Smallest COL by population

[ftballfan]

What is the smallest COL by population (radio or TV)?
Bonus points if it's a full-power TV station or an FM station that is either C, C0, or C1 or has more than one station

Candidates:
Vanderbilt, MI (pop. 587): WFUP-TV
Beulah, MI (pop. 363): WOUF-FM
Bear Lake, MI (pop. 318): WCUZ-FM
Honor, MI (pop. 299): WSRJ-FM
Harrietta, MI (pop. 169): WKAD-FM
Glen Arbor, MI (unincorporated): WGFN-FM, WQEZ-FM

 

[fybush]

I don't think anything's likely to beat Mount Washington, N.H., home to full class C WHOM 94.9. "Mount Washington" itself is unincorporated, but it's part of a larger unincorporated township called Sargent's Purchase, population 3.

 

[ftballfan]

Glen Arbor Township (population 788) is home to two Class C2 stations: WQEZ and WGFN. This is likely one of the smallest COLs to have two full-power stations licensed to it.

 

[LKidd]

Ensign, Kansas (population maybe 200) has KBSD (TV), satellite of CBS affiliate KWCH. It's been licensed there since it went on the air in 1956 on channel 6 allocated to Dodge City. COL may have been picked in order to not specifically identify with one of the three big towns in southwest Kansas (Dodge City, Garden City and Liberal).

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Talking Rock, GA: 2010 census 64. 2000 census 49.

 

[w9wi]

Ensign, Kansas (population maybe 200) has KBSD (TV), satellite of CBS affiliate KWCH. It's been licensed there since it went on the air in 1956 on channel 6 allocated to Dodge City. COL may have been picked in order to not specifically identify with one of the three big towns in southwest Kansas (Dodge City, Garden City and Liberal).

I would be pretty sure Ensign was chosen as the COL because at the time, the main studio had to be in the COL. Most programming was going to come from Wichita - so it really didn't make any sense to microwave the KWCH signal the rest of the way out to Dodge City, run it through a main studio that would never be used, and microwave it *back* to the transmitter at Ensign. License the thing to Ensign, install some studio gear at the transmitter, and register the transmitter site as the main studio, and you're good to go.

 

[RayThomas]

How about WKZF, Starview, PA, a Class A in the York market? There really isn't a town by that name, Starview is actually a trailer park!

 

[ftballfan]

How about WKZF, Starview, PA, a Class A in the York market? There really isn't a town by that name, Starview is actually a trailer park!

And I bet it's popular in that trailer park!

 

[RayThomas]

Its currently a classic rock station with quite a history, beginning as the market's first "underground progressive rock" station when it signed on back in the early 70s. Over the years, its been Music of Your Life, CHR, AOR, oldies, smooth jazz, and now back to its rockin' roots. Quite a legendary station in the Harrisburg-York-Lancaster area of Central PA. For years it was just referred to as "Starview."

 

[1L6E6VHF]

CFSS-TV, channel 3, Warmley, Saskatchewan (defunct) The settlement no longer existed when the station went on the air in 1981 or so.

Warmley became a joke topic among many of us WTFDAers.

WPBN (the Traverse City NBC affiliate) used to sign off mentioning a huge list of STLs, including one in Fingerboard Corners, actually the intersection of M-33 and M-68 in Cheboygan County, no sign of a town.

 

[ftballfan]

CFSS-TV, channel 3, Warmley, Saskatchewan (defunct) The settlement no longer existed when the station went on the air in 1981 or so.

Warmley became a joke topic among many of us WTFDAers.

WPBN (the Traverse City NBC affiliate) used to sign off mentioning a huge list of STLs, including one in Fingerboard Corners, actually the intersection of M-33 and M-68 in Cheboygan County, no sign of a town.

The WCMU stations used to sign on with a list of all their STL links, transmitters, etc.

 

[Hotseat]

WCNN - North Atlanta.

 

[jd]

Looks like you have a point, since it seems that North Atlanta didn't exist after 1965, following "dis-incorporation." If I read things correctly it appears that the city of Brookhaven, incorporated last year, occupies the area (or some of it, anyway) that was once North Atlanta.

 

[dave73]

I'm sure this is large, compared to other posts mentioned, but WKVI-AM & FM (AM 1520 & 99.3 FM) are licensed to Knox Indiana (AM a 1.8kw daytimer with 350 watts during critical hours, & the FM a 3.3kw Class A, & has a population of around 3600, but it's all farmland around Knox.

Now over in Benton County Indiana, there's 98.1 FM WIBN, licensed to Earl Park, they're a 25kw Class B1 station in a town of about 350. If it weren't for 3rd adjacent WASK-FM being on 98.7, WIBN might try to cover nearby Lafayette Indiana better with the signal, rather than Benton County.

 

[joebtsflk1]

I'll jump in and offer up a couple examples: KICP, 105.9 Patterson IA, a C3 in a town of 130 people. KXCL, 101.7, Rock Creek Park CO, a class A in a census designated place of 58 people. KXCL hasn't actually begun operations at Rock Creek Park, so it might not count.

The Ensign KS channel 6 example brought to mind the situation that existed for about the first 20 years of KTVO, channel 3 (now RF ch. 33)
Kirksville MO. 1955 to about 1975 the main studios were considered to be at the transmitter near Lancaster MO, 20 miles north of Kirksville and 35 miles south of Ottumwa IA. Very little programming originated from the transmitter, nearly everything came from KTVO's Ottumwa studios, which were shared with co-owned KBIZ radio. After '75, KTVO moved to their current studio location just north of Kirksville.

 

[w9wi]

What is the smallest COL by population (radio or TV)?

It is not entirely impractical to do the math for TV, so I did...

The least-populous place to be the city-of-license for a full-power TV station is Lowry, South Dakota, population 6. (2010 census) Lowry is home to KQSD-TV channel 11, a PBS station. In the analog era, there were four channels allotted for full-power use at Lowry. However, three of them were allotted only to allow existing translators to increase power. (higher power was permitted on channels allotted for full-power use)

The least-populous place to be the city-of-license for a full-power commercial TV station has been mentioned elsewhere in this thread -- it's Ensign, Kansas, population 187. It's home to KBSD-DT channel 6.

The least-populous place to be the city-of-license of *more than one* full-power TV station in Christiansted in the U.S. Virgin Islands, population 2,637 and home to WSVI channel 8 (RF-20) and WCVI channel 23. I'm not so sure the definition of "city" is reasonably transportable to the Virgin Islands though. The least-populous place on the mainland to be home to more than one full-power station is Lead, South Dakota, population 3,088 and home to KHSD-TV channel 11 (RF-10) and KIVV-TV channel 5.

There are four non-commercial stations licensed to communities of indeterminate population:
WCIQ channel 7 - licensed to Mount Cheaha, Alabama which is a state park.
WMAB-TV channel 2 (RF-10) - licensed to Mississippi State, Mississippi which is a university.
WSWP-TV channel 9 (RF-10) - licensed to Grandview, West Virginia which is unincorporated.
WUNE-TV channel 17 - licensed to Linville, North Carolina which is unincorporated.

A fifth, WDCP-TV channel 19, was licensed to University Center, Michigan -- which is of course a university -- but has recently been deleted.

The largest city in the U.S. which is not the city-of-license of any full-power TV station is Aurora, Colorado, population 339,030.

 

[ftballfan]

What is the smallest COL by population (radio or TV)?

It is not entirely impractical to do the math for TV, so I did...

The least-populous place to be the city-of-license for a full-power TV station is Lowry, South Dakota, population 6. (2010 census) Lowry is home to KQSD-TV channel 11, a PBS station. In the analog era, there were four channels allotted for full-power use at Lowry. However, three of them were allotted only to allow existing translators to increase power. (higher power was permitted on channels allotted for full-power use)

The least-populous place to be the city-of-license for a full-power commercial TV station has been mentioned elsewhere in this thread -- it's Ensign, Kansas, population 187. It's home to KBSD-DT channel 6.

The least-populous place to be the city-of-license of *more than one* full-power TV station in Christiansted in the U.S. Virgin Islands, population 2,637 and home to WSVI channel 8 (RF-20) and WCVI channel 23. I'm not so sure the definition of "city" is reasonably transportable to the Virgin Islands though. The least-populous place on the mainland to be home to more than one full-power station is Lead, South Dakota, population 3,088 and home to KHSD-TV channel 11 (RF-10) and KIVV-TV channel 5.

There are four non-commercial stations licensed to communities of indeterminate population:
WCIQ channel 7 - licensed to Mount Cheaha, Alabama which is a state park.
WMAB-TV channel 2 (RF-10) - licensed to Mississippi State, Mississippi which is a university.
WSWP-TV channel 9 (RF-10) - licensed to Grandview, West Virginia which is unincorporated.
WUNE-TV channel 17 - licensed to Linville, North Carolina which is unincorporated.

A fifth, WDCP-TV channel 19, was licensed to University Center, Michigan -- which is of course a university -- but has recently been deleted.

The largest city in the U.S. which is not the city-of-license of any full-power TV station is Aurora, Colorado, population 339,030.

Four channels alloted for full-power use to a town with a population of six?!?!?!

On a related note, were there analog VHF allocations that were unused anywhere before the transition?

 

[davideduardo]

The least-populous place to be the city-of-license of *more than one* full-power TV station in Christiansted in the U.S. Virgin Islands, population 2,637 and home to WSVI channel 8 (RF-20) and WCVI channel 23. I'm not so sure the definition of "city" is reasonably transportable to the Virgin Islands though.

You are right in your assumption. The US Virgin Islands are divided into three districts, consisting of the three major islands. The St Croix district is the southern and largest island, and it is divided into 9 districts which would be comparable to wards in the US. Some are so "picturesque" as to be called "Northcentral" and "Northwest" while a few have place names, like Christiansted. In reality, they are neighborhoods, not towns, as the administration of the USVI is done on a district level.

On a somewhat similar level, Puerto Rico has neither cities nor counties. It has Municipalities, which function as a combination of both... sort of like the Metro Dade idea in South Florida. The island is broken into nearly 80 munjicipios, and there are no jurisdictions larger or smaller within the Island.

 

[w9wi]

Four channels alloted for full-power use to a town with a population of six?!?!?!

Well, again nobody ever believed anyone would ever build a full-power station on three of those four channels. I'm sure SDPB (who owns KQSD) didn't build the station with the intent of serving Lowry either -- I'm sure the station is intended to serve a number of larger towns spread around the area.

BTW, there are *two* 100,000-watt FM stations licensed to Lowry... one also belongs to SDPB, the other one is commercial... I'm betting that makes Lowry also the smallest community to be the city-of-license of a radio station.

On a related note, were there analog VHF allocations that were unused anywhere before the transition?

Yes. Quite a few, though nearly all of them were in isolated areas like Nevada and Alaska.

 

[ftballfan]

Four channels alloted for full-power use to a town with a population of six?!?!?!

Well, again nobody ever believed anyone would ever build a full-power station on three of those four channels. I'm sure SDPB (who owns KQSD) didn't build the station with the intent of serving Lowry either -- I'm sure the station is intended to serve a number of larger towns spread around the area.

BTW, there are *two* 100,000-watt FM stations licensed to Lowry... one also belongs to SDPB, the other one is commercial... I'm betting that makes Lowry also the smallest community to be the city-of-license of a radio station.

On a related note, were there analog VHF allocations that were unused anywhere before the transition?

Yes. Quite a few, though nearly all of them were in isolated areas like Nevada and Alaska.

I thought Glen Arbor was small with two commercial 50kW-equivalent FM stations.

And there are a few small cities around Lowry, such as Mobridge, Pierre, and Aberdeen