While this post isn’t specifically about Duluth, I am hoping that posting will bring some Duluth stories out of the woodwork.
Below are lists of Saturday-morning cartoons as they ran in my childhood. I remember many of them (Scooby-Doo, of course; repackaged cinema cartoons like Bugs Bunny Looney Tunes; originals like the animated Star Trek).
The Duluth market has seven broadcast television stations producing 29 channels of digital programming. Here’s a look at what’s available to those willing to jostle an antenna.
This ad campaign, luring businesses to advertise on TV in Duluth/Superior uses a picture of supporters of the Revolutionary government of Cuba manning a machine gun post overlooking one of the main streets, Zapata Avenue, into the heart of Havana, Jan. 4, 1959.
WDSE-TV will begin broadcasting the PBS Kids channel on Friday, Jan. 31. It will occupy channel 8.5 in Duluth; WIRT viewers in the Hibbing area will find it on channel 31.5.
The network features educational programming all day, and is available for live streaming at pbskids.org. Some notable programs include Arthur, Sesame Street and Wild Kratts.
It’s WDSE’s fifth channel, joining PBS North (8.1), Create (8.2), Explore (8.3) and MN Channel (8.4).
The primary PBS channel, PBS North, will continue to feature a PBS Kids daypart during the week and on weekend mornings. The schedule of children’s programming on PBS North will be different from PBS Kids.
Changes to broadcast television channel offerings used to be rare. From 1966 to 1999, Duluth had four channels. From 1999 to 2009, there were five. In the ten years since the switch from analog to digital channels, the total has climbed to 18.
Duluth Public Access Community Television has a new website at pacttvduluth.org.
Check it out online or take a tour of the studio, room 328 at Duluth City Hall, 411 W. First St. Call 218-723-3686 to schedule time for a visit and tour.
Casey Webb, host of the Travel Channel program Man v. Food, was in Duluth and neighboring communities in April. He visited Northern Waters Smokehaus in Canal Park, Breeze Inn in Lakewood Township and Betty’s Pies in Silver Creek Township. The travel channel has announced the episode will air on July 9 at 8 p.m. and repeat on July 10 at 11 a.m. and July 14 at 12:30 p.m.
The show summary:
Casey Webb heads to Duluth, Minnesota, where he tastes the city’s best fish fry, visits a specialty sandwich shop and attempts to finish a three-pound platter of pie and ice cream in 20 minutes or less.
It’s been about 12 years since I’ve had cable television. My only exposure to it these days is when I’m on vacation and lodging somewhere it’s offered. My wife will search the channels for some kind of garbage to watch, then she’ll fall asleep and I’ll flip the channels, eventually stopping on network television unless one of those ESPN 30 for 30 documentaries is on.
When I was a kid I loved cable television, basically for three reasons — old sitcom reruns, professional wrestling and music videos. I still kind of like those things, but certainly not enough to pay for them. I never liked them enough to pay for them.
I had access to cable television for most of the era spanning roughly 1980 to 2006. I use the word “access” because throughout that period, one thing remained constant: I never paid a cent for it. Don’t get me wrong, I never stole cable (other than trying to watch scrambled HBO). I was just fortunate enough to live with people who were willing to pay to watch television. First it was my brother, then my dad, then various roommates and finally my wife. When Netflix hooked her it was the end of cable in our house.
The number of broadcast television stations in Duluth has reached 14. Keeping track of them started getting confusing in 2016, when reorganizing at KBJR/KDLH led to “CBS 3” broadcasting on channel 6.2. In an effort to prevent the whole thing from turning into an Abbott & Costello routine, Perfect Duluth Day periodically provides an updated list of channels.
There have been two changes since the 2016 KDLH/KBJR shuffling. In early 2017 WDSE-TV dropped its “2nd Chance” programming on channel 8.2 and adopted a new broadcasting stream, PBS Explore, which is focused heavily on programs for children. On Sept. 27, WDIO-TV added subchannel 10.3, broadcasting the Ion television network. An updated list is below.
Tom Isbell, professor of theater at the University of Minnesota Duluth, has a lengthy professional acting resume spanning the years 1984-’94, which can be perused at imdb.com. Among his many roles on popular television shows is Sgt. Brady on the Columbo episode “Rest in Peace, Mrs. Columbo,” which originally aired March 31, 1990.
Classic.
Below is an updated look at what’s on the television dial in Duluth after the reorganizing at KBJR/KDLH. Don’t let the big “3” fool you on the new KDLH logo (which doesn’t have the letters KDLH on it, but does have the CBS eye); the CBS affiliate is now on broadcast channel 6.2. If you are watching with a satellite dish or cable, then the KDLH/CBS station is channel 3.
Several channel changes happened at KBJR and KDLH-TV on the morning of Aug. 1. Viewers who receive signals over the air using an antenna might need to re-scan their television sets, although some televisions will automatically adjust the changes. Viewers using a cable or satellite service are not affected.
The move is part of the sale of KBJR and KDLH announced in November. As part of the deal Channel 3, the long-time CBS affiliate in Duluth, is now owned by Quincy Media Incorporated and is a digital sub-channel of KBJR, also owned by Quincy Media. KDLH is owned by Sagamore Hill Broadcasting and will become the CW affiliate in the Duluth-Superior market.
KBJR will remain an NBC affiliate on channel 6.1. The new CBS 3 will become channel 6.2 and My 9 will become channel 6.3.
KBJR engineering assistance is available at jwalters @ kbjr.com or 218-720-9635.
Tonight Mark Sertich became the second Duluthian to be featured on the CBS Evening News in the past month. Just 18 days after St. Scholastica Saints kicking coach Sister Lisa Maurer was profiled on the program, Sertich was featured in a segment with “On the Road” correspondent Steve Hartman.
Sertich is a 1939 Denfeld graduate and World War II veteran who, at age 94, still plays hockey with a group of Duluth firefighters.
Sister Lisa Maurer of the St. Scholastica Monastery was featured in a national TV news story on Sept. 29 during the CBS Evening News. The piece will air again on CBS This Morning on Wednesday, Sept. 30, between 7 and 9 a.m. on KDLH-TV Channel 3.
Sister Lisa is a kicking coach with the St. Scholastica Saints football team. A news team from CBS Evening News, including national correspondent Dean Reynolds, came to campus Sept. 10 and 11 to interview Sister Lisa, Coach Kurt Ramler, and football players Michael Mensing and Donovan Blatz. The crew also filmed shots of the St. Scholastica campus, and captured footage during the Saints’ Sept. 12 football game at Public Schools Stadium against MacMurray College.
Last November, Sister Lisa was featured in a New York Times story.
WDIO dropped its analog signal and went fully digital last night. Folks with digital televisions (or with converter boxes) have to rescan channels in order for WDIO to come in. The station will not be at full power until Feb. 20. In the meantime, don’t break your rabbit ears.
