television station . for other uses see wpbs disambiguation . wpbs dt wnpi dt wpbs watertown new york wnpi norwood new york united states branding wpbs television slogan the two nation station or your two nation station channels digital wpbs 41 uhf wnpi 23 uhf subchannels xx .1 pbs xx .2 create xx .3 world affiliations pbs owner st. lawrence valley educational television council inc. first air date wpbs august 1971 1 wnpi 1971 2 call letters meaning wpbs watertown public broadcasting service wnpi watertown norwood public instruction former callsigns wpbs wnpe tv 1971 1998 wnpi none former channel number s wpbs 16 uhf analog 1971 2009 wnpi 18 uhf analog 1971 2009 transmitter power wpbs 40 kw wnpi 40 kw height wpbs 370 m wnpi 241.6 m facility id wpbs 62136 wnpi 62137 transmitter coordinates wpbs 43 51 46 n 75 43 39 w 43.86278 n 75.72750 w 43.86278 ; 75.72750 wnpi 44 29 29 n 74 51 27 w 44.49139 n 74.85750 w 44.49139 ; 74.85750 wnpi dt website www.wpbstv.org wpbs dt is the public broadcasting service pbs member station serving the north country of new york state licensed to watertown . the station operates a full time satellite wnpi dt licensed to norwood . the station also has significant viewership in much of eastern ontario canada including ottawa and kingston . like san diego california s kpbs wpbs tv is a border station in this case serving viewers in both the us and canada . contents 1 history 2 coverage area 3 digital channels 4 programming 4.1 wpbs produced tv series 4.2 national programming 4.3 wpbs local and regional television series 5 references 6 external links history edit the st. lawrence valley educational television council which was organized in 1958 originally produced educational television programming to be carried by local cbs affiliate wwny tv . in 1971 it established an independent pbs station wnpe tv using wwny s original studios on champion hill as the commercial station had already relocated to a larger facility in watertown . full time satellite wnpi signed on a few months later . outgrowing the champion hill location itself wnpe moved to a new building in watertown in 1978 . because of its large canadian viewership wnpe was one of the most successful pbs stations in america with fundraising totals often exceeding those of stations in much larger markets . for a minor sum the rights to use the wpbs call letters were purchased from a small radio station in conyers georgia in the late 1990s and the callsign change took effect on september 1 1998 . despite its strong viewership in canada rogers cable the main cable provider in ottawa announced in july 2009 that it would replace wpbs on its systems with detroit s wtvs by mid august to provide a higher quality pbs feed as wtvs could be fed via fiber optic cable rather than from over the air signals . 3 shortly after receiving this news a facebook campaign called save wpbs in ottawa later renamed ottawa loves wpbs urging rogers to reconsider its decision to pull the station was launched attracting hundreds of supporters as well as local ottawa politicians . on july 30 2009 it was announced that wpbs would offer a fiber optic feed of the station for rogers transmitted from buffalo new york . 4 5 6 erie pennsylvania s wqln which serves viewers in the london ontario area through rogers was also threatened with removal from the rogers system ; 7 as with wpbs wqln offered a fiber connection with rogers . 8 coverage area edit wpbs tv can be seen by a total of 2.2 million viewers . 9 this is despite the fact it is the smallest pbs member in new york state ; its primary audience is a mostly rural area of only 252 000 people . however the signal from its two towers reaches far enough to serve the ottawa valley region via cable . this market with over 1.5 million people almost six times the population of wpbs american viewing area is the fourth largest in canada . much of wpbs s viewer support has also come from canadian viewers as 70 % of donations during recent pledge drives came from viewers in ottawa . 3 wpbs s transmitter is located in copenhagen while wnpi s is located near potsdam in colton off route 56 . both the u.s. and canadian national anthems were played on station sign on and sign off . despite its distinctive call letters wpbs tv is not a network flagship station . due to the local and non profit nature of the public broadcasting service wpbs tv belongs not to any network owned and operated station group but to the local community which it serves . in major us commercial networks the networks own the largest market stations . in pbs it is individual member stations who collectively own the network ; therefore pbs can not have any network owned and operated stations . digital channels edit wpbs and wnpi s digital channels are 41 and 23 . it is multiplexed into the following digital subchannels digital channels channel video aspect psip short name programming .1 1080i 16 9 wpbs dt main wpbs programming pbs .2 480i 4 3 wpbs dt2 create .3 wpbs dt3 world the three digital subchannels are identical for both wpbs dt and wnpi dt . the station had requested an increase in power from 40 kw to 60 kw for each digital transmitter . while this request had not been addressed by the us federal communications commission in time for wpbs wnpi s april 12 2009 analogue shutoff date which was sooner than the june 12 2009 date for american analogue stations to end a construction permit was issued later that year for the increased power digital facilities . wpbs tv s former analogue channel number uhf 16 is currently in use by wxxi tv in rochester . wnpi tv s former analogue channel number uhf 18 and antenna location has been reassigned to wwny cd a massena rebroadcaster of fox affiliate wnyf cd . programming edit wpbs produces a variety of programming for both local and national distribution . for many outside new york and the surrounding region wpbs is synonymous with programming ranging from rod and reel and streamside distributed to pbs member stations nationally from 1985 2006 . 10 to classical stretch distributed nationally since 1999 by apt . 11 they also carry other nationally distributed programs from pbs and american public television . wpbs produced tv series edit energy efficiency enhancing home performance bill saiff s rod & reel 1985 2001 nationally distributed by pbs cabin country camp willie discovering pets the gardener 2001 a thirteen part series . 12 13 journeys of an artist 2006 national a thirteen episode series combining art and travel . 14 streamside with don meissner 15 national programming edit wpbs originated programming distributed to public television stations nationally by american public television 16 includes artist s world the artist s world sketches cd highway classical stretch 17 18 1999 2005 cottage country fishing behind the lines 19 flyfishing destinations from a country garden 20 21 painting with wilson bickford 22 rod & reel streamside 2001 2006 23 streamside wpbs originated programming distributed to public television stations by the national educational telecommunications association 24 includes the new fly fisher 25 26 wpbs local and regional television series edit jefferson s table local wines history and cuisine . whiz quiz a quizbowl style competition . whiz quiz canada canadian version of whiz quiz . wpbs live a live call in show presenting topics of local interest to both nations . references edit the broadcasting and cable yearbook says august 5 while the television and cable factbook says august 9 . the broadcasting and cable yearbook says august 30 while the television and cable factbook says september 5 . a b wpbs of new york to disappear from ottawa tv . cbc news . july 16 2009 . retrieved july 20 2009 . wpbs to stay on in ottawa . watertown daily times . retrieved 2015 09 04 . 1 archived august 2 2009 at the wayback machine . ottawa citizen pbs watertown wins reprieve from rogers 7 30 2009 . permanent dead link london free press loss of london viewers could sink erie station 7 22 2009 . london free press rogers retains pbs affiliate wqln 7 31 2009 . about pbs list of on air auctions by state and market size public tv station evolves from using donated air time to entering the digital age chris brock watertown ny times june 7 2008 all the right moves classical stretch class builds flexibility and self confidence susan schwartz montr al gazette april 10 2000 bio of ed lawrence the gardner national capital commission ottawa hull canada 2 archived august 27 2008 at the wayback machine . fishing with don meissner host of streamside apt programs 3 archived october 13 2008 at the wayback machine . stretching for the next level lynn moore the gazette montr al january 05 2008 fishing behind the lines . www.wpbstv.org . retrieved 2016 08 11 . gardening grief and glory ed lawrence answers your gardening questions isbn 978 0 9681210 1 6 4 archived january 18 2002 at the wayback machine . www.wpbstv.org painting with wilson bickford . www.wpbstv.org . retrieved 2016 08 11 . 5 archived march 12 2008 at the wayback machine . neta programming 6 dead link 7 archived april 3 2009 at the wayback machine . external links edit wpbs tv query the fcc s tv station database for wpbs query the fcc s tv station database for wnpi 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 cw 50.3 laff 50.4 escape st. lawrence county wnpi 18.1 pbs 18.2 create 18.3 world wwny cd 28.1 fox 28.2 cbs kingston belleville see also ontario tv cjoh tv 6 6 analog ctv ckws dt 11.1 ctv global adjacent locals ottawa cornwall on cbot 4.1 cbc cboft 9.1 9.2 ici radio canada cjoh 13.1 8 analog ctv syracuse new york wstm 3.1 nbc 3.2 the cw 3.3 comet wtvh 5.1 cbs 5.2 grit wsyr 9.1 abc 9.2 me tv 9.3 bounce tv 9.4 laff wcny 24.1 pbs 24.2 create 24.3 world 24.4 pbs plus wsyt 68.1 fox 68.2 the country network plattsburgh new york wptz 5.1 nbc 5.2 the cw 5.3 me tv wcfe 57.1 pbs 57.2 mhz 57.3 world cable spectrum sports spectrum news central new york yes msg network wckn clarkson university defunct w20ba 20 tbn wlot lp 46 upn a1 watertown new york state television albany schenectady binghamton buffalo burlington plattsburgh elmira new york city rochester syracuse utica watertown v t e pbs member stations in the state of new york wnet 13 new york city wpbs 16 wnpi 18 watertown norwood wmht 17 schenectady wned 17 buffalo wliw 21 garden city long island wxxi 21 rochester wcny 24 w22do d 22 syracuse utica wskg 46 wska 30 binghamton corning wcfe 57 plattsburgh see also abc cbs cw fox ion mynetworktv nbc pbs other stations in new york retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title wpbs dt & oldid 734020229 categories pbs member stationstelevision channels 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