WCVE-TV

WCVE-TV, virtual channel 23 (UHF digital channel 22), is a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member television station licensed to Richmond, Virginia, United States. The station is owned by the VPM Media Corporation (formerly known as the Commonwealth Public Broadcasting Corporation). WCVE-TV's studios and transmitter are located at 23 Sesame Street in Bon Air, a suburb of Richmond.

WCVE-TV
Richmond, Virginia
United States
ChannelsDigital: 22 (UHF)
(shared with WNVT[1])
Virtual: 23 (PSIP)
BrandingPBS VPM
Programming
Affiliations23.1: PBS
23.2: Create
23.3: World Channel
23.4: PBS Kids
Ownership
OwnerVPM Media Corporation
WCVW, WNVT, WCVE-FM
History
First air date
September 10, 1964 (1964-09-10)
Former channel number(s)
Analog:
23 (UHF, 1964–2009)
Digital:
42 (UHF, until 2020)
NET (1964–1970)
Call sign meaning
Central
Virginia
Educational
Technical information
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID9987
ERP310 kW
HAAT327.3 m (1,074 ft)
Transmitter coordinates37°30′45.6″N 77°36′4.8″W
Links
Public license information
Profile
LMS
Websitevpm.org
WCVW
Richmond, Virginia
United States
ChannelsDigital: 29 (UHF)
Virtual: 57 (PSIP)
BrandingVPM Plus
Programming
AffiliationsPBS
Ownership
OwnerVPM Media Corporation
WCVE-TV, WNVT, WCVE-FM
History
First air date
December 24, 1966 (1966-12-24)
Former channel number(s)
Analog:
57 (UHF, 1966–2009)
Digital:
44 (UHF, until 2020)
NET (1966–1970)
Call sign meaning
Disambiguation of WCVE
Technical information
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID9989
ERP112 kW
HAAT327.3 m (1,074 ft)
Transmitter coordinates37°30′45.6″N 77°36′4.8″W
Links
Public license information
Profile
LMS
WHTJ
Satellite of WCVE-TV
Charlottesville, Virginia
United States
ChannelsDigital: 26 (UHF)
(shared with WNVC[2])
Virtual: 41 (PSIP)
BrandingPBS VPM
Programming
Affiliations41.1: PBS
41.2: WCVW simulcast
41.3: World Channel
41.4: PBS Kids
41.5: Create
Ownership
OwnerVPM Media Corporation
WNVC
History
First air date
May 19, 1989 (1989-05-19)
Former channel number(s)
Analog:
41 (UHF, 1989–2009)
Digital:
46 (UHF, until 2020)
Call sign meaning
Home of Thomas Jefferson
Technical information
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID9990
ERP300 kW
HAAT335 m (1,099 ft)
Transmitter coordinates37°59′0″N 78°29′1″W
Links
Public license information
Profile
LMS

WHTJ (virtual channel 41, UHF digital channel 26) in Charlottesville operates as a full-time satellite of WCVE-TV; this station's transmitter is located atop Carters Mountain. WCVE-TV also operates a sister station in Richmond, WCVW (virtual channel 57, UHF digital channel 29), whose transmitter is co-located with WCVE-TV.

The three stations were collectively branded as the Community Idea Stations from 2001 until 2019, when Commonwealth Public Broadcasting rebranded its stations as VPM (short for Virginia Public Media), with WCVE-TV and WHTJ becoming VPM PBS and WCVW becoming VPM Plus.[3]

History

The community-owned public broadcasting company was established in 1961 by Thomas Boushall (Chairman of the Richmond School Board and an officer of the Bank of Virginia) and a group of concerned citizens to employ television for educational purposes. The patron saints of public broadcasting in central Virginia were Boushall, E. Claiborne Robins, Sr., Mary Ann Franklin, and Bill W. Spiller. Mrs. Franklin first approached Boushall and Henry I. Willett, then Superintendent of Richmond City Schools, with the idea of establishing an educational television station. Boushall and Franklin then recruited Spiller, who was hired in December 1963 and began working for them in January 1964.

WCVE-TV's sister station, WCVW-TV (channel 57) signed on in 1967. Richmond became the first community in Virginia to have dual stations, and only the eighth in the nation to do so, doubling the amount of instructional programming provided to schools in central Virginia. Over 40 years later, both WCVE-TV and WCVW are still in operation.

In 1974, Commonwealth Public Broadcasting took over WNVT-TV, a Fairfax public TV station on the verge of financial insolvency, in order to protect instructional television and educational services for schools in northern Virginia. In 1981, a second Northern Virginia station, WNVC-TV, was established. Today, these two stations provide international programming in English and several other languages tailored to the needs of the Washington, D.C. area's culturally diverse population.

In 1988, Union Theological Seminary & Presbyterian School of Christian Education announced plans to give up its public radio license for WRFK, which had assumed a fine music format from WFMV. To ensure public radio would remain in Richmond, WCVE-FM radio went on the air as a National Public Radio (NPR) member station. The following year, the company established WHTJ in Charlottesville. Before WHTJ's sign-on, Charlottesville had no full-powered PBS station; only a repeater of Harrisonburg's WVPT served the area.

A 25,000-square-foot (2,323 m2) TV and radio studio-office complex was added in 1991.

After signing off at midnight almost daily for over 40 years, WCVE-TV and WCVW became 24-hour stations most days of the week in the fall of 2006. Starting in early 2008, the stylized "i" logo became the station's secondary logo, and the stations adopted a family of similar primary logos displaying their call letters.

Digital television

Digital channels

The stations' digital signals are multiplexed:

WCVE-TV
Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[4][5][6][7]
23.11080i16:9WCVE-HDMain WCVE-TV programming / PBS
23.2480iWCVE-D2Create
23.3WCVE-D3World Channel (WNVT)
23.4WCVE-D4PBS Kids

WCVW
Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[8][9]
57.11080i16:9WCVW-HDMain WCVW programming / PBS

WHTJ
Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[10][11]
41.11080i16:9WHTJ-HDMain WHTJ programming / PBS
41.2WHTJ-D2Alternate PBS schedule (simulcast of WCVW)
41.3480iWHTJ-D3World Channel (WNVC)
41.416:9WHTJ-D4PBS Kids
41.516:9WHTJ-D5Create

Analog-to-digital conversion

WCVE-TV, WCVW and WHTJ shut down their analog signals on March 30, 2009:[12]

  • WCVE-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 23; 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 23.
  • WCVW shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 57; the station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 44. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 57, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition.
  • WHTJ shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 41; the station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 46. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 41.

Programming

Like most public television stations, this trio broadcasts shows distributed by PBS and American Public Television, but they also create a range of local programs. WCVE-TV produces Virginia Currents, a program profiling residents of the state, both typical and notable, which is aired by other PBS stations in Virginia such as Blue Ridge PBS and WVPT. WHTJ offers Charlottesville Inside-Out, hosted by musician Terri Allard.[13] All of the programs are produced by WCVE-TV's studios in Richmond.

National shows presented by WCVE-TV include Legacy List with Matt Paxton.[14]

See also

References
  1. WNVT channel sharing application ENG 02-15-2018
  2. WNVC channel sharing application ENG 02-15-2018
  3. Curran, Colleen. "Community Idea Stations changing its name to VPM". Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved 2019-07-31.
  4. RabbitEars TV Query for WCVE
  5. RabbitEars TV Query for WCVW
  6. RabbitEars TV Query for WHTJ
  7. http://ideastations.org/tv/schedules
  8. RabbitEars TV Query for WCVW
  9. http://ideastations.org/tv/schedules
  10. RabbitEars TV Query for WHTJ
  11. http://ideastations.org/tv/schedules
  12. "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-03-24.
  13. Hook staff (2007-11-15). "'Inside-Out' fest: WHTJ celebrates local talk with Terri". The Hook. Charlottesville. Retrieved 2008-02-25.
  14. "Legacy List with Matt Paxton". Legacy List with Matt Paxton. Retrieved 2020-08-01.

Sources
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