- I've been enjoying Buffalo's WNED lately (17-1, RF43) and recently caught their original documentary Don't Touch That Dial: Great Moments In Local Broadcasting. The special provides a nice look back at TV & Radio in Buffalo, complete with interviews and historical footage. (The vintage news promos were a hoot - funny, quirky and like mini sitcoms compared to the staid promos of today.) Even the pledge drive that interrupted the show was a surreal delight, with legendary Doris Jones being vivacious and bubbly, and hilariously dismissive of current TV trends! While helping pitch WNED's pledge drive, she talked about how much TV had changed and said "Reality TV...just horrible" with a big smile. The one thing that was curiously left unmentioned was the history of WBUF as the first UHF station to hit Buffalo. (WBUF operated on Channel 17 as an NBC affiliate for a brief period in the 1950s before shutting down and donating their license to - wait for it - WNED, which became Buffalo's PBS station!) Maybe they couldn't squeeze that in. Also loved the occasional appeals for Southern Ontario viewers to donate too, as they noted that we've watched quite a bit of Buffalo TV over the years. Don't Touch That Dial airs again on December 11 at 5pm.
- Also on WNED, I caught In The Life, an LGBT show that usually pops up once or twice a month on the station. It was a sad, but powerful episode showcasing the documentary Gen Silent. The film showcases the struggle of a transgendered woman - KrysAnne Hembrough - who battles cancer while trying to reconcile with her unaccepting family. It was tough to watch at times, but KrysAnne's spirit is triumphant. Visit the In The Life website for full episodes of the series.
- Sad news about a Toronto icon. City TV's Mark Dailey passed away earlier this week after being the station's voice (and one of their major reporters) for decades. He will be missed and City (both the station and Toronto) will never be the same. Check out tributes by Bill Brioux and James Bawden.
- I've discovered some great new TV blogs written by some wonderful talents. Bill Brioux's TV Feeds My Family, James Bawden, and Alan Pergament's Still Talkin' TV. Both Brioux and Bawden are longtime Toronto TV columnists, and Pergament was a longtime Buffalo News TV reporter. Some great reading material, and I especially enjoy the ratings reports. (Pergament gives plenty of dish about the Western New York morning show battles, while Brioux rounds up the scoop on what Canadians are tuning into.)
- Tropo TV reception is essentially sleeping for the Winter now, as the last great burst of long distance TV happened near mid-November. Both October and November were surprisingly good for Cleveland, OH reception, and the mid-November blast was a smorgasbord of everything! Will try to get some pics Flickered soon!
- Speaking of Flickr, I've put up a set that covers my recent road trip to Rochester, NY on Nov. 20-21, 2010. Click here for the full set of pics! I travelled with some dear pals, and we visited TWO TV stations (WHEC & WROC) and met a few personalities from both channels. We also hit up Tilt nightclub and saw a drag brunch at Edible's Restaurant hosted by Kasha Davis & Poison Waters with special guest Pandora Boxx. (My friends and I even got to meet and take pics with the fabulous Ms. Boxx! Pandora totally Roxx, I must say!) We also shopped at Waterloo Outlet Mall, and visited the Jell-O Museum in LeRoy, NY! A FABULOUS weekend, and a proper recap will appear shortly!
Stay tuned to TV Garth for more TV related fun!
I just read that WBGT, one of the analogue stations you showed in your Casio, has recently applied to move to RF Channel 46 and up their power to 15K. So you may yet be able to catch the Rochester My Network TV station, in digital, sometime in the future. Check the page: http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=10318#station
ReplyDeleteI'm curious: What has been your easiest and hardest Buffalo station to date?
Hey there! That's great news about WBGT's application for RF46! I didn't even know they'd applied for it...would love to see that come in at my house. (This past Summer, there was a short power outage on CFTO one day. I got to see WGBT at my house briefly, but reception was very weak and fuzzy on RF40.) Thanks for the heads up!
ReplyDeleteEasiest Buffalo station is WNLO (RF32) which has a powerful signal. (It was one of the first stations I caught with rabbit ears before upgrading my antenna setup.) The hardest varies depending on weather. The South Buffalo channels (WGRZ RF33, WIVB RF39, WKBW RF38) can all be trickier during Winter weather. WGRZ needs more precise aim with the antenna, and it still drops out sometimes. WKBW is pretty decent, and WIVB is ok...but both have been dropping out with recent cold/wet weather trends. On the other hand WNED (RF43) and WUTV (RF14) both seem pretty strong in the Winter (better than Summer, even.) WNYO (RF49) is pretty solid too.
The Buffalo market also has WNGS on RF7 from Springville, NY but it's too low powered and on too small a tower to get regularly. Hopefully they'll boost power, or move to a taller tower (they broadcast This TV programming, which can be pretty good.) :-)
Thanks for the report, btw. :)
ReplyDeleteOn this side of the border, the big development (or soon to be big development, unless the broadcasters succeed in shutting it down) is the rollout of Ivi.tv. They call themselves an internet cable company, based in Seattle. What they do is, they argue, they pay a certain fee to the Copyright Office, claiming that that gives them the right to catch the signal from over-the-air broadcasters in certain cities and send them to people who pay $5/month who want to watch the stations online.
So far, they've rolled out the big-network stations in New York, Chicago, Seattle and Los Angeles. Philadelphia is supposedly coming next. After that I don't know.
I've tried the service, so far. I think it is decent. I'm aware that it's controversial but I figure I'll enjoy the service as long as I can since who knows if I'd get that opportunity again. What I like is that I finally get to watch channels like ThisTV, MeTV, WGN and RTV, since the cable providers in my area don't offer them (I live in a very big city on the east coast). Oh, and I can now watch the Seattle channels, so I get to see what some Canadian cable subscribers have been getting for a long time.