TV Guide in Different Time Zones

[trusty]

There are areas of the country that have TV stations close to each other but in different time zones (I would guess places in Kentucky, Indiana, etc.). Did TV Guide ever list these stations in the same issue, or did they separate them, or use a disclaimer (like "all times Eastern") when listing them together.

(For instance, would Chattanooga and Nashville listings be in the same issue if Chattanooga were in Central Time?)

 

[Ultimajock]

...in the Northern Wisconsin edition of TV Guide, there was always a notation at the top of the listings that WLUC-TV/6 Marquette (MI) was listed at Central Time, although Marquette is actually in Eastern. (Did Marquette itself get a different edition?)...

 

[azumanga]

As far as I know, Marquette and the Central UP always got the Northern Wisconsin edition, even though the region (other than counties bordering Wisconsin) is in Eastern Time.

Of course, until 1972, all of the UP was in Central Time.

 

[KML0224]

There used to be one Knoxville/Chattanooga Edition. The central time zone line is immediately west of Chattanooga. I assume if a reader one county west saw it and saw The Tonight Show at 11:35 PM, they just assumed it was eastern time.

As for Marquette, MI, they used the Northern Wisconsin Edition, since they and Escanaba, MI weren't terribly far from Green Bay. I do believe that Escanaba had a satellite of a Green Bay network station (WFRV-TV perhaps?).

 

[azumanga]

I do believe that Escanaba had a satellite of a Green Bay network station (WFRV-TV perhaps?).

Yes, and still does -- WJMN-TV ch.3. Programming on that station is almost the same as WFRV, other than local ads, idents, promos (times given in Eastern) and some regional programming of interest only to Michigan (such as Detroit Lions).

 

[mleach]

What about western Kansas? I believe some western Kansas counties were in Denver's market ( mountain time zone ) while many systems still offered Wichita channels ( central time zone ). Back in 1988 while traveling through that area I can remember seeing the Kansas State edition or whatever it was called ( central time zone ) being available at local stores in Goodland such as Walmart BUT at the motel we stayed at in Goodland..the channels were all Denver which wasn't even listed in the "local" TV Guide despite the town being in the Mountain time zone.

 

[easttxtv]

I don't remember the Amarillo/Panhandle edition ever listing shows by both Central and Mountain time (the part of the TX/NM border west of Amarillo is part of the CT/MT line); in fact, I only saw 1 station (KFDA/10, CBS) even acknowledge MT in it's promos, and that only lasted a little while.

 

[bpatrick]

The Southern Alabama Edition included Montgomery, Dothan,
Panama City, FL, and Columbus, GA. Columbus schedules were
listed Central Time; likewise, the South Georgia Edition listed Dothan
and Panama City and converted their schedules to Eastern Time.

I seem to recall the New Mexico Edition listing Chs. 5, 9, 11, and 13
from Los Angeles, brought in on cable, with their schedules converted
to Mountain Time.

 

[cwf1701]

What about states that don't go on Daylight time? for example, For example, around Louisville KY, Indiana didn't go on daylight time for a number of years, so how would that affect the TV guides printed for areas which may have a TV station that is still on Standard time (not Daylight time)?

 

[Ultimajock]

I do believe that Escanaba had a satellite of a Green Bay network station (WFRV-TV perhaps?).

Yes, and still does -- WJMN-TV ch.3. Programming on that station is almost the same as WFRV, other than local ads, idents, promos (times given in Eastern) and some regional programming of interest only to Michigan (such as Detroit Lions).

...but WJMN/3 was never listed on its own in TV Guide, just denoted as being a satellite of WFRV in the station roster...

 

[bpatrick]

What about states that don't go on Daylight time? for example, For example, around Louisville KY, Indiana didn't go on daylight time for a number of years, so how would that affect the TV guides printed for areas which may have a TV station that is still on Standard time (not Daylight time)?

There were some towns across the Ohio River from Louisville, such as New Albany and Jeffersonville, which did go on DST to
stay with Louisville (same with some Indiana communities adjacent to Cincinnati), so the Kentucky edition didn't have to change anything; the Central Indiana edition, which included Indianapolis, made the appropriate changes.

By the same token, there are a few towns in Alabama adjacent to Columbus, GA, that unofficially observe Eastern Time (the whole state is officially on Central Time), and if the Southern Alabama edition circulated in Lanett or Phenix City instead of the
South Georgia edition (and I keep thinking that at least one Alabama county near Columbus did get South Georgia), people knew to make the appropriate conversion.

 

[Mike Stroud]

What about states that don't go on Daylight time? for example, For example, around Louisville KY, Indiana didn't go on daylight time for a number of years, so how would that affect the TV guides printed for areas which may have a TV station that is still on Standard time (not Daylight time)?

There were some towns across the Ohio River from Louisville, such as New Albany and Jeffersonville, which did go on DST to
stay with Louisville (same with some Indiana communities adjacent to Cincinnati), so the Kentucky edition didn't have to change anything; the Central Indiana edition, which included Indianapolis, made the appropriate changes.

By the same token, there are a few towns in Alabama adjacent to Columbus, GA, that unofficially observe Eastern Time (the whole state is officially on Central Time), and if the Southern Alabama edition circulated in Lanett or Phenix City instead of the
South Georgia edition (and I keep thinking that at least one Alabama county near Columbus did get South Georgia), people knew to make the appropriate conversion.

Actually, bp, apparently quite a few counties in southern Alabama got the South Georgia edition. I recall, while on a visit to my father's family in Elba, Alabama during the 1983 Christmas season purchasing a TVG and being surprised to find that it was not South Alabama as I had expected (Montgomery, Dothan, Panama City, et al), but rather South Georgia. This was despite the fact that the area was too far away to pick up Columbus' WRBL and WTVM; the only southeastern Alabama stations listed were Dothan's WTVY and WDHN. It was mainly full, as we know, of Georgia and Florida stations, including Jacksonville, Macon, and Savannah, for crying out loud.

I have a suspicion that the five-and-dime chain store where I got it (name unknown and probably long out of business) must have been Georgia-based, and that Annenberg or the distributors simply provided the South Georgia edition to the store's central headquarters, which, in turn, distributed it to all stores regardless. In other words, all other retail places in that town and nearby probably carried the South Alabama edition, as normal. I'm sure local folks knew not to get the TVG from that particular store, knowing it had mostly channels they couldn't get.

 

[bpatrick]

I won't dispute you but that does seem awfully freakish--
but then again, I once picked up a South Florida edition
in Myrtle Beach, SC. I used to have a map showing how
the editions were broken down by region, and I
still think only one Alabama county officially got South Georgia.
But then again, I think some people who contribute to this
board have mentioned places in Virginia where Eastern Virginia,
Central Virginia, and Washington-Baltimore were all sold in the
same place. The county where I live got Eastern North Carolina;
the next county west got Charlotte (later Central North Carolina),
but occasionally the distributor got the two mixed up; likewise,
I have bought Central Virginia at a store about 20 miles east
of my house.

 

[bpatrick]

It just hit me: Chambers County, which borders Georgia
although not across the Chattahoochee from Columbus,
was the one Alabama county that officially got South Georgia.
Any other counties getting that edition did so by some freak
decision or misdelivery.

There were also a couple of counties that got Atlanta: Cleburne
and Randolph, both of which were and are in the Atlanta DMA.
Their problem was that the Birmingham stations (which they also
receive via cable) were not included, and schedules in the Atlanta
edition were listed Eastern time. Having been able to get WSB and
WAGA since the late 1940s, I'm sure those people were used to
subtracting one hour.

 

[mleach]

I won't dispute you but that does seem awfully freakish--
but then again, I once picked up a South Florida edition
in Myrtle Beach, SC. I used to have a map showing how
the editions were broken down by region, and I
still think only one Alabama county officially got South Georgia.
But then again, I think some people who contribute to this
board have mentioned places in Virginia where Eastern Virginia,
Central Virginia, and Washington-Baltimore were all sold in the
same place.

Chances are this would be the Harrisonburg-Luray-Waynesboro-Staunton region since for many years one could get at least some channels from Washington, Baltimore, Hagerstown, Richmond, Charottlesville and Roanoke on cable ( and even OTA there ) and its still the case today however last I heard some local guy ( I believe out of Woodstock ) is doing the "lawyer" thing and trying to force the local Comcast systems to only offer channels strictly out of Harrisonburg and Washington only, nowhere else not even Charlottesville , Hagerstown or Richmond.

 

[compubit]

Here's my input...

- The Montana edition was the only guide that "touched" 3 separate time zones: Williston, ND stations are on Central Time; Montana proper stations are Mountain Time, and Spokane on Pacific Time (all programs were listed in Mountain Time - so the Tonight Show aired at 9:35, 10:35 and 12:35am)

- Northern Wisconsin had a "disclaimer" stating that 6 (WLUC), 13 (WNMU) and 50D (WKBD) were listed in Central Time

- West Texas edition covered the Texas part of the Panhandle and New Mexico edition once you crossed into NM - Clovis NM has KVIH/12 (a satellite of KVII/7/Amarillo). West Texas mentions 12 as a satellite of 7; New Mexico listed 12 with programs an hour earlier than the KOAT stations... (Nightline starting at 9:35pm).

- Early editions of Kentucky included the Evansville and stations - and mentioned that programming did not account for Daylight Savings time (can't quickly find this one...)

- 1950s Indiana editions listed programming like this: 8:30 (7:30) [3] [8] [10] [15] WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE - Western (the channel numbers are in the channel "bullets" style )

- 1950s Chicago* edition mentions on each page "All times are Central Daylight. For Standard Time subtract one hour."

- 1950s/60 Alabama editions included Columbus, GA stations WRBL and WTVM and states on each page "All times are Central Standard. For Eastern Standard Time add one hour."

J

 

[bpatrick]

In the '50s and early '60s, before Louisville switched from Central
to Eastern time and Evansville was dropped from the Kentucky edition,
listings would read something like this:
6:30 (7:30) [11] [12] [27] [50] PERRY MASON

Louisville and Evansville stations were white numbers on black background;
Lexington and Cincinnati stations were black numbers on white background.
Louisville and Evansville were Central time; Lexington and Cincinnati, Eastern.

 

[LynnW]

No portion of Kansas is in the Denver market nor in the Colorado Spring/Pueblo market.

The only parts of Texas in the Mountain time zone are El Paso, and Hudspeth counties, and extreme northwest corner of Culberson county. In the pan handle, the time zones change at the New Mexico-Texas state line although some maps show the time zone boundary offset to the east of the state line for clarity.

 

[mleach]

No portion of Kansas is in the Denver market nor in the Colorado Spring/Pueblo market.

Thats is what I had thought but then again sometimes motels/hotels don't follow their local markets insetad they pick the "next biggest one". Example..for years many local Hagerstown, Maryland motels didn't offer their local NBC WHAG instead they picked WRC
while I can remember a long time ago staying at a few places near Kings Dominion Amusement Park such as the Best Western Kings Quarters and they offered DC channels instead of the local Richmond ones.

Of course things could be different now but for the most part when most people go out on vacation, they could care less about local TV.

 

[firepoint525]

- Early editions of Kentucky included the Evansville and stations - and mentioned that programming did not account for Daylight Savings time (can't quickly find this one...)

Louisville and Evansville were Central time; Lexington and Cincinnati, Eastern.

Evansville has, as far as I know, always been on central time, and has always observed the switchover to daylight saving time in the summer. It was the parts of the state on eastern time that stayed on standard time all year, thus placing the entire state within the same time zone during the summer months.

When I grew up in northwest Tennessee, I remember the TV Guide there being referred to as the "Paducah-Evansville edition," even though Paducah is over 100 miles from Evansville, and we definitely could not receive any Evansville stations in northwest Tennessee. We were in a strange market in that we were just a little too far north to be considered Memphis.