K
KML0224
Guest
Speaking of Hartford/New Haven, is this thread only for stations which swapped AFTER the changes in 1952? I am aware that WTNH-TV (ABC) channel 8 of New Haven started out in 1948 as WNHC-TV channel 6.
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Stations that changed their channel assignments
- Thread starter genius
- Start date
There is more to the story in Rochester. At one time WVET and WHEC had a shared time arrangement on Channel 10. When WHAM-TV was sold WVET changed to WROC and became the full time occupant of Channel 8 leaving WHEC on Channel 10.
WROC's home at 201 Humboldt was the former home of WHAM-AM and TV as well as WHFM. It was built in the late 1940's for radio and still looked the part of a very old broadcast center back in 1976 when WROC-AM 1280 and WPXY-FM 97.9 were still there. There were plans for a TV wing that was never built. TV just took space from radio over the years. If Mr Fybush could get inside it might make an interesting Site of the week. At the time the building was constucted the WHAM stations were owned by Stomberg-Carlson which started out making phone equipment and later Radio and Television sets. I remember they had a factory just down the street from the "Broadcast Center".
It makes one wonder why the company sold their broadcast stations just a few years after moving into what was then a grand building.
I have often wondered why WROC-TV hasn't moved into a newer more efficient building made for Television. The heating and cooling of that old place alone probably costs them a fortune.
WROC's home at 201 Humboldt was the former home of WHAM-AM and TV as well as WHFM. It was built in the late 1940's for radio and still looked the part of a very old broadcast center back in 1976 when WROC-AM 1280 and WPXY-FM 97.9 were still there. There were plans for a TV wing that was never built. TV just took space from radio over the years. If Mr Fybush could get inside it might make an interesting Site of the week. At the time the building was constucted the WHAM stations were owned by Stomberg-Carlson which started out making phone equipment and later Radio and Television sets. I remember they had a factory just down the street from the "Broadcast Center".
It makes one wonder why the company sold their broadcast stations just a few years after moving into what was then a grand building.
I have often wondered why WROC-TV hasn't moved into a newer more efficient building made for Television. The heating and cooling of that old place alone probably costs them a fortune.
genius said:
As I have heard the situation in Miami is an interesting one and started before the big swap of 1995. Since the dawn of Television in South Florida WTVJ had been owned by Wometco Enterprises a theater chain headquartered in Miami. Upon the death of the founder of the company Mitchell Wolfson WTVJ passed into the hands of KKR an investment firm that is known for operating stations for awhile then turning stations over for a profit. WTVJ had been Miami's CBS outlet for many years. CBS was very interested in purchasing WTVJ but made a low bid that was rejected. Insensed by this CBS told the owners of WTVJ that they would yank the network affiliation making WTVJ a less Valuable property if they didn't sell the station to CBS. What CBS didn't count on was KKR sold WTVJ to NBC! For a time there was an NBC O&O as a CBS network affiliate!
CBS soon to be without a home for their network programming set out to find another station to buy in Miami. The logical choice was then the NBC affiliate in Miami WCKT Channel 7 owned by Sunbeam. Unimpressed by the CBS offer Sunbeam was willing to make WCKT an independent station, which they did until the Fox network came along.
CBS was left with WCIX Channel 6 with an inferrior signal since it's transmitter is located way south of Miami in Homestead. Channel 6 was the last VHF station to be built in Miami and didn't come on the air till around 1967. The transmitter had to be located in Homestead to protect adjacent Channel 5 in West palm Beach and Channel 6 in Orlando. This put Channel 6 at a disadvantage since all the other Miami stations have their transmitters on the Dade county / Broward County line north of Miami to better serve the Miami-Fort lauderdale area. Channel 6 puts a very weak signal into even the Soth end of Broward County and has relied with little success on low powered UHF translator stations to carry the WTVJ signal (they did have a higher powered tranlator on Channel 33 for awhile but that's another story).
CBS isn't happy with the situation in Miami and their merger with Group W Westinghouse Broadcasting provided the solution. In Philadelphia WCAU Channel 10 was owned by CBS while KYW the NBC affiliate was owned by Group W Westinghouse. NBC wanted to buy one of the stations in this top 5 market and made the agreement to make the swap in Miami so they could buy WCAU Channel 10 from CBS.
The night WCIX and WTVJ swapped was met with some fanfare. Watching both stations from home I thought NBC made a bigger deal about it and promoted it better than CBS did! This is a surprise since NBC actually got the inferrior signal in the deal. NBC was also the first owner to promote the fact the Channel 6 audio can be heard around 87.9 on the FM dial which means you can hear WTVJ Channel 6 in the car!
NBC must have been looking ahead to HDTV. Their new HDTV transmitter is on the Dade county / Broward county line with the rest of the area TV stations. The signal disadvantage will be a thing of the past in a couple of years.
In the early 1950's...Louisville had 2 VHFs...WAVE-5 (NBC) and WHAS 9 (CBS).
Cincinnati is only about 100 miles away...and they had WLWT-5 and WCPO-9.
Didn't take long to figure out this wouldn't work...(imagine trying to watch halfway between
the two cities)...so WAVE was assigned to ch 3...WHAS moved to ch 11.
Cincinnati is only about 100 miles away...and they had WLWT-5 and WCPO-9.
Didn't take long to figure out this wouldn't work...(imagine trying to watch halfway between
the two cities)...so WAVE was assigned to ch 3...WHAS moved to ch 11.
El Paso: KVIA (ABC) moved from 13 to 7
in either the late '70s or early '80s; the
PBS station there went from 7 to 13.
Charlotte: WCCB (then-ABC) moved from
36 to 18 in 1966; the next year, a new
independent, WCTU, signed on on 36.
That station became WRET when Ted Turner
bought it in 1971. In the big switch of '78,
when WSOC/9 went from NBC to ABC, 36
got the NBC affiliation and 18 went independent
(it's Fox now). 36 went through a couple of
changes in call letters and ownership in the '80s,
and is now Belo's WCNC.
in either the late '70s or early '80s; the
PBS station there went from 7 to 13.
Charlotte: WCCB (then-ABC) moved from
36 to 18 in 1966; the next year, a new
independent, WCTU, signed on on 36.
That station became WRET when Ted Turner
bought it in 1971. In the big switch of '78,
when WSOC/9 went from NBC to ABC, 36
got the NBC affiliation and 18 went independent
(it's Fox now). 36 went through a couple of
changes in call letters and ownership in the '80s,
and is now Belo's WCNC.
romer979fm said:
While I'm not 100% sure of the timing... WLWT and WCPO didn't start out on channels 5 and 9. They were originally on channels 4 and 7 respectively, so WAVE-5 and WHAS-9 wouldn't have been a problem.
Can't say I'm sure why they did all these channel swaps - it looks to me like everything would have fit on the old channels. Unless channel 5's at Louisville, Dayton, and Huntington WV were a bit close? Or channel 4's in Detroit and Cleveland? Or they did it to open some channels in Canada?
Gatorman said:
That's an interesting one -- they swapped assignments with WBCC (a low-budget, low-powered non-commercial station at Brevard Community College in Cocoa). WKCF wanted the much lower, more favorable spot on the dial, and more or less "bribed" WBCC into agreement by "donating" a slew of more up-to-date equipment that they would never have been able to afford on their own.
in Austin,tx. KHFI ch. 42 was nbc and changed to ch 36 KTVV in 1971 and then changed call letters in sometime in the 1980's to KXAN. KTBC ch .7 was cbs from 1952 to 1995 to fox. ch. 42 KBVO came back on the air in 1983 as a ind., changed to fox in 1987. then in 1995 changed to cbs and call letters to KEYE. ch 62 KAKW in killen,tx moved to austin and changed from upn to univision. ch 2 KBEJ in fredericksburg (san antonio,tx) was serving austin as a upn station then 2006 changed to cw and will be a primary san antonio station someday. changed call letters to KCWX. ch. 54 KNVA changed from the wb to cw (austin). in 1962 ch 9 KLRN the pbs station from san antonio was also serving austin from along time, then in 1978 KLRU 18 pbs beacame austin's pbs station. and one more ch. 14 KXAM in llano,tx a sattelite station from KXAN nbc. was to be a blanco,tx independent station ch. 14 KLNO ind. L.I.N. bought ch.14 and moved the station to llano after the past owner had financial problems and newer got the station on the air.
The main reason of WBRC/Birmingham flipping from 4 to 6 was to give breathing room to WSM(V)-4 in Nashville; it would be several more years before WCBI launched in Columbus, Miss.
Also, WMSL changed from 23 to 48 due to its relocating from Decatur to Huntsville in September 1968.
If you count construction permits, WAAY-TV applied for channel 25 and changed to 31 when existing WAFG was throwing in the towel in the face of the two new stations (WAAY and WHNT-19). 'AFG approached the Smith family (WAAY) and they abandoned 25 and instead bought out WAFG.
Several other channel changes:
WRBL/Columbus, Ga. -- from 4 to 3 in 1961.
WTVY/Dothan, Ala. -- from 9 to 4 at the same time.
WTVM/Columbus, Ga. -- from 28 to 9, ditto.
I also believe at the same time that WTVC-9 in Chattanooga moved northward, allowing WTVM to move to 9. They were originally in Rome, Ga., with the calls WROM-TV.
Forgive me if it's already been mentioned, but WVUE in New Orleans started out on 13, then at some point in the '60s moved next door to 12, clearing the way for WLOX-13 in Biloxi. Then in the early-ish '70s, in the same kind of situation as Nashville, WVUE switched places with PBS station WYES-8. 'YES moved to 12, 'VUE to 8.
***
Slightly OT, but the WAAY situation in Huntsville made me wonder how many commercial stations died or moved and had their former assignments reassigned as non-comms. Hot Springs, Ark. (~55 miles WSW of Little Rock) had a VHF network affil in the early '60s, KFOY-9 -- (F)ountain (O)f (Y)outh, referring to the city's bathhouses. It was NBC for much of its short life. It died on the vine, and 9 moved south about 30 miles to Arkadelphia, where it became a noncomm assignment. Today, it's part of Ark. Educational TV.
--Russell
Also, WMSL changed from 23 to 48 due to its relocating from Decatur to Huntsville in September 1968.
If you count construction permits, WAAY-TV applied for channel 25 and changed to 31 when existing WAFG was throwing in the towel in the face of the two new stations (WAAY and WHNT-19). 'AFG approached the Smith family (WAAY) and they abandoned 25 and instead bought out WAFG.
Several other channel changes:
WRBL/Columbus, Ga. -- from 4 to 3 in 1961.
WTVY/Dothan, Ala. -- from 9 to 4 at the same time.
WTVM/Columbus, Ga. -- from 28 to 9, ditto.
I also believe at the same time that WTVC-9 in Chattanooga moved northward, allowing WTVM to move to 9. They were originally in Rome, Ga., with the calls WROM-TV.
Forgive me if it's already been mentioned, but WVUE in New Orleans started out on 13, then at some point in the '60s moved next door to 12, clearing the way for WLOX-13 in Biloxi. Then in the early-ish '70s, in the same kind of situation as Nashville, WVUE switched places with PBS station WYES-8. 'YES moved to 12, 'VUE to 8.
***
Slightly OT, but the WAAY situation in Huntsville made me wonder how many commercial stations died or moved and had their former assignments reassigned as non-comms. Hot Springs, Ark. (~55 miles WSW of Little Rock) had a VHF network affil in the early '60s, KFOY-9 -- (F)ountain (O)f (Y)outh, referring to the city's bathhouses. It was NBC for much of its short life. It died on the vine, and 9 moved south about 30 miles to Arkadelphia, where it became a noncomm assignment. Today, it's part of Ark. Educational TV.
--Russell
genius said:
Given this situation in Albuquerque, I wonder why WKPT/19 Tri-Cities, TN-VA
can't have Channel 2, which it has always wanted, while the PBS station on
2 moves to 19. With HD on the way in, does the idea of not allowing a VHF/UHF
switch between a commercial (ABC in this case) and PBS station seem antiquated?
C
chuckydoll
Guest
bpatrick said:
ABC19/WKPT is licensed to Kingsport TN and transmits from Holston Mountain, near Johnson City TN. Were WKPT to move to Channel 2 it would be short-spaced to WFMY in Greensboro NC and WSB-TV in Atlanta.
WETP-2 is licensed to Sneedville TN and is the PBS station for the Tri-Cities. From what I understand, WETP cannot move its transmitter site without interfering with other stations using Channel 2.
bpatrick said:
It almost happened in Tampa Bay in the late 70's. Commercial station WTOG-44 filed with the FCC to swap channels with PBS station WEDU-3. The FCC said no.
Arizona recently had an unusual assignment switch, involving channels, cities of license, and comm/noncomm reservations.
Commercial station KPHZ channel 11 in Holbrook (Telemundo) moved to channel 39 in Phoenix, while non-commercial station KDTP channel 39 in Phoenix (Daystar) moved to channel 11 in Holbrook. While the channel allocations in the respective cities did not change, the stations specified in each license did, along with the city of license. In addition, the FCC removed the non-commercial reservation from channel 39 in Phoenix and placed it on channel 11 in Holbrook.
Several DTV stations experienced channel swaps from the time the FCC Sixth Report and Order came out in April 1997 and the allocations were finalized in 1998. In Arizona, KNXV-DT Phoenix moved from channel 14 to channel 56, KSAZ-DT Phoenix moved from channel 23 to channel 31, KVOA-DT moved from channel 31 to channel 23, KCFG-DT moved from channel 28 to channel 32 and KMCC-DT moved from channel 35 to channel 32, also changing its city of license from Lake Havasu City AZ to Laughlin NV. Salt Lake City saw even a more far-reaching DTV channel swap, with five stations switching allocations, IIRC. However, none of these stations were actually on the air; they were just initial allocations.
Commercial station KPHZ channel 11 in Holbrook (Telemundo) moved to channel 39 in Phoenix, while non-commercial station KDTP channel 39 in Phoenix (Daystar) moved to channel 11 in Holbrook. While the channel allocations in the respective cities did not change, the stations specified in each license did, along with the city of license. In addition, the FCC removed the non-commercial reservation from channel 39 in Phoenix and placed it on channel 11 in Holbrook.
Several DTV stations experienced channel swaps from the time the FCC Sixth Report and Order came out in April 1997 and the allocations were finalized in 1998. In Arizona, KNXV-DT Phoenix moved from channel 14 to channel 56, KSAZ-DT Phoenix moved from channel 23 to channel 31, KVOA-DT moved from channel 31 to channel 23, KCFG-DT moved from channel 28 to channel 32 and KMCC-DT moved from channel 35 to channel 32, also changing its city of license from Lake Havasu City AZ to Laughlin NV. Salt Lake City saw even a more far-reaching DTV channel swap, with five stations switching allocations, IIRC. However, none of these stations were actually on the air; they were just initial allocations.
Mike Sheridan said:
That's part of the story, but not quite all of it. There were four Rochester radio stations (WHEC 1460, WVET 1280, WARC 950 and WRNY 680) that all applied for channel 10 when the TV freeze was lifted in 1952. To avoid years of comparative hearings and get something on the air, WHEC and WVET joined forces and applied to share time on channel 10. They won the channel, WARC and WRNY were both awarded UHF facilities that were never built (15 and 27 respectively), and WHEC-TV and WVET-TV signed on in 1953 from separate studios and a joint transmitter site, sharing the CBS affiliation and secondary ABC.
In 1956, Stromberg-Carlson sold WHAM-TV 5 to Transcontinent Television and WHAM 1180/WHFM 98.9 to Bill Rust. Both stations remained at 201 Humboldt Street. Transcontinent changed the WHAM-TV calls to WROC-TV, and in 1959 put WROC-FM on the air at 97.9.
In 1961, Veterans Broadcasting (WVET-TV 10/WVET 1280) bought WROC-TV and WROC-FM, closed down its WVET-TV operation on channel 10, sold that half-time license to Gannett's WHEC-TV, and Veteran moved its staff over to Humboldt Street, displacing much of Transcontinent's WROC-TV staff. Channel 5 kept the WROC calls, as did 97.9, and 1280 changed calls from WVET to WROC.
WHAM/WHFM moved out of Humboldt Street soon afterward (to 350 East Avenue, where they'd remain for a quarter of a century). In September 1962, WROC-TV moved to channel 8, trading channels with Syracuse's WHEN-TV and clearing the way for the debuts of WNYS-TV 9 in Syracuse and WOKR 13 in Rochester. To bring this full circle, WOKR signed on from the 17 S. Clinton Avenue studios that WVET had vacated a year earlier.
The factory's still there, now occupied by Nortel and Harris RF. And I've been inside 201 Humboldt Street many times over the years. It's a magnificent old beast of a building, and will someday be featured as a Site of the Week.
Moving would cost money, too, especially considering that the building's long since been paid for. And the old building does have a certain shabbily elegant charm to it. They just recently built a gorgeous new MCR facility for channel 8 and the Fox affiliate they operate, Sinclair's WUHF 31, in what had been an engineering office towards the back of the building. Now they're definitely in place there for at least a few years to come.
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