A fun trivia question

[Rick Kelly]

On 5/6/07, Doug Drown <revdoug1@verizon.net> wrote:

> If my memory is correct, Channel 13 (then known as WAST) moved its
> transmitting facilities to Bald Mountain back in the late '60s or early
> '70s, perhaps at the same time that auxiliary Channel 35 was eliminated.

It was earlier than that.  At the latest, 1962.  WAST advertised their
sign on from Bald Mountain in Brunswick NY (the Ch 35 site) as "The
Friendly Giant" - a drawing of a giant Mr. Clean looking character
standing next to the tower.  I lived in Schenectady at the time (10
years old) and remember being disappointed with the signal strength
where I lived.  I later learned that the Channel 13 signal was not so
great in Schenectady due the terrain issues Dan mentioned previously.
WRGB and WTEN had fine signals in Schenectady, they were in the
Helderberg Mountains.  WAST was gangbusters, however in Albany and
Troy.  I had heard a rumor that in order to protect Ch 13 in NYC, WAST
could not be a Helderberg operation.  A rumor that I also heard was
that WAST did not transmit on EXACTLY Ch 13 as WNET did... the WAST
signal was tuned to be a little off the WNET signal, to cause less
interference.  I don't know if this was (is) true or not.

Like with most everything, there were probably at least a couple of
schools of thought about TX placement and signal.  The Helderberg
signals are poorer in the Hudson Valley areas of Troy, Cohoes and my
former stomping ground, Waterford, NY.  But certainly the total amount
of coverage, in terms of square miles is greater for the Helderberg
stations.

-- 
-Rick Kelly
northeastairchecks.com