Analog out: Local stations make digital jump

NBC29 chief engineer Bob Jenkins, right, pushes the button to digital broadcast with FCC Virginia state coordinator John Hunter looking over his shoulder.
PHOTO BY LISA PROVENCE

We've been hearing about the switch from analog to digital television on February 17, 2009, for what seems like years now. So when Congress extended the deadline for rabbit ears, local stations just said no and went digital as planned.

The Newsplex even made the switch a day early. "The [Federal Communications Commission] contacted us over the weekend and said we had to cut off CBS analog before February 17," says general manager Brad Ramsey.

The Newsplex CBS station, WCAV, quit the analog world at 11:35pm February 16 after the news; and the station stayed off the air for a couple of hours. Its Fox WAHU and ABC WVAW stations had already switched over during the day February 16 live from Carter's Mountain.

"Basically we had to turn off analog on each of the stations and reconfigure," explains Ramsey.

Although it costs thousands of dollars a month to transmit analog signals, money wasn't the main reason for dropping analog sooner rather than later, says Ramsey.

"We didn't want to confuse people," says Ramsey, "and that's happening in some markets. And our signal will be much stronger."

And now that it's done, "I feel like we have a big monkey off our back," he says.

Over at NBC29, the station hasn't quite bid adieu to analog. Although it pulled the plug on analog news and programs at 12:30pm Tuesday, February 17, viewers who haven't made the switch will still see something: a video that explains (in English, Spanish, and closed-captioned text) how to hook up a converter.

"Digital television is a little different from analog," explains general manager Harold Wright. "With analog, people may put up with a snowy picture, or ghosts. With digital," he says, "it has to be an absolutely perfect picture or there's no picture at all."

Wiith only 610 people in the area waiting for converter boxes that would allow their older TV sets to get the digital signals, Wright believes that Charlottesville is ready for the change.

"We've been telling people for a year," he says, noting that the stations gets 10 to 12 daily calls from viewers. "We're getting as many phone calls from people telling us to shut up about the change."

The station has been working with the Jefferson Area Board for the Aging, because the elderly are believed to be most prone to getting left in the digital dust. When problems can't be solved over the phone, they're referred to PinTech Corporation, which will send out engineers to get viewers set up.

With NBC29 doing soft tests since December 1, "I've said for weeks I thought this was going to be much ado about nothing," says Wright before the 12:30pm pushing of the button. "I still think that."

The station's switchover went smoothly, and by April 17, it should be able to pull the plug on analog, unless Wright can convince the FCC to let him end the public service announcement earlier. "They're forcing me to spend $10,000 a month," he says, "on a station that no one's watching."