WEDQ

WEDQ
Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida
United States
City Tampa, Florida
Branding WEDQ
Channels Digital: 13 (VHF)
(shared with WEDU)
Virtual: 3.4 (PSIP)
Affiliations PBS
Owner Florida West Coast Public Broadcasting, Inc.
First air date September 12, 1966 (1966-09-12)
Call letters' meaning EDucation
Quality
(disambiguation of WEDU)
Sister station(s) WEDU
Former callsigns WUSF-TV (1966–2017)
Former channel number(s) Analog:
16 (UHF, 1966–2009)
Digital:
34 (UHF, until 2018)
16 (PSIP, until 2018)
Former affiliations NET (1966–1970)
Transmitter power 25 kW
Height 470.9 m (1,545 ft)
Facility ID 69338
Transmitter coordinates 27°50′51.5″N 82°15′49.4″W / 27.847639°N 82.263722°W / 27.847639; -82.263722Coordinates: 27°50′51.5″N 82°15′49.4″W / 27.847639°N 82.263722°W / 27.847639; -82.263722
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: Profile
CDBS
Website www.wedu.org

WEDQ, virtual channel 3.4 (VHF digital channel 13), is a PBS member television station licensed to Tampa, Florida, United States and also serving the nearby city of St. Petersburg. Owned by Florida West Coast Public Broadcasting, it is a sister station to fellow PBS member WEDU (channel 3). The two stations share studios on North Boulevard in Tampa, and transmitter facilities in Riverview, Florida.

History

WEDQ's former studio facilities, completed in 2001. Note its former callsign WUSF-TV.

The station first signed on the air on September 12, 1966 as WUSF-TV, owned by the University of South Florida. Its main rival was WEDU, which has long been one of the highest-rated public television stations in the country. However, due to its ties with the university, most of WUSF's programming was educational in nature—including distance learning, which WUSF aired during the afternoon and late-night hours. WUSF was also known for showing a wide variety of home improvement programming, such as Hometime, during the late 1980s and 1990s that WEDU did not regularly program.

On October 12, 2015, the University of South Florida voted to explore placing WUSF-TV into the FCC's spectrum auction in 2016, a move that could lead to the station sharing a channel with another area station, moving its signal to a VHF channel, or ceasing operations altogether.[1] On February 8, 2017, USF announced that the WUSF-TV license had been sold for $18.8 million in the auction, and that the station would cease operations;[2][3] on August 11, it announced that the station would go off the air on October 15.[4]

On October 8, it was announced that WUSF-TV had entered into a channel sharing agreement with WEDU, enabling the station to continue operations. WUSF-TV's broadcast license would also be transferred to WEDU's owner, Florida West Coast Public Broadcasting;[5] the transfer was completed on January 24, 2018.[6] USF retains its radio stations, WUSF-FM and WSMR, both of which continue under USF's control.

On October 15, 2017 at 11:59 p.m., WUSF-TV officially signed off-air after 51 years of transmission and became WEDQ.[7]

Digital television

Digital channels

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming
3.4480i16:9WEDQMain WEDQ programming / PBS Encore

    Analog-to-digital conversion

    WUSF-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 16, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television.[8] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition digital UHF channel 34,[9][10] using PSIP to display WUSF-TV's virtual channel as 16 on digital television receivers.

    References

    1. ↑ Anastasia, Dawson (October 13, 2015). "WUSF TV's future even more in doubt as USF explores selling station's broadcast spectrum". The Tampa Tribune. Retrieved October 14, 2015.
    2. ↑ McNeill, Claire. "Auction nets USF $18.8M, but spells end to WUSF-TV". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved February 9, 2017.
    3. ↑ WUSF TV License Sold; Station Will End Operations
    4. ↑ "WUSF TV to shut down Oct. 15". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved August 12, 2017.
    5. ↑ "CHANNEL SHARING AGREEMENT". Federal Communications Commission. October 8, 2017.
    6. ↑ "Consummation Notice". Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved March 29, 2018.
    7. ↑ WUSF TV Shut down
    8. ↑ List of Digital Full-Power Stations
    9. ↑ "CDBS Account Login". fcc.gov.
    10. ↑ http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/feb/09/wfla-will-wait-until-june-shut-down-analog-tv-sign/


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