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.