[BC] unreliable old equipment query

[Tom Spencer]

Interesting...

Back when WTWO went on the air from Terre Haute, IN (Farmersburg TX 
site), the cost of getting NBC from the nearest POC (Indianapolis) to 
Farmersburg was deemed prohibitive (not to mention the "last mile" - 
Terre Haute downtown to the Farmersburg tower - was beyond the 
capability of GTE)  Solution:  three-hop ICR (2.5 GHz band, IIRC) from 
the Indianapolis NBC affiliate (back then, WFBM-TV, Ch. 6) to 
Farmersburg.  TX from the roof of an apartment building across the 
street - and the baseband was simply strung overhead from the CH. 6 
studio roof to the apartment roof - with relays at Danville, IN, and 
Reelsville, IN.  When Ch. 6 became WRTV, and switched to ABC, AT&T still 
maintained the NBC feed to Ch. 6.  This lasted until the networks went 
to satellite distribution.

Not sure of the details of who maintained what, though, but I suspect 
that the ICR links were at least as reliable as the AT&T circuit would 
have been; whether or not the GTE link would have been reliable is a 
whole 'nuther question.  At that time, the only other TV station in 
Terre Haute was WTHI, Ch. 10... and I believe they provided their own 
coax from AT&T's office (about a block or so from the studio).

I wasn't in the industry back then (still a tiny tot, in fact!), but 
when I started in TV - at Ch. 6, in 1981 - I was given the rundown on 
that NBC feed.

Another reason to put as much of the signal as possible under station 
direct control.......

Milton Holladay wrote:
> P. S.: WCOS-TV was the first TV station to get on the air in SC, in 
> 1953. It only lasted ~three years; one of the main contributing factors 
> to its demise was that it cost  $ 1500 every month in 1953/4/5/6 dollars 
> to get the network from AT&T downtown to the station. (IIRC, $1500 would 
> buy a medium priced car back then.)  Another form of cable trouble, you 
> could say.

-- 
Tom Spencer