TV Markets that should be eliminated...

[chrisasu21]

>Wilmington NC
I vote a big NO on this one because all this market lacks is a good CBS affiliate. WJKA-TV 26 was not the best CBS channel around even before its affiliation changed to FOX, but it was much better and provided a much stronger signal than WILM-TV 10. Yes, almost all parts of the area can receive strong signals from CBS affiliates in areas like Raleigh, Florence/Myrtle Beach, and Greenville, and WILM is not much more than a satellite of the Raleigh station (I watched it on cable in Southport last summer and figured that one out because I watch WRAL on a regular basis). It provides a very weak signal that can possibly be received within Wilmington proper, and that's pathetic because all the other stations (WWAY, WECT, WSFX, and WUNJ) can be received as far inland as Fayetteville. I think that it would make more sense to launch another station and get CBS affiliation put on it because moving WILM-TV 10 to full-power could pose problems for those (in South Carolina) who receive WIS-TV in Columbia. Also, a good deal of CBS programming is now available in HD and stations like WNCT-DT, WRAL-DT, and WBTW-DT (now low power) can't always be relied upon to provide a decent signal to Wilmington area residents who want to watch CBS programming in HD. It seems like the ratings war has always been between WWAY and WECT, and it would be nice to have another station contend for the ratings anyway.

WECT not only serves the metropolitan areas of Wilmington and Myrtle Beach, but is also a very powerful and can be received throughout much of Eastern North Carolina. What's disappointing is that the tower is located near White Lake in Bladen County and provides that very strong analog signal, and yet the tower for its HD counterpart is located 10-20 miles away from Wilmington and has a much smaller coverage area (it can be received as far away as Myrtle Beach and Jacksonville, and that's about it).

> Wheeling/Steubenville (combine with Pittsburgh with its
> stations flipping to Fox and WB?). Very unlikely but just a
> thought.

I agree with whoever was very doubtful about this one because WTRF and WTOV are very strong stations and that they both do an excellent job of covering Northernmost WV and Eastern Ohio (and some parts of Western PA, although that area is primarily covered by WPXI and also WJAC (in some places)). This market is somewhat similar to Florence/Myrtle Beach in South Carolina is with NBC affiliates from Columbia and Wilmington, which the ABC, WB, UPN, and FOX affiliates serving the area are from Pittsburgh. I think that this market would be complete if there were additions of stations carrying the "missing" network affiliations in the area.

 

[KML0224]

On the reverse of all this, I wish that the southern New Hampshire areas like Manchester, Concord, Derry, Merrimack and Durham (University Of New Hampshire) could separate from Boston/Worcester, MA and become its own TV market. these areas right now have ABC 9 (Manchester), PBS 11 (Durham), I/PAX 21 (Concord), IND 50 (Derry), PBS 52 (Keene) and TEL 60 (Merrimack). Channel 21 was once a CBS affiliate over 1988-89. Channel 9 is nearly a satellite of sister station WCVB-TV (ABC) channel 5 of Boston (same owners too, Hearst-Argyle). Anything north of these areas can remain with either Portland/Poland Spring, ME or Burlington, VT/Plattsburgh, NY. Hell, you cross the Connecticut River into Brattleboro, VT and it's still the Boston TV market (Windham County, VT). That's likely due to viewing habits as their cable lineup includes at least 4 of their stations. I myself would like to roll Windham County, VT (southeast VT) into Burlington/Plattsburgh. Bennington County, VT (southwestern VT) is a part of the Albany/Schenectady, NY market.

Another nearby market to Vermont is Springfield/Chicopee, MA, which comprises Hampden County (includes Springfield and Chicopee), Hampshire County (includes Northampton) and Franklin County (includes Greenfield). Berkshire County, MA (includes Pittsfield) theoretically could be a part of this market by distance alone. However, like Bennington County, VT, is a part of the Albany/Schenectady, NY market. The for-now-UPN station in that market is licensed to Pittsfield, MA. Pittsfield also has a translator station on channel 7 for NBC Albany.

Springfield/Chicopee is its own market. However, they rely on Hartford, CT for CBS, FOX and Univision. WTIC-TV (FOX) channel 61 of Hartford puts out a strong 5 million watt signal and covers most of that market just fine. The owners of WFSB-TV (CBS) channel 3 of Hartford send out a service on WFSB-DT channel 3-2 (really 33-2) called "CBS 3", which is cable channel 3 in Springfield and a couple of other towns. They have their own 6 and 11 PM newscast and local commercials. It replaced Hartford's channel 3 on cable sometime ago.

 

[MarcB]

I would Combine Northern Connectciut and Western Massachusetts into One Market. (Not including Greenfield/Adams/North Adams Includes Pittsfield). And I'd have a seperate market for Southern Connecticut including Bridgeport and Southeastern, Connecticut. That being said this is what how it would look:

New Northern Connecticut/Western Massachusetts Market:

Full Powered Stations:
3/Hartord CBS
18/Hartord Univision
20/Waterbury CW
22/Springfiled NBC
24/Hartford PBS
30/New Britain Telemundo
40/Springfield ABC
51/Pittsfield My Network
57/Springfield i Network (New Programming Starts in August)
61/Hartford FOX

LPTVs:
50 Hartford/51 Springfield -Telefutura
38 Hartford/43 Springfield - TV Azteca
47 Hartford/34 Springfield: - HSN (34 is a new LPTV that used to be 12 in Granby, CT)
48 Hartford/67 Springfield/7 Pittsfield - America's Store (7 in Pittsfield moving to 28) (67 Springfield has an aplication to move to 49. 48 Hartford used to be 6 in Hartford)
12 Waterbury/28 Springfield (28 Springfield was Formerly 11/28 Hartford) - TBN

The New Southern Connecticut Market

Full Powered Stations:
8/New Haven ABC
26/New London i Network (New Programming Starts in August)
43/Bridgeport CBS
49/Stamford PBS
53/Norwich FOX
59/New Haven My Network
65/New Haven CW

Low-Power TV:
22 Danbury/51 New Haven: Uniivsion
17 Stamford/28 West Haven/65 Bridgeport: Telemundo

 

[dhett]

Hartford / Springfield - yes. Pittsfield - no.

Pittsfield is closer to Albany than to Springfield by air and even moreso by highway. I think they're closer economically also. The Berkshire Hills separate Pittsfield from Springfield and provide a natural and economic barrier between those two cities. I would think that it would also provide a signal barrier. WNYA's signal is not even projected to reach Springfield, and despite projected contours showing the Springfield stations reaching Pittsfield, somehow I doubt that they do.

 

[only1moore]

.... and whoever owns WISC....

WISC is owned by the Morgan Murphy/Evening Post Broadcasting Group.

 

[KeithE4]

I would Combine Northern Connectciut and Western Massachusetts into One Market. (Not including Greenfield/Adams/North Adams Includes Pittsfield).

IIRC, Hartford and Springfield were one Nielsen market until sometime in the '80s. A combined Hartford/Springfield market would be somewhere around #20. Cutting the New Haven/Bridgeport area away would knock it back to #25 or thereabouts. No advantage for Hartford at all.

And I'd have a seperate market for Southern Connecticut including Bridgeport and Southeastern, Connecticut. That being said this is what how it would look:

New Northern Connecticut/Western Massachusetts Market:

Full Powered Stations:
3/Hartord CBS
18/Hartord Univision
20/Waterbury CW
22/Springfiled NBC
24/Hartford PBS
30/New Britain Telemundo
40/Springfield ABC
51/Pittsfield My Network
57/Springfield i Network (New Programming Starts in August)
61/Hartford FOX

LPTVs:
50 Hartford/51 Springfield -Telefutura
38 Hartford/43 Springfield - TV Azteca
47 Hartford/34 Springfield: - HSN (34 is a new LPTV that used to be 12 in Granby, CT)
48 Hartford/67 Springfield/7 Pittsfield - America's Store (7 in Pittsfield moving to 28) (67 Springfield has an aplication to move to 49. 48 Hartford used to be 6 in Hartford)
12 Waterbury/28 Springfield (28 Springfield was Formerly 11/28 Hartford) - TBN

Channel 57 is allocated as a non-comm channel by the FCC. It won't be anything else but PBS. Besides, I think they're owned by WGBH Boston so they won't be going anywhere. I also can't see NBC flipping Channel 30 to Telemundo.

The New Southern Connecticut Market

Full Powered Stations:
8/New Haven ABC
26/New London i Network (New Programming Starts in August)
43/Bridgeport CBS
49/Stamford PBS
53/Norwich FOX
59/New Haven My Network
65/New Haven CW

Low-Power TV:
22 Danbury/51 New Haven: Uniivsion
17 Stamford/28 West Haven/65 Bridgeport: Telemundo

Wouldn't southern Conneticut viewers be more inclined to watch NYC stations than their own, outside of maybe WTNH and PBS?

 

[Smittian]

Lafayette and Lake Charles, LA (about 72 miles). Lafayette
has ABC (Ch. 3), CBS (Ch. 10), and Fox (Ch. 15); Lake Charles
has NBC (Ch. 7) and Fox (Ch. 29); the last could change to
UPN or the WB.

Not only is Lake Charles 72 miles from Lafayette, but is only 55-60 miles from Beaumont. When I stay at the casino in Lake Chuck, I notice that the hotel's cable system uses KLFY(channel 10) out of Lafayette as it's CBS station, KBMT(channel 12) of Beaumont as it's ABC station and the local KPLC as it's NBC station. The Fox also comes from LC. Not sure where the PBS station comes from, but it uses the LPB (Louisiana Public Broadcasting) logo. This is different from the regular Lake Charles cable.

 

[TexasTom]

IIRC, Hartford and Springfield were one Nielsen market until sometime in the '80s. A combined Hartford/Springfield market would be somewhere around #20. Cutting the New Haven/Bridgeport area away would knock it back to #25 or thereabouts. No advantage for Hartford at all.

No, they weren't a combined market until the eighties. For example, the 1975 edition of Broadcasting Yearbook shows Hartford-New Haven (#21) and Springfield, Mass (#83) as separate TV markets. I believe that they were separate markets long prior to 1975, although they always shared a common CBS affiliate while having separate NBC and ABC affiliates.

 

[Morgan Wick]

What determines whether a market deserves to be separate or not? Hagerstown and Atlantic City have separate NBC affiliates from the rest of the DC and Philadelphia markets respectively, but St. Joseph carries almost all Kansas City stations save KQTV-2. What's the difference?

#204 Presque Isle, I think, could be merged with #151 Bangor, as they (PI) only have a CBS/UPN. That station (WAGM-8) could give Bangor an OTA CW station, or it could give the market My Network, which I don't think it has yet.

Agree with #202 Zanesville merging with #32 Columbus. Don't know what would happen with WHIZ-18 though. Maybe it could become the MyNetwork affiliate, since CW for Columbus is going to be on a station that's literally merging UPN and the WB?

#200 Mankato is a lot like St. Joe's, its only station is KEYC-12 CBS. However, it has a lot of Minneapolis/St. Paul stations (KTCA-2, KMSP-9, KARE-11, WUCW-23, WFTC-29) and not much in terms of Rochester stations, so it might be a bit jarring to merge them, as someone further up suggested.

Merge Twin Falls with Boise? They have their own CBS, FOX, and UPN stations. I can see KIDA-5 becoming MyNet for Boise, but I'm not sure what you do with the rest.

Is there a terrain reason why #190 Parkersburg isn't part of another market? It only has NBC WTAP-15. It's sandwiched between Charleston, Wheeling, and Clarksburg, and gets some Columbus stations. Merge it with Charleston/Huntington and convert WTAP to the area's own MNTV station. (Of course, there's arguably a bunch of terrain reasons why Charleston should be a bunch of smaller markets!)

#188 Laredo has its own NBC and CBS, but everything else comes from San Antonio.

That, I think, might be about it.

 

[Tim-In-Houston]

Biloxi/Gulfport and Hattiesbug/Laurel should and could be merged into one market fairly easily, I think. Currently Biloxi has two affiliates: WLOX-13-ABC (Raycom, formerly Liberty) and WXXV-25-Fox (locally owned, Morris Networks). Depending on which county you are in, CableOne carries both Mobile (Jackson Co.) or New Orleans (Harrison Co.) NBC and CBS affils.

Meanwhile, Hattiesburg/Laurel has three stations: 1 LP, WBMS-10-UPN (Fall CW?) and 2 full-powers, WDAM-7-NBC (sister to WLOX, though Raycom is trying to sell) and WHLT-22-CBS (Media General, but basically a repeater of sister WJTV-12-Jackson).

They could easily do like Sherman, TX/Ada, OK and have one station cover the north part of the market (WDAM) and the other the southern part (WLOX) with WHLT continuing on with their repeater service.

 

[BRNout]

On the reverse of all this, I wish that the southern New Hampshire areas like Manchester, Concord, Derry, Merrimack and Durham (University Of New Hampshire) could separate from Boston/Worcester, MA and become its own TV market. these areas right now have ABC 9 (Manchester), PBS 11 (Durham), I/PAX 21 (Concord), IND 50 (Derry), PBS 52 (Keene) and TEL 60 (Merrimack). Channel 21 was once a CBS affiliate over 1988-89. Channel 9 is nearly a satellite of sister station WCVB-TV (ABC) channel 5 of Boston (same owners too, Hearst-Argyle).

Kevin, I wholeheartedly agree with you that Manchester/Concord should have its own market. NH has a population of more than 1.1 million people and is terribly underserved by every network save ABC. The coverage of Fox in the state is especially poor OTA. Boston channels focus on Boston news first, then Massachusetts, then the rest of New England. It is in this third group that NH is included in Boston newscasts. At the same approximate level of interest as Rhode Island (where Boston affiliates are no longer even on cable - which is a different subject).

Where I must take issue with you, however, is your statement that Channel 9 is nearly a satellite of WCVB. This is incorrect. Watch the two channels closely during the course of a week. Although they sometimes show certain syndicated programs at the same times, there are many times on weekends where WCVB is showing one program and WMUR is programming something else. While it's true that Hearst-Argyle uses many of the same tactics at WMUR that have been successful at WCVB - they are also doing an excellent job in localizing the station to the NH market. Take Chronicle - the New Hampshire version is completely different than the Boston one. Though it is equally well done. Also, H-A has successfully GROWN the local news gathering capabilities of ch. 9. Hardly something that would be said of an ersatz satellite channel. They do a better job than they did when owned by Imes.

 

[Smittian]

What determines whether a market deserves to be separate or not? Hagerstown and Atlantic City have separate NBC affiliates from the rest of the DC and Philadelphia markets respectively, but St. Joseph carries almost all Kansas City stations save KQTV-2. What's the difference?

#204 Presque Isle, I think, could be merged with #151 Bangor, as they (PI) only have a CBS/UPN. That station (WAGM-8) could give Bangor an OTA CW station, or it could give the market My Network, which I don't think it has yet.

Agree with #202 Zanesville merging with #32 Columbus. Don't know what would happen with WHIZ-18 though. Maybe it could become the MyNetwork affiliate, since CW for Columbus is going to be on a station that's literally merging UPN and the WB?

#200 Mankato is a lot like St. Joe's, its only station is KEYC-12 CBS. However, it has a lot of Minneapolis/St. Paul stations (KTCA-2, KMSP-9, KARE-11, WUCW-23, WFTC-29) and not much in terms of Rochester stations, so it might be a bit jarring to merge them, as someone further up suggested.

Merge Twin Falls with Boise? They have their own CBS, FOX, and UPN stations. I can see KIDA-5 becoming MyNet for Boise, but I'm not sure what you do with the rest.

Is there a terrain reason why #190 Parkersburg isn't part of another market? It only has NBC WTAP-15. It's sandwiched between Charleston, Wheeling, and Clarksburg, and gets some Columbus stations. Merge it with Charleston/Huntington and convert WTAP to the area's own MNTV station. (Of course, there's arguably a bunch of terrain reasons why Charleston should be a bunch of smaller markets!)

#188 Laredo has its own NBC and CBS, but everything else comes from San Antonio.

That, I think, might be about it.

Laredo is 150 miles from San Antonio, 140 miles from Corpus Christi and 165 miles from Harlingen. Nothing comes over the air from these 3 places. KLDO (Channel 27) in Laredo began as an ABC affiliate but switched shortly thereafter to Univision. The CBS affiliate recently dropped their local newscasts, leaving KGNS (channel 8) as the only English language local news operation.

 

[Markxxx]

What determines whether a market deserves to be separate or not? Hagerstown and Atlantic City have separate NBC affiliates from the rest of the DC and Philadelphia markets respectively, but St. Joseph carries almost all Kansas City stations save KQTV-2. What's the difference?

That, I think, might be about it.

Part of it is the assignments for VHF were set up in the early 50s. For example San Jose had 95,000 people in 1950. Today it has almost 950,000 people. If the assignments for TV stations were made today San Jose and San Francisco would be two different markets.

There is no reason for Baltimore and DC to be two markets. I lived in DC and no matter where I lived easily picked up both market stations. But Baltimore in 1950 had 950,000 people to DC 700,000. Baltimore proximity to DC prevented it from become a major city in industry. So that was politics.

Also consider no one knew how many TV networks there would be. In the 50s there was CBS and NBC. This is all the FCC was really conserned with ABC and DuMont were after thoughts. So as long as the main cities got two VHF channels the FCC reckoned they could drop other VHF channels in as needed.

This left the odd spare VHF channel so markets like St Joseph, MO, Jackson, TN and Bowling Green KY, among others were able to take that odd channel. After trying to make ago of it those places realized they would need a network and NBC, and CBS obliged, as it was common to pre-empt network shows and also transmitters didn't go as far as they do now.

Also notice how all those odd markets I mentioned have an ABC as the odd VHF channel. Most of the time low VHF channels travel farther. So ABC by having mostly high VHF in the old days may have needed the help from a city with only one network to cover the area adequately. Remember in the beginning TV was thought to be simply radio with pictures. And in those days if people in Chicago missed Jack Benny the could often pick up the show later on from an AM station cross the country in a later time zone.

 

[oldschooltv]

Kevin, I wholeheartedly agree with you that Manchester/Concord should have its own market. NH has a population of more than 1.1 million people and is terribly underserved by every network save ABC. The coverage of Fox in the state is especially poor OTA. Boston channels focus on Boston news first, then Massachusetts, then the rest of New England. It is in this third group that NH is included in Boston newscasts. At the same approximate level of interest as Rhode Island (where Boston affiliates are no longer even on cable - which is a different subject).

This smells to me a lot like New Jersey, except that it's population is almost 9 million residents. Like southwest Connecticut, North Jersey is also underserved by the NYC stations, and South Jersey by those in Philadelphia. The ONLY major network affiliated station licensed in the state is NBC40 all the way down in Atlantic City, for all intents and purposes, rural New Jersey, compared to the northern half of the state.

Demographically, Manchester, New Hampshire is an extension of Metropolitan Boston, just as is Providence, and Worcester. Providence and Rhode Island just happen to be more established, and combined with New Bedford, MA, can better support their own combined market. While Manchester and New Hampshire may be growing, they're not growing any faster than other parts of New England or the nation.

The people of New Hampshire should be happy to have at least one major network affiliated station strictly serving their largest population center (not to mention the independent and PBS stations). Go to New Jersey and their population center has absolutely NO major network affiliated station serving just them. While licensed to Secacus, WWOR has been focusing on and operated out of NYC for years. The PBS stations and NJN don't qualify, neither do the independents or Spanish language stations.

If Manchester, NH (Boston DMA) can have a secondary network affiliate like ABC, then why can't North Jersey or Southwest Connecticut also have their own?! It really is a disgrace and totally unfair to the residents (this is a huge topic on the NYC board). That's why NH should just be happy to get what it's getting. Newark, NJ, New Haven, and Bridgeport, CT should all have their own separate markets before Manchester, New Hampshire.

 

[Morgan Wick]

Kevin, I wholeheartedly agree with you that Manchester/Concord should have its own market. NH has a population of more than 1.1 million people and is terribly underserved by every network save ABC. The coverage of Fox in the state is especially poor OTA. Boston channels focus on Boston news first, then Massachusetts, then the rest of New England. It is in this third group that NH is included in Boston newscasts. At the same approximate level of interest as Rhode Island (where Boston affiliates are no longer even on cable - which is a different subject).

This smells to me a lot like New Jersey, except that it's population is almost 9 million residents. Like southwest Connecticut, North Jersey is also underserved by the NYC stations, and South Jersey by those in Philadelphia. The ONLY major network affiliated station licensed in the state is NBC40 all the way down in Atlantic City, for all intents and purposes, rural New Jersey, compared to the northern half of the state.

Demographically, Manchester, New Hampshire is an extension of Metropolitan Boston, just as is Providence, and Worcester. Providence and Rhode Island just happen to be more established, and combined with New Bedford, MA, can better support their own combined market. While Manchester and New Hampshire may be growing, they're not growing any faster than other parts of New England or the nation.

The people of New Hampshire should be happy to have at least one major network affiliated station strictly serving their largest population center (not to mention the independent and PBS stations). Go to New Jersey and their population center has absolutely NO major network affiliated station serving just them. While licensed to Secacus, WWOR has been focusing on and operated out of NYC for years. The PBS stations and NJN don't qualify, neither do the independents or Spanish language stations.

If Manchester, NH (Boston DMA) can have a secondary network affiliate like ABC, then why can't North Jersey or Southwest Connecticut also have their own?! It really is a disgrace and totally unfair to the residents (this is a huge topic on the NYC board). That's why NH should just be happy to get what it's getting. Newark, NJ, New Haven, and Bridgeport, CT should all have their own separate markets before Manchester, New Hampshire.

Do NYC stations not even cover Newark, Elizabeth, all those places just a hop, step, and jump across the Hudson, including one of the major NYC airports? If so, the problem is with them. You don't need a separate North Jersey market, you need smarter NYC stations.

Here in Seattle, the local stations (or at least KING-TV 5) cover a pretty broad area fairly evenly, I think. At least two have non-Seattle areas broken into "bureaus" for, I guess, reporting those areas better or something. They typically cover everything from Olympia to Bellingham (on the I-5 axis) fairly well. How well they cover things on the Olympic peninsula is iffy, but they will cover it. Their coverage tends to go all the way to the Cascade mountains and then stop - they will almost NEVER cover anything east of the Cascades except the weather. Perhaps that's because everything east of the Cascades tends to be in the Yakima or Spokane markets.

(There is a case to be made that they still don't go far south enough, however. Coverage of Centralia and Chehalis is iffy, and the market, I think, extends a little further south than that before you hit Portland.)

 

[KML0224]

#204 Presque Isle, I think, could be merged with #151 Bangor, as they (PI) only have a CBS/UPN. That station (WAGM-8) could give Bangor an OTA CW station, or it could give the market My Network, which I don't think it has yet.

Nope! Presque Isle to Bangor is 134 air miles from each other! As for Bangor/Orono, they have a fulltime NBC (2), CBS (5), ABC (7) and PBS (12). Otherwise, they've only got a low-power FOX station (22) and a low-power I/PAX station (33).

 

[oldschooltv]

Do NYC stations not even cover Newark, Elizabeth, all those places just a hop, step, and jump across the Hudson, including one of the major NYC airports? If so, the problem is with them. You don't need a separate North Jersey market, you need smarter NYC stations.

My take on it is that New York City alone has over 8 million residents, so there is more than enough news to cover just within the five boroughs alone. They could cross the river into Newark, but usually there is something bigger or better going on in the city, so why go the extra distance to cover a story affecting less people. It's not right, but I think that is how they operate because the stations typically will only cover the big stories in New Jersey, Connecticut, Long Island, or the Hudson Valley. When Bridgeport Mayor Fabrisi publically admitted to using cocaine while in office, all of the stations were there, likewise when the Fairfield cat under house arrest made national media attention. The same thing goes for yesterday's tornado that cut a path through Westchester and Fairfield counties. You just don't see much local coverage unless it's a big story. Technically the market also covers a tiny slice of Pennsylvania, but I won't make that an issue in my post, because they're so far off the path that they don't even make the local weather maps!

But whereas Manchester, NH (being in the Boston DMA) has a secondary market ABC affiliate, I can't see why Newark, NJ or Bridgeport, CT cannot get their own as well. I could see why the NYC station would not see favorable to the idea, being so geographically close, but the population density is so high, the need is incredible.

It could also solve the problem just by simply giving Newark or Bridgeport their own truly independent stations that offer local news and weather (not Asian or Spanish broadcasting, of which there is already plenty). Long Island has had their own independent news station "NY55" for years, which plays shows like Oprah, The Wheel, and Jeopardy later in the evening after they already aired within the market on WABC. Why can't this be done in North Jersey or Connecticut? The market can without a doubt support one or two more of these truly local and independent stations that won't take anything away from the network O&Os. Why isn't anyone trying this!? ???

 

[Tim-In-Houston]

But whereas Manchester, NH (being in the Boston DMA) has a secondary market ABC affiliate, I can't see why Newark, NJ or Bridgeport, CT cannot get their own as well. I could see why the NYC station would not see favorable to the idea, being so geographically close, but the population density is so high, the need is incredible.

There's a simple answer that's being overlooked as to why Northern New Jersey doesn't have its own affiliates: The networks own the stations in the market and will not permit another station to operate - even as a secondary affiliate, covering the outlying areas. The O&Os don't want to give up any advertising revenue.

WMGM-Atlantic City was in operation long before NBC owned a station in the same market (WCAU-Philly). If NBC could find a way to pull the affiliation from WMGM, I'm sure they would...just so they would have market exclusivity and wouldn't have to share ad revenue from the Atlantic City area.

A few years ago, ABC pulled the affiliation from San Jose's KNTV-11 (now an NBC O&O) because KGO wanted the whole pie, ratings and advertising wise, for the entire Silicon Valley and SF Bay area.

 

[mleach]

> > Harrisonville VA (combined with Charlottesville, 70 mi
> away)
> Isn't there a terrain issue as to why they are separate?

Yes, but I, for one, think it would make sense. As it is, the market is already very... unusual to say the least. Harrisonburg gets ABC from WHSV-3 (whose tower is actually located in the DC market), NBC from translators for WVIR in Charlottesville (28 and 31) and CBS (18) and Fox (46) on repeaters that bring in stations from DC. Charlottesville has CBS19 (owned by the same folks that own WHSV) and NBC29, plus WVAW-LP 16 which used to rebroadcast WHSV in as W64AO or something like that (now separate ABC). Soon they'll be getting Fox from WCAV/WVAW in the form of WAHU-LP on 27. As for PBS, Charlottesville has WHTJ which rebroadcasts WCVE in Richmond as well as W50CM which brings in WVPT from Staunton/Harrisonburg. I think it would make sense to combine the two markets since they already have some overlap.

3/16 ABC
19/18/others CBS
29/28/31/others NBC
27/46/others FOX
41 PBS (WHTJ)
51/50/58/42/38 PBS (WVPT)

Plus there's the WAZT network of stations that's up for sale; they're currently religious but who knows what could happen with them. They could pick up a station in Charlottesville and maybe go UPN or something.

- Trip<P ID="signature">______________
Visit my website, www.rabbitears.info! It's eventually going to be your one resource for television info! Digital television, histories, and technical information for the entire USA from one source!</P>

There was a time when Harrisonburg and Charlottesville almost became one market but Charlotteville's WVIR NBC 29 for some reason said no. I always thought that was odd since WVIR not only was already on cable in Harrisonburg but they even had a translator not far from Harrisonburg too. Likewise Harrisonburg's WHSV ( ABC ) was in the same boat with Charlottesville. Why not be one market?

Now Gray TV who owns Harrisonburg's WHSV also has launched within the past few years a bunch of stations in Charlottesville including that town's own ABC. While Gray is launching a FOX for Harrisonburg. Talk about a waste of channels.

BTW..WAZT was recently sold, to another minister. They will stay for the most part religious. I think that was part of the deal from the previous owner. Whoever buys WAZT must keep in religious.

 

[toby]

Hell, why not eliminate every market, except NYC, Chicago, and LA. It would be much cheaper and bring great economies of scale and enhace shareholder value.