that horrible BEEP

[A. Joseph Ross]

On 20 Jan 2008 at 13:32, Dan.Strassberg wrote:

> 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.

I'm not certain of this, but I believe that WMGT moved to channel 19 
before the fire.  Apparently there was a lot less range on the higher-
numbered channel.
 
> 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. 

WRGB moved from Channel 4 to Channel 6 in January 1954.  While most 
TV sets had a fine tuning knob, our Muntz didn't.  There was a screw 
adjustment, accessed by removing the knobs and a metal plate on the 
front of the TV.  Apparently TV servicemen were very busy at that 
point adjusting sets to receive WRGB on channel 6.  We had lousy 
reception and sometimes slightly better reception on channel 5 for 
some reason.  

Finally, tired of waiting for a TV serviceman, my father adjusted the 
set himself.  Then he came into my room and told me to come see what 
he had just done.  When I saw the clear picture on the TV, I was the 
world's happiest 8-year-old.  He was the family hero for at least a 
couple of days for that.

As we were about to move back to the Boston area, the headlines were 
that the FCC was pushing a plan to have all UHF stations in the 
Capital area, moving WRGB to channel 47.  That, of course, never 
happened, but when we left, that was in the wind, and the move of 
WROW and WTRI to VHF was still in the future.

-- 
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