wisconsin except milwaukee united states additional coverage in portions of eastern minnesota and iowa upper peninsula of michigan and northern illinois slogan a place to grow through learning channels digital see table below subchannels see table below affiliations pbs 1970 present owner wisconsin educational communications board university of wisconsin extension board of regents of the university of wisconsin system first air date wha tv may 3 1954 wpt network 1972 call letters meaning see table below sister station s wisconsin public radio former affiliations net 1954 1970 transmitter power see table below height see table below facility id see table below transmitter coordinates see table below licensing authority fcc public license information public television profile public television cdbs website wpt.org wisconsin public television is a state network of public television stations operated primarily by the wisconsin educational communications board and the university of wisconsin extension . it comprises all of the pbs member stations in the state outside of milwaukee . the state network is available via flagship station wha tv in madison and five full power satellite stations throughout most of wisconsin . as of april 5 2009 all stations have converted to digital only transmissions . wpt is also available on most satellite and cable television outlets . until the gradual move of instructional broadcasting to iptv services wisconsin public television was the main conduit of educational television ged preparation and instructional television programming produced by the wecb which aired through pbs annenberg media those stations serving portions of wisconsin without a wpt station and other educational television distributors . as of october 2014 the wecb now distributes this programming exclusively online to allow wisconsin public television to carry a full time traditional pbs member network format . contents 1 history 2 stations 2.1 full power stations 2.2 digital television 2.2.1 digital channels 2.2.2 network translator stations 2.3 network programming in milwaukee and superior duluth 3 national presentations 4 see also 5 references 6 external links history edit wha tv signed on the air on may 3 1954 as the first educational station in wisconsin and the seventh in the united states . wha tv is the only public television station in the country that maintains a three letter callsign and one of only three analog era uhf stations altogether along with whp tv in harrisburg pennsylvania and wwj tv in detroit michigan with a three letter callsign . for most of the time from the 1950s through the 1970s it was one of only three stations in the state that was a member of national educational television and its successor pbs . the others were wmvs channel 10 and wmvt channel 36 in milwaukee . wisconsin was a relative latecomer to educational television despite its earlier leading role in educational radio . channel 21 s radio sister wha am is one of the oldest educational radio stations in the world . by the time channel 21 signed on uw had already launched a radio network that evolved into today s wisconsin public radio . however until the late 1960s the only other areas of the state outside of milwaukee and madison that had a clear signal from an net pbs member station were the northwest from duluth minnesota s wdse tv and the southwest from the twin cities s ktca tv . in 1971 the state legislature created the wisconsin educational communications board activating five stations as semi satellites of wha tv during the 1970s wpne tv in green bay in 1972 ; whwc tv in menomonie and whla tv in la crosse in 1973 ; whrm tv in wausau in 1975 and wlef in park falls in 1977 most taking call signs that originated from their co owned radio counterparts . originally network programming origination was split between wha tv and wpne tv ending by 1986 with origination coming from wha tv exclusively . the stations adopted the on air name of wisconsin public television in 1986 . transmission and station identification is based out of ecb s madison facility . from 1960 to 2007 wha tv wpt aired same day tape delayed coverage of some wisconsin badgers football and men s basketball home games which was produced in association with uw madison s athletic department . however because of exclusivity agreements with the big ten network that began in september 2007 wpt was no longer able to air those particular badgers sporting events . 1 the state network offers tape delayed broadcasts of badgers men s and women s hockey women s basketball and volleyball throughout the year over the secondary wisconsin channel . 1 stations edit full power stations edit there are six full power stations in the state network each located in major cities throughout the state and all are broadcast on the uhf band . on april 5 2009 the state network ended analog service for all stations which map via psip to their former analog channel location . 2 station city of license channels tv rf first air date call letters meaning erp haat facility id transmitter coordinates wha tv 1 madison 21 psip 20 uhf may 3 1954 taken from sister station wha radio 100 kw 453 m 6096 43 3 20.5 n 89 32 6.3 w 43.055694 n 89.535083 w 43.055694 ; 89.535083 wha tv whla tv la crosse 31 psip 30 uhf march 17 1975 wha la crosse 307.5 kw 344.6 m 18780 43 48 18.3 n 91 22 5.2 w 43.805083 n 91.368111 w 43.805083 ; 91.368111 whla tv whrm tv wausau 20 psip 24 uhf january 20 1976 wha rib mountain transmitter site 172 kw 387 m 73036 44 55 14.2 n 89 41 28.7 w 44.920611 n 89.691306 w 44.920611 ; 89.691306 whrm tv whwc tv 2 menomonie eau claire 28 psip 27 uhf june 10 1975 wha west central wisconsin 291 kw 350 m 18793 45 2 49.2 n 91 51 47.3 w 45.047000 n 91.863139 w 45.047000 ; 91.863139 whwc tv wlef tv 3 park falls superior 36 psip 36 uhf december 15 1976 w lee e. franks former wecb executive director 50 kw 244 m 63046 45 56 42.1 n 90 16 23.6 w 45.945028 n 90.273222 w 45.945028 ; 90.273222 wlef tv wpne tv green bay 38 psip 42 uhf september 12 1972 w public broadcasting for northeastern wisconsin 200 kw 375 m 18798 44 24 34.6 n 88 0 6.7 w 44.409611 n 88.001861 w 44.409611 ; 88.001861 wpne notes 1 wha tv s signal is imported into the milwaukee area via basic and digital cable systems to provide a second pbs choice for viewers alongside milwaukee public television s stations ; the station was carried on time warner cable systems until january 2009 . it also serves as one of two de facto pbs member stations via cable for the rockford illinois market south of madison sharing that market with chicago s wttw . 2 whwc serves the wisconsin side of the minneapolis saint paul television market and is carried by some cable systems in southeastern minnesota providing a second pbs choice to viewers in addition to twin cities pbs s stations . 3 wlef s analog signal was terminated on february 3 2009 with wlef s digital signal moving from channel 47 to channel 36 . wlef is carried on many cable systems in northwestern wisconsin that are in the duluth superior television market providing a second choice to viewers in addition to wdse . digital television edit the state network carries three digital subchannels 3 digital channels edit subchannel local channel programming service video aspect programming description 4 5 6 7 8 .1 wpt hd 720p 16 9 the network s traditional schedule ; downcoverted to a 4 3 analog signal for non hd cable and satellite viewers . a sap channel with descriptive video service or alternate language audio is also provided . .2 wisconsin channel wpt 2 480i features wpt s and mptv s programming about state issues and state history university lectures new local programs and performances from wisconsin arts groups along with alternate scheduling of lifestyle and drama programming . also streams online . .3 wpt create wpt 3 airs the full schedule of create . in some areas where local cable and satellite receive the state network directly via a fiber optic connection from wpt all three services air 24 hours a day seven days a week on those systems . the programming schedule of all three channels over the air depends on the main wpt schedule ; before october 2014 on late nights without overnight instructional programming wpt went off the air at 1 a.m. and signed back on at 6 a.m. however after a january 2010 transmitter problem took down wpne and commercial station wbay tv in green bay during an off the air period for two weeks wpt switched from turning off their transmitters to mainly airing a network station identification card with an outline map of the network s service in the state during off the air hours . beginning in october 2014 wpt began 24 hour service using the late night national pbs feed or wpt programming to fill the overnight hours and discontinued most instructional programming which has moved to the web outside of one overnight hour of uw madison wisconsin public radio programming under the title university place . a pbs kids subchannel previously aired on wpt s .2 subchannels until 2007 when pbs discontinued the service ; subsequently the wisconsin channel launched in its place along with a modified children s programming schedule across all of wpt s services . since converting all their operations to digital in april 2009 wpt has broadcast their programming in the 720p high definition format reduced from pbs s master 1080i resolution . network translator stations edit a translator network also serves portions of the state where over the air reception for a full power station is hindered by area topography and to fill in holes between full power stations . all of the listed translators are owned by the wecb and flash cut from analog to digital in the first two weeks of november 2008 including adding the subchannel services . 9 each translator has its virtual channel mapped via psip to the channel number of the closest full power station to the translator . 10 call sign location translator channel atsc psip station channel w15dj d sister bay 15 wpne 38 w22ci d bloomington 22 whla 31 w24cl d grantsburg 24 whwc 28 w45cd d fence 45 wpne 38 w47co d river falls 47 whwc 28 w48db d coloma 48 whrm 20 network programming in milwaukee and superior duluth edit wpt s public affairs programming is carried by mptv flagship wmvs in milwaukee including here and now while wdse channel 8 in the superior duluth market and wrpt channel 31 in hibbing air the shows in northeast minnesota and northwest wisconsin . the two stations also air the state network s live teen issues program teen connection quarterly with wpt along with political debates and other important events originating from the capitol such as the state of the state address and biennial budget address produced by the state network ; in turn some milwaukee public television programming such as outdoor wisconsin and mptv produced debates air on wpt with programs such as wisconsin foodie in turn airing on wmvs . some of the state network s tape delayed sports coverage airs in milwaukee on wmvt . national presentations edit sewing with nancy sewing show storylords educational fantasy series see also edit wisconsin public radio references edit wisconsin public television sports richgels jeff . wha tv ending analog broadcasts april 5 . 77 square . retrieved 2009 04 06 . wisconsin public television to launch new digital broadcast lineup . october 6 2008 . retrieved 2009 04 06 . rabbitears tv query for wha rabbitears tv query for whla rabbitears tv query for whrm rabbitears tv query