Waco / Bryan, TX - HDTV - Page 3

I think you're stretching it a bit when you call it "our local ABC station" - I don't even consider it to be a station (just a low power translator). The FCC site doesn't list any digital plans at all for KRHD, and representatives from KXXV/KRHD engineering have said the same. To make matters worse, I've never got any kind of response from any of the numerous emails or website contact forms I've submitted. I think the rest of Central Texas might have rubbed KXXV the wrong way a few years ago when they were hoping to see the Super Bowl in HD on KXXV (This might not be true, but who cares? We're officially pissed now ). Anyway, here's a couple of ways to harrass them.

KRHD - (979)691-5743
General email - news@abc40.com

KXXV - (254)754-2525
Kris Swearingen, Chief Engineer - kswearingen@kxxv.com
Jerry Pursley, General Manager - jpursley@kxxv.com
Engineering - engineer@kxxv.com
General email - news25@kxxv.com

Fire away!

Hopefully that will change soon. I dug the hole for the tower base this weekend, and weather permitting, I'll pour the concrete this weekend. At 30 ft and further south than you (between Rock Prairie and Greens Prairie), I hope to get slightly better results.

Guess we didn't donate enough - I still can't get it.

Woo-hoo! I finally got a response from KXXV/KRHD. I guess the secret was emailing the chief engineer, but I didn't come across that email until last night. The answers were as expected and not all that promising for the near future.

Brian,
First of all I'm sorry you had so much trouble getting a reply. But to answer your questions, any plans to broadcast digitally from our local tower in Bryan are not clear. We are considering it in the future but not in the near future. The signal strength from Moody on our digital transmitter right now is 250,000 Watts and is being broadcast from 1,739 ft. We will be increasing that signal in the future to 1,000,000 Watts as our analog demand drops. We have no plans in the immediate future to broadcast that signal in HD, however we will be upgrading to HD but don't know when.
We have tested the signal we have now in the Bryan, College Station area and have a good signal with an outside antenna pointed towards Moody. You shouldn't have any trouble picking it up but it will still be digital not HD. But you can get Telemundo 26-3 and the local Weather Channel 26-4 with that signal.
Sorry for the disappointment
KXXV
KRHD
Engineering

----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, April 28, 2004 9:52 AM
Subject: DTV/HDTV Status


Hey guys, I'm sorry to bother you, but I've tried to contact you guys several times through the contact form on your website as well as through the news email to no avail. I live in College Station, and I'm a viewer of KRHD. I had heard from you guys before that you have no plans for broadcasting a digital signal from a local tower, so others and I in the area are depending on an increased signal from the Moody tower in order to receive ABC in digital format. I was wondering if someone could tell me what signal strength you are at now, and when do you think you will be at full strength? Another issue others and I in the area have discussed is whether or not KXXV/KRHD will ever be broadcast in HD (720p). In the past, I heard that you guys had no plans for high definition, and that you were only interested in multicasting. Is this still true? Hopefully not - you guys are our only chance for programs like Monday Night Football, BCS bowls, and Disney movies in high definition. I would really, really, really, really appreciate if somebody could give me some feedback. Thanks again for your help

I don't even think that is an option. I don't ABC out of Houston has been that reliable for Jagoaur or Labmansid. We are in HD hell!

HaHa, you know Dave, part of that quote sounds pretty bad.

I've been telling my wife that it will just be a glorified flagpole.

Maybe you could just take whatever antenna they give you and donate it to the B/CS HDTV Society.

[/sarcasm]

They changed my billing address as well, but I immediately went online and changed that back. I was ready to tell the CSR how I was going to be moving for business training for an extended amount of time, but they never even asked for a reason. Once you move, locals should be one of the programming choices available online. If you do everything online, you'll also be able to keep any waiver networks (ABC/NBC East and West) that you are already receiving.