Stations/markets never (or almost never) listed in TV Guide

[RadioDze]

The Eastern North Carolina Edition, which listed stations from the Raleigh-Durham, Greenville-Washington(NC)-New Bern, and Wilmington markets also included some signals from the adjoining Greensboro-Winston Salem-High Point (WFMY 2, the former WGGT 48--which was dropped when it became a satellite of the former WNRW 45 in Winston-Salem--and WGHP 8) and Florence-Myrtle Beach (WBTW 13 and WPDE 15), though never any from the adjoining Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News or Richmond markets. An independent Rocky Mount station, WFXB-TV 47 was listed for a few years in the '90s before being dropped. The station had a limited coverage area. It didn't make the listings again until becoming PAX affiliate WRPX and moving closer to Raleigh-Durham. Also, Wilson independent WRAY-TV 30 was included after sign-on, but dropped a few years later as it went home shopping. For years, a note appeared about Goldsboro independent WYED-TV 17 mentioning that it was not available in the edition but available to some viewers. It was added several years later as its programming expanded. This is, of course, now Raleigh's NBC affiliate, WNCN. Myrtle Beach FOX affiliate WFXB (unrelated to TV 47 in Rocky Mount) was never listed, even though their signal is seen over a wide swath of southeastern North Carolina.

 

[classictvfan]

WKYH Hazard, KY signed on in 1968 and wasn't mentioned in TV Guide until about 1980. I don't remember which edition came first but it was listed in the Kentucky, West Virginia and East Tennessee (or whatever the edition was called). The station was purchased and upgraded in the mid eighties and became WYMT.

The last edition you were refering to was the Bristol-Kingsport-Johnson City edition.

 

[Charles1]

When was WYMT added to the Kentucky edition (serving Louisville and Lexington)? I lived in Louisville from '83-'86, and it wasn't included, but when I returned to Louisville for a visit in '90 or '91, it was included in the listings.

 

[bpatrick]

WUNU/31 Lumberton, NC, part of the UNC-TV
system, was never listed in either the Eastern
North Carolina or the South Carolina edition.
It properly belonged in the South Carolina one,
since Lumberton is part of Florence/Myrtle Beach
(WBTW even identifies itself as "Florence/Myrtle
Beach/Lumberton").

 

[BRNout]

I have always been kinda confused as to why the Richmond, Virginia stations ( at least WTVR, WRIC/WXEX and WWBT ) never made it to the Washington-Baltimore edition of TV Guide. Spotsylvania & Stafford counties and the city of Fredericksburg, all three are in the DC DMA but yet for years the viewers there on cable & OTA also received the big three Richmond stations as well and considering the amount of population growth that has occured there ( and still continuing ) it would had made sense to feature Richmond too.

An excellent point. While I have a hard time believing that politics played a role here, it was very interesting that the W-B edition never had Richmond stations and the Richmond edition of TVG (and Eastern VA before it) historically had few Washington stations. It was as if there was a 10,000 foot mountain range between these adjacent markets. Very odd, as there is a rather significant overlap area between them.

Another peculiar one was the old "Western New England" edition of TVG, which had the big 3 stations from Boston and stations from Springfield, Hartford and New Haven. Yet, nothing from New York or Providence. I suppose it was because the New York edition was available from New Haven county south (and CT channels were in that one); but still, the NY channels were receivable OTA in many sections of CT that didn't get that edition. And this was certainly true of Providence stations (yet not for Boston ones). Perhaps Boston stations were included for the benefit of those living in the Berkshires, but it sure seemed odd at the time.

Sometime in the mid 1980s, Hartford/New Haven and Springfield were split into different editions and the NY channels were included in the H/NH edition and Boston in the Spfld edition. But Providence stations weren't added because much of eastern CT ended up getting the Providence edition of TVG (after it was split from the old Eastern New England edition). Many of those areas in eastern CT formerly got the Western New England edition before the split. Providence's edition did include some CT stations.

Geeky stuff to be sure, but it was interesting how these decisions must have been made.