WBRA-TV
 | |
| Roanoke, Virginia United States | |
|---|---|
| Branding | Blue Ridge PBS |
| Slogan | Your Community Resource for Lifelong Learning |
| Channels |
Digital: 3 (VHF) Virtual: 15 (PSIP) |
| Subchannels |
15.1 PBS 15.2 PBS Encore/PBS World 15.3 PBS Kids |
| Affiliations | PBS |
| Owner | Blue Ridge Public Television, Inc. |
| First air date | August 1, 1967 |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 15 (UHF, 1967–2009) |
| Former affiliations | NET (1967–1970) |
| Transmitter power | 9.8 kW |
| Height | 618 m |
| Class | NCE DT |
| Facility ID | 5981 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 37°11′46″N 80°9′17″W / 37.19611°N 80.15472°W |
| Licensing authority | FCC |
| Public license information: |
Profile CDBS |
| Website | www.blueridgepbs.org/ |
WBRA-TV is the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member station for southwestern Virginia. It serves the Roanoke-Lynchburg market from studios in Roanoke. It formerly also broadcast to the Tri-Cities, Tennessee-Virginia market.
History
WBRA-TV signed on for the first time on August 1, 1967. It claims to be the first all-color educational station in the country. It was originally a member of National Educational Television (NET), before that organization was replaced by PBS in 1970.
In the 1980s, WBRA began identifying on-air as Blue Ridge Public Television, due of its location near the Blue Ridge Mountains. On February 19, 2007, it changed its on-air name to Blue Ridge PBS.
Relays
WBRA established two satellite transmitters — WSBN-TV (channel 47) in Norton was activated in 1971 and WMSY-TV (channel 52) in Marion began operations in 1981. WSBN brought a city-grade PBS signal to the Tri-Cities for the first time; it was carried on the Tri-Cities DirecTV and Dish Network feeds.
In March 2013, Blue Ridge PBS announced that it would close both WSBN-TV and WMSY-TV by June 30, 2013, leaving East Tennessee PBS outlet WETP as the sole source of PBS programming in the Tri-Cities. The move came as a result of budget cuts that followed the elimination of Virginia's funding for public broadcasting stations in 2012. However, station president James Baum told The Roanoke Times that there are no plans to tear down the transmitters, leaving the possibility that WSBN-TV and WMSY-TV could return in the future.[1] Both stations returned to the air March 29, 2014. Later in the year, Blue Ridge PBS created a separate feed of programming branded "Southwest Virginia Public TV" for broadcast on the main feeds of WSBN-TV and WMSY-TV as well as local cable; the channel also airs on WBRA-TV's subchannel 15.2.[2]
Both stations went off the air again March 27, 2017; WSBN-TV's transmitter was destroyed by a lightning strike, and the microwave feed to both stations from WBRA-TV also failed.[3][4] On April 13, 2017, the FCC announced that Blue Ridge PBS had sold the two stations’ channel allocations in the 2016-17 spectrum reallocation auction. Blue Ridge PBS received $5,243,122 for WMSY-TV and $597,793 for WSBN-TV, and elected to take both permanently off-the-air.[5] The licenses for both stations were returned for cancellation on November 3, 2017.
| Station | City of license | Channels TV / DT |
First air date | ERP | HAAT | Facility ID | Transmitter Coordinates | Former Callsigns |
| WSBN-TV | Norton | 47 (PSIP) 32 (UHF) |
March 30, 1971 (license canceled November 3, 2017) |
100 kW | 591 m | 5985 | 36°53′53″N 82°37′21″W / 36.89806°N 82.62250°W | WSVN-TV (1971–1983) |
| WMSY-TV | Marion | 52 (PSIP) 42 (UHF) |
August 1, 1981 (license canceled November 3, 2017) |
100 kW | 448 m | 5982 | 36°54′7″N 81°32′32″W / 36.90194°N 81.54222°W | |
Digital television
Digital channels
The digital signals of Blue Ridge PBS' stations are multiplexed:
| Channel | Video | Aspect | PSIP Short Name | Programming[6][7][8] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | WBRA-HD | Main programming / PBS |
| 15.2 | 480i | 4:3 | SWVAPTV | PBS Encore "SWVA PTV" (6:00am–6:00pm)/PBS World (6:00pm–6:00am) |
| 15.3 | Kids | PBS Kids |
Analog-to-digital conversion
Blue Ridge PBS' stations shut down their analog signals 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 channel allocations post-transition are as follows:[9]
- WBRA-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 15; the station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition VHF channel 3. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 15.
- WSBN-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 47; the station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 32. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 47.
- WMSY-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 52; 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 52, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition.
References
- ↑ Berrier Jr., Ralph (March 27, 2013). "Blue Ridge PBS to go dark in far Southwest Virginia". The Roanoke Times. Archived from the original on April 11, 2013. Retrieved March 29, 2013.
- ↑ Berrier Jr., Ralph (October 26, 2014). "Media notes: Blue Ridge PBS launches new channel". Roanoke Times.
- ↑ "DWSBN-TV Facility Data". FCCData.
- ↑ "DWMSY-TV Facility Data". FCCData.
- ↑ "FCC Broadcast Television Spectrum Incentive Auction" (PDF). Federal Communications Commission. April 13, 2017. p. 1. Retrieved April 13, 2017.
- ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for WBRA
- ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for WSBN
- ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for WMSY
- ↑ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-08-29. Retrieved 2012-03-24.