Greetings TV Garth readers! This was the day! June 12th marked the day that most full powered analog TV stations across America would shut down. I woke up bright and early at 12 noon to check out all the action!
The first station of note was Batavia, NY’s WPXJ which lit up on RF 23 after WNLO shut down their analog signal that morning. WPXJ has four digital channels in total!
51-1 is the main WPXJ, which is an ION network affiliate.
51-2 is Qubo, the kids’ network on ION.
51-3 is IONLife, which is ION’s lifestyle channel with cooking shows, and as you’ll see later in this report, bizarre shows about marriage such as Pre-Nup Challenge!
51-4 is Worship, which is ION’s inspirational service.
I then clicked over to see WNYO’s new digital signal on RF 49, which had moved over from the weaker and more directional RF 34. When WNYO was on RF 34 I barely ever received it. (I pulled it in solidly only once.) Now on RF 49, it comes in regularly for me! (Oddly, it seems that people who were able to receive RF 34 solidly get weaker reception of RF 49.)
Below is Tina Knowles (Mom to Beyonce and Solange!) on Tyra seen on 49-1 WNYO!
I also tuned in to see WGRZ’s brand new subchannel on 2-3, the RTV Network. RTV specializes in vintage shows such as Leave It To Beaver.
But then, something really bizarre happened. I tuned to Channel 4 and noticed that they were still running CBS programming. Buffalo’s WIVB was scheduled to turn off their analog signal at 9am, so I checked their digital signal and the programming was not matching. (Below is a shot from Young & The Restless.)
I was getting a headache trying to figure out what mystery CBS affiliate was now coming in on the recently vacated Channel 4.
As I waited for any logo, or station ID, I saw this adorable ad that featured an animated, talking telephone. I don’t know if this was a local or national commercial, as you can see the signal was a bit weak.
But then came the NEWS! The station ID came through as WWL, and my jaw dropped when I found out they’re from New Orleans, Louisiana! I quickly realized I was getting E-Skip reception, which is a weather phenomenon that allows TV signals on Channels 2-6 to travel up to thousands of miles! (I only had one other E-Skip documented from the past when I didn’t even know what “E-Skip” was. I found a home made channel guide that dates to approximately 1990, and I have the station KXJB listed on Channel 4 with the note “Rare” marked by it.)
The pics of my reception below are a bit rough, but I’ve added screen shots that I snagged from the WWL website to illustrate what I was watching.
The big story of the day was a new Archbishop coming to New Orleans. As you can see my reception was very rough at times.
Here we have a shot of the main anchor of WWL’s 12pm news (which I was watching at 1pm, since New Orleans is in the Central Time Zone.)
In the pic below, you can see “Orleans Parish” listed on the map in a story about the NOPD (New Orleans Police Department.)
I had to include this shot, even though it looks like it was taken in a snowstorm, but the 4 WWL logo is right beside the anchor!
Then came other stories (looks like some kind of court trial in Italy?) Look closely for the 4 WWL logo in the bottom right corner.
Then came their “Pinpoint Weather”! Even though it was fuzzy, I appreciated the fact I was getting it all the way from New Orleans – especially poignant as it was the last day of full powered US analog TV!
You can sort of make out temperatures on the weather map below.
I saw a commercial about the DTV transition on WWL, and it was almost bittersweet since I was watching it on an analog station that day.
The sponsor for the DTV commercial was A-1 Appliance & Electronics!
The news closed with a shot of New Orleans, and the copyright © 2009 WWL-TV Inc. at the bottom of the screen.
Then, as WWL started to fade I saw a station coming through on Channel 2. Channel 2 was normally Buffalo’s WGRZ, but as of 1pm they became a “nightlight” station, running information about the DTV transition. The station that was coming in on Ch. 2 was still running normal programming, so I knew it wasn’t Buffalo! I captured some fuzzy shots of a lawyer’s ad, thinking that if I Googled the phone number, I could locate where the station was coming from.
After the Google search, I found out it was a lawyer’s office in Baton Rouge, Louisiana! (I also found the website of this law firm, which is how I was able to get clear screen shots of the commercial!)
The following two pics are shots that were rescued by my DVR recorder. I started recording because I was having trouble getting pics of the stations (they were too weak to lock on my Panasonic TV, so I had to flip back and forth between channels just to get these shots.) So I ran the tape just in case of anything I’d miss. Lucky thing I did, because on the tape I caught this opening which confirms the station as WBRZ, an ABC affiliate from Baton Rouge, Louisiana!
Compare the two shots above and below with this screencap I made of their logo from a You Tube video.
Below is a montage of 4 shots I collected from my DVR, which are from their news opening. (I was really confused when I saw the call letters WBRZ, since it was WGRZ that had just stopped regular broadcasting that day.)
WBRZ uses the slogan “Fair & Honest” in their news open! (Kind of odd, given how close it is to Fox News Channel’s “Fair & Balanced.”)
Below is a shot of WBRZ’s traffic reporter superimposed over a freeway in the background.
You can sort of see the cars that he’s pointing to in this shot. (You have to take my word for it! I know these pics aren’t anywhere near as clear as my DTV shots, but Louisiana doesn’t come in every day!)
Then came the WBRZ weather report!
It was 94 degrees somewhere in Louisiana, but the signal was very fuzzy. (It didn’t help that I was using my CM4221HD antenna for this reception, as it’s primarily designed for UHF channels.)
After the E-Skip from Louisiana, I caught some analog from Rochester. WXXI on 21 was the “nightlight” station for that city.
Below is Mike DiSerio from the National Association Of Broadcasters.
Meanwhile, here’s a sampling of the shows on the newly digital WPXJ from Batavia. Quantum Leap aired on 51-1.
Here’s a shot of Qubo’s logo on 51-2.
This woman is very concerned about the DTV transition on 51-3’s IONLife.
This woman just wants to sing the praises of the DTV transition on 51-4’s Worship! “It’s crystal cleeeeeeeear!”
Buffalo’s WIVB on 4-1 was still offering help about the transition (though, if you were a person who lost their reception, and weren’t DTV ready, how would you see this number?)
ION airs game shows in the early evening like Family Feud!
They’re positively entertaining, according to their promo!
“Whoaaa, excuse me I’m doing a commercial,” a frazzled Valerie Bertinelli exclaimed as an overzealous extra pushes her way past.
Here we get the fabulous Valerie extolling the virtues of Jenny Craig!
Then Clint Eastwood delivered his famous line, “Go ahead -make my day.” (It would be great if they cross promoted this with Jenny Craig, and had Valerie Bertinelli all perky and describing how “Jenny Craig certainly made my day, and she can make your day too! Give us a call!” Clint could make cameos as the tough, but fair drill sargeant who helps people lose their extra pounds.
Then again you could just wrestle away the pounds! This was my first time seeing anything from MyTV in HD! Since I’d rarely gotten WNYO before the transition, it was neat to see their station in prime time airing WWE in high definition.
In the evening, Rochester began to roll in with two notable exceptions. I picked up all but WHEC and WHAM which had both flash cut back to their original channel numbers after the DTV transition. At this point I didn’t know how to pull in VHF digital stations, since I was only using my CM4221HD. (Soon I would figure out VHF digital reception, which I’ll document in future reports!) Below is PBS stalwart WXXI!
Here’s one of the wackier shows on 51-3 IONLife, Pre-Nup Challenge! Nothing says game show fun like being forced to prepare a prenuptual agreement with your partner!
Even the contestant looks stunned by the scenario presented to him.
Jerry Seinfeld (seen on 31-1 WUHF) also seems suspicious of this nasty game show!
“Well, what can you do? We live for trashy shows of all varieties,” David Letterman replied (on 8-1 WROC).
Here we have some CanCon in the US with a commercial for Molson Canadian airing on 8-1 WROC!
Sandra Bullock is perky and entertaining, promoting The Proposal on David Letterman (seen on 8-1 WROC).
I love Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop! 51-2 Qubo runs Lamb Chop’s Play-Along reruns on their network! (No matter what age you are, Lamp Chop is sassy good fun!)
Here the cast of puppets torment poor Shari with the Song That Doesn’t End.
Unfortunately this Reception Report is coming to an end! Stay tuned to TV Garth for more reports coming soon!
