A fun trivia question

[Doug Drown]

I stand corrected.  You're right --- I think WAST moved its transmitter when
I was in sixth or seventh grade, which would have been 1962 or '63.   The
hype, as I remember, was considerable --- Channel 13 had been the "also ran"
of the three local outlets, and this was their opportunity to strut their
stuff.

When I'm in Schenectady and see what Channel 13 is today in comparison to
what it was in the early '60s, it's like night and day.  "Primitive" would
have been a good word to use --- kind of like Channel 9 in Manchester back
when it was owned by United Television.

-Doug



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Matthew Osborne" <mattosborne1976@yahoo.com>
To: "Rick Kelly" <rickkelly@gmail.com>; "Doug Drown" <revdoug1@verizon.net>
Cc: "Boston Radio Interest" <boston-radio-interest@rolinin.bostonradio.org>;
"Dan Strassberg" <dan.strassberg@att.net>; <SonnyDaye1@aol.com>
Sent: Monday, May 07, 2007 1:05 PM
Subject: Re: A fun trivia question


>
> On Mon, 7 May 2007 11:50:59 Rick Kelly
> <rickkelly@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > 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.
>
> And all these years later, the very same is still
> true.  Not just in Schenectady either - reception on
> analog channel 13 in my apartment by Union College is
> not good at all (loaded with multipath - good thing
> they decided to move their DTV signal to the
> Helderbergs otherwise they'd have major problems with
> their digital OTA signal).  And this situation remains
> true in most outlying areas to the west of the market,
> such as Fulton and Montgomery counties.  Where I grew
> up in Broadalbin, before I was allowed to have cable
> TV in my bedroom, the multipath distortion on 13 was
> so bad that I would actually watch NBC programming
> from WKTV Utica (channel 2, transmitting from Kallet
> Hill @25 miles east of Utica proper) which at least
> put a clean and clear signal over that area.
>
>                                Matt Osborne
>                                Schenectady, NY
>
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