WYDN

[Dave Doherty]

FM and TV have certain allotments (specific channels allocated to specific
cities) that are reserved for noncoms. 

For FM, everything under 92 MHz in the US is reserved for noncoms, but there
is only one US allotment I know of, for the UN (206B - 89.1 MHz - limited to
20 kW @ 150 m AAT). 

Canada and Mexico do not have the same blanket reservation of 88-92 for
noncom use, and they do have allotments in the band. So the border areas is
more complicated. 

Some specific US allotments in the 92-108 band are also reserved for noncom
use. I think the current number of these is around 88. These channels are
permanently reserved, and generally cannot be converted to commercial use. 

There are hundreds of US noncoms operating on non-reserved channels in the
92-108 band. As far as the FCC is concerned, they can be converted to
commercial use. (Some states have regulations regarding switching assets
between commercial and noncom use that may impact such conversions. RI comes
to mind.)

With TV, it's allotment by allotment, and I am no longer familiar with the
TV landscape. Back in the day, WNET, the major Public TV station in the New
York area, was on a commercial allotment.

-d


-----Original Message-----
From: Boston-Radio-Interest
[mailto:boston-radio-interest-bounces@lists.BostonRadio.org] On Behalf Of
Jeff Lehmann
Sent: Monday, August 29, 2016 7:15 AM
To: Trip Ericson <webmaster@rabbitears.info>
Cc: Boston Radio Group <boston-radio-interest@lists.bostonradio.org>
Subject: Re: WYDN

Can't non commercial stations be changed back to commercial if they're sold?
I know they can on FM.

WYDN on Comcast had always been on both 23 and 295 (both SD) for some
reason. Maybe they just eliminated the duplication. All the other channels
in the 280/290 range, mostly sub channels (Me TV, Decades, etc...) were
moved to above 930.

By the way, WYDN has a terrible signal south of Boston, so I doubt NBC would
want it...

Jeff Lehmann

> On Aug 29, 2016, at 5:01 AM, Trip Ericson <webmaster@rabbitears.info>
wrote:
> 
> WYDN is a non-commercial allotment, so no it won't be where NBC winds up.
> 
> - Trip
> www.rabbitears.info
> 
>> On 08/29/2016 04:14 AM, Kevin Vahey wrote:
>> Makes you wonder - Could WYDN be where NBC Boston winds up?
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> On Mon, Aug 29, 2016 at 3:36 AM, Richard Chonak via 
>> Boston-Radio-Interest <boston-radio-interest@lists.bostonradio.org>
>> wrote:
>>> 
>>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>>> From: Richard Chonak <richard@chonak.com>
>>> To: boston-radio-interest@lists.bostonradio.org
>>> Cc:
>>> Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2016 03:00:43 -0400
>>> Subject: Re: Comcast lineup changes/digitization....
>>> The transmitter is located on the WBZ-TV tower in Needham (according to
the Storehouse of Approximate Knowledge, Wikipedia), so depending on where
Mom is, an over-the-air signal might be a possibility.
>>> 
>>> So far, on-line listings from Comcast do not reflect the change. They
still show the channel in two slots on Comcast, 23 and 295: perhaps 23
is/was SD?
>>> 
>>> --RC
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>>> From:
>>>> "Don" <Donald_Astelle@Yahoo.com>
>>>> Date:
>>>> 08/29/2016 01:30 AM
>>>> 
>>>> To:
>>>> <boston-radio-interest@lists.BostonRadio.org>
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> Hello All....My mom watches some shows on WYDN, a low-power(?) station
out of Worcester on Channel 295.
>>>> 
>>>> Recently, she has been seeing this message on the screen:
>>>> 
>>>> "The programming formerly seen on this channel is now available in the
900 channel range."
>>>> 
>>>> She asked me where...and I perused the channel 900 range and couldn't
find it.
>>>> 
>>>> Anyone on the list know the story behind WYDN and where they are on
Comcast now?
>>>> 
>>>> Thanks!
>