WWBI-LP,
UHF analog
Analog or analogue may refer to:
Computing and electronics
* Analog signal, in which information is encoded in a continuous variable
** Analog device, an apparatus that operates on analog signals
*** Analog electronics, circuits which use analog ...
channel 27, was a
low-powered Ion Television
Ion Television is an American broadcast television network owned by the Katz Broadcasting subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. The network first began broadcasting on August 31, 1998, as Pax TV, focusing primarily on family-oriented enter ...
-
affiliated station 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 ...
to
Plattsburgh, New York
Plattsburgh ( moh, Tsi ietsénhtha) is a city in, and the seat of, Clinton County, New York, United States, situated on the north-western shore of Lake Champlain. The population was 19,841 at the 2020 census. The population of the surrounding ...
, United States. The station was owned by SMC Communications.
WWBI was licensed as a
Class A station, even though the
calls list it as an "-LP"; this was the case with many other stations licensed prior to 1999, when the
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
(FCC) began to assign the "-CA" suffix for Class A licenses.
On
cable
Cable may refer to:
Mechanical
* Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof
* Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...
, WWBI was seen on
Charter
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...
channel 10 in Plattsburgh and
Comcast
Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...
digital
Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits.
Technology and computing Hardware
*Digital electronics, electronic circuits which operate using digital signals
**Digital camera, which captures and stores digital i ...
channel 142 in
Burlington, Vermont
Burlington is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the seat of Chittenden County. It is located south of the Canada–United States border and south of Montreal. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 44,743. It ...
.
History
WWBI signed on December 14, 1992 as an
independent station
An independent station is an independent radio or terrestrial television station which is independent in some way from broadcast networks. The definition of "independence" varies from country to country, reflecting governmental regulations, market ...
. The station originally had plans to become the
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
affiliate for the Burlington–Plattsburgh
market
Market is a term used to describe concepts such as:
*Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand
*Market economy
*Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market
Geography
*Märket, an ...
and
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
, but negotiations failed and the station adopted the
UPN
The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that launched on January 16, 1995. It was originally owned by Chris-Craft Industries' United Television. Viacom (through its Paramount Television unit, which pr ...
affiliation in 1995. However, three stations changed affiliation in 1999: UPN moved to former
WB station
WBVT-LP, The WB moved to Fox station
WFFF-TV
WFFF-TV (channel 44) is a television station licensed to Burlington, Vermont, United States, serving as the Fox affiliate for the Burlington, Vermont–Plattsburgh, New York market. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which provides certain se ...
as a secondary affiliate, and WWBI initially went independent before switching to
Ion
An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge.
The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by conve ...
(then known as Pax TV). Some of its programming included ''
The Jerry Springer Show
''Jerry Springer'' is an American scripted syndicated tabloid talk show that aired from September 30, 1991 to July 26, 2018. Produced and hosted by its namesake, Jerry Springer, it aired for 27 seasons and nearly 5,000 episodes. The television ...
'' and ''
WWF/E Jakked/Metal''.
Word of God Fellowship, Inc., parent company of the
Daystar Television Network
The Daystar Television Network (commonly referred to as Daystar Television, often shortened to Daystar) is an American evangelical Christian-based religious television network owned by the Word of God Fellowship, founded by Marcus Lamb in 1993. ...
, reached an agreement to purchase WWBI-LP in the fall of 2005; the station began running Daystar programming under a
local marketing agreement
In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it is a sort of lease or tim ...
(LMA) by the end of the year. There was originally word that the station would run Daystar programming part-time while keeping some programming from i: Independent Television (which Pax had become in July 2005) as part of the schedule, however, by at least as of January 2006, it changed over to full-time Daystar (religious) programming. Following this, WWBI was replaced by the i satellite feed on local cable systems,
who were never obligated to carry WWBI in the first place since it is a low power station.
In October 2006, however, WWBI's sale to Daystar had fallen through; as a result, the station once again returned to programming from the i network (which became Ion in January 2007) and returned to local cable systems by mid-November 2006.
On June 6, 2006, WWBI's former studio, the Hotel Holland in
Rouses Point, New York
Rouses Point is a village in Clinton County, New York, United States, along the 45th parallel. The population was 2,209 at the 2010 census. The village is named after Jacques Rouse, a French Canadian soldier who fought alongside the Americans d ...
, was destroyed in a fire. The Hotel Holland was used for WWBI's studios back in the days when they were an independent station and UPN affiliate, and when the fire occurred, was used as storage for broadcasting equipment after relocating their studios.
Since July 2007, WWBI's signal had been
off the air
In the broadcasting industry, a dark television station or silent radio station is one that has gone off the air for an indefinite period of time. Usually unlike dead air (broadcasting only silence), a station that is dark or silent does not eve ...
. Its
license
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 ...
expired on June 1, 2007 and was not renewed. As of March 29, 2011, WWBI's license has been canceled and its call sign deleted by the FCC.
WWBI's cable slots have been replaced with the national Ion feed. Also, for
over-the-air viewers within WWBI's former viewing area,
Gray Television
Gray Television, Inc. is an American publicly traded television broadcasting company based in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1946 by James Harrison Gray as Gray Communications Systems, the company owns or operates 180 stations across the United St ...
has added a
16:9 standard definition
Standard-definition television (SDTV, SD, often shortened to standard definition) is a television system which uses a resolution that is not considered to be either high or enhanced definition. "Standard" refers to it being the prevailing sp ...
feed of the Ion Television service to the fifth
digital subchannel
In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compress ...
of
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
affiliate
WCAX-TV
WCAX-TV (channel 3) is a television station licensed to Burlington, Vermont, United States, serving as the CBS affiliate for the Burlington, Vermont–Plattsburgh, New York market. It is owned by Gray Television alongside Saranac Lake, New Yo ...
(channel 3).
Translator
WWBI operated one
translator
Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...
, W14CK in
Newport, Vermont, which was added in 1997; this station's transmitter was located atop
Jay Peak. Like the parent station, W14CK, despite being a translator and being assigned a translator call sign, was licensed as a Class A station.
W14CK's license remained active (as that station did file for license renewal); however, it was downgraded from Class A status and reverted to the standard low-power repeater class on October 24, 2012 due to failure to file
E/I children's television reports.
On June 12, 2015, W14CK's license was canceled by the FCC for failure to file a license renewal application.
Viewership in Quebec
On the
Vidéotron
Vidéotron is a Canadian integrated telecommunications company active in cable television, interactive multimedia development, video on demand, cable telephony, wireless communication and Internet access services. Owned by Quebecor, it primarily s ...
cable system in Montreal, WWBI-LP was "seen" on its ''Illico'' digital service
between January 2004 and July 2005, but citing "technical difficulties", was the national Pax satellite feed instead. These problems were never corrected, and WWBI-LP was withdrawn from the service by orders from the
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; french: Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes, links=) is a public organization in Canada with mandate as a regulatory agency for broadcasti ...
(CRTC).
Usually, the main WWBI signal only reached the
international border
Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders c ...
, though many in the Montreal area have managed to pull the signal in, with varying results. (Its translator, W14CK, extended into Quebec's
Estrie
Estrie () is an administrative region of Quebec that comprises the Eastern Townships. ''Estrie'', a French neologism, was coined as a derivative of ''est'', "east". Originally settled by anglophones, today it is about 90 per cent francophone. Angl ...
region, although this is mainly farmland and backcountry.)
See also
*
List of television stations in Vermont
This is a list of broadcast television stations that are licensed in the U.S. state of Vermont.
Full-power stations
VC refers to the station's PSIP virtual channel. RF refers to the station's physical RF channel.
Low-power broadcasting, LPTV sta ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wwbi-Lp
WBI-LP
Television channels and stations established in 1992
1992 establishments in New York (state)
Television channels and stations disestablished in 2007
2007 disestablishments in New York (state)
Defunct television stations in the United States
WBI-LP