WNHC / WTNH / Ch. 6 / Ch. 8

[mwaters@wesleyan.edu (Martin J. Waters)]

Ed Hennessey wrote:

>While we are on the subject, did channel 8 ever have a translator on
>channel 6?  I know that in certain areas of New Haven (ones very close to
>East Rock with it between Mad Mare Mountain in Hamden where channel 8 has
>their stick and the receiving antenna), channel 8 could not be picked
>up--my grandparents were in one of these areas.  I seem to remember them
>watching channel six and picking up WTNH (or it may have been WHNC-TV).
>With WABC 7 in NYC, and WTEV 6 in New Bedford, there was no way it was
>adjacent channel interference.  They did have a decent antenna, since WABC
>came in very well.

                Perhaps what you are remembering is that WNHC / WTNH was on
channel 6 when it signed on in 1948, but was moved to channel 8 a little
later--maybe around 1953, or maybe even earlier than that. It was part of
the reshuffling that was necessary when they realized they had placed some
co-channel stations too close to each other. Ch. 6 in Philadelphia was the
problem here, I believe, as the New Bedford station was not on yet--and in
fact may have been made possible by the New Haven switch. Either ch. 10 or
ch. 12 in Providence went through the same thing, I believe, having been on
ch. 11 at first, but it was too close to NYC.

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