WSRE
 | |
| Pensacola, Florida United States | |
|---|---|
| City | Pensacola, FL |
| Branding | WSRE |
| Slogan | Public Television for the Gulf Coast |
| Channels |
Digital: 31 (UHF) (to move to 24 (UHF)) Virtual: 23 (PSIP) |
| Subchannels |
23.1 PBS 23.2 PBS World 23.3 TFC/Create 23.4 PBS Kids |
| Affiliations | PBS (1970–present) |
| Owner |
Pensacola State College (The District Board of Trustees, Pensacola State College) |
| Founded | 1967 |
| First air date | September 11, 1967 |
| Call letters' meaning | Santa Rosa and Escambia counties |
| Former callsigns | WSRE-TV (1967–1981) |
| Former channel number(s) |
Analog: 23 (UHF, 1967–2009) |
| Former affiliations | NET (1967–1970) |
| Transmitter power | 1000 kW |
| Height | 549 m (1,801 ft) |
| Facility ID | 17611 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 30°36′41″N 87°36′26.4″W / 30.61139°N 87.607333°W |
| Licensing authority | FCC |
| Public license information: |
Profile CDBS |
| Website | www.wsre.org |
WSRE is the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member Public television station for the Pensacola, Florida viewing area. The station has been broadcasting since 1967, and is owned by Pensacola State College. The station's production and development facilities are located at the Kugelman Center for Telecommunications on the Pensacola State main campus. Its transmitter is located near Robertsdale, Alabama.
The station has recently gone under very significant growth, with the dedication of the new Jean & Paul Amos Performance Studio, and numerous equipment and technical upgrades.
Production Facilities
WSRE is home to three fully equipped television studios. The largest being WSRE's Studio A, otherwise known as the Jean & Paul Amos Performance Studio. The Jean & Paul Amos Performance is an 18,000 sq ft (1,700 m2) fully featured television soundstage offering 500 seats of stadium seating, which is retractable to allow for more soundstage space. Studio B also offers all of the technical capability of Studio A, with more moderate floor space designed for live or pre-recorded programming without a live audience. Most of the station's local programming is produced in Studio B. Studio C is a much smaller studio and is almost exclusively used for television programs and segments designed for satellite uplinks. MSNBC's Scarborough Country (now known as Morning Joe) was frequently produced in Studio C when former Representative Joe Scarborough was in Pensacola.
Digital television
Digital channels
The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
| Channel | Video | Aspect | PSIP Short Name | Programming[1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | WSRE-HD | Main WSRE programming / PBS |
| 23.2 | 480i | 4:3 | WSRE-2 | World |
| 23.3 | WSRE-3 | The Florida Channel (5 a.m.-5 p.m.) Create (5 p.m.-5 a.m.) | ||
| 23.4 | WSRE-4 | PBS Kids | ||
Analog-to-digital conversion
WSRE discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 23, on February 17, 2009, the original target date in which full-power television stations in the United States were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate (which was later pushed back to June 12, 2009). The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 31.[2] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 23. Prior to shutdown of its analog signal, WSRE broadcast its nightly sign-off for the final time.
WSRE's analog signal operated from a transmitter on Fairfield Drive in Pensacola. In 2006, it activated its full-power digital transmitter in Robertsdale, where most of the other stations in the Mobile/Pensacola market have their transmitters. Recently, the station has begun branding itself as a full-market PBS station, challenging Alabama Public Television's Mobile outlet, WEIQ. It claims to be the only PBS station that provides a full-power signal to the entire market.[3]
Local Programming
The station produces many local and regional programs, including:
- Open Forum - a discussion/call-in show
- Connecting the Community - a weekly program designed to keep members of the community aware of local community happenings, also a call-in show
- Garden Magic - A call-in gardening tips and information program hosted by Dr. Bill Bennett
- Food for Thought - features speeches by experts educated in an array of fields who are from or are visiting the Pensacola area
- Aware! - a local community feature show, aiming to keeping viewers best interests in mind by keeping viewers up to date on issues that may directly affect them and their families
- Rally - A televised political debate program that airs days before important local elections.
- Pensacola State Today - News about what's happening around Pensacola State College.
- Legislative Review - Local state legislators are invited to appear on this program to discuss local political issues and answer questions from their constituents.
- Flavors of the Coast - A cooking program featuring recipes exclusively found on the gulf coast.
Gourmet Cooking
WSRE was also the home of the nationally-televised French cooking program, Gourmet Cooking, which was hosted by Earl Peyroux. The program first went into production as a local program in 1977, going into national public television syndication in 1982, and televised through the early-1990s. At age 78, Peyroux died of unreleased circumstances on October 23, 2003.
WLNE
WLNE was a local educational-access television channel operated by WSRE targeted towards young children and teachers. The channel's "call sign" was actually the acronym "Where Learning Never Ends". The channel was only available on Cox Cable channel 19 in Pensacola. This WLNE should not be confused with the ABC affiliate in Providence, Rhode Island, whose calls are "WLNE-TV".
On September 30, 2008, due to the Annenberg Foundation discontinuing its satellite service (from which most of WLNE's education programming originated), WSRE discontinued WLNE.
End of Analog Transmission
At 12:00 am on February 18, 2009, WSRE's analog transmitters, which were located at the main campus of then-Pensacola Junior College, were turned off permanently. WSRE ceased analog transmissions on the original DTV transition date, even after that date was pushed back to mid-June. The analog close down was marked with a special retrospective, featuring portions of the previous WSRE sign-offs and sign-ons, an explanation of sign-offs, vintage studio photos and a final farewell; the special was broadcast on both analog and digital signals. After the analog signal closed, the digital transmission (broadcasting from a facility shared with other stations in Robertsdale) went to color bars, and signed back on a couple hours later.
References
- ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for WSRE
- ↑ "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.
- ↑ Station history