April 4, 2013
My pal Mr. A and I left the big CITY behind as we began our journey to Erie, PA!
29-1 (RF14) WUTV (FOX) Buffalo, NY
Almost as soon as we crossed the border, Mr. A and I pulled over at a NoCo gas station to watch the American Idol results show on my portable Eviant TV.
During the show, a neat promo announced that WGRZ's "2 On Your Side at 10" newscast was moving to FOX 29 from WNYO! (Rumours have gone around for years that WUTV shied away from carrying a 10pm newscast because their large Canadian audience wouldn't care for Buffalo news.)
We weren't Idol for long, as we quickly resumed our trek towards Pennsylvania.
When we got to Erie, I loved what I was able to SEE! I wasn't in court, but I totally wanted to approach the bench!
There's always time for WICU!
April 5, 2013
After settling in and hanging out with some fabulous Drenched Fur folks, I set up my Zenith DTT-900 box and my CM4221HD clone for some Lake Erie reception chasing! We were staying in the Avalon hotel at 16 West 10th Street in downtown Erie. All reception from this point forward was observed from the Avalon hotel. Here's the TV Fool report for this location.
12-1 (RF12) WICU (NBC) Erie, PA
Ed Russo warmed up my temperature during the morning newscast!
26-1 (RF26) WNYB (TCT) Jamestown, NY
WNYB's signal must be blessed, as it covers a wide swath of viewers on both sides of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie!
54-1 (RF50) WQLN (PBS) Erie, PA
Erie's PBS affiliate also tumbled in quite easily that day! (I also got a great tour of the station from Tom New while I was in town!)
23-1 (RF32) WNLO (CW) Buffalo, NY
I was surprised to see WNLO blast through Erie's 3ABN station W32DH which is on the same frequency as Buffalo's CW outlet. (WNLO is a powerhouse, but TV Fool listed my hotel as being only 6 miles away from the Erie station.)
31-1 (RF31) CITY (IND) Woodstock, ON
My first CanCon in the US moment arrived when CITY's Woodstock repeater paid a visit! I got to see a promo with Kat Dennings and watch some of Toronto's #1 morning show Breakfast Television with Kevin Frankish!
35-1 (RF16) WSEE (CBS) Erie, PA
The newsroom was crawling with excitement as Eva Mastomatteo interviewed an animal wrangler during WSEE's noon newscast!
24-1 (RF24) WJET (ABC) Erie, PA
The awesome Linh Truong delivered the day's forecast right before Mr. A and I headed to WJET for our tour!
When we hit the road, I had a lotto fun seeing this JET 24 themed billboard for the Power Ball draw.
I was also impressed that the WICU water tower (near Millcreek Mall) was repainted to reflect their HD status! (Compare with this pic I captured in 2012!)
Mr. A and I arrived at the WJET studios and got an AMAZING tour from the fabulous Jill McCormick and Linh Truong! Click here to read the full recap of the event! We had a blast!
After I saw their commercial back in 2010, I knew I HAD to visit Kali's and spend time with Mr. Fudgie Fudge! I bought four different varieties of their fudge and they were all delicious! Mr. Fudgie Fudge really is the fudge I crave!
It was time for another photo of the WICU clock!
The Erie Playhouse was directly across from our hotel!
24-1 WJET (ABC) Erie, PA
It was fun to watch the news with Jill McCormick, Sean Lafferty and Tom Atkins after going on such an awesome tour of the station earlier that day!
12-1 WICU (NBC) Erie, PA
I also caught some of WICU's newscast with Rob Wilson, Amanda Post, Kevin MacDowell and Mike Ruzzi!
32-3 (RF32-3) W32DH (3ABN-DD) Erie, PA
I finally caught W32DH and liked the name of their inspirational subchannel, titled "Dare To Dream."
April 6, 2013
During a leisurely stroll in search of food, I came across Erie's famous Warner Theatre!
I almost wanted to ride the E to take in some local flavour, but the hotel was really close by.
There was also the tantalizing Modern Adult store with the awesome slogan, "Taking the inner YOU...to the outer limits!" (One month later I caught a story about the place on WJET during a burst of Erie reception in my neck of the woods!)
Stay tuned to TV Garth for Part 3 of my Erie-tastic adventures!
