Old School Local TV Megathread

[TVC_DX5678]

If anyone’s got some cool vintage local TV stuff they found or would like to show off, post it here! I just found this composite ad break from TV 29&8 from 1985 - although you might want to skim through a fair bit of the video to find the local stuff:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ambEM2unLFI

I also happen to have some 29&8 from the same exact year on Betamax, but I have no capture equipment for Beta and the audio is nonexistent.

[WC8KCY]

Nice catch!

The 29&8 logo that briefly appears in the lower right corner at 18:46 was their in-program ID. They would black out the video behind it and display it whenever the WJRT-12 in-program ID aired. Often, there was a bit of a lag...just as there was when 7&4 took its network feed from WNEM, and when 9&10 aired the Tigers games originating from WDIV.

[organman95]

Nice catch!

The 29&8 logo that briefly appears in the lower right corner at 18:46 was their in-program ID. They would black out the video behind it and display it whenever the WJRT-12 in-program ID aired. Often, there was a bit of a lag...just as there was when 7&4 took its network feed from WNEM, and when 9&10 aired the Tigers games originating from WDIV.

Well of course. 9&10 is a different network affiliate than WDIV

[WC8KCY]

Nice catch!

The 29&8 logo that briefly appears in the lower right corner at 18:46 was their in-program ID. They would black out the video behind it and display it whenever the WJRT-12 in-program ID aired. Often, there was a bit of a lag...just as there was when 7&4 took its network feed from WNEM, and when 9&10 aired the Tigers games originating from WDIV.

Well of course. 9&10 is a different network affiliate than WDIV

You missed the point of my post: in-program IDs that weren't always done smoothly, or at all.

When WWTV/WWUP and WDIV simulcast Tigers games, they were on the same network: The Tigers Television Network.

[innate-in-you]

Nice catch!

The 29&8 logo that briefly appears in the lower right corner at 18:46 was their in-program ID. They would black out the video behind it and display it whenever the WJRT-12 in-program ID aired. Often, there was a bit of a lag...just as there was when 7&4 took its network feed from WNEM, and when 9&10 aired the Tigers games originating from WDIV.

I had also seen WTMJ, WOTV and WNEM via WPBN (this was in the late seventies and early eighties, when one could rent a cabin for a week or two, instead of having to buy it).

On one occasion, The over-the-air signal of one station was suddenly overridden by a PBS with the (pre-closed-captioning) ABC Evening news for the deaf.

WUFT in Gainesville, FL may have been in the right direction and the right distance to hit WPBN's antenna.

On 6 meters, Es distances are usually less than 1000 miles, though with the high-gain antennas of full-service television and the higher frequency, 1000 miles is average.

[WC8KCY]

I had also seen WTMJ, WOTV and WNEM via WPBN (this was in the late seventies and early eighties, when one could rent a cabin for a week or two, instead of having to buy it).

I wasn't aware they ever took an off-air network pickup from WTMJ. Back in the early days of TV, that would have been the easiest solution for an NBC feed until WMBV signed on from Marinette, WI.

I've always wondered why they didn't just use the Green Bay NBC affiliate (which bounced around between WMBV/WLUK and WFRV) for their primary NBC feed until they finally installed an earth station for the satellite feed--several years after we were already watching it off-the-bird on home TVROs. They could've used WNEM/WOOD/WOTV as an alternate pickup for the handful of Lions games telecast on NBC.

[WC8KCY]

On the clip linked above, the 29&8 character generator can be seen in action at 8:45, 18:12 (repeated at 24:35), 18:27, and 24:50...

[organman95]

Nice catch!

The 29&8 logo that briefly appears in the lower right corner at 18:46 was their in-program ID. They would black out the video behind it and display it whenever the WJRT-12 in-program ID aired. Often, there was a bit of a lag...just as there was when 7&4 took its network feed from WNEM, and when 9&10 aired the Tigers games originating from WDIV.

I had also seen WTMJ, WOTV and WNEM via WPBN (this was in the late seventies and early eighties, when one could rent a cabin for a week or two, instead of having to buy it).

On one occasion, The over-the-air signal of one station was suddenly overridden by a PBS with the (pre-closed-captioning) ABC Evening news for the deaf.

WUFT in Gainesville, FL may have been in the right direction and the right distance to hit WPBN's antenna.

On 6 meters, Es distances are usually less than 1000 miles, though with the high-gain antennas of full-service television and the higher frequency, 1000 miles is average.

How is that possible? Wouldn't it his another station or two long before WPBN?

[WC8KCY]

Perhaps an old-timer here can answer this: Back when WWTV and WPBN shared a secondary ABC affiliation, how did each of them receive their ABC feed?

While it seems possible that WWTV would've had ABC cabled or microwaved in, I doubt WPBN would've done so. The only off-air feeds possible when both stations signed-on would have been WOKY or a microwaved-in pickup of WXYZ or WLS, as they both predated ABC affiliates WJRT, WTVW, WFRV, and WZZM, and probably would not have bothered trying to pick up WNAM from Neenah, WI.

I bet ABC programming in Northern Michigan was via kinescope-only for at least a few early years. Perhaps someone here knows for sure...

[organman95]

It'd be really cool if someone had some of that on film, quad, or whatever else may have been available then.

And another question along the lines of the WPBN news theme... what were the news music packages and graphics in the '80s? I'm assuming from that video with a simple slide from '80 that there wasn't anything prior to US Tobacco?

[innate-in-you]

Nice catch!

The 29&8 logo that briefly appears in the lower right corner at 18:46 was their in-program ID. They would black out the video behind it and display it whenever the WJRT-12 in-program ID aired. Often, there was a bit of a lag...just as there was when 7&4 took its network feed from WNEM, and when 9&10 aired the Tigers games originating from WDIV.

I had also seen WTMJ, WOTV and WNEM via WPBN (this was in the late seventies and early eighties, when one could rent a cabin for a week or two, instead of having to buy it).

On one occasion, The over-the-air signal of one station was suddenly overridden by a PBS with the (pre-closed-captioning) ABC Evening news for the deaf.

WUFT in Gainesville, FL may have been in the right direction and the right distance to hit WPBN's antenna.

On 6 meters, Es distances are usually less than 1000 miles, though with the high-gain antennas of full-service television and the higher frequency, 1000 miles is average.

How is that possible? Wouldn't it his another station or two long before WPBN?

It very well have given some CCI to a few stations on channel 5.

Sporadic-E ionization events (think of them as "clouds" 100km high in the sky, though you can't see them) reflect signals back to Earth when ionization is very intense.

Es propagation often results in very narrow propagation paths. WUFT that night may have been undetectable to viewers of WNEM and WFRV.

[WC8KCY]

I had also seen WTMJ, WOTV and WNEM via WPBN (this was in the late seventies and early eighties, when one could rent a cabin for a week or two, instead of having to buy it).

I distinctly recall seeing WKBD slides many times on WPBN while viewing Felix The Cat in the mid '70s...