wetp tv sneedville johnson city kingsport bristol tennessee bristol virginia wkop knoxville tennessee united states branding east tennessee pbs channels digital wetp 41 uhf wkop 17 uhf virtual wetp 2 psip wkop 15 psip subchannels x. 1 pbs x. 2 world x. 3 create affiliations pbs owner east tennessee public communications corporation first air date wetp tv march 15 1967 ; 49 years ago 1967 03 15 wkop august 15 1990 ; 26 years ago 1990 08 15 call letters meaning wetp east tennessee public television wkop knoxville s own public television former callsigns wetp wsjk tv 1967 2002 wkop none former channel number s analog wetp 2 vhf 1967 2009 wkop 15 uhf 1990 2008 former affiliations net 1967 1970 transmitter power wetp 445 kw wkop 100 kw height wetp 566.6 m wkop 551.3 m facility id wetp 18252 wkop 18267 transmitter coordinates wetp 36 22 51.5 n 83 10 49.8 w 36.380972 n 83.180500 w 36.380972 ; 83.180500 wetp tv wkop 35 59 44.4 n 83 57 23.1 w 35.995667 n 83.956417 w 35.995667 ; 83.956417 wkop tv licensing authority fcc public license information wkop tv profile wkop tv cdbs website www.easttennesseepbs.org east tennessee pbs is a regional state network of the 2 pbs member stations are both serving the knoxville and tri cities regions of east tennessee . both channels share the same schedule the network consists of wetp tv digital 41 psip 2 sneedville serving the tri cities wkop tv digital 17 psip 15 knoxville contents 1 history 1.1 early years 1.2 a knoxville station at last 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 out of market cable coverage 4 references 5 external links history edit early years edit wetp tv was founded on march 15 1967 as wsjk tv sneedville johnson city knoxville the first in a series of four stations that the tennessee board of education would establish over the next 12 years the others being wljt tv in martin wtci tv in chattanooga and wcte tv in cookeville . the transmitter was built on short mountain near sneedville not by choice but by necessity see below . studios were located on rented space at the university of tennessee s communications building in knoxville with a satellite studio located at east tennessee state university in johnson city . reception was spotty at best even in the tri cities area because of the distance the signal had to travel from short mountain as well as the area s rugged terrain . the tri cities wouldn t get a city grade signal from pbs until wsbn tv in norton virginia started in 1971 as a satellite of wbra tv in roanoke . however wsjk was constrained by two issues . first the 1955 legislation authorizing a public television system in the state mandated that these stations serve the school populations in their areas first before all other considerations . also the channel 2 analog signal traveled a very long distance under most conditions and wsjk was short spaced to wdcn tv in nashville now wnpt on channel 8 ; the channel 2 frequency was later occupied by wkrn tv wsb tv in atlanta and wfmy tv in greensboro north carolina . sneedville is located about halfway between the tri cities and knoxville and just a few miles south of the virginia state line and was the only location that could best serve the school populations in the most efficient way while at the same time protecting wdcn wsb and wfmy from interference . the federal communications commission fcc formally defined the short mountain transmitter site a broadcasting island because it was so surrounded by possible interference . in granting the construction permit the fcc stipulated that wsjk s transmitter could not be moved even 1 mile 1.6 km in any direction . moving it west would have caused co channel interference with wdcn moving it east would have caused interference with wfmy and moving it to the south would have caused interference with wsb tv . while moving it north would not have exposed it to potential interference the nearest channel 2 station northward being wlwd now wdtn in dayton ohio over 250 miles 400 km away and shielded by the mountains of southeastern kentucky to do so would have prevented the knoxville area from getting even a rimshot signal . thus short mountain was one of only a few broadcasting transmitter sites in the entire u.s. prior to the 2009 digital transition that couldn t be physically relocated in any direction . the fcc had already allocated channel 15 to knoxville for non commercial use and plans to activate it as a satellite of wsjk cropped up from 1972 onward . there were also attempts to activate a satellite in the tri cities on channel 41 . however they all collapsed due to a lack of state funding to match the available federal funding a situation largely caused by the 1970s economic recessions affecting state revenues . since the board of education had begun all but one of its proposed stations by that point priority was given to starting up wcte for the upper cumberland region the last large area of the state that had no public television service at all ; that station didn t come online until 1978 . as a result wsjk became quite by default the only public television station in the northern two thirds of east tennessee . this left knoxville as one of the largest markets in the country without a city grade signal from pbs . most of the knoxville area didn t get a clear signal from the station until cable arrived in the mid 1970s . nonetheless wsjk managed to make a name for itself in the area . it was the exclusive provider of on site video at the 1982 world s fair and also was the first station to air regularly scheduled broadcasts of tennessee volunteers basketball . a knoxville station at last edit in 1981 the state legislature passed a law that allowed the state board to transfer its four stations to community organizations the two largest pbs stations in the state wkno tv in memphis and wdcn in nashville were operated by respectively a community board and the local school board and were never part of the state system . wsjk was the first to complete the separation in 1983 ; operational control was transferred to the east tennessee public communications corporation . eventually the state discontinued even token financial support of the four pbs stations after they were emancipated ; this didn t adversely affect the stations because their release to community boards had already encouraged them to develop different sources of financial support . almost immediately the new owners approved plans to reorient to serve the tri cities and build channel 15 as a wsjk satellite serving knoxville though channel 2 still provided rimshot coverage of knoxville over the air . channel 15 began broadcasting as wkop tv on august 15 1990 on channel 15 from a transmitter and tower located on top of sharp s ridge . although channel 2 and still is reckoned as the main station its main studios have always been located in knoxville . in the late 1980s the station s facilities were moved to east magnolia avenue on the other side of downtown from the ut campus . in 2000 wsjk dt channel 41 and wkop dt channel 17 started operations . on december 25 christmas day 2002 wsjk tv is renamed wetp tv . for the next seven and a half years both stations would use the branding east tennessee public television or etp tv for short . as of march 9 2009 wetp dt and wkop dt both air pbs world now simply world and create on their digital subchannels . in august 2010 both wetp and wkop rebranded as east tennessee pbs . digital television edit digital channels edit the stations digital signals are multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 1 2 x. 1 1080i 16 9 etp main etpbs programming pbs x. 2 480i 4 3 etp2 world and tn channel x. 3 etp3 create analog to digital conversion edit wetp tv shut down its analog signal over vhf channel 2 on february 17 2009 the original target date in which full power television 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 41 . 3 4 through the use of psip digital television receivers display the station s virtual channel as its former vhf analog channel 2 . wkop tv shut down its analog signal over uhf channel 15 in july 2008 due to an equipment malfunction . the station s digital signal remained on its pre transition uhf channel 17 . 5 through the use of psip digital television receivers display the station s virtual channel as its former uhf analog channel 15 . out of market cable coverage edit in recent years wetp has been carried on cable in multiple areas within the charlotte and greensboro markets in north carolina . 6 according to zap2it wetp has been carried on cable in college grove which is within the nashville market . 7 references edit rabbitears tv query for wetp rabbitears tv query for wkop http www.knoxnews.com news 2009 feb 15 digitaldelay dtv tentative channel designations for the first and the second rounds pdf . retrieved 2012 03 24 . dtv tentative channel designations for the first and the second rounds pdf . retrieved 2012 03 24 . http www.skybesttv.com clp digital basic.php http tvlistings.zap2it.com tvlistings zcgrid.do method decidefwdforlineup & zipcode 37046 & setmypreference false & lineupid tn68058 external links edit etptv website query the fcc s tv station database for wetp tv query the fcc s tv station database for wkop tv biafn s media web database information on wetp tv biafn s media web database information on wkop tv v t e television stations in the tri cities tn va region including johnson city kingsport bristol tn and bristol va reception may vary by location and some stations may only be viewable with cable television digital television wetp tv 2.1 pbs 2.2 world 2.3 create wcyb tv 5.1 nbc 5.2 cw 5.3 decades wopi cd 9.1 cozi tv wjhl tv 11.1 cbs 11.2 abc wkpt tv 19.1 mntv 19.2 metv 19.3 cozi tv 19.4 escape wapk cd 36.1 metv 36.2 grit 36.3 laff 36.4 h & i wemt 39.1 fox 39.2 movies wlfg 68.1 rel . 68.2 rtv 68.3 pbj 68.4 tfc adjancent locals asheville nc wlos 13.1 abc 13.2 mntv via wmya tv 13.3 antenna tv wunf tv 33.1 pbs 33.2 pbs kids 33.3 explore wmya tv 40.1 mynetworktv 40.2 gettv 40.3 bounce tv 40.4 grit bluefield va wva wvva 6.1 nbc 6.2 the cw 6.3 metv boone nc wlnn cd 24.1 independent knoxville tn wbir tv 10.1 nbc 10.2 metv 10.3 justice network roanoke va wdbj tv 7.1 cbs 7.2 mntv 7.3 decades southeastern kentucky wkpi pikeville wkha hazard 22.1 35.1 pbs ket 22.1 35.2 pbs encore ket2 22.3 35.3 ky channel wymt tv 57.1 cbs 57.2 this tv hazard ky defunct stations tri cities tn w51au 51 abc via wkpt tv greeneville tn southwestern va wsbn tv 47 wmsy tv 52 pbs norton marion southeast ky w66ah 66 pbs via ket wkha tv whitesburg ky w67an 67 pbs via ket wkha tv letcher ky tennessee broadcast television areas by city chattanooga jackson knoxville memphis nashville paducah ky tri cities virginia broadcast television areas by city bristol bluefield charlottesville harrisonburg norfolk richmond roanoke washington dc see also charlotte tv v t e broadcast television in east tennessee including knoxville reception may vary by location and some stations may only be viewable with cable television local stations wate tv 6.1