New York City had a full VHF dial, channels 2 WCBS, 4 WNBC, 5 (independent), 7 WABC, 9 (independent), 11 (independent) 13 PBS. We didn't worry much about our sets lacking UHF, as the stations on UHF were mostly Spanish.
We have the network flagship stations, and when I was a young kid, I thought that these stations covered the entire country. (I confused the stations with the networks, thinking that it was the same thing). So why did empty channels exist, I wondered. Figured it was the government mandating it, just to be a PITA, just like the teachers in my grammar school making us do lots of stupid stuff, like memorizing poems, or names and dates in history
