WSBE-TV

WSBE-TV
Providence, Rhode Island
United States
Branding Rhode Island PBS
Channels Digital: 21 (UHF)
Virtual: 36 (PSIP)
Subchannels 36.1 PBS
36.2 LEARN
36.3 V-Me
Affiliations PBS
Owner Rhode Island PBS Foundation
First air date June 8, 1967
Call letters' meaning State
Board of
Education
Former channel number(s) Analog:
36 (UHF, 1967-2009)
Former affiliations NET (1967-1970)
Transmitter power 50 kW
Height 268 m
Facility ID 56092
Transmitter coordinates 41°51′54″N 71°17′15″W / 41.86500°N 71.28750°W
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: Profile
CDBS
Website www.ripbs.org

WSBE-TV is Rhode Island's only public television station. The license is owned by the Rhode Island PBS Foundation, a nonprofit organization. The station began broadcasting on June 8, 1967 from the campus of Rhode Island College. In 1974, WSBE moved to the former WPRO-TV (now WPRI-TV) facilities at 24 Mason Street in Providence. In January 1991, WSBE moved to new studios on 50 Park Lane in Providence, near the Cranston city line. Its analog transmitter was located on Neutaconcanut Hill in Johnston, until the FCC-mandated digital conversion in 2009. The digital TV transmitter is now located in Rehoboth, Massachusetts. From 1973 to 2000, WSBE-TV's programming was relayed in Westerly on translator W62AB. This translator was turned off in 2000, largely because of the high penetration of cable in the state. On May 1, 2003, WSBE rebranded itself as Rhode Island PBS.

WSBE-TV's license was originally held by the Rhode Island State Board of Education (from which the call letters are derived). In 1981, what had become the Board of Regents for Education transferred the station to the Rhode Island Public Telecommunications Authority, a quasi-state agency.[1] The Channel 36 Foundation was founded in 1987[2] as an independent fundraising arm of WSBE; it subsequently became the Rhode Island PBS Foundation following the station's 2003 rebranding.[3] In June 2012, the Rhode Island Public Telecommunications Authority voted to begin the process of transitioning WSBE-TV from a state licensee to a community licensee, with the Rhode Island PBS Foundation assuming full control of the station. According to a release announcing the decision, the state budget extended funding to the station until the end of the fiscal year on June 30, 2013.[4] The license transfer was completed on October 10, 2012.[5]

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[6]
36.1 1080i 16:9 WSBE-HD Main WSBE-TV programming / PBS
36.2 480i 4:3 WSBE-D2 Learn
36.3 WSBE-SP V-me

Analog-to-digital conversion

On January 16, 2009, the analog transmitter for WSBE suffered a 'catastrophic failure'. The old RCA transmitter developed a leak in the water cooling system. Due the scarcity of parts, time required to repair (two weeks minimum), cost, and the proximity to the original February 17 date for the analog shutdown, the station discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 36, at that time. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 21,[7][8] using PSIP to display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 36.

Programming

WSBE airs most popular PBS series on, usually, an eight-day delay from primary public television stations such as Boston's WGBH-TV. WSBE also airs programs such as The Lawrence Welk Show, The Red Green Show, and "Britcoms" from the BBC, including Keeping Up Appearances, As Time Goes By, Vicar of Dibley, Are You Being Served?, Last of the Summer Wine and several others.

WSBE co-produces the nationally distributed Italian cooking show, Ciao Italia.

Local programming produced by WSBE includes:

Recent series not currently in production:

References

  1. ↑ "Application Search Details". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
  2. ↑ Piccirilli, Anthony (July 1, 1989). "Tuning in to Channel 36". The Providence Journal. p. A-19. Retrieved January 25, 2014. Before the formation of the foundation in 1987… (preview of subscription content)
  3. ↑ Lapin, Andrew (September 20, 2013). "Susan Farmer, Rhode Island politician and pubTV exec, dies at 71". Current. Retrieved January 25, 2014. At WSBE [Susan] Farmer established an independent fundraising nonprofit for the state-owned network. The Channel 36 Foundation, now the Rhode Island PBS Foundation, helped the station reduce its reliance on state subsidies…
  4. ↑ "PBS transitioning to community license". Retrieved 2012-06-27.
  5. ↑ Piccerelli, David W. (October 11, 2012). "Consummation Notice". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved January 25, 2014.
  6. ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for WSBE
  7. ↑ "WSBE Analog Transmitter Meets Premature Demise". Rhode Island PBS. 2009-01-16. Retrieved 2009-01-24.
  8. ↑ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-03-24.
  9. ↑ Press release

External links