The Bismarck Tribune from Bismarck, North Dakota • 34

Friday, February 1, 1985 The Bismarck Tribune Fanfare Pag 11 Page 10 Friday, February 1, 1985 The Bismarck Tribune 0 Fanfare Finally! ABC om local airwaws III i 'el i I I "ill? 15 i i i ll 1 -I CJ imMn 1 i 111 I. I i Ir As' 'i i VJT 7TS seen even -The admn LTP'e cartoon, featuring JjS Understanding the bafflegab of VHFand UHB Eemember that funny-looking wire antenna that kept falling off the back of the television set? It didn't seem to do anything one way or the other, so it was finally either put back in the box unlikely or thrown away (very likely). That was a UHF antenna, and the reason it didn't do anything is Bismarck doesn't have any UHF channels. BUT BISMARCK will have its first such station in about a month. And for people without cable TV, that funny wire antenna will be very useful.

The new station a satellite of ABC's Fargo affiliate, WDAY isn't even on the air yet, and already the doubting Thomases are voicing their opinions: "Their signal won't be very good." "Nobody's going to bother with UHF." The new station is the first in the Bismarck area on the UHF ultra high frequency band. All the others Prairie Public Television, KFYR-TV and KXMB-TV are VHF (very high frequency) stations. Gary Stegmiller, chief engineer for PPTV, explains VHF stations are assigned frequencies in one of two bands. Channels 2 through 6 are in the VHF low band, ranging from 54-60 megacycles for Channel 2 to 82-88 megacycles for Channel 6. Channels 7 through 13 are in the VHF high band, ranging from 174-180 megacycles for Channel 7 to 210-216 megacycles for Channel 13.

IN BETWEEN the two VHF bands are several other bands, most notably those for FM radio. UHF signals are of much higher frequency, starting with Channel 14 at 470 megacycles and going up to Channel 83 at 890 megacycles. Stegmiller says the higher a station's frequency, the more power is needed to broadcast its signal oyer the same area. For example, both PPTV on Channel 3 and KFYR on Channel 5, both on the VHF low band, have an effective broadcast power of 100,000 watts, while KXMB near the high end of the UHF high band needs 316,000 watts of effective broadcast power. The new station's transmitter is a hefty half-million watts on Channel 17, which Stegmiller says should be enough to insure a quality picture in the Bismarck-Mandan area.

People living on the fringe of the VHF broadcast area, however, may have some trouble getting a good UHF signal. And he says a UHF antenna is usually a necessity. Insofar as tuning in UHF channels is concerned, the parent station of the new Bismarck outlet, Fargo's WDAY, is already planning an advertising campaign to show prospective viewers how to get their signal. Station manager Du Wayne Heggen says there will also be promotions for obtaining UHF antennas. FOR SUBSCRIBERS of Bismarck-Mandan Cable Television, the new station will be easily found.

The cable company has cleverly placed it on Channel 8, which up until now has been the location for WDAY. For those without cable, tuning in the new station on sets with mechanical tuners will require setting the set's VHF tuning device to the stop between channels 13 and 2. Then the UHF tuning knob is set to Channel 17. The UHF knob often has a collar for fine adjustment of the tuning. City gets 4th station By TED QUANRUD Tribune Staff Writer Scattered around Bismarck are bright yellow billboards proclaiming, "Coming soon to a TV near you.

ABC." Bismarck's first UHF television channel Channel 17 should be in operation in the second half of February, says station manager Du Wayne Heggen. The arrival of the station means fulltime ABC programming to area residents who are not subscribers to Bismarck-Mandan Cable Television. THE ESTIMATED cost of the station and its transmitting facilities is $1.8 million. The new station's call letters have not yet been announced by the Federal Communications Commission, but Bismarck viewers occasionally will be hearing and seeing the letters WDAY. WDAY is Fargo's oldest station, and the new Bismarck station is a satellite.

Both are subsidiaries of the Forum Publishing Co. The company, which also publishes the Fargo Forum, is mostly owned by the heirs of the late Norman Black, Jr. WDAY's executive vice president, Sumner Rasmussen, Fargo, says "as a ballpark figure" about $1.8 million is being spent to get the Bismarck station underway. Rasmussen says an exact figure is unavailable because much of the cost is tied to another WDAY satellite being established in Minot. Initially, the parent company is hoping for about a 17 percent market share in the Bismarck-Mandan area.

Heggen says the Bismarck station, situated the Russell Building north of the city along U.S. Highway 83, will receive its network programming from the Fargo station over a microwave relay. The station will also be able to receive signals with its satellite dish antenna. From the station, the incoming signals, together with material generated locally, will be transmitted to a new tower near St. Anthony, and broadcast over Channel 17 on 300,000 watts.

THE STATION will be located on Channel 8 for subscribers of Bismarck-Mandan Cable By JERRY ANDERSON of The Tribune St 1 7CzrronK Waiting for the remodeling of their offices is the staff of the new ABC affiliate. From left are sales manager Chuck Peterson, news reporter Becky Jones, station manager Du Wayne Heggen and cameraman Mike Bismarck first got televsion signals 31 years ago programming, including "The Life of Riley," was on the air later in the same week. KFYR has always been an NBC affiliate. Three years later, KBMB went on the air with the programming lineup of CBS. Initially, the station was very much a satellite of KXJB, Valley City, and its schedule included programs from the Concordia College campus and others more likely to appeal to Fargo viewers.

Later, the station would change its name to KXMB, establish its own programming and add some programming from ABC. In June 1979, KBME, the Bismarck satellite of Prairie Public Radio, was first seen here. All four stations have their transmission towers situated just east of St. Anthony, about 12 miles southwest of Bismarck. We invited a monster into our living room Saturday and already it is trying to run part of our lives.

The trouble is we're enjoying practically every minute of it. The "monster is television. Tribune Staff Writer Allen Doerr reviewing the first day of television in Bismarck, Dec. 19, 1953. The new ABC affiliate is the fourth television station to be established in the Bismarck-Mandan area, and goes on the air more than 30 years after the first TV signal was broadcast here.

On Dec. 8, 1953, the test pattern of KFYR-TV first appeared on what few television sets were then available. Regular radio stations, the television stations, The Bismarck Tribune, The Finder, Newman Signs and more," says KFYR general manager Tom Bahr. "Any new player in the game is going to have an effect. They're going to have an effect, but it won't be a major problem." Ironically, the new station's signal is being microwaved to Bismarck over facilities rented from KFYR.

KXMB general manager Steve Reiten says the Bismarck-Mandan area should be able to support a third station, and the new ABC affiliate should not be a problem of any kind for his station. IN THE past, KXMB has carried some ABC programming, although recently only Monday Night Football has figured prominently in the Bismarck station's lineup. Now KXMB will be solely a CBS affiliate. Heggen says the response the new station has received has been "uniformly good; it's very favorable. "I think we've got a good product; I know we have a good product," Heggen says.

"I think people are really going to like it." Television. That spot is now occupied by WDAY, and Jot Turner, marketing director for the cable company, says he doubts whether many people will initially notice the difference in programming. Turner expects "a couple of people" may drop their cable subscriptions when the ABC affiliate goes on the air, but say the new cable lineup is strong enough to not only keep current subscribers, but to attract new ones as well. Heggen says the final schedule for the new station has yet to be worked out. For the most part, it will follow WDAY, but certain non-network programs now carried by the Fargo station are also being carried by stations in the Bismarck area and thus will not be available to the new station.

Initially, the 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. newcasts will be those from WDAY with feeds from the Bismarck station's reporter, Becky Jones. "I want to emphasize that this is an evolving situation," Heggen says. "As we grow, we will be more and more independent, and eventually be a completely Bismarck operation." Heggen compares the situation to that of Forum Publishing' "I really love the broadcasting business, and I'm very happy to be with WDAY," Heggen says.

"They treat their advertisers right, their audience right and their people right." Neither of the two existing commercial television stations are delighted by another competitor, but neither seems frightened by the prospect. "When you're talking ad dollars, you're talking about all the media, including the offices. FORMERLY GENERAL manager of Meyer Broadcasting in Bismarck, Heggen became associate director of the North Dakota Petroleum Association in 1980, a post he left to assume his current position. He began his broadcasting career in Jamestown with KEYJ, then worked for Rep. Mark Andrews and was news director at KXJB, Fargo, before joining Meyer in 1972.

Grand Forks affiliate, WDAZ, also a WDAY satellite, but now operated as a separate station with a payroll of some 50 people. So far, Heggen's staff includes Jones, sales manager Chuck Peterson and cameraman Michael Kramer. By the time the station is on the air, about nine people will be employed. The station's new facilities are being remodeled into a studio, control room and The Love Bom-.