Megan Campbell, who was Megan Bennett when she worked at Harrisonburg’s WHSV-TV3, is now the Senior Meteorologist at WVLT in Knoxville, TN. Meanwhile, longtime news anchor Jamie Curott has become a video producer at Penn State University. Check the TV3 alumni page for more on the whereabouts of broadcasters who came through Harrisonburg!

For viewers in the Bridgewater area and nearby Harrisonburg and Rockingham County, analog TV’s didn’t go blank on June 12. That’s because of an exception to the government order that ended most analog broadcasting on that date. The order made an exception for low-power stations and for translators.

Translators pick up a distant TV signal and rebroadcast it on a different frequency. The best signals locally, from the Massanutten translator, are on 18 (WUSA-9, Washington, D.C.) 28 (NBC-29, Charlottesville), and 46 (WTTG-5, Washington, D.C.). Those signals continue for now, pending action by Rockingham County, broadcasters and the FCC.

However, to get Harrisonburg’s WHSV-TV3 in this area, you do now need a digital receiver, or cable subscription, or DirecTV service.

TV3 coverage: click map for larger version

The government has issued maps showing where TV signals will be lost in February when analog broadcasting is shut off. The striking point is that Harrisonburg’s TV3 will be lost to many viewers, some as close as Rockingham County. (more…)

As local television viewers have no doubt observed, are scheduled to disappear in 2009. The public service announcements emphasize that antenna-using viewers will need a converter box to keep getting TV signals. Here’s what’s not as well known: Most viewers will also need a better antenna. Local advice here; nice column from elsewhere here.

Haley Harrison has moved up to WHSV’s 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. co-anchor spot, joining Val Thompson. Harrison is a native of Kansas and a 2006 graduate of Kansas University. Here is a profile from the station’s website. Harrison succeeds Jamie Curott, who left the station following her October 2008 wedding.

Here’s a footnote on an earlier story: Former TV3 sports director Joe Downs is off to Lima, Ohio, as sports director of a larger station. (See http://www.wlio.com/staff/kozav.aspx). Downs had earlier played a role in the competition between Harrisonburg’s TV3 and Charlottesville’s NBC29, moving to to NBC29 as a sports and news reporter. NBC29’s website then reported: “Joe Downs comes to NBC29 with more than a decade of experience in sportscasting . . . his true passion is high school and college athletics. Joe has spent the last 5 and a half years covering sports in the Shenandoah Valley and looks forward to bringing his knowledge of the area to the NBC29 Sports Team.”

Kelly Creswell, news reporter with WHSV-TV in Harrisonburg, has accepted a position at Newschannel 8 in Washington, D.C. Creswell joined the Harrisonburg station after graduating from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University in May 2006. She grew up in Massachusetts.

As TV enthusiasts already know, most over-the-air TV signals will be shut down early in 2009. Where does that leave Bridgewater residents? Not too badly off, according to local hobbyists. They say the new digital signals are fairly strong. Those with older TVs will need a converter box, and the government will pay $40 toward the cost of around $60.

The best converter box for local reception appears to be the Zenith DTT900. It handles the mountain echoes and reflections between here, Charlottesville and Richmond well. The best antennas for getting Charlottesville and Richmond signals are laid out here.

Update: In some other areas, big problems with reception are expected. Many viewers, it seems, will have to have outdoor antennas to receive quality signals.

After being the first locally with widescreen news, NBC29 of Charlottesville has gone the rest of the way to high definition. (See news release here.)

Here’s what we said when they went widescreen but not hi-def:

It’s not actually high-definition but even in standard definition it looks great on the newer widescreen TVs. Notice that there are no black bars left and right of the main picture on a widescreen TV. A Channel 29 technical staff member explains, “The reason for the near-HD quality in the studio is the camera chain is digital from the 16 X 9 CCD image sensors to your TV screen. There is no analog conversion anywhere in the system.” There’s more for the technically inclined, but for now Channel 29 fans have a great, near-high-definition picture on local news. Channel 3, below, uses black bars left and right of its main picture for now. Of course, on conventional TV’s the picture fills the screen and there are no black bars. However, there are more widescreen TV’s being sold every day.

Do you wonder where your favorite former personalities from TV3 went? An unofficial listing is available at the TV3 alumni page.