WFWA

WFWA, virtual channel 39 (UHF digital channel 18), is a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member television station licensed to Fort Wayne, Indiana, United States. The station is owned by Fort Wayne Public Television, Inc. WFWA's studios are located at the Dr. Rudy and Rhonda Kachmann Teleplex at the corner of Coliseum Boulevard and Crescent Avenue on the campus of Purdue University Fort Wayne, and its transmitter is located at its former studio facility on Butler Road in Fort Wayne.

WFWA
Fort Wayne, Indiana
United States
ChannelsDigital: 18 (UHF)
Virtual: 39 (PSIP)
BrandingPBS Fort Wayne
Programming
Affiliations39.1: PBS (1970–present)
39.2: PBS Kids
39.3: Create
39.4: Explore
39.5: PBS39WX
Ownership
OwnerFort Wayne Public Television, Inc.
History
First air date
December 5, 1986 (1986-12-05)
(originally low-power W39AA 1964–1986)
Former channel number(s)
Analog:
39 (UHF, 1964–2009)
Digital:
40 (UHF, 2003–2018)
NET (1964–1970; as W39AA)
Call sign meaning
Fort WAyne
(possibly related to the IATA code of Fort Wayne International Airport, FWA)
Technical information
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID22108
ERP350 kW
HAAT219.1 m (719 ft)
Transmitter coordinates41°6′13″N 85°11′28″W
Links
Public license information
Profile
LMS
Websitewww.wfwa.org

History
PBS39 logo used until 2013
Second logo as PBS39; used from 2014-January 2020

In 1964, W39AA, a translator of WBGU-TV in Bowling Green, Ohio, signed on the air on channel 39. Prior to 1974, Fort Wayne had been the only area of Indiana without access to PBS programming even on cable (it was standard practice for PBS to offer programs to commercial stations in markets without PBS-member stations, but no evidence concerning carriage of the network's programs in Fort Wayne has yet surfaced); the coverage of W39AA was generally restricted to the immediate Fort Wayne area, as its coverage was not powerful enough to cover the entire market. This low-powered repeater station was merely a placeholder, as channel 39 was allocated as a full-powered educational channel in Fort Wayne. By the early 1980s, the station became a translator of Indianapolis PBS station WFYI.

On March 12, 1985, a local public television group was granted the channel 39 slot from the FCC, and licensed the station under the WFWA call letters; WFWA signed on the air on December 5, 1986, bringing northeast Indiana its own PBS station for the first time ever.

In 2003, WFWA became the first television station in the Fort Wayne market to broadcast a digital signal, originally carrying the national PBS HDTV feed on a separate subchannel from its regular programming; funding issues would later cause the national HD feed to be pulled, leaving all programming in standard definition for several years. It was announced that WFWA's main channel 39.1 would broadcast in high-definition full-time at some point during summer 2010.[1] During a summer 2010 pledge break, general manager Bruce Haines announced that the change would occur on July 4, 2010 at 7:30 p.m. Due to advancements in video compression, the station was able to upgrade its main channel to HD without sacrificing the video quality of its other three SD subchannels.

In May 2013, the station announced a fundraising drive to upgrade its infrastructure over the next three years, including a signal boost, the purchase of remote production equipment, and improvements to the station's master control.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[2]
39.11080i16:9PBS Fort WayneMain WFWA programming / PBS
39.2480i4:3PBS Fort Wayne KidsPBS Fort Wayne Kids
39.3CreateCreate
39.4ExplorePBS Fort Wayne Explore
39.51080i16:9PBS Fort Wayne WXPBS Fort Wayne WX

Previously, WFWA had shown the national PBS Kids feed (also seen nationally on digital cable/satellite) on channel 39.2. When the service ended on September 26, 2005, WFWA continued the channel by self-programming it locally until 2017, when the national 24/7 PBS Kids Channel launched. WFWA aired the Annenberg/CPB Channel on 39.4 until October 1, 2008. The satellite feed for Annenberg was discontinued at that time.[3]

Analog-to-digital conversion

WFWA shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 39, on February 17, 2009, the original target date in which full-power television stations in the United States were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate (which was later pushed back to June 12, 2009). The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 40.[4] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 39.

As part of the SAFER Act,[5] WFWA kept its analog signal on the air for 2+ weeks to inform viewers of the digital television transition through a loop of public service announcements from the National Association of Broadcasters.

References
  1. High-definition 39.1
  2. RabbitEars TV Query for WFWA
  3. 39-4you information
  4. "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-03-24.
  5. "UPDATED List of Participants in the Analog Nightlight Program" (PDF). Federal Communications Commission. June 12, 2009. Retrieved June 4, 2012.
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