Signal interference and the FCC license freeze

[NowhereMan 1966]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

I always thought Pittsburgh was too far from Cleveland for such an interference problem to occur.

WNBK-TV in Cleveland (later KYW [1955-65] and now WKYC [1965 to present date]) started in 1948 on channel 4, so any interference problems would have been with channel 4 in Detroit, unless the latter signed on years after the Cleveland station.

I don't know when WNBK switched to channel 3; must have been before my time because, as long as I can remember, channel 3 has always been in Cleveland. (I am 55 years old and remember KYW, as well as when NBC purchased the station from Westinghouse in 1965 -- what a mess! Wikipedia has the full story on the Westinghouse-NBC fiasco in Cleveland, and believe me, it is very interesting reading).

Come to think of it, WNBK-TV on channel 4, and its switch to 3, was before my time, as the station had that call sign from 1948 until 1954.

BTW, the callsign WDTV, IIRC, is now held by the CBS TV affiliate in Weston, West Virginia. The station is on channel 5.

Interesting story there, I plan to read it. I know Westinghouse also bought a Cleveland radio station as during that time and it swapped the KYW callsign from Philly to Cleveland. I know there were some times I did get channel 3 from Cleveland during the analogue days so I think interference could be possible. It looks like this was during the days when they though 12 VHF channels would be enough but they were wrong. IIRC, when UHF came about, Youngstown, OH became a UHF market with 21, 27 and 33.