old question: why isn't there a Channel 1?

[old_tv_nut]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

I don't know how it is possible for a television station to switch from analog NTSC to ATSC digital while remaining on the same RF channel, but somehow 23 did it.

Technically it is very easy to change from analog to digital just by swapping exciters, although meeting the strict out-of-band radiation limits could prevent doing it that simply (some high-level filtering may be required). A few stations (mainly public broadcasting, I believe) requested and got permission to do a direct cut with no transition period of dual broadcasts. In one of the cases I read about, they determined that only 3% (IIRC) of their audience was using the over-the-air signal, since they were serving a large state-wide area rather than a single concentrated urban population.