PBS Wisconsin

PBS Wisconsin (formerly Wisconsin Public Television or WPT) is a state network of non-commercial educational television stations operated primarily by the Wisconsin Educational Communications Board and the University of Wisconsin–Madison. It comprises all of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member stations in the state outside of Milwaukee.

PBS Wisconsin
statewide Wisconsin
(except Milwaukee Metro)
United States
(additional coverage in portions of Eastern Minnesota and Iowa, Upper Peninsula of Michigan and Northern Illinois)
SloganA Place to Grow Through Learning
ChannelsDigital: see table below
Affiliations.1: PBS (1970–present)
.2: Wisconsin Channel
.3: Create
.4: PBS Kids
OwnerWHA-TV: University of Wisconsin–Madison
Other stations: State of Wisconsin – Educational Communications Board
LicenseeWHA-TV: Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
First air dateMay 3, 1954 (1954-05-03)
Call sign meaningsee table below
Sister station(s)Wisconsin Public Radio
Former call signsWisconsin Educational Television Network (1972–1986)
Wisconsin Public Television (1986–2019)
Former affiliationsNET (1954–1970)
Transmitter powersee table below
Heightsee table below
Facility IDsee table below
Transmitter coordinatessee table below
Websitepbswisconsin.org

The state network is available via flagship station WHA-TV in Madison and five full-power satellite stations throughout most of Wisconsin. As of April 5, 2009, all stations have converted to digital-only transmissions. PBS Wisconsin is also available on most satellite and cable television outlets.

Until the gradual move of instructional broadcasting to IPTV services, the network, as Wisconsin Public Television, was the main conduit of educational television, GED preparation and instructional television programming produced by the WECB, which aired through PBS, Annenberg Media, those stations serving portions of Wisconsin without a WPT station, and other educational television distributors. As of October 2014, the WECB now distributes this programming exclusively online, allowing the over-the-air network to carry PBS programming full-time.

History

WHA-TV signed on the air on May 3, 1954 as the first educational station in Wisconsin and the seventh in the United States. WHA-TV is the only public television station in the country that maintains a three-letter callsign, and one of only three analog-era UHF stations altogether (along with WHP-TV in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and WWJ-TV in Detroit) with a three-letter callsign.

Wisconsin was a relative latecomer to educational television, despite its earlier leading role in educational radio. Channel 21's radio sister, WHA-AM, is one of the oldest educational radio stations in the world. By the time channel 21 signed on, UW had already launched a radio network that evolved into today's Wisconsin Public Radio. However, for most of the time from the 1950s through the 1970s, it was one of only three stations in the state that was a member of National Educational Television and its successor, PBS. The others were WMVS (channel 10) and WMVT (channel 36) in Milwaukee. The only other areas of the state outside of Milwaukee and Madison that had a clear signal from an NET/PBS member station were the northwest (from Duluth, Minnesota's WDSE-TV) and the southwest (from the Twin Cities's KTCA-TV). During the late 60s and into the early 70s, commercial station KFIZ-TV in Fond du Lac was contracted by the UW-Madison Board of Regents to simulcast portions of WHA-TV's broadcast day, bringing WHA's programming into the Green Bay and Milwaukee markets.[1]

Wisconsin Public Television's logo from 1986 to 2019.

In 1971, the state legislature created the Wisconsin Educational Communications Board, activating five stations as semi-satellites of WHA-TV during the 1970s. The first was WPNE-TV in Green Bay in 1972, ending KFIZ-TV's part-time affiliation with WHA (and hastening its demise only two months after WPNE went on the air). This was followed by WHWC-TV in Menomonie and WHLA-TV in La Crosse in 1973; WHRM-TV in Wausau in 1975 and WLEF in Park Falls in 1977, most taking call signs that originated from their co-owned radio counterparts. Originally, programming origination was split between WHA-TV and WPNE-TV. The stations adopted the on-air name of Wisconsin Public Television in 1986, and by then WHA-TV had become the sole originating station. Transmission and station identification is based out of ECB's Madison facility; all stations still maintain studios at their respective universities, but have generally been deprecated with the evolution of public broadcasting and technology.

From 1960 to 2007, WHA-TV/WPT aired same-day tape-delayed coverage of some Wisconsin Badgers football and men's basketball home games, which was produced in association with UW-Madison's athletic department. This ended in 2007 with the Big Ten Conference's new media rights deals (including the new Big Ten Network cable channel).[2] The state network offers tape-delayed broadcasts of Badgers men's and women's hockey, women's basketball and volleyball throughout the year over the secondary Wisconsin Channel.[3]

In 2009, Wisconsin Public Television collaborated with the American Archive of Public Broadcasting to preserve digitized items in the WPT collection.[4]

On November 4, 2019, the network was renamed PBS Wisconsin, aligning itself with the new national PBS brand identity unveiled the same day.[5]

Stations

Full-power stations

There are six full-power stations in the state network, each located in major cities throughout the state, and all are broadcast on the UHF band. On April 5, 2009, the state network ended analog service for all stations, which map via PSIP to their former analog channel location. All digital facilities and channels in the network except for WLEF were designed for pre- and post-transition use.[6]

Station City of license
(Other cities served)		 Channels
VC / RF		 First air date Call letters' meaning ERP
 HAAT
 Facility ID Transmitter coordinates Public license information
WHA-TV[note 1] Madison 21 (PSIP)
20 (UHF)		 May 3, 1954 (1954-05-03) Taken from sister station WHA radio 200 kW 453 m (1,486 ft) 6096 43°3′21″N 89°32′6″W Profile
CDBS
WHLA-TV[note 2] La Crosse 31 (PSIP)
15 (UHF)		 March 17, 1975 (1975-03-17) WHA LA Crosse 400 kW 345.5 m (1,134 ft) 18780 43°48′18.3″N 91°22′5.1″W Profile
CDBS
WHRM-TV Wausau 20 (PSIP)
24 (UHF)		 January 20, 1976 (1976-01-20) WHA Rib Mountain
(transmitter site)		 172 kW 387 m (1,270 ft) 73036 44°55′12.0″N 89°41′28.7″W Profile
CDBS
WHWC-TV[note 3] Menomonie
(Eau Claire)		 28 (PSIP)
27 (UHF)		 June 10, 1975 (1975-06-10) WHA West Central Wisconsin 291 kW 350 m (1,148 ft) 18793 45°2′49.2″N 91°51′47.3″W Profile
CDBS
WLEF-TV[note 4] Park Falls/Superior 36 (PSIP)
36 (UHF)		 December 15, 1976 (1976-12-15) W Lee E. Franks
former WECB executive director		 277 kW 244 m (801 ft) 63046 45°56′42.1″N 90°16′23.6″W Profile
CDBS
WPNE-TV[note 5][7] Green Bay 38 (PSIP)
25 (UHF)		 September 12, 1972 (1972-09-12) W Public Broadcasting for NorthEastern Wisconsin 212 kW 375 m (1,230 ft) 18798 44°24′34.6″N 88°0′6.7″W Profile
CDBS
  1. WHA-TV was carried on Time Warner Cable systems in the Milwaukee area as a second choice for viewers alongside Milwaukee PBS (then known as Milwaukee Public Television) until January 2009. It also serves as one of two default PBS member stations via cable for the Rockford, Illinois market south of Madison, sharing that market with Chicago's WTTW, as the Rockford area lacks a PBS member station of its own. WHA-TV is also carried on Spectrum in Jefferson County (on the Milwaukee market's western fringe) with Madison's other commercial stations under the FCC's significantly viewed station classification.
  2. WHLA moved its physical channel from 30 to 15 on September 7, 2018 as part of the FCC's spectrum repacking, but continues to use PSIP channel 31.
  3. WHWC serves the Wisconsin side of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul television market, and is carried by some cable systems in southeastern Minnesota, providing a second choice to viewers in addition to Twin Cities PBS' stations.
  4. WLEF's analog signal was terminated on February 3, 2009, with WLEF's digital signal moving from channel 47 to channel 36. WLEF is carried on many cable systems in northwestern Wisconsin that are in the Duluth–Superior television market, providing a second choice to viewers in addition to WDSE.
  5. WPNE moved its physical channel from 42 to 25 on July 1, 2018 as part of the FCC's spectrum repacking, but continues to use PSIP channel 38.

Digital television

The state network carries four digital subchannels:[8]

Digital channels
  • Except for Create, PBS Wisconsin's channels stream online through its website.
Subchannel
(## = local channel)		 Programming service
(PSIP identification)		 Video Aspect Programming description[9][10][11][12][13][14]
##.1 WPT-HD
(callsign-HD)		720p16:9The network's traditional schedule; as of November 2019, transmitted in forced 16:9 widescreen for non-HD cable and satellite viewers. A SAP channel with Descriptive Video Service or alternate language audio is also provided.
##.2 Wisconsin Channel
(WPT-2)		Features WPT's and MPTV's programming about state issues and state history, university lectures, new local programs and performances from Wisconsin arts groups, along with alternate scheduling of lifestyle and drama programming.
##.3 WPT Create
(WPT-3)		480iAirs the full schedule of Create.
##.4PBS Kids
(WPT-4)		Carries the national 24-hour PBS Kids Channel; subchannel launched on January 16, 2017.[15]
  • The programming schedule of all three channels over-the-air depends on the main network schedule; before October 2014, on late nights without overnight instructional programming, WPT went off the air at 1 a.m. and signed back on at 6 a.m. However, after a January 2010 transmitter problem took down WPNE and commercial station WBAY-TV in Green Bay during an off the air period for two weeks, the network switched from turning off their transmitters to mainly airing a network station identification card with an outline map of the network's service in the state during off-the-air hours.
    • Beginning in October 2014, the network began 24-hour service using the late night national PBS feed or network programming to fill the overnight hours, and discontinued most instructional programming (which has moved to the web) outside of one overnight hour of UW-Madison/Wisconsin Public Radio programming under the title University Place.
  • A previous locally programmed PBS Kids 24/7 service aired on WPT's .2 subchannel until 2007, when PBS discontinued the service due to their interest in Sprout until 2013; subsequently the Wisconsin Channel launched in its place, along with a modified children's programming schedule across both services.
  • Since converting all their operations to digital in April 2009, PBS Wisconsin has broadcast their programming in the 720p high definition format, reduced from PBS' master 1080i resolution.

Network translator stations

A translator network also serves portions of the state where over-the-air reception for a full-power station is hindered by area topography (or in the case of Door County, distance from Green Bay), and to fill in holes between full-power stations. All of the listed translators are owned by the WECB, and flash-cut from analog to digital in the first two weeks of November 2008, including adding the subchannel services.[16] Each translator has its virtual channel mapped via PSIP to the channel number of the closest full-power station to the translator.[17]

Call sign Location Translator
channel
(ATSC)		 PSIP
station/channel
W15DJ-D Sister Bay 15 WPNE 38
W16DU-D Bloomington 16 WHLA 31
W24CL-D Grantsburg 24 WHWC 28
W29ET-D Coloma 29 WHRM 20
W30DZ-D Fence 30 WLEF 36
W19EN-D River Falls 19 WHWC 28

Network programming in Milwaukee and Superior–Duluth

PBS Wisconsin's public affairs programming is carried by WMVS in Milwaukee, including Here and Now, while WDSE (channel 8) in the Superior–Duluth market and WRPT (channel 31) in Hibbing air the shows in northeast Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin. The two stations also air the state network's live teen issues program Teen Connection quarterly with PBS Wisconsin, along with political debates and other important events originating from the Capitol such as the State of the State address and biennial budget address produced by the state network; in turn some Milwaukee PBS programming (such as Outdoor Wisconsin) and MPTV-produced debates air on PBS Wisconsin, with programs such as Wisconsin Foodie in turn airing on WMVS. Some of the state network's tape-delayed sports coverage airs in Milwaukee on WMVT.

National presentations

See also

References
  1. AP (1972-11-29). "Fond du Lac to Lose Station". Wisconsin State Journal. Retrieved 2018-05-26 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. https://web.archive.org/web/20110611050417/http://www.madison.com/tct/sports/188213
  3. "WPT Sports: UW Men's Hockey on Wisconsin Public Television". Wisconsin Public Television. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  4. "PBS Wisconsin". americanarchive.org. Retrieved 2020-05-27.
  5. Goldsmith, Jill. "PBS begins rollout of electric-blue brand refresh". Current. Retrieved 2019-12-03.
  6. Richgels, Jeff. "WHA-TV ending analog broadcasts April 5". 77 Square. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
  7. "Wisconsin Public Television Contact US (Programming and station notes)". 2012-11-15. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
  8. "Wisconsin Public Television to Launch New Digital Broadcast Lineup". October 6, 2008. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
  9. "RabbitEars.Info". www.rabbitears.info. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  10. "RabbitEars.Info". www.rabbitears.info. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  11. "RabbitEars.Info". www.rabbitears.info. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  12. "RabbitEars.Info". www.rabbitears.info. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  13. "RabbitEars.Info". www.rabbitears.info. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  14. "RabbitEars.Info". www.rabbitears.info. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  15. "PBS Kids Coming in January". PBS Kids. 2017-01-08. Event occurs at 21:07. WPNE. |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  16. "Translators Conversion Schedule". Wisconsin Public Television. Archived from the original on 2009-04-05. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
  17. "Antennas and Reception". Wisconsin Public Television. Archived from the original on 2009-04-05. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
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