Re: A Providence TV question

[Scott D Fybush <fybush@world.std.com>]

> 
> > Channel 4, for instance, had operating stations by 1949 in Boston
> > (WBZ-TV), Schenectady (WRGB), Lancaster PA (WGAL-TV), and Washington
> > (WRC-TV).  
> 
> What about New York City (WNBT)?  As I recall, WNBT moved to Channel 4 
> from Channel 1, when Channel 1 was reallocated to some other service.
>  

Correct!  Yes, WNBT was on channel 4 as well.

> The Korean War?  I thought the freeze was because the FCC wanted to review 
> channel allocations.  It was originally declared to be a six-month freeze 
> and lasted about four years, until the FCC reallocated the VHF channels 
> and created the UHF TV band.

Your cited reason is correct as well, but I believe the war also
played a role; they didn't want to divert resources to building new TVs.
I know the war froze CBS' new color system (the color wheel), which
was the standard approved by the FCC for a few years between 1951 and
(IIRC) 1954, when RCA persuaded a move back to NTSC color.  The
color wheels took up some material (I don't recall which one) that
was needed for the war effort.

> Why do you call it a channel swap?  WRGB moved from 4 to 6, and WHAM-TV 
> moved from 6 to 5.  A swap would mean that they exchanged channels.

Correct you are, sir.
  
> > Buffalo's channel 2 signed on in 1954 as WGR-TV.  Rochester's 
> > channel 10 took air in 1953 as a time-share between two rival
> > radio operators, operating part of the day as WHEC-TV and part
> > of the day as WVET-TV (a situation that would linger into 1961,
> > when WVET's owners bought WROC-TV and sold their half of channel 10).
> 
> Did they both operate from the same tower?  Did they actually have one 
> sign off and the other sign on?  Did they each promote network programs in 
> the other's broadcast day?  I'm quite curious how this channel-sharing 
> operated.

They had two studios (WHEC at 191 East Ave, next to the present WHEC
building from 1979, and WVET at 17 S. Clinton Avenue, later used for
a few years by WOKR 13), but both operated from the city's lone TV
tower on Pinnacle Hill, built in 1949 for WHAM-TV.  I believe they
shared the transmitter as well.

I don't know how the hand-off worked where viewers were concerned. My
understanding of the schedule is that they swapped dayparts from 
day to day, so if WHEC had Monday daytime and Tuesday night, WVET would
have Monday night and Tuesday daytime.  WVET had the early-evening
news each night, as well as the 11 PM news every other night, leaving
WHEC's small news operation with an 11 PM show every other night in
addition to the WHEC radio newscasts.  Talking to folks who worked
there, it's clear that WHEC-TV didn't really think of itself as 
a news operation until 1961 and the end of WVET-TV.

The stations shared promotions, it seems.  There was a common logo
(a "10" in a trapezoid meant to represent a TV screen turned at an
angle, I guess), and I've seen common newspaper ads and TV Guide
ads that promote "Channel 10" programming and note at the bottom
"Operated jointly by WHEC-TV and WVET-TV."

I just wish some film existed to show what the channel swaps actually
looked like on air.

-s