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WBKB adds NBC

Covers all of Northern Lower Michigan (from Ludington to Tawas northward), as well as the Straits Area and Soo Region.
paul8539
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Re: WBKB adds NBC

Post by paul8539 » Sun Mar 06, 2022 5:30 pm

Does the WEYI signal, which carries NBC for Flint/Saginaw/Bay City reach into the Tawas or Oscoda area?

My understanding is that when WNEM and WEYI flipped networks in 1995 that several counties in the area did not have an NBC signal.



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Ben Zonia
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Re: WBKB adds NBC

Post by Ben Zonia » Mon Mar 07, 2022 5:46 pm

The problems associated with UHF now affect the majority of all stations. WNEM, WEYI, and WTOM are now all on UHF. So WNEM switching back to NBC wouldn't help. There are areas where each will come in, one side of an obstruction one, the other side of an obstruction the other. You might want to go to the Rabbit Ears site and look at the Longley Rice Maps for each station. The best overlay for reading these maps is the top circle on the upper right corner. You can zoom in on many areas and see street level predictions. I suspect that the extreme North of the Market would get WTOM most, the extreme South WEYI most. But the best choice for most areas would be WBKB, which as a VHF High on 11, and bends over obstructions/hills better than UHF.

Analog signals, even on UHF, got into the problem areas better, though likely snowy. Personally, I prefer a snowy signal I can receive to a clear digital one that doesn't come in.


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rugratsonline
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Re: WBKB adds NBC

Post by rugratsonline » Wed Mar 09, 2022 10:11 pm

paul8539 wrote:
Sun Mar 06, 2022 5:30 pm
My understanding is that when WNEM and WEYI flipped networks in 1995 that several counties in the area did not have an NBC signal.
WNEM benefitted from being a strong low VHF signal at a location central enough to be received in all four core cities (Bay City, Saginaw, Midland, Flint), as well as areas to the north and east. WEYI had always been on a weak UHF signal all its life, even after changing from 57 to 25 in 1965 and moving closer to Flint in 1972. Flint viewers, despite receiving WEYI, were still loyal to Lansing's WLNS (which included Flint in its viewing area), while Midland viewers tended to watch WWTV for CBS instead. Viewers along the Lake Huron coastline had no luck receiving CBS program until WBKB signed on in 1975.

With the affiliation change, many viewers would get two, or even three CBS outlets, while NBC would be hard to score north of Standish.



Deleted User 15062

Re: WBKB adds NBC

Post by Deleted User 15062 » Thu Mar 10, 2022 12:51 am

Ben Zonia wrote:
Mon Mar 07, 2022 5:46 pm
The problems associated with UHF now affect the majority of all stations. WNEM, WEYI, and WTOM are now all on UHF. So WNEM switching back to NBC wouldn't help. There are areas where each will come in, one side of an obstruction one, the other side of an obstruction the other. You might want to go to the Rabbit Ears site and look at the Longley Rice Maps for each station. The best overlay for reading these maps is the top circle on the upper right corner. You can zoom in on many areas and see street level predictions. I suspect that the extreme North of the Market would get WTOM most, the extreme South WEYI most. But the best choice for most areas would be WBKB, which as a VHF High on 11, and bends over obstructions/hills better than UHF.

Analog signals, even on UHF, got into the problem areas better, though likely snowy. Personally, I prefer a snowy signal I can receive to a clear digital one that doesn't come in.
Let's not forget interference issues with hospitals, electric grids and wires, communication TX's, airports, etc. While those are not obstructions, per se, they can act like them. Rabbit Ears does not account for those other interference sources.



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