WLVT-TV

WLVT-TV, virtual channel 39 (VHF digital channel 9), is a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member television station licensed to Allentown, Pennsylvania, United States. Owned by the Lehigh Valley Public Telecommunications Corporation, it is a sister station to Philadelphia-licensed MHz Worldview affiliate WPPT (channel 35). WLVT-TV's studios are located in the south side of Bethlehem, and its transmitter is located south of nearby Allentown atop South Mountain.

Not to be confused with WVLT-TV.
WLVT-TV
Allentown/Bethlehem/Easton, Pennsylvania
United States
CityAllentown, Pennsylvania
ChannelsDigital: 9 (VHF)
(shared with WBPH-TV, WFMZ-TV and WPPT[1])
Virtual: 39 (PSIP)
BrandingPBS 39
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
OwnerLehigh Valley Public Telecommunications Corporation
Sister stationsWPPT
History
First air dateSeptember 7, 1965 (1965-09-07)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog:
  • 39 (UHF, 1965–2009)
  • Digital:
  • 62 (UHF, 2003–2009)
  • 39 (UHF, 2009–2018)
[3]
Former affiliationsNET (1965–1970)
Call sign meaningLehigh Valley Television
Technical information
Licensing authorityFCC
Facility ID36989
ERP80.6 kW
HAAT332.5 m (1,091 ft)
Transmitter coordinates40°33′52″N 75°26′24″W
Links
Public license informationProfile
LMS
Websitewlvt.org

Overview

The station first signed on the air on September 7, 1965 as a member station of National Educational Television (NET), and eventually joined PBS at its inception in 1970. WLVT-TV is commonly known as PBS39, referring to the main virtual channel of 39.1.

The Lehigh Valley is part of the Philadelphia market; ranked as the fourth-largest market in the United States. In recent years, WLVT has expanded its programming focus to the entire Philadelphia television market. It is carried by many cable providers in the area, including Comcast, Service Electric, RCN, Blue Ridge Cable and others. WLVT-TV is also available throughout the region on the Philadelphia DirecTV and Dish Network feeds.

While this gives WLVT one of the largest potential audiences in the country–6.7 million people in eastern Pennsylvania, western and southern New Jersey and northern and central Delaware–the station's focus on the broader market means that it frequently competes with Philadelphia's main PBS member station, WHYY-TV (channel 12), and to a lesser extent, WNJT and WNJS (which are the two Philadelphia-market stations in the NJTV network).

In 2011, WLVT-TV moved from its more remote location along Mountain Drive North to a new studio facility, the PPL Public Media Center, on the south side of Bethlehem. The new facility is adjacent to the ArtsQuest complex on the SteelStacks Campus, previously home to the Bethlehem Steel Corporation.[4] The new station, equipped with two large studios, holds many local productions including Focus (a local magazine show), You Bet Your Garden (formerly on WHYY-FM),Scholastic Scrimmage, Faces of Jazz, and Behind the Guitar. WLVT also broadcasts airings of programming distributed by PBS, American Public Television, and other distributors.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[2]
39.1720p16:9WLVT-DTMain WLVT programming / PBS
39.2480iCREATECreate
39.3FRAN24France 24

Analog-to-digital conversion

WLVT shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 39, on January 31, 2009. The station's digital signal relocated on its pre-transition UHF channel 62, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition, to its former analog-era UHF channel 39 for post-transition operations.[5]

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See also

References
  1. "Modification of a Licensed Facility for DTV Application". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved December 6, 2017.
  2. "Digital TV Market Listing for WLVT". RabbitEars.info. Retrieved January 26, 2017.
  3. http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-b1_5jumping.6774506feb13,0,7342334.column
  4. http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/bethlehem/index.ssf/2011/07/wlvt_pbs39_now_more_public_in.html
  5. "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-08-29. Retrieved 2012-03-24.
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