Worst TV stations ever

[KD4YQR]

I never saw WKYH live when they were an NBC affiliate owned by the Gormans. I suppose they did about the best they could with less-than-ideal logistics , limited financial resources, and a dodgy signal over difficult terrain. Having to pick NBC programming off WCYB or WLEX didn't help matters any. When they were bought by Garvice Kincaid's company, and had the resources of WKYT to draw upon, they took a quantum leap in quality, and their news operation now (having Gray's resources to draw upon) compares very favorably to any small market in the country. I have to imagine that obituaries were common in very small markets comprised of small towns, IIRC WOAY did the same thing (may be having a false memory there).

As I've noted elsewhere, beginning in the late 1970s, the Lexington market was able to peel away several counties from the Charleston-Huntington, Tri-Cities, and Knoxville markets, though at this point, to snag any additional counties would probably not be possible. Leslie County has ping-ponged back and forth between Lexington and Tri-Cities, and is now this island of the Tri-Cities market surrounded by other markets (and, to add insult to injury, can't get WYMT via satellite for that reason). Letcher and Harlan counties are in a similar predicament. The C-H market has been nibbled around the edges on all sides, most recently losing Athens County OH to Columbus (that had to hurt!). I would say that every county in Eastern Kentucky would, in a perfect world (for them), like to get Lexington stations along with WYMT (except for the area north of I-64 for which WYMT is of no interest), and retain only WSAZ as a legacy station in the areas that have historically relied upon it, but that will never happen. Charleston might as well be in a foreign country where Eastern Kentucky viewers are concerned, but from Vanceburg down to Pikeville, Charleston provides the default ABC and Fox affiliates, as well as duplicating WYMT's CBS programming on WOWK in the southern part of Kentucky's C-H market area.

WYMT is oddly enough, carried in a couple of counties well west of I 75.
It's on cable in Pulaski (Somerset), Wayne (Monticello) and McCreary (Whitley City/Stearns) counties. These counties are not really Eastern Kentucky.

And, back in October, I was staying at Lake Cumberland State Park in Jamestown (Russell county) and WYMT was on Duo Broadband Cable there. That's 120 miles west of Hazard.

There was no program guide and was one of those "boxless" lineups. The "Big Four" from both Lexington and Louisville plus a generous offering of sub-channels were also on this lineup. WBKO Bowling Green used to be on there but has been since removed.

 

[IM42A]

WYMT is oddly enough, carried in a couple of counties well west of I 75.
It's on cable in Pulaski (Somerset), Wayne (Monticello) and McCreary (Whitley City/Stearns) counties. These counties are not really Eastern Kentucky.

And, back in October, I was staying at Lake Cumberland State Park in Jamestown (Russell county) and WYMT was on Duo Broadband Cable there. That's 120 miles west of Hazard.

There was no program guide and was one of those "boxless" lineups. The "Big Four" from both Lexington and Louisville plus a generous offering of sub-channels were also on this lineup. WBKO Bowling Green used to be on there but has been since removed.

I know, I've wondered about that myself. I've wondered if it could have anything to do with Hal Rogers being from Somerset, and WYMT trying to cover happenings in his congressional district in general. Anything west of I-75 is really outside of WYMT's naturally occurring coverage area, both economically and culturally. WYMT does sometimes refer to itself as covering "Eastern and Southern Kentucky".

 

[KD4YQR]

I know, I've wondered about that myself. I've wondered if it could have anything to do with Hal Rogers being from Somerset, and WYMT trying to cover happenings in his congressional district in general. Anything west of I-75 is really outside of WYMT's naturally occurring coverage area, both economically and culturally. WYMT does sometimes refer to itself as covering "Eastern and Southern Kentucky".

Never thought about the Hal Rogers connection but that makes perfect sense. He typically runs unopposed which is why he's been in office so long. But he has done a lot for folks in that area...

Ironically, at my home, I receive WYMT OTA. I'm about 110 air miles from Hazard. WYMT transmits on RF 12 which means I get them instead of WKRC in Cincinnati.
WYMT appears to have a CP to go from RF 12 to RF 20 with an increase in power and tower height.

When they go to RF 20, I'll likely lose them but pick up WKRC. I'm guessing there's some interference issues north of I 64 going north to Maysville with WKRC.

WYMTs signal is 50 KW from their tower on Black Mountain. I'll bet there IS some interference to WKRC.

 

[IM42A]

Never thought about the Hal Rogers connection but that makes perfect sense. He typically runs unopposed which is why he's been in office so long. But he has done a lot for folks in that area...

Ironically, at my home, I receive WYMT OTA. I'm about 110 air miles from Hazard. WYMT transmits on RF 12 which means I get them instead of WKRC in Cincinnati.
WYMT appears to have a CP to go from RF 12 to RF 20 with an increase in power and tower height.

When they go to RF 20, I'll likely lose them but pick up WKRC. I'm guessing there's some interference issues north of I 64 going north to Maysville with WKRC.

WYMTs signal is 50 KW from their tower on Black Mountain. I'll bet there IS some interference to WKRC.

Not quite following you here. Do you mean that viewers north of I-64 would have trouble with WKRC because of just enough signal getting in on OTA 12 from WYMT to play havoc with WKRC?

I-64 is more or less the cutoff line for fringe reception of WYMT. TVTV.com shows WYMT as being a receivable OTA station in Winchester, Mount Sterling, Morehead, and even Grayson, it doesn't quite reach Ashland but does show up for Rush in southern Boyd County. You lose the Cincinnati stations east of the escarpment in Lewis County around Tollesboro, and unless you were up on top of a hill, you wouldn't get Cincinnati in Morehead --- it's just too far.

 

[IM42A]

I took the time to look up the air distance from Cincinnati to Hazard, and it is 148 miles. Under the old analog rules, that would have been too close for stations on the same channel, but things are a bit different now in the digital era. At half that distance (74 miles), generally speaking, you'd be in fringe reception territory for either station, and I'm thinking that as a practical matter, whoever approved the allocation assumed that viewers at such a distance wouldn't get either one, unless they were in a prime reception spot. I also have to wonder, and this probably isn't the case, whether WKRC and WYMT agreed to accept mutual interference at that distance, similar (though further) to what WJZY Charlotte (Belmont) NC and WZRB Columbia SC did on OTA 25. WZRB agreed to accept interference such that their signal isn't viewable in, among other places, Winnsboro (Fairfield County). I live six miles from the WZRB tower and I still have issues whenever conditions are favorable for Charlotte reception --- WJZY shoots just enough hash to make WZRB start chopping out intermittently.

Eastern Kentucky is infamous for reception problems even at fairly short distances. WCHS and WOWK have always had problems in places such as Carter and Lawrence counties. With WOWK's repurposing as a Charleston-centered station (though the transmitter remains on Barkers Ridge and it is licensed to Huntington), cable systems in Salyersville, Staffordsville, and even Sandy Hook have dropped WOWK in favor of WYMT as their CBS affiliate.

 

[NoWayNoCC]

Eastern Kentucky is infamous for reception problems even at fairly short distances. WCHS and WOWK have always had problems in places such as Carter and Lawrence counties. With WOWK's repurposing as a Charleston-centered station (though the transmitter remains on Barkers Ridge and it is licensed to Huntington), cable systems in Salyersville, Staffordsville, and even Sandy Hook have dropped WOWK in favor of WYMT as their CBS affiliate.

Wouldn't the must-carry rules require them to carry WOWK?

 

[IM42A]

Wouldn't the must-carry rules require them to carry WOWK?

I'm not sure how that works with cable TV, when you get out that far from the core cities of the market. I do know that it is pretty much set in stone with Dish Network and DirecTV, but whether all cable systems in a DMA are required to carry each and every station in that market (assuming that station can get a usable signal to the head end), I don't know for sure. Also, I'm not clear whether WOWK invokes must-carry, or requires cable operators to pay a fee for carriage.

Charleston might as well be in Canada as far as Eastern Kentuckians are concerned, it has about as much in common with that area as the Tri-Cities do (Huntington would be another story). Aside from historical favorite and news juggernaut WSAZ, I have to think they would prefer to get Lexington stations, if that were permitted, and south of I-64, WYMT either in lieu of WKYT or in addition to it. Until you get to the far eastern parts of the area (Pikeville, Louisa, Paintsville, etc.), WYMT and WKYT are carried in tandem, even in Hazard.

 

[KD4YQR]

Not quite following you here. Do you mean that viewers north of I-64 would have trouble with WKRC because of just enough signal getting in on OTA 12 from WYMT to play havoc with WKRC?

I-64 is more or less the cutoff line for fringe reception of WYMT. TVTV.com shows WYMT as being a receivable OTA station in Winchester, Mount Sterling, Morehead, and even Grayson, it doesn't quite reach Ashland but does show up for Rush in southern Boyd County. You lose the Cincinnati stations east of the escarpment in Lewis County around Tollesboro, and unless you were up on top of a hill, you wouldn't get Cincinnati in Morehead --- it's just too far.

Yes, but this was just a general observation as to why WYMT applied for a CP to go from RF 12 to 20. Usually a request to change frequencies is due to 1) coverage problems or 2} interference issues. I'm by no means a"pro" but again, an observation.

It seems RF 12 has been working for WYMT since the analog shut off. I'm thinking that the switch to 20 is going to cause problems for those who receive WYMT OTA in their service area. (Think those who have a dish service but don't provide WYMT in their local package)

I'll stand corrected if I'm wrong, but couldn't a slight bit of tropo cause problems for WKRC, in the southern part of their viewing area?

WYMT has a 50 KW signal compared to WKRCs 15.5 KW. I get WYMT now, but if I lose it, it's no big deal. I'm not supposed to be getting it anyway...

 

[IM42A]

Yes, but this was just a general observation as to why WYMT applied for a CP to go from RF 12 to 20. Usually a request to change frequencies is due to 1) coverage problems or 2} interference issues. I'm by no means a"pro" but again, an observation.

It seems RF 12 has been working for WYMT since the analog shut off. I'm thinking that the switch to 20 is going to cause problems for those who receive WYMT OTA in their service area. (Think those who have a dish service but don't provide WYMT in their local package)

I'll stand corrected if I'm wrong, but couldn't a slight bit of tropo cause problems for WKRC, in the southern part of their viewing area?

WYMT has a 50 KW signal compared to WKRCs 15.5 KW. I get WYMT now, but if I lose it, it's no big deal. I'm not supposed to be getting it anyway...

IMHO it's a mistake for WYMT to move from 12 to 20. Any type of reception is difficult in the hills, but VHF, coupled with the 50KW power, is better all the way around. Also, as I noted either here or on AVS Forum, many people would still have their old analog VHF antennas, to get WCHS, WVAH, WOWK, WJHL, WVLT, or WBIR back in the day, depending on where they are (or even WLOS if you were in the sweetest of sweet spots). The same antennas would also be ideal for WLJC on OTA 7.

 

[KD4YQR]

I took the time to look up the air distance from Cincinnati to Hazard, and it is 148 miles. Under the old analog rules, that would have been too close for stations on the same channel, but things are a bit different now in the digital era. At half that distance (74 miles), generally speaking, you'd be in fringe reception territory for either station, and I'm thinking that as a practical matter, whoever approved the allocation assumed that viewers at such a distance wouldn't get either one, unless they were in a prime reception spot. I also have to wonder, and this probably isn't the case, whether WKRC and WYMT agreed to accept mutual interference at that distance, similar (though further) to what WJZY Charlotte (Belmont) NC and WZRB Columbia SC did on OTA 25. WZRB agreed to accept interference such that their signal isn't viewable in, among other places, Winnsboro (Fairfield County). I live six miles from the WZRB tower and I still have issues whenever conditions are favorable for Charlotte reception --- WJZY shoots just enough hash to make WZRB start chopping out intermittently.

Eastern Kentucky is infamous for reception problems even at fairly short distances. WCHS and WOWK have always had problems in places such as Carter and Lawrence counties. With WOWK's repurposing as a Charleston-centered station (though the transmitter remains on Barkers Ridge and it is licensed to Huntington), cable systems in Salyersville, Staffordsville, and even Sandy Hook have dropped WOWK in favor of WYMT as their CBS affiliate.

Thanks for looking that up. Again, just an observation on my part as to why WYMT wants to switch frequencies.
You are right about reception issues in Eastern Kentucky.

When I used to run service up there, I always noticed the cable headends were tall towers on tall mountains with large arrays. The UHF arrays to receive Lexington were almost always parabolic in construction, for maximum gain.

Way back in the 80s, I stayed at a hotel in Pikeville for 3 days while I did an install at the high school. The C-H and Lexington stations were available on cable then. The C-H stations were clear, the Lexington stations were "watchable" but faded in and out.

 

[ftballfan]

I took the time to look up the air distance from Cincinnati to Hazard, and it is 148 miles. Under the old analog rules, that would have been too close for stations on the same channel, but things are a bit different now in the digital era. At half that distance (74 miles), generally speaking, you'd be in fringe reception territory for either station, and I'm thinking that as a practical matter, whoever approved the allocation assumed that viewers at such a distance wouldn't get either one, unless they were in a prime reception spot. I also have to wonder, and this probably isn't the case, whether WKRC and WYMT agreed to accept mutual interference at that distance, similar (though further) to what WJZY Charlotte (Belmont) NC and WZRB Columbia SC did on OTA 25. WZRB agreed to accept interference such that their signal isn't viewable in, among other places, Winnsboro (Fairfield County). I live six miles from the WZRB tower and I still have issues whenever conditions are favorable for Charlotte reception --- WJZY shoots just enough hash to make WZRB start chopping out intermittently.

On a somewhat related note, WCMW in Manistee, MI (tower between Manistee and Ludington) and WCWF in Suring, WI (with tower south of Green Bay) were both on RF 21 at about 80 miles apart after the DTV transition. During the repack, both moved off of RF 21, WCMW to RF 20 and WCWF to RF 15. I would imagine WCWF was hard to receive even with an outdoor antenna in parts of the Wisconsin lakeshore counties due to WCMW, despite WCMW being directional (it chose to be directional when it was analog and has kept that pattern since the transition).

With WCWF moving to RF 15, that station can now be received with the right equipment (i.e. an outdoor directional Yagi or its equivalent) in western Michigan, including the Manistee area!

 

[IM42A]

Thanks for looking that up. Again, just an observation on my part as to why WYMT wants to switch frequencies.
You are right about reception issues in Eastern Kentucky.

When I used to run service up there, I always noticed the cable headends were tall towers on tall mountains with large arrays. The UHF arrays to receive Lexington were almost always parabolic in construction, for maximum gain.

Way back in the 80s, I stayed at a hotel in Pikeville for 3 days while I did an install at the high school. The C-H and Lexington stations were available on cable then. The C-H stations were clear, the Lexington stations were "watchable" but faded in and out.

I didn't know they ever carried Lexington stations in Pikeville. I know at one time they carried WKYT in Paintsville and Prestonsburg, possibly back when WKYH (now WYMT) was pretty much a non-entity where news was concerned. I don't suppose it would be any more difficult than receiving them in Harlan. In fact, one year IIRC in the 1980s (I'd have to look it up), Harlan County actually was in the Lexington DMA (may have still been called ADIs then), got to wonder if this was due to natives Cawood Ledford and Barbara Bailey being from there, and the folks wanting to watch them. This, of course, would have had to be cable-driven, OTA reception of Lexington stations in Harlan County would have been impossible.

I think this has been mentioned elsewhere on this forum, but where the Lexington stations messed up was by not putting up translators throughout Eastern Kentucky, back when regulations were looser, before the ADIs/DMAs became so firmly established. They could have blown their market all the way out to Elliott, Johnson, Floyd, and possibly even Pike County.

 

[IM42A]

It was 1991, this per Television Factbook.

Harlan County went over to the Tri-Cities market in 1992, then in 1993 back to the Knoxville market, where AFAIK they've remained ever since.

That whole area is a hodgepodge of TV markets. Neighboring Leslie County remains in the Tri-Cities market, an island amidst Lexington and Knoxville. I don't think it goes down well with people in that county, getting TV stations via satellite that are almost totally detached from that area in terms of news coverage, while WYMT just down the road isn't available except OTA (if you can get it). In a perfect world, it would all be the Lexington market with WYMT in tow.

 

[KD4YQR]

I didn't know they ever carried Lexington stations in Pikeville. I know at one time they carried WKYT in Paintsville and Prestonsburg, possibly back when WKYH (now WYMT) was pretty much a non-entity where news was concerned. I don't suppose it would be any more difficult than receiving them in Harlan. In fact, one year IIRC in the 1980s (I'd have to look it up), Harlan County actually was in the Lexington DMA (may have still been called ADIs then), got to wonder if this was due to natives Cawood Ledford and Barbara Bailey being from there, and the folks wanting to watch them. This, of course, would have had to be cable-driven, OTA reception of Lexington stations in Harlan County would have been impossible.

I think this has been mentioned elsewhere on this forum, but where the Lexington stations messed up was by not putting up translators throughout Eastern Kentucky, back when regulations were looser, before the ADIs/DMAs became so firmly established. They could have blown their market all the way out to Elliott, Johnson, Floyd, and possibly even Pike County.

Geez, for me that was in the early 80s. 81, 82, 83..

My company had contracts with the school systems up there, so in the summer I would spend 3 days in each county doing PMs and service work.

I've stayed in Pikeville, Prestonsburg and Paintsville, and the motels I stayed at all had cable. Low budget motels, too, back then. No Hampton Inns, Courtyards or Fairfield Inns back then.

I remember the ones I stayed at did have Lexington on cable but I remember that they had crappy reception while C-H were clear. This was prior to 1985 so I don't remember if the old WKYH was carried on any of those systems.

Fast forward to around 1987, I was staying in Harlan for 3 days, installing ovens for a Pizza Hut owner there.
The motel I stayed at had Harlan Cable.
It had all 3 markets (Lexington, Tri Cities and Knoxville) Big 3, plus I believe, Fox from Lexington and Knoxville.
I can't remember if WLOS was on there or not at that time.

The biggest surprise was to find WPIX 11 from New York! The only cable system I knew that ever had it! (I would later have WPIX on Dish Network in the 2000s)
Plus of course, WGN and WTBS. A cable system better than most large cities.

 

[IM42A]

Geez, for me that was in the early 80s. 81, 82, 83..

My company had contracts with the school systems up there, so in the summer I would spend 3 days in each county doing PMs and service work.

I've stayed in Pikeville, Prestonsburg and Paintsville, and the motels I stayed at all had cable. Low budget motels, too, back then. No Hampton Inns, Courtyards or Fairfield Inns back then.

I remember the ones I stayed at did have Lexington on cable but I remember that they had crappy reception while C-H were clear. This was prior to 1985 so I don't remember if the old WKYH was carried on any of those systems.

Fast forward to around 1987, I was staying in Harlan for 3 days, installing ovens for a Pizza Hut owner there.
The motel I stayed at had Harlan Cable.
It had all 3 markets (Lexington, Tri Cities and Knoxville) Big 3, plus I believe, Fox from Lexington and Knoxville.
I can't remember if WLOS was on there or not at that time.

The biggest surprise was to find WPIX 11 from New York! The only cable system I knew that ever had it! (I would later have WPIX on Dish Network in the 2000s)
Plus of course, WGN and WTBS. A cable system better than most large cities.

WPIX enjoyed very widespread cable carriage back in the day. I do know they were carried in Huntington WV, and they were on the cable in Jackson OH (cable carried both C-H and Columbus) in the early 2000s when I stayed there one night. The West Virginia TV Guide carried listings for Columbus 4/6/10 as well as, in the 1980s, WXIX from Cincinnati.

 

[IM42A]

WPIX enjoyed very widespread cable carriage back in the day. I do know they were carried in Huntington WV, and they were on the cable in Jackson OH (cable carried both C-H and Columbus) in the early 2000s when I stayed there one night. The West Virginia TV Guide carried listings for Columbus 4/6/10 as well as, in the 1980s, WXIX from Cincinnati.

The West Virginia TV Guide never carried WPIX, nor, though it would have made perfect sense, WKYT from Lexington, which was on cable all throughout Eastern Kentucky all the way to Ashland. Cable systems carried WKYT even when they didn't carry other Lexington stations. That edition of TV Guide also added WKYH/WYMT sometime in the 1980s.

 

[IM42A]

I can't remember if WLOS was on there or not at that time.

At one time WLOS was indeed carried in Harlan. WLOS would have had absolutely no reason to cover anyplace in Kentucky, nor would it be reasonable to expect them to. Nonetheless, it was a case of viewers wanting to get an ABC affiliate from somewhere, and WLOS's killer signal was often the path of least resistance. TVFB for various years shows WLOS on translators (and, I'd assume, cable) in places as far north as Manchester, Corbin, and even London --- I have to think it would have been a possibility even in Pikeville, but you had WHTN/WOWK (also ABC, and also on channel 13 at that) putting a signal deep into Eastern Kentucky, so no need. There were a couple of cable systems (Cumberland and Whitesburg in 1967) that carried both WLOS and WHTN, hard to imagine how they'd pull that off unless they had some kind of super-directional antennas cut for channel 13, and even then, I have to imagine the co-channel interference would have been considerable. The Cumberland system also carried WCPO from Cincinnati.

According to TVFB, for several years Middlesboro cable carried not WLOS, but WSPA from Spartanburg SC, which I suppose was possible, but would have been very strange. I can't imagine the picture would have been anything to write home about. I picked up WLOS with a single rabbit ear from Pine Mountain State Resort Park in Bell County, so obviously the signal was there (unless my experience was just a tropo fluke). One year in the 1970s, Harlan cable carried WSOC from Charlotte, which would have required absolutely perfect knife-edge propagation --- they even showed up in TVFB as received in Harlan County with 5-24% viewership. That signal, too, was probably trash. Maybe the Cumberland system saw they couldn't deliver a reliable signal on WCPO and sold their channel 9 antenna to the Harlan system --- "we can't use it, here, see if you can do anything with it".

 

[ftballfan]

At one time WLOS was indeed carried in Harlan. WLOS would have had absolutely no reason to cover anyplace in Kentucky, nor would it be reasonable to expect them to. Nonetheless, it was a case of viewers wanting to get an ABC affiliate from somewhere, and WLOS's killer signal was often the path of least resistance. TVFB for various years shows WLOS on translators (and, I'd assume, cable) in places as far north as Manchester, Corbin, and even London --- I have to think it would have been a possibility even in Pikeville, but you had WHTN/WOWK (also ABC, and also on channel 13 at that) putting a signal deep into Eastern Kentucky, so no need. There were a couple of cable systems (Cumberland and Whitesburg in 1967) that carried both WLOS and WHTN, hard to imagine how they'd pull that off unless they had some kind of super-directional antennas cut for channel 13, and even then, I have to imagine the co-channel interference would have been considerable. The Cumberland system also carried WCPO from Cincinnati.

According to TVFB, for several years Middlesboro cable carried not WLOS, but WSPA from Spartanburg SC, which I suppose was possible, but would have been very strange. I can't imagine the picture would have been anything to write home about. I picked up WLOS with a single rabbit ear from Pine Mountain State Resort Park in Bell County, so obviously the signal was there (unless my experience was just a tropo fluke). One year in the 1970s, Harlan cable carried WSOC from Charlotte, which would have required absolutely perfect knife-edge propagation --- they even showed up in TVFB as received in Harlan County with 5-24% viewership. That signal, too, was probably trash. Maybe the Cumberland system saw they couldn't deliver a reliable signal on WCPO and sold their channel 9 antenna to the Harlan system --- "we can't use it, here, see if you can do anything with it".

Speaking of weirdness, Freeburn and Phelps (in far eastern Pike County) carried WDBJ from Roanoke, VA at least briefly in the late 1970s! Also, both WAVE and WATE were carried in Manchester.

WSPA in Middlesboro may have been an attempt to get as many NFL games as possible.

 

[IM42A]

Speaking of weirdness, Freeburn and Phelps (in far eastern Pike County) carried WDBJ from Roanoke, VA at least briefly in the late 1970s! Also, both WAVE and WATE were carried in Manchester.

WSPA in Middlesboro may have been an attempt to get as many NFL games as possible.

Yes, I can see that in the 1979 Television Factbook. My guess is that the Freeburn and Phelps systems had their head end in Mingo County WV, and just fed the signals from there. WDBJ had viewership all throughout far southern WV. WDBJ was on several cable systems in far western Virginia (not to be confused with West Virginia), evidently to provide viewers with an in-state Virginia station --- strictly speaking, WCYB would fulfill that role, but a Roanoke station would have far more Virginia news, including sports and state government news.

As to Manchester, WATE would not be unusual, but WAVE would be. I have to think it was a case of having the CATV antenna up on the highest peak and just distributing whatever TV stations might be picked up at that height, including WAVE. Low-channel VHF would have had enhanced reception possibilities.

I wouldn't have thought of the NFL as being the reason for carrying WSPA. I have to wonder why they didn't carry WLOS as well. Might have been a case of simply having maxed out their channel slots, with no room left over for WLOS. WSPA must have had some kind of prime transmitter location, as I was able to receive them with only a single rabbit ear in Blowing Rock NC. TV signals do weird things in the mountains.

 

[ohdxer]

The West Virginia TV Guide never carried WPIX, nor, though it would have made perfect sense, WKYT from Lexington, which was on cable all throughout Eastern Kentucky all the way to Ashland. Cable systems carried WKYT even when they didn't carry other Lexington stations. That edition of TV Guide also added WKYH/WYMT sometime in the 1980s.

When l was a kid traveling with my parents to Eastern Kentucky during the1970's, I remember that the West Virginia edition of TV Guide was the only TV Guide edition sold in Eastern Kentucky. I believe it was sometime in the mid or late 1970's that WKYH and later WYMT was first listed in the West Virginia edition of TV Guide.

The reason why WKYT from Lexington was the only station from Lexington carried on many cable tv systems in Eastern Kentucky was that back then WKYT was the flagship station that carried the University of Kentucky men's basketball games.