http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/coals7/forms/s ... archNf.cfm

This website is quite interesting. Here one can find out what broadcast channels were carried on cable when the system was set up.

For example, WBAY, WFRV, WLUK, WMVS, WPNE, WTMJ, WVTV, and WZZM were all carried in Manistee at one point. Also, at least one Green Bay or Milwaukee station was carried in Lake Michigan shoreline communities from at least Muskegon to Traverse City at one point.

I am actually wondering if a few shoreline counties (Benzie, Manistee, Mason, Oceana) may have been in the Green Bay or Milwaukee TV markets in the 1960s and 1970s.

I checked Royal Oak, because that was where I lived when I first got cable in the late 80s. Other than the Detroit stations, they offered CICO and WFUM/WCMZ (which I believe they still do), but also WGTE, WKAR, and believe it or not, CKCO. All three of those were gone by the time I was hooked up. Only change I remember was WADL being added after it signed on.

The rules were different then and cable systems could carry out of market stations. Since cable channels hadn't started yet, out of market stations and improved reception of local stations were all cable systems had to offer.

Which is what I liked anyway. I wish it was still that way too.

I think back then many stations pre-empted some network shows and some areas didn't have local network affiliates (for example, WMVS/WPNE were likely the default PBS member stations for the Lake Michigan shoreline until WCMW signed on).

Yes there was a time when that went on, or they simply didn't play the show at all. That's why it was nice having another network affiliate to watch in case.

Back then, networks could own no more than seven stations (no more than five VHF), so most network affiliates were independently owned. So, stations were free to preempt network programming for all sorts of reasons. WJBK-TV frequently did not carry CBS shows, including for a time opting out of the CBS Evening News. The usual reason given was a station could make more money selling time locally for a local or syndicated show than taking the relatively small compensation fees networks paid stations.

In smaller markets with less than three stations, stations would cherry pick shows from more than one network and sometimes a network would not get their shows cleared at all.

And often syndicated shows would not be aired in some markets and the only way to see a show was from an outside station.

Except for the largest markets, there were no independent stations and these were often very popular with out of town cable customers who liked seeing old movies, ballgames and old TV shows which were indie staples before cable channels. One such was channel 50 with sports and Bill Kennedy. At first, cable systems (then called community antenna television or CATV) put up tall antennas to pick up stations off the air which home antennas could not receive. Then they started putting microwave dishes on their antenna towers to relay indie stations from one cable system to the next. Then Ted Turner put his indie station in Atlanta on satellite so people throughout the South (originally) could watch his basketball and baseball teams. When the rules changed, Ted had to divorce his TBS cable station from his original indie Atlanta station.

Going back to 1972, when the system started up as Gerity Cablevision, the Charter Cable system in Bay City, at one point, "carried" all Detroit / Windsor stations, as well as WOOD-TV / WOTV in Grand Rapids, as well as every PBS outlet in Michigan, except for WGVU Grand Rapids and WNMU Marquette. Of course, the only channels I knew for certain that were carried full-time were CKLW / CBET Windsor and WKBD Detroit -- everything else were either fill-ins when the local stations were not broadcasting, or used on the local access channels when the programs were pre-empted locally, especially for the Detroit Tigers (which was why WOOD was listed, as both WNEM and WDIV had the Tigers through the 1980s).

Perhaps this is what I miss seeing.


I'm sure plenty are still pissed over that one (although when that happened, Ted was no longer working there anyway).


Pretty interesting.

Other cities (with stations' current call letters [for example, Gaylord carried CJIC, not CBLT]):

Alpena: CBET, WGTU, WKBD, WNEM, WWTV, WWUP
Ann Arbor: WILX, WKAR, WLNS, WNWO, WTOL, WTVG
Big Rapids: WGTU, WJRT, WLNS, WNEM
Cadillac: CBET, WGVU, WJRT, WKAR, WKBD, WTMJ, WZZM
Detroit (city proper): WCMZ, WGTE
Flint: WDIV, WILX, WJBK, WLNS, WMYD, WTVS
Gaylord: CBET, CBLT, WBKB, WJRT, WKBD, WMYD, WNEM
Grand Rapids: CBET, WKBD, WSNS
Holland: WCIU, WKBD, WSNS
Jackson: CBET, WKBD, WMYD, WOOD, WOTV, WPXD
Kalamazoo: WFLD, WILX, WKBD, WLNS, WSBT, WSNS, WTTW, WTVS
Lansing: CBET, WGVU, WJRT, WKBD, WNEM, WOOD, WOTV, WTVS
Ludington: WBAY, WCPX, WFLD, WFRV, WGTU, WITI, WKBD, WLUK, WMVS, WSNS, WTMJ
Marquette: WBAY, WKBD, WWUP
Muskegon: WFLD, WKBD, WMVS, WSNS, WWTV
Port Huron: CFPL, CKCO, WEYI, WJRT, WLNS, WNEM
Saginaw: CBET, WILX, WKBD, WLNS
Sault Ste. Marie: WCML, WJRT, WKBD, WNEM
Traverse City: CBET, WBAY, WFRV, WKBD, WLUK, WZZM
Whitehall: WISN, WITI, WMVS, WTMJ, WVTV, WWTV

(LIST SNIPPED)

Pretty cool!

Very true on the above. We had Gerity in Midland from that time forward, and my relatives in Bay City did as well. The Midland lineup featured WWTV on a full-time basis, which was great when the Lions blacked out the local games. The Bay City lineup didn't feature WWTV full time, but they'd turn it on for the Lions games. I also remember a lot of co-channel interference on CKLW/CBET from WWTV. Sometimes, when the Canadian channel went off the air, you'd see WWTV instead.

Fun information here!

For one reason or another, WSBT was the only South Bend station offered on Fetzer, probably because WZZM was offered along with WOTV for ABC, plus WILX and WOOD were the two NBC offerings. WSJV and WNDU were available over air as well as WJIM.

Damn I am in edit mode tonight... interestingly enough, with the start up of WGVU, WTTW was the PBS station of choice in Kalamazoo for a few years... but WGVU was eventually added. WTTW was my first late night TV venture as a kid...

_________________
Note to WGN... bring back Steve Cochran ASAP.

I think WWTV is still carried to this day in Midland.

I think somewhere down the line Gerity or Bresnan dropped CBET, due to interference with WWTV. Bresnan would later re-add the CBC, first part-time (only for hockey and news), then later full-time -- but this time from CBMT Montreal via satellite.