Blue Ridge PBS
 | |
| Southwestern Virginia United States | |
|---|---|
| Branding | Blue Ridge PBS |
| Slogan | Your Community Resource for Lifelong Learning |
| Channels | Digital: see chart |
| Subchannels |
xx.1 PBS xx.2 PBS Encore/PBS World xx.3 PBS Kids |
| Affiliations | PBS |
| Owner | Blue Ridge Public Television, Inc. |
| First air date | August 1, 1967 |
| Call letters' meaning | see table below |
| Former affiliations | NET (1967–1970) |
| Transmitter power | see table below |
| Height | see table below |
| Class | see table below |
| Facility ID | see table below |
| Transmitter coordinates | see table below |
| Licensing authority | FCC |
| Public license information: |
Ridge PBS Profile Ridge PBS CDBS |
| Website | www.blueridgepbs.org/ |
Blue Ridge PBS is the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member station for southwestern Virginia. It serves the Roanoke-Lynchburg market from studios in Roanoke. It formerly also broadcast to the Tri-Cities, Tennessee-Virginia market.
History
The primary station, WBRA-TV (channel 15) in Roanoke signed on for the first time on August 1, 1967. It claims to be the first all-color educational station in the country. It was originally a member of National Educational Television (NET), before that organization was replaced by PBS in 1970.
Over the years, WBRA established two satellite transmitters — WSBN-TV (channel 47) in Norton was activated in 1971 and WMSY-TV (channel 52) in Marion began operations in 1981. WSBN brought a city-grade PBS signal to the Tri-Cities for the first time; it is carried on the Tri-Cities DirecTV and Dish Network feeds.
In the 1980s, WBRA began identifying on-air as Blue Ridge Public Television, due of its location near the Blue Ridge Mountains. On February 19, 2007, it changed its on-air name to Blue Ridge PBS, though WBRA-TV remains the official call sign.
In March 2013, Blue Ridge PBS announced that it would close both WSBN and WMSY by June 30, 2013, leaving East Tennessee PBS outlet WETP as the sole source of PBS programming in the Tri-Cities. The move came as a result of budget cuts that followed the elimination of Virginia's funding for public broadcasting stations in 2012. However, station president James Baum told The Roanoke Times that there are no plans to tear down the transmitters, leaving the possibility that WSBN and WMSY could return in the future.[1]
On April 13, 2017, the FCC identified Blue Ridge PBS will be compensated $5.2 million for WMSY and nearly $600 thousand for WSBN for both to go permanently off-the-air as part of the Spectrum auction.[2]
Stations
| Station | City of license | Channels TV / DT |
First air date | ERP | HAAT | Facility ID | Transmitter Coordinates |
| WBRA-TV | Roanoke | 15 (PSIP) 3 (VHF) |
August 1, 1967 | 9.8 kW | 618 m | 5981 | 37°11′46″N 80°9′17″W / 37.19611°N 80.15472°W |
| WSBN-TV1 | Norton | 47 (PSIP) 32 (UHF) |
March 30, 1971 (signed off March 24, 2013) | 100 kW | 591 m | 5985 | 36°53′53″N 82°37′21″W / 36.89806°N 82.62250°W |
| WMSY-TV | Marion | 52 (PSIP) 42 (UHF) |
August 1, 1981 (signed off March 24, 2013) | 100 kW | 448 m | 5982 | 36°54′7″N 81°32′32″W / 36.90194°N 81.54222°W |
Note:
- 1. WSBN-TV used the callsign WSVN-TV from its 1971 sign-on to 1983; there is no connection between this station and the current WSVN Channel 7, A Fox affiliate in Miami, Florida.
Digital television
Digital channels
The digital signals of Blue Ridge PBS' stations are multiplexed:
| Channel | Video | Aspect | PSIP Short Name | Programming[3][4][5] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | WBRA-HD | Main programming / PBS (only seen on WBRA's signal) |
| 15.2
47.2 52.2 |
480i | 4:3 | SWVAPTV (on WBRA)
WMSY-SD (on WMSY and WSBN) |
PBS Encore "SWVA PTV" (Only programming on WSBN and WMSY) (6:00am-6:00pm)/PBS World (6:00pm-6:00am) |
| 15.3 | Kids | PBS Kids (only seen on WBRA's signal) |
Analog-to-digital conversion
Blue Ridge PBS' stations shut down their analog signals on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital channel allocations post-transition are as follows:[6]
- WBRA-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 15; the station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition VHF channel 3. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 15.
- WSBN-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 47; the station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 32. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 47.
- WMSY-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 52; the station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 42. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 52, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition.
References
- ↑ Berrier Jr., Ralph (March 27, 2013). "Blue Ridge PBS to go dark in far Southwest Virginia". The Roanoke Times. Archived from the original on April 11, 2013. Retrieved March 29, 2013.
- ↑ "FCC Broadcast Television Spectrum Incentive Auction" (PDF). Federal Communications Commission. April 13, 2017. p. 1. Retrieved April 13, 2017.
- ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for WBRA
- ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for WSBN
- ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for WMSY
- ↑ "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.
External links
- Blue Ridge PBS
- Roanoke-Lynchburg stations at RabbitEars.info
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WBRA-TV
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WSBN-TV
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WMSY-TV
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WBRA-TV
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WSBN-TV
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WMSY-TV