npt nashville public television slogan television worth watching channels digital 8 vhf virtual 8 psip subchannels 8.1 pbs 8.2 npt2 affiliations pbs since 1970 owner nashville public television inc. first air date september 10 1962 ; 54 years ago 1962 09 10 call letters meaning nashville public television former callsigns wdcn tv 1962 2000 former channel number s analog 2 vhf 1962 1973 8 vhf 1973 2009 digital 46 uhf until 2009 former affiliations net 1962 1970 transmitter power 17.65 kw height 390 metres 1 280 ft facility id 41398 transmitter coordinates 36 2 50.4 n 86 49 48.9 w 36.047333 n 86.830250 w 36.047333 ; 86.830250 wnpt licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.wnpt.org wnpt vhf channel 8 is a pbs member television station located in nashville tennessee united states . the station is owned by nashville public television inc. a community funded nonprofit organization . the station s studios are located on rains avenue in southeast nashville and its transmitter is located in the southern suburb of forest hills . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 references 4 external links history edit the station signed on the air on september 10 1962 as wdcn tv for davidson county nashville on vhf channel 2 . it is tennessee s second oldest educational television station behind wkno tv in memphis established six years earlier in 1956 . it was originally licensed to the board of nashville public schools which became an arm of the metropolitan government when nashville and davidson county merged in 1963 . like most eventual pbs member stations wdcn was mainly established to serve area schoolchildren with educational programming . in the early 1970s wdcn agreed to swap channel frequencies with abc affiliate wsix tv which was seeking a stronger signal . metro agreed to trade frequencies upon realizing that wdcn s core audience would be better served on channel 8 despite its limited reach the channel 8 transmitter facility in nashville was short spaced to fellow pbs station wgtv in atlanta . 1 although the channel 2 signal traveled a very long distance under normal conditions several middle tennessee viewers did not get a good signal from wdcn because the original frequency was short spaced to another atlanta station wsb tv . on december 11 1973 wsix tv changed its call letters to wnge tv now wkrn tv and moved to channel 2 while wdcn moved to channel 8 . 2 it was only the third time in u.s. television history that the fcc allowed two established stations to exchange frequencies ; an almost identical trade occurred in new orleans three years earlier in 1970 also involving the abc and pbs stations . the channel 8 signal was more or less unviewable in several areas of the market s eastern fringe such as cookeville . this area is slightly more rugged than the rest of middle tennessee and the channel 8 signal was not able to penetrate it as well as the channel 2 signal could . much of this area was left without pbs programming until wcte signed on in 1978 . originally the station broadcast from a building located near belmont college now belmont university on 15th and compton avenues a facility shared with wsm tv channel 4 now wsmv until 1963 . the proceeds from the exchange of channel positions with then wsix wnge owners general electric enabled wdcn tv to build studios in 1976 near the tennessee state fairgrounds in south nashville on the former site of nashville central high school . according to station officials wkrn also maintains the original wdcn transmitter and antenna as part of the 1973 arrangement . the original site is now used as metro s communications center . political and funding issues prompted the metro nashville government to begin proceedings in the late 1990s to relinquish wdcn s license to a community board . some local residents welcomed the change since they believed that the school board s operation of the station kept wdcn from broadcasting pbs programs reputed to be even mildly controversial even though nashville itself is very liberal by southern standards the suburbs and adjacent rural areas are quite conservative especially on social issues including some programs that were broadcast on practically all pbs stations in markets as big or smaller than nashville . whatever the motivation wdcn would become the last public television station in the state to be emancipated from a governmental body . wkno had never been publicly operated and the state board of education released the remaining stations in the state to community groups back in 1984 . metro formally released wdcn in 2000 to a new board known as nashville public television . the new board changed the station s calls to wnpt on february 22 . since then the station has almost never referred to its call letters or channel number on the air except during legal ids usually calling itself nashville public television . digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital signal is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 3 8.1 1080i 16 9 npt 1 main wnpt programming pbs 8.2 480i npt 2 npt2 mhz worldview from 12 a.m. 6 a.m. pbs encore from 6 a.m. 12 a.m. analog to digital conversion edit wnpt shut down its analog signal over vhf channel 8 on june 12 2009 the official date in which full power television stations in the united states transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate . the station s digital signal relocated from its pre transition uhf channel 46 to vhf channel 8 for post transition operations . 4 references edit vhf frequency swap in nashville . broadcasting . march 26 1973 pp. 60 62 . 1 2 in brief two gets you eight . broadcasting . december 17 1973 pg . 10 . 3 rabbitears tv query for wnpt dtv tentative channel designations for the first and second rounds pdf . retrieved 2012 03 24 . external links edit npt nashville public television query the fcc s tv station database for wnpt biafn s media web database information on wnpt tv v t e broadcast television in middle tennessee including nashville and clarksville reception may vary by location and some stations may only be viewable with cable television stations wkrn 2.1 abc 2.2 metv 2.3 justice network wsmv 4.1 nbc 4.2 heartland 4.3 cozi tv wtvf 5.1 cbs 5.2 newschannel 5 5.3 laff wnpt 8.1 pbs 8.2 npt2 wztv 17.1 fox 17.2 wxn 17.3 antenna tv wnpx tv 28.1 ion 28.2 qubo 28.3 ion life 28.4 ion shop 28.5 qvc over air 28.6 hsn wuxp 30.1 mntv 30.2 gettv 30.3 comet whtn 39.1 ctn 39.2 ctni wjfb 44.1 tct family 44.2 tct kids wpgd 50.1 tbn 50.2 hillsong 50.3 juce tv smile 50.4 enlace 50.5 salsa wnab 58.1 cw 58.2 asn channel 58.3 grit low power stations wrtn ld 6.1 daystar 6.2 rev n 6.3 this tv 6.4 classic shows 6.5 retro tv 6.6 tuff tv 6.7 ebru tv wetv lp 11.1 ind wiiw lp 14.1 silent ind wjfb lp 18.1 silent tct family 18.2 silent tct kids wnpx lp 20.1 silent daystar wntu ld 26.1 daystar wjde ld 31.1 h & i 31.2 ssn 31.3 decades 31.4 hsn 31.5 sonlife 31.6 movies wjnk ld 34.1 3abn 34.2 3abn proclaim 34.3 dare to dream 34.4 3abn latino 34.5 3abn radio 34.6 3abn radio latino 34.7 radio 74 wctz ld 35.1 silent future station wkuw ld 40.1 buzzr 40.2 liquidation channel 40.3 escape 40.4 tcn 40.5 qvc plus 40.6 qvc over air wllc lp 42.1 univision 42.2 unim s 42.3 bounce tv 42.4 biz television outlying areas clarksville wckv ld 21.1 the walk tv 21.2 doctor tv 21.3 ind 21.4 nrb network cookeville wcte 22.1 pbs 22.2 world 22.3 create other areas w29dm d 29.1 silent lewisburg tn wpbm cd 31.1 religious ind. walktv geb scottsville ky atsc m h mobile dtv wsmv 4.10 nbc nash tv internet tv cable television stations nashville cmt familynet fox sports tennessee metro nashville network nash tv necat network nrb network vtv worship clarksville apsu tv clarksville tv 3 community channel 10 murfreesboro city tv mt10 rctv 19 other areas dtc 3 smithville woodbury carthage franklin tv franklin tn nctv 15 nctv 6 lafayette tn scottsville ky sctv 6 tompkinsville ky smyrna tv smyrna wbbm 9 mt. juliet wbhs 9 brentwood wc tv franklin tn adjacent locals bowling green . kentucky wbko 13.1 abc 13.2 fox 13.3 the cw cw wkgb tv 53.1 pbs ket 53.2 pbs encore ket2 53.3 ky channel madisonville . kentucky wkma tv 35.1 pbs ket 35.2 pbs encore ket2 35.3 ky channel defunct stations nashville area wrmx lp 12 hsn w36ak 36 tbn via wpgd tv w48bk 48 tbn w52ct 52 w59aw 59 america one via wllc lp w61ar 61 ind. familynet via wjnk ld the church channel national cable and digital ota the nashville network national cable only clarksville w26cj 26 tbn cookeville w46aj 46 tbn hopkinsville . kentucky w22ch 22 tbn wkag ca 43 ind. a1 wnkj tv 51 ind. 1983 85 w62bh 62 tbn w64br 64 pbs ket via wkma tv other areas wllp ca ind. amgtv tln lawrenceburg tn w55al 55 pbs ket via wkso tv tompkinsville . ky tennessee broadcast television areas by city chattanooga jackson knoxville memphis nashville paducah ky tri cities see also huntsville tv bowling green tv v t e pbs member stations in the state of tennessee wetp 2 wkop 15 sneedville knoxville wnpt 8 nashville wkno 10 memphis wljt dt 11 lexington wcte 22 cookeville wtci 45 chattanooga see also abc cbs cw fox ion mynetworktv nbc pbs other stations in tennessee retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title wnpt tv & oldid 743867797 categories pbs member stationstelevision channels and stations established in 1962television stations in nashville tennessee1962 establishments in tennessee navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a 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