Just watched the 40 years special. An hour and a half of everything you wanted to know or didn't need to know about WFMZ. (Commercial free) I think they could have cut a half hour of it. Was interesting though in places. Never realized that the station was launched after NBC and ABC affiliates failed.
It's on my DVR but I didn't watch it yet! I'll save it for some night this week when there's nothing to watch.
It is a great special. Full of memories of anchors and reporters past. It is truly amazing where some of the alum's have graduated to after leaving East Rock Road. CONGRATS WFMZ!!
Watching wfmz sunrise now. I must say that I like their reporters and anchors for the most part. Matt Broderick is the only weather person I can watch. And There's a fine line between robotic and professional; Steve Mittman has no personality and the red light green light segment is ridiculous.Dick Dean and the other guy can go on and on with their views on politics, and we're asked if we like quiche!
Not strictly about 69 News but more WFMZ in general. It's been over a year since WFMZ announced the purchase of KJWP in Wilmington, DE. Has anyone heard a status update? Or is the sale tied to the FCC auction?
Depends. Did they buy the station to flip it in the auction? If not then I doubt the silence is directly related to it. I do believe though that FCC isn't doing anything with license transfers til after the auction is over though.
WFMZ's Jim Vaughn shared extremely sad news tonight about his co-anchor Melanie Falcon. The video of his message can be found on wfmz.com. http://www.wfmz.com/288801357 Additionally, Melanie posted the following on Facebook: Melanie Falcon Many of you have asked where I am.. and you may remember that before Thanksgiving, I announced my family was growing by one.. After some complications, Kaitlyn Jane was born on Saturday January 14th, straight into the hands of the Lord, at just 22 weeks. Our hearts are broken, but all she knew was love ❤ I've been taking some time off, but will be back soon. Our thoughts and prayers are with them.
No doubt a painful and heartbreaking loss that no one of any age should endure. My prayers and condolences to Melanie, her husband and her family.
WFMZ sold its broadcasting spectrum in the FCC auction. It'll use the funds to expand into the OTT realm and develop apps for Roku, Apple TV, etc: http://www.wfmz.com/news/lehigh-valley/wfmz-tv-expansion-fueled-by-fcc-auction/451004991 PBS 39 also participated.
Gonna need you to cite your source on that. Why would WFMZ triplex with WBPH and WLVT after they flipped some of the money they made selling their spectrum into buying other spectrum in the Valley AND buying KJWP's spectrum to expand their broadcast footprint south? Isn't WBPH's signal in the VHF band garbage anyway?
Ty... The meaty parts are behind Fybush's paywall, and while he takes a mean picture of a broadcast tower, I'm pretty meh about paying for his newsletter. Seeing the speculation come from Fybush lends a little bit of credence to it, but still, though, to me that doesn't make sense, considering WFMZ still has KJWP and a low-power transmitter in Philadelphia on RF 45 plus whatever additional spectrum they bought. WFMZ, WBPH, and WLVT are all on WFMZ's tower at South Mountain already, so, yeah, okay, sure. Contours and footprint probably would remain the same. But are there any examples of eight virtual channels (69's 4, 39's 2, and 60's 2) sharing one physical channel anywhere else? Wouldn't there be bandwidth limitations? I don't know enough about this newfangled "H Dee" technology to really know, so someone please educate me, but it doesn't seem like it would work all that well.
Yes, speculation. It's why I used the word 'expected.' WFMZ says on its website 'Other gains will go towards purchasing new spectrum to use for broadcasting in the Greater Lehigh Valley.' The speculation is the new spectrum is from WBPH. If FMZ were channel sharing with KJWP they wouldn't need to also buy new spectrum. FMZ have so far declined to say who they will be channel sharing with, but WBPH will be the only full-power Greater Lehigh Valley-based channel / spectrum left after the spectrum for FMZ and LVT disappears. Here is what was reported in the Allentown Morning Call: 'Maranatha Broadcasting Co. of Salisbury Township, the private corporate owner of WFMZ, is in line for about $140.5 million in compensation, but it's unclear how much of that WFMZ will net once its channel-sharing agreement is sliced off the top. Barry Fisher, WFMZ president and general manager, declined to provide those details.' The Eight virtual channels couldn't all fit within WBPH's spectrum; FMZ has confirmed to the Allentown Morning Call that 69.3 and 69.4 will move to KJWP. 'The company is also buying KJWP-TV, which provides MeTV to the Philadelphia region. Fisher said that deal will be finished simultaneously with the completion of the auction, and Maranatha will put Heroes & Icons and Retro TV on KJWP-TV.' No mention of 69.2. Where does it end up? Also possibly within the WBPH spectrum as it might infringe on WPVI's exclusive use of the AccuWeather brand in Philadelphia. The other thing to consider: KJWP wasn't a way for FMZ to give up RF46 and switch to RF2 (which doesn't adequately cover Allentown - FMZ's city of license) but more likely a way to keep KJWP out of the auction (in such a way that PMCM would still benefit from the auction through a sale to FMZ). It also allowed FMZ to create a duopoly to better compete in the market by using the proceeds of the auction to buy KJWP while retaining FMZ's dominant news position in the Lehigh Valley with a strong signal at that end of the market.
You can squeeze two 720p HD subs on one channel and have room for an additional 480p. So you'd assume you could get FMZ and LVT in there in HD and WBPH on the 3rd SD channel (I don't even think they can spell HD let alone broadcast it) and all should be satisfied. They'd have to move WLVT and WBPH's subs elsewhere though.
Yes, using the current ATSC 1.0 standard, but when the switch to ATSC 3.0 takes place it means many more subchannels squeezed into the same 6MHz of space.
I'm pretty sure WBPH's main channel is actually in 720p! They only produce something like 2.5 programs in house using WFMZ's hand-me-down equipment. They pull feeds that are in HD for the rest of their programming, I think. Doesn't it seem more likely to anyone else that WFMZ takes WBPH out to pasture and puts it out of its misery? A duplex on VHF 9 where WFMZ and WLVT keep their subs strikes me as the scenario that makes the most sense.
I'm pretty sure WBPH's main channel is actually in 720p! They only produce something like 2.5 programs in house using WFMZ's hand-me-down equipment. They pull feeds that are in HD for the rest of their programming, I think. Doesn't it seem more likely to anyone else that WFMZ takes WBPH out to pasture and puts it out of its misery? A duplex on VHF 9 where WFMZ and WLVT keep their subs strikes me as the scenario that makes the most sense.
