virginia united states city reidsville north carolina branding star 47 general star news newscasts slogan your carolina and virginia super station channels digital 47 uhf virtual 47 psip subchannels 47.1 wgsr hd 47.2 wgsr sd 47.3 wmdv441 martinsville affiliations independent cbs secondary owner star news corporation first air date march 7 1988 ; 28 years ago 1988 03 07 call letters meaning w greensboro star 47 sister station s wmdv ld former callsigns w14au 1988 1996 wxiv lp 1996 2004 wgsr lp 2004 2011 former channel number s 14 uhf 1988 2004 39 uhf 2004 2011 transmitter power 15 kw height 252 m facility id 12834 transmitter coordinates lptv licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website http www.starnewsource.com watch live wgsr ld virtual channel and uhf digital channel 47 is a independent television station located in reidsville north carolina united states and also serves danville virginia . the station is owned by the star news corporation . wgsr maintains studio facilities located on gilmer street in reidsville and its transmitter is located northeast of browns summit north carolina . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 4 references 5 external links history edit the station traces its history back to 1982 when wctv 3 a public access television station on what was then alert cable in reidsville launched . on march 7 1988 the federal communications commission granted an original construction permit to then station manager robert tudor to broadcast on uhf channel 14 under the call letters w14au . over the air programming was largely supplied by satellite networks but the station produced its own nightly newscast . w14au also began airing a weekly call in program monday night live . the station was sold to carolina blue communications owned by daniel falinski in early 1996 ; the fcc approved the purchase that august . under falinski s leadership the station expanded its programming to a more regional focus . following an established custom of television stations in the greensboro market following wxii tv wxlv tv and wlxi the station changed its call letters to wxiv lp the letters xiv representing the roman numerals for the station s then channel number 14 and changed its on air branding to the boob tube . second run situation comedies dominated the broadcast schedule during this period with overnight programming brokered to a home shopping network . wxiv lp was forced to seek a new channel allocation in order to allow burlington based wgpx tv channel 16 to begin operating its digital signal on uhf channel 14 . engineering studies determined that moving wxiv to uhf channel 39 was the only possible allocation for the station to continue broadcasting ; the station moved to channel 39 in april 2004 . at the time of the channel switch carolina blue communications was in the process of selling the station to star news corporation owner of martinsville based regional cable news channel newschannel 18 . since wxiv lp was moving from channel 14 to channel 39 its call letters no longer held any meaning so the station changed its callsign to wgsr lp in 2009 reflecting the station s new star 39 brand the calls were modified to wgsr ld on june 4 2009 . digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 1 47.1 720p 16 9 wgsr hd main wgsr ld programming 47.2 480i 4 3 wgsr ld simulcast of wmdv ld 44.2 danville cable 16 47.3 480i 4 3 wmdv441 simulcast of wmdv ld 44.1 martinsville cable 18 analog to digital conversion edit wgsr shut down its analog signal on june 4 2009 . 2 the station flash cut its digital signal into operation on uhf channel 47 and received fcc permission to use that as the station s virtual channel instead of using its former uhf analog channel 39 . the station began carrying second and third digital subchannels on august 17 2009 . digital channel 47.1 began transmitting programming in high definition on february 23 2011 . programming edit wgsr ld has expanded its local coverage of the reidsville martinsville danville area and runs a three hour news talk program titled star news which airs daily from 5 to 8 p.m. star news has gained a reputation for tackling controversial subjects not approached by the region s full power television stations as well as giving extensive coverage to news stories in the dan river region . the station has come under fire for exposing several scandals including crime that have involved government officials and other public figures in the area . 3 as a service to nascar racing fans wgsr ld devotes six hours on the weekends to providing driver and race previews . when races are being run at martinsville speedway coverage of racing action is significantly expanded with local reporters covering action at the track . each week the station airs the syndicated racing shows raceline and race week the only independently run shows covering the sport of auto racing . other sports covered by the station in weekend programs include snowmobiling softball and obstacle track racing hard charge . in the fall wgsr ld covers several high school football games and airs a syndicated program inside the game covering historically black colleges and universities football and basketball programs . starting before thanksgiving and continuing almost to christmas the station broadcasts all of the area municipal christmas parades and joins with the merchants of reidsville nc and stoneville nc in promoting holiday shopping seasons in those towns and the lighting of christmas decorations . wgsr lp began organizing the annual reidsville downtown christmas parade in late 2006 and broadcasts the event live annually . each spring and summer wgsr co sponsors and broadcasts monthly cruise in weekends in downtown reidsville . in the spring of 2014 wgsr lp experimented with organizing easter parades in reidsville nc and martinsville va and currently plan to lead a 4th of july parade in both of these locations as well . due to wfmy tv channel 2 having the rights to broadcast atlantic coast conference basketball games some telecasts produced by cbs air on the station ; until october 2006 the station also broadcast baltimore orioles baseball games . on may 31 2008 wgsr lp aired elitexc primetime through its secondary affiliation with cbs after primary affiliate wfmy declined to carry the program . references edit rabbitears tv query for wgsr list of digital full power stations childrey mark 2006 01 11 star talk discussion of rockingham county school board s complicity in hiding the crimes of wendy hoover campbell external links edit wgsr website star weather website query the fcc s tv station database for wgsr ld add star news live streams to your roku system v t e television stations in the piedmont triad including greensboro high point and winston salem north carolina reception may vary by location and some stations may only be viewable with cable television digital television wfmy 2.1 cbs 2.2 . justice network 2.3 wntv wghp 8.1 fox 8.2 antenna 8.3 this tv wxii 12.1 nbc 12.2 metv wgpx 16.1 ion 16.2 qubo 16.3 life 16.4 ion shop 16.5 qvc 16.6 hsn wcwg 20.1 cw 20.2 escape 20.3 laff 20.4 bounce wunl 26.1 pbs 26.2 kids 26.3 explorer 26.4 north carolina wlxi 43.1 tct 43.2 tct hd 43.3 tct family tct kids 43.4 aramaic broadcasting network wxlv 45.1 abc 45.2 asn channel 45.3 grit wgsr ld 47.1 47.2 ind 47.3 wmdv ld 44.1 ind wmyv 48.1 mntv 48.2 gettv 48.3 comet cable television spectrum news north carolina broadcast television areas by city asheville charlotte greensboro greenville nc myrtle beach sc norfolk va raleigh wilmington see also roanoke tv v t e other television stations in the state of north carolina independent stations wsky 4 manteo whky 14 hickory charlotte wgsr ld 47 reidsville waxn 64 kannapolis charlotte other stations warz cd 34 wht smithfield wray 30 tct wilson wtnc ld 40 unim s durham wuvc 40 uni fayetteville whfl cd 43 worship goldsboro wlxi 43 tct greensboro see also abc cbs cw fox ion mynetworktv nbc pbs other stations in north carolina retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title wgsr ld & oldid 649176428 categories independent television stations in the united statestelevision stations in north carolinadigital low power stationstelevision channels and stations established in 1988 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 bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 28 february 2015 at 02 59 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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