WTVI
NHK World | |
| Ownership | |
|---|---|
| Owner | Central Piedmont Community College |
| History | |
First air date | August 27, 1965 |
Former channel number(s) |
|
| NET (1965–1970) | |
Call sign meaning | Television Information |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 10645 |
| ERP | 2.57 kW |
| HAAT | 359 m (1,178 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 35°17′15″N 80°41′44″W / 35.28750°N 80.69556°W |
| Translator(s) | 28 (UHF) Hickory |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
WTVI (channel 42) is a
History
The station first signed on the air on August 27, 1965;[2] it was originally owned by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education. The WTVI call letters were first used by what is now Fox affiliate KTVI in St. Louis, Missouri, from 1953 to 1955, when it was licensed to Belleville, Illinois, on the east side of the Mississippi River; they were then held from 1955 to 1962 by a station in Fort Pierce, Florida. WTVI's original station manager was Donna Lee Davenport, who was also instrumental in creating the station. In 1982, WTVI's license was transferred to the not-for-profit Charlotte–Mecklenburg Public Broadcasting Authority, turning the station into a community-owned entity.
Mecklenburg County covered the debt on WTVI's digital broadcasting equipment and maintains the station's studios, located on Commonwealth Avenue in Charlotte. The county also paid WTVI $95,000 annually to broadcast county commission meetings.[3]
In 2004, WTVI cut back on more well-known PBS programs. Ratings increased for a while with "alternative" shows, but after several years the station ended up in trouble.[4] On June 30, 2011, WTVI's board was advised that the station was running a $300,000 deficit and that its long-term operation was questionable if its financial situation did not improve.[3] On March 13, 2012, Central Piedmont Community College offered to take over the station. The college requested $1.35 million from Mecklenburg County; $357,000 to complete the purchase and about $800,000 to give the station a significant technical overhaul. The Mecklenburg County Commission approved funding for the deal on March 20.
Without county money, Central Piedmont Community College would have been unable to complete the purchase and the station would have likely ceased operations on June 30, 2012.
Three months after taking over operations, Central Piedmont Community College brought back familiar PBS shows such as Sesame Street, Downton Abbey, Nova and Nature to the schedule. Additional local programming is planned, including some previously aired on the college's cable channel. Among the new shows is Off the Record, hosted by David Rhew and similar to Jerry Hancock's Final Edition, dropped in 2009 for budgetary reasons.[4]
WTVI is one of the few PBS member stations that do not clear the weekend edition of PBS NewsHour.
Technical information
Subchannels
The station's digital signal is
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 42.1 | 1080i | 16:9 |
WTVI-HD | Main WTVI programming / PBS |
| 42.2 | WTVI-NH | NHK World
|
Prior to February 17, 2009, WTVI carried "The Civic Channel" on digital subchannel 42.2,
Analog-to-digital conversion
WTVI began broadcasting its digital signal on
References
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for WTVI". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
- ^ "About Us".
- ^ a b "Charlotte's public TV station in dire straits [The Charlotte Observer, N.C.]". next-generation-communications.tmcnet.com. July 1, 2011. Archived from the original on November 25, 2015. Retrieved August 7, 2023.
- ^ a b Washburn, Mark (October 6, 2012). "Struggles remain in the air for WTVI". The Charlotte Observer.
- ^ Perlmutt, David. County board split on CPCC, WTVI merger. The Charlotte Observer, March 21, 2012
- ^ "Briefly: FCC approves transfer of WTVI license". The Charlotte Obersever. May 21, 2012. Archived from the original on January 19, 2013. Retrieved August 6, 2023.
- ^ "Celebrating 31 years with WTVI".
- ^ "RabbitEars.Info". rabbitears.info.
- ^ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2012.