states city hampton norfolk virginia branding whro slogan hampton roads own channels digital 16 uhf virtual 15 psip subchannels 15.1 pbs 15.2 world 15.3 pbs kids 15.4 create affiliations pbs 1970 present owner hampton roads educational telecommunications association inc. first air date september 27 1961 ; 54 years ago 1961 09 27 call letters meaning dual meaning homeroom one reflects roots in instructional programming hampton roads sister station s whre whro fm whrv former channel number s analog 15 uhf 1961 2009 former affiliations net 1961 1970 transmitter power 1000 kw height 360.6 m facility id 25932 transmitter coordinates 36 48 31.8 n 76 30 11.3 w 36.808833 n 76.503139 w 36.808833 ; 76.503139 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.whro.org whro tv channel 15 is the public broadcasting service pbs member public television station for hampton roads virginia the norfolk portsmouth newport news television market dma . the station is licensed to both hampton and norfolk with the studios at the public telecommunications center for hampton roads next to the campus of old dominion university in norfolk . its transmitter is located in suffolk virginia . it is owned by the hampton roads educational telecommunications association hreta a consortium of 19 hampton roads and eastern shore school systems accomack gloucester isle of wight mathews middlesex sussex southampton northampton and york counties and the independent cities of norfolk hampton franklin newport news portsmouth chesapeake virginia beach suffolk poquoson and williamsburg . contents 1 history 2 eastern shore translators 3 digital television 3.1 digital channels 3.2 analog to digital conversion 4 references 5 external links history edit former whro logo used from mid 1990s to december 31 2010 the station signed on september 27 1961 as the first educational station licensed in virginia . the channel 15 position was previously occupied by then nbc and now current abc affiliate wvec tv now on channel 13 . it was a member of national educational television and owned by the norfolk and hampton school systems . only two years later it moved to its current facility in norfolk which was heavily renovated in 1990 . eight other school systems began using whro s services in 1966 and hreta was formed two years later . it became a charter member of pbs in 1970 . whro is well known for its instructional programming much of which is distributed to other pbs stations as well as member owner and other school systems and health systems through a private educational broadcast network . whro also had an annual fundraising auction marathon the great tv auction which featured local celebrities as auctioneers . whro also sponsors the consortium for interactive instruction cii which is a partnership among all the hampton roads area school divisions as well as many private schools for the advancement of technology in the school curriculum . one of the key events that cii sponsors is the great computer challenge . this is a competition for students at all levels of k 12 education in many areas of computer technology . for example students at the middle and high school levels compete in categories varying from web design to c visual basic and java programming as well as music composition and computer aided design and desktop publishing and desktop presentations powerpoint . to celebrate its 50th anniversary whro changed its logo on january 1 2011 . eastern shore translators edit there are two low powered translators of whro tv that are located in the eastern shore of virginia and are municipally owned by accomack county rather than the hreta . 1 2 whro tv and hreta do not own and operate any translators in the greater hampton roads area . w18eg d channel 18.4 onancock w25aa d channel 25 onancock whro tv previously had a translator with the call sign w20cw serving craddockville the license for this translator was cancelled on july 9 2012 . digital television edit digital channels edit channel video aspect psip short name programming 3 15.1 1080i 16 9 whro hd main whro tv programming pbs 15.2 480i world world 15.3 kids whro kids 15.4 create analog to digital conversion edit whro tv discontinued regular programming on its analog signal over uhf channel 15 on february 17 2009 as part of the federally mandated from analog to digital television which congress had moved the previous month to june 12 . 4 the station s digital signal remained on its pre transition uhf channel 16 using psip to display whro tv s virtual channel as 15 on digital television receivers . references edit http www.rabbitears.info market.php request station search & callsign w25aa d station http www.rabbitears.info market.php request station search & callsign w18eg d station rabbitears tv query for whro list of digital full power stations external links edit whro tv query the fcc s tv station database for whro query tv fool s coverage map for whro biafn s media web database information on whro tv v t e television stations in the hampton roads region including virginia beach norfolk portsmouth and newport news virginia reception may vary by location and some stations may only be viewable with cable television digital television wund 2.1 pbs 2.2 kids 2.3 explorer 2.4 north carolina wtkr 3.1 cbs 3.2 this tv wsky tv 4.1 ind 4.2 escape 4.3 laff wgbs ld 7.1 retro tv 7.2 infomercials 7.3 heartland wavy tv 10.1 nbc 10.2 bounce 10.3 gettv wvec 13.1 abc 13.2 justice 13.3 metv w14dc 14.1 hsn2 whro 15.1 pbs 15.2 world 15.3 kids 15.4 create wysj ca 19 classic tv wtpc tv 21.1 tbn 21.2 church 21.3 juce tv 21.3 smile 21.4 enlace 21.5 salsa wvra dt 23.1 pbs 23.2 uni wvad ld 25.1 daystar wgnt 27.1 cw 27.2 antenna wtvz 33.1 mntv 33.2 asn 33.3 comet 33.4 grit wjgn cd 38.1 nrb wvbt 43.1 fox wpxv tv 49.1 ion 49.2 qubo 49.3 ion life 49.4 ion shop 49.5 qvc 49.6 hsn analog television wvbn lp 18 wjhj lp 39 the walk tv cable television cox 11 defunct stations wpen lp 68 ind. local news on cable wavy weather station virginia broadcast television areas by city bristol bluefield charlottesville harrisonburg norfolk richmond roanoke washington dc north carolina broadcast television areas by city asheville charlotte greensboro greenville nc myrtle beach sc norfolk va raleigh wilmington see also salisbury tv v t e pbs member stations in the commonwealth of virginia wbra 15 wsbn 47 wmsy 52 roanoke norton marion whro 15 hampton wcve 23 wcvw 57 whtj 41 richmond charlottesville weta 26 arlington washington dc wvpt 51 wvpy 42 staunton front royal see also abc cbs cw fox ion mynetworktv nbc pbs other stations in virginia retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title whro tv & oldid 733866455 categories pbs member stationstelevision channels and stations established in 1961television stations in the hampton roads market navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit 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