St. John's, NL Cable Lineup (August 21, 1982) plus Question

[Davros2006]

According to the August 21-27, 1982 issue of “The Newfoundland Herald”

3 – CBC (CBNT)
4 – NTV/CTV (CJON)
5 – PBS (no exact affiliation listed, see below)
7 – ABC (WVII Bangor)
8 – Corner Brook Community Channel
9 – St. John’s Community Channel
11 – NBC (WLBZ Bangor)
12 – House of Commons/Galaxie (TVO/Rogers)
13 – MUN Channel

Although in my seven postings of listings from August 21 to 27, 1982 I said WTVS and placed a * by it each time, I said it was “subject to further research”. Well, I read a little further and it was not until September 1, 1983 that CANCOM (now Shaw Broadcast Services) began carrying nationally the four main Detroit stations (which at the time were WJBK, WDIV, WXYZ, and WTVS). This leads me to ask this question: What local, if any, PBS affiliate did St. John’s get programming from until they got WJBK and WTVS (and later WDIV and WXYZ)? Also of note, this was probably the first week PBS listings were included, starting with this particular issue of the “Herald”.

 

[azumanga]

I would think they might've gotten the PBS signal from MPBN in Maine (probably WMEB in Orono, serving Bangor), as the cable system carried NBC and ABC from Bangor as well.

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

Another question: Why wasn't a CBS station (presumably one from Maine) offered on St. John's cable lineup?

 

[Bluenoser]

Another question: Why wasn't a CBS station (presumably one from Maine) offered on St. John's cable lineup?

My local cableco, Central Cable TV (now EastLink), was the same way...we didn't get CBS or PBS until Cancom launched- NBC and ABC came from Bangor. Those signals were switched in the late 80s to their Motown counterparts because of signal concerns with WVII. We've had all Boston sigs (apart from Fox from Rochester, NY) since 1998.