UHF in Southern New England (was WHNB/WVIT Channel 30 (was Re: WTAG-TV?))

[A. Joseph Ross]

On 21 Nov 2009 at 22:30, Paul Anderson wrote:

> In reading the histories of various early UHF stations that failed,
> it's interesting that UHF in Hartford and Springfield was successful
> from the start.  Everybody had UHF tuners or converters.  I moved from
> New Jersey to Connecticut in 1968 and we sure got a UHF converter
> fast!  Not even poor little channel 20 failed during all those years
> that other UHFs went under in other parts of the country.
 
That's probably because there were strong UHF stations and not very 
strong VHF stations.  In Western Massachusetts, the Springfield UHF 
stations were the only strong stations until channel 3 in Hartford 
came on.  Channel 8 in Hartford didn't reach Western Massachusetts 
very well, and in the valley, the Boston and Schenectady VHF stations 
were difficult or impossible to receive.  Channel 19 in North Adams, 
relaying Albany, and perhaps some Hartford UHFs was all that reached 
there.  By the time channel 3 came on, UHF stations were well-
established.

For similar reasons, UHF caught on in the Albany area.  There was 
only the one VHF station, and the UHF stations very quickly got 
network affiliations and carried top-rated shows.  However, perhaps 
because of the mountainous terrain, the UHFs were at a disadvantage 
to channel 6 in range and eventually took advantage of opportunities 
to move to VHF channels.

At one point the FCC had planned to designate the Albany area as all-
UHF.  There were even plans to force WRGB to move to channel 47.  
This was a front-page story in the Albany Times-Union in early 1957 
as we were preparing to move back to the Boston area.

-- 
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