| Wednesday November 10, 2004 |
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| Dear Yahoo!: |
| Why isn't there a Channel One on TV? |
Marcus
Reston, Virginia |
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| Dear Marcus: |
|
We found the answer to your question at The Straight Dope, a wonderful resource for those "Hey, what about..." types of questions. Cecil Adams writes that there was in fact a Channel One when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) first allocated broadcast television frequencies in 1945.
The FCC is responsible for regulating interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable. By 1945 most television signals were transmitted through microwave relay stations, and the FCC had to divvy up the frequencies.
In 1947 the FCC decided to allocate the Channel One band, which ranges from 44 to 50 MHz, to radio. In 1952, the FCC added 70 new UHF channels (14 to 83) to the jam-packed VHF channels (2 to 13). Then came cable, and all bets were off.
Bob Cooper also provides a detailed analysis of the decision to assign Channel One to radio. It's fairly lengthy, but the article does an excellent job of describing the government and commercial wrangling over available airways that's still going on today.
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