that horrible BEEP

Sun Jan 20 14:08:14 EST 2008

After reading your post, Dan, it's amazing Channels 10 and 13 ever got up
and running at all.

WAST 13 built on Bald Mountain in Center Brunswick around 1965 or '66, if my
memory is right.  I remember when the tower was built and how impressed I
was by it.  WAST was, traditionally, the also-ran of the three stations.  It
was an ABC affiliate, it didn't telecast in color until the late '60s, and
originally made up much of its local broadcasting day with cartoons, old
movies and documentaries.  Even the graphics were lousy.  WRGB and WTEN, by
contrast, were class acts --- especially WRGB, which broadcast (and
continues to broadcast) out of a magnificent facility on Balltown Road in
Niskayuna, built with money from GE's very deep pockets.  (BTW, WRGB is
indeed not only the oldest commercial TV station in the U.S. but  the oldest
TV station in the world, period.  It began broadcasting experimentally in
1928 and received its present call letters in 1939.)

WAST's poor-third status was reversed in the '80s after WRGB dropped its
long-time NBC affiliation (it was one of NBC's  original affiliates) and
went with CBS.   WAST picked up NBC, and its then-owner, which I think was
Viacom, almost completely rebuilt the station from scratch, spending
millions on it.  Shortly thereafter, NBC became the #1-rated network, and
WAST changed its call letters to WNYT.  It is now one of the network's
foremost affiliates, and vies with WRGB (depending on which newscast) as the
top-rated news operation in the Capital District.

-Doug

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dan.Strassberg" <dan.strassberg@att.net>
To: "Doug Drown" <revdoug1@verizon.net>; "A. Joseph Ross"
<joe@attorneyross.com>
Cc: <boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org>
Sent: Sunday, January 20, 2008 1:32 PM
Subject: Re: that horrible BEEP

> Channel 41 (which, if still on the air, may be WCDA) was the original
> home of WROW-TV. Channel 35 was the original home of WTRI (WTRY's TV
> affiliate and not part of the sale of the AM to the Providence group
> headed by Mowry Lowe that I mentioned in previous posts). There is no
> way I can fully reconstruct the saga of either TV station and I don't
> even know the current calls of Channel 13--all I know is that it is no
> longer WAST, which were the calls for many years after it signed on on
> Channel 13.
>
> The Capital District was originally deprived of multiple VHF
> assignnments by its proximity to other metros in the northeast.
> Albany-Schenectady-Troy's sole post-freeze VHF was WRGB Channel 6, one
> of, if not THE, oldest commercial TV station in the US. All other
> assignments were on less desirable UHF channels. I remember the
> original assignments on 23, 35, and 41. There were probably others
> that I don't recall. WROW built an ~700' tower (fairly tall for that
> era--but no record breaker, for sure) in North Greenbush. The problem
> was that the tower base was in the valley, so the HAAT was not great
> and the signal in Schenectady was not very good. (The tower exists to
> this day and is home to WRPI (FM), the student-run station of my alma
> mater, RPI in Troy.) WTRI located atop Bald Mountain north of Troy.
> I'm not sure of the tower height, but I'm pretty sure that WTRI
> achieved an HAAT of 1000' or close to it.
>
> WROW extended its reach by acquiring or leasing WMGT Channel 74 in
> North Adams MA with transmitter atop Mt Greylock, the highest point in
> MA. After a fire that destroyed the Channel 74 Tx, WMGT relocated to
> Channel 19 and became, I believe, WCDC. It may still have those calls.
> WROW also built another station to the west of the Capital District
> near Amsterdan in Hagaman NY on Channel 29. I believe the calls for
> Channel 29 were WCDB. Channel 29 took care of the poor Channel 41
> reception in Schenectady, although I believe that Channel 19 also
> comes in pretty well in Schenectady.
>
> Then came WROW's big plan. With the rejuggling of VHF assignments in
> Utica, Syracuse, and Rochester, WROW's engineers recognized that a
> small triangular piece of land just south of Sacondaga Reservoir in
> the hamlet of Vail Mills NY, had become just far enough (170 miles)
> from Channel 10 assignments in Rochester, Providence, and Montreal to
> allow the construction of a full-power VHF station that was (just
> barely) not short-spaced to anything. The Channel 10 station could
> replace Channel 29 and, it was hoped, also cover the entire Capital
> District. WROW was granted a CP and soon constructed a 1300+' tower.
> Even before construction could get started, Capital District residents
> noted that the site was more than 35 miles from downtown Albany and
> that, tall tower notwithstanding, the high-band VHF signal was
> unlikely to do a very good job of penetrating into the valley, where
> most of the population in the metro lived. Decent over-the-air
> reception of Channel 10 would therefore probably require expensive
> outdoor antennas. (Remember, at that time, cable had not yet really
> gotten off the ground.) Moreover, for most Capital District residents,
> Vail Mills lay to the northwest, whereas Channel 6 transmitted from a
> site in the Helderberg Mountains, southwest of Albany, so antenna
> rotators were also likely to be needed. When Channel 10 took to the
> air, the worst fears about reception were confirmed.
>
> At some point, the idea came up of relocating Channel 10 to a site in
> the Helderbergs, where it would be short-spaced to Providence. That is
> indeed what happened.
>
> As for Channel 13, I believe that a site south of Lake Champlain would
> theoretically not be short spaced to co-channel stations licensed to
> Montreal, Newark NJ (New York City), or Utica. Such a site would be a
> bit further from downtown Albany than Vail Mills was, but might have
> been able to do a better job of penetrating the valley. Whether
> Channel 35 ever actually applied for such facilities, much less built
> them, I don't know. I do know that a Channel 13 that is short spaced
> to Newark was built at the Channel 35 site on Bald Mtn, where, AFAIK,
> it replaced Channel 35. AFAIK, Channel 13 still operates from that
> site, although I believe I've read that its DTV station is located in
> the Helderbergs.
>
> -----
> Dan Strassberg (dan.strassberg@att.net)
> eFax 1-707-215-6367
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Doug Drown" <revdoug1@verizon.net>
> To: "Dan.Strassberg" <dan.strassberg@att.net>; "A. Joseph Ross"
> <joe@attorneyross.com>
> Cc: <boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org>
> Sent: Sunday, January 20, 2008 12:16 PM
> Subject: Re: that horrible BEEP
>
>
> > That early history of television in the Capital District is indeed
> > interesting and quite complicated.  I can remember when WTEN (then
> > party of
> > the Capital Cities family, along with WROW AM and FM) operated not
> > one, but
> > two adjunct UHF stations --WCDC, Channel 19 in Adams, Mass (the
> > original
> > WROW-TV)., and WCDA, Channel 41 in Albany --- to compensate for its
> > inadequate signal coverage amidst the surrounding hills and
> > mountains.  I
> > assume that it was that reason that enabled Cap Cities to get around
> > whatever rules then existed regarding local media monopolies.
> >
> > Similarly, WAST, Channel 13, simulcast on WTRI, Channel 35.
> >
> > All of this changed when the stations built new towers in the
> >      -Doug
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message ----- 
> > From: "Dan.Strassberg" <dan.strassberg@att.net>
> > To: "A. Joseph Ross" <joe@attorneyross.com>
> > Cc: <boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org>
> > Sent: Sunday, January 20, 2008 9:01 AM
> > Subject: Re: that horrible BEEP
> >
> >
> >> The reasons for the big Capital District radio-network affiliation
> >> shift of the mid fifties were complicated. It was played to the
> >> public
> >> that the group (from Providence) that acquired WTRY was committed
> >> to
> >> local independent radio and so dropped the (very lucrative) CBS
> >> affiliation, thus precipitating the round-robin switch, which left
> >> WTRY indpendent and made WOKO a network affiliate (which it had not
> >> been in many years). As an independent, WTRY continued to prosper.
> >> However, I think the the reason for the shift was more
> >> complex--related to the lifting of the freeze on construction of TV
> >> stations and the formation of Capital Cities Broadcasting (which
> >> over
> >> many decades and many mergers, morphed into ABC and Disney).
> >>
> >> Capital Cities started in the Capital District (and indeed was
> >> named
> >> for it) and WROW was its very first station! WROW got a TV CP,
> >> which
> >> initially resulted in the construction of Channel 41 (now Channel
> >> 10
> >> et al). In those days, it was cutomary for radio and TV networks to
> >> affiliate with commonly owned radio and TV stations in most markets
> >> where they existed. IIRC, WROW-TV (which was later renamed WTEN
> >> after
> >> it built the Channel 10 facility in Vail Mills) initially became
> >> the
> >> CBS-TV affiliate. It was thus fitting for WROW (AM) to be the CBS
> >> Radio affiliate. Although WTRY was 5 kW-U with excellent coverage
> >> of
> >> Albany, Troy, and Schenectady, it couldn't match WROW's daytime
> >> coverage of the Hudson Valley. WROW's lower night power (1 kW)
> >> apparently didn't bother CBS, perhaps because WROW's low dial
> >> position
> >> at least partially compensated for the lower power.
> >>
> >> -----
> >> Dan Strassberg (dan.strassberg@att.net)
> >> eFax 1-707-215-6367
> >>
> >> ----- Original Message ----- 
> >> From: "A. Joseph Ross" <joe@attorneyross.com>
> >> To: "Dan.Strassberg" <dan.strassberg@att.net>
> >> Cc: <boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org>
> >> Sent: Saturday, January 19, 2008 11:57 PM
> >> Subject: Re: that horrible BEEP
> >>
> >>
> >> > On 19 Jan 2008 at 9:28, Dan.Strassberg wrote:
> >> >
> >> >> I believe that those "blips" were (barely) audible cues from a
> >> >> system
> >> >> that CBS installed at the radio network in (I think) the '50s
> >> >> and
> >> >> continued to use for decades thereafter. It was called NetAlert.
> >> >> If
> >> >> I'm not mistaken, I first heard NetAlert cues on WROW Albany
> >> >> after
> >> >> it
> >> >> replaced WTRY Troy as the CBS affiliate in New York's Capital
> >> >> District. That would have been while I was in college around
> >> >> 1953
> >> >> or
> >> >> so.
> >> >
> >> > Since I remember it, and we moved to Albany just after
> >> > Thanksgiving
> >> > 1953, I think this would have been sometime in 1954 or maybe
> >> > 1955.
> >> > I
> >> > never understood why the change took place, but it affected three
> >> > of
> >> > the four networks and four stations.  CBS moved from WTRY to
> >> > WROW,
> >> > ABC moved from WROW to WPTR, and Mutual moved from WPTR to WOKO.
> >> > NBC
> >> > remained on WGY.
> >> >
> >> > -- 
> >> > A. Joseph Ross, J.D.                           617.367.0468
> >> > 92 State Street, Suite 700                   Fax 617.507.7856
> >> > Boston, MA 02109-2004
> >> > http://www.attorneyross.com
> >> >
> >> >
> >>
> >
>