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Swapping High VHF for Low VHF

Markxxx

Markxxx

Was reading about the affilate changes made by ABC in the late 70s and a couple of posters noted how ABC swapped their High VHF affilates for low VHF affilates (mostly NBC)

Two questions

First was, is this true? I know there is a slight advantage to having a low VHF in terms of power cost and the signal goes a bit farther but would this be enough for ABC to really try and swap them? Or was it something else.

Secondly, I can only think of two high VHF swaps for low VHF swaps

Minnepolis - KSTP(5) went from NBC to ABC and WTCN(11) formerly independent became NBC; leaving KMSP(9) as independet.

And in Indianapolis where WRTV(6) went from NBC to ABC and WTHR(13) went from NBC to ABC

Every other affilate swap in the 70s I can think of ABC swapped a UHF for a VHF as in San Diego or Jacksonville.

So was the low VHF for high VHF an accurate reason for the swap?

And were there any other high for low VHF swaps made by ABC (other than the ones listed)<P ID="signature">______________
Once I figured out the meaning of life....Then I forgot to write it down.</P>
 
> And in Indianapolis where WRTV(6) went from NBC to ABC and
> WTHR(13) went from NBC to ABC
>
Did you mean the other way around for WTHR (ABC to NBC)?
 
> > And in Indianapolis where WRTV(6) went from NBC to ABC and
>
> > WTHR(13) went from NBC to ABC
> >
> Did you mean the other way around for WTHR (ABC to NBC)?
>
You forgot Atlanta, where ABC moved from WXIA/11 to WSB/2,
with NBC going the other way; Midland-Odessa, where KMID/2
moved from NBC to ABC while KWES/9 went the other way; and
Green Bay, where ABC moved from WLUK/11 to WFRV/5, with NBC
going the other way (11 is now Fox, 5 is now a CBS o&o).

One of the first ABC swaps was in Albany/Schenectady/Troy,
when ABC moved from 13 to 10. CBS wound up on 13 until 1981,
when WRGB/6 moved from NBC to CBS, putting NBC on 13.
 
There was at least one instance of ABC in the late 1970's moving from a "low V" to a "high V": It was in New Bedford/Providence, when the then-WTEV-6 was an ABC affiliate and WPRI-12 a CBS affiliate.

In 1977, ABC grabbed WPRI, and CBS wound up with WTEV (now WLNE).

However, the Providence/New Bedford market has an unusual catch: There was also a Channel 6 in Portland, Maine (WCSH, then and now affiliated with NBC). Given how close WCSH was to the Providence/New Bedford area, the Channel 6 signal didn't (and still doesn't) travel as far north as the market's two other VHF's, channels 10 and 12. Many in the Boston atrea (especially in the city and points south) get strong oover-the-air reception from Channels 10 (WJAR) and 12 (WPRI). They get a poor over-the-air signal at best from WLNE.

Additionally, WTEV/WLNE's tower was (and still is) in Tiverton, Rhode Island, southeast of Providence. The towers for Channels 10 and 12 are located in Rehobeth, Massachusetts, about ten miles due east of Providence and some twenty miles north of Tiverton. Due to co-channel interference with WCSH, Channel 6 cannot move their transmitter much further north than it is now (as regards the station's analog signal. WLNE's digital signal, in fact, is/will be transmitted from Rehobeth as are WJAR's and WPRI's).

Going back to 1977, and those pre-cable days, ABC realized that to upgrade in this market, they had to get off Channel 6 and get an affiliation with either Channels 10 or 12. I had heard, but don't know if it's true, that ABC first approached WJAR, then owned by the Outlet Company, but WJAR decided to stay with NBC. ABC then approached WPRI, and managed to convince them to dump CBS and go with their network.

Incidentally, in 1995, the swap was reversed: WLNE went back to ABC and WPRI went back to CBS.
 
> > And in Indianapolis where WRTV(6) went from NBC to ABC and
>
> > WTHR(13) went from NBC to ABC
> >
> Did you mean the other way around for WTHR (ABC to NBC)?
>
Yes thanks for the catch<P ID="signature">______________
Once I figured out the meaning of life....Then I forgot to write it down.</P>
 
> Green Bay, where ABC moved from WLUK/11 to WFRV/5, with NBC
> going the other way (11 is now Fox, 5 is now a CBS o&o).
>
One of the reasons ABC gave for going to WFRV was its satellite station WJMN in Escanaba, Mich.
 
Swapping High UHF for Low UHF

There was an affiliation swap in Huntsville, Ala., in the late '70's where ABC moved from WYUR-48 (now WAFF) to WAAY-31, forcing NBC to Channel 48. At the time, ABC was the #1 network; NBC was #3. Channel 31 was the #1 station in the market, and Channel 48 was (and is) the #3 station in the market. Weren't a lot of the affiliation swaps of that time simply a matter of the more popular network affiliating with the highest (or at least a higher) rated station in the market?
 
> There was at least one instance of ABC in the late 1970's
> moving from a "low V" to a "high V": It was in New
> Bedford/Providence, when the then-WTEV-6 was an ABC
> affiliate and WPRI-12 a CBS affiliate.
>
> In 1977, ABC grabbed WPRI, and CBS wound up with WTEV (now
> WLNE).
>
> However, the Providence/New Bedford market has an unusual
> catch: There was also a Channel 6 in Portland, Maine (WCSH,
> then and now affiliated with NBC). Given how close WCSH was
> to the Providence/New Bedford area, the Channel 6 signal
> didn't (and still doesn't) travel as far north as the
> market's two other VHF's, channels 10 and 12. Many in the
> Boston atrea (especially in the city and points south) get
> strong oover-the-air reception from Channels 10 (WJAR) and
> 12 (WPRI). They get a poor over-the-air signal at best from
> WLNE.
>
> Additionally, WTEV/WLNE's tower was (and still is) in
> Tiverton, Rhode Island, southeast of Providence. The towers
> for Channels 10 and 12 are located in Rehobeth,
> Massachusetts, about ten miles due east of Providence and
> some twenty miles north of Tiverton. Due to co-channel
> interference with WCSH, Channel 6 cannot move their
> transmitter much further north than it is now (as regards
> the station's analog signal. WLNE's digital signal, in fact,
> is/will be transmitted from Rehobeth as are WJAR's and
> WPRI's).
>
> Going back to 1977, and those pre-cable days, ABC realized
> that to upgrade in this market, they had to get off Channel
> 6 and get an affiliation with either Channels 10 or 12. I
> had heard, but don't know if it's true, that ABC first
> approached WJAR, then owned by the Outlet Company, but WJAR
> decided to stay with NBC. ABC then approached WPRI, and
> managed to convince them to dump CBS and go with their
> network.
>
> Incidentally, in 1995, the swap was reversed: WLNE went back
> to ABC and WPRI went back to CBS.
>
Also, in 1985, ABC moved from WRAL/5 to WTVD/11 in Raleigh/
Durham. That move was necessitated by Capital Cities' buying
ABC; CapCities owned WTVD, so TVD became an ABC o&o, while
RAL went to CBS, TVD's former network.
 
> > > And in Indianapolis where WRTV(6) went from NBC to ABC
> and
> >
> > > WTHR(13) went from NBC to ABC
> > >
> > Did you mean the other way around for WTHR (ABC to NBC)?
> >
> You forgot Atlanta, where ABC moved from WXIA/11 to WSB/2,
> with NBC going the other way; Midland-Odessa, where KMID/2
> moved from NBC to ABC while KWES/9 went the other way; and
> Green Bay, where ABC moved from WLUK/11 to WFRV/5, with NBC
> going the other way (11 is now Fox, 5 is now a CBS o&o).
>
> One of the first ABC swaps was in Albany/Schenectady/Troy,
> when ABC moved from 13 to 10. CBS wound up on 13 until
> 1981,
> when WRGB/6 moved from NBC to CBS, putting NBC on 13.
>
I'm surprised no one has yet brought up ABC's high-V-to-low-V swap in Boston during the '70s. ABC was on WNAC-TV 7, a cellar-dwelling station owned by the ill-fated RKO General company, and CBS was on an even more doomed station, the original WHDH-TV 5. When the FCC finally allowed WCVB to replace WHDH-TV on Boston's Channel 5 allocation, WCVB chose to affiliate with ABC, which was willing to accept more pre-emptions than CBS was, and CBS thus found itself having to put up with WNAC-TV and its many troubles.<P ID="signature">______________
This is AirwaveSurfer, reminding you that portions of this post have been prerecorded.</P>
 
> I'm surprised no one has yet brought up ABC's
> high-V-to-low-V swap in Boston during the '70s. ABC was on
> WNAC-TV 7, a cellar-dwelling station owned by the ill-fated
> RKO General company, and CBS was on an even more doomed
> station, the original WHDH-TV 5. When the FCC finally
> allowed WCVB to replace WHDH-TV on Boston's Channel 5
> allocation, WCVB chose to affiliate with ABC, which was
> willing to accept more pre-emptions than CBS was, and CBS
> thus found itself having to put up with WNAC-TV and its many
> troubles.

That reminds me...

23 years after CBS went to Channel 7 in Boston, CBS went to WBZ 4. NBC went from Channel 4 to Channel 7, which by that time was (and is today) WHDH-TV.

At the same time as the 1995 Boston swap, in Baltimore, ABC went from WJZ 13 to WMAR 2. In this three-way swap, CBS went from WBAL 11 to Channel 13, and NBC went back to Channel 11 (WBAL was NBC before going to CBS in 1981).

And in Honolulu, in 1996, Fox went from KHNL 13 to KHON 2. NBC went the exact opposite, from Channel 2 to Channel 13.

The more interesting part...
In Wailuku, Fox went from KOGG 15 to KAII 7
In Hilo, Fox went from KHBC 2 to KHAW 11
In both cases, the former stations are satellites of KHON, and the latter stations are satellites of KHNL.

In other words, Fox went from UHF to VHF in Wailuku with NBC going the exact opposite, yet NBC went from high-VHF to low-VHF in Hilo.
 
Re: Swapping High UHF for Low UHF

> There was an affiliation swap in Huntsville, Ala., in the
> late '70's where ABC moved from WYUR-48 (now WAFF) to
> WAAY-31, forcing NBC to Channel 48. At the time, ABC was
> the #1 network; NBC was #3. Channel 31 was the #1 station
> in the market, and Channel 48 was (and is) the #3 station in
> the market. Weren't a lot of the affiliation swaps of that
> time simply a matter of the more popular network affiliating
> with the highest (or at least a higher) rated station in the
> market?
>
Might wanna take another look at the latest Arbitrons...WAFF 48 is now tied with WHNT 19 for the top spot (and has been for a while). WAAY is a distant third. Local ownership may be the more desireous outcome in the minds of the broadcasting purists, but in most cases, it'll get ya dead last and running neck and neck with the Foxes, the WBs and the UPNs.
 
Re: Swapping High UHF for Low UHF

> Might wanna take another look at the latest Arbitrons...

Ummm ... Arbitron is radio, Nielsen is television.<P ID="signature">______________


</P>
 
> > I'm surprised no one has yet brought up ABC's
> > high-V-to-low-V swap in Boston during the '70s. ABC was
> on
> > WNAC-TV 7, a cellar-dwelling station owned by the
> ill-fated
> > RKO General company, and CBS was on an even more doomed
> > station, the original WHDH-TV 5. When the FCC finally
> > allowed WCVB to replace WHDH-TV on Boston's Channel 5
> > allocation, WCVB chose to affiliate with ABC, which was
> > willing to accept more pre-emptions than CBS was, and CBS
> > thus found itself having to put up with WNAC-TV and its
> many
> > troubles.
>
> That reminds me...
>
> 23 years after CBS went to Channel 7 in Boston, CBS went to
> WBZ 4. NBC went from Channel 4 to Channel 7, which by that
> time was (and is today) WHDH-TV.
>

Also, Charleston, SC, 1996: Allbritton switched WCIV/4 from
NBC to ABC; WCBD/2 went the other way.

Charleston/Huntington, WV, 1988: Gateway Communications
shifted WOWK/13 from ABC to CBS; WCHS/8 went the other way.
> At the same time as the 1995 Boston swap, in Baltimore, ABC
> went from WJZ 13 to WMAR 2. In this three-way swap, CBS went
> from WBAL 11 to Channel 13, and NBC went back to Channel 11
> (WBAL was NBC before going to CBS in 1981).
>
> And in Honolulu, in 1996, Fox went from KHNL 13 to KHON 2.
> NBC went the exact opposite, from Channel 2 to Channel 13.
>
> The more interesting part...
> In Wailuku, Fox went from KOGG 15 to KAII 7
> In Hilo, Fox went from KHBC 2 to KHAW 11
> In both cases, the former stations are satellites of KHON,
> and the latter stations are satellites of KHNL.
>
> In other words, Fox went from UHF to VHF in Wailuku with NBC
> going the exact opposite, yet NBC went from high-VHF to
> low-VHF in Hilo.
>
 
> > > And in Indianapolis where WRTV(6) went from NBC to ABC
> and
> >
> > > WTHR(13) went from NBC to ABC
> > >
> > Did you mean the other way around for WTHR (ABC to NBC)?
> >
> You forgot Atlanta, where ABC moved from WXIA/11 to WSB/2,
> with NBC going the other way; Midland-Odessa, where KMID/2
> moved from NBC to ABC while KWES/9 went the other way; and
> Green Bay, where ABC moved from WLUK/11 to WFRV/5, with NBC
> going the other way (11 is now Fox, 5 is now a CBS o&o).
When WFRV became a CBS o&o, ABC moved to WBAY/2.
>
> One of the first ABC swaps was in Albany/Schenectady/Troy,
> when ABC moved from 13 to 10. CBS wound up on 13 until
> 1981,
> when WRGB/6 moved from NBC to CBS, putting NBC on 13.
>
 
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