Only station in Nebraska & Iowa completely set up for color

[old_tv_nut]

KMTV Channel 3, Omaha, 1956 trade ad -
"Color Firsts" from lowbrow to highbrow

[ChrisW6ATV]

1000 color shows was already a lot in 1956. Thank you for posting the ad.

[jstout66]

Well that's cool! I'm watching KMTV as we speak!

[DavGoodlin]

There was no excuse for holding out on color, buy your CTC4 today!

I bet channel 3 had quite a coverage area across level terrain.

Thanks for the history!

[jstout66]

I don't know how their coverage area was in 1956, but now, it must be the lowest wattage station.
We have KETV (the strongest) that is the ABC affiliate
WOWT the NBC Affiliate
KMTV, CBS Affiliate
KMTV is and was always the hardest station to pick up on rabbit-ears.
Also.. it caused much confusion, but in the 80's, WOWT and KMTV swithed Affiliates. It STILL confuses me to this day on what channel certain shows are on.....

[Dude111]

w0w thats an nice ad!!!!!!

Thank you for sharing it

[old_tv_nut]

Originally Posted by ChrisW6ATV

1000 color shows was already a lot in 1956. Thank you for posting the ad.

It would be interesting to see their schedule - I wonder how many color programs were 15 minutes or less, e.g., clergy offering an opening meditation; weather forecast; local news (remember, newscasts started out as short programs, not the most important local content as they are now).

[DavGoodlin]

Originally Posted by jstout66

KMTV is and was always the hardest station to pick up on rabbit-ears.
Also.. it caused much confusion, but in the 80's, WOWT and KMTV swithed Affiliates. It STILL confuses me to this day on what channel certain shows are on.....

The lowest channels, subject to the most interference, seemed to improve if you placed balls of aluminum foil at the ends of the rabbit ears. DX was crazy with channel 2, we got WPBT Miami once in 1978, it overpowered WMAR 2 in Baltimore, which we normally got clear.

When CBS and Westinghouse b'casting were sold together in the early 90's, affiliates had to change also. Baltimore's WMAR has been all three networks over the last 30 years. WBAL was NBC, then CBS, now NBC again. WJZ (the group-W station) switched from ABC to CBS. Talk about confusion.....

[W3XWT]

Originally Posted by jstout66

I don't know how their coverage area was in 1956, but now, it must be the lowest wattage station.
We have KETV (the strongest) that is the ABC affiliate
WOWT the NBC Affiliate
KMTV, CBS Affiliate
KMTV is and was always the hardest station to pick up on rabbit-ears.
Also.. it caused much confusion, but in the 80's, WOWT and KMTV swithed Affiliates. It STILL confuses me to this day on what channel certain shows are on.....

Back when I was an active TVDX'er chasing E-Skip, I only managed to bag KMTV once. And, even then it was knocked-out by KDLO in Garden City...

BTW, that was for reception in Virginia...

[wa2ise]

Originally Posted by jstout66

but in the 80's, WOWT and KMTV swithed Affiliates. It STILL confuses me to this day on what channel certain shows are on.....

That doesn't happen in New York City, as the stations are named after their networks. CBS is on WCBS, NBC is on WABC, and ABC is on WABC. However, the FOX station isn't WFOX...

Interesting how your city has W stations and K stations. Here it's all Ws. Heard a story that a station under construction in New Hamphire was given a K callsign by someone at the FCC, who must have thought New Hamphire was out west somewheres. If I owned that station, I would have kept that K callsign, as I'd be the only station in town with such a call.