas suburb) was used by an educational station in Richardson, TX (another Dallas suburb) -- the station was KRET, and was licensed to the Richardson Independent School District. Like KPECT-TV, KRET eventually went dark, and the channel is now home for an unrelated station that is licensed to Garland.

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

Although it's been a long time since I've seen a listing (just for Illinois) of the final 1952 channel allocations, another "oddity" is that here in Illinois you have a major city (Rockford) that lacks its own PBS station (relying on cable carriage in that market of primarily WHA-21 Madison and WTTW-11 Chicago). I would have supposed that Rockford was allocated a non-commercial ETV channel in the final 1952 allocations. Does anyone know for sure? (I remember that part of a thread over a year ago on this board was devoted to discussion of why Rockford lacked a PBS station).

 

[Stitch]

Although it's been a long time since I've seen a listing (just for Illinois) of the final 1952 channel allocations, another "oddity" is that here in Illinois you have a major city (Rockford) that lacks its own PBS station (relying on cable carriage in that market of primarily WHA-21 Madison and WTTW-11 Chicago). I would have supposed that Rockford was allocated a non-commercial ETV channel in the final 1952 allocations. Does anyone know for sure? (I remember that part of a thread over a year ago on this board was devoted to discussion of why Rockford lacked a PBS station).

Not quite the same situation, but you can add Terre Haute, IN as another market without it's own PBS station, even though two University-owned stations actually operate in the DMA (WVUT/Vincennes and WUSI/Olney, IL).

UHF channel 26 was allocated as a non-com in Terre Haute, and Indiana State University was planning to initiate WISU-TV in the late 1970s. For a number of reasons, mainly lack of funding after the first million or so from the state, WISU-TV never materialized.

Supposedly the announcement of WISU-TV was the reason WVUT in Vincennes never put a translator in Terre Haute. WVUT (analog) doesn't reach Terre Haute (fading out in northern Sullivan County), while WUSI fairs little better. Terre Haute cable systems, under their various owners, never carried WVUT or WUSI, opting instead for WTIU/Bloomington and WFYI/Indianapolis. Dish Network, however, offers both WVUT and WUSI in their locals.

 

[mleach]

Hampton Roads ( Norfolk ), VA was allocated a channel 7 as well back in the 40's. Actually that was supposed to be WGH-TV but it never happened.

Going back to this topic is WNVT channel 53. Licensed for Goldvien, VA but serving Washington, DC.
Goldvien is a VERY small town. Pretty much just a post office and a general store but they have a TV station licensed to it.