WMHT (TV)

WMHT is the PBS member station for the Capital District. Licensed to Schenectady, New York, it is owned and operated by WMHT Educational Telecommunications (formerly known as Mohawk-Hudson Council on Educational Television, Inc.) along with sister radio station WMHT-FM. Its transmitter is located in the Helderberg Mountains in New Scotland, while its studios are located in the Rensselaer Technology Park in North Greenbush (though the station's mailing address says Troy).

History

The Mohawk-Hudson Council on Educational Television was formed in 1953, through the financial support from television station WRGB Channel 6, its then-parent company General Electric and many supporters and local businesses in the Albany/Capital Region. In the beginning, Mohawk-Hudson produced educational programs on WRGB; however, due to the station's tight scheduling, the council decided to form a non-commercial educational television station of its own. WMHT signed on the air on March 26, 1962 on UHF channel 17 as the second educational in the state of New York. From the outset the station was a member of National Educational Television (NET) and became one of PBS' charter members after the two stations merged in 1970. In 1972, WMHT expanded into FM radio by launching the first non-commercial classical music station in the United States (a format that continues to this day).

In 1987, WMHT purchased the assets of independent station WUSV (channel 45) and made it a secondary programming service under the calls WMHX. Due to financial difficulties, WMHT shut WMHX down in 1991 and returned it to the air three years later under the calls WMHQ. In the late 1990s, WMHQ's commercial licence became attractive and WMHT sold it to the Tribune Company for $18.5 million in 1999 with the station becoming WB affiliate WEWB that September (it today is CW affiliate WCWN, owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group). The money from this sale allowed WMHT to expand into digital television. It also allowed the station to replace its original facility in Rotterdam with a state-of-the-art facility in the Rensselaer Tech Park.

Digital TV & transition

Digital channels

WMHT-DT signed on in 2003 on channel 34, becoming the second digital television signal in the Capital Region (third if counting WCDC-DT). Currently there are three subchannels on WMHT-DT:

Analog-to-digital conversion

WMHT shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel, 17, at noon on April 16, 2009. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 34.^[2] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 17.

Outlying translators

• W04AJ Glens Falls
• W04BD Schoharie

Also, W42AE in Poughkeepsie, owned by Dutchess Community College, repeats WMHT except for several hours a week when classes are in session.

Cable and satellite carriage

WMHT is carried on the following cable and satellite systems within the Albany/Schenectady/Troy market:

See also

• WMHT-FM
• WEXT

References

External links

• WMHT website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WMHT
• Query the FCC's TV station database for W04AJ
• Query the FCC's TV station database for W04BD
• Query the FCC's TV station database for W42AE
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WMHT-TV