When Did You Get Your First UHF TV Set?

[BobbyNBC10]

we got our first UHF set (a Zenith color) around 1964 (also our first color set), but didn't watch UHF until we got a 12-inch b&w sears set in the early 1970s. in the 10 years between that set and cable, i thought that was the golden age of UHF in Detroit (WXON just moved to 20, WKBD been on the air for 5 years.  Between 1972-80, we saw in our aera, CKGN(CIII) 22-29, CKCO-42, CICO-32, CBEFT (78-54) and WGPR(WWJ(II)) 62 all sign on in the Detroit area.

Did you also get Toledo, Flint or Lansing-Jackson outlets by any chance?.

[Bob1370]

September, 1966, my dad got a set-top UHF converter for use with our 1963-vintage Admiral 21" color set, so we could watch the new public TV station in town, WXXI-TV, the first U in the city.  Up until then we were a typical three VHF channel town--NBC on 8, CBS on 10, ABC on 13. I was a high school freshman at the time. Never knew I'd wind up working for their sister news/talk AM--which didn't sign on until 1984.

The signal was pretty good from the start (830 kW ERP). Public TV has grown a lot in Rochester like it has in many places, but from the get-go it offered interesting alternatives with jazz concerts, plays, and public affairs specials that gave you a change of pace from Gilligan's Island and Green Acres.

[anotherguy]

Some time in the mid 60's when my parents bought my (and my brother's) first TV set for our room. the UHF section was basically useless though until 1978 when WPTY 24 in Memphis came on. The signal was weak but watchable on a 13 in. B&W set. Even with that, it was the late 80's before WJKT (Today's call letters) 16 in Jackson, TN came on and there was a truly watchable UHF station in my area.

[w9wi]

While our family was a relatively late adopter of color TV, I never remember a day when we *didn't* have UHF.  (I'm 51) 

Unlike many markets, Milwaukee was never UHF-free, despite having all network affiliates on VHF from ~1956 through the debut of Fox.  WVTV-18 survived the Great UHF Die-Off of the late 1950s/early 1960s; it was a popular destination for kids after school.  I can't remember what they aired for adults, but they sure had plenty of cartoons after school!

[Al Timiter]

RE: the 1955 set: I was just a kid and don't know what type of UHF tuner it was. But we had a Channel 25 and a Channel 67-they were fine when we lived in the city but when we moved to the suburbs a couple of years later, Channel 25 had ceased operations and 67 was unwatchable.

[BobbyNBC10]

We got UHF in May 1967 when we got cable and WKBD TV 50 Detroit and WTVS 56 NET/PBS Detroit were on the lineup. WUHQ-TV/WOTV ABC 41 would not come on in Battle Creek until 4 years later, WGVU PBS from Grand Rapids came on @ Christmas 1972, and there would not be naymore new stations around Battle Creek until WXMI TV 17-GR and WFSL-TV/WSYM-TV 47 Lansing both Fox stations later , would sign in 1982, 17 in March ,47 before Christmas. And Lansing  finally got it's own ABC on UHF in 1990 with WLAJ-TV 53.

I almost forgot about WKAR-TV returning on Channel 23 on 9/10/1972, after the Michigan State U. PBS station shared Channel 10 with Lansing NBC affiliate WILX-TV as WMSB-TV from 3/15/1959, after the demise of WKAR-TV's first channel,60, to 9/9/1972, and the next WILX-TV had Channel 10 to itself.

[KeithE4]

RE: the 1955 set: I was just a kid and don't know what type of UHF tuner it was. But we had a Channel 25 and a Channel 67-they were fine when we lived in the city but when we moved to the suburbs a couple of years later, Channel 25 had ceased operations and 67 was unwatchable.

Not surprising, considering the fact that (per a blurry PDF of the 1958 Telecasting Yearbook), WNOK-TV was authorized for about 740 kW visual ERP but was running at about a tenth of that - analog Class A power levels.  Given the high channel number, lossy twin-lead at UHF if not installed properly (worse at the high end), and the fact that most UHF antennas are cut for the low end of the dial, it's not surprising that Channel 67 was weak more than a few miles from their tower.  There was a reason they moved to Channel 19 in 1961.

What was the FCC thinking in '52 when they allocated UHFs at both ends of the dial in the same city (such as having Channels 25 and 67 in Charleston SC), anyway? 

[Ultimajock]

Unlike many markets, Milwaukee was never UHF-free, despite having all network affiliates on VHF from ~1956 through the debut of Fox.

...sorry, but Milwaukee was VHF-only from December 1947 (the sign-on of WTMJ-TV/3) to September 1953 (sign-on of WCAN-TV/25), and CBS didn't get a VHF affiliate there until it moved from WXIX/18 to WITI/6 in April 1959...

[Dave]

Unlike many markets, Milwaukee was never UHF-free, despite having all network affiliates on VHF from ~1956 through the debut of Fox.

...sorry, but Milwaukee was VHF-only from December 1947 (the sign-on of WTMJ-TV/3) to September 1953 (sign-on of WCAN-TV/25), and CBS didn't get a VHF affiliate there until it moved from WXIX/18 to WITI/6 in April 1959...

Chicago didn't get their first UHF station until 1964 with WCIU.  I just wonder which market was late at getting their first UHF station.  As for WXIX Milwaukee, it was originally on 19.  Too bad for CBS that they were forced back on the UHF back in 1994 when WITI became a Fox O&O (now a Fox affiliate), and had to affiliate with WDJT, because they were the only ones willing to be a CBS affiliate.

RE: the 1955 set: I was just a kid and don't know what type of UHF tuner it was. But we had a Channel 25 and a Channel 67-they were fine when we lived in the city but when we moved to the suburbs a couple of years later, Channel 25 had ceased operations and 67 was unwatchable.

Not surprising, considering the fact that (per a blurry PDF of the 1958 Telecasting Yearbook), WNOK-TV was authorized for about 740 kW visual ERP but was running at about a tenth of that - analog Class A power levels.  Given the high channel number, lossy twin-lead at UHF if not installed properly (worse at the high end), and the fact that most UHF antennas are cut for the low end of the dial, it's not surprising that Channel 67 was weak more than a few miles from their tower.  There was a reason they moved to Channel 19 in 1961.

What was the FCC thinking in '52 when they allocated UHFs at both ends of the dial in the same city (such as having Channels 25 and 67 in Charleston SC), anyway? 

I forgot what website I looked at, that had pictures of the early TV antennas.  The UHF antennas were much bigger in the 50's & early 60's, that you needed a tower to mount the gigantic loop UHF antennas.  In many cases, people needed up to 4 loops to get good UHF reception (only 1 if close enough to the tower).  The VHF antennas were bigger too, but nowhere near the size of the UHF antennas, but bigger than the average VHF antenna today. 

[KeithE4]

Chicago didn't get their first UHF station until 1964 with WCIU.

WCIU didn't go on the air until 1964, but the original CPs for them, WXXW/WYCC, WFLD, and WSNS were issued in the mid '50s.

WXXW (now WYCC) 20 was originally WIND-TV (Ralph Atlass/WIND radio - Westinghouse kept the CP active after they bought WIND in 1956, then sold it to WTTW).
WCIU-TV 26 was originally WHFC-TV (WHFC radio).
WFLD 32 was originally WTLE, assigned to Evanston (Northwestern Television).
WSNS 44 was originally WOPT, assigned to Oak Park (WOPA radio).

None of these stations were ever built by their original owners.

There was also a CP for a WJOL-TV 48 Joliet in 1954, but it also was never built.  Channel 38 was originally WCFL-TV, but that CP was assigned sometime in the '60s, but those call letters were used in early 1976, when WCFC began testing but had not received that callsign by that time.

The original UHF allocations for the Chicago metro area were (* means noncommercial allocation):
Aurora:  16 (later 60)
Chicago:  20, 26, 32, 38, 44 (no changes except to make 20 noncommercial)
Gary, IN:  50, *66 (later *50, 56, finally 50, *56)
Hammond, IN:  56 (later 62)
Elgin:  28 (later 66, reassigned to Joliet)
Joliet:  48 (later 14, finally 66)
Kankakee:  14 (later *54)
Michigan City, IN:  62 (withdrawn - 62 reassigned to Hammond.)
Waukegan:  22 (withdrawn