WTBY-TV
| |
|---|---|
| City | Jersey City, New Jersey |
| Channels | |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| WDVB-CD | |
| History | |
First air date | April 6, 1981(inPoughkeepsie, New York;license moved to Jersey City in 2017[2]) |
Former call signs | WFTI-TV (1981–1983) |
Former channel number(s) |
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| Independent(1981–1983) | |
Call signmeaning | Trinity Broadcasting New York |
| Technical information[3] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 67993 |
| ERP | 15 kW |
| HAAT | 300.3 m (985 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 40°44′54″N73°59′9″W/ 40.74833°N 73.98583°W |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | WTBY's public file on TBN's website |
WTBY-TV(channel 54) is areligious television stationlicensed toJersey City, New Jersey,United States, serving theNew York Cityarea as anowned-and-operated stationof theTrinity Broadcasting Network(TBN). It is asister stationtoEdison, New Jersey–licensedClass ATBN InspireoutletWDVB-CD(channel 23). The two stations share studios on East 15th Street in theUnion Squareneighborhood inManhattanand transmitter facilities at theEmpire State Building.
History
[edit]WTBY signed on April 6, 1981, as WFTI-TV, originally licensed to the city ofPoughkeepsie, New York,in theHudson Valleyregion. The station was initially owned by Family Television, Inc., founded by Keith Houser in 1979, and headquartered in the Poughkeepsie Plaza Mall onUS 9in Poughkeepsie. WFTI's early programming included reruns ofThe Lone RangerandThe Cisco Kid,and the station originated coverage ofArmy Cadetssports (except theArmy–Navycollege footballgame); Family TV also producedValley Magazine,a nightly 30-minute program with interviews of local celebrities, such asJames Cagney.
After Irving Trust, the station's sole banking source, experienced financial problems and prematurely called the station's loan in 1982 (Irving Trust was ultimately shut down by theFederal Reserve), Family Television sold the station to the Trinity Broadcasting Network in June 1982,[4]though the sale would not be completed until over a year later, in July 1983. TBN then changed the station's call letters on October 4, 1983, to the present WTBY-TV and moved the station's operations to studios in thevillageofFishkill.Not long after taking control of the station, TBN co-foundersPaulandJan Crouchhelped sign WTBY on the air under TBN ownership with a special edition of the network's flagship programPraise the Lord,broadcast from the new Fishkill studios.
While Poughkeepsie is part of the New York City television market, WTBY's over-the-air signal could only be seen clearly in the northern fringes of the area. Most of the core of the New York area, including the Five Boroughs, got only arimshotsignal even in digital, and it completely missed most ofLong Island.For most of its first quarter-century as a TBN-owned station, the bulk of its viewership was in theAlbany–Schenectady–Troymarket. Until 2010, WTBY operated two translators in that market—W52DFchannel 52 to reach Albany and theCapital District,andW47CMon channel 47 to reachGlens Fallsand theAdirondacks.Both stations ceased broadcasting due to declining support, which has been attributed to thedigital transition,with W52DF shutting down on March 13[5]and W47CM shutting down one month later.[6]W52DF's license, along with 43 other silent TBN repeaters, was canceled on December 1, 2011, for remaining silent over a year.[7]
Until 2007, WTBY was not carried on the two main cable systems in New York City itself (Optimum TV[formerly Cablevision] andSpectrum[formerlyTime Warner Cable]), and its cable penetration is still spotty at best on the New Jersey andConnecticutsides of the market. It is not available onDirecTVorDish Network's New York City local feeds; only the national version is available, as is the case with all TBN-owned stations.
Despite its modest cable penetration in the area, TBN has poured significant resources into WTBY in recent years. In 2007, when TBN opened a new studio in the former Century Center for the Performing Arts near Union Square in Manhattan, WTBY's studio/office operations were moved to that location.
WTBY-TV elected to keepRFchannel 27 permanently for digital operation during the first round ofdigital channel electionsin February 2005. The station discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, overUHFchannel 54, on October 1, 2008.[8]The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 27, usingvirtual channel54.
The shutdown initially caused the station to be dropped fromService Electric's systems in New Jersey due to difficulty in receiving the signal at the cable headend. Service Electric replaced it with the national TBN service.
Trinity Broadcasting entered WTBY-TV's broadcast frequency into the FCC'sspectrum auction,the results of which were released in April 2017. TBN received $162,402,181 for WTBY-TV's spectrum[9]and as a result, the station relinquished its RF channel 27 frequency and moved to channel 23, where it entered into a channel-sharing arrangement with Class A stationWDVB-CD,licensed toEdison, New Jersey.[10]WDVB-CD's transmitter is located atop theEmpire State Building,and moving WTBY's transmitter there gave it a clear over-the-air signal to New York City for the first time ever. TBN additionally requested to have WTBY'scommunity of licensemoved from Poughkeepsie toJersey City, New Jersey,as WDVB's transmitter location at the Empire State Building would leave WTBY unable to service Poughkeepsie with a viewable over-the-air signal. The FCC approved the license move from Poughkeepsie to Jersey City on September 21, 2017. In late January 2018, TBN began the process of purchasing WDVB-CD from their owners, allowing full control of the entire channel space.[11]
Local programming
[edit]Locally produced programs included versions ofPraise the LordandJoy in Our Town,apublic affairsprogram. WTBY also carried programs produced by local pastors, notablyA. R. BernardofChristian Cultural Center,andFloyd H. Flakeof theGreater Allen A. M. E. Cathedral of New York.As of 2017, this programming was canceled.
Subchannels
[edit]| License | Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WDVB-CD | 23.1 | 480i | 4:3 | Inspire | TBN Inspire |
| WTBY-TV | 54.1 | 720p | 16:9 | TBN | TBN |
| 54.2 | Merit | Merit Street Media | |||
| 54.3 | 480i | SMILE | Smile | ||
| 54.4 | POSITIV | Positiv |
References
[edit]- ^"Channel and facilities sharing agreement".fcc.gov.Federal Communications Commission.RetrievedOctober 14,2017.
- ^"Community of license change".fcc.gov.Federal Communications Commission.RetrievedOctober 14,2017.
- ^"Facility Technical Data for WTBY-TV".Licensing and Management System.Federal Communications Commission.
- ^"Changing hands–Approved"(PDF).Broadcasting.June 21, 1982. p. 73.
- ^"Notification of Suspension of Operations / Request for Silent STA".CDBS Public Access.Federal Communications Commission.April 16, 2010.RetrievedApril 19,2010.
- ^"Notification of Suspension of Operations / Request for Silent STA".CDBS Public Access.Federal Communications Commission.May 14, 2010.RetrievedMay 17,2010.
- ^"Re: Applications for Assignment of License…"(PDF).CDBS Public Access.Federal Communications Commission.November 30, 2011.RetrievedDecember 3,2011.
- ^List of Digital Full-Power Stations
- ^"FCC Broadcast Television Spectrum Auction–Auction 1001–Winning Bids"(PDF).Federal Communications Commission.April 4, 2017. p. 4.
- ^"Modification of a licensed facility for DTV application".fcc.gov.Federal Communications Commission.RetrievedOctober 14,2017.
- ^"Trinity Buying New York And Chicago LPTVs".TVNewsCheck.January 30, 2018.RetrievedJanuary 30,2018.
- ^"RabbitEars TV Query for WDVB".RabbitEars.info.RetrievedSeptember 7,2024.