WCPO Transition Finished - And So Is This Blog (New-Post Wise, Anyway)

WCPO finished their digital transition last night, with their fully authorized DTV facility turned on around 12:18 this morning.

Here's a repost of the email received this morning from Friend of TSMW Rich Emery which is posted here on our main blog:

Good morning again!

Just saw your 8 AM item on TSMW, and wanted to confirm what I said below -- I'm definitely seeing a huge improvement in WCPO's signal near Hamilton, and several other people on AVS discussion threads report the same. Looks like they've successfully erased lots of their reception problems through their tower work!

Which leaves WHIO as the last one likely to improve in the short term for me -- whenever that happens, I'll be a very happy DTV camper.

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For what it's worth, I'm seeing greatly improved WCPO signal strength at my house. "voyager6" posted a message on the Dayton AVS thread describing exactly what he saw after midnight -- I'd given up and gone to bed, after nothing happened by 12:10 AM -- and he reported a huge improvement. Activity actually started shortly after 12:15 AM, it seems.

I can definitely confirm far better signal strength for WCPO in the Hamilton area this morning. As I'd commented on AVS, one set-up I have doesn't even need to have rabbit ears extended to get a solid signal, and that's quite an improvement!

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With WCPO now finished switching over, that means our main market of Cincinnati has fully switched over (minus a possible increase in power by WKRC if they determine that it's necessary to boost their VHF signal).

And with that said, it is now time to close the books on Tri-State DTV Watch. From now on, we'll just be posting our regular mix of items on Tri-State Media Watch, as we did before opening this effort 4 months ago, but this blog will remain up and open - we just won't really be posting to it anymore. We thank you for reading.

Another Update on WCPO's DTV Antenna

This is a repost of a portion of a larger item on our main blog.

WCPO Update: We told you we'd have more on this one.

WCPO has finally installed the digital antenna which will be the fully-authorized facility for the station's Post-DTV Transition Facility.

The station reports that they began the installation during the daytime hours yesterday. All that's left, now that it's been mounted to the top of the tower, is to connect the wires and turn it on, which they still expect to happen by Monday.

WCPO Transition Update

We are getting this about a week or so late - but there's still part of this story to come, so stay tuned for more...

WCPO.com has the latest on their transition:

WCPO-TV's analog antenna is no longer.

Workers removed the antenna from the tower on the morning of Wednesday, June 24. After they removed the analog antenna, crews began the process of moving the new one to the top of the tower.

The new antenna will provide viewers with a much more powerful digital signal.

The transition will be completed when the new top-mounted antenna is turned on around July 13.

We'd heard the end of June or first of July as dates for the switch to be finished over at WCPO. But this is the first solid date we've gotten.

On a related note: We will close this blog to new posts after WCPO finishes their full transition. From that point on, any and ALL Cincinnati-area TV information will be back on Tri-State Media Watch.

DTV Update - Why Is VHF An Issue?

NOTE: This is a repost from the main TSMW blog.

We received an article from Friend of TSMW Rich Emery last week about the problems with VHF signals nationwide, including here in Cincinnati, where WCPO-TV/DT 9 and WKRC-TV/DT 12 both are experiencing trouble.

I spoke with Kurt Thelen at WKRC, and he had a few things to say about it.

Thelen tells us that he and his team have driven around the I-275 loop with portable equipment, and have had a good signal at that range. However, the station has lost quite a few viewers around the area, and Thelen says it was a combination of bad equipment being sold to viewers as well as bad modeling by the FCC.

According to Thelen, some antennas and converters are leaving the upper half of the VHF band completely out, and aren't picking them up. For whatever reason, the converters "drop off about mid-band and then pick it back up in the UHF band", Thelen tells us.

Thelen tells us that he knows an engineer who is going to a symposium being held by the FCC, and the FCC is expected to address the issue later today.

Thelen also blames flawed computer modeling by the FCC for the reason WKRC, WCPO and other stations have had issues with VHF broadcasting, as it looks like those stations may have needed double the amount of power to keep all of their viewers. Thelen says, "I think broadcasters and viewers got the short end of the stick."

However, some of the problems are end-user related. Thelen tells us that many of the issues with individual viewers have been easy fixes so far, including cases where the converters and TV's weren't picking up the new DT 12 signal because they were stuck on the old RF 31 information. In those cases, deleting all the information that was in the converter, followed by a re-scan, has worked.

We'll keep you informed as to what happens with the VHF situation here at TSMW and TSDTW...

An Editorial - Have Some Compassion, People!

6/13/09 2:02 AM

Wow, are we a harsh bunch.

As the editor of both this effort, and Tri-State Media Watch, and no, I'm not affiliated with the Enquirer...I was stunned today.

Not that the switch was happening. I was glad to see it come to fruition so we could stop talking about it.

Not that there were a few thousand still unprepared for the switch. I expected that. After all...I read the Nielsen study released Wednesday, which said 19,685 households in the Tri-State weren't ready two days ahead of the switch.

No, what amazed me was the lack of compassion...from the Enquirer TV/Media Blog, to the Skyeyeweather.com Forum...and I'm sure it was repeated nationwide...a refrain that went something like this:

"I don't feel sorry for those having trouble today. They've had YEARS to get ready for this."

Well, of course we've had it pounded into our heads that we would switch to DTV-only broadcasting. Congress and the FCC kept moving the date, in an attempt to have as many ready as possible.

But think about this. I heard several people say today that they first knew about it in 2003, when the original timeframe was sometime in 2005. Okay, I won't dispute that.

But...do you know someone with dementia? Or Alzheimer's? Do you realize how much trouble people with these diseases HAVE with some of the slightest tasks? It isn't THEIR fault they wound up with either of these. Nor is it really their fault they weren't ready for DTV. Think about it. Those with Alzheimer's start out with mild symptoms - but they gradually increase over time. Maybe they were ready for DTV - but because of Alzheimer's, forgot about their cable/satellite/whatever, and have just let it lapse, and they have nobody in their lives to help them!

Now to share a personal part of this...

My grandmother is in the early to possibly middle stages of Alzheimer's. At this point, we believe she is in stage 4, maybe 5. She might not make it another year or two.

What if the DTV switch had been postponed another 1-2 years from now? Do you realize that people with Alzheimer's, or dementia, have trouble remembering information? It's the nature of these disorders...you forget things quickly!

No matter how much you try to beat the DTV switch into their heads...and the information about the converters, etc....they wouldn't remember it 10 minutes from now, MUCH LESS 12 hours later when they could CALL someone for assistance. Yes, the average person with Alzheimer's lives 4-6 years post diagnosis...but some make it 20 years or more!

And this says NOTHING about the other types of dementia...

Point is this: Have some compassion. There were some, after all, who even if they DID hear about the switch, could not remember it or what to do about it due to dementia or Alzheimer's. And I bet you the elderly, is the majority of people caught by the switch...

WLWT-TV Switchover

This is the post where we will chronicle the WLWT switchover.

So far, the station did about 5 minutes on the switch, then at the end of the newscast announced they will have people ready to answer DTV questions. We're looking for that information now...

11:41 PM: For us, it's a matter of checking to be sure WLWT's digital signal gets through to Insight Cable. Conan O'Brien is joking about the switch now...odd, considering it's taking place in the middle of HIS show on the East and West Coasts, in those markets electing to go at 11:59 PM station local time...

11:45 PM: We're going to grab a cold one, and will be watching to see what happens...

11:59 PM: Conan just went to break, with a DTV-switch-inspired signoff. WLWT about to sign off analog far as entertainment and local programming. Looks like Insight has all the digital signals now.

12:03 AM: And we're clear. All full-power Tri-State (and East Coast/Eastern Time Zone) stations are now DTV-only! (WOTH is anticipated to go digital-only, if they have not done so, next week.)

And with that, we will sign off for this weekend. We will have a full wrapup on Monday.

By the way, this blog WILL continue to exist. After about July 25, we will no longer be posting to it. About all that is left to do is continue tracking the converter box coupon program, which goes through July 31...that, and look into the Nightlight aspect of things at WLWT-TV, whose analog signal exists now only as a "Nightlight", broadcasting information about the switch. They will continue this through 6/26, at which point WLWT will turn off the analog transmitter entirely.

BREAKING: WOTH-DT Back - For REAL this time!

I just got word from Rich Emery via my personal twitter account that WOTH-DT 25 (RF 47), is back on the air tonight as of 8 PM.

WOTH's digital signal has, of course, been off the air since last weekend, with problems from a messed-up feed line on the WCPO/WOTH transmitting tower at I-71 and McMillan Avenue...

WKRC Using My Weather Authority to give info

WKRC-TV 12/Cincinnati is using their My Weather Authority service to help people rescan on their converter boxes.

Below is the email just auto-sent to MWA subscribers - usually it isn't all caps, but today it is...

MANY TRI-STATE TELEVISION STATIONS INCLUDING LOCAL 12 HAVE NOW SWITCHED OFF THEIR ANALOG TRANSMITTERS TO COMPLY WITH NEW FEDERAL REGULATIONS.

IF YOU KNOW SOMEONE HAVING DIFFICULTY PICKING UP A LOCAL TELEVISION STATION OR STATIONS CHANCES ARE THEY ARE HAVING TROUBLE WITH A NEW DIGITAL TELEVISION OR A CONVERTER BOX.

IF THEY HAVE THIS EQUIPMENT THEY MUST PERFORM A CHANNEL RESCAN ON THE CONVERTER BOX OR THEIR DIGITAL TELEVISION.

HERE ARE THE 5 STEPS INVOLVED:

1) WITH THE TV AND CONVERTER BOX ON PRESS "MENU" ON THE REMOTE CONTROL.

2) ON THE SCREEN LOCATE THE WORDS "AUTO SCAN".

3) USE THE ARROW BUTTONS ON THE REMOTE TO SELECT "AUTO SCAN". WHEN IT CHANGES COLOR PRESS "SELECT" OR "ENTER".

4) RELAX WHILE THE TV OR CONVERTER BOX MARCHES THROUGH ALL THE POSSIBLE CHANNELS AND LOCKS IN THE ONES IT CAN RECEIVE AND STORES THEM.

5) IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO GET ALL OF YOUR FAVORITES STATION TRY TO REPOSITION YOUR ANTENNA FOLLOW THE RESCAN STEPS ONCE AGAIN.

IF PROBLEMS PERSIST CALL LOCAL 12 AT (513) 763-5500 OR THE FCC AT 888-CALL-FCC.

There you have it...

UPDATE On WKRC-DT

Quickly, an update...

While the WKRC-DT signal still comes in great via Insight...

CSPAN2 which is camped out on Insight 12, does not. This might be an issue on only my television, but...if anyone is using Insight's BASIC Cable (1-99), and cable 12 is a snowy picture, let us know.

UPDATE on WKRC-TV, Plus the WXIX Transition Post later...

UPDATE 6:33 AM: WXIX-TV 19/Newport switched over right at 6 AM. Again, Insight Cable made the switch with no problem in Northern Kentucky.

WKRC-TV is now in digital as well. We heard them fire up the new signal from the RF 12 transmitter just before 4:00 AM.

The last station to go digital-only will be WLWT-TV 5/Cincinnati at 11:59 PM tonight...

The original item is below.

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We can't get away...

We have a report, via the AVS Forum, that at least one DirectTV user can get WKRC-TV 12 following it's termination of the over-the-air analog AND digital signals just after 1:30 AM. This was as of 3:11 AM.

As of 3:20 AM, however, the WKRC DT signal is still not yet available to us here at TSMW HQ using our Insight service.

Coming up in a couple hours: an update to the WKRC situation and, if we wake up in time, a play-by-play of the WXIX transition which is scheduled for 6:00 AM...we had to do an update to the TSDTW/TSMW Laptop...

Watching and waiting for WCPO and WKRC's shutoffs...

We will be providing Play-by-Play of the DTV Switchover...

12:20 AM: Almost immediately, WCPO-TV began running a crawl on the bottom of the screen, and the lead story of their now-12:25 AM newscast is the DTV switch.

12:23 AM: WCPO GM Bill Fee is live at the newsdesk with Clyde Gray, talking about the switchover.

12:27 AM: We find it hard to believe that WCPO would only spend about 3 minutes on the DTV switch. Expect a few more stories during the newscast...

12:32 AM: A promo spot for Good Morning Tri-State just ran, they promise more information tomorrow morning.

12:40 AM: We now anticipate the switchover to occur around 12:50-12:55 AM.

1:17 AM: We have recorded what happened here at the TSMW HQ...which is to say, Insight did their jobs! They turned the analog off, which had been causing interference on Insight 9's RETV channel, and WCPO's signal came in crystal clear on cable channel 8.

1:30 AM: WKRC-TV 12 about to go off air. Remember, they have to flash-cut from RF 31 to RF 12 for their digital side...so they will leave the air entirely. Not clear if this affects the cable side of things...we would assume not, seeing as we believe, as in the case of WCPO, cable subscribers in most areas would be fed via a link from a head-end at the studios on Mt. Auburn. We'll see in the next 3 minutes...

1:36 AM: Indeed, WKRC's ANALOG signal is now off. As happened with WCPO...the shutdown of the analog side of things stopped interference on the Insight end...this time, it was analog 12 interfering with CSPAN 2 on Insight Cable channel 12. Still looking to see if WKRC digital signal goes offline...and if it affects the cable folks...we suspect it will affect satellite, as those folks would get the signal over-the-air.

1:4o AM: WKRC's digital side now also off air. Expected to return to service by 5:00 AM.

2:10 AM: Quick update regarding the WKRC/CSPAN 2 situation for NKY Insight Cable subscribers...we had a query about whether a DT signal at RF 12 would cause Insight interference on what just became a clear picture on Insight 12.

I made a call to the DTV Phone Bank at WCPO to ask this very question (now you won't need to). The answer is no - and it turns out because of the headend connection - but I had the location of the headend wrong. That location is somewhere along KY 16 in Kenton County, and it serves Insight Cable customers. We assume the headend also serves the other digital channels, such as RF 10 for the now DT-only WCPO, RF 35 for WLWT, and RF 29 for WXIX.

We are now going to suspend operations for a few hours, catch a nap, and try to make it back to chronicle the WXIX transition in a separate posting, as well as catch up on the WKRC DTV flash-cut. The original posting is below...

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We here at TSDTW can't believe it is finally here...

The DTV switchover day is just under 1 hour away, and the first switchover will be at least 30 minutes after that when WCPO-TV/Cincinnati switches off analog 9 and goes to a digital only broadcast on RF 10.

Then at 1:30 AM, WKRC-TV/Cincinnati goes off the air entirely to facilitate both the dumping of analog 12, and the switchover from RF 31 to RF 12 for its digital side. This is expected to take between 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 hours.

We will be awake and online for both switchovers, and will post as we see them taking place...

Free Converters at Freestore FoodBank Tomorrow for Those in Need

Freestore Foodbank announced, via the Kiese Blog, that they will have 250 DTV converter boxes to distribute, free to those in need, while supplies last beginning at 8 AM tomorrow.

Those who wish to obtain a converter must bring proof of address and income and a photo ID when they come to the Freestore HQ at 112 West Liberty Street in Over-The-Rhine.

Freestore received the converters through Arthur Middletown Capital Holdings, which distributed 2,500 statewide in Ohio, as part of a larger shipment to Freestore of 1,000. The Foodbank says that the other 750 are being distributed to clients in other programs, as well as through other member agencies.

BREAKING: WCPO To Delay Shutoff Until AFTER Tonight's Finals Game; WKRC to go 1/2 Hour Earlier.

CLARIFICATION 11:19 PM: We need to clarify about the phone bank information we originally posted.

It now appears WKRC-TV will take advantage of the fact WCPO plans to host a phone bank, and will help staff that, instead of having its own.

The original item is below the list of numbers in the update section.

UPDATED: Here's a few numbers for tomorrow, if you still need help:

WCPO Phone Bank (Being staffed from Midnight tonight - 6:30 PM Saturday): 513-749-9400
FCC DTV Hotline 1-800-CALL-FCC (1-800-225-5322) or DTV.gov. Also get help with installation, via contractors.

For help with installation of a converter:

Council on Aging for SW Ohio: 513-345-8643, or their website. They're offering a hot line and in-home help for Hamilton County older adults.
Ohio Get Converted: 1-888-277-0486, or Ohiogetconverted. Call for information about digital TV help clinics around town through July 31.

We just received word, via the Kiese Blog, that WCPO-TV/DT 9 (RF 10) will NOT shut off their analog signal right at the stroke of 12:01 AM tonight, as originally planned.

Tuesday night's NBA Finals game was the deciding factor in the change in plans. WCPO will instead wait until after the post-game newscast to pull the plug.

Also, the same entry reports that WKRC-TV/DT 12 (RF 31 Now/12 Post-Transition) is now moving its shutoff of analog - the other way from the WCPO shutoff.

They're now planning to shut their analog off at 1:30 AM, near the end or just after the "Late Late Show". WKRC's signal will be totally off the air after that until between 4-5 AM, at which point the new WKRC digital signal should sign on.

All the other times are unchanged from our post the other day...

We also have word that WCPO will staff a DTV phone bank beginning at midnight; WXIX will assist them. WKRC will run its own phone bank beginning in the morning, and WLWT will have its switchboard up and staffed throughout the weekend.

Readiness Update: 2.45 percent nationally, ONLY 2.15 percent here!

Nielsen released the results of its latest DTV Readiness survey yesterday, and they are surprising! (And not in a bad way, necessarily.)

Nationwide, just about 2.45 percent, or roughly 2.8 million households are not ready for the switch that happens...hold on let us check...TOMORROW.

According to the survey:

Among the 56 local markets that Nielsen measures with electronic meters, the one that is least ready is Albuquerque-Santa Fe, with 7.6% of the households completely unready. Television homes in Providence-New Bedford, where area television stations previously made the transition to digital, are 100% ready.

And as for the markets we cover here at Tri-State Media Watch and Tri-State DTV Watch?

In Cincinnati, just 2.15%, or 19,685 homes, are not ready for tomorrow's switch. That's below the nationwide percentage by .30%.

In Dayton, that number is 2.51%, or 12,143 homes.

And at Louisville, the number is 17,148 homes, or 2.57%. There is no data for Lexington.

The "Two Days Away" Update

UPDATE 3:45 PM: We now have updates from the three Dayton stations referenced at the end, and a few others, courtesy one of the folks over at AVS Forum...here's that list:

WBDT - Sometime between 6 AM and Noon
WRGT and WKEF - Between 6 PM and midnight

A few others, on the fringe of our coverage area:

WDKY 56/Danville-Lexington, KY - Between 6 PM and Midnight
WLEX 18/Lexington - Between 6 PM and Midnight
WAVE 3/Louisville - Between midnight and 6 AM Friday morning
WRTV 6/Indianapolis - 12 AM - 6AM

Also - word is that WLWT-TV 5 will actually keep analog broadcasting for a full month after Friday, but only in Nightlight mode, which means the station will broadcast information about the DTV switch.

Original Item Below...

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We are now two days away from the full switch to DTV in the Tri-State area.

And well...it's about time!

Here's what we know, as we know it (includes WOTH/WBQC):

WLWT: The station will be staying on RF 35, with PSIP displaying the channel as 5, when it shuts down at 11:59 PM Friday night. There are no major technical issues.

WXIX: The station is going to be on RF 29, and as with WLWT, the station will display as 19. Their shutdown is scheduled for 6 AM...yes right in the middle of their morning news (which broadcasts from 4:30 AM-9 AM). We suspect that much of the 5 AM hour will be spent getting viewers ready.

WKRC: The only station that will flash-cut to their former analog channel, WKRC lands on RF 12 when they switch over at 2:00 AM. Until then, their digital allocation is RF 31.

WCPO: The first station in the market to make a switch will be WCPO, at 12:01 AM Friday.

However, WCPO's work is not done even after it lands on RF 10.

Over the following 10 days, the signal will remain spotty as work is done to remove the analog 9 antenna and install a brand spanking new digital 10 antenna atop the tower, then take down the current side-mounted digital 10 stick. (We're hearing that power for both analog and digital was already reduced today to accomodate the work.)

We're guessing that the full digital 10 signal will light up on or before June 22, weather permitting...

WOTH/WBQC: Yes, the low-power/class A stations owned by Block Broadcasting will go digital-only sometime by the end of the weekend...if they can fix their current issues.

We haven't had any updates regarding this in the last 24 hours, but are assuming that WOTH's digital signal is still off the air. Rainy conditions may not be allowing work to proceed on getting that back up (the stations broadcast from the WCPO tower, and will also be impacted by WCPO's work) but it's expected to be done tomorrow, weather permitting.

Regardless, when all is said and done, WOTH will land on RF 47, with PSIP displaying it as 25, and WBQC will be off the air on the analog side, but broadcasting on WOTH subchannel 25.2.

Dayton: We're digging for information on Dayton, save what we already knew...WHIO-TV 7/Dayton shuts down analog at 1 minute before midnight Friday night, and WDTN-TV 2/Dayton drops analog around Noon Friday.

If you have information regarding the other 3 stations, WBDT-TV 26/Springfield, WKEF-TV 22/Dayton and WRGT-TV 45/Dayton, drop us an email at tristatemediawatch@gmail.com.

WAVE-TV 3/Louisville appearing on converters?

We received word via email from Friend of TSMW Rich Emery yesterday that WOTH-LP/LD 25/Cincinnati was down for technical issues...and then that there MIGHT be a flicker of life on RF 47 as WAVE-TV 3/Louisville, KY occupies that frequency.

Today, Rich emailed us:

Long story short, WOTH's digital signal on ch. 47 has been down for over 2 days -- I called them yesterday, and was told they were down for technical reasons and hoped to be back "within a couple of days".

Well, yesterday I got a glimmer of SOMETHING that ID'd as 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3 -- I thought it might be WAVE, since it's also digital 47. No picture ever formed, and no other channel ID appeared -- until this morning, when all three WAVE channels popped up, large as life!

Wonder if they've boosted digital power, and if so, whether that plays any part in WOTH's problems.

Indeed, that's how it looks to us. WOTH's digital allocation was channel 47, like WAVE 3's.

If WAVE 3 has indeed boosted their digital power, that is a serious problem for WOTH. As it is, WAVE 3's analog signal is viewable, with rabbit ears in the right spot, in much of Greater Cincinnati.

Of course, the analog 3 allocation is low-VHF, whereas the digital 47 allocation is a high number on the UHF band...

We'll follow this story throughout the week. And, if you have any observations about it, email us at tristatemediawatch@gmail.com.

5 Percent of Households Switch to Pay Services

Rich Emery sent us this one today...which is very interesting.

According to this article from Multichannel News, 5 percent of households surveyed by research firm Knowledge Networks switched to a pay TV service such as cable or satellite.

From the link:

According to Nielsen, there are about 114 million U.S. TV households; 5% of those would represent 5.7 million homes. Knowledge Networks surveyed 2,498 TV households nationwide via telephone from Feb. 20 to April 11, with a margin of error of 2% for questions asked of the total sample.

Of those surveyed, 18% said they had bought a digital converter for an analog TV to receive digital signals; 8% bought a digital TV or an HDTV set specifically in preparation for the transition; and 5% started a new pay TV subscription, also specifically in anticipation of the switch to all-digital broadcasts. (The numbers do not add up to 26% because there is some overlap among the groups.)

It goes to show how much people are trying to prepare for the switch to DTV next week...

And by the way, the same survey also showed that 91 percent of those surveyed were aware of the switch to DTV. But you'd think that number would be a LOT higher, given the number of ads on TV lately!

One Week Away

UPDATE 5:15 PM: We have word about 2 stations in Dayton, and their switch plans.

Rich Emery sends word that WDTN-DT/TV 2/Dayton is planning to shut their analog down at Noon, while WHIO-TV/DT 7/Dayton shuts theirs off just before midnight that night.

We also have word about an FCC policy being enacted after the big switch, which Rich also sent us.

The Broadcast Law Blog reports that stations using the -TV suffix at the end of their callsign (example: WXYZ-TV) have two options: They can either retain the -TV suffix at the end of their call letters (if they use it), or change to -DT.

Likewise, stations that are already using the -DT suffix can change to -TV.

But in the case of a switch, the stations have to file a callsign change request with the FCC, and won't be charged to do so.

Original item is below.

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That's right, folks.

The digital transition is one week away...are you ready?

Here's a couple notes as we come within one week from all of Cincinnati and Dayton's full power stations going digital only:

Reminder To Rescan: We were in the FOX19 WXIX-TV/DT (RF 29) chat tonight, and the question about rescanning came up.

In short, yes you will need to rescan. WKRC-TV/DT 12 will go from digital channel 31 to channel 12. And if you're in the Dayton market: WBDT-TV/DT 26 will go from RF 18 to RF 26 post-transition.

NEW: WOTH to go DTV-Only: This is latebreaking today as well.

WOTH-LD 25/Cincinnati is planning to go all digital, reports the Enquirer in its own DTV item:

Low power Channels 25 and 38 by law can continue broadcasting in analog. But owner Elliott Block says he's shutting off analog "a couple days after" the June 12 deadline, because nobody would be watching analong here. So viewers won't see anything on analog airwaves by the end of that weekend. He has been broadcasting Ch 25/38 programs, and Retro TV and home shopping, on digital Ch 25 for six months.

So, by Monday, June 15, even the low power station in town will shut down its analog transmitter. You'll need to scan for them, too: WOTH-LD's RF channel is 47 here. But...unless you have a really good antenna, don't count on getting their signal. And especially, don't count on it for the first ten days post-June 12, as we've reported over the last 24 hours.

WCPO-TV to Air DTV Special: WCPO will air a half-hour long special report tonight at 9:00.

The report, being called "DTV: The Big Switch", will detail the transition, with topics ranging from troubleshooting to finding the right antenna.

Why WCPO and WOTH's digital signals are less powerful.

We reported it earlier this morning, but we can share the details right now, following a good night's sleep.

We had received a complaint from a viewer of WOTH-LD 25/Cincinnati's digital signal who lives
in North College Hill. Max Abel wrote:

Up until about a week & a half ago, we were able to receive the digital signal from Channels 25.1 thru 25.4 (with a converter box) with a jury rigged INDOOR set of rabbit ears (with bow-tie UHF antenna). Now, we receive no signal at all with the SAME antenna (in the SAME position). What happened? What changed? (We live in North College Hill.)

The reason why is becoming clear.

WCPO-TV/DT 9 (RF 10)'s tower is where WOTH's signal is transmitted from. The WCPO digital transmitter on the tower, which by the way is located at I-71 and McMillan St., is scheduled for work once the DTV transition is complete Friday, to bring WCPO-DT up to its full authorization, which is 15.4 kilowatts of power at 305 meters above average terrain.

The work entails taking down the analog antenna, putting a new digital antenna in its place, and removing the current side-mounted digital antenna.

There's only one thing: In order to do this work, the tower crews need an environment which won't cause physical harm. And RF waves...well, they're not exactly healthy.

That is why WCPO and WOTH both have dropped the juice on their digital transmitters, so as to not expose the workers to too much radiation. We're wondering if perhaps they decided to take this step ahead of the work to begin Friday.

We're also hearing that neither station really gave viewers much notice.

Well in WCPO's case, that's not entirely true.

WCPO has aired occasional messages stating that work being done after the transition date would cause interruptions in signal. At the time however, the message didn't really stick with us. We had to go to the FCC database to find WCPO's last DTV Transition Report, which was dated 3/18, for everything to make sense in our heads.

So...there you have it. We promised an explanation, and there it is...

Another DTV Test Tomorrow

WKRC's website has details on a newly scheduled DTV test for tomorrow.

Like the previous test, stations participating will shut off their analog signals for five minutes 3 times that day: at 7:30 AM, 12:30 PM and 7:30 PM.

Also, the website provides details on a new initiative being undertaken by firefighters in Cheviot, Cincinnati, Middletown and Wyoming to help residents make the switch.

Firefighters in these communities will visit homes (we assume in periods without emergency calls) to help residents hook up their converters.

Of course, the transition is of special importance to firefighters because the switch to digital television service will free up airwaves that can be used to expand the national public safety communication network.

A Couple Early Morning DTV Items...

We have a couple early morning DTV items with the transition just 2 weeks away...

DTV Transition to be Staggered Here: Indeed, the four remaining analog signals will be shut off at different times during the day on June 12, reports the Kiese Blog.

We already reported on WXIX-TV 19/Newport's decision to shut their analog signal off at 6am. Here's the entire day's schedule of analog shutdowns for Cincinnati (we don't know about the Dayton stations, but will find out):

12:01am: WCPO-TV 9/Cincinnati
2am: WKRC-TV 12/Cincinnati (shortly after, they will flashcut from digital channel 31 to digital 12, which is a VHF band station)
6am: WXIX (as noted above)
11:59pm: WLWT-TV 5/Cincinnati

The only problem we can see is with the WXIX shutdown occurring during their morning news programming. (And after what happened with their digital signal Tuesday night, we hope they'll be ready in the event that happens again.)

Converter Box Installation Help Available: Rich Emery sent us this one.

He reports that Dayton was recently designated by the FCC as one of a bunch of markets in which assistance is available with installing converter boxes.

He also sent us this link, where you can enter your ZIP Code, answer the questions, and then be told if you're eligible to have help installing your converter. It looks like Cincinnati is also an eligible market, as we followed the instructions and were taken to a screen on which we could enter our information.

We think this is a good idea. Anything that will reduce the current estimated number of 24,000 households that aren't prepared for the switch, is a good idea to us...

WCPO Analog to drop in strength

WCPO-TV 9/Cincinnati is broadcasting some warnings, in addition to the DTV Transition warnings, that their analog signal is going to drop in strength in the next few weeks.

From the Kiese blog yesterday, where he also talked about today's soft analog shutoff test:

And speaking of reception problems... in the next three weeks, Ch 9 will be broadcasting a weaker analog signal as it removes the analog antenna from atop its Walnut Hills tower. By June 12, the analog deadline, Ch 9 should have its new digital antenna installed atop the tower (about 100 feet higher than the current temporary digital antenna), says GM Bill Fee.

We of course get Insight Cable, so our TV's should be good to go tonight.

By the way, we're wondering if Time-Warner straightened up their problems, after the first one or two DTV tests in which some stations accidentally had their analog feeds pulled in by TWC, instead of the digital. (Paging Rich Emery!) Let us know about it by emailing us at tristatemediawatch@gmail.com.

DTV Soft Test TODAY

EDIT/UPDATE 4:45pm 5/21: 3 more notes about the 7:30pm(which is a question mark for Dayton, see note 3 below) test.

1) The reason tonight's test will go at 7:30 here is because FOX19 has their evening news at 6:30, when some cities have decided to do the soft test this evening. And of course, they don't want to interfere with the sweeps...
2) Stations that won't participate: WCVN/54 Covington (and the rest of the KET Kentucky Educational Television network, including WKON/52 Owenton, Kentucky), WPTD/16 Dayton, WPTO/14 Oxford, and WCET/48 Cincinnati. All of these have already shut down analog signals and are already digital-only.
3) We don't know about Dayton for this evening. Are they going at 6:30 (which would interfere with the FOX45 news), or waiting til 7:30 like Cincinnati? Let us know by email at tristatemediawatch@gmail.com.

There is news today on a soft test of the analog shutoff nationally today.

This report from MSNBC has the details. TV stations nationally are to shut off their analog transmitters 3 times today, two of which already happened at 7:30am and 12:30pm. The final test is at 7:30 this evening.

Emphasizing the point about DTV emergency preparedness....

We felt we needed to follow up on the very first article we posted here at TSDTW.

If you recall, we posted an article that detailed one Florida station's push for their viewers to obtain a battery-power DTV.

Well, people in parts of Illinois will definitely be seeking those, so they are more prepared for the next disaster.

We're hearing that severe weather in the area knocked out thousands of people on the local power grid, besides taking out local CBS affiliate WSIL/3 Carterville, Illinois, knocking them off the air when the station's roof was ripped off. The station does have a backup facility, KPOB/15 Poplar Bluff, MO...so it can broadcast from there, if need be. However, WSIL is still providing service, via updates (and technology folks at the local Raycom station WXIX/19 Cincinnati are familiar with by now, a live blog) at www.wsiltv.com and through their twitter feed, located at http://twitter.com/WSILNews. (Although, the latter hasn't been updated, but we can certainly understand that. After all, when a storm takes your roof off, it's difficult to keep everything functional.)

We're not sure what will happen with WSIL...but it does make us wonder what the backup plans would be here, if and when a severe storm happens to take the roof off one of the local TV operations here...

An Announcement

As you know, we have a twitter account at twitter.com/tristatemedia.

From now on, we have it set so that our twitter picks up our latest posts via our RSS feed, and tweets them automatically. This way, we don't have to post, then go to twitter and go through the whole process of copying the link, then using tinyurl or somesuch to shorten the url just so we can post it to twitter. We can just post here, and twitter will automatically check this every half an hour. Heh...who knew RSS could be so useful?

FCC To Host 9 DTV Awareness Events in Tri-State

We found this while perusing local12.com today.

The FCC is going to host nine separate DTV events in the Tri-State next week, to educate people about the transition that, as of this writing, is just over a month away, and that, when it happens, will involve WLWT, WXIX, WKRC, and WCPO (WSTR already went on the original date of 2/17, and all the PBS stations have gone digital-only in the last month).

The reports we have indicate that 97.1 percent of the area is ready for the switch. But, as a trip to the Kiese Blog shows, even those with DTV converters or sets may not really be viewing...well, DTV.

Anyway, here's the list of events in case you want to save the trip to Local12.com (although, we do think the site is good viewing):

Monday, May 11, 2009, 3:00-7:00 p.m.
The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County
800 Vine Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202
513-369-6900.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009, 10:00 a.m.
Butler County Senior Center
3907 Central Avenue, Middletown, OH 45055

Tuesday, May 12, 2009, 1:00 p.m.
Oxford County Senior Center
922 Tolgate Drive, Oxford, OH 45056

Wednesday, May 13, 2009, 10:30 a.m.
Highland County Senior Citizens Center
185 Muntz Street, Hillsboro, OH 45133

Wednesday, May 13, 2009, 12:00 p.m.
Highland County Library
10 Willetsville Pike, Hillsboro, OH 45133

Thursday, May 14, 2009, 10:30 a.m.
Owen County Senior Center
103 W Perry Street, Owentown, KY 40359

Thursday, May 14, 2009, 12:30 p.m.
Owen County Library
N Main Street, Owenton, KY 40359

Friday, May 15, 2009, 10:00 a.m.
Dearborn Adult Center
311 W Tate Street, Lawrenceburg, IN 47025

Friday, May 15, 2009, 12:30 p.m.
Lawrenceburg Public Library, Dearborn County
150 Mary Street, Lawrenceburg, IN 47025

CET/ThinkTV Drop Analog

The latest dominoes have fallen in the slow switch to DTV locally.

Late last night, WCET/48, WPTO/14 and WPTD/16 all switched to digital-only broadcasts. (We can verify WCET and WPTO, as we get both here at TSMW HQ.) Taken with WCVN/54 and WKON/52 switching with the rest of KET 2 weeks ago, this means the only way to watch PBS programming is through DTV, cable or satellite. We're not hearing of a major increase in call volume to CET/ThinkTV, only up to 6 at CET, while only 26 people called ThinkTV.

A note to our readers using the converter boxes, or who have Digital Televisions that don't need converters, and one you will hear often repeated the next few months as more stations drop analog.

RESCAN, RESCAN, RESCAN! (Yes, it's all caps, but we wanted to emphasize the point.)

WPTD/16 went from their old channel allocation of 58 to digital 16 with the switch, flashcutting the analog to digital in the process. So, if you'd been picking up 16 on digital 58, you MUST rescan to get it back on digital 16.

We are working on another post, but that will have to wait until tomorrow morning...we're dead tired, and can't sit at this keyboard anymore...

TBN's WKOI, Lexington's WKYT, and KET fade into analog sunset

We've got a couple quick DTV items...

We're hearing that WKOI 43/Richmond is now moved to its DTV facility. Rich Emery tells Ohio Digital TV (a sub-blog of our friends at Ohio Media Watch) that he watched that happen at *precisely* 11:59 pm last night.

Also, WCVN 54/Covington and WKON 52/Owenton have both switched, along with the entire KET network. (KET stands for Kentucky Educational Television.) We independently confirmed that this morning during our morning TV viewing.

And last, WKYT 27/Lexington also transitioned yesterday and we can independently confirm this as well by viewing them on Insight Cable channel 6 right now.

DTV Readiness Update...Only Up Slightly?

Rich Emery sent us this one...

According to Nielsen, only 610,000 homes became DTV-ready this past month, after the FCC and Congress extended the switch deadline to June 12!

That means 3.8 MILLION homes are still not ready for the switch. That's mind-boggling to us.

Considering that Congress approved billions more dollars in DTV Coupons, there shouldn't be this many people who aren't ready to switch. Could it be that perhaps some people just don't know how to get the coupons? Or are TV stations not doing enough to help?

Whatever the reason, as of this writing, 3.8 million people are still not ready for the switch, with just over 2 months to go until it happens...

WXIX announces time for its DTV switch

WXIX-TV/DT 19 is running on air promos about the switch to DTV. We've just found out that the station intends to switch over at 6:00AM on June 12...which is the switch date nationwide as of right now...

When and if we find out about the other stations, we'll tell you.

Converter Coupons Available Again

EDIT: Here's an article Rich Emery sent us about some of the things that are said to have gone wrong with the converter coupon program.

Let's update the latest on the DTV transition...

Recently, more converter coupons were made available for people to help with the cost of the converters to switch analog TV to digital.

We're told that the coupons became available after Congress approved the extra cash to help cover them.

You can get them by going to the DTV Website, or call 1-888-DTV-2009 (1-888-388-2009).

First DTV Only Blog

Well, we decided to open this blog early...with a bit of rather important information.

We received this from Rich Emery today.

Last September, the Tri-State region experienced a major windstorm. Over 900,000 people lost their power...and consequently their Digital Televisions. Almost all DTV's do not have a battery backup.

That's why one Florida TV station is urging its viewers to pick up a battery-powered DTV.

Here at TSMW HQ, that battery backup would have been useful when the windstorm left us with no power for just about half a day.

We echo that station's cries...pick up your battery-powered DTV today...you never know when you will need it, even in Southwestern Ohio, Southeastern Indiana or Northern Kentucky...