states branding mountain lake pbs channels digital 38 uhf virtual 57 psip subchannels 57.1 pbs 57.2 mhz worldview 57.3 world translators w25at tupper lake w25bt d monkton vt w46ed d willsboro w46it d port henry affiliations pbs owner mountain lake public telecommunications council first air date march 6 1977 ; 39 years ago 1977 03 06 call letters meaning clinton franklin and essex counties new york primary coverage area former channel number s analog 57 uhf 1977 2009 transmitter power 50 kw digital height 737 m 2 418 ft digital facility id 46755 transmitter coordinates 44 41 43 n 73 53 0 w 44.69528 n 73.88333 w 44.69528 ; 73.88333 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website mountainlake.org wcfe tv is a public broadcasting service pbs public television station in plattsburgh new york . it is known under an identity of mountain lake pbs . this name was adopted to reflect plattsburgh s location between the adirondacks and lake champlain . it broadcasts on channel 38 from transmitters on top of lyon mountain between plattsburgh and nearby malone . wcfe tv s over the air coverage reaches many communities in northeastern new york eastern ontario including cornwall and parts of ottawa vermont and southern quebec including montreal . wcfe tv s signal is also carried in quebec city and most of the gasp peninsula and saguenay on cable . on cable wcfe tv can be seen on comcast burlington channel 14 and charter plattsburgh channel 7 . on vid otron it can be seen on channel 24 in west montreal channel 40 in central and east montreal and channel 50 on illico digital cable . its studios and offices are located at one sesame street in plattsburgh . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 challenges 4 2007 transmitter tower collapse 5 outlying translators 6 external links 7 references history edit wcfe tv signed on in march 1977 from studios at suny plattsburgh . in 1993 it rebranded itself as mountain lake pbs to reflect its growing viewership . from 1990 to 1996 wcfe tv had a sister national public radio station wcfe fm on 91.9 . that station was sold to albany s wamc in 1996 who operates 91.9 as a repeater wcel . digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital signal is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 1 57.1 1080i 16 9 wcfe hd main wcfe programming pbs 57.2 480i wcfe d1 mhz worldview 57.3 wcfe d2 classic arts showcase analog to digital conversion edit wcfe tv shut down its analog signal over uhf channel 57 on february 17 2009 the original target 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 . the station s digital signal remained on its pre transition uhf channel 38 . 2 through the use of psip digital television receivers display the station s virtual channel as its former uhf analog channel 57 which was among the high band uhf channels 52 69 that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition . until the beginning of 2010 an sd simulcast of wcfe tv was broadcast on 57.2 while thinkbright was broadcast on 57.3 . from january to september 2010 classic arts showcase was on 57.3 . wcfe tv is currently transmitting at 55 kw . there is an application before the fcc to increase its power to 200 kw . challenges edit wcfe tv is in a unique market . across lake champlain to the east lies the city of burlington vermont home to another pbs member station vermont pbs . to the west lies watertown and potsdam new york home to pbs member wpbs dt wnpi dt . as a result most of wcfe tv s broadcast area viewers are actually served by two pbs members . for years wcfe tv has searched for a way to stand out . one of its solutions has been to broadcast certain various signature pbs shows at different dates and times from the national pbs schedule much as new york city s secondary pbs outlet wliw has done to differentiate itself from the market s primary pbs member wnet . for example for a number of years wcfe tv did not broadcast pbs s masterpiece theatre on sunday evenings ; it would also broadcast wall street week on saturday instead of friday to name but two examples . this practice has always been somewhat controversial amongst wcfe tv s members especially those who do not live in overlapping broadcast areas . as a result the station has reduced the practice somewhat and has taken to airing a number of the most popular pbs shows in pattern with the national schedule . although wcfe tv is the second smallest pbs member in new york state it reaches a potential audience of 3.9 million people . however the great majority of its audience lives in canada . montreal alone has 10 times as many people as the burlington plattsburgh market . additionally of its 8 500 members as of august 2007 4 500 live in canada . 3 not only must wcfe tv take canadian interests into account in its programming but its large canadian viewership has an impact in its fundraising activities . it not only includes french language elements in its fundraising efforts but a significant portion of the proceeds from its pledge drives is in canadian dollars . the fluctuations in the exchange rate between the canadian and american dollar make budgeting difficult . in addition in the past decade the decrease in the value of the canadian dollar compared to its american counterpart has meant a decrease in revenues for wcfe tv . the canadian dollar has gained ground since 2003 meaning a slight increase for wcfe tv . wcfe tv s american coverage area consists mostly of rural areas and small towns . the only cities of any size are montreal and quebec city . 2007 transmitter tower collapse edit on april 18 2007 wcfe s 400 foot transmitter tower located on lyon mountain completely collapsed as a result of heavy amounts of ice and snow from the april 2007 nor easter and partially damaged the transmitter building at the base . 4 the station started rebuilding a transmitter tower . in the meantime the direct fiber optic lines to the local charter communications franchise were unaffected and the station continued to broadcast on cable . on april 23 2007 wcfe tv went back on the air as a temporary digital subchannel of wcax tv broadcast from mount mansfield vermont . wcfe tv was multicast on wcax tv digital channel 53 mapped to channel 57.1 . on august 10 2007 wcax tv discontinued carriage of wcfe tv when interim facilities were established see below . following the collapse vid otron systems in quebec that offered wcfe tv substituted its signal with that of detroit s wtvs . on april 27 wcfe tv s signal was reestablished on vid otron which received wcfe tv s signal from its temporary transmitter . in addition wptz donated its internet streaming facilities to wcfe tv which was used for wcfe tv s annual art auction which took place as scheduled shortly after the collapse . the transmitter that was damaged was a thomson tbm unit . the company was able to provide one of their affinity transmitters on lease to the station within two weeks of getting the request from the station . this temporary transmitter was located at the station s studio location until they could get the main transmitter facility repaired which was a very involved process due to site access issues . on october 9 2007 wcfe tv s new tower at lyon mountain went into service almost six months after the collapse . 5 6 wcfe tv s digital signal went on the air on october 23 . wcfe tv ceased analog transmissions on february 17 2009 and continued to broadcast digitally on channel 38 after all stations in the burlington plattsburgh market turned off their analog signals . however with the use of psip receivers list its virtual channel as 57 . outlying translators edit w25at tupper lake w25bt d monkton vt w46ed d willsboro w46it d port henry external links edit mountain lake pbs web site tv hat trivial facts about southern qc upstate ny and vt stations query the fcc s tv station database for wcfe biafn s media web database information on wcfe tv references edit rabbitears tv query for wcfe dtv tentative channel designations for the first and the second rounds pdf . retrieved 2012 03 24 . mountain lake pbs 2007 fact sheet . web.archive.org . 2007 10 28 . archived from the original on october 28 2007 . retrieved 2014 01 17 . mountain lake pbs tower collapses pdf . archived from the original pdf on 2007 09 28 . retrieved 2007 04 18 . wcax tv news script for 10 9 2007 . retrieved 2007 10 12 . radio info wcfe in plattsburgh has its new transmission tower . retrieved 2007 10 12 . v t e broadcast television in northern and central vermont ; grafton and sullivan counties new hampshire ; and the champlain valley and upper connecticut river areas including burlington plattsburgh rutland barre montpelier littleton newport and st. johnsbury reception may vary by location and some stations may only be viewable with cable television plattsburgh burlington stations wcax tv 3.1 cbs 3.2 movies wptz 5.1 nbc 5.2 the cw 5.3 metv w16al analog unknown wvny 22.1 abc 22.2 laff 22.3 grit wetk 33.1 pbs vpbs 33.2 pbs plus 33.3 create 33.4 world wyci 40.1 retro tv wfff tv 44.1 fox 44.2 escape 44.3 bounce tv wcfe tv 57.1 pbs 57.2 mhz 57.3 world outlying areas wvma cd 17.1 ind. claremont nh wvtb wver wvta 20.1 28.1 41.1 pbs vpbs 20.2 28.2 41.2 pbs plus 20.3 28.3 41.3 create 20.4 28.4 41.4 world wycu ld 26.1 outside 26.2 tuff tv 26.3 retro tv 26.4 pbj ; charlestown new hampshire wmur lp 29 w38cb 38 analog abc ; littleton new hampshire wnne 31.1 nbc ; hartford wled tv 49.1 pbs nhptv prime 49.2 nhptv explore 49.3 world 49.4 create ; littleton new hampshire adjacent locals montreal cbft dt 2.1 ici radio canada cbmt dt 6.1 cbc cftm dt 10.1 tva cfcf dt 12.1 ctv civm dt 17.1 t l qu bec cfjp dt 35.1 v sherbrooke chlt dt 7.1 tva cksh dt 9.1 ici radio canada ckmi dt 2 11.1 global civs dt 24.1 t l qu bec cfks dt 30.1 v albany wrgb 6.1 cbs 6.2 this tv 6.3 comet wten 10.1 abc 10.2 gettv 10.3 justice network wmht 17.1 pbs 17.2 create 17.3 world portland wgme tv 13.1 cbs 13.2 gettv 13.3 asn wpme 35.1 mntv 35.2 movies 35.3 qvc other areas cjoh tv 8 analog ctv cornwall on wmur tv 9.1 abc manchester new hampshire wpix 11.1 the cw new york wnpi dt 18.1 pbs 18.2 create 18.3 world norwood ny cable only stations yes csn msg necn nesn pstv vcam defunct stations w27cp 27 abc white river jct wwbi lp 27 upn daystar ion wgmu lp 39 ind. the wb upn a1 mntv retro tv new york state television albany schenectady binghamton buffalo burlington plattsburgh elmira new york city rochester syracuse utica watertown vermont broadcast television albany schenectady boston ma burlington plattsburgh see also portland maine v t e television stations viewable in northern new york state and the st. lawrence valley reception may vary by location and some stations may only be viewable with cable television watertown carthage wwny 7.1 cbs 7.2 fox wpbs 16.1 pbs 16.2 create 16.3 world wtkj lp 19 gcn wnyf cd 28.1 fox 28.2 metv wwti 50.1 abc 50.2 the