WMTJ (channel 40), branded on-air as Sistema TV, is a secondary Public Broadcasting Service (

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

)

member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the ea ...

serving

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the ...

that is

licensed A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

Fajardo Fajardo (, ) is a town and municipality -Fajardo Combined Statistical Area. Fajardo is the hub of much of the recreational boating in Puerto Rico and a popular launching port to Culebra, Vieques, and the U.S. and British Virgin Islands. It is ...

. The station is owned by

Ana G. Méndez University The Ana G. Méndez University (UAGM / AGMU) is a private university system with its main campus in San Juan, Puerto Rico that participates in the Puerto Rico Space Grant Consortium. Campuses The Ana G. Méndez University system has campuses in ...

. WMTJ's studios are located in San Juan, and its transmitter is located in the

El Yunque National Forest El Yunque National Forest ( es, Bosque Nacional El Yunque), formerly known as the Caribbean National Forest (or ''Bosque Nacional del Caribe''), is a forest located in northeastern Puerto Rico. It is the only tropical rainforest in the United S ...

. WMTJ has one full-service satellite: WQTO, virtual channel 26 (digital channel 19), in Ponce. WMTJ's digital signal was not on the air until a couple months before the transition deadline. Digital transmitter deployment for WMTJ had been proven difficult as the transmitter site is located in a remote tropical forest on

national park A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual ...

land, requiring

USDA Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...

approvals of any new transmission tower.
/ref>

History

WMTJ first went on the air in April 1986. Due to damage from

Hurricane Maria Hurricane Maria was a deadly Category 5 hurricane that devastated the northeastern Caribbean in September 2017, particularly Dominica, Saint Croix, and Puerto Rico. It is regarded as the worst natural disaster in recorded history to affect ...

, WMTJ was forced to go off the air September 20, 2017 (the station's website still lists the schedule from September 11 to 17, 2017 with shows no longer on the schedule like ''

Thomas and Friends ''Thomas & Friends'' (originally known as ''Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends'' and later ''Thomas & Friends: Big World! Big Adventures!'') is a British children's television series that aired across 24 series from 1984 to 2021. Based on ''The ...

''); on October 16, the Ana G. Mendez University System announced that the station would be shut down indefinitely as part of a larger suspension of non-academic activities at the school. The shutdown left Puerto Rico without a PBS station; fellow public television station

WIPR-TV WIPR-TV (channel 6) is a non-commercial educational public television station in San Juan, Puerto Rico, owned by the '' Corporación de Puerto Rico para la Difusión Pública'' (English: Puerto Rico Public Broadcasting Corporation). While WIPR- ...

(channel 6) had dropped PBS in 2011. On December 20, WMTJ returned to the air via

Liberty Puerto Rico Liberty Communications of Puerto Rico LLC (d/b/a Liberty) is a telecommunications company that provides broadband Internet access, VoIP, television and wireless services covering the entire island of Puerto Rico (wireless in Puerto Rico and US Vi ...

, some of PBS programming can be seen on Channel 3 & 67 and in HD on channels 203 & 267. On January 2, 2018, just months after the shutdown, WMTJ resumed regular over-the-air broadcasting operations via

WSTE-DT WSTE-DT (channel 7), branded on air as Teleisla, is a Spanish-language independent television station serving San Juan, Puerto Rico, that is licensed to Ponce. It is owned by TelevisaUnivision. The station maintains its studios on Calle Carazo ...

(Teleisla) and can be seen on channel 40.1 from the transmitter located in Aguas Buenas remaining on the air until January 23. On January 24, WMTJ resumed operations with a reduced power of 17.7 kilowatts from El Yunque. On January 1, 2019 WMTJ returned to the air on its digital channel 15 and transmitter power increased to 174 kilowatts. While the station is still available on

Dish Network DISH Network Corporation (DISH, an acronym for DIgital Sky Highway) is an American television provider and the owner of the direct-broadcast satellite provider Dish, commonly known as Dish Network, and the over-the-top IPTV service, Sling ...

in Puerto Rico, the station is no longer available on

DirecTV DirecTV (trademarked as DIRECTV) is an American multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital satellite service serving the United States. I ...

in Puerto Rico due to unknown reasons as of 2017. As of 2019, Sistema TV is one of the minority of the stations to not receive PBS' overhaul branding.

Local Programming

The majority of the station's daily programming is from PBS, but it has some locally produced content as well. *''TeleCampus'' * ''Kinema'' * ''Tertulia en la Ciudad'' * ''Aventura Cientifica'' * ''Geoambiente'' * ''Charla Deportiva''

Former local programming

* ''Análisis Noticioso'' * ''Bienestar'' * ''Como Coco'' * ''Del Campo a la Mesa'' * ''Jugando Pelota Dura'' (now on TeleOnce) * ''Ruta U'' * ''Sistema TV Informa'' * ''Sistema TV Investiga'' * ''Si a la Cocina'' * ''Si a la Cultura'' * ''Sin Colores'' * ''Te Veo en Campus'' * ''UNE Vision''

Digital television

The station's digital signal is

multiplexed In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource - a ...

: On June 12, 2009, WMTJ and WQTO signed off its analog signal and completed its move to digital.

References

External links

Ana G. Méndez University System

Sistema TVPBS
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wmtj PBS member stations Fajardo, Puerto Rico Ana G. Méndez University System MTJ Television channels and stations established in 1985 1985 establishments in Puerto Rico