TV Garth: Reception Reports: An Erie Trip On The Way To Rochester (April 23, 2009) Part 1

Greetings from TV Garth! This Reception Report covers April 23, 2009, which was another great night for reception in my area of Markham! Not only did I get all the Rochester, NY digital stations again, but also saw WQLN (PBS) from Erie, Pennsylvania for the first time! I was also testing out my newly purchased Zenith DTT901 digital converter box! (I alternated between using the DTT901 and my Panasonic TV tuner through the evening.) The night started out with Rochester's WXXI coming in.

On 21-3 WXXI-C, they were showing something called Roadtrip Nation. With a title like Roadtrip Nation, I would expect a raucous adventure, or at very least, a fun excursion with friends. But judging from the pic below, I wouldn't exactly want to take a roadtrip through that nation!

31-1 WUHF also started to waft in, and they were running King Of The Hill.

Back on 21-1 WXXI, they were airing something called Anyone And Everyone. I love the slightly desperate tone of the title, as if they really really want viewers to flock to the show.

On 21-3 WXXI-C, they were showing Write In The Middle: A Workshop. I already adore the bad pun of the title, but then I started thinking that it would make a great "lost" ABC sitcom from the early 1990s. Picture this: it would be about an English teacher named Mr. Wright. He'd teach a rambunctious class of students, and you'd have Wright In The Middle as a perfect companion show to the other TGIF hits of the era like Full House, Hangin' With Mr. Cooper, Boy Meets World, etc. He would be friendly with a fellow teacher (played by someone like Markie Post of Night Court fame) and the romantic sparks could be teased over many seasons, and when it eventually gets to the two-part series finale with the big wedding, the Markie Post-esque love interest could say "I always knew I would fall for Mr. Wright!"

And then came Erie! I was testing out the handy signal meter on my Zenith DTT901 and noticed a "poor" signal reading was flashing on channel 50. After adjusting the antenna, BAM, the picture came in and it showed up as 54-1 WQLN which is PBS from Erie, Pennsylvania. They must have known I'd be watching, given the subject matter of their Independent Lens feature that had just finished airing. It was amazing getting my first digital station from Erie, PA! I had to swing my antenna to the right to get this to come in. Aiming my antenna to the left generally gets me reception of Buffalo, Rochester, and Toronto. Aiming to the right generally gets me Hamilton, Jamestown, and, on this night, Erie. (The other handy feature of the Zenith DTT901 besides the signal meter is the program guide, capable of more "full" descriptions than the basic info provided by the Panasonic TV.)

Then, not too long after Independent Lens finished their credits, WQLN ran a few minutes of station logos including the following pic, which is a great shot of their "Overnight" placard with a lighthouse and a boat sailing by.

Like most other PBS stations, WQLN features two subchannels. 54-2 is WQLN-S1, which was flashing the logo "Q Life." (Both 54-1 and 54-2 seemed to take a small "break" and showed station IDs for a few minutes before continuing on with their programming.) I'd mistake "Q Life" for a gay specialty channel if I didn't know it was a PBS station. So far I haven't found any info on what the "Q Life" concept is, but other reports say that 54-2 is now a PBS Create station.

I forgot to check the program info on 54-3 WQLN-S2, but they kept regular programming on while 54-1 and 54-2 were on their "break."

And here we have a great shot of the main 54-1 WQLN logo, which illustrates that they promote themselves as serving both Erie, PA as well as London, Ontario.

After the break, 54-1 WQLN began airing an episode of Nature.

Meanwhile, 54-2 WQLN-S1 featured an interview with Chuck Lewis from Hearst Newspapers.

And on 54-3 WQLN-S2, Tavis Smiley was on and featured an interview with US Army Sgt. Juan Luis Alcivar.

By this time, I noticed that 8-1 WROC began to come in as well, and I caught this great shot of an ad that promotes some of the key CBS talk and news programs.

Only a few minutes later my jaw dropped when CBS Up To The Minute did an entire segment about why Canadian banks have been much more stable than their US counterparts. Click here to see my special report on the story, with more reception pics. Check out correspondent Jeff Glor below, standing right in front of Bank Of Montreal.

Speaking of Bank Of Montreal, their chief economist, Dr. Sherry Cooper, looks very excited to explain why their bank is doing so well right now. Sherry kicks off a 1-2-3 of excitement, as you'll see in the pics that follow!

The woman below is excited to show off her underarms now that she uses the right deodorant. No more sweat! Watch her pose like a model waiting to be discovered! (The presumably low budget commercial was seen over on 31-1 WUHF during One On One.)

More excitement on 31-1 WUHF, as Maureen McGuire is bursting to tell us about the Pink Ribbon Run (Women's 5k Race and Family Fitness Walk) which is taking place May 10th. The second picture shows the Run's sponsors and includes some great TV and radio logos.