# Warner Amex Cable Line-Up early 1980's Canton, Ohio



## TimL (Apr 24, 2002)

We've had discussions in the past about what Cable channels are on their local systems..I was at a Salvation Army Thrift Store today and found a Cable Lineup Card on the back of an old floor model TV set for Warner Amex Cable of Canton dating from probably 1982-85


CATV (basic) 

2 WUAB (43) Ind. Cleveland 
3 WKYC (3) NBC Cleveland 
4 WDLI (17) Ind. (religious) Canton 
5 WEWS (5) ABC Cleveland 
6 WTRF (7) CBS Wheeling 
WKBN (27)CBS Youngstown 
WFMJ (21)NBC Youngstown (shared channel) 

7 TMC The Movie Channel 
8 WJKW (8) CBS Cleveland 
9 CBN Christian Broadcasting Network 
WTOV (9) NBC Steubenville, Ohio (Shared channel) 

10 WAKR (23) ABC Akron 
11 WOR-TV (9) Ind. New York City 
12 WNEO (45) PBS Alliance, Ohio 
13 WOAC (67) Ind. Canton 

Premium 1 

7P1 SHOW Showtime 
8P1 Community Time/Weather 
9P1 CNN Cable News Network 
10P1 WVIZ (25) PBS Cleveland 
11P1 MTV Music Television 
12P1 AP News Cable 
C-Span (Shared Channel) 

13P1 Canton Schools 

Premium 2 

7P2 HBO Home Box Office 
8P2 Cable Health Network 
9P2 ESPN 
10P2 Nickelodeon 
ARTS (Shared Channel) 

11P2 USA Network 
12P2 WCLQ (61) Ind. Cleveland 
SPN Satellite Programming Network (Shared Channel) 

13P2 WTBS (17) Ind. Atlanta 

Stereo sound for MTV=90.3 FM TMC=90.7FM via optional hookup .

I think the Cable box had a sliding switch. The regular cable in the middle and P1 and P2 on either side..If you had no box, you only got 2-13..The reason I think this dates from 1982-85 is because WOAC 67 had just started in March 1982. Also, Channel 8 was WJKW then and would revert back to WJW sometime in 1985


----------



## SamC (Jan 20, 2003)

I don't remember SPN. What was it and when did it die?

In those eras "shared channels" were not unusual. Many cable channels were not 24 hours, such as the daytime only Nick and nightime only ARTS; and a proto-version of NFL Sunday ticket could be created by pulling in distant CBS and NBC stations which would carry different Sunday games. 

ARTS, IIRC, was different from today's A&E. High-brow dupicate of PBS. Died in the late 80s. In that era, TMC was not owned by Showtime, and was a competitor. HBO, Showtime, and TMC were 90% the same and cable systems only had one of them. Odd here to see TMC and Showtime both. Odd that a town that far north wouldn't pull in the CBC.


----------



## Geronimo (Mar 23, 2002)

SamC said:


> I don't remember SPN. What was it and when did it die?
> 
> In those eras "shared channels" were not unusual. Many cable channels were not 24 hours, such as the daytime only Nick and nightime only ARTS; and a proto-version of NFL Sunday ticket could be created by pulling in distant CBS and NBC stations which would carry different Sunday games.
> 
> ARTS, IIRC, was different from today's A&E. High-brow dupicate of PBS. Died in the late 80s. In that era, TMC was not owned by Showtime, and was a competitor. HBO, Showtime, and TMC were 90% the same and cable systems only had one of them. Odd here to see TMC and Showtime both. Odd that a town that far north wouldn't pull in the CBC.


SPN was the Satellite Program Network. It was a general interest type channel with mostly reruns of old TV shows mixed with infomercials and vidos. It eventually became Tempo. Tempo was sold to a joint venture between NBC and Microrosoft and turned into MSNBC.


----------



## akron05 (Dec 14, 2005)

TimL said:


> We've had discussions in the past about what Cable channels are on their local systems..I was at a Salvation Army Thrift Store today and found a Cable Lineup Card on the back of an old floor model TV set for Warner Amex Cable of Canton dating from probably 1982-85
> 
> CATV (basic)
> 
> ...


Was there a such thing as a "DMA" back then? I noticed they pretty much carried all stations from all three surrounding markets.

No cable carrier in Akron or Canton carries anything but Cleveland stations nowadays.


----------



## SamC (Jan 20, 2003)

akron05 said:


> Was there a such thing as a "DMA" back then? I noticed they pretty much carried all stations from all three surrounding markets.


There has always been DMAs, but what there has not always been is retransmission concent payments. Under Fortnightly, a cable company that could pick up a signal by conventional (over the air) means could retransmit it at will. So most cable systems filled the dial with as many OTA channels as they could pull in, both to provide simple (and free) channel numbers padding, and proto versions of sports packages playing off different regional games in various sports.

The typical rural cable system, and all cable systems were rural, would consist of 12 channels, including two or three of each network and nothing else.


----------



## akron05 (Dec 14, 2005)

SamC said:


> There has always been DMAs, but what there has not always been is retransmission concent payments. Under Fortnightly, a cable company that could pick up a signal by conventional (over the air) means could retransmit it at will. So most cable systems filled the dial with as many OTA channels as they could pull in, both to provide simple (and free) channel numbers padding, and proto versions of sports packages playing off different regional games in various sports.
> 
> The typical rural cable system, and all cable systems were rural, would consist of 12 channels, including two or three of each network and nothing else.


Interesting. The above list was right at the start of MTV, I see it on the list. We got cable in 1987 and had a remote control box with a red digital channel display, and by this time the Wheeling/Steubenville stations were gone and I belive Youngstown also.


----------

