West Virginia Public Broadcasting

West Virginia Public Broadcasting (WVPB) is the public television and radio state network serving the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is owned by the West Virginia Public Broadcasting Authority, an agency of the state government that holds the licenses for all Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and National Public Radio (NPR) member stations licensed in West Virginia. It is headquartered in Charleston with studios in Morgantown and Beckley.

On January 1, 2015, West Virginia PBS and West Virginia Public Radio merged their brands, branding exclusively as "West Virginia Public Broadcasting" across radio and television.<ref name="Branding">Template:Cite news</ref>

Television

The first public television station in West Virginia signed on July 14, 1969 under the callsign WMUL-TV, broadcasting from Marshall University in Huntington. In 1981, WMUL-TV changed its call letters to WPBY-TV;<ref name=fcc-wvpbtvcallsigns>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> two years later, the public station at West Virginia University in Morgantown, WWVU-TV, was renamed WNPB-TV.<ref name=fcc-wnpbtvcallsigns>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> WPBY-TV and WNPB-TV received their new call letters to underline that the operations were managed by the state educational broadcasting authority, and not the university system. In 1992, the state completed a microwave link that permitted it to convert WNPB and the state's third PBS station, WSWP-TV in Grandview to become repeaters of WPBY-TV in Huntington and form a state network. On January 5, 2015, WPBY-TV changed its call letters to WVPB-TV<ref name=fcc-wvpbtvcallsigns/> as part of an effort to unify all of West Virginia Public Broadcasting's services under a single brand; the television network had previously been branded as "West Virginia PBS", a name that was phased out starting on January 1, 2015.<ref name=mh-wvpbbrandmerge>Template:Cite news</ref>

The state network has a total of five low-powered repeaters serving other areas out of the range of the three full-powered stations, most notably Wheeling and Parkersburg. Three directly repeat WNPB, one repeats WVPB and one repeats WSWP.

In the past the network showed some Marshall University and West Virginia University sports content, but has abandoned this practice due to Conference USA/Big 12 exclusivity agreements with commercial and cable outlets.

The current local content consists of a daily recap of the state legislative session, shows produced by the West Virginia University medical school, and student produced news from campus weekly products from Marshall University and West Virginia State University. It also broadcasts original documentaries on West Virginia history and culture, as well as live musical performances of Mountain Stage and the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame.

The combined footprint of WVPB's television network covers almost all of West Virginia, as well as portions of Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia. It is carried on the basic tier of all cable systems in West Virginia.

TV stations

Station	City of license Template:Small	Channels (RF/VC)	First air date	Call letters' meaning	Former callsigns	ERP	HAAT	Facility ID	Transmitter coordinates	Public license information
Template:NowrapTemplate:Efn	Huntington Template:Small	9 (VHF) 33	Template:Start date and age	West Virginia Public Broadcasting	Template:Nowrap Template:Nowrap Template:Nowrap Template:Nowrap	23 kW	Template:Convert	71657	Template:Coord	Template:FCC-TV-Station-profile Template:FCC-LMS-Facility
Template:Nowrap	Grandview Template:Small	8 (VHF) 9	Template:Start date and age	Southern West Virginia Public Television		8.8 kW (STA) 29.9 kW (CP)	Template:Convert (STA) Template:Convert (CP)	71680	Template:Coord	Template:FCC-TV-Station-profile Template:FCC-LMS-Facility
Template:Nowrap	Morgantown Template:Small	34 (UHF) 24	Template:Start date and age	(Northern) West Virginia Public Broadcasting	Template:Nowrap Template:Nowrap	660 kW	Template:Convert	71676	Template:Coord	Template:FCC-TV-Station-profile Template:FCC-LMS-Facility

Notes: Template:Notelist

Translators

City of license	Callsign	Translating	Channel	ERP	HAAT	Facility ID	Transmitter coordinates	Owner
Cedarville	Template:FCC-LMS-Facility	WSWP-TV 9	28	10.1 kW	Template:Convert	181586	Template:Coord	West Virginia Educational Broadcasting Authority
Keyser	Template:FCC-LMS-Facility	WNPB-TV 24	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 15 kW || Template:Convert || 167356 || Template:Coord
Martinsburg	Template:FCC-LMS-Facility		27	0.3 kW	Template:Convert	167357	Template:Coord
Moorefield	Template:FCC-LMS-Facility		22	0.095 kW	Template:Convert	127707	Template:Coord	Valley TV Cooperative, Inc.
Parkersburg	Template:FCC-LMS-Facility	WVPB-TV 33	34	15 kW	Template:Convert	167359	Template:Coord	West Virginia Educational Broadcasting Authority
Romney	Template:FCC-LMS-Facility	WNPB-TV 24	21		Template:Convert	167358	Template:Coord
Wheeling	Template:FCC-LMS-Facility		17		Template:Convert	167354	Template:Coord

On June 1, 2016, West Virginia Public Broadcasting announced a plan to shut down five of its translators — W07DN-D, W08EE-D, W09CT-D, W30CO-D, and W41AO — due to state budget cuts and changes in viewing habits.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> All five translators were originally planned to be taken silent for a year in order to determine a long-term plan. Operations on W08EE-D (Martinsburg) and W30CO-D (Wheeling) resumed on August 10, 2016, while the licenses for W07DN-D (Wardensville), W09CT-D (Mathias), and W41AO (Hampshire) were surrendered to the FCC for cancellation on May 26, 2017.

Digital television

Subchannels

All digital signals are multiplexed:

citation

CitationClass=web }} {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }} {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Channel			Res.	Aspect	Short name			Programming
Template:Small	Template:Small	Template:Small	Template:Small	Template:Small	Template:Small
33.1	9.1	24.1	1080i	16:9	WVPB-D1	WSWP-D1	WNPB-D1	PBS
33.2	9.2	24.2			WVPB-D2	WSWP-D2	WNPB-D2	West Virginia Channel (6 p.m.–midnight) World (midnight–6 p.m.)
33.3	9.3	24.3	480i		WVPB-D3	WSWP-D3	WNPB-D3	PBS Kids<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Analog-to-digital conversion

West Virginia Public Broadcasting's TV stations shut down their analog signals on June 12, 2009, the official date on 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:<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• WPBY-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 33; the station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 34,<ref name="FCCForm387WPBY">CDBS Print</ref> using virtual channel 33.
• WSWP-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 9; the station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 53, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition, to VHF channel 10,<ref name="FCCForm387WSWP">CDBS Print</ref> using virtual channel 9.
• WNPB-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 24; the station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 33,<ref name="FCCForm387WNPB">CDBS Print</ref> using virtual channel 24.

Radio

File:Trey Kay and Deborah George at the 69th Annual Peabody Awards for The Great Textbook War.jpg

Trey Kay and Deborah George at the 69th Annual Peabody Awards for The Great Textbook War, broadcast on WVPB

WVPB's state radio network includes eleven full-powered stations and seven low-powered translators, all on the FM band. The state network carries programs from NPR, PRI and other distributors, as well as classical and folk music. WVPB produces original weekly programs, including EclecTopia, A Change of Tune, Inside Appalachia and Sidetracks, plus the nationally distributed Mountain Stage. The network was known as "West Virginia Public Radio" until WVPB's 2015 transition to a single brand.<ref name=mh-wvpbbrandmerge/>

FM stations

Call sign	Frequency	City of license	Facility ID	Class	ERP (W)	Height (m (ft))	Transmitter coordinates
Template:Rh | WVBY	91.7 FM	Beckley	Template:FID	B	10,400	Template:Convert	Template:Coord
Template:Rh | WVBL	88.5 FM	Bluefield	Template:FID	B	50,000	Template:Convert	Template:Coord
Template:Rh | WVPW	88.9 FM	Buckhannon	Template:FID	B	14,000	Template:Convert	Template:Coord
Template:Rh | WVPBTemplate:Efn	88.5 FM	Charleston	Template:FID	B	44,000	Template:Convert	Template:Coord
Template:Rh | WVWV	89.9 FM	Huntington	Template:FID	B	8,100	Template:Convert	Template:Coord
Template:Rh | WVEP	88.9 FM	Martinsburg	Template:FID	B	3,600	Template:Convert	Template:Coord
Template:Rh | WVKM	106.7 FM	Matewan	Template:FID	C3	4,300	Template:Convert	Template:Coord
Template:Rh | WVPM	90.9 FM	Morgantown	Template:FID	B	5,000	Template:Convert	Template:Coord
Template:Rh | WVPG	90.3 FM	Parkersburg	Template:FID	B1	9,000	Template:Convert	Template:Coord
Template:Rh | WVDS	89.5 FM	Petersburg	Template:FID	B	10,000	Template:Convert	Template:Coord
Template:Rh | WSHCTemplate:Efn	89.7 FM	Shepherdstown	Template:FID	A	950	Template:Convert	Template:Coord
Template:Rh | WVWS	89.3 FM	Webster Springs	Template:FID	A	850	Template:Convert	Template:Coord
Template:Rh | WVNP	89.9 FM	Wheeling	Template:FID	B	25,000	Template:Convert	Template:Coord

Notes: Template:Notelist

Translators

In addition to five low-powered, separate-frequency translators, two low-powered boosters also extend coverage. Boosters are licensed on the same frequency as the parent station but at a different location. They are given the same callsign as the parent station with a number added to differentiate the transmitter site.

Call sign	Frequency (MHz)	City of license	Facility ID	Class	ERP (W)	Height (m (ft))	Rebroadcasts
Template:Rh | WVEP-FM1	88.9	Charles Town	Template:FID	D	210	Template:Convert	WVEP (via booster)
Template:Rh | W297AA	107.3	Clarksburg	Template:FID	D	95	Template:Convert	WVPW
Template:Rh | W203AE	88.5	Elkins	Template:FID	D	10	Template:Convert	WVPW
Template:Rh | W220BK	91.9	Logan	Template:FID	D	10	Template:Convert	WVBY
Template:Rh | W218AT	91.5	Union	Template:FID	D	17	Template:Convert	WVBY
Template:Rh | WVNP-FM1	89.9	Wheeling	Template:FID	D	41	Template:Convert	WVNP (via booster)
Template:Rh | W217CH	91.7	Williamson	Template:FID	D	10	Template:Convert	WVPB

Website and online services

West Virginia Public Broadcasting maintains a website with West Virginia news and free access to original video and audio productions. It also provides its videos through its YouTube page.

WVPB also operates a free website with educational videos and games for teachers, parents and students called West Virginia LearningMedia, part of PBS LearningMedia.

External links

• West Virginia Public Broadcasting Online