WTBY-TV (channel 54) is a

religious Religion is usually defined as a social system, social-cultural system of designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morality, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sacred site, sanctified places, prophecy, prophecie ...

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 to

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

area as an

owned-and-operated station In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an affiliate ...

of the

Trinity Broadcasting Network The Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) is an international Christian-based broadcast television network and the world's largest religious television network. TBN was headquartered in Costa Mesa, California, until March 3, 2017, when it sold its ...

(TBN). It is a

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

Edison, New Jersey Edison is a township located in Middlesex County,in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Situated in Central New Jersey within the core of the state's Raritan Valley region, Edison is a commercial hub, home to Menlo Park Mall and Little India. It is ...

–licensed Class A

TBN Inspire TBN Inspire is an American Christian broadcast television network owned by the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). It is carried on the digital subchannels of TBN's stations. The network originally launched as The Church Channel, which focu ...

outlet

WDVB-CD WDVB-CD (channel 23) is a low-power, Class A TBN Inspire owned-and-operated television station licensed to Edison, New Jersey, United States, and serving the New York City television market. Owned by the Tustin, California–based Trinity Br ...

(channel 23). Both stations share studios on East 15th Street in the

Union Square Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

neighborhood in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

and transmitter facilities at the

Empire State Building The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from "Empire State", the nickname of the st ...

History

WTBY signed on April 6, 1981 as WFTI-TV, originally licensed to the city of

Poughkeepsie, New York Poughkeepsie ( ), officially the City of Poughkeepsie, separate from the Town of Poughkeepsie around it) is a city in the U.S. state of New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsi ...

, in the

Hudson Valley The Hudson Valley (also known as the Hudson River Valley) comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in the U.S. state of New York. The region stretches from the Capital District including Albany and Troy south to ...

region. The station was initially owned by Family Television, Inc., founded by Keith Houser in 1979, and headquartered in the Poughkeepsie Plaza Mall on

US 9 U.S. Route 9 (US 9) is a north–south United States highway in the states of Delaware, New Jersey, and New York in the Northeastern United States. It is one of only two U.S. Highways with a ferry connection (the Cape May–Lewes Ferry, betwe ...

in Poughkeepsie. WFTI's early programming included reruns of ''

The Lone Ranger The Lone Ranger is a fictional masked former Texas Ranger who fought outlaws in the American Old West with his Native American friend Tonto. The character has been called an enduring icon of American culture. He first appeared in 1933 in ...

'' and ''

The Cisco Kid The Cisco Kid is a fictional character found in numerous film, radio, television and comic book series based on the fictional Western character created by O. Henry in his 1907 short story "The Caballero's Way", published in ''Everybody's Magaz ...

'', and the station originated coverage of Army Cadets sports (except the Army–Navy

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

game); Family TV also produced ''Valley Magazine'', a nightly 30-minute program with interviews of local celebrities, such as

James Cagney James Francis Cagney Jr. (; July 17, 1899March 30, 1986) was an American actor, dancer and film director. On stage and in film, Cagney was known for his consistently energetic performances, distinctive vocal style, and deadpan comic timing. He ...

. 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 the

Federal Reserve The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States of America. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a ...

), Family Television sold the station to the Trinity Broadcasting Network in June 1982, 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 the

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

of Fishkill. Not long after taking control of the station, TBN co-founders

Paul Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...

and

Jan Crouch Janice Wendell Crouch () (née Bethany; March 14, 1938 – May 31, 2016) was an American religious broadcaster. Crouch and her husband, Paul, founded the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) in 1973, along with Jim Bakker. She, along with her h ...

helped sign WTBY on the air under TBN ownership with a special edition of the network's flagship program '' Praise 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 a

rimshot A rimshot is a percussion technique used to produce an accented snare drum backbeat. The sound is produced by simultaneously hitting the rim and head of a drum with a drum stick. The sound and various techniques The sound of rimshots can be ...

signal even in digital, and it completely missed most of

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

. For most of its first quarter-century as a TBN-owned station, the bulk of its viewership was in the Albany–

Schenectady Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...

–

Troy Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in prese ...

market. Until 2010, WTBY operated two translators in that market—W52DF channel 52 to reach Albany and the

Capital District A capital district, capital region or capital territory is normally a specially designated administrative division where a country's seat of government is located. As such, in a federal model of government, no state or territory has any politica ...

, and W47CM on channel 47 to reach

Glens Falls Glens Falls is a city in Warren County, New York, United States and is the central city of the Glens Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 14,700 at the 2010 census. The name was given by Colonel Johannes Glen, the falls refe ...

and the

Adirondacks The Adirondack Mountains (; a-də-RÄN-dak) form a massif in northeastern New York with boundaries that correspond roughly to those of Adirondack Park. They cover about 5,000 square miles (13,000 km2). The mountains form a roughly circular d ...

. Both stations ceased broadcasting due to declining support, which has been attributed to the

digital transition Digital transition refers to the process of moving an existing analog system to a digital format. Used without further qualifiers, the term normally refers to the move from analog television to digital television, the digital television transition. ...

, with W52DF shutting down on March 13 and W47CM shutting down one month later. W52DF's license, along with 43 other silent TBN repeaters, was canceled on December 1, 2011 for remaining silent over a year. Until 2007, WTBY was not carried on the two main cable systems in New York City itself (

Optimum TV Optimum is an American Internet, television, mobile and home phone company serving Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas ...

ormerly Cablevisionand

Spectrum A spectrum (plural ''spectra'' or ''spectrums'') is a condition that is not limited to a specific set of values but can vary, without gaps, across a continuum. The word was first used scientifically in optics to describe the rainbow of colors i ...

ormerly Time Warner Cable">Time_Warner_Cable.html" ;"title="ormerly Time Warner Cable">ormerly Time Warner Cable, and its cable penetration is still spotty at best on the New Jersey and Connecticut sides of the market. It is not available on DirecTV or Dish 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 keep RF channel 27 permanently for digital operation during the first round of

digital channel election A digital channel election was the process by which television stations in the United States chose which physical radio-frequency TV channel they would permanently use after the analog shutdown in 2009. The process was managed and mandated by the ...

s in February 2005. The station discontinued regular programming on 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 (on ...

channel 54, on October 1, 2008. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 27, using

PSIP The Program and System Information Protocol (PSIP) is the MPEG (a video and audio industry group) and privately defined program-specific information originally defined by General Instrument for the DigiCipher 2 system and later extended for the A ...

to display WTBY-TV's

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 ...

as 54 on digital television receivers, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition. The shutdown initially caused the station to be dropped from

Service Electric Service Electric is a group of affiliated cable television companies serving eastern Pennsylvania and western New Jersey. Service Electric also offers broadband Internet and telephone services through two partner companies, PenTeleData and Alianza ...

'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's

spectrum auction A spectrum auction is a process whereby a government uses an auction system to sell the rights to transmit signals over specific bands of the electromagnetic spectrum and to assign scarce spectrum resources. Depending on the specific auction form ...

, the results of which were released in April 2017. TBN received $162,402,181 for WTBY-TV's spectrum 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 station

, licensed to

. WDVB-CD's transmitter is located atop the

, 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's

community of license In American, Canadian, and Mexican broadcasting, a city of license or community of license is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator. In North American broa ...

moved from Poughkeepsie to

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.public affairs program. WTBY also carried programs produced by local pastors, notably A.R. Bernard of

Christian Cultural Center The Christian Cultural Center (CCC) is a non-denominational Christian megachurch located in the Starrett City section of Brooklyn, New York City, with a satellite campus in Smithtown on Long Island. It is the largest Evangelical Evangeli ...

, and

Floyd H. Flake Floyd Harold Flake (born January 30, 1945) is an American businessman and former politician who is the senior pastor of the 23,000 member Greater Allen African Methodist Episcopal Cathedral in Jamaica, Queens, New York, and former president of ...

of the Greater Allen A. M. E. Cathedral of New York. As of 2017, this programming was canceled.

Subchannels

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

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wtby-Tv TBY-TV Television channels and stations established in 1981 1981 establishments in New York (state) Trinity Broadcasting Network affiliates TBY-TV