WBEC-TV

WBEC-TV, virtual channel 63 (UHF digital channel 25), is an educational independent television station licensed to Boca Raton, Florida, United States. Owned by the Broward County Public Schools district, it is sister to student-run high school radio station WKPX (88.5 FM), which features an alternative music format and carries audio broadcasts of the school board's meetings. WBEC-TV's studios and transmitter are located in Davie, Florida. Although the station is based in Broward County, WBEC's city of license, Boca Raton, is located within Palm Beach County.

WBEC-TV
Boca Raton, Florida
United States
ChannelsDigital: 25 (UHF)
Virtual: 63 (PSIP)
BrandingBroward Education Communications Network
Programming
AffiliationsEducational Independent
Ownership
OwnerBroward County Public Schools
(The School Board of Broward County, Florida)
WKPX
History
First air date
1999 (1999)
Former call signs
WPPB-TV (1986–2008)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog:
  • 63 (UHF, 1986–2009)
  • Digital:
  • 40 (UHF, 2009–2018)
Call sign meaning
Broward
Education
Communications
Technical information
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID51349
ERP1,000 kW
HAAT285 m (935 ft)
Transmitter coordinates25°59′10″N 80°11′36.3″W
Links
Public license information
Profile
LMS
Websitewww.becon.tv

History

WBEC traces its history to the launch of Instructional Television of Broward County, Florida (ITV), a local educational cable channel that debuted in the mid-1970s. Some of the in-school programming that was produced by ITV were also distributed to PBS member stations and other educational television stations throughout Florida, especially as a benefit to those without cable television. In order to have unrestricted use of the Instructional Television Center, in 1984, the Broward County Public Schools district reimbursed the funds it had received from the Florida State Department of Education to establish the center. The center placed emphasis on the production and broadcast of instructional television programming, but it also produced television programs for the community that were carried by cable companies that provided broadcast time to the district. The channel changed its name to Broward Education Communications Network (BECON) in 1998.

Meanwhile, the channel 63 construction permit was issued in the late 1980s to Palmetto Broadcasters Associated for Communities and was slated to launch as WPPB-TV, the "Second Season" station, with programming aimed at senior citizens; Palmetto Broadcasters Associated for Communities was affiliated with Palm Beach Atlantic College. PBAC had ambitious broadcasting plans; at the same time it revealed information on the forthcoming WPPB-TV, it announced WTCE-TV (channel 21) in Fort Pierce, alongside a station on channel 9 in Islamorada that would be known as "Hispanivision" (and was never built).[1]

Palmetto Broadcasters did not build the channel, and in 1999, with the construction permit still unbuilt, channel 63 was sold to The Christian Network for $300,000[2] and finally launched in 1999 with Christian programming. The Christian Network promptly sold the station to the Broward County school board for $3.6 million in January 2000.[3] On March 15, 2008, the station changed its call letters to WBEC-TV, to reflect its branding.

Digital television

Digital channel
Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[4]
63.11080i16:9WBEC-HDMain WBEC-TV programming
63.2480i4:3WBEC-SD

Analog-to-digital conversion

WBEC-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 63, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal continued to broadcasts on its pre-transition UHF channel 40.[5] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 63, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition.

References
  1. McGlynchey, Kevin (October 12, 1989). "New Station To Broadcast Next Year". Palm Beach Daily News. pp. 1, 2. Retrieved January 18, 2020. (Note that the source misspells WTCE as "WTCB")
  2. "Changing Hands" (PDF). Broadcasting & Cable. November 1, 1999. p. 75. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
  3. Hirschmann, Bill (January 19, 2000). "Schools want own TV station". Sun Sentinel. p. 2B. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
  4. RabbitEars TV Query for WBEC
  5. "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.
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