WHRO-TV

WHRO-TV
Hampton–Norfolk, Virginia
United States
Branding WHRO
Slogan Hampton Roads' Own
Channels Digital: 16 (UHF)
(to move to 31 (UHF))
Virtual: 15 (PSIP)
Subchannels 15.1 PBS
15.2 World
15.3 PBS Kids
15.4 Create
Affiliations PBS (1970–present)
Owner Hampton Roads Educational Telecommunications Association
First air date September 27, 1961 (1961-09-27)
Call letters' meaning Dual meaning:
*HomeRoom One
(reflects roots in instructional programming)
*Hampton ROads
Sister station(s) WHRE, WHRO-FM, WHRV
Former channel number(s) Analog:
15 (UHF, 1961–2009)
Former affiliations NET (1961–1970)
Transmitter power 1,000 kW
Height 360.6 m (1,183 ft)
357.6 m (1,173 ft) (CP)
Facility ID 25932
Transmitter coordinates 36°48′31.8″N 76°30′11.3″W / 36.808833°N 76.503139°W / 36.808833; -76.503139
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: Profile
CDBS
Website www.whro.org

WHRO-TV, virtual channel 15 (UHF digital channel 16), is the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member television station for Hampton Roads, Virginia, United States (the Norfolk–Portsmouth–Newport News television market). The station is licensed to both Hampton and Norfolk with studios at the Public Telecommunications Center for Hampton Roads next to the campus of Old Dominion University in Norfolk. Its transmitter is located in Suffolk, Virginia.

It is owned by the Hampton Roads Educational Telecommunications Association (HRETA), a consortium of 19 Hampton Roads and Eastern Shore school systems—Accomack, Gloucester, Isle of Wight, Mathews, Middlesex, Northampton, Southampton, Sussex and York counties and the independent cities of Chesapeake, Franklin, Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, Poquoson, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Virginia Beach, and Williamsburg.

History

Former WHRO logo, used from mid-1990s to December 31, 2010

The station signed on September 27, 1961, as the first educational station licensed in Virginia. The channel 15 position was previously occupied by then-NBC and now current ABC affiliate WVEC-TV, now on channel 13. It was a member of National Educational Television (NET) and owned by the Norfolk and Hampton school systems. Only two years later, it moved to its current facility in Norfolk, which was heavily renovated in 1990. Eight other school systems began using WHRO's services in 1966 and HRETA was formed two years later. It became a charter member of PBS in 1970.

WHRO is well known for its instructional programming, much of which is distributed to other PBS stations as well as member/owner and other school systems and health systems through a private educational broadcast network.

WHRO also had an annual fundraising auction marathon, The Great TV Auction, which featured local celebrities as auctioneers.

WHRO also sponsors the Consortium for Interactive Instruction (CII), which is a partnership among all the Hampton Roads area school divisions as well as many private schools for the advancement of technology in the school curriculum. One of the key events that CII sponsors is the Great Computer Challenge. This is a competition for students at all levels of K-12 education in many areas of computer technology. For example, students at the middle and high school levels compete in categories varying from web design to C++, Visual Basic and Java programming, as well as music composition, computer-aided design, desktop publishing and desktop presentations (PowerPoint).

To celebrate its 50th anniversary, WHRO changed its logo on January 1, 2011.

Eastern Shore translators

There are two low-powered translators of WHRO-TV that are located in the Eastern Shore of Virginia and are municipally owned by Accomack County rather than the HRETA.[1][2] WHRO-TV and HRETA do not own and operate any translators in the Greater Hampton Roads area.

WHRO-TV previously had a translator with the call sign W20CW serving Craddockville – the license for this translator was cancelled on July 9, 2012.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital channel is multiplexed:

Channel PSIP Short Name Video Aspect Programming[3]
15.1WHRO-HD1080i16:9Main WHRO-TV programming / PBS
15.2WORLD480iWorld
15.3KIDSWHRO Kids
15.4CreateCreate

Analog-to-digital conversion

WHRO-TV discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 15, on February 17, 2009, to conclude the federally mandated from analog to digital television.[4] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 16, using PSIP to display WHRO-TV's virtual channel as 15 on digital television receivers.

References

  1. ↑ "RabbitEars.Info". Retrieved 2 April 2017.
  2. ↑ "RabbitEars.Info". Retrieved 2 April 2017.
  3. ↑ "RabbitEars.Info". Retrieved 2 April 2017.
  4. ↑ List of Digital Full-Power Stations
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.