WLOS Channel 13 Moves To Pinnacle Mountain

[KyleSmith1988]

I guess in Weaverville WLOS may have been their primary source for coverage of Hurricane Helene. But I will say WYFF, WSOC, and WBTV provided extensive coverage, with both WYFF and WSOC adding excellent chopper coverage.

I thought many TV stations in WNC have LP Repeaters in many of the mountain cities. If so, that's kinda great in the populated areas, but not so much of a reliable signal in the rural distant terrain shielded areas.

Those Blue Ridge Mountains, though they aren't always very tall, there's usually many in a row, and that can make or break any signal reception.

Deep in the WNC mountains, The entire FM dial may be nearly empty. There may be just one to few weak signals and that's it, and those few signals, can easily suffer multipath static, even with strong signal strength (such as trying to listen to WKSF in the city of Cherokee NC, and along I-40 closer to the TN border.)

 

[vchimpanzee]

Those Blue Ridge Mountains, though they aren't always very tall, there's usually many in a row, and that can make or break any signal reception.

Digital TV makes things even worse. Any obstruction doesn't merely give you snow, but nothing or just modern art with no sound.

Deep in the WNC mountains, The entire FM dial may be nearly empty. There may be just one to few weak signals and that's it, and those few signals, can easily suffer multipath static, even with strong signal strength (such as trying to listen to WKSF in the city of Cherokee NC, and along I-40 closer to the TN border.)

I remember reading an article by someone who was in that part of the mountains. He found one FM station airing a high school football game.

 

[MediaMan]

WHCC 1400 was the first radio station west of Asheville signing on in 1947. It was another 10 years before the second one, WFSC-Franklin, signed on in 1957. Sylva's WMSJ (now WRGC) soon followed. The call sign W H C C stood for Waynesville Hazelwood (a separate incorporated community until 1994), Clyde and Canton.

 

[Josh Owens]

I thought many TV stations in WNC have LP Repeaters in many of the mountain cities. If so, that's kinda great in the populated areas, but not so much of a reliable signal in the rural distant terrain shielded areas.

Those Blue Ridge Mountains, though they aren't always very tall, there's usually many in a row, and that can make or break any signal reception.

Deep in the WNC mountains, The entire FM dial may be nearly empty. There may be just one to few weak signals and that's it, and those few signals, can easily suffer multipath static, even with strong signal strength (such as trying to listen to WKSF in the city of Cherokee NC, and along I-40 closer to the TN border.)

Now that I can attest to. I remember some twenty-plus years ago, being in the Robbinsville area and the only two FMs I could hear, where the local NPR station (I believe it was WFQS, Franklin) and the local Country station, WCVP, Robbinsville. I don't remember hearing any others on FM on that first trip, well, save for the old WDEH FM, Sweetwater, TN, by holding the radio waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay up in the air at an angle. ) AM came in/through a lot better.

 

[Josh Owens]

WHCC 1400 was the first radio station west of Asheville signing on in 1947. It was another 10 years before the second one, WFSC-Franklin, signed on in 1957. Sylva's WMSJ (now WRGC) soon followed. The call sign W H C C stood for Waynesville Hazelwood (a separate incorporated community until 1994), Clyde and Canton.

Roger on that, thanks for the history lesson. First place I ever heard of WFSC, was The Abounding Grace Radio Broadcast, with the late Pastor James J. Grant of (by that time) Archdale, NC. He was on several stations back home and WFSC, where he had been on for years by that time.

 

[AMRocks]

I am finally getting a good signal from WLOS here in downtown Greenville SC. I used to get a VERY marginal signal from the translator on Paris Mountain. Then they turned it off before the move. Absolutely no signal after that. But now? It's really strong. (I have an excellent Channel Master antenna in my attic of my townhome, plus an amplifier.)

 

[gr8oldies]

Now that I can attest to. I remember some twenty-plus years ago, being in the Robbinsville area and the only two FMs I could hear, where the local NPR station (I believe it was WFQS, Franklin) and the local Country station, WCVP, Robbinsville. I don't remember hearing any others on FM on that first trip, well, save for the old WDEH FM, Sweetwater, TN, by holding the radio waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay up in the air at an angle. ) AM came in/through a lot better.

My wife and I spend time in Western North Carolina frequently, and, indeed there are spots where the dial is near empty, or just receiving some surrounding stations with spotty reception that you can't hold. We spent a couple of days in Maggie Valley, and only WKSF and WMIT were strong. I could get a mumbo jumbo of other some Asheville and Johnson City stations, but really nothing to listen to. It'd be a great place to listen to an ESkip opening though

 

[vchimpanzee]

I found I could get WQNQ in Maggie Valley only if it was raining.

I remember trying to watch TV with an antenna there. WLOS was fine but the other stations didn't have a good enough signal. I remember watching WBTV in Waynesville but don't remember about Maggie Valley.

A few years after that the motel rooms had Sammons Communications.

 

[Josh Owens]

My wife and I spend time in Western North Carolina frequently, and, indeed there are spots where the dial is near empty, or just receiving some surrounding stations with spotty reception that you can't hold. We spent a couple of days in Maggie Valley, and only WKSF and WMIT were strong. I could get a mumbo jumbo of other some Asheville and Johnson City stations, but really nothing to listen to. It'd be a great place to listen to an ESkip opening though

Yeah, I'd love to hear such a band opening up there. Oh and I misspoke, re: the old WDEH FM. That was on my second stay up there, the following Summer, sorry.

 

[Josh Owens]

I found I could get WQNQ in Maggie Valley only if it was raining.

LOL, wonder why that was?

I remember trying to watch TV with an antenna there. WLOS was fine but the other stations didn't have a good enough signal. I remember watching WBTV in Waynesville but don't remember about Maggie Valley.

Gotcha.

A few years after that the motel rooms had Sammons Communications.

What's Sammons Communications?

 

[vchimpanzee]

What's Sammons Communications?

That's what it said on the screen on the channel with announcements and country music from WQNS.

My guess is it eventually became Spectrum because that's what Maggie Valley has now.

 

[Josh Owens]

That's what it said on the screen on the channel with announcements and country music from WQNS.

My guess is it eventually became Spectrum because that's what Maggie Valley has now.

Oh, like one of those Public Access channels like we had back in the day? I remember, we had two different cable systems, one for the county (Alert or as I called them, rainout Cable) and one in Greensboro proper (can't remember what they were). Both systems had their Public Access channels on channel eight. Oh and I'm thinking now, that Alert maybe became Cablevision later.

 

[alok]

I don't think this was brought up, in previous comments in this thread.
The following Google AI thing, I recall when this happened in 2015, the people I have talked to recently at WLOS said that the main reason for the move to Pinnacle is "easy access" to the new site..

Here is the 2015 story on NC & WLOS and the "cable car system" (tram) up on Mount Pisgah, WLOS used, as well as recent info.


AI Overview
his from Google AI

AI Overview In 2015, the North Carolina Department of Labor ordered WLOS and its parent company, Sinclair Broadcast Group, to shut down the funicular (or tram) used to reach their Mount Pisgah transmitter site. The state issued the shutdown order after finding the aging cable car system was unsafe and had operated for decades without proper permits.The Mount Pisgah transmitter and its steep cable car were a fixture for the station for 70 years. After the state's shutdown order forced the tram out of operation, engineers faced extreme difficulty maintaining the equipment, occasionally having to crawl up the mountain during harsh winter weather.Because of these ongoing access and equipment safety challenges, WLOS officially abandoned the Mount Pisgah transmitter site. The station relocated its over-the-air broadcast transmitter to a new, more accessible location in Henderson County on Pinnacle Mountain.For further reading on the history of the site and the state's intervention, you can check out the in-depth coverage from the Asheville Watchdog and the original reporting by the Citizen Times.

 

[w00t]

Just link a damn article. AI is crap.

Happy ending for man stranded at Mount Pisgah -

Deep snow in the mountains last week stranded a transmission tower repairman near the summit of Mount Pisgah Jan. 25, launching a massive and technical high-altitude snow rescue operation.

smokymountainnews.com

https://www.cbs17.com/news/worker-trapped-near-tv-transmitter-in-nc-mountains-is-rescued-by-helicopter/

If memory serves me right it was a UNC-TV engineer who was stranded. They are ultimately who reported the funicular to the Department of Labor.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Oh, like one of those Public Access channels like we had back in the day?

That's not it. But I remember Myrtle Beach had one of those channels in the 1970s with announcements on the screen and the beautiful music station "Ecstasy".

 

[Josh Owens]

That's not it. But I remember Myrtle Beach had one of those channels in the 1970s with announcements on the screen and the beautiful music station "Ecstasy".

Gotcha. When the Public Access channels I used to see, didn't have programs (church services, car races, videos about parties, etc), they played (mostly) Beautiful Music stations or whatever local station would let them I reckon and have announcements on the screen. I was told the latter, for obvious reasons. ) Re: Beautiful Music stations, I remember our local one playing the old WWMY, Eden, 94.5 FM. I remember years ago, staying up in Boone (I believe it was) and somehow, the local one playing the old WGLD, High Point, 100.3 FM.