Is console forced to tty0 by init?

[ferret@phonewave.net]

On my system running Potato (not up-to-date because of some recent version
conflicts) I have the system console redirected to serial port with
append="console=ttyS1,19200", with `console on serial port' enabled in the
kernel comfig. I see the kernel booting on tty0, then atyfb changing the
display resolution. Then I see "INIT: version 2.78 booting" and nothing
else is sent through console on serial port.

Oh, I do see klogd console messages on the serial port instead of on the
video console.

I'm running kernel 2.3.37, and I did have a properly working serial
console about four weeks ago before I had to wipe the machine and start
over.

--
Ferret