Simple Cable TV Question :)

[KML0224]

Real easy (or not?)...Is it known when your city or town first got cable TV? I first had it here in New Britain, CT (southwest of Hartford) in April of 1981. My grandfather had it at his old apartment back in 1977/78. I'll always remember the old school three level wired push-button "click" box with the fine tuning dial on the right side!

 

[KMRichards]

> Real easy (or not?)...Is it known when your city or town
> first got cable TV?

That's easy, because my hometown of Ventura, California, was the third community in the U.S. to get cable.

1953 was the year; the system was put in place because a portion of the city (the Ventura Ave. district) is shielded by mountains from the Los Angeles stations and the local Packard Bell television dealer (John George) couldn't sell sets to the residents of that area.

Up until earlier this year, that cable system, Avenue TV Cable Service, was still owned by his family. And I worked there in the mid-70s when they were getting their local origination channel up and running, so I heard the story from John personally.

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[TimL]

> > Real easy (or not?)...Is it known when your city or town
> > first got cable TV?
>
I believe in Canton, Ohio the first Cable system was started in 1966 under the name Stark Cable TV (Stark County)..The company eventually was bought by what was known as Warner Amex cable and evenually grew into Time Warner Cable TV buying up many of the small operators in the Akron-Canton area.

 

[ccmfan]

> > > Real easy (or not?)...Is it known when your city or town
>
> > > first got cable TV?
> >
> I believe in Canton, Ohio the first Cable system was started
> in 1966 under the name Stark Cable TV (Stark County)..The
> company eventually was bought by what was known as Warner
> Amex cable and evenually grew into Time Warner Cable TV
> buying up many of the small operators in the Akron-Canton
> area.
>

I don't remember the exact year, but Dyersburg, TN got cable TV some time in the late 60's. I remember my grandmother got it in the early 70's and it had:

WREC (Now WREG) CBS 3 in Memphis
WMC NBC 5 in Memphis
WPSD NBC 6 in Paducah, KY
WBBJ ABC 7 in Jackson, TN
KAIT ABC 8 in Jonesboro, AR (I think they were on there at that time, although they were dropped later.)
WKNO PBS 10 in Memphis
WLJT PBS 11 in Lexington, TN (This may have come in later, since this was about the same time they came on the air.)
KFVS CBS 12 in Cape Girardeau, MO
WHBQ ABC (Now Fox) 13 in Memphis
A channel that usually had weather on it and occasional local shows.

I thought this was really cool because of having so many choices. (For that time) At one time their system had more choices than the Memphis cable system, which only had the Memphis stations and nothing else (Pre-satellite networks.) The system was locally owned at that time, but it was eventually bought by Cable One.<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by ccmfan on 07/24/05 02:46 PM.</FONT></P>

 

[bpatrick]

> > > > Real easy (or not?)...Is it known when your city or
> town
> >
> > > > first got cable TV?
> > >
> > I believe in Canton, Ohio the first Cable system was
> started
> > in 1966 under the name Stark Cable TV (Stark County)..The
> > company eventually was bought by what was known as Warner
> > Amex cable and evenually grew into Time Warner Cable TV
> > buying up many of the small operators in the Akron-Canton
> > area.
> >
>
> I don't remember the exact year, but Dyersburg, TN got cable
> TV some time in the late 60's. I remember my grandmother got
> it in the early 70's and it had:
>
> WREC (Now WREG) CBS 3 in Memphis
> WMC NBC 5 in Memphis
> WPSD NBC 6 in Paducah, KY
> WBBJ ABC 7 in Jackson, TN
> KAIT ABC 8 in Jonesboro, AR (I think they were on there at
> that time, although they were dropped later.)
> WKNO PBS 10 in Memphis
> WLJT PBS 11 in Lexington, TN (This may have come in later,
> since this was about the same time they came on the air.)
> KFVS CBS 12 in Cape Girardeau, MO
> WHBQ ABC (Now Fox) 13 in Memphis
> A channel that usually had weather on it and occasional
> local shows.
>
> I thought this was really cool because of having so many
> choices. (For that time) At one time their system had more
> choices than the Memphis cable system, which only had the
> Memphis stations and nothing else (Pre-satellite networks.)
> The system was locally owned at that time, but it was
> eventually bought by Cable One.
>
My aunt and uncle in Cocoa, FL had cable by the late '60s.
They got:

WESH (NBC) 2 Daytona Beach
WPTV (NBC) 5 West Palm Beach
WDBO (now WKMG) (CBS) 6 Orlando
WFLA (NBC) 8 Tampa
WFTV (ABC) 9 Orlando
WTVT (CBS now Fox) 13 Tampa
WTOG (Ind. now UPN) 44 St. Petersburg
and, IIRC, WMFE (PBS) 24 Orlando

In the early '70s WSWB (Ind. now WOFL/Fox) 35
Orlando was also added.

Another aunt and uncle, in Athens, GA, had these
by 1968 at the latest:

WSB (NBC now ABC) 2 Atlanta
WFBC (now WYFF) (NBC) 4 Greenville, SC
WAGA (CBS now Fox) 5 Atlanta
WJBF (ABC) 6 Augusta (carried some NBC at the time)
WSPA (CBS) 7 Spartanburg, SC
WGTV (PBS) 8 Athens
WQXI (now WXIA) (ABC now NBC) 11 Atlanta
WRDW (CBS) 12 Augusta (carried some NBC at the time)
WLOS (ABC) 13 Asheville, NC
WJRJ (Ind. now WTBS) 17 Atlanta

In 1969 WATL (Ind. now WB) 36 Atlanta;
and in 1971 WHAE (Ind., now WGCL/CBS) 46 Atlanta,
were added.

 

[KeithE]

> Real easy (or not?)...Is it known when your city or town
> first got cable TV? I first had it here in New Britain, CT
> (southwest of Hartford) in April of 1981. My grandfather had
> it at his old apartment back in 1977/78. I'll always
> remember the old school three level wired push-button
> "click" box with the fine tuning dial on the right side!

Bloomington IN (my hometown) got cable sometime around 1965. It was a 12-channel system until about 1980 and all it originally carried was:

2 - WTWO (NBC/ABC) Terre Haute
3 - Public Access/Cable company programming
4 - WTTV (Ind.) Indianapolis/Bloomington
5 - vacant
6 - WFBM (NBC) Indianapolis
7 - Weather (a motorized camera alternating between temp, humidity, & wind meters)
8 - WISH (CBS) Indianapolis
9 - WGN (Ind.) Chicago
10 - WTHI (CBS/ABC) Terre Haute
11 - vacant
12 - vacant
13 - WLWI (ABC) Indianapolis

Channel 5 became WTIU/30 Bloomington (PBS) when that station started in 1969. IIRC, Channel 11 became WDRB/41 Louisville (Ind.) & Channel 12 became WHMB/40 Indianapolis (Rel.) in the early '70s.

 

[MGDForEver]

> Real easy (or not?)...Is it known when your city or town
> first got cable TV?
>
I grew up in a small town in Central New Jersey called High bridge. In the 70s, our cable system, IIRC, was Washington Cable company out of Washington, NJ. It was a 12 channel lineup.

2 - WCBS NYC
3 - KYW Philly
4 - WNBC NYC
5 - WNEW NYC
6 - WPVI Philly
7 - WABC NYC
8 - Audio from WRFM 105.1 FM from NYC with video of the time and weather forecast
9 - WOR NYC
10 - WCAU Philly
11 - WPIX NYC
12 - WPHL Philly during baseball season and WTAF Philly during hockey season
this was because, at the time, WPHL channel 17 carried Phillies baseball, and WTAF channel 29 carried Flyers hockey
13 - WNET NYC

In 1977, they added HBO and the MSG network. You had to purchase this box with two slider switches on it. If you were tuned to channel 3 on your TV and you slid the lefthand switch to the right, you would then receive either HBO or MSG, depending on which position the righthand switch was in. When MSG wasn't broadcasting, CBN was on that channel. This lineup stayed the same until the middle of 1983 when they began offering 36 channels. I believe they had become Storer Cable by this point.

 

[KMRichards]

I forgot to list the original 1953 channels on Avenue TV Cable ...

2 KNXT (CBS) Los Angeles (now KCBS)
3 KEYT (ABC) Santa Barbara
4 KRCA (NBC) Los Angeles (now KNBC)
5 KTLA (Ind) Los Angeles (now a WB station)
7 KECA (ABC) Los Angeles (now KABC)
9 KFI (Ind) Los Angeles (later KHJ, now KCAL)
11 KTTV (Ind) Los Angeles (now a Fox O&O)
13 KLAC (Ind) Los Angeles (now KCOP and UPN)

6 was later used for the ubiquitous weather dial camera, then as the local origination channel. It also carried KBSC/52 Corona-Los Angeles in the evenings from 1969 until they went subscription TV in the late 1970s.

8 later carried KWHY/22 Los Angeles in the daytime and KMEX/34 Los Angeles at night, starting around 1966. It now carries local KBEH/63 Oxnard.

10 carried KCET/28 Los Angeles (PBS) once it went on the air (1964, I think), and still does.

12 stayed dark the longest. It carried KKOG/16 Ventura for all nine months that it lasted, then for several years Avenue microwaved KCOY/12 Santa Maria in order to have blacked-out CBS coverage of the L.A. Rams. It now carries KMEX.
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[TimL]

> > > Real easy (or not?)...Is it known when your city or town
>
> > > first got cable TV?
> >
> I believe in Canton, Ohio the first Cable system was started
> in 1966 under the name Stark Cable TV (Stark County)..The
> company eventually was bought by what was known as Warner
> Amex cable and evenually grew into Time Warner Cable TV
> buying up many of the small operators in the Akron-Canton
> area.

While In the earliest days Of Cable in the Canton area I never saw it..(we were out in the country and cable didnt get out that far..) Here are the channels that were on the cable at the time to the best of my memory (1968-69)


3 WKYC (NBC) Cleveland
5 WEWS (ABC) Cleveland
7 WTRF (NBC) Wheeling, W. Va.
8 WJW (CBS) Cleveland
9 WSTV (CBS) Steubenville, Oh.
17 WJAN (IND) Canton
21 WFMJ (NBC) Youngstown
23 WAKR (ABC) Akron
25 WVIZ (NET) Cleveland
27 WKBN (CBS) Youngstown
33 WYTV (ABC) Youngstown
43 WUAB (IND) Cleveland
61 WKBF (IND) Cleveland

Edit: I know that's 13 channels..Possible that WYTV was not immediately part of the Package..<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by TimL on 07/25/05 12:03 PM.</FONT></P>

 

[BobbyNBC10]

> Real easy (or not?)...Is it known when your city or town
> first got cable TV? I first had it here in New Britain, CT
> (southwest of Hartford) in April of 1981. My grandfather had
> it at his old apartment back in 1977/78. I'll always
> remember the old school three level wired push-button
> "click" box with the fine tuning dial on the right side!
>

Where I used to live in Battle Creek,Mi their cable system, which is now owned by Comcast began in May,1967 and had at the time:

2-Local Programs/Time / Temperature
3-WKZO-TV CBS 3 Kalamazoo,MI (now WWMT)
4-Vacant, later WUHQ-Tv now WOTV ABC41 Battle Creek,MI would pop up here in July,1971
5- WKBD-TV 50 Independent Detroit Would be dropped by 1991
6-WJIM-TV (now WLNS) CBS 6 Lansing Would be dropped in 1992
7- WTVS 56 NET (later PBS) Detroit-WOuld be dropped in 1979 when HBO, C-SPAN, ESPN, USA and CBN (now ABC Family) came.
8-WOOD TV NBC 8 Grand Rapids,MI
9-Vacant WGN-TV 9 Chicago would be added in 1974.
10 WILX-TV NBC 10 Jackson and WMSB-TV NET (later PBS) 10 Michigan State University, this was a time-shared operation at the time with NBC shows taking 70% of airtime 30% was PBS. IN 1972 WILX-TV went Full Time NBC on 10 and WKAR-TV returned this time on Channel 23 instead of 60. WILX would be dropped in 1994, but WKAR is still on Comcast, as the only Lansing station on the BC system. That stinks! Because WILX needs to be back on Comcast due to severe weather bulletins and Battle Creek is in the WILX viewing area.
11- Local,later WKAR-TV would go here in 1972.
12-Vacant,later WGVU-TV 35 PBS Grand Rapids would be added.
13-WZZM-TV ABC 13 Grand Rapids- They were West Michigan's only way to see ABC until July,1971 when WUHQ-TV 41 came to BAttle Creek. WZZM would be dropped in 1988.

It would not go beyone 12 channels until April Fool's Day 1984 almost a year after I left Michigan and also then WSYM-TV 47 which would later be Lansing's Fox station was added. That station like WILX needs to be back on Comcast in Battle Creek. And of course digital cable would come over a decade later.

 

[RadioDaze]

The memory's kind of foggy on this, but Durham, NC got cable, I believe, in 1977. Originally called CableVision, with only 12 channels, it looked a bit like this:

2-USA Network- replaced by WYED-TV 17 (now NBC affiliate WNCN) in 1992.
3-WPTF-TV 28 Durham (NBC) - now UPN WRDC on cable 12
4-This was an AP Business Scroll in the 80s, but I'm not sure if it was in the late 1970s.
5-WTTG, Washington
6-WTVD-11 Durham (CBS) -now ABC, but still on cable 6
7-HBO
8-Community Access channel
9-WUNC-TV 4 Chapel Hill (PBS) -still the same
10-WLFL-TV 22 Raleigh (Ind.)-now WB, but still here, but not sure what was in this spot prior to 1981 WLFL sign-on
11-WFMY-TV 2 Greensboro (CBS) -replaced by WKFT-TV 40 (now Univision WUVC) (Ind), Fayetteville in 1985
12-WRAL-TV 5 Raleigh (ABC) -now CBS and on cable 3
13-WTBS, Atlanta - which stayed here until WRAZ-TV 50's sign on in 1995.

There were 30 channels by the time we got cable in 1984, and there were only 30 channels up until as late as 1991.


> > > > > Real easy (or not?)...Is it known when your city or
> > town
> > >
> > > > > first got cable TV?
> > > >
> > > I believe in Canton, Ohio the first Cable system was
> > started
> > > in 1966 under the name Stark Cable TV (Stark
> County)..The
> > > company eventually was bought by what was known as
> Warner
> > > Amex cable and evenually grew into Time Warner Cable TV
> > > buying up many of the small operators in the
> Akron-Canton
> > > area.
> > >
> >
> > I don't remember the exact year, but Dyersburg, TN got
> cable
> > TV some time in the late 60's. I remember my grandmother
> got
> > it in the early 70's and it had:
> >
> > WREC (Now WREG) CBS 3 in Memphis
> > WMC NBC 5 in Memphis
> > WPSD NBC 6 in Paducah, KY
> > WBBJ ABC 7 in Jackson, TN
> > KAIT ABC 8 in Jonesboro, AR (I think they were on there at
>
> > that time, although they were dropped later.)
> > WKNO PBS 10 in Memphis
> > WLJT PBS 11 in Lexington, TN (This may have come in later,
>
> > since this was about the same time they came on the air.)
> > KFVS CBS 12 in Cape Girardeau, MO
> > WHBQ ABC (Now Fox) 13 in Memphis
> > A channel that usually had weather on it and occasional
> > local shows.
> >
> > I thought this was really cool because of having so many
> > choices. (For that time) At one time their system had more
>
> > choices than the Memphis cable system, which only had the
> > Memphis stations and nothing else (Pre-satellite
> networks.)
> > The system was locally owned at that time, but it was
> > eventually bought by Cable One.
> >
> My aunt and uncle in Cocoa, FL had cable by the late '60s.
> They got:
>
> WESH (NBC) 2 Daytona Beach
> WPTV (NBC) 5 West Palm Beach
> WDBO (now WKMG) (CBS) 6 Orlando
> WFLA (NBC) 8 Tampa
> WFTV (ABC) 9 Orlando
> WTVT (CBS now Fox) 13 Tampa
> WTOG (Ind. now UPN) 44 St. Petersburg
> and, IIRC, WMFE (PBS) 24 Orlando
>
> In the early '70s WSWB (Ind. now WOFL/Fox) 35
> Orlando was also added.
>
> Another aunt and uncle, in Athens, GA, had these
> by 1968 at the latest:
>
> WSB (NBC now ABC) 2 Atlanta
> WFBC (now WYFF) (NBC) 4 Greenville, SC
> WAGA (CBS now Fox) 5 Atlanta
> WJBF (ABC) 6 Augusta (carried some NBC at the time)
> WSPA (CBS) 7 Spartanburg, SC
> WGTV (PBS) 8 Athens
> WQXI (now WXIA) (ABC now NBC) 11 Atlanta
> WRDW (CBS) 12 Augusta (carried some NBC at the time)
> WLOS (ABC) 13 Asheville, NC
> WJRJ (Ind. now WTBS) 17 Atlanta
>
> In 1969 WATL (Ind. now WB) 36 Atlanta;
> and in 1971 WHAE (Ind., now WGCL/CBS) 46 Atlanta,
> were added.
>

 

[rwells2265]

> Real easy (or not?)...Is it known when your city or town
> first got cable TV?

Tupelo, Miss. began cable TV service along about 1955. The city didn't get its first (and only) local station until '57, so all channels came out of Memphis (100 miles to the NW). We lived there 1971-78, and here was the lineup back then:
2 = WKNO-10/Memphis (PBS)
3 = WREG-3/Memphis (CBS)
4 = WHBQ-13/Memphis (ABC)
5 = WMC-5/Memphis (NBC) ... went to blank screen when programming duplicated WTWV
6 = WTWV-9/Tupelo (NBC, ABC) -- changed calls to the present WTVA in 1979
7 = WCBI-4/Columbus, Miss. (CBS)
8 = blank
9 = blank
10 = weather (camera back and forth, panning weather gauges) WELO-FM audio (B/EZ)
11 = blank
12 = WMAE-12/Booneville, Miss. (PBS) -- signed on in 1974
13 = blank

It must be noted that Tupelo Community Antenna, as it was then called, began growing and acquiring other systems. It would change its name to COMCAST.

***********************

Troy, Alabama ..... began cable TV service in 1974 as Troy Cablevision, founded by the owner of a local furniture store. Grandmother lived here, and had cable installed the minute it became available (she got tired of rotating the antenna, and only being able to get ABC programs from Columbus, Ga., ~90 miles away!!)

Here was the lineup, circa 1975:
2 = WDIQ-2/Dozier, Ala. (PBS)
3 = WRBL-3/Columbus, Ga. (CBS)
4 = WTVY-4/Dothan, Ala. (CBS)
5 = Troy State University TV (Originally called "TV-5", now "TrojanVision")
6 = Local access / Automated weather
(had one of the first CG weather displays I'd ever seen)
7 = WDHN-18/Dothan, Ala. (ABC)
8 = WYEA-38/Columbus, Ga. (NBC) -- now known as WLTZ
9 = WTVM-9/Columbus, Ga. (ABC)
10 = WCOV-20/Montgomery (CBS) -- now a FOX affil
11 = News ticker
12 = WSFA-12/Montgomery (NBC)
13 = WKAB-32/Montgomery (ABC) -- now known as WNCF

In 1977, WSFA built a 2,000' stick about 20 miles north of Troy, which meant it had to change channels on the system. Also that year, then-WTCG 17 in Atlanta became a 'superstation.' Troy added them the minute that happened. HBO was also added around the same time.

Lineup, late '70s:
2 = WDIQ-2/Dozier (PBS)
3 = WRBL-3/Columbus (CBS)
4 = WTVY-4/Dothan (CBS)
5 = "TV-5" (Troy State University)
6 = Local Weather, access
7 = WTCG-17/Atlanta (Independent)
8 = HBO
9 = WTVM-9/Columbus (ABC)
10 = WCOV-20/Montgomery (CBS)
11 = WSFA-12/Montgomery (NBC)
12 = blank
13 = WKAB-32/Montgomery (ABC)

1980: Board of Troy Cablevision agrees, over the objection of the CEO/founder, to sell to Storer. Rates go up, quality of service goes down.

1985: Cablevision founder Harold Freeman discovered that Troy, Ala. had NO FRANCHISE AGREEMENT with Storer. With the unsaid blessing of city elders (who also were disappointed with their cable service), he and some friends began running cable ALL OVER TOWN, right underneath the old infrastructure he helped build over a decade ago. Did this all under the cover of darkness, too.

1986: Storer is caught with its pants down. People begin defecting back to Mr. Freeman. Troy now has competing cable systems. It wasn't unusual to see Harold himself up on a telephone pole making repairs at 2 AM to restore service!!

2005: Troy residents STILL have a choice of cable providers. Storer sold out to TCI who sold out to AT&T who sold out to Charter. Troy Cablevision is now Troy Cable (Freeman died in the late '90s; his sons now own it). For what otherwise is IMO a cliquish, two-bit small town of little value, that city is blessed with two sources of excellent and CHEAP cable service.

Oh, and by the way: satellite dishes are rare on homes in the Troy area.

Montgomery, Ala. also has competing cable providers: Charter vs. Knology. Same, I believe, also goes for Columbus, Ga.

Nice viewing if you can get it.

-RW

 

[bhayes1016]

In the Houston suburbs, December 1981.

 

[KML0224]

Here in New Britain, CT (southwest of Hartford), we're a Comcast franchise. The previous names in reverse order were AT&T Broadband, TCI, United Artists Cable, United Cable, etc.

 

[Apollo79]

In 1984-1985, Clearview Cable in Richmond, IN had this lineup. Note that there were other cable channels on the line-up at the time, but I can't remember their placement outside of a couple channels. At the time, channel 18 was the only channel left vacant between channels 2-36.

2--WDTN (ABC-2/Dayton) *Now NBC
3--WKOI (TBN-43/Richmond)
4--WTTV (Ind-4/Indianapolis) *Now The WB
5--WLWT (NBC-5/Cincinnati)
6--WRTV (ABC-6/Indianapolis)
7--WHIO (CBS-7/Dayton)
8--WISH (CBS-8/Indianapolis)
9--WCPO (CBS-9/Cincinnati) **now ABC, dropped from the system in 1987
10-WPTO (PBS-14/Oxford) *Simulcasted WPTD 16 Dayton, dropped in 1987 in favor of WPTD
11-WXIX (Ind-19/Cincinnati) *Now Fox
12-WKRC (ABC-12/Cincinnati) *Now CBS, dropped from the system in 1987
13-WTHR (NBC-13/Indianapolis)
14-?
15-HBO
16-?
17-Showtime
18-BLANK
19-WIPB (PBS-49/Muncie)
20-Cinemax
21-Weather Radar (showed the Indianapolis radar with audio from Indianapolis NOAA weather radio station KEC74)
22-Disney Channel
23-?
24-?
25-?
26-MTV
27-?
28-?
29-?
30-VH1 **dropped in 1987, added back around 2000
31-?
32-Nickelodeon
33-?
34-AMC (after 3pm)/The Fashion Channel (early mornings and afternoons) **This channel popped up around 1985 or early 1986. 34 was previously a blank channel, IIRC
35-CVN
36-The Weather Channel

Here's how TCI had the line-up in 1987...

2--WDTN (ABC-2/Dayton)
3--AMC (3p-7a)/The Fashion Channel (7a-3p)
4--CNN
5--HBO
6--USA Network
7--WHIO (CBS-7/Dayton)
8--Discovery Channel
9--Nickelodeon
10-The Disney Channel
11-ESPN
12-Lifetime
13-WTHR (NBC-13/Indianapolis)
14-MTV
15-CVN
16-Community Access (as WCTV)
17-Showtime
18-BLANK
19-The Weather Channel
20-Cinemax
21-Weather Radar
22-TNN
23-WRGT (Fox-45/Dayton)
24-CBN *later The CBN Family Channel
25-Superstation TBS
26-WIPB (PBS-49/Muncie)
27-WGN
28-WTTV (Ind-4/Indianapolis)
29-WXIX (Fox-19/Cincinnati)
30-WKOI (TBN-43/Richmond)
31-WRTV (ABC-6/Indianapolis)
32-WLWT (NBC-5/Cincinnati)
33-WISH (CBS-8/Indianapolis)
34-WPTD (PBS-16/Dayton)
35-BET
36-C-SPAN

 

[radiobama]

Classic Cable Lineups

Interesting thread! My hometown in southern Tennessee had one of the early CATV (Community Antenna TV) systems, which started in the early '60s.
Here is a mid '60s channel lineup from Fayetteville, TN:

2-WDCN (NET), Nashville, TN (now WNPT/8)
3-WRCB (NBC), Chattanooga, TN
4-WSM-TV (NBC), Nashville, TN (now WSMV)
5-WLAC-TV (CBS), Nashville, TN (now WTVF)
6-Local Weather Instruments (WSM-FM, Nashville/background music)
7-WHNT/19 (CBS), Huntsville, AL
8-WSIX-TV (ABC), Nashville, TN (swapped channels with WDCN in the early '70s, became WNGE/2-ABC, now WKRN)
9-WTVC (ABC), Chattanooga, TN
10-WAAY-TV/31 (ABC), Huntsville, AL (later NBC, then ABC in late '70s)
11-WMSL-TV/23 (NBC), Decatur, AL (later WYUR/48-ABC, Huntsville, AL, back to NBC in the late '70s, now WAFF)
12-WDEF-TV (CBS), Chattanooga, TN
13-Blank (WSIX-FM, Nashville/background music - was later WZTV/17 (Ind.), Nashville, TN)

*Chattanooga stations were bumped with the arrival of WTCG/Atlanta, HBO and other satellite services.

 

[trainman]

> Real easy (or not?)...Is it known when your city or town
> first got cable TV?

Although most of the other towns in the area had cable by the late 1970s, cable didn't start operating in my hometown of Tampa until 1982, and the city wasn't fully wired until 1986 -- and guess what future radio-info.com poster lived in one of the last neighborhoods to be hooked up.

The good news was that, because Tampa's cable system was built from scratch relatively late, it debuted with 50-something channels, while cable systems in the surrounding area were still stuck with 36 or even 12 channels. It was at first under local ownership with the name Tampa Cable, then it was bought by Jones Intercable circa 1987 or 1988, then Time Warner Cable took over in the mid-1990s, and after TWC's reorganization, it's now a Bright House system.

Unfortunately, I don't have a copy of the original lineup, but I remember some of the highlights from the perspective of my 12-year-old self: the local channels were all on their over-the-air channel numbers; HBO, the only channel for which they put traps on the line, was on Channel 4; MTV was Channel 20; Nickelodeon was Channel 21; The Disney Channel was Channel 54; VH-1 was Channel 56; there were some big gaps between channels in the lineup, and at the "top of the dial" was A&E on Channel 81 and ACTS on Channel 83.

Jones Intercable and Time Warner both made extensive changes to the channel lineup on several occasions; I think the one and only channel that's stayed in place throughout is WTSP, still carried on its over-the-air Channel 10.<P ID="signature">______________
From Jim Ellwanger, proprietor of a mailing list for TV Guide collectors and fans</P>

 

[Charles]

While a lot of the suburbs in and around Birmingham got cable by the mid '70's, it didn't appear in the city limits of Birmingham until the late '70's, making it to my neighborhood by '79. This was the original line-up:

2-News teletype
3-WAPI 13 (NBC)--now WVTM
4-WTCG 17 (Atlanta)--now TBS
5-HBO
7-WBRC 6 (ABC)--now Fox
8-WHAE 46 (Atlanta-CBN)--now WGCL-CBS
9-WBMG 42 (CBS)--now WIAT
10-Weather teletype
11-WBIQ 10 (PBS)
12-Satellite Program Network

IIRC, several of the cable systems in the suburbs of Birmingham also carried WCFT-33 from Tuscaloosa, which at the time was a CBS affiliate. It's now the ABC affiliate for Birmingham.

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

In 1984-1985, Clearview Cable in Richmond, IN had this lineup. Note that there were other cable channels on the line-up at the time, but I can't remember their placement outside of a couple channels. At the time, channel 18 was the only channel left vacant between channels 2-36.

2--WDTN (ABC-2/Dayton) *Now NBC
3--WKOI (TBN-43/Richmond)
4--WTTV (Ind-4/Indianapolis) *Now The WB
5--WLWT (NBC-5/Cincinnati)
6--WRTV (ABC-6/Indianapolis)
7--WHIO (CBS-7/Dayton)
8--WISH (CBS-8/Indianapolis)
9--WCPO (CBS-9/Cincinnati) **now ABC, dropped from the system in 1987
10-WPTO (PBS-14/Oxford) *Simulcasted WPTD 16 Dayton, dropped in 1987 in favor of WPTD
11-WXIX (Ind-19/Cincinnati) *Now Fox
12-WKRC (ABC-12/Cincinnati) *Now CBS, dropped from the system in 1987
13-WTHR (NBC-13/Indianapolis)
14-?
15-HBO
16-?
17-Showtime
18-BLANK
19-WIPB (PBS-49/Muncie)
20-Cinemax
21-Weather Radar (showed the Indianapolis radar with audio from Indianapolis NOAA weather radio station KEC74)
22-Disney Channel
23-?
24-?
25-?
26-MTV
27-?
28-?
29-?
30-VH1 **dropped in 1987, added back around 2000
31-?
32-Nickelodeon
33-?
34-AMC (after 3pm)/The Fashion Channel (early mornings and afternoons) **This channel popped up around 1985 or early 1986. 34 was previously a blank channel, IIRC
35-CVN
36-The Weather Channel

Here's how TCI had the line-up in 1987...

2--WDTN (ABC-2/Dayton)
3--AMC (3p-7a)/The Fashion Channel (7a-3p)
4--CNN
5--HBO
6--USA Network
7--WHIO (CBS-7/Dayton)
8--Discovery Channel
9--Nickelodeon
10-The Disney Channel
11-ESPN
12-Lifetime
13-WTHR (NBC-13/Indianapolis)
14-MTV
15-CVN
16-Community Access (as WCTV)
17-Showtime
18-BLANK
19-The Weather Channel
20-Cinemax
21-Weather Radar
22-TNN
23-WRGT (Fox-45/Dayton)
24-CBN *later The CBN Family Channel
25-Superstation TBS
26-WIPB (PBS-49/Muncie)
27-WGN
28-WTTV (Ind-4/Indianapolis)
29-WXIX (Fox-19/Cincinnati)
30-WKOI (TBN-43/Richmond)
31-WRTV (ABC-6/Indianapolis)
32-WLWT (NBC-5/Cincinnati)
33-WISH (CBS-8/Indianapolis)
34-WPTD (PBS-16/Dayton)
35-BET
36-C-SPAN

No WKEF-22 Dayton, OH (then NBC, now ABC) on the Richmond cable lineup? Richmond along with Wayne County, IN is part of the Dayton DMA last I checked. Was Richmond not part of the Dayton market during the '80s?

 

[KML0224]

Nice way to bump a forgotten thread! I'm in New Britain, CT, southwest of Hartford, in southern Hartford County. Our cable system at one time carried WSBK (Boston), WWOR (Secaucus, NJ), WNEW/WNYW and WPIX (New York City). WNEW/WNYW went away around 1985, WPIX went on July 1, 1990 due to SYNDEX (was replaced by then WTWS-TV channel 26 of New London), WWOR stuck around longer via their EMI-Eastern Microwave service and the last of WSBK was in 1999 for the occasional Bruins game.