WQLN (TV)

WQLN
Erie, Pennsylvania/London, Ontario
United States/Canada
City Erie, Pennsylvania
Branding TV 54
Channels Digital: 50 (UHF)
(to move to 27 (UHF))
Virtual: 54 (PSIP)
Subchannels 54.1 PBS
54.2 Create
54.3 World
Affiliations PBS
Owner Public Broadcasting of Northwest Pennsylvania, Inc.
First air date August 13, 1967 (1967-08-13)
Call letters' meaning We Question and LearN
Sister station(s) WQLN-FM
Former channel number(s) 54 (UHF analog, 1967–2008)
Former affiliations NET (1967–1970)
Transmitter power 300 kW
191 kW (CP)
Height 277.6 m (911 ft)
277.7 m (911 ft) (CP)
Facility ID 53716
Transmitter coordinates 42°2′33.3″N 80°3′55.8″W / 42.042583°N 80.065500°W / 42.042583; -80.065500 (WQLN)
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: Profile
CDBS
Website www.wqln.org

WQLN, virtual channel 54 (UHF digital channel 50), is a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member television station licensed to Erie, Pennsylvania, United States. The station is owned by Public Broadcasting of Northwest Pennsylvania. WQLN's transmitter and studio facilities are located south of the city of Erie, just slightly northeast of WJET-TV/WFXP's shared studios off Peach Street.

In addition to its local viewership in Northwestern Pennsylvania and portions of nearby Ohio and New York State, WQLN is also seen in the London, Ontario area on Rogers Cable channel 8, and on other cable systems in the area.

History

Logo for WQLN from 1978 to 2014

Groundwork for an educational television station in northwest Pennsylvania was laid in 1953 with the founding of Educational Television of Erie. Its initial effort to sign on a station was unsuccessful, but the group eventually reserved channel 54 for noncommercial use. The group, which was renamed Educational Television of Northwest Pennsylvania in 1964, pressed on until finally winning a construction permit on December 6, 1966. The group initially chose the call letters WLRN (for "LeaRNing"), but those letters were already being used by a radio station in Miami, Florida. They then went with their next choice, WQLN ("We Question and Learn"). On August 13, 1967; WQLN finally went on the air. WQLN-FM signed on in 1973 as a National Public Radio (NPR) member station.

WQLN is the second-smallest PBS member in Pennsylvania. Its coverage area is limited due to Erie being sandwiched between Pittsburgh to the south, Youngstown to the west and Buffalo to the north, along with Cleveland's WVIZ also being accessible in parts of the market. As a result, the station has struggled financially for most of its history. Like most PBS member stations along the U.S.–Canada border, particularly in smaller markets, it also depends heavily on viewership and donations from Canadian audiences. In WQLN's case, that extended audience is across Lake Erie in the London, Ontario area. At various times in the station's history, PBS mainstays such as Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, Nova, and The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour were not seen on WQLN.

The station's transmitter was knocked off-air early September 15, 2008 after its antenna and transmission line were damaged by Hurricane Ike. There was also additional damage (possibly from a prior lightning strike) to the 680-foot (210 m) transmission line.[1] The station later returned using a temporary digital antenna, making WQLN the first Erie station to become fully digital.[2][3] With the impending end of analog broadcasting only four months away, the station opted not to rebuild its analog facility and broadcast exclusively in digital.

Digital channels

Channel Video Aspect PSIP short name Programming [4]
54.11080i16:9WQLN-DTMain WQLN programming / PBS
54.2480iCREATECreate
54.3WORLDWorld

Canadian coverage

Rogers Cable carries WQLN as the PBS station on some of its systems in Southwestern Ontario, including London, which has almost three times the population of WQLN's American coverage area. As a result of its cable carriage, a major portion of WQLN's financial contributions have come from viewers in Canada.[5] For decades, the station has identified as "Erie/London" to acknowledge its Canadian viewership.

However, in July 2009, Rogers announced that it would be replacing both WQLN and Watertown, New York's WPBS-DT (carried in Ottawa) on its cable systems with Detroit's WTVS due to concerns over signal quality, as a result of the stations not having fiber optic signals available to Rogers. The plan by Rogers was faced with criticism from WQLN's general manager Dwight Miller, who stated that WQLN would not be able to stay on the air without the support of its Canadian viewers. Miller claimed that in recent years, the bulk of WQLN's fundraising revenue came from Canada.[5] The threat of losing its Canadian cable viewership came as an additional unwelcome blow for WQLN which, like other PBS members in Pennsylvania, lost all state funding as of 2009. WQLN would face a loss of about $800,000 of state funding.[6]

On July 30, 2009, Rogers announced that WQLN will be retained on its southwestern Ontario systems, as a result of WQLN providing a connection to Rogers' London headend.[7]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.wqln.org/antenna/
  2. ↑ Scott Fybush (2008-10-13). "NorthEast Radio Watch". Retrieved 2008-10-13.
  3. ↑ WQLN on air again, Jim Carroll, Erie Times-News, October 11, 2008
  4. ↑ http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=WQLN#station
  5. 1 2 London Free Press: "Loss of London viewers could sink Erie station", 22 July 2009.
  6. ↑ Erie Times-News: "WQLN to stay on in London: State budget leaves uncertain future", 30 July 2009.
  7. ↑ London Free Press: "Rogers retains PBS affiliate WQLN", 31 July 2009.
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