WSBE-TV

Last updated

WSBE-TV
Channels
BrandingRhode Island PBS
Programming
Affiliations
  • 36.1: PBS
  • 36.2: Learn
Ownership
OwnerRhode Island PBS Foundation and The Public's Radio
The Public's Radio
History
First air date
June 8, 1967(57 years ago) (1967-06-08)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog: 36 (UHF, 1967–2009)
  • Digital: 21 (UHF, 2005–2019)
NET (1967–1970)
Call sign meaning
 Rhode Island State Board of Education (original licensee)
Technical information [2]
Licensing authority
 FCC
Facility ID 56092
ERP 13.6 kW
HAAT 273.4 m (897 ft)
Transmitter coordinates 41°51′55.4″N71°17′12.7″W / 41.865389°N 71.286861°W / 41.865389; -71.286861
Links
Public license information
Website www.ripbs.org

WSBE-TV (channel 36) is a PBS member television station licensed to Providence, Rhode Island, United States, serving the entire state as well as Southeastern Massachusetts. The station is owned by the Rhode Island PBS Foundation and The Public's Radio, a non-profit organization. WSBE-TV's studios are located on Park Lane in Providence, and its transmitter is located on Pine Street in Rehoboth, Massachusetts.

Contents

History

The station began broadcasting on June 8, 1967, from the campus of Rhode Island College. In 1974, WSBE moved to the former WPRO-TV (now WPRI-TV) facilities at 24 Mason Street in Providence. In January 1991, WSBE moved to new studios on 50 Park Lane in Providence, near the Cranston city line. Its analog transmitter was located on Neutaconkanut Hill in Johnston, until the FCC-mandated digital conversion in 2009. From 1973 to 2000, WSBE-TV's programming was relayed in Westerly on translator W62AB. This translator was turned off in 2000, largely because of the high penetration of cable in the state. On May 1, 2003, WSBE rebranded itself as Rhode Island PBS.

WSBE-TV's license was originally held by the Rhode Island State Board of Education (from which the call letters are derived). In 1981, what had become the Board of Regents for Education transferred the station to the Rhode Island Public Telecommunications Authority, a quasi-state agency. [3] The Channel 36 Foundation was founded in 1987 [4] as an independent fundraising arm of WSBE; it subsequently became the Rhode Island PBS Foundation following the station's 2003 rebranding. [5] In June 2012, the Rhode Island Public Telecommunications Authority voted to begin the process of transitioning WSBE-TV from a state licensee to a community licensee, with the Rhode Island PBS Foundation assuming full control of the station. According to a release announcing the decision, the state budget extended funding to the station until the end of the fiscal year on June 30, 2013. [6] The license transfer was completed on October 10, 2012. [7]

On November 9, 2023, Rhode Island PBS and The Public's Radio (the public radio network in Rhode Island) announced their intention to merge; [8] the merger was completed in May 2024. [9]

Programming

WSBE airs well-known PBS series ( Nature , Masterpiece , Antiques Roadshow ) on a schedule typically delayed by eight or more days from full-carriage public television stations such as Boston's WGBH-TV. WSBE has differentiated its on-air schedule by including independent local and national productions, and content from program distributors American Public Television (APT), National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA), and Executive Program Services. WSBE-DT2 (WSBE Learn) airs similar programming to the main channel, but on a different time schedule.

WSBE co-produced the nationally distributed Italian cooking show, Ciao Italia , since 2002, with production on-site through 2015.

Local content currently produced by WSBE includes:

Recent series no longer in production:

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's signal is multiplexed:

Subchannels of WSBE-TV and WRIW-CD [10]
License Channel Res. Aspect Short nameProgramming
WSBE-TV36.1 1080i 16:9 WSBE-HD PBS
36.2 480i 4:3 WSBE-D2Learn
WRIW-CD51.1WRIW-CD Telemundo (WYCN-LD) in SD
51.216:9COZI Cozi TV
51.3OXYGEN Oxygen
  Simulcast of subchannels of another station

Analog-to-digital conversion

On January 16, 2009, the analog transmitter for WSBE suffered a "catastrophic failure". The old RCA transmitter developed a leak in the water cooling system. Due to the scarcity of parts, time required to repair (two weeks minimum), cost, and the proximity to the original February 17 date for the analog shutdown, the station discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 36, at that time. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 21 on February 18, 2009, [11] [12] using virtual channel 36.

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References

  1. ↑ "Modification of a Licensed Facility for Digital Class A TV Station Application". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission. August 9, 2021. Retrieved August 10, 2021.
  2. ↑ "Facility Technical Data for WSBE-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  3. ↑ "Application Search Details". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission . Retrieved January 24, 2014.
  4. ↑ Piccirilli, Anthony (July 1, 1989). "Tuning in to Channel 36". The Providence Journal . p. A-19. Retrieved January 25, 2014. Before the formation of the foundation in 1987… (preview of subscription content)
  5. ↑ Lapin, Andrew (September 20, 2013). "Susan Farmer, Rhode Island politician and pubTV exec, dies at 71". Current . Retrieved January 25, 2014. At WSBE [Susan] Farmer established an independent fundraising nonprofit for the state-owned network. The Channel 36 Foundation, now the Rhode Island PBS Foundation, helped the station reduce its reliance on state subsidies…
  6. ↑ "PBS transitioning to community license". June 26, 2012. Retrieved June 27, 2012.
  7. ↑ Piccerelli, David W. (October 11, 2012). "Consummation Notice". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved January 25, 2014.
  8. ↑ Donnis, Ian (November 9, 2023). "The Public's Radio and Rhode Island PBS plan to merge". The Public's Radio . Retrieved November 10, 2023.
  9. ↑ Johnston, Pam (October 8, 2024). "An Introduction". Rhode Island PBS. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  10. ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for WSBE
  11. ↑ "WSBE Analog Transmitter Meets Premature Demise". Rhode Island PBS. January 16, 2009. Retrieved January 24, 2009.
  12. ↑ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2012.
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