Old Vacation TV observations from way back! (was Re: WMUR)

[Peter Q. George]

While vacationing in Belleau Lake (East Wakefield), NH
in 1969 and again in 1972, my family and I were
treated to 3 and half channels of programming. 
Channel 9 was not a factor we had a ridge of hills
between us and Goffstown. The signal was really in the
mud and not usable.

However, we did get TV from the Portland market.
WCSH/6 had the strongest signal from Sabago with NBC,
but was loaded with multicolored ghosts due to
multipath.  Their "WCSH Eyewitness News" tried so hard
to compete.  I remember that Channel 6 was using some
older color cameras and looked a little 1960-ish on
the air, like the old GE color camera "look" (contrast
issues).  You knew when Channel 6's tower was being
hit by lightning, when we would see brief (couple of
second) loss-of-signal intervals would happen.  We
would be getting hit about 30 minutes beforehand (in
NH) with some really heavy thunder-boomers.

Channel 8/WMTW-TV had a good signal from Mt.
Washington, had ABC but had some pretty hokey local
programming.  They had what they called "News Circle"
with one color camera with a talking head reader and
no newsfilm whatsoever.  Who can forget Marty Engstrom
from the mountain with the weather and his signature
smile at the end! Channel 8 did not go full-color
until 1970.  They had a booth announcer that sounded
like he always had a cold.... "This is TV-8 in Poland
Spring, Baine".  He actually was the newsreader on
"News Circle" during the time I stayed up there in
1972. 

Then there was Channel 13/WGAN-TV, probably the
slickest operation of the three. Yes, "The Channel 13
Newsbeat!", with full-color newsfilm as far back as
1969.  There was no contest.  Couple that with the top
rated CBS programming and you had a winner.  

Once in a while, during the summer (tropo), Channel 5
(WHDH/WCVB) in Boston would come in pretty well.  Even
WCAX/3 from Burlington would show up from
time-to-time.
Channel 11/WENH really had nothing to offer other than
usual PBS stuff.  We finally had UHF in the area from
MPBN when WMEG (later WMEA) on Channel 26 fired up in
late 1974. But then again it was just another PBS. 


Even during my formative years (9-12), I could
distinguish the differences between the local
stations.  They were all quite unique.  I wish I had a
VCR back then!  Now, all of these stations (today) are
high-tech with HDTV just about the take off.

What a difference 40 years can make!

-Pete


     
--- Doug Drown <revdoug1@verizon.net> wrote:

> >To give credit where it's due: I don't think they
> were notably cheesier 
> >than the average station in NH or ME in the '60s.  
>   Just comparably 
> >cheesy: they were "state of the art"!
> 
> You're right, of course; when I first moved to Maine
> in '76, WGAN did indeed 
> have an edge over the rest of the Portland-Lewiston
> area stations in terms 
> of good production.  WCSH and WMTW managed to catch
> up, eventually.  (I 
> remember the first time I saw a new, nicely FILMED
> "NewsCenter 6" intro ---  
> back in the early '80s, I think --- that was
> comparable to stuff I'd seen in 
> Boston ten years earlier, and I went, "Whoooooo.")
> 
> Bangor, on the other hand, was another story
> altogether.
> 
> -Doug
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Richard Chonak" <rac@gabrielmass.com>
> To: "Boston Radio Group"
> <boston-radio-interest@lists.BostonRadio.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2008 5:11 PM
> Subject: Re: WMUR
> 
> 
> > SteveOrdinetz wrote:
> >> On 3/25/08, Peter Q. George
> <radiojunkie3@yahoo.com> wrote:
> >>> It's amazing.  In spite of the primitive
> facilities at
> >>> the time, the folks at WMUR-TV still managed to
> put
> >>> out some great TV that people STILL remember to
> this
> >>> day.
> >>
> >> I'm not sure if I'd call it "great tv"..."so bad
> it was good" might be
> >> a better term.  It was so cheesy that it was
> memorable.
> >
> > To give credit where it's due: I don't think they
> were notably cheesier 
> > than the average station in NH or ME in the '60s. 
>    Just comparably 
> > cheesy: they were "state of the art"!
> >
> > I thought WGAN-13 had a little edge over the rest
> in good production and 
> > operation values, but most of the NH and ME
> stations I could see from 
> > Portsmouth -- WMUR-9, WMTW-8, WCSH-6, and WENH-11
> -- sometimes had 
> > "programs" that consisted of an announcer reading
> news over a lame-looking 
> > slide.   And some of the local shows on 6, 8, or
> 11 were as un-slick as 
> > anything on channel 9.
> >
> > (Oh, man: I'm having a flashback to the "Swap
> Shop"...)
> >
> > --RC
> > 
> 
> 


Peter Q. George (K1XRB)
Whitman, Massachusetts
                           "Scanning the bands since 1967"
radiojunkie1@yahoo.com
radiojunkie3@yahoo.com
***********************************************************


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