WCVE-TV

WCVE-TV
Richmond, Virginia
United States
Branding WCVE PBS
Slogan Community Idea Stations
Channels Digital: 42 (UHF)
(shared with WNVT; to move to 22 (UHF)[1])
Virtual: 23 (PSIP)
Subchannels (see article)
Affiliations PBS
Owner Commonwealth Public Broadcasting Corporation
First air date September 10, 1964 (1964-09-10)
Call letters' meaning Central
Virginia
Educational
Sister station(s) WCVW, WNVT, WCVE-FM
Former channel number(s) Analog: 23 (UHF, 1964–2009)
Former affiliations NET (1964–1970)
Transmitter power 160 kW
150 kW (CP)
Height 346.3 m (1,136 ft)
327.3 m (1,074 ft) (CP)
Facility ID 9987
Transmitter coordinates 37°30′45.6″N 77°36′4.8″W / 37.512667°N 77.601333°W / 37.512667; -77.601333
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: Profile
CDBS
Website WCVE
WCVW
Richmond, Virginia
United States
Branding WCVW PBS
Slogan see WCVE-TV infobox
Channels Digital: 44 (UHF)
(to move to 29 (UHF))
Virtual: 57 (PSIP)
Subchannels (see article)
Affiliations PBS
Owner Commonwealth Public Broadcasting Corporation
First air date December 24, 1966 (1966-12-24)
Call letters' meaning Disambiguation of WCVE
Sister station(s) WCVE-TV, WNVT, WCVE-FM
Former channel number(s) Analog: 57 (UHF, 1966–2009)
Transmitter power 112 kW
93 kW (CP)
Height 328 m (1,076 ft)
327.3 m (1,074 ft) (CP)
Facility ID 9989
Transmitter coordinates 37°30′45.6″N 77°36′4.8″W / 37.512667°N 77.601333°W / 37.512667; -77.601333
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: Profile
CDBS
Website WCVW
WHTJ
(satellite of WCVE-TV)
Charlottesville, Virginia
United States
Branding WHTJ PBS
Channels Digital: 46 (UHF)
(shared with WNVC; to move to 26 (UHF)[2])
Virtual: 41 (PSIP)
Subchannels (see article)
Affiliations PBS
Owner Commonwealth Public Broadcasting Corporation
First air date May 19, 1989 (1989-05-19)
Call letters' meaning Home of Thomas Jefferson
Sister station(s) WNVC
Former channel number(s) Analog: 41 (UHF, 1989–2009)
Transmitter power 165 kW
124 kW (CP)
Height 331.6 m (1,088 ft)
335 m (1,099 ft) (CP)
Facility ID 9990
Transmitter coordinates 37°59′0″N 78°29′1″W / 37.98333°N 78.48361°W / 37.98333; -78.48361 (WHTJ)
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information:
(satellite of WCVE-TV) Profile

(satellite of WCVE-TV) CDBS
Website WHTJ

WCVE-TV is a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member television station licensed to Richmond, Virginia, United States. Owned by the Commonwealth Public Broadcasting Corporation, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 42 (or virtual channel 23 via PSIP) from a transmitter adjacent to its studios at 23 Sesame Street in Bon Air, a suburb of Richmond. WCVE's programming is relayed on a satellite station in Charlottesville, WHTJ (UHF digital channel 46, virtual channel 41), with transmitter atop Carters Mountain. WCVE also operates a sister station in Richmond, WCVW (UHF digital channel 44, virtual channel 57), whose transmitter is co-located with WCVE. The three stations are collectively known locally as the Community Idea Stations; they began using their call letters for identification in 2008, with each referring to itself as a Community Idea Station. The stations were known as Central Virginia's Public TV until 2001.[3][4]

History

The community-owned public broadcasting company was established in 1961 by Thomas Boushall (Chairman of the Richmond School Board and an officer of the Bank of Virginia) and a group of concerned citizens to employ television for educational purposes. The patron saints of public broadcasting in central Virginia were Boushall, E. Claiborne Robins, Sr., Mary Ann Franklin, and Bill W. Spiller. Mrs. Franklin first approached Boushall and Henry I. Willett, then Superintendent of Richmond City Schools, with the idea of establishing an educational television station. Boushall and Franklin then recruited Spiller, who was hired in December 1963 and began working for them in January 1964.

WCVE's sister station, WCVW-TV (channel 57) signed on in 1967. Richmond became the first community in Virginia to have dual stations, and only the eighth in the nation to do so, doubling the amount of instructional programming provided to schools in central Virginia. Over 40 years later, both WCVE and WCVW are still in operation.

In 1974, Commonwealth Public Broadcasting took over WNVT-TV, a Fairfax public TV station on the verge of financial insolvency, in order to protect instructional television and educational services for schools in northern Virginia. In 1981, a second Northern Virginia station, WNVC-TV, was established. Today, these two stations provide international programming in English and several other languages tailored to the needs of the Washington, D.C. area's culturally diverse population.

In 1988, Union Theological Seminary & Presbyterian School of Christian Education announced plans to give up its public radio license for WRFK, which had assumed a fine music format from WFMV. To ensure public radio would remain in Richmond, WCVE-FM radio went on the air as a National Public Radio (NPR) member station. The following year, the company established WHTJ in Charlottesville. Before WHTJ's sign-on, Charlottesville had no full-powered PBS station; only a repeater of Harrisonburg's WVPT served the area.

A 25,000-square-foot (2,323 m2) TV and radio studio-office complex was added in 1991.

After signing off at midnight almost daily for over 40 years, WCVE and WCVW became 24-hour stations most days of the week in the fall of 2006. Starting in early 2008, the stylized "i" logo became the station's secondary logo, and the stations adopted a family of similar primary logos displaying their call letters.

Digital television

Digital channels

The stations' digital channels are multiplexed:

WCVE

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[5][6][7][8]
23.11080i16:9WCVE-HDMain programming / PBS
23.2480iWCVE-D2Create
23.3WCVE-D3MHz Worldview
23.4WCVE-D4PBS Kids

WCVW

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[9][10]
57.11080i16:9WCVW-HDAlternate programming / PBS

WHTJ

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[11][12]
41.11080i16:9WHTJ-HDMain programming / PBS
41.2WHTJ-D2Alternate PBS schedule (satellite of WCVW)
41.3480iWHTJ-D3MHz Worldview
41.44:3WHTJ-D4PBS Kids

Analog-to-digital conversion

WCVE-TV, WCVW and WHTJ shut down all analog signals on March 30, 2009:[13]

  • WCVE-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 23; the station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 42. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 23.
  • WCVW shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 57; the station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 44. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 57, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition.
  • WHTJ shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 41; the station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 46. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 41.

Programming

Like most public television stations, this trio broadcasts shows distributed by PBS and American Public Television, but they also create a range of local programs. WCVE produces Virginia Currents, a program profiling residents of the state, both typical and notable, which is aired by other PBS stations in Virginia such as Blue Ridge PBS and WVPT. WHTJ offers Charlottesville Inside-Out, hosted by musician Terri Allard.[14]

See also

References

  1. ↑ WNVT channel sharing application ENG 02-15-2018
  2. ↑ WNVC channel sharing application ENG 02-15-2018
  3. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Da6Lhme15z8
  4. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDxA8HOgL_8
  5. ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for WCVE
  6. ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for WCVW
  7. ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for WHTJ
  8. ↑ http://ideastations.org/tv/schedules
  9. ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for WCVW
  10. ↑ http://ideastations.org/tv/schedules
  11. ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for WHTJ
  12. ↑ http://ideastations.org/tv/schedules
  13. ↑ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-03-24.
  14. ↑ Hook staff (2007-11-15). "'Inside-Out' fest: WHTJ celebrates local talk with Terri". The Hook. Charlottesville. Retrieved 2008-02-25.

Sources

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