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From Dave Shutz, "Summer Relief Engineer"
Mar 16, 2023 Today, a friend in the radio biz sent me a link to a 19-minute YouTube video what appears to be WTEV's Sign-On, January 1, 1963 (transferred from 2-inch Quadraplex). Now, go back in time to January 1, 1963: (Vance, in a Tuxedo, makes a Cameo appearance near the end at 16:47) The video contains an error. Specifically, the voice-over at the start states that the "WTEV transmitter is in Tiverton, RI". That is not accurate for 1963. In 1963, WTEV initially broadcast from a 500-ft tower in Little Compton, RI. (I visited the old site in 1970 to remove some old gear) This site was required to fulfill the minimum signal requirements to Martha's Vineyard (original FCC "Community-of-License"). The lower 500' antenna height also reflected concerns about interference to WCSH Portland, and WRGB Albany. The abandoned Little Compton tower wasn't demolished until the late 1970's. (Perhaps WTEV had always planned to build a 950' tower in Tiverton, and Little Compton was simply a necessary "first step" to get the station on the air?) In 1969, the transmitter was moved to the Tiverton site, the new tower was 950', and the station's FCC Community-of-License was changed to New Bedford. Operation from Tiverton also required WTEV (Steinman) to pay for the installation of precise (expensive) Rubidium frequency standards at the transmitters of WCSH, WRGB, and WTEV. In the case of WTEV, the visual carrier was actually required to be 100-KHz offset from the carriers of WRGB and WCSH. In the days of Analog TV, this offset minimized the "venetian blind" effect when the visual signals of two stations interfere with each other. It was commonly mandated by the FCC to reduce video interference between co-channel TV stations. |
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