PISS-POOR DIGITAL PROBLEMS on WMFP 62/1 ME-TV

[Laurence Glavin]

I was also annoyed at the freeze ups. Haven't watched the station since...

Any chance somebody who lives near there could take photos or video and post them?

 

[ann_oyed]

3/12/12 -- missed Hawaii Five-O again. This has now been going on since December-- about 3 months now. I really hate this station, but unfortunately, love my 1960s five-O. I think this damn station is frozen almost as much as it is working.

Does anyone have any news? How can a station be this bad for such an extended amount of time without being stripped of its rights to broadcast? Is there a way to get some visibility with licensing authorities? At this point, I think that's the only way they will clean up their act.

 

[NHRadio]

Sorry Charlie. The FCC does not nor will not regulate content. As long as they follow the rules regarding their 3 hours of E/I, station ID, public file, and the technical regs they can broadcast a test pattern if they wish.

How can a station be this bad for such an extended amount of time without being stripped of its rights to broadcast? Is there a way to get some visibility with licensing authorities?

 

[RogerWilco]

I called this afternoon and was told workers were on the tower so they had to shutdown the transmitter while they were working near the antenna.

 

[ann_oyed]

AND AGAIN!!!! 3/14, lunchtime, frozen. What do they have against five-O?

This is ridiculous, I should think that part of their obligation as a broadcaster is to broadcast according to some schedule. They can't just randomly work on the transmitter, they need to advertise that they will be working. This is pretty basic SERVICE common sense, for heaven's sake.

I also note that since they switched to MeTV, they have never worked out broadcasting the new program information.

They just clearly aren't ready to handle an actual broadcasting station. I have never seen these kinds of problems with any other station, not even in ho-dunk farming communities.

 

[ann_oyed]

Sorry Charlie. The FCC does not nor will not regulate content. As long as they follow the rules regarding their 3 hours of E/I, station ID, public file, and the technical regs they can broadcast a test pattern if they wish.

See, as the author just above states, the problem is, that they shut down the transmitter. They are not broadcasting, and this seems that it clearly violates their responsibilities as a broadcaster.

 

[NHRadio]

Ann, I'm sorry but that's ridiculous. Transmitter and especially tower maintenance is a necessity, particularly so close to an airport. By doing that work, they are living up to their responsibilities, not evading them. Plus, FCC and possibly OSHA regs REQUIRE stations shut down or lower power during antenna work. If you're this cheesed off about a 40 year old TV show I'd hate to think how you would react to something that really matters.

Sorry Charlie. The FCC does not nor will not regulate content. As long as they follow the rules regarding their 3 hours of E/I, station ID, public file, and the technical regs they can broadcast a test pattern if they wish.

See, as the author just above states, the problem is, that they shut down the transmitter. They are not broadcasting, and this seems that it clearly violates their responsibilities as a broadcaster.

 

[mysticnitekatt]

They don't even bother to do a crawl or indent card that they are going off the air for a period of time for the work. Sure, It's mention on the FACEBOOK page fir MeTV but the average viewer doesn't know what is going on.

...and this transmitter work is not related to these digital problems!

 

[whdh1920]

im wondering if when there done they might ease up on the infomercials??? maybe its there way of paying for the work?? maybe im wrong!!

 

[iyiyi]

I understand that 47 (48v) is in process of moving to the WBZ tower from there. 32 (68v) is supposedly also moving to the candelabra to join 31 (25v) and 41 (56v). I believe 18 (62v) will be the only DT station remaining at the current site. That requires a crew of riggers and a reasonable amount of time to remove two antennas and two coaxial assemblies from such a large tower. Don't worry, the faster that gear is removed the quicker WYDN and WBPX won't have to pay rent; so there is strong incentive to complete this work!

-

 

[RonTheEngineer]

See, as the author just above states, the problem is, that they shut down the transmitter. They are not broadcasting, and this seems that it clearly violates their responsibilities as a broadcaster.

Sorry, any broadcaster can remain off the air for 30 days without filing a STA (special temporary authority, which is usually granted automatically) and 1 year without losing their license.

 

[mysticnitekatt]

I still don't understand why they have been unable, or unwilling, to resolve this issue going into the 4th month!

Ron doesn't seem to have ANY issues over on his station,which is owned by the same company now.

 

[RonTheEngineer]

I still don't understand why they have been unable, or unwilling, to resolve this issue going into the 4th month!

Ron doesn't seem to have ANY issues over on his station,which is owned by the same company now.

I really cannot comment further, but I know that Burt Ellis reads these boards.

 

[mysticnitekatt]

I still don't understand why they have been unable, or unwilling, to resolve this issue going into the 4th month!

Ron doesn't seem to have ANY issues over on his station,which is owned by the same company now.

I really cannot comment further, but I know that Burt Ellis reads these boards.

Well, everyone knows there is a problem and it not been resolved yet.

 

[RonTheEngineer]

I still don't understand why they have been unable, or unwilling, to resolve this issue going into the 4th month!

Ron doesn't seem to have ANY issues over on his station,which is owned by the same company now.

The difference is... I don't ALLOW these issues.

The primary difference is, WSAH is fed via fiber to most cable, satellite and telco providers with the exception of Cablevision and Charter, they choose not to use the Comcast fiber ring for some political reason (their loss, their problem). I spent many years cultivating this arrangement with handshakes and kissing babies. If a station is off the air, 99% of the complaints go to the cable company not the station, the customer doesn't CARE who's fault it is, all they know is they have a blank spot on their dial (and this was in the Shop At Home days when no one really CARED if we were on or off the air).

I've had my share of air problems of late, workers on the tower. Comcast upgraded all their lightbulbs to LEDs. So that required us to be off air until the worker was down off the stick. It took a shockingly long time to complete.

I have a dish about the size of a small moon, which also helps.

But, I came from Group W Network Services, where Beta tape dropouts were considered too long to be off air. It once took an operator 18 seconds to switch to a backup, his supervisor gave him a written warning with the admonishment "were you even IN THE ROOM?"

Recently, my fiber to NYC died... took 45 minutes to restore once I was notified (the sat providers didn't call because they look for loss of signal, the video froze with good audio).

 

[mysticnitekatt]

I'm starting to think they will never fix these issues

 

[MarcB]

YAWN!

 

[vibe]

Fool me once...I'm NOT watching until the "problem" is cleared up. Why invest yourself in a show with constant breakups?

 

[whdh1920]

i just wish they would show the whole schedule on instead of the infomercials i instead have to watch 10.2!!

 

[mysticnitekatt]

Fool me once...I'm NOT watching until the "problem" is cleared up. Why invest yourself in a show with constant breakups?

You should post on MeTV's facebook page and let you know this - they seem to be slow in pushing WMFP to fix the problem - which is going on it's 5th Month!