WITF-TV

WITF-TV, virtual channel 33 (UHF digital channel 36), is a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member television station licensed to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, United States and serving the Susquehanna Valley region (Harrisburg–Lancaster–Lebanon–York). Owned by WITF, Inc., it is a sister station to the area's National Public Radio (NPR) member, WITF-FM (89.5). The two stations share studios at the WITF Public Media Center in Swatara Township (though with a Harrisburg mailing address); WITF-TV's transmitter is located in Susquehanna Township, next to the transmitter of CBS affiliate WHP-TV (channel 21).

WITF-TV
Harrisburg/Lancaster/Lebanon/
York, Pennsylvania
United States
CityHarrisburg, Pennsylvania
BrandingWITF PBS
SloganLive inspired
ChannelsDigital: 36 (UHF)
(shared with WPMT)
Virtual: 33 (PSIP)
Subchannels
TranslatorsW34FM-D 34 Chambersburg
Affiliations
OwnerWITF, Inc.
First air dateNovember 22, 1964 (1964-11-22)
Call sign meaningWhere It's Top Flight
Sister station(s)WITF-FM
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog:
  • 33 (UHF, 1964–2009)
Former affiliationsNET (1964–1970)
Transmitter power50 kW
84 kW (application)
Height411 m (1,348 ft)
431 m (1,414 ft) (application)
Facility ID73083
Transmitter coordinates40°20′43.6″N 76°52′7.6″W
Licensing authorityFCC
Public license informationProfile
CDBS
Websitewww.witf.org

On cable television, the station is available on Comcast Xfinity channel 6 and in high definition on digital channel 803. WITF's programming is relayed on a low-powered digital translator station: W34FM-D (channel 34) in Chambersburg.

History

The UHF channel 33 allocation in Central Pennsylvania was previously occupied by WEEU-TV, a commercial television station licensed to Reading that operated in the 1950s. The station shut down in June 1955 after the television stations out of Philadelphia boosted their signals to cover Reading.

The channel 33 allocation was reassigned to Hershey, a suburb of Harrisburg, for non-commercial educational use. The South Central Educational Broadcasting Council was formed in 1963, and it quickly filed for the channel 33 license. WITF-TV first signed on the air on November 22, 1964 from a "temporary" studio facility near the Hershey Theatre. In 1982, the station moved its operations to studio facilities on Locust Lane in northeast Harrisburg. Around this time, it also changed its city of license to Harrisburg. In 2007, it moved to a purpose-built facility in Swatara Township.

In 1998, WITF-TV made history in Pennsylvania by becoming the Commonwealth's first television station to operate a digital signal. As broadcasters across the country began the gradual federally mandated conversion from analog to digital broadcasts, WITF became one of the first in the nation to meet the technological, financial and educational challenges.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital channel is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[1]
33.1720p16:9WITFMain WITF-TV programming / PBS
33.2480iWITFKPBS Kids

Analog-to-digital conversion

WITF-TV discontinued regular programming on its analog signal over UHF channel 33 on February 17, 2009, to conclude the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television.[2] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 36, using PSIP to display WITF-TV's virtual channel as 33 on digital television receivers.

WITF agreed to share its spectrum with Tribune Broadcasting-owned Fox affiliate WPMT (channel 43) following the 2016–2017 FCC incentive auction for $25 million on February 10, 2017. The proceeds were slated for the endowments with interest to be used for Central Pennsylvania's media literacy program. A statewide news organization is another possibility.[3]

Programming

Locally produced programming

In his second broadcast during the COVID-19 pandemic quarantine in the United States, John Oliver, host of HBO's Last Week Tonight, showed portions of a YouTube video from a WITF fundraiser in 1992, which is notable for York, Pennsylvania artist Brian Swords' donations to the auction: erotic furry watercolors of rats. The hosts speak more tentatively as each new piece is shown as they come to realize what they are broadcasting is arguably pornographic by the then-current standards of their viewership rather than merely juvenile drawings of playful rats.[4]

References
  1. "Digital TV Market Listing for WITF". RabbitEars.Info. Retrieved February 14, 2017.
  2. List of Digital Full-Power Stations
  3. Sefton, Dru (February 10, 2017). "Spectrum auction nets nearly $35M for two Pennsylvania stations". Current. Retrieved February 14, 2017.
  4. Swords, Brian (March 20, 2020). Art1992. YouTube. Retrieved March 30, 2020.
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