Old analog VHF television stations

[e-dawg]

Are there TV stations on pre digital/old analog VHF tv stations that does use Channel number anymore after they switch to digital? Also, pre-VHF analog channels that switches to different channels after post DTV transition?


So far I know........
KNTV NBC 11 change to NBC Bay Area (San Jose, CA)
KVIQ CBS 6 change to CBS 17 (Eureka, CA)
KCEN NBC 6 change to KCEN-HD (Waco TX)
WTVA NBC 9 change to WTVA (Tupelo MS)
any others?

 

[KML0224]

Channels 3 and 8 in Hartford and New Haven, respectively, still ID on air all the time as "Channel 3 Eyewitness News" and "News 8". Channel 3 uses UHF channel 33 for their digital on an antenna. Channel 8 uses VHF channel 10 for theirs. NBC channel 30 and FOX channel 61 only go by "NBC Connecticut" and "FOX-CT" nowadays.

 

[Charles1]

WBRC-6 in Birmingham continues to identify themselves as "Fox 6, WBRC", even though they broadcast from digital channel 50.

WVTM-13 identifies themselves as "Alabama's 13". No problem with that one, since their digital channel is the same as their analogue channel.

All major UHF's in the market continue to brand themselves with their analogue ID's: WTTO (CW-21, although they are now on digital 28), WCFT/WJSU (ABC 33/40, now on digital 33/9), WIAT (CBS 42, but on digital 30), and WABM (My 68, but on digital 36).

 

[Robnoxious]

All the major Los Angeles stations that were in the VHF spectrum pre-digital still use their original channel assignments for branding to this day.

Most of the major players on the UHF spectrum in Los Angeles phased out their channel number branding gradually even before analog sunset occurred and brand strictly by their call letters now. Some do nothing at all beyond the required TOH station identification with an on screen id bug; KPXN-30 (Ion) for example does this.

The exceptions being: KSCI-18 (Ind) still use 18, KWHY-22 still brands as Canal 22 (haven't checked lately since they flipped to Mundo Fox), KMEX-34 (Univision) still brands as 34 and I think KVEA-52 (Telemundo) still use 52. KBEH-63 (Ind/Tre3s) still use 63.

 

[Markxxx]

I don't think there is any FCC rule that says a TV station must identify by any particular channel is there?

I know they have to identify by call sign and city of license. But I recall when I lived in SW Florida, some stations only using their FCC call, their city of license and their cable number not their actual channel number.

 

[TheRob]

You can call yourself channel 50,000, as long as you provide your call letters and city of license once an hour.

I only know of a couple stations nationally that are incorporating their new digital channel number into the branding, as opposed to the old analog channel number.

 

[dave73]

All stations licensed to Chicago

WBBM-TV (CBS) CBS 2

WMAQ-TV (NBC) NBC 5

WLS-TV (ABC) ABC 7 (for now, they still operate on RF 7, while trying to get RF 44 running on the Sears Tower)

WGN-TV (CW) WGN 9

WTTW (PBS) WTTW 11 (only on the main channel, while 11.2 uses WTTW Prime)

 

[bpatrick]

WFMY (digital 51, analog 2) still identifies itself as "WFMY News 2,"
while WGHP (digital 35, analog 8) is still "Fox 8."

Farther south, WSB (digital 39, analog 2) still calls its newscast
"Channel 2 Action News"; WAGA (digital 27, analog 5) is still "Fox 5,"
and WXIA (digital 10, analog 11) will probably be "11 Alive" until doomsday.

 

[dhett]

Ten current Phoenix market stations were on VHF in the analog era*. Six of those stations returned to their VHF assignment for digital, all in the upper band. The four stations in the lower band moved to UHF, but continue to brand by their VHF channel number.

* The market included two analog VHF stations in Flagstaff, 150 miles from Phoenix, and one each in Prescott (100 mi.), Kingman (200 mi.) and Holbrook (200 mi.), three of which continue to operate on the old analog VHF channel, and the other two which moved to UHF. In addition to those five, there were two other analog stations in Flagstaff, but one shut down in 2006 and the other exists in name only - it is UHF but hasn't broadcast in more than a year.

 

[wncc]

Both WBTV and WSOC use channel 3 and channel 9 respectively. But in both cases, the channel number has been an integral part of their branding since the 1950's.

 

[Tim-In-Houston]

WTVA NBC 9 change to WTVA (Tupelo MS)
any others?

I wouldn't really count WTVA...they dropped all references to their station number years before the digital transition, (the last vestige of that, their stylized "circle 9," was dropped when they went HD and got their current graphics pkg in early 2009...I know only because I was living in the market for four years).

One that I can think of that dropped their analog number for their digital number is WOAY-50 in the Oak Hill/Beckley/Bluefield WV market. They were VHF channel 4 for years, but opted instead for their digital number post-conversion.

For whatever reason, most of the Nexstar stations dropped their analog number from their station ID pre-conversion, opting instead for a call letter-only ID. Some have re-adopted their old analog numbers since then (WTWO-Terre Haute being one) but others have kept the call-letter branding.

 

[radiorob2.0]

WOAY Oak hill, WV was Channel 4 in the analog era but now call themselves Channel 50.

 

[RadioDaze]

In North Carolina, Greenville-New Bern-Jacksonville NBC affiliate WITN-TV 7 made a sorely-needed update to their look a few years before the official conversion to digital and dropped references to channel 7, with the logo simply saying WITN with the NBC peacock logo. They're on UHF 32 now. Fox simulcast WFXI, channel 8 in Morehead City (remains on VHF 8) and WYDO, channel 14 (now UHF 47) in Greenville now brand as "Fox Eastern Carolina". Down the road in the Wilmington market, Fox affiliate WSFX channel 26 (DT 30), is similarly "Fox Wilmington". In Charlotte, Fox affiliate WCCB, channel 18 (DT 27) has been "Fox Charlotte" for several years before the DTV switch, while My Network affiliate WMYT (analog 55/ DT 39) uses their cable channel and brands as "MyTV 12". I don't think PBS station WTVI makes any reference to channel number (they were UHF 42 analog and are now VHF 11 digital)

In Raleigh-Durham-Fayetteville, My affiliate WRDC remains digital on their longtime analog channel, UHF 28, but brands as "My RDC"

In the Greensboro-Winston Salem-High Point market, TCT station WLXI, formerly on channel 61, now uses their digital UHF 43 on-air.

Statewide PBS network UNC-TV brands as such, but when they run the "Roll call" of their 12 transmitters, they show the familiar analog positions for the 11 stations that were on pre-2009 (the twelfth, WUNW-TV 27 in Canton, of course, never had an analog channel).

After the initial scan, the PSIP technology is supposed to make the over-the-air digital stations appear at the same spot on the dial as they did in the analog era regardless of what physical channel at which they operate.

 

[bpatrick]

Is WGCL (digital 19, analog 46) still branding itself "CBS Atlanta"? I've
heard rumors that was going to change, but that's all.

 

[Bob1370]

Most of the large upsrare NY markets still use their "virtual" channels as part of their ID. In a lot of cases (WHEC-TV 10 and WHAM-TV 13 in Rochester, WRGB 6 in the Capital District, WABC 7, WPIX 11 and WNET 13 in NYC) the announced channel is also still their physical OTA channel as well.

 

[vchimpanzee]

WFMY (digital 51, analog 2) still identifies itself as "WFMY News 2,"
while WGHP (digital 35, analog 8) is still "Fox 8."

Farther south, WSB (digital 39, analog 2) still calls its newscast
"Channel 2 Action News"; WAGA (digital 27, analog 5) is still "Fox 5,"
and WXIA (digital 10, analog 11) will probably be "11 Alive" until doomsday.

Although Fox 8 tried 8 for a while and it didn't work.

 

[RadioDaze]

WTVD/Durham has had problems with digital VHF 11 as well. ABC mandated that all the O&O stations return to their analog channels post-transition. WPVI, channel 6, in Philadelphia really experienced some signal issues as low-band VHF is even worse for digital than high-band VHF.