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7&4 in 1980

Covers all of Northern Lower Michigan (from Ludington to Tawas northward), as well as the Straits Area and Soo Region.
Milk
Posts: 127
Joined: Sat Apr 26, 2014 9:30 pm

7&4 in 1980

Post by Milk » Fri Jun 28, 2019 11:46 am

I think Hell has officially frozen over.... Somebody uploaded a video of 7&4 from 1980 during an episode of Little House on the Prairie.

Judging by the quality of the broadcast, I think the Biederman family was proud to get out of the TV business.

[youtube]https://youtu.be/y91UtElR9Dg[/youtube]



Realist
Posts: 979
Joined: Wed Dec 13, 2006 10:36 pm
Location: Northern Michigan

Re: 7&4 in 1980

Post by Realist » Fri Jun 28, 2019 5:01 pm

What a blast from the past!

I’m thinking the station owners didn’t like spending money, based on their graphics package?



WC8KCY
Posts: 154
Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2004 4:09 am

Re: 7&4 in 1980

Post by WC8KCY » Sat Jun 29, 2019 3:18 pm

Wow, great find!

That "graphics package" looks like the same RHL character generator that we suffered with at CJIC/CKCY/CHBX-TV. What a pain in the arse...

Note that WPBN was probably still getting its NBC feed off-air from WOTV (now WOOD) and WNEM at the time. Still, it's incredible that they lose sync switching between the network pickup and local insertion. That should have been engineered out of their chain by early 1954.



jm
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Joined: Sat Dec 04, 2004 10:03 pm
Location: Mid Michigan

Re: 7&4 in 1980

Post by jm » Sat Jun 29, 2019 5:37 pm

If I remember correctly, WPBN got the network by microwave. There was a relay tower on the south side of US-10 between Reed City and Chase.



Deleted User 4520

Re: 7&4 in 1980

Post by Deleted User 4520 » Sat Jun 29, 2019 11:03 pm

Were there any Kroger stores in northern Michigan at that time? I thought it was unusual that 7&4 advertised Kroger.

Also that graphics package was superior to 9&10's current graphics!!



organman95
Posts: 583
Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2015 9:49 pm

Re: 7&4 in 1980

Post by organman95 » Sun Jun 30, 2019 3:00 pm

TheForce wrote:
Sat Jun 29, 2019 11:03 pm
Also that graphics package was superior to 9&10's current graphics!!
LOL
Hell, 9&10's own graphics package from 1986 is superior to their current graphics...

And that's absolutely awesome that 7&4 pre-88 was finally uploaded. Was 7&4 using Beta when sold to US Tobacco?



Milk
Posts: 127
Joined: Sat Apr 26, 2014 9:30 pm

Re: 7&4 in 1980

Post by Milk » Sun Jun 30, 2019 6:35 pm

TheForce wrote:
Sat Jun 29, 2019 11:03 pm
Were there any Kroger stores in northern Michigan at that time? I thought it was unusual that 7&4 advertised Kroger.

Also that graphics package was superior to 9&10's current graphics!!
Kroger had several stores in TC and Cadillac. The Big Lots at Cherryland was originally a Kroger.



Deleted User 15062

Re: 7&4 in 1980

Post by Deleted User 15062 » Sun Jun 30, 2019 8:00 pm

I remember getting both 9 and 10 + 7 and 4 back in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. We usually saw both sets a stations regularly. I remember catching Channel 4 Saturday night's, when they used to show Gimme a Break. Local Green Bay station, WLUK-11, had religion and infomercials on at 7. I had to watch Gimme a Break on Channel 4.



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Jim Sofonia
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Location: Traverse City

Re: 7&4 in 1980

Post by Jim Sofonia » Mon Jul 01, 2019 10:38 am

WC8KCY wrote:
Sat Jun 29, 2019 3:18 pm

Note that WPBN was probably still getting its NBC feed off-air from WOTV (now WOOD) and WNEM at the time. Still, it's incredible that they lose sync switching between the network pickup and local insertion. That should have been engineered out of their chain by early 1954.
WPBN took off air pickups from WOTV and WNEM at Bear Lake and Chase. This saved the station the cost of bringing NBC New York feed from ATT all the way to Traverse City. They used this into the early 80's when NBC installed the satellite dishes you see in the front yard of 7-4 studio. This is when the sync roll you saw for years was finally synchronized with the network sat feed. The two off air pickups came together at one of the hops(maybe Barryton) and the on to TC. The switching between feeds was done with a simple phone call to the tower shack where it switched on each ring without answering the call saving toll charges. Seems I was told a prankster (maybe ex employ) would call and switch and would causing problems at WPBN.



WC8KCY
Posts: 154
Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2004 4:09 am

Re: 7&4 in 1980

Post by WC8KCY » Mon Jul 01, 2019 1:25 pm

mars wrote:
Mon Jul 01, 2019 10:38 am
WC8KCY wrote:
Sat Jun 29, 2019 3:18 pm

Note that WPBN was probably still getting its NBC feed off-air from WOTV (now WOOD) and WNEM at the time. Still, it's incredible that they lose sync switching between the network pickup and local insertion. That should have been engineered out of their chain by early 1954.
WPBN took off air pickups from WOTV and WNEM at Bear Lake and Chase. This saved the station the cost of bringing NBC New York feed from ATT all the way to Traverse City. They used this into the early 80's when NBC installed the satellite dishes you see in the front yard of 7-4 studio. This is when the sync roll you saw for years was finally synchronized with the network sat feed. The two off air pickups came together at one of the hops(maybe Barryton) and the on to TC. The switching between feeds was done with a simple phone call to the tower shack where it switched on each ring without answering the call saving toll charges. Seems I was told a prankster (maybe ex employ) would call and switch and would causing problems at WPBN.
Incredible...the microwaved-in network feed wasn't even brought into the studio where it would've gone thru genlock at the board? The sync loss on the clip above certainly seems to provide ample evidence of that.

If that ain't cheap-ass engineering, I don't know what is.

WGTU used off-air pickups for its ABC feed (WZZM and WJRT, I believe), but I don't recall them ever losing sync between local and network.

With all the tropo events in the early 1980s, both WPBN and WGTU were often left scrambling between two feeds, unable to find one good clean signal. It seems odd to me that they just didn't go for an off-air signal from Green Bay, which they could've grabbed from an antenna on the studio tower, at least as a secondary/tertiary option.



ftballfan
Posts: 875
Joined: Thu Sep 17, 2009 6:38 pm

Re: 7&4 in 1980

Post by ftballfan » Mon Jul 01, 2019 6:11 pm

Milk wrote:
Sun Jun 30, 2019 6:35 pm
TheForce wrote:
Sat Jun 29, 2019 11:03 pm
Were there any Kroger stores in northern Michigan at that time? I thought it was unusual that 7&4 advertised Kroger.

Also that graphics package was superior to 9&10's current graphics!!
Kroger had several stores in TC and Cadillac. The Big Lots at Cherryland was originally a Kroger.
I think several of the Family Fare stores in northern Michigan were originally built as Kroger.

This might be wrong, but I think the Manistee Family Fare traces its lineage back to Kroger via Glen's, Prevo's, Plumb's, and Hamady's



Milk
Posts: 127
Joined: Sat Apr 26, 2014 9:30 pm

Re: 7&4 in 1980

Post by Milk » Mon Jul 01, 2019 8:22 pm

ftballfan wrote:
Mon Jul 01, 2019 6:11 pm
Milk wrote:
Sun Jun 30, 2019 6:35 pm
TheForce wrote:
Sat Jun 29, 2019 11:03 pm
Were there any Kroger stores in northern Michigan at that time? I thought it was unusual that 7&4 advertised Kroger.

Also that graphics package was superior to 9&10's current graphics!!
Kroger had several stores in TC and Cadillac. The Big Lots at Cherryland was originally a Kroger.
I think several of the Family Fare stores in northern Michigan were originally built as Kroger.

This might be wrong, but I think the Manistee Family Fare traces its lineage back to Kroger via Glen's, Prevo's, Plumb's, and Hamady's
I think Frankfort's Family Fare was an A&P.



organman95
Posts: 583
Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2015 9:49 pm

Re: 7&4 in 1980

Post by organman95 » Tue Jul 02, 2019 8:46 am

Cheboygan's was B&C way back in the day before Glen's.

As for pulling signal from Wisconsin, wouldn't the length over water cause signal issues as well?

And that slide and voice-over reminds me a bit of the old WCMU/CML/etc. slide and ID



ftballfan
Posts: 875
Joined: Thu Sep 17, 2009 6:38 pm

Re: 7&4 in 1980

Post by ftballfan » Tue Jul 02, 2019 9:11 am

Was that Casey Kasem doing the NBC voice-overs?



organman95
Posts: 583
Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2015 9:49 pm

Re: 7&4 in 1980

Post by organman95 » Tue Jul 02, 2019 12:53 pm

Yes. I think he did it from '78 - '90



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