here . for white light emitting diode see white light emitting diode . new hampshire public television statewide new hampshire united states branding nhptv slogan engaging minds . connecting communities . celebrating new hampshire . channels digital see table below affiliations pbs 1970 present owner new hampshire public broadcasting first air date july 6 1959 ; 57 years ago 1959 07 06 call letters meaning see table below former affiliations net 1959 1970 transmitter power see table below height see table below facility id see table below transmitter coordinates see table below licensing authority fcc public license information hampshire public television profile hampshire public television cdbs website www.nhptv.org new hampshire public television is a television company and public broadcasting state network in new hampshire licensed to new hampshire public broadcasting nhpb and is part of the public broadcasting service pbs . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 4 stations 4.1 low power stations 4.2 former stations 5 references 6 external links history edit established in 1959 its broadcast center is located on the university of new hampshire unh campus in durham new hampshire . until 2014 nhptv was owned and operated by the university ; it is now run by an independent nonprofit organization named after the statewide network . originally nhptv consisted of only wenh tv in durham ; in the late 1960s several uhf satellite stations and translators signed on in northern and western new hampshire see below . the operation was named the new hampshire network adopting its present name and on air branding in 1976 . in later years nhptv occasionally used its flagship station s channel number as its branding . initially broadcasting in black and white nhptv converted its durham studio to color in 1972 with an increase in the number of locally produced programs taking effect at that time . among local shows launched in the early 1970s were the state we re in a nightly newscast focusing on state issues ; a time for music live performances by new england based musicians ; live coverage of most university of new hampshire home men s hockey games ; and your time where representatives of nonprofit organizations were given a half hour of airtime to showcase their organizations . a time for music and your time the latter later eventually renamed public access 11 stayed on the air for several years . the state we re in later renamed channel 11 news went off the air in july of 1981 while unh men s hockey continued on nhptv until 2008 . in 1981 steep budget cuts forced nhptv to eliminate its nightly news show and to shut down its satellite transmitters in hanover and berlin . after channel 11 news went off the air in 1981 new hampshire journal a lower budget weekly news review was launched ; that same year a feature magazine series titled new hampshire crossroads premiered ; its original host was tom bergeron . the latter series was allowed to go ahead despite the 1981 budget cuts because it had received funding from outside sources . since the hockey games were also funded by outside underwriters they too were allowed to continue . the winter of 1984 saw the premiere of nhptv s long running academic quiz show granite state challenge . originally hosted by bergeron it is now hosted by jim jeanotte who also did many years of play by play for nhptv s unh hockey coverage . nhptv is available over the air in nearly 75 percent of new hampshire . additionally flagship station wenh is available on a limited set of cable television providers in parts of maine including portland and vermont including the barre montpelier area . wenh is available on directv and dish network s boston feeds as well ; durham is part of the boston market . it had been available on most cable systems in eastern massachusetts including boston for decades until october 2012 . 1 digital television edit digital channels edit nhptv s four signals are multiplexed . channel video aspect psip short name programming 2 3 4 xx .1 1080i 16 9 primehd main nhptv programming pbs xx .2 480i explore nhptv explore xx .3 4 3 world world xx .4 create create analog to digital conversion edit nhptv s stations shut down their analog signals on february 17 2009 the original date in which full power television stations in the united states were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate which was later pushed back to june 12 2009 . 5 each station s post transition digital allocations are as follows wenh tv shut down its analog signal over vhf channel 11 ; the station s digital signal relocated from its pre transition uhf channel 57 which was among the high band uhf channels 52 69 that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition to its analog era vhf channel 11 . wekw tv shut down its analog signal over uhf channel 52 ; the station s digital signal remained on its pre transition uhf channel 49 . through the use of psip digital television receivers display the station s virtual channel as its former uhf analog channel 52 which was among the high band uhf channels 52 69 that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition . wled tv shut down its analog signal over uhf channel 49 ; the station s digital signal remained on its pre transition uhf channel 48 . through the use of psip digital television receivers display the station s virtual channel as its former uhf analog channel 49 . programming edit because new hampshire is split between the boston portland and burlington plattsburgh markets nearly all nhptv viewers also receive another pbs station on cable or satellite in some cases more than one . for much of its history nhptv elected to differentiate its program schedule for the other pbs stations in the market . generally nhptv s broadcast of pbs programs and series did not air on the same day and time as they do on boston s wgbh tv mpbn vermont pbs or wcfe tv in plattsburgh . nhptv produced a number of local series including nh outlook windows to the wild granite state challenge wildlife journal co produced with the new hampshire fish and game department new hampshire crossroads production of most local programs except for wildlife journal was discontinued in june 2011 because nhptv lost all of its funding from the state of new hampshire which accounted for 30 % of the station s total fiscal 2011 budget . nhptv produced live coverage of most university of new hampshire men s hockey home games from the 1972 1973 season through the 2007 2008 season . however in june 2008 nhptv announced that it was unable to continue to broadcast the games due to budgetary considerations . the cooking show ciao italia with mary ann esposito was formerly distributed by nhptv and produced at the nhptv studios in durham . in september 2011 nhptv was said to be in preliminary discussions with wgbh tv and public broadcasters in maine and vermont about sharing infrastructure and content . 6 the station became an independent nonprofit organization new hampshire public broadcasting nhpb on july 1 2012 . it had operated as an entity of unh from 1959 until 2008 when nhpb was established as a nonprofit subsidiary of the university system of new hampshire usnh to take over day to day operations though the usnh board of trustees retained the broadcast licenses at that time . this followed the 2011 loss of state funding which resulted in nhptv no longer receiving any money from usnh . certain business services were then outsourced to wgbh but the station itself still operates independently . 7 8 as part of the arrangement nhptv began to follow pbs s national schedule in tandem with wgbh tv on september 30 2012 with nhptv explore s lineup changing from a mix of educational new england and local programming to a schedule nearly identical to that of wgbx tv 9 and master control operations were relocated to the wgbh studios in boston . 10 following the changes comcast dropped wgbh and wgbx from its new hampshire systems and nhptv from its massachusetts systems . 11 stations edit as of the dtv transition on february 17 2009 the nhptv stations are station city of license channels tv rf first air date call letters meaning erp haat facility id transmitter coordinates wenh tv durham 11 psip 11 vhf july 6 1959 educational new hampshire 30 kw 304.1 m 69237 43 10 33 n 71 12 29 w 43.17583 n 71.20806 w 43.17583 ; 71.20806 wenh tv wekw tv keene 52 psip 49 uhf may 21 1968 educational keene western new hampshire 43 kw 330 m 69271 43 2 0 n 72 22 4 w 43.03333 n 72.36778 w 43.03333 ; 72.36778 wekw tv wled tv littleton 49 psip 48 uhf february 8 1968 littleton educational 45 kw 388 m 69328 44 21 10 n 71 44 15 w 44.35278 n 71.73750 w 44.35278 ; 71.73750 wled tv low power stations edit station channel city w26cq1 26 analog colebrook w34dq d2 26 digital pittsburg w50dp d3 50 digital hanover notes 1 . successor to w18bo which operated on analog channel 18 in pittsburg . from 2005 until november 4 2009 w26cq was owned by hearst television and served as a translator for abc affiliate wmtw . 12 2 . the federal communications commission fcc considers w34dq d to be the same station as the former w18bo . it went on the air on september 27 2010 and is currently operated in addition to w26cq . 13 3 . formerly w15bk which operated on analog channel 15 it flash cut to digital on september 4 2007 . both translators directly repeat wenh . colebrook and pittsburg are part of the portland market while hanover is part of the burlington plattsburgh market . although nhptv has been available for decades on cable systems in southern maine it has yet to be added to the portland dbs feeds because of w26cq and w34dq d s low power status . however nhptv is working to change the satellite regulations so it can be carried in the portland market as well . it also has a long term goal of building a full power transmitter atop mount washington which would improve reception in northern new hampshire and the upper connecticut valley as well as presumably offer city grade coverage of portland . in addition nhptv acquired w27cp in white river junction vermont from wmtw along with w26cq ; 14 that station went dark on july 15 2009 while still owned by wmtw due to having lost the lease on its tower site 15 and never returned to the air leading the fcc to delete w27cp on september 14 2011 . 16 former stations edit in the summer of 1981 new hampshire public television was suffering a significant financial crisis . these stations were turned off for good as a result . station city of license channel call letters meaning facility id transmitter coordinates whed tv hanover 15 uhf 1 hanover educational 69303 43 42 32.1 n 72 9 14.7 w 43.708917 n 72.154083 w 43.708917 ; 72.154083 whed tv wedb tv berlin 40 uhf educational berlin 69056 44 22 15.8 n 71 12 47.1 w 44.371056 n 71.213083 w 44.371056 ; 71.213083 wedb tv w59ab low power north woodstock 59 uhf whed tv was eventually replaced in 1994 by a translator originally w15bk operating on whed s former analog channel 15 and then starting in 2007 low power digital station w50dp d . otherwise the defunct stations were generally superseded by cable carriage of wenh nhptv . references edit robidoux carol . nhptv merger forces comcast