Topic: Dayton, Cincy public TV stations to merge

[noozer]

Dayton, Cincy public TV stations to merge
By John Nolan
Staff Writer / Dayton Daily News
Friday, October 31, 2008

DAYTON — The operators of Dayton's public television stations, WPTD Channel 16 and WPTO Channel 14, will merge with the operator of Cincinnati's public TV station, WCET Channel 48, to form a regional public TV company.

Greater Dayton Public Television, also known as Think TV, and Greater Cincinnati Public Television expect to complete the merger within the first three months of 2009, the organizations announced on Friday, Oct. 31.

...

http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2008/10/31/ddn103108tvmergeweb.html

[moonloop]

Makes sense. Though KY and Cincinnati both have public radio and tv stations. I 'm surprised they don't merge. I wonder if being in different states would be the issue. One of the best public radio stations is in Northern Kentucky.

[Cincinnatus]

Dayton, Cincy public TV stations to merge

... and here we go.

[Jeffrey]

Makes sense. Though KY and Cincinnati both have public radio and tv stations. I 'm surprised they don't merge. I wonder if being in different states would be the issue.

Kentucky has a statewide public television network, KET.  It's run out of Lexington.  Back in the pre-cable era they had UHF channels and transponders around the state, so even the more backwoods parts of Kentucky could watch public TV.  KET got the usually PBS fare but also did their own Kentucky-specific programming.  Lousville used to have its own station affiliated with the school board, but that merged into KET.

Maybe this SW Ohio regional "network" will do some local regionally-oriented programming?

One of the best public radio stations is in Northern Kentucky.

The one I used to listed to was WNKU, which used to bill itself as "Kentuck Folk Radio", as it played a lot of trad/folk/bluegrass stuff.  I think they changed their programming and dont emphasis the trad/folk side as much.   Usually when I'm in Cincy I listen to WOBO and sometimes WAIF.  These are more community radio, without an NPR/APR affiliatioon.

[UncleRando]

WNKU is no longer "Kentucky Folk Radio" as you mentioned.  It is the best NPR station in Cincinnati IMHO.

[moonloop]

I did a quick search for local radio stations:

WNKU-FM: 89.7 - Highland Heights, KY
Strong signal WNKU-FM: 89.7's signal is strong in 45238.

WGUC-FM: 90.9 - Cincinnati
Strong signal WGUC-FM: 90.9's signal is strong in 45238.

WVXU-FM: 91.7 - Cincinnati
Part of The X-Star Radio Network
Connecting You to a World of Ideas
Strong signal WVXU-FM: 91.7's signal is strong in 45238.

WMUB-FM: 88.5 - Oxford, OH
Moderate signal WMUB-FM: 88.5's signal is moderate in 45238.

WOSU-AM: 820 - Columbus, OH
Part of WOSU Public Media
Your All Day NPR Station
Weak signal WOSU-AM: 820's signal is weak in 45238.

When I'm not using my iPod, 89.7 is my favorite. I thought it was in Fort Thomas. WVXU-FM offers access to WOXY.com. WGUC-FM: 90.9 is mostly classical music. I never tried the other two.

[moonloop]

I guess it makes sense to do a list for local TV stations:

CET, Cincinnati, OH
http://www.cetconnect.org/

ThinkTVNetwork, Dayton, OH
http://www.thinktv.org/

KET, KY
http://www.ket.org/

I thought there were more, but I think it's the same stations on multi channels.

[dmerkow]

It does make sense, but I wonder who has had the series of bad fundraising cycles. It seems like ThinkTV is stronger than WCET (and they are carried on many Cincy cable boxes). The management part would seem to point to this is really Dayton taking over CET. This gives ThinkTV access to the wealthier Cincy market, while CET lives to see another day.