WBGU-TV

WBGU-TV
Bowling Green, Ohio
United States
Branding WBGU
Channels Digital: 27 (UHF)
(to move to 22 (UHF))
Virtual: 27 (PSIP)
Subchannels 27.1 PBS
27.2 PBS Kids/Encore
27.3 Create
Owner Bowling Green State University
First air date February 10, 1964 (1964-02-10)
Call letters' meaning Bowling
Green
State University
Former channel number(s) Analog:
70 (UHF, 1964–1973)
57 (UHF, 1973–1986)
27 (UHF, 1986–2008)
Digital:
56 (UHF, 2003–2008)
Former affiliations NET (1964–1970)
Transmitter power 153 kW
137 kW (CP)
Height 320 m (1,050 ft)
Facility ID 6568
Transmitter coordinates 41°8′12″N 83°54′24″W / 41.13667°N 83.90667°W / 41.13667; -83.90667
Website www.wbgu.org

WBGU-TV is a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member television station licensed to Bowling Green, Ohio, United States. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on virtual and UHF channel 27 from a transmitter near Belmore, Ohio.

Owned by the Bowling Green State University, WBGU-TV maintains studios at the Tucker Center for Telecommunications on the BGSU campus. (While officially part of the BGSU campus, the Tucker Center is actually located two blocks south of Wooster Street, which marks much of the southern boundary of the campus.) Unlike its sister radio station, WBGU-FM, WBGU-TV is not primarily operated by students at the university; although the station does offer many different student positions that allow students to gain experience.

History

On February 10, 1964, WBGU-TV (originally licensed to Lima but operating in Bowling Green) broadcast for the first time, and, unusually for a U.S. television station, would undergo two frequency changes in its first quarter century. The station first operated on channel 70, and moved to channel 57 in 1973 (it was the last full-power station to broadcast on a channel 70 or above in the United States); it would move to channel 27 in 1986.[1] WBGU originally wanted to move to channel 27 in the early 1970s, but protests from the nearby WGTE-TV in Toledo, which operated on the adjacent channel 30 at the time and, because of significant territorial overlap, feared confusion between the two channels, prompted state and University officials to settle for the higher channel number.[2]

The station first broadcast from a small studio located in the university's South Hall. After the Moore Musical Arts Center was built in 1979, the university's radio stations and telecommunications department (then the department of radio, television, and film) moved to West Hall, which formerly housed the university's college of music. Sometime after that, WBGU-TV moved to a new building located at 245 Troup Avenue in Bowling Green; the building was renamed the Tucker Center on May 6, 1994.

During the 1970s and early 1980s, WBGU maintained a low-powered repeater in Fort Wayne, Indiana on channel 39, W39AA (later to affiliate with Indianapolis' WFYI), which became full-powered WFWA in 1985.

Former WGBU-TV logo

Today, WBGU-TV broadcasts to nineteen counties in northwestern and west central Ohio including the markets of Toledo and Lima. With most attic antennas, WBGU's signal can be tuned in as far west as Fort Wayne and as far north as central Lenawee County, Michigan. During tropospheric conditions, it can be seen as far north as Melvindale, Michigan, 87 miles (140 km) away with a very advanced indoor antenna.

In Toledo, Buckeye Broadband carries WBGU-TV on cable channel 57, which is, ironically, the station's previous channel number on the UHF dial. No subchannels are available on Buckeye Broadband.

WBGU turned off its analog transmitter at midnight on December 14, 2008, and relocated its digital signal from channel 56 to channel 27.[3]

Digital channels

Channels Video Aspect PSIP short name Programming
27.11080i16:9WBGU-DTMain WBGU-TV programming / PBS
27.2480i4:3EncoreWBGU Kids 6 a.m.-6 p.m.
WBGU Encore (locally produced programs) 6 p.m.-midnight
The Ohio Channel midnight-6 a.m.
27.3CreateCreate

Spectrum auction

WBGU-TV was considering selling off its UHF frequency as part of the digital spectrum auction, for mobile bandwidth use,[4] but pulled out late in the auction bidding process. The station will remain on the air, but will be relocating to UHF 22 from UHF 27 sometime in 2019.[5]

Programming

National programming produced by WBGU includes The American Woodshop, distributed by the National Educational Telecommunications Association.[6][7]

Each weekday during the academic term of public schools in the Great Black Swamp region, WBGU-TV broadcasts six hours of educational programming provided (and, in some cases, produced) by the Northwest Ohio Educational Technology Foundation. The NWOET is operated at the Tucker Center, but is a non-profit state agency separate from the university.

References

  1. ↑
  2. ↑
  3. ↑ "DTV - Are you Ready". Wbgu.org.
  4. ↑ "Findlay Courier - Potential WBGU spectrum sale". Thecourier.com.
  5. ↑
  6. ↑ "The American Woodshop - Home". Wbgu.org.
  7. ↑ "American Woodshop - Search Results". Netaonline.org.
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