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The major networks actually DID get by with two stations in the area.

Getting back to TV. That gets more complicated. I am going to describe old analogue, since the rules for digital are different, and OTA does NOT work as well for distance with digital.

First, VHF is good for 100 miles max if you have a roof antenna pointed in the correct direction and you are not in a velley, and the transmitter is strong (as all the New York stations are). The lower the frequency, the farther the travel, but the more prone to interference. So, WCBS Channel 2 travels farther than WPIX Channel 11, but when th vaccum cleaner is turned on Channel 2 snows out.

UHF is good for much less, but is less prone to interference. UHF really only works for about 35 to 50 miles.

So, for network television in southern New England, you had low powered VHF stations for the networks in Providence. They can reach New London, but certainly not western CT.

Regarding people just picking up New York stations, not so fast. I grew up in Wallingford, north east of New Haven. My father was a rabid Mets fan, and wanted to catch Channel WOR-TV 9, which was less than 100 miles away (before the relocation to Secaucus, NJ). He should have been able to receive it with snow. But he generally couldn't, even with a roof antenna pointed to NYC. The problem is that WNHC/WTNH Channel 8 (ABC) was in the direct line with New York, so that the overpowering signal from 20 miles away mostly blocked receiving the adjacent channel 9 90% of the time (it also blocked WABC TV Channel 7, which was not as big a deal). He even bought an in-line RF trap to try to receive the station, it worked 10% of the time, mostly at night.

Even in little Connecticut, because NBC could not get a VHF station, TWO UHF stations, plus one over the border in Massachusetts, and one in Providence for the East, and two repeaters were needed to cover the state effectively, despite the presence of flagship WNBC-4 in NYC. Those stations were Channel 30 (New Britain, WHNB/WVIT), Channel 20 (WATR, Waterbury), Channel 22 (Springfield, MA, WWLP), Channel 10 (WJAR, Providence, RI), and repeaters (Channel 59, West Haven, Channel 79, hilly Torrington). My father actually had to build a rhombus antenna in 1956 on the bedroom ceiling in their New Haven tenement so he could watch the NFL Championship between the Giants and Colts (a k a "The Greatest Game Ever Played)

I am not even get into the problems of ghosting with strong signals like Channel 3 in Hartford, if your antenna is pointed towards New York. My father setup a second antenna and a knife switch for summer time programming.

There are a LOT of variables in both TV and radio reception. Cable TV kind of took the fun out of it.

To cut through a lot of smokescreening data:

WGBH-FM NPR Boston has an official range of about 70 miles. That’s lower because it’s FM. AM has more frequencies and carries much further. Two such stations would blanket most of New England, although you’d possible want to go with three (Hartford, Providence). And if you wanted 100% coverage at the highest sound quality, you’d probably want repeaters in Yarmouth and something on a hilltop in the Berkshires; past Barnstable, you’d start getting a weaker signal.