RTN Gone!!!

[Geoff Bourquin]

Something is going on with them. I get them from Wave Broadband on CH. 105.8. They get it from KIRO TV, CH 7.2 in Seattle. The programs I am seeing do not match the program guide, and yesterday I had an orange RTN logo screen for a little while. Later they started running programs, but starting at odd times and stuff I've never seen on them before. I hope they get things worked out. I enjoy watching the old stuff they carry

[bgadow]

My current antenna setup won't pull in WJLA on digital before about 10pm. My goal has been to move the antenna up higher; RTN is really the only reason I wanted to do this. One of the few things I've caught on there is that odd "talk" show they run at 11pm. I bet that guy would have the answer to whatever is going on!

[Carmine]

I was thinking about posting an RTN thread today when I found this one.

When I got my first converter box in October, the only "good" I could find was the RTN subchannel. (7.2 in Detroit). It reminded me of the low-budget Detroit UHF channels of my youth (WXON-20, WKBD-50 & WGPR-62). Given the crummy digital signal, the pixelation and freeze-ups reminded me of poor UHF reception.

It was great to see shows like Kojak, Dragnet, Adam-12, Emergency!, and so on. At 11 PM they ran Night Gallery. I had told my girlfriend about this show, but she had never seen it (She's about 10-years younger than me). The first time we watched it together, it was a really trippy episode about a witch that needs to move into a young body by midnight... It scared the crap out of my girlfriend... She said she couldn't believe they'd run stuff that scary on TV. Not to mention the frightening theme song and psychedelic graphics.

Then it gradually started to suck. Night Gallery was pulled and replaced with some LAME-ASS talk show.

Kojack got bumped for a low-rent version of Regis & Kathy Lee.

Instead of late-night with Jim Rockford, we got late night with Billy Mayes infomercials.

There are still a few good shows so I hope it survives, but I imagine that part of the problem is they seem to program the channel using a dart-board covered with old TV guides. Not much logic applied.

Example: There are at least a few guys like me who could care less about the dozens of boring football games on the big networks all weekend. So what might be a good alternative? How about a block of shows like...

Rockford Files
The Hulk
A-Team
Knight Rider
Afternoon Movie-The Original Gone in 30 seconds (1974)
Etc.

I swear I've seen most of those shows on RTN, just packaged randomly with Leave-it-to-Beaver or Marcus Welby. But what does RTN offer on the weekends?

Nancy Drew
Hardy Boys



Might as well watch paint dry and save CRT life!

So like everything else, it seems to start out pretty good, turns to crap and then disappears.

[Ocupatto]

Sorry for my stupidity, but what is RTN?

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by bgadow

My current antenna setup won't pull in WJLA on digital before about 10pm.

Why can you not get that station before ten o'clock at night if you are using an antenna? I would think you could get any OTA station within range 24/7, especially with a powerful antenna system. Is there some sort of interference that wipes out the station you're trying to receive, such as industrial noise, strong RF signals, et al. that doesn't disappear before 10 p.m.?

In any case, it doesn't make sense to me. If you have an antenna that gives you a decent digital signal, I would think you should be able to get any station you would ordinarily receive with a standard analog antenna system.

[site123a]

Originally Posted by bgadow

One of the few things I've caught on there is that odd "talk" show they run at 11pm. I bet that guy would have the answer to whatever is going on!

I was wondering that too, but "unreliable" wasn't on last night not even infomercials. I'm getting to same thing as Geoff Bourquin where the programing guide doesn't match what's on.

[Robert Grant]

Originally Posted by Ocupatto

Sorry for my stupidity, but what is RTN?

Retro Television Network.

A television service, carried primarily on the .2 or .3 subchannels of digital TV stations (rarely seen on analog OTA TV or Cable), featuring re-runs of US television programs from about 1955 to about 1985.

http://www.myretrotv.com.

(note that the URL has recently changed due to the Equity/Lukens donnybrook).

Rob

[ihmeyers]

My wife and I have become big fans of The Rockford Files. TIVO it everyday weekday evening (10 PM Eastern) on my Comcast box.

[Jeffhs]

RTN has a long way to go before it is a true national cable TV network. I just looked at their affiliate map and am amazed. It has only one affiliate in Ohio, WNWO-DT in Toledo, and only one in Arizona, in Phoenix (KAZT-DT), to name but two examples. There are entire sections of the US, even large cities such as Chicago and New York City, that do not have any RTN affiliates whatsoever--yet. (I live near Cleveland, which does not yet have an RTN affiliate, OTA or on cable; when I had digital cable I could not find this network anywhere in the lineup.) I often wonder as well why New York City doesn't yet have an RTN affiliate, as NYC is the #1 television market in the country.

With so few affiliates, and some parts of the US having no RTN affiliates whatsoever, I'm surprised the network is still around. Most cable channels would have gone broke by now with this small number of affiliates. I would think RTN would be a very popular cable channel, with affiliates nearly everywhere, given the stuff that passes for comedy, etc. today on the broadcast networks. Hollywood made much better television shows 35+ years ago, IMHO, than they do now; what better place to show those old classics than on RTN?

Oh, well. If RTN is close to going dark (the affiliate map seems to be showing enough stations carrying the network, however, to justify keeping it going, at least for the near term), there are alternatives. Many classic TV shows (as well as many current network shows' past seasons) are now available on DVD, so it wouldn't surprise me if fewer people are watching classic shows on cable, turning instead to DVD. The price of DVD players has dropped drastically in the last 10 years or so, to the point where just about anyone who wants one can get one for his or her entertainment system. Blu-ray players are still quite expensive, but they too will come down in price eventually.

Whether or not DVD and/or digital cable's video on demand services will eventually kill basic cable channels such as TV Land and even movie channels like AMC or TCM, not to mention pay-cable movie channels such as HBO, Showtime and Cinemax, remains to be seen. I think of the very real possibility that these channels and services may someday be rendered obsolete by video on demand and DVD. The beauty of DVD is that viewers can have their own favorite shows to watch at will, without having to wait until these programs appear on cable. My own favorite classic shows (Kojak, Quincy, The Odd Couple, to name just three) disappeared from cable several years ago and almost never appear on broadcast TV anymore (Quincy and Magnum, P. I., not to mention The Rockford Files, used to be on one of Cleveland's UHF stations until about a year ago), but I'm enjoying them once again on DVD and even VHS these days (I have a collection of old movies and TV series I taped 25 years ago).

The day may come, sooner or later, when high-priced cable movie channels may very well disappear as video on demand becomes more widespread on digital cable, and more and more viewers get DVD players. What lies ahead for cable TV after that is anyone's guess.

[bgadow]

Jeff, the reception issue is the same as with most reception, particularly am or sw. Reception improves later at night. I can get those DC stations during the day on analog (with plenty of snow) but the conditions have to be optimal for digital. My in-laws have their antenna on a pole and live on a small farm with no trees nearby. They can pull in all those stations without problem on digital, day and night.

[site123a]

I'm surprised you can even pickup WJLA-DT in Federalsburg, your at least 70 miles from the transmitter.

[radiotvnut]

I am starting to notice something annoying about RTN. I don't know if the problem lies with RTN itself or the local affiliate. For one thing, the programs seem to start at odd times. Like at 1:47, 3:06, etc. The times don't seem to be consistent from day to day. And, tonight at about 6:07, "knight Rider" came on for about five minutes, then the web address for RTN came on the screen for a few seconds, then the "A Team" started. What gives? I don't like to get interested in a program just for another program to abruptly take over. I like both shows; but, I would like to see them in their entirety. Since the "A Team" started late, the last several minutes were chopped off due to the start of prime time FOX programming. I'm just wondering has anyone else noticed these problems?

[NowhereMan 1966]

Originally Posted by bgadow

Jeff, the reception issue is the same as with most reception, particularly am or sw. Reception improves later at night. I can get those DC stations during the day on analog (with plenty of snow) but the conditions have to be optimal for digital. My in-laws have their antenna on a pole and live on a small farm with no trees nearby. They can pull in all those stations without problem on digital, day and night.

I know myself, I can usually get Youngstown Ohio and Altoona/Johnstown, PA much better at night than I do during the day.

[NowhereMan 1966]

Originally Posted by radiotvnut

I am starting to notice something annoying about RTN. I don't know if the problem lies with RTN itself or the local affiliate. For one thing, the programs seem to start at odd times. Like at 1:47, 3:06, etc. The times don't seem to be consistent from day to day. And, tonight at about 6:07, "knight Rider" came on for about five minutes, then the web address for RTN came on the screen for a few seconds, then the "A Team" started. What gives? I don't like to get interested in a program just for another program to abruptly take over. I like both shows; but, I would like to see them in their entirety. Since the "A Team" started late, the last several minutes were chopped off due to the start of prime time FOX programming. I'm just wondering has anyone else noticed these problems?

We have here in Pittsburgh too, Mom watches RTN all day and she notices the same thing. I was going to watch it too but got called into work. I think maybe they are switching things around.

[wa2ise]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

With so few affiliates, and some parts of the US having no RTN affiliates whatsoever, I'm surprised the network is still around. Most cable channels would have gone broke by now with this small number of affiliates. I would think RTN would be a very popular cable channel, with affiliates nearly everywhere, given the stuff that passes for comedy, etc. today on the broadcast networks. Hollywood made much better television shows 35+ years ago, IMHO, than they do now; what better place to show those old classics than on RTN?

I see that RTN appears on some DirecTV and Dish network satellite channels. Which would mean this signal is sprayed all across the country. Or do they have some mechanism to deny RTN from some satellite subscribers? I'm pretty much a died-in-the-wool OTA TV watcher...