CLINTON - Stephen Jackson is one of those television viewers that all the fuss was about. Jackson, 23, lives in a three-room apartment in downtown Clinton, receiving his television signal through an antenna. | FYI: Conversion tips | Free help from AARP

For two years the government and television stations have been announcing that analog televisions not hooked to cable or satellite service would no longer work without a converter box to process the new digital signal.

The change came for many Central Illinois stations in the last minutes of Tuesday night. The transition apparently went smoothly, local television and cable company representatives said.

While Jackon has lost most of his television channels, he's glad it's over.

"The most annoying thing about this whole process was the constant scrolling messages on every station about the upcoming switch. I got tired of reading that," he said.

The loss of the old analog signal wasn't that big a blow anyway because he does much of his television watching on his computer or at friends' homes, he said.

Several area television stations, including WMBD-WYZZ, WEEK and WTVP, all based in the Peoria area and serving the Twin Cities, switched from analog to digital transmissions.

Congress granted President Barack Obama's request earlier this month to move the transition deadline from Feb. 17 to June 12. The program that paid for the $40 coupons for the converter boxes ran out of money, but it has received a new infusion through the $787 billion economic stimulus package approved Tuesday.

Despite the deadline change, stations in many markets, including Peoria's, decided to go ahead with the original deadline.

"The transition has been very smooth so far," said WEEK general manager Doug DeSantis. "We expected a lot of calls. We expected some confusion. We anticipated several e-mails. But, it didn't turn out that way.

"Most of the calls came before the switch from people who had cable and they wanted to be assured that there would be no changes for them, which there aren't."

Viewers connected to cable or satellite networks saw little change. A handful of area stations signed off for a few minutes at 11:59 p.m. Tuesday to make the switch.

None reported major problems in resuming broadcasting.

"From what we could tell, it was a very smooth transition," said Rich Ruggiero, vice president of communications and public affairs with the Comcast cable television system.

"We knew our individual customers wouldn't have problems, but our concern was that in the transition, there wouldn't be any disruption of service," he said. "Throughout the day, the stations in our group made the switchover, and we didn't experience anything major at all."

Retail stores throughout Central Illinois reported steady sales of the digital-to-analog converter boxes necessary for those without cable or satellite hookups. The government has offered coupons to discount the cost of the devices.

"It's been steady and we probably had a slight increase during the last couple of days," reported Mike Moore, manager of Radio Shack at Eastland Mall. "Some people are asking questions, but for the most part, most are fairly well-informed about the process and know exactly what they are looking for."

The federal government mandated the end of analog broadcasts to make room on those frequencies for wireless Internet service, emergency radio traffic and other uses. Digital TV broadcasts, which began several years ago, take up much less of the wireless spectrum while providing improved picture and sound quality.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Go digital

Here's a checklist to make sure you'll have TV reception after local stations cut their analog broadcasts. Some stations shut down analog transmissions Tuesday. Almost all will end analog after June 12.

- Are all your TVs hooked up to satellite or cable feeds? If so, you're OK.

- Do all your TVs have built-in digital tuners? Most TVs bought in the last few years, including flat panels, have these. If they do, you're probably OK. But you might need to force your TV to scan the airwaves to find all channels, because some are moving to new frequencies. Also see antenna issues below.

- If you have digital converter boxes hooked up and you get some but not all the channels you expect, you should first force the box to re-scan the airwaves, since some channels may have moved to new frequencies. Some converter boxes don't scan well, so you may have to key in the channel number manually. Check the box's directions, and look at www.antennaweb.org to figure out which channels should be available in your area. Re-scan periodically until after June 12 to make sure you pick up stations that switch late.

- If re-scanning doesn't help, the problem may be your antenna. Outdoor antennas properly pointed toward a TV tower are preferable, but indoor antennas work if you're reasonably close to the tower. Note that antennas should be capable of receiving both VHF and UHF signals - some older ones are VHF-only. Modern indoor antennas are available from $40 to $100.

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AARP offers help for confused viewers

CHICAGO - Viewers struggling with the shutdown of analog broadcast TV signals by some stations this week can call a toll-free phone number for help.

AARP is operating a national call center to answer consumers' questions about digital TV. More than 400 stations nationwide stopped broadcasting analog signals Tuesday, including some in Illinois

The AARP help-line is 1-877-698-8068. English and Spanish-language operators are available Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Central.

The federal government mandated the end of analog broadcasts to make room on those frequencies for other uses. The deadline was pushed to June 12, but many stations decided to stick with the Feb. 17 shut-off.

A federal call center is also operating at 1-888-CALL-FCC.

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How to go from analog to digital

Here's a checklist to make sure you'll have TV reception after local stations cut their analog broadcasts. Some stations shut down analog transmissions Tuesday. Almost all will end analog after June 12.

- Are all your TVs hooked up to satellite or cable feeds? If so, you're OK.

- Do all your TVs have built-in digital tuners? Most TVs bought in the last few years, including flat panels, have these. If they do, you're probably OK. But you might need to force your TV to scan the airwaves to find all channels, because some are moving to new frequencies. Also see antenna issues below.

- If you have digital converter boxes hooked up and you get some but not all the channels you expect, you should first force the box to re-scan the airwaves, since some channels may have moved to new frequencies. Some converter boxes don't scan well, so you may have to key in the channel number manually. Check the box's directions, and look at www.antennaweb.org to figure out which channels should be available in your area. Re-scan periodically until after June 12 to make sure you pick up stations that switch late.

- If re-scanning doesn't help, the problem may be your antenna. Outdoor antennas properly pointed toward a TV tower are preferable, but indoor antennas work if you're reasonably close to the tower. Note that antennas should be capable of receiving both VHF and UHF signals - some older ones are VHF-only. Modern indoor antennas are available from $40 to $100.

On the Net:

FCC troubleshooting guide: http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/troubleshootguide.html