West Virginia Public Broadcasting (WVPB) is the

public television Public broadcasting (or public service broadcasting) is radio, television, and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service with a commitment to avoiding political and commercial influence. Public broadcasters receive f ...

and

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

state network serving the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

. It is owned by the West Virginia Public Broadcasting Authority, an agency of the

state government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonom ...

that holds the

licenses A license (American English) or licence (Commonwealth English) 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 part ...

for all 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 ...

) and National Public Radio (

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

) member stations licensed in West Virginia. It is headquartered in Charleston with studios in Morgantown and Beckley. On

January 1 January 1 is the first day of the calendar year in the Gregorian Calendar; 364 days remain until the end of the year (365 in leap years). This day is also known as New Year's Day since the day marks the beginning of the year. __TOC__ Events ...

, 2015, West Virginia PBS and West Virginia Public Radio merged their brands, branding exclusively as "West Virginia Public Broadcasting" across radio and television.

Television

The first

station in West Virginia signed on July 14, 1969 under the callsign WMUL-TV, broadcasting from

Marshall University Marshall University is a public university, public research university in Huntington, West Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1837 and is named after John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States, chief justice of the Uni ...

in Huntington. In 1981, WMUL-TV changed its call letters to WPBY-TV; two years later, the public station at

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia, United States. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Ins ...

in Morgantown, WWVU-TV, was renamed WNPB-TV. 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 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. 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

and

sports content, but has abandoned this practice due to

Conference USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. CUSA's offices are located in Dallas, Texas. Mem ...

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Okla ...

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 West Virginia State University (WVSU) is a Public university, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically black, land-grant university in Institute, West Virginia, United States. Founded in 1891 as the West Virginia Color ...

. It also broadcasts original documentaries on West Virginia history and culture, as well as live musical performances of ''

Mountain Stage ''Mountain Stage'' is a two-hour music radio show, first aired in 1983, produced by West Virginia Public Broadcasting and distributed worldwide by National Public Radio (NPR). Hosted by Larry Groce from the show's inception until 2021 and curr ...

'' 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 Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

and

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

. It is carried on the basic tier of all cable systems in West Virginia.

TV stations

Notes:

Translators

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. 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 Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

) were surrendered to the FCC for cancellation on May 26, 2017.

Digital television

Subchannels

All digital signals are

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— ...

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: * WPBY-TV shut down its analog signal, over

UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter ...

channel 33; the station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 34,CDBS Print
/ref> using

virtual channel In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the ''program number'' as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered as digits on a receiver's ...

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,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,CDBS Print
/ref> using virtual channel 24.

Radio

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

WVPB's state radio network includes eleven full-powered stations and seven low-powered translators, all on the

FM band The FM broadcast band is a range of radio frequencies used for FM broadcasting by radio stations. The range of frequencies used differs between different parts of the world. In Europe and Africa (defined as International Telecommunication Union ( ...

. The state network carries programs from NPR, PRI and other distributors, as well as classical and

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

music. WVPB produces original weekly programs, including '' EclecTopia'', ''A Change of Tune'', ''Inside Appalachia'' and ''Sidetracks'', plus the nationally distributed ''

''. The network was known as "West Virginia Public Radio" until WVPB's 2015 transition to a single brand.

FM stations

Notes:

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.

Website and online services

West Virginia Public Broadcasting maintains
website
with West Virginia news and free access to original video and audio productions. It also provides its videos through it
YouTube page
WVPB also operates a free website with educational videos and games for teachers, parents and students calle
West Virginia LearningMedia
part of PBS LearningMedia.

References

External links

West Virginia Public Broadcasting Online
{{Authority control Television stations in West Virginia PBS member networks Huntington, West Virginia Marshall University NPR member networks Television channels and stations established in 1969 1969 establishments in West Virginia