The trip began with a flight from Toronto to Las Vegas, where we stayed in the Hampton Inn for one night before heading on to Santa Maria, CA for a few days to visit my Grandma, and ending back at Las Vegas to close the week. The flight was slightly ahead of schedule, and we made it to the Hampton Inn just before the 11pm news. Within minutes my antenna was out, the Magnavox digital box was plugged in, and surprisingly Hampton Inn had flat screen TVs in their rooms! (This trip also pointed out that it's trickier to get good pics of OTA TV reception from CRT televisions!)
March 20 (Las Vegas, NV):
Oh deer....KVBC's subchannel 3-2 ("Untamed Sports") was airing a show called Deer Camp. Surprisingly, it's not a peppy musical where Disney's hottest teens befriend a magical deer that helps them put on a show. This Camp involves the killing of these fine animals!
However, the show still attracted Lindsay Lohan to let people know what Camp-ing is all about with a rugged hunting daddy! (Wait...that's not Lindsay?)
I knew I was in Vegas when I saw a naked man running around on a PBS subchannel (10-3 KLVXSD2). He was tastefully censored with a giant blur, though.
Also letting me know I was in Vegas? KVBC's report on sex trafficking in the city! Oh my heavens. How young you talkin', indeed....
I was a bundle of nerves until Blake McCoy's handsome mug popped up on 13-1 KTNV's news!
KTNV does a segment called Postively Las Vegas, and I was positively enjoying their OTA TV at this point! (Interestingly, Las Vegas is one of the few markets where most of their major digital stations are on VHF.)
Weatherman Jerry Brown was over on KVBC with a familiar backdrop on Las Vegas news sets - a montage of the Vegas strip. I'm still torn about whether it looks totally fabulous, or a tad too gaudy.
KTNV sidesteps this issue by using a sleek, modern set, and occasionally putting up the Vegas strip scenery on a screen in the background.
March 21 (Santa Maria, CA):
We arrived in Santa Maria the next day, and I was just as quick to set up the antenna and digital box. March madness was in full swing via Santa Maria CBS affiliate 12-1 KCOY! I still remember KCOY (and NBC station KSBY) from all the times I've visited my Grandparents since I was a kid.
Here's KCOY's Arturo Santiago in a promo for the station! (I would actually visit them later in the week!)
Great logo shot of KCOY!
Connie Miller is not only a cancer survivor, but she knows how to rock a fluorescent purple wig!
This kid is unwittingly the poster child for Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution in a commercial for the wonderfully named Fatte's Pizzas!
I had an awesome co-worker named Lauris, so this ad for Laurus College reminded me of him. (Or as I'd like to think of it, they needed to school people with his awesomeness!)
Ad for the Santa Maria Utilities Dept, with their iconic "All America City" sign followed by one of my shots of the sign during my trip!
I certainly pondered many things about KCOY's cute weatherman P.J. Javaheri. Below is a shot of him during the "P.J. Ponders" segment, where he discusses the dry spell in Santa Maria (something I could really relate to...)
One really cool OTA channel they had in Santa Maria was 29-1 KQMM-LD, an MTV affiliate of sorts. They call themselves MTV Tres and broadcast bilingual programming from MTV. They would show popular programs and subtitle them in whatever language was not being spoken. (For example, the English language shows would be subtitled in Spanish, and vice versa.)
March 22 (Santa Maria, CA):
It would be great if this guy's answer started with "Love..."
Despite being back in the "closet" around my Grandma during this vacation, there were numerous gay references in pop culture that found me during the trip. Below is a scene from a show on KQMM-LD (MTV Tres) where a gay couple adds a third to their relationship, and after much drama, adds a fourth to balance everyone out!
There was also local news en Espanol via 33-1 KTAS, pictured below. (The only OTA Spanish language station I've picked up at home is Cleveland's WQHS, and I don't think they broadcast local news.)
March 23 (Santa Maria, CA):
Ellen promo on San Luis Obispo's NBC station KSBY. (They had a Santa Maria office, which I visited later that week.)
By now you can probably tell I was fan of KQMM-LD. Here we have some Latin hunks with tight shirts, tight jeans, and infinite wisdom in their chat below!
I was surprised that there were quite a few analog stations still up and running in the Santa Maria and Central Coast area in California. Below is K16FC, which is a San Luis Obispo based translator for Los Angeles' PBS station KCET.
I bought a 50 foot cable wire at Best Buy during the trip so I could test my antennas outside! I tried my trusty home made rabbit ears at the top of my Grandma's garden, seen in the pic below.
With the rabbit ears outside, I picked up one Santa Barbara station that I couldn't pick up from inside the house: 38-1 KPMR, a Univision affiliate. However, none of my antennas at this point could pick up Santa Barbara's ABC station KEYT.
One of the subchannels of KPMR was 38-3 "LATV" showing the fabulous program "El Glam Show" below. (See what I mean about gay references finding me, even in small town America...)
KSBY's news featured my California based namesake below. This Garth's last name is eerily similar to mine!
Here is the KSBY news set, along with their slogan "Balanced News You Can Trust."
That concludes Part 1 of my Vacation Reception Report on over-the-air TV from Las Vegas, NV and Santa Maria, CA. Stay tuned to TV Garth for Part 2, which chronicles my visit to both KCOY and KSBY! (Well, KSBY was more of a "stand in front of the sign and pose" but it's still a visit in my books!)
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