WBYD-CD,

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 via digits on a receiver's ...

39 ( UHF digital channel 19), is a low-powered, Class A

Jewelry TV Jewelry Television is an American television network specializing in the sale of jewelry for both men and women. On-air and online, the network is mainly branded by its jtv initials in lower-case letters. It has an estimated reach of more than ...

- affiliated

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 earth ...

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 ...

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, United States. Owned by Fifth Street Enterprises, it broadcasts from the WQED's antenna tower in the

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

area of Pittsburgh. Until 2015, the station was licensed to

Johnstown, Pennsylvania Johnstown is a city in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 18,411 as of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Located east of Pittsburgh, Johnstown is the principal city of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Metropol ...

. It is famous for televising a live auction for two years from 2001 to 2002. The station is not carried on any local

cable TV Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with broadc ...

system or DBS provider in the Pittsburgh area.

History and Programming

W35AZ signed on in the early 1990s on analog channel 35. It was a

Network One Network One was a small "independent" network, consisting of mostly low-powered television stations, scattered across the Continental United States, similar to Urban America Television, America One, or the better-known Ion (formerly PAX). The n ...

affiliate for the life of the short-lived network. After the demise of Network One, the station became an affiliate of America's Collectibles Network (now Jewelry TV). In 2001, it changed its call letters to WONT-LP, and started broadcasting live programming from its studios, which at the time were located at the Eastland Mall in North Versailles, Pennsylvania. ''WANT-TV'' was a live auction of salvage merchandise that ran from 7 PM until midnight daily. Originally, the show had multiple hosts, but by the first six months of the show, Cheryl McCall became the show's main host. As a low-budget, live six-hour show, the show gained a cult following from college students and over the air viewers in the Pittsburgh area. In mid-2001, WANT-TV was renamed to ''Live Auction Television'', and its hours were reduced to three days a week (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) from 7 PM to 1 am. Also, WONT ended its affiliation with ACN, and became an affiliate of the

Shop at Home Network The Shop at Home Network (more commonly known as just Shop at Home, Shop at Home TV, SATH) was a television network in the United States. Before its acquisition by Jewelry Television in 2006, Shop at Home (SATH NASDAQ) was a public company which s ...

. In 2002, the show was renamed ''Auction Live'', and started being simulcast on its sister stations at the time, WIIC-LP and WPTG-LP. During this time, the station changed its

callsign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...

from WONT-LP to WBYD-CA, and became a Class A station. In August 2002, Auction Live went on hiatus due to declining sales of merchandise on the show. It returned two months later, but the show ceased airing by the end of 2002. WBYD-CA then began showing limited locally originated programming, including a local talk show created by the Pittsburgh-based band

American metal The music of the United States reflects the country's multi-ethnic population through a diverse array of styles. It is a mixture of music influenced by the music of Europe, Indigenous peoples, West Africa, Latin America, Middle East, North ...

. In 2005, the owner of the Eastland Mall, Benderson Development, announced the mall was going to be demolished, and cancelled the leases of all the remaining tenants, including WBYD. The station was moved to a trailer next to the broadcast tower of

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

member station WQED (channel 13). WBYD-CA requested and was granted by the FCC a STA to go silent in early 2013 for financial reasons, since the owner of the station at the time (Abacus Television) was unable to build digital facilities at the same time paying to operate the analog facilities. On May 15, 2015, the station returned to the air, initially rebroadcasting the feed of

HSN HSN, an initialism of its former name Home Shopping Network, is an American free-to-air television network owned by the Qurate Retail Group, which also owns catalog company Cornerstone Brands. Based in the Gateway area of St. Petersburg, Flo ...

affiliate WOSC-CD (channel 61), on its new channel, channel 39. In August 2015, it started broadcasting

on its main channel 39.1, and added 39.2 shortly afterwards, which is a subchannel of

infomercial An infomercial is a form of television commercial that resembles regular TV programming yet is intended to promote or sell a product, service or idea. It generally includes a toll-free telephone number or website. Most often used as a form of dire ...

s. WBYD-CA was owned by Abacus Television until it was sold, along with four other TV stations, to Fifth Street Enterprises in April 2015.

Digital channels

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 ...

References

External links

* {{Other Pennsylvania Stations

WBYD-CD WBYD-CD, virtual channel 39 (UHF digital channel 19), is a low-powered, Class A Jewelry TV- affiliated television station licensed to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Owned by Fifth Street Enterprises, it broadcasts from the WQED's ante ...

Television channels and stations established in 1997 Low-power television stations in the United States

History and Programming

Digital channels

See also

References

External links