WRIW-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 ...

51 ( VHF digital channel 2), is a Class A

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 eart ...

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 ...

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts ...

, United States. It is a

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 ...

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...

Telemundo Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a division of NBCUniversal, which in turn is owned by Comcast. It provides content nationally with pr ...

owned-and-operated station

WYCN-LD WYCN-LD (channel 8) is a low-power television station in Providence, Rhode Island, United States, broadcasting the Spanish-language Telemundo network. Owned and operated by NBCUniversal's Telemundo Station Group, the station has studios on ...

(channel 8) which is owned by the

Telemundo Station Group Telemundo Station Group is the division of NBCUniversal Owned TV Stations (NBCUniversal), a subsidiary of Comcast that oversees their Telemundo owned-and-operated television stations and the TeleXitos network. The NBC owned-and-operated stations ...

subsidiary of

NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation owned by Comcast and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. NBCUniversal is primaril ...

. WRIW-CD's parent station maintains studios on Kenney Drive in Cranston (shared with

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

affiliate

WJAR WJAR (channel 10) is a television station in Providence, Rhode Island, United States, affiliated with NBC. Owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, the station has studios on Kenney Drive in Cranston, Rhode Island (shared with Telemundo owned-and-ope ...

hannel 10 owned by the

Sinclair Broadcast Group Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (SBG) is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb of Cockeysville, Maryland, ...

). Under a

channel sharing In telecommunication, frequency sharing or channel sharing is the assignment to or use of the same radio frequency by two or more stations that are separated geographically or that use the frequency at different times. It reduces the potential for ...

arrangement, WRIW-CD shares transmitter facilities with

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

member station

WSBE-TV WSBE-TV (channel 36), branded on-air as Rhode Island PBS, is a PBS member television station licensed to Providence, Rhode Island, United States, serving the entire state as well as Bristol County, Massachusetts. The station is owned by the Rhod ...

(channel 36) on Pine Street in Rehoboth, Massachusetts. Despite WRIW-CD legally holding a low-power Class A license, it transmits using WSBE-TV's full-power spectrum. This ensures complete reception across the Providence– New Bedford, Massachusetts

television market A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television and radio station offerings, and may also incl ...

History

At one point, the station broadcast English-language programming, including locally produced programs hosted by former air talent at WHIM. WRIW-LP became a Telemundo affiliate in 2000;

ZGS Communications ZGS Communications, also referred to as the ZGS Group or ZGS Broadcasting, was a television and radio station operator in the United States, based in Arlington, Virginia. The company operated 11 stations: 10 television stations and one radio statio ...

then acquired the station from Viking Broadcasting in 2003. On July 29, 2012, WRIW-CA began broadcasting its signal in digital from the

tower in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, and subsequently changed its call sign to WRIW-CD on January 7, 2013. On December 4, 2017,

announced its purchase of ZGS' 13 television stations, including WRIW-CD. This made WRIW the second television station in the Providence market to have been an owned-and-operated station under NBC ownership—after WJAR (channel 10, now an NBC affiliate owned by

), which was owned by the network from 1996 to 2006. The sale was completed on July 20, 2018. In October 2019, WRIW-CD began simulcasting low-power

in order to reach the entire Providence−New Bedford market (the latter station changed its city of license to Providence and moved its transmitter to

Norton, Massachusetts Norton is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States, and contains the villages of Norton Center and Chartley. The population was 19,202 at the 2020 census. Home of Wheaton College, Norton hosts the Dell Technologies Championship ...

Newscasts

WRIW-CD began simulcasting the newscasts of Boston sister station

WNEU WNEU (channel 60) is a television station licensed to Merrimack, New Hampshire, United States, broadcasting the Spanish-language Telemundo network to the Boston area. It is owned and operated by NBCUniversal's Telemundo Station Group alongside ...

on July 20, 2018, immediately following the completion of the sale to NBCUniversal. In the announcement, WNEU president and general manager Mike St. Peter stated his intention to hire a Providence-based reporter for the newscast.

Subchannel

References

External links

* Telemundo Station Group RIW-CD Spanish-language television stations in the United States Low-power television stations in the United States Television channels and stations established in 1993 1993 establishments in Rhode Island {{RhodeIsland-tv-station-stub