Chicago, IL - OTA - Page 375

I'm not cutting down the conference at all. The 11am games are second rate since they good ones are at 2:30 and 7pm, but they're still better than 75% of the games in the BigTen(12).

Has WPVN moved to the Trump yet? Their website has not been updated in over a year.

Their signal and reception here certainly show no signs of any changes.

On another site, somebody with Comcast said they were having issues with channels on 213MHz. That is broadcast RF13 and I was thinking it could be an ingress issue. I as wondering if there is anything using RF13 in the Chicago area? Is WOCK still broadcasting analog?

WOCK-CD is not broadcasting in analog on 13, since they have Class A status on RF 4. They went to 4, because WREX Rockford was going back to 13 on June 12th 2009. That was also the same day that WZZM Grand Rapids went back to 13. So they applied to move to RF 4 since they felt they would be displaced by the 2 stations (WREX Rockford in peticular). I remember when they were on 13 analog, some people in the city of Chicago couldn't even get the station, due to the sharp nulls toward both Rockford & Grand Rapids. RF 4 isn't any better, & not sure if moving to a VHF-Hi channel would make a difference. They had hoped to relocate on RF 30, when Daystar never built out their station until the very last minute. For RF 30, I'm not sure how well that does in much of the market, but it does great reaching Gary Indiana without a pre-amp. Had Daystar let their CP expire, WOCK would have tried to get it, & they would have better luck reaching their viewers in the city & nearby suburbs.

I was getting them on RF 4 until I moved my antennas around on the pole. I used to have my VHF only antenna at the very top of the pole, with the UHF antennas (Antennacraft CS600 for VHF & 2 Winegard HD9032 UHF antennas), while I had one UHF antenna pointed toward South Bend under that one (not hooked up, after combining my antennas knocked out most stations last year), & the other UHF antenna under that pointed toward Chicago. I got WOCK-CD when the VHF antenna was at the very top, but only got WWME-LD & W25DW-D in the winter months, but when leaves bloomed on the trees, they go out. Since moving both UHF antennas up, & now both pointed toward Chicago, & the VHF antenna under the UHF antennas, WWME-LD & W25DW-D returned, but lost WOCK-CD, but WLS-TV on RF 7 & WBBM-TV on RF 12 weren't affected. I use a pre-amp on my antennas, & WOCK-CD can only come in with a pre-amp in Gary Indiana. It also means for this station, height matters, since that station is only 300 watts.

I don't think there's an RF 13 in Chicago, but I suppose it could be adjacent channel interference from WBBM. Alternatively, the cold front could've opened up a tropo path. WTHR in Indy is one of those analog VHF-Hi stations that stuck to VHF-Hi for digital, so it's still on 13. If not Indy, it could also be something from Michigan or Wisconsin, I've never been familiar with the stations up there, not even during the analog days.

RF 13 is WREX-Rockford.

Just a note that person posted that Comcast came out, made some fixes and repaired a few things, and no more problems. They live in the NW suburbs, so it would have to be a pretty strong signal to cause problems.

Even though they are now a Mundo Fox affiliate, I'm not sure how well funded they actually are. I tuned in one night to find "Yo soy Betty, la fea" pre-empted by an old, dubbed Kevin Trudeau infomercial at 9PM on a weekday evening...

anyone else having problems with WCIU 26.1 and its substations? starting about last night through today it hasnt been coming in for me at all when normally it does pretty much all day (occasionally gets choppy during the afternoon). im from the south bend, indiana market so not real close to the chicago transmitters but i do get most of the stations pretty well.

I have a feeling the only reason they became part of MundoFox was so that MundoFox could get on cable/satellite due to Must Carry rules. I'd bet only a tiny fraction actually watch the OTA feed.

Must Carry rules only apply to full powered stations right? So, a measly 400W station is probably not mandated to be carried.

I guess none of y'all heard that KM is selling WOCH-CA to the folks that owns WZME (NRJ TV). Here's The Paperwork and the RBR article. But this doesn't give KM any excuse not to get their digital signal going on 49 after all this time, knowing the difficulty many folks have with the RF4 signal.

Hiya everyone!!

I haven't posted online much this year due to various things, but I want to pass along this potentially really big scoop on WJYS to everyone. This is definitely huge for them, and as close as they can hope right now for the phrase "Hell has frozen over". I've posted this in a few other places but wanted to make sure I post it here, too.

For much of this year, it's been business as usual for WJYS, airing their typical Religious/Infomercial fare so there hasn't been much to report on them..until now. Over the last few weeks I'd been wondering if it'd be their usual for this Fall or if they would actually try something different. Welllllp, pre-hell freezing may have started at that station. It's certainly the closest they've gotten to that in a while. Last week, I was catching up with Mr. Feder's blog and I come across a small bit about WJYS and well...there's no way to describe this other than show you guys the website for what exactly they've decided on doing this Fall cause it's gonna be a helluva lot more effective this way and way more effective than any description I can give...

http://sevenonridge.com/

That's right...you're reading and seeing this correctly..they are doing a local late night talk show just for Chicago!!! It's hosted by Michael Essany and basically fuses a supper club/cocktail seating with a late night talk show. So basically, this is their attempt at Chicago's very own, local Tonight Show! It has a Monologue, guests (Both local Chicago big names and national celebrities), musical guests and their attempt at short sketches. It's on WJYS Monday-Friday from 10:30-11:30pm.

Now, I had a chance to catch half of the show last night..to my shock and surprise they actually DID run it, and it started on time as well! Honestly, the thing impressed the hell out of me for what it is. The production values and picture quality really are very decent and the volume levels are more than acceptable. It's definitely not one of those "Here today, gone tomorrow" Cable access talk shows from someone's basement. Admittedly, the monologue was a bit on the ehhhh side but they just started on the 17th of this month so it's gonna take a while for them to really get going. The first guest was quite interesting..the Harmonica playing using his mouth at one time Youtube celebrity. The show's band is...you know actually really decent and not what I expected at all. The theme song is actually rather catchy. As I said I missed the 2nd half of the show, not by choice-I really did want to see the last half of it.

My reaction to this right now is just...Good God..we gotta give WJYS credit this time guys. They're taking a major MAJOR risk with this..a local just for Chicago late night talk show. I'm shocked more than anything it's them doing the show and airing it. Also thinking okay where was this 17 years ago while they were trying to be a general market Independent? They could really have used this then. I'm also asking myself how the hell it took this long for a Chicago station to try something like this! It seems like a no brainer and I'd have expected Weigel, WPWR, WFLD or WGN to try something like this long ago. I certainly would expect this kinda thing out of those 4 LONG before WJYS! One thing's clear..this is either going to finally be their thing that sticks to the wall, takes off and does well for them or it's gonna blow up colosallyin their face. Guess we'll have to wait and see but just for the fact they're taking their risk and so far giving it a real chance I'll definitely support and watch the show when I can. This could be super huge for them since it's not just hot air in the advertisement about it being Chicago's first local late night talk show. NO one else in the market would even dare try something like this right now so they really do have something at the moment no other local Chicago station does.

I know you guys have endured my soap box posts on WJYS the last few years but THIS is the kind of risk taking I've been saying for years they need to be doing! THIS is an excellent start towards a much MUCH better WJYS and it's certainly a huge step forward for them. Okay guys, if this does well, then take some other risks. Add even more general programming..both original locally produced stuff like this show and older shows. Guarantee your ratings will go up. I think they're finally starting to realize it might be a really good idea to start taking some risks and try going in some different directions, try new things. At least I sure hope they are! Wasn't expecting them to do anything at all this Fall, let alone something like this. You did damn good this time WJYS..really damn good. We'll see soon enough if this latest dice roll from them pays off or not.

Finally, they need to advertise, advertise, advertise this show where ever they can. On the station itself, the Trib TV section, the Sun Times TV page, buses, the L..you get the idea. Their best hope right now is to get out awareness about the show, because that's the only way to get ratings and translate into something sustainable long term for them. Looking at the advertiser materials (for people wanting a commercial spot during the show), they're shooting for at LEAST 65 episodes right now (just again, daaaaamn! That's a huge commitmemt for a station like that!) so that's a really good sign and shows WJYS is going to give it at least a few months chance.

Well played Channel 62, that's all I can really say right now. I HAVE to give them major, huge credit for taking this kind of risk. Really didn't think they had the desire to try something like this or had this kinda effort in them!

Hope 2012 has been great for everyone here and that it's been everything you've been wanting and hoping for!

Anyone having issues getting WGN, WMAQ, WBBM, WLS? This morning they all seem to be down. I thought it was my setup, but everything's fine. I'm suddenly able to pull in Wisconsin NBC (WTMJ) and CBS, so I'm guessing some of the transmitters in Chicago are down???

I've lost them all but WLS. And WTTW, but still have WYCC. The ABC news is showing live clips of workmen fiddling with the antenna on the Sears Tower, so I'm assuming it's that. Apparently they've added a new connector and were beginning to attach a new bit of antenna when the weather turned. I'm not sure if this is even the problem, but it must be. That's where we are at any rate.

Update: 9:27, the workmen are attaching what is apparently a new transmitter after all. Hopefully things with pop back on.
Edited by kosure - 9/30/12 at 7:28am

NBC OTA reception is down, along with all other transmitters on Willis(Sears) tower. ABC's antenna change is causing the problem. ABC station(On the Air!) is showing the antenna work but not a word on the problem they are causing with other stations. If you call them, they do accept the problem! NBC and all other missing stations should force ABC to make the TV announcement about the problem so the OTA people wont be wondering what is going on. I called FCC emergency number to force ABC to announce it and was suggested to call their Consumer Division on Monday! Great work FCC!

UPDATE- 10 AM SUNDAY

Missing stations just appeared. I think ABC stopped new installation due to high winds at the top of Willis Tower and put the system back in normal operation. I am sure they'll try it again, which is fine,but, ABC guys, let the people know what you are doing and that many channels will be off-the air again temporarily!

I'm missing WXFT, WJYS, WGN, WCPX, and WSNS, off the top of my head.  Even more were missing a couple of hours ago but have come back.

All transmitters on Willis Tower were off. Other than ABC, only WYCC, channel 20(Chicago) was OK since they are located on John Hancock.

Whew, I was wondering what was going on! Only 20-1 WYCC and the 66-1 Spanish station would come in this morning, via my Tivo tuner. Troubleshooting, I rechecked all my interior antenna connections (long shot - and sure enough, no issues found), then restarted/rebooted my Tivo (nothing changed), then checked the antenna connection directly into the TV tuner (same two stations only, plus 7-1 would come in. Tuner must be better on the TV than my Tivo S3 model).

Figured it was a rooftop issue (yikes) or some system-wide broadcasting issue. Came here to check, hoping for the latter and sho nuff!

They all seem to be back now, including both WLS signals.

I guess the next question is, what will the goals of this new antenna?

So channel 7 RF (not 44) is finally off the air?

Both RF 7 & 44 frequencies are operating as we speak from their backups at the Hancock. What they'd hooked up yesterday was a new RF 44 antenna from the Sears Tower, which whenever they get every connected and light that baby up, it will be going the full 1 million watts.

Also from WLS latest STA extension request which filed last week and got the OK within a couple of days, it states that WLS will keep RF 7 on throughout the upcoming holiday season so they can do another 're-scan' plugs, before turning RF 7 off completely at around mid-January, which in my opinion will be a very somber moment for ABC and in Chicago Television.

As long as the reception from the RF44 is good then, I see nothing somber about it at all.  It will also make it easier on TVs whose tuners can't handle the two 7.1s, 7.2s, and 7.3s and have been using the physical channel numbers of 45.3, 45.4, and 45.5 as WSNS's virtual channel numbers.  Also, maybe WCHU or WOCK can then move to RF7.

No, I mention that it would be a somber moment once WLS turns off RF 7 for good because of the obvious historic overtones on being on that frequency. I didn't mean its somber for anyone who would finally get WLS with that 1 million blow-torch and the other things you have mentioned. I know WOOD-TV will be pleased to finally see WLS leave channel 7 for obvious reasons.
Edited by csworldwide1 - 10/1/12 at 9:51am

Csworldwide1, as you said in the earlier post, its being a somber moment is your opinion.  You never demanded that anyone else feel the same way about it as you and I'm not demanding that anyone else feel the same way about it as I.

Yes, Chicago's ABC station has been transmitting on RF7 for a long time, and I'm more than old enough to remember it as WBKB.  As WLS will still be branded as channel 7 and PSIPped to virtual channel 7, though, most viewers will still be thinking of it as such.  Wistful nostalgia about the RF frequency will be a possibility only among those of us who notice it.