June 22nd, 2009 
joel News of radio’s demise has been greatly exaggerated.
When we asked last week for the top choices of on-the-road entertainment, 6 of 10 respondents said that listening to regular, old, free radio was on the list. Half said they listened to CD’s or cassettes. About a third listened to their iPod or satellite radio on their road trips.
I’ve been reading on a nearly daily basis in the Times-News Letters to the Editor folks complaining about losing one or more channels since the digital television transition. Although I have digital cable at home, I had a similar experience in rigging up my father-in-law’s coversion box in his camper while he was visiting at the bayfront campground last weekend. His rotating rooftop antenna was getting any number of Canadian analog stations from 150 miles away, but when we hooked the converter box up, we only received3 of the 5 Erie broadcast stations. At the time, WICU was still going through their buildout, but we were also not receiving WJET.
It could have been a glitch that evening, but with the critical mass of complaints that P&T and others are receiving, I want to ask this question TO ERIE OVER-THE-AIR VIEWERS ONLY (no cable or local on satellite viewers, please).
As an over-the-air digital television viewer, which Erie TV stations are you able to watch? (check all that apply)
- WQLN (PBS) (83%, 57 Votes)
- WFXP (FOX) (78%, 54 Votes)
- WICU (NBC) (75%, 52 Votes)
- WJET (ABC) (74%, 51 Votes)
- WSEE (CBS) (62%, 43 Votes)
Total Voters: 69
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I don’t quite understand the question. You asked a question concerning over-the-air digital viewers. Isn’t over-the-air considered to be the same as analog?
On my portable analog TV set a mere 12″ Sony model, I had three stations to watch – WICU Channel 12 (UHF) and TBN and CityTV from Toronto, Ontario Canada on the VHF side. Now, that WICU went bye bye dumping it’s analog transmission, I’m down to CityTV or the Holy Roller Network to select from…. Don’t touch that dial!
Maybe I can ask the folks at TBN to pray for us poor folks so that we can find a use for our analog television sets. If anyone has any ideas, I’m all ears.
Incidentally, as a listener of Erie radio, I so appreciate the fact that we do not have to carry around a converter box to enjoy the “Theatre of the Mind”. I just hope that the corporate suits don’t come and stick a stupid logo on my forehead!
My parents actually had one of the bigger TV antenna’s in the city at one time (at least that is what i was always told – lol) and we were able to get multiple OTA channels “back in the day” including channels 10 and 6 from Canada. My parents told a story of getting a channel from Nova Scotia once, and i can remember, with the aid of a high pressure system, watching a Cardinals/Dodgers game from St. Louis many years ago in my bedroom.
I do have a dish but it does not include local channels, so i had to get a converter box. Now that the conversion is complete, all the channels come in with no issues (including NBC/12 twice). Before though i was having most issues with 12 and 35.
Once i find new gainful employment i will probably ditch my dish (even though i love it) to go back to cable – mainly to get the channels currently priced out of my existence, as well as to eliminate a piece of machinery. But I am half tempted to invest in a Digital Antenna just to see what else i would be able to pull in.
Even though I do have satellite with Dish, I no longer pay $5.00 a month for Erie digital channels I can get with an outdoor antenna. I can get all of the Erie stations at my location in addition to ones from Youngstown and a few Pittsburgh locals. Also I am not having any problens with signals breaking up from Erie thus far.
Tom…are the out of town stations that you are able to receive coming in consistently or is it hit and miss? I have gotten several out of town stations, but only on certain days and only for short periods of time.
I’m actually near Cochranton near the Mercer county line which makes those out of town signals consistent. The right antenna setup & location makes all the difference.