Region 8 News. WMTW-TV '80s advert.
Courtesy of Mike Elliott
WMTW (ABC)
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Region 8 News. WMTW-TV '80s advert. Courtesy of Mike Elliott |
WMTW celebrates 50 years. On August 31st, 1954, WMTW-TV signed on from New England's highest summit, Mount Washington, NH.
Former WMTW owner Jack Paar passes away, at age 85 (Yes, the same one who hosted The Tonight Show). He died from a long illness, on Tuesday January 27th, 2004 at his home in Greenwich, Connecticut. Also on the 27th, Hearst-Argyle (owners of WPTZ/WNNE) purchased WMTW-TV for $37.5 million. More info on this at fybush.com.
Logos of the past
1975 WMTW-TV logo Courtesy: Daren Gleason 
Just outside the WMTW studio in Maine (1984 about). Courtesy of Mike Elliott in Sarnia, Ontario. Local WMTW IDs/promos used in 1982 to 1984 (perhaps earlier as well?) were often similar to network IDs, except the ABC logo would be replaced with a superimposed, very cheap looking number "8" spinning, as it must have been sitting on a turntable. It looked very cheesy. |
Montrealers may remember WMTW as “the white 8” or “the other ABC affiliate.” Because Mount Washington is the Northeast's highest peak, more than 6200 feet above sea level, WMTW enjoyed a coverage area that other stations could only dream of, hence its availability on Videotron and CF Cable until the early 90s.
This little station from Poland Spring, Maine was technically Montreal’s original ABC affiliate, since it was on Montreal cable systems before WVNY even went on the air. WMTW stayed on cable until the early 90s, meaning that for about 20 years, Montrealers had two ABC stations. I’ve been recently informed that this station once had a very famous owner. When Jack Paar left "The Tonight Show" in the 60s, he moved out to Maine and bought WMTW-TV, which he sold a few years later for a profit.
An interesting fact about WMTW-TV: although they identified themselves as a Poland Spring, Maine TV Station, their transmitter was actually located in New Hampshire on Mount Washington, the highest point in the northeastern U.S. meaning that the signal was able to reach far-away parts of Vermont, New York and even Quebec. But they began to focus on southern Maine, partly because of cable which lead to a decrease in their over the air viewership in many areas to the north and west. In those areas they were once the only channel available. By the eighties, channel 8 had moved its studio from Poland Spring to Auburn and then later to Portland.
While Paar owned the station, it dropped ABC network programming on Thursday Nights and aired movies that he himself introduced each week. It was called "The Jack Paar Thursday Night Movie." Much later in 1983, WMTW was the exclusive home for many syndicated programs, still carrying reruns of "Here’s Lucy" weekdays at noon, "Charlie’s Angels" weekday afternoons at 4:30 and "One Day at a Time" weeknights. A few years later WMTW was Montreal’s only source for "The New Newlywed Game" and "The Dating Game" weeknights starting at 7.
All are courtesy of Mike Elliott, who was kind enough to mail me a cassette full of promos.
WMTW's action-packed afternoon line-up. Charlie's Angels/Starsky and Hutch, 4 to 6 PM. Good things happen when we get together, according to the jingle any way.
1954-1984.
You'll Love It, on TV 8. Hart to Hart at 4 PM and Quincy at 5 PM.
A fire destroyed the former WMTW (Channel 8) transmitter building high atop Mount Washington on Feb. 9th, 2003. Two local radio stations, still using the tower at the time, were temporarily forced off the air. Strangely enough, it happened almost exactly a year after WMTW moved away from that site.
In 2001 WMTW built a new tower in Baldwin, Maine and on February 5th, 2002 WMTW officially became a “Maine” TV station for the first time.
The reason (or blame) is partly due to digital television. But according to a recent email I received, it really has to do with an inability to provide an adequate power source to the highest summit in the U.S. North-East. I posted the detailed email below. Note that I had previously argued that the move had to do with the station having been assigned a UHF channel (45) for its DTV signal. From what I understood, even though a UHF signal is immune to certain types of interference, it can’t travel as far as its VHF counterpart.
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Above: WMTW promos from 1988. Below left: WMTW 1992 logo. (Courtesy: FPG) Below right: WMTW 2003 station ID (logo used until fall 2005) (Courtesy: FPG).
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Above left: WMTW 2005 ID. Above right: WMTW 2005 station ID/News Promo. (Both courtesy: FPG)
Come On Along on Channel 8. WMTW-TV 1982/83 season. Courtesy of Mike Elliott |
Email comment on WMTW-TV leaving Mt. WashingtonHi there, I bumped into your website quite by accident. In any event, an engineer at WMTW-TV informed me that the reason why they had to move off of Mount Washington had more to do with the lack of commercial power than anything else. Mount Washington has always used the same 5 or 6 oil drums (filled every August) to power the mountain's generators which have been there ever since Major Edwin Armstrong was first given the challenge in the 30s and 40s of building an FM radio station. No one has ever increased the amount of oil drums since. The FCC's rules regarding digital broadcasting mandated the original WMTW-TV to broadcast alongside WMTW-DT until 80% of the viewers can watch the new station. This meant that in Mount Washington's case that finite amount of oil drums which provide power (WMTW-TV was the legal power company up there, as they aquired the generators and the responsibility from Major Armstrong) to not only the TV station, but to two radio stations, 94.9 WHOM (formerly WMTW-FM), and 103.7 WPKQ (North country relay for Country 97.5 WOKQ Dover, NH), along with the non-profit Mount Washington (weather) Observatory. Simply put, the power source (the oil drums) ran the risk of running dry before the oil trucks could safely get back up there to refuel, if they were to have a WMTW-DT at all up there. If they were to put a digital station up there it would have to be a much weaker signal than anyone would want to have, due to the lack of continuous commercial powerline. A UHF signal would certainly be able to reach Portland, but it would need additional fuel that just wasn't there. Ironically, people had been circulating rumors for years, decades, about that mountain getting commercial power (fed underneath the railbed of the Cog Railway). They never got further than rumors unfortunately. However, you wouldn't believe how many cable systems took WMTW as the ABC station here in eastern Vermont along with how many people laugh at WVNY. I myself, still would rather look at a now grainy WMTW than a clear WVNY. Under WMTW's agreement with the FCC, channel 8 should've built and powered up relay transmitters in Colebrook, NH... White River Jct., VT... and over in the Carrabasset Valley of Maine in order for them to bring down WMTW from the mountain. It's been 2 years and from what I can tell the White River Jct translator has yet to be built. Plus, no one ever informed a single one of the towns to which WMTW was the only ABC signal, or the only signal period, that they were indeed leaving the mountain. In the town of Bretton Woods, NH, the NH Union-Leader reported 2 years ago the residents were livid about the move from the mountain, as no one was told about it. One could fairly describe those folks as angry enough to head to the studio in Portland with torches and pitchforks! This viewer, still doesn't consider the matter a "done deal." Until WMTW-TV either turns those relay transmitters on (I'd argue they need much more than what they agreed to.) or moves their analog transmitter back on up on the mountain, they are indeed in violation of their license. I'm in the process of getting a bunch of communities along the Conn. River to at least complain to the FCC. The FCC is currently reviewing WMTW's proposed sale from Harron Communications (a.k.a. "WMTW Broadcast Group, LLC) to Hearst-Argyle stations (also owners of NBC WNNE Hartford, VT). When the mandated translator for WMTW is built in White River Jct (a section of Hartford, VT) that town will basically have their ABC and NBC signals coming from the same company if the sale goes through. That is against the law. Plenty of people watch through rabbit ears still. Most up country cable systems get their broadcast signals the same way the rest of us would when we don't have cable. I know I'm a wordy son of a gun, but I thought you'd find what I know about all this rather interesting. Bob Welch, Technician Class Radio Amateur: KB1EVV Watches WMTW-TV nightly from an outdoor antenna in Concord, VT (WMUR's running ABC on it's two Littleton, NH relays, which I believe should be turned over to WMTW-TV to cover their signal loss around here. Before WMTW left, these same relays were b'casting Fox.) Editor's updateWMTW-TV did recently turn on some new relay transmitters. Note the mention of the New Hampshire and Vermont repeater signals in the new 2005 IDs. FeedbackPlease see comments regarding WMTW-TV, plus various topics, from W9WI's Doug Smith. |
The MTW stands for Mt. Washington.
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