Unusual Network Affiliates

[rgseark2009]

Thanks to the DX hobby, I've seen a few of the more unusual affiliates in other markets.

KALB Alexandria LA was a NBC affiliate during the analog era and still carries that on their primary stream (5-1). But KALB also multicasts CBS via a full HDTV stream on 5-2. Another multicast affiliate with 2 HDTV streams is WGBC Meridian MS which carries FOX on 30-1 and the legacy NBC affiliation on 30-2. Most of the other stations with dual network affiliations via DTV have a Big Four and a netlet or Spanish language (The CW, MNTV, Univision, etc)

Closer to home, FOX is in SDTV via the -2 subchannels of WABG Greenwood MS (a primary ABC affiliate on 6-1), and KTVE El Dorado AR on 10-2 (a stretchovision relay of "sister" station KARD West Monroe LA)

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

Wow, the response in this thread is more than I expected. Keep the good information coming!

KNTV was ousted out of ABC by the network in 1999 – until this spring, KGO has had a special feed for the Monterey Bay area. KSBW, owned by ABC-cozy Hearst, is getting into the subchannel game with ABC this spring, I think.

KSBW's "Central Coast ABC" lit up last month.

http://www.ksbw.com/central-coast-abc/index.html

KNTV was in an unusual situation. It acted as the local San Jose station as an ABC affiliate, but also was the primary ABC affiliate for the entirely separate Monterey/Salinas/Santa Cruz market.

Other examples closer to home:

* WAKC/23 Akron served for decades as the second ABC affiliate in the Cleveland market, focusing on the Akron/Canton region. (The station started as WAKR-TV/49 and then moved to 23, later changing to WAKC when it split from sister radio station WAKR/1590.) It's now the Cleveland market's ION O&O, WVPX/23, though still based (tower) in Akron. 49 lit up later as WEAO, the Akron-based half of the Western Reserve PBS operation.

* WTRF/7, the Wheeling/Steubenville market's CBS affiliate, used to run ABC programming as a secondary affiliation, as did WTOV-then-WSTV/9. (And at the time, I believe WTRF was NBC primary, and WTOV/WSTV was CBS primary.) Today, WTRF feeds "Fox Ohio Valley" on 7.2, and recently lit up "Ohio Valley ABC" on 7.3.

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

After a brief time where ABC affiliate WYTV/33 ran some Fox programming, mostly football, Youngstown finally got a Fox affiliate...WYFX-LP 62/Youngstown and simuicaster WFXI-CA/17 Mercer PA (17 started on 31, I think).

Today, WYFX is an LD station on RF 19, WFXI is gone, and the entire market gets 720p Fox Youngstown programming on sister WKBN/27.2.

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

Raymie, assuming you're in the market...is WBMA-LP up digitally yet? I believe they have a digital CP, but I don't know if they've built it out yet.

 

[Sammi Brie]

Raymie, assuming you're in the market...is WBMA-LP up digitally yet? I believe they have a digital CP, but I don't know if they've built it out yet.

I'm in Phoenix. But I've read way too much about television.

 

[mjlarochelle]

There was KVOS/12 in Bellingham, WA, which served as the CBS affiliate for the northwestern part of the Seattle-Tacoma market - however Vancouver, BC was the most populated part of its coverage area. CBS programming gradually was reduced over the years, and since about 1987 the station has been officially independent - although last month it picked up MeTV and it advertises that it is now available in Seattle on cable.

 

[tripinva]

WBMA is not up digitally yet, though I suspect it's close.

- Trip

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

Thanks, Trip!

Yeah, Raymie, same here...I'm in Ohio and talking about a station in Alabama.

About KVOS, I believe Comcast systems in the Puget Sound added it recently, I believe on digital cable.

Its highest profile period was as an independent aiming directly at Vancouver, but that basically went away when a new local station in Vancouver took over KVOS' prime low-channel (I believe 12) channel position...

 

[bpatrick]

Huntsville/Decatur/Florence, AL had two NBC affiliates: WAFF/48 Huntsville (and
before that, 1968-77, WAAY/31) and WOWL/15 Florence. 15 has since dropped
NBC for MyNetwork.

Wasn't WHDF (the former WOWL) UPN before becoming a MyNetwork affiliate?

I believe so, yes. Probably a majority of MyNetwork affiliates were UPN; I know
the two in my area (WRDC/28 Raleigh/Durham and WMYV/48 Greensboro) were.

To the people who are talking about KVOS: first, it was analog Channel 12. Second,
I remember seeing the Western Washington State edition of TV Guide back in the
late '70s and early '80s (my dad's job took him to the West Coast and he'd bring back
TV Guides from out there), when KVOS was still listed as a CBS affiliate, yet the shows
you'd see listed would be things like Benny Hill, "Dave Allen At Large," "Prisoner: Cell Block
H" (I think), and other non-U.S. originations. I thought it strange until I found out that
the station was really aiming at Canada; even had an office in Vancouver. The amount of
CBS programming they did was minimal; "60 Minutes," the CBS late movie, maybe one or
two other things, and it's a wonder CBS didn't drop them then.

 

[taylorjsdad]

The Tampa Bay market has 2 ABC affiliates as well. WFTS Tampa and WWSB Sarasota.

So does Boston... WCVB-Boston and WMUR-Manchester, NH. Both are now owned by Hearst.

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

I don't know when, if ever, KVOS ran a full CBS schedule. I'll have to hit the Classic TV boards and look for the schedules...the one I saw there recently from the 1970s had limited CBS programming much as bpatrick describes.

The Canadian regulators jumped at the new station that eventually replaced KVOS on cable 12 in Vancouver...they LOVE "repatriating" audiences that watch or listen to U.S. border stations.

 

[BRNout]

The Tampa Bay market has 2 ABC affiliates as well. WFTS Tampa and WWSB Sarasota.

So does Boston... WCVB-Boston and WMUR-Manchester, NH. Both are now owned by Hearst.

Somewhat like the Lincoln, NE market, Boston is a larger market than it should be. By rights, the southern 2/3 of New Hampshire (and nearby Windham County, VT) should be it's own market. But, adding those counties to "Boston" has stemmed population losses elsewhere in that market and has kept Boston in the top 10.

WMUR covers New Hampshire news as a local should (doing a wonderful job) while WCVB has long had Boston's most popular newscasts. Cable subs in NH and much of northeastern MA get 2 ABCs as a result.

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

I think historic viewing patterns in southern NH put it in the Boston market, as it has no other network affiliates locally other than WMUR/9-ABC.

For that matter, a lot of people commute from southern NH into Boston.

 

[azumanga]

I think historic viewing patterns in southern NH put it in the Boston market, as it has no other network affiliates locally other than WMUR/9-ABC.

Of course, if WNHT was still affiliated with a Big 4 network today instead of becoming a satellite of a Boston Ion station, NH could have become its own market.

 

[ding12]

Boston is a larger market than it should be. By rights, the southern 2/3 of New Hampshire (and nearby Windham County, VT) should be it's own market. But, adding those counties to "Boston" has stemmed population losses elsewhere in that market and has kept Boston in the top 10.

The NH side is part of Boston's CSA. The CSA also links Providence to Boston, so it's not as if Boston is claiming all of the CSA in the DMA.

It's more association than Philadelphia claiming ABE/Lehigh Valley. The Office of Management and Budget doesn't associate the regions. It's interesting that WPVI now states serving the Delaware and Lehigh Valleys. Since when did viewership in the latter region become of importance to Philadelphia TV stations.

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

Of course, if WNHT was still affiliated with a Big 4 network today instead of becoming a satellite of a Boston Ion station, NH could have become its own market.

Of course, it could even be its own market with one commercial station (see: Zanesville, OH, which only has WHIZ/NBC). But the Boston viewing patterns probably became too entrenched, and there are the other links with southern NH and Boston.

 

[recto101]

How about KQED-TV and KTEH-TV I heard that KQED and KTEH are now occuping 3 markets SanFrancisco, Monterey and Santa Barbara. Ever since the loss of KCET I heard that KQED and KTEH are there.

 

[kilamanjero]

Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville had two ABC affiliates for years
in the '50s, '60s, and '70s: WLOS/13 Asheville and WAIM/40 Anderson, SC.
In the '90s 40 was a satellite of WLOS briefly.

The market also had two CBS affiliates after WAGA switched from CBS
to Fox, leaving northeast Georgia without CBS (WGCL/46 couldn't penetrate
that far). WNEG/32 Toccoa became a semi-satellite of WSPA/7 until the
University of Georgia bought 32, moved it to Athens, and made it noncommercial.
WSPA was then put on several cable systems in northeast Georgia.

Huntsville/Decatur/Florence, AL had two NBC affiliates: WAFF/48 Huntsville (and
before that, 1968-77, WAAY/31) and WOWL/15 Florence. 15 has since dropped
NBC for MyNetwork.

WGXA Macon, GA dropped ABC for Fox, but got it back after the flap between
ABC and WPGA. Fox is on 24.1; ABC on 24.2. Likewise, KBMT Beaumont, TX,
carries ABC on 12.1; NBC on 12.2 since KBTV/4 dropped NBC for Fox.

And Albany, GA uses WSB/2 Atlanta as its de facto ABC affiliate, since the market
doesn't have one of its own and WSB is accessible via satellite.

Not anymore. As of January, WALB uses one of its digital subchannels as the ABC affiliation of the Albany market now.l

 

[kilamanjero]

This thread was inspired by "ABC33/40", the ABC affiliate in Birmingham that has been getting some national publicity in the wake of the horrific tornado outbreak in Alabama this past week.

ABC33/40 is a simulcast of Allbritton's WCFT/33 Tuscaloosa on the western side of the market, and co-owned WJSU/40 Anniston on the eastern side of the market.

But "officially", the home station for ABC33/40 is WBMA-LP/58 Birmingham, a low-power station in the center of the market. It has been on analog 58, but it may be up on LD now (RF 40, since WJSU changed RF channels to 9, virtual 58.1).

Now, back in the day, when I was growing up, network affiliates were on full-power stations in the heart of the market. But things have changed in 2011.

What "Big Four" affiliates are sitting on rimshots/LPTV/digital subchannels/etc.?

(You can list CW/MyNet/independent stations for fun, but I'm mostly looking for ABC/CBS/NBC/Fox...especially the original "Big Three".)

ABC 33/40 has and always been an unusual station setup considering how much of a mouthful it's full name is "Alabama's ABC 33/40". The station has literally lucked up on a market that has been in transition since the inclusion of Raycom and Media General taking over of WVTM.

 

[BRNout]

Of course, if WNHT was still affiliated with a Big 4 network today instead of becoming a satellite of a Boston Ion station, NH could have become its own market.

But the Boston viewing patterns probably became too entrenched, and there are the other links with southern NH and Boston.

That's a chicken-and-egg riddle and I don't necessarily buy it. Those viewing patterns are entrenched because that's what's available. Then again, people in Rhode Island were pretty used to having Boston stations as an options (with a clearer signal in most of RI than available in most of NH) - yet Cox seemed to have no problem yanking every single commercial signal from the market from ALL of it's RI cable systems.

In NH, there is quite a bit of grousing about how Boston stations seemingly ignore NH news, politics and weather. Now, in all fairness, only a relatively small percentage of their market's population lives in the Granite State. The same is true of those who live in the Portland and Burlington markets. WMUR has managed to gain statewide coverage and it has filled a lot of that demand quite nicely.

But others could do so too. Were NH in its own market, WMUR could have a FOX affiliate as a subchannel (for example). WFXT does a particularly bad job at acknowledging that it serves anyone in New Hampshire. And, Granite Staters could get that 3rd NFL game on a Pats home Sunday. The one that Providence viewers (located on Foxborough's doorstep) can get.

There are many smaller markets than Manchester/Concord/Portsmouth market which are perfectly viable. That theoretical market would have a MUCH larger population than your Zanesville analogy would imply (almost 1 million, if done right).