WPXR-TV

WPXR-TV
Roanoke/Lynchburg, Virginia
United States
City Roanoke, Virginia
Branding Ion Television
Slogan Positively Entertaining
Channels Digital: 36 (UHF)
(to move to 27 (UHF))
Virtual: 38 (PSIP)
Subchannels 38.1 Ion Television
38.2 qubo
38.3 Life
38.4 ION Shop
38.5 QVC
38.6 HSN
Affiliations Ion Television (O&O; 1998–present)
Owner Ion Media Networks, Inc.
(Ion Media License Company, LLC)
First air date January 3, 1986 (1986-01-03)
Call letters' meaning PaX TV Roanoke
Former callsigns WEFC (1986–1998)
Former channel number(s) Analog:
38 (UHF, 1986–2009)
Former affiliations Religious (1986–1997)
inTV (1997–1998)
Transmitter power 700 kW
345 kW (CP)
Height 623 m (2,044 ft)
622 m (2,041 ft) (CP)
Facility ID 70251
Transmitter coordinates 37°11′37″N 80°9′25″W / 37.19361°N 80.15694°W / 37.19361; -80.15694
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: Profile
CDBS
Website iontelevision.com

WPXR-TV is an Ion Television owned-and-operated television station licensed to Roanoke, Virginia, United States and also serving Lynchburg. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 36 (or virtual channel 38 via PSIP} from a transmitter atop Poor Mountain in unincorporated southwestern Roanoke County. Owned by Ion Media Networks, WPXR maintains business offices and their master control within leased space with WSLS-TV in their 3rd Street Southwest facility in downtown Roanoke.

History

The station signed on January 3, 1986 as WEFC, a religious station owned by Evangel Foursquare Church (hence the call letters). It was the first new station to sign on in Roanoke in 31 years.

Paxson Communications (now Ion Media Networks) bought the station in 1997 and made it part of the all-infomercial inTV network. It joined Pax TV (later i and now Ion) on the network's launch in 1998.

Digital television

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Digital channels

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Network
38.1720p16:9IONIon Television
38.2480i4:3quboQubo
38.3IONLifeIon Life
38.4ShopIon Shop
38.5QVCQVC
38.6HSNHSN

[1]

Analog-to-digital conversion

WPXR-TV discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 38, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 36,[2] using PSIP to display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 38.

Newscasts

From September 1996 until August 1997, WDBJ produced a 10 p.m. newscast, News 7 Primetime, for WEFC; the newscast was canceled due to low ratings.[3] From 2000 to 2005, WPXR aired rebroadcasts of WSLS-TV's newscasts as part of a joint sales agreement between Paxson Communications and WSLS owner Media General.[4]

References

  1. ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for WPXR
  2. ↑ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-03-24.
  3. ↑ "Channel 7 cancels WEFC 10 p.m. news". The Roanoke Times. August 8, 1997. p. B4. Retrieved December 4, 2011.
  4. ↑ "PAX TV Signs Strategic Agreement With Media General's NBC-Affiliated Stations in Tampa & Roanoke". Online Media Daily. November 3, 2000. Retrieved June 17, 2012.


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