Call Centers Buzzing in Wilmington

[foxeng]

The station talked about here, WECT, located its DTV antenna more in the Wilmington populous and centrally located in the market area and away from its rural channel 6 2000 ft analog tower that covers 2 other DMA's, 45 miles out of town and most people complaining are out in the rural areas not in the Wilmington DMA.

Most calls from viewers who lost access to WECT-TV.
By Michael Malone -- Broadcasting & Cable, 9/8/2008 6:58:00 PM

The phones have not all been silent since Wilmington, N.C., shut off its analog-TV signal at noon Monday.

Melody Prevatte said her call center at Southeastern Community College received about 75 calls, mostly Columbus County residents who could not watch WECT-TV. “One lady was near hysterical,” she added. “She continued calling -- I think she spoke to everyone on our campus.”

A call center in Bladen County got at least 25-30 calls, said Sara West, an EMS member of the Bladen County Fire Department, more than they expected. “That’s a lot of calls,” she said, adding that most were about problems receiving WECT.

Raycom Media’s WECT had 82 calls by 5:30 p.m. General manager Gary McNair, who told B&C a few weeks back that he’d be “completely surprised” if the shutdown wasn’t a slam-dunk, said the bulk of them were probably viewers who lived close to the station’s analog transmitter, which is no longer functioning.

He was surprised to hear the number of callers to the various call centers, but he was confident that the kinks would work out over time. “I’d venture to say that, given the right equipment, you can pick up our signal anywhere in the market,” he added. “Now it’s the education process for those who didn’t get it.”

Link to remainder of article: http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6594050.html

[John L]

What were the people at WECT thinking when they built their DTV transmitter 45 miles away?   Certainly its going to make a big difference.

I guess the only way to resolve that problem is put up a relay DTV transmitter about 10 miles on the other side of the WECT analog transmitter making it 55 miles away from the original DTV.

However it probably take a lot of time, about a year or so after getting FCC approvals and construction.

-John L.

[foxeng]

WECT's DT antenna is more centrally located to the DMA. The analog antenna was located to be more centrally located for the populous of southeastern North Carolina when there were only 6 TV stations (1968) within 200 miles. It coverages major parts of 4 DMA's these days. Remember, Wilmington is considered a rural area and their DMA is only 6 countries.