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Post by BlowMeUpTom on Jan 26, 2014 6:04:08 GMT -5
Who on here knows anything about the 80s movie subscription station that was placed on Channel 6, ran by a single box, I asked about this before, but cant find the thread, it was 1st known as Channel One, then it switched to SelectTV, does anyone know anything about this station, particularly, Channel One, there is NOTHING! anywhere on the net about it, I have found a few tid bits on SelectTV, but really nothing about it?
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Post by kenglish on Feb 17, 2014 7:33:08 GMT -5
It was an MMDS (microwave) channel, broadcast from the top of the Beneficial Life Tower (old ZCMI Center). They used a bunch of tape players (can't remember if they were U-matic or VHS). Everybody I know bought those kits that would down-convert the signal to a VHF channel...you had to go out and buy a couple of pieces of PVC pipe, and build it inside the end cap. Most people got tired of trying to bootleg it. I re-tuned mine to the local ENG Frequencies, and watched the Barney Clark stuff from University Hospital.
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Post by Terry on Mar 23, 2014 14:49:33 GMT -5
I seldom check this board anymore, but...
I thought that Channel One was transmitted from the old Murray smokestack. It was owned by Sam Skaggs, the same guy that owned the Skaggs drug stores (later called Osco). Channel One was run by his son Don Skaggs (Skaggs Telecommunications).
Maybe I'm confused. That often happens. Maybe the Skaggs thing had a different name. But it was a single channel microwave pay movie channel. They later retransmitted a satellite delivered movie channel. I think that they actually had facilities at the bottom of the smokestack or very near by.
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Post by kenglish on Mar 25, 2014 6:50:49 GMT -5
That may have been the predecessor of it, or something. I remember the old, sort of "spooky-looking" microwave transmitter, and some tape machines, up in the radio equipment room of the BLT. I think somebody had to go up every week and change the tapes, as they just played in a rotation, 24/7.
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Post by BlowMeUpTom on Sept 15, 2014 6:01:37 GMT -5
Well you guys are extremely well informed, and have answered this for me greatly, I truly appreciate it, seeing I was 6 years old when this was around, and of course not old enough to really invest much time into knowing the origins of this channel, only that most normal people, have no idea about stuff like this, they barely remember the channel, so I figured if I was going to find out anything about it at all, this was the board to hit up, any additional info would be cool, I'm working on getting a few tapes, recorded off both these stations, and uploading some Station I.D.'s and spots, and whatever else I can find regarding these 2 stations.
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Post by BlowMeUpTom on Sept 15, 2014 6:36:53 GMT -5
It was an MMDS (microwave) channel, broadcast from the top of the Beneficial Life Tower (old ZCMI Center). They used a bunch of tape players (can't remember if they were U-matic or VHS). Everybody I know bought those kits that would down-convert the signal to a VHF channel...you had to go out and buy a couple of pieces of PVC pipe, and build it inside the end cap. Most people got tired of trying to bootleg it. I re-tuned mine to the local ENG Frequencies, and watched the Barney Clark stuff from University Hospital. What was the Barney Clark Stuff from University Hospital??? what are you talking about, please explain???
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Post by kenglish on Oct 13, 2014 7:05:53 GMT -5
Dr. Barney Clark was the retired Seattle Dentist who received the world's first artificial heart. It was implanted at the University of Utah hospital, and he survived 112 days. Most every media outlet in the world had reporters here. The TV Remote Pickup for local stations was on 2 GHz, so it was possible to tweak the length of the tuning stub on the PC Board of those old bootleg down-converters, and watch the feeds, live.
At KSL, we hosted both CBS News and CNN in our facility on Social Hall Avenue. I still have one of the old "Potato Sack" mesh bags that CBS used to send tapes back to New York. They were yellow, and had the CBS News logo on them, with "CBS NEWS URGENT" printed on the label. They would send one copy of the tape on a plane, then wait until that plane left, and send the backup copy on the next flight.
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