The Press and Tower

Editor’s note: Sound off, give a shout out on “Deep Background,” our totally-random open discussion of all things Erie media.

• Confirm as a friend: Striving to use all avenues available to communicate with the viewing public, Dwight Miller, President of WQLN-TV tells P&T that there is a Facebook fan page now available with the latest news about the station’s antenna situation. The latest news is the climbers were on the tower Friday (10/10) morning installing a temporary digital antenna at about 300 feet. Previously we reported that when the Q goes back to full power, it will be broadcasting only in digital. UPDATED: The Q is back on-the-air in digital only, using a temporary antenna at 300 feet reaching a portion of their normal viewing base. Full power will be up around Thanksgiving.
• Sarah and Joe know TV: New York Times reports that although the second Presidential debate had a higher audience Tuesday than the first meeting of McCain and Obama, the town-hall style debate still came in second to the meeting of the seconds. The Vice-Presidential debate between Sen. Biden and Gov. Palin garnered the highest television ratings since Carter vs. Reagan, with an audience of 73 million viewers. ABC was the leading network Tuesday, with CNN beating Fox News for the cable crown.
• New look for ErieBlogs.com: it’s an Extreme Makeover for one of Erie’s most visited websites. Mike and Rich from ErieBlogs.com say that the new look for the area aggregator and news site was a year in the making, sporting a clean look for optimal readability, and making the big platform switch from Movable Type to WordPress (the engine behind P&T). ErieBlogs.com is the 512,118th most visited website in the world, according to alexa.com.
• Jack’s wisdom lives on at GlobalErie.com: a click on a link to eriemediablog.com will send you to the new home of the Erie Media-Go-Round archive, now residing at GlobalErie.com. There you’ll find hundreds of posts dating back to December 2006 full of the wisdom and candor of the late Jack Tirak. Congratulations and thank you to Peter Panepento and to Jack’s family for allowing us to continue to learn from a thoroughly-knowledgeable media professional and great man.
• The NFL on HDTV: get your fix of week number six…even if the Steelers and Bills don’t play. Here’s the schedule with over the air and Time Warner Cable HD channels noted:
  • Sunday, 1 PM – Chicago @ Atlanta - WFXP: DT 66.1/City 418/Suburbs 706
  • Sunday, 1 PM – Baltimore @ Indianapolis  – WSEE: DT 35.1/City 405/Suburbs 709
  • Sunday, 4 PM – Dallas @ Arizona - WFXP: DT 66.1/City 418/Suburbs 706
  • Sunday, 8:15 PM – New England @ San Diego – WICU: City 412/Suburbs 712
  • Monday, 8:30 PM – NY Giants @ Cleveland – ESPN: City 430/ Suburbs 772