united states slogan the leader in local programming channels digital 41 uhf virtual 44 psip subchannels 44.1 pbs 44.2 local 44.3 create translators see table below affiliations pbs 1970 present owner northeast pennsylvania educational television association first air date september 26 1966 ; 50 years ago 1966 09 26 call letters meaning the world via television sister station s wvia fm former channel number s analog 44 1966 2009 former affiliations net 1966 1970 transmitter power 171 kw height 510 m facility id 47929 transmitter coordinates 41 10 55.5 n 75 52 15.2 w 41.182083 n 75.870889 w 41.182083 ; 75.870889 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.wvia.org wvia tv is the public broadcasting service pbs member public television station broadcasting on channel 41 to most of northeastern and central pennsylvania . it is licensed to scranton with studios in jenkins township which shares a post office with pittston and transmitter at the northeast pennsylvania tower farm on penobscot knob . contents 1 history 1.1 signal disruptions 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 translators 4 references 5 external links history edit in 1963 several men first met at coughlin high school in wilkes barre to discuss bringing an educational television station to northeastern pennsylvania . twelve of the men formed the northeast pennsylvania educational television association chaired by wilkes barre superintendent of schools walter wood . they received a license for channel 44 a year later . the station s first employee general manager george strimel jr. was hired in 1965 and given two years to get the station on the air . he was able to do so within nine months and wvia tv signed on for the first time on september 26 1966 . the fledgling station received a considerable assist from the area s commercial stations . wnep tv donated the old transmitter and tower facility from warm tv one of the two stations that merged to form wnep 10 years earlier while wbre tv and wdau tv now wyou made their studios available for local productions . all production work was done from the transmitter site . the station grew rapidly and within a year moved its offices from first presbyterian church in wilkes barre to office space donated by king s college and later to a school in scranton . in 1969 wvia moved to a specially built studio at marywood college in scranton . in 1971 wvia moved to its current studio in jenkins township . the station didn t take long to become a part of the community ; it won the corporation for public broadcasting s award for community involvement for two straight years in the 1970s . it was the only public television station in pennsylvania to stay on the air during a 1970 budget crisis . when hurricane agnes struck the area in 1972 wvia preempted its programming to air weather reports around the clock and lent its equipment to wbre so it could stay on the air . in 1978 wvia activated its current tower on penobscot knob . it increased the station s coverage by 20 % enabling it to reach 20 counties and giving it a coverage area comparable with most of the area s commercial stations . the station also operates the largest translator network in pennsylvania . for many years through cable coverage wvia was available on cable systems beyond the scranton wilkes barre tv market including cablevision in fairfield county connecticut and nassau county new york . in part this was due to its unorthodox programming in the 1980s it carried on saturday and sunday mornings sitcom reruns such as leave it to beaver and the dick van dyke show and the honeymooners on weekday afternoons and on saturday nights ran science fiction series such as star trek which ran on wvia from 1984 to 1994 the twilight zone the outer limits plus lost in space on saturday mornings . later the station aired the waltons at 4 30 and 5 p.m. and all in the family at 6 p.m. from 1989 to 1991 . from 1991 until 2009 wvia aired little house on the prairie from 5 p.m. 6 p.m. wvia has always aired a good bit of children s programming during the day and is one of the few stations that airs sesame street three times a day ; 8 a.m. 1 p.m. and as of september 2010 4 p.m. this is the first time that the show has aired at the 4 p.m. hour since 1989 when it was moved to 3 30 4 30 . signal disruptions edit on december 16 2007 the top section of wvia s tower collapsed due to severe ice wind and snow . 1 the felled top section of the tower supported the antennas for the analog tv signal on channel 44 and the digital tv signal on channel 41 . wvia fm s antenna survived since it was located on the portion of the tower which did not collapse . after the incident wvia quickly put the analog tv signal back on the air through the use of a shorter back up tower and antenna also located on penobscot knob . however due to the shorter height the service area has been limited . earlier that same day the neighboring tower supporting the antennas for analog wnep tv channel 16 and wclh fm 90.7 mhz collapsed completely due to the ice and winds . 2 the tower collapse also destroyed the transmitter building but no one was hurt in either incidents . 2 wvia suffered another disruption to its signal on february 12 2010 when the building housing the transmitters for wvia tv and wvia fm was destroyed by fire . though the tower was not affected the loss of the transmitters forced the stations off the air . the station quickly worked to restore programming to cable systems . 3 the station was returned to the air as of february 15 2010 courtesy of the help of wnep tv channel 16 using the abc affiliate s transitional digital channel 49 transmitter and tower the station moved to digital channel 50 post transition in december 2009 to reduce interference with philadelphia atlantic city telemundo affiliate wwsi but had not disassembled the former channel 49 facilities to transmit all of their services . 4 as with wvia s digital channel 41 all channels will remap via psip to channel 44 . in august 2011 thieves stole 400 feet of copper transmission line from wvia s tower while wvia was still temporarily using wnep s old tower delaying a return to channel 41 and their own tower . 5 wvia resumed use of their channel 41 transmitter and tower in march 2012 . digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital signal is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 6 44.1 1080i 16 9 wvia dt main wvia tv programming pbs 44.2 480i 4 3 via 2 44.3 create wvia tv produces shows such as call the doctor homegrown concerts as well as shows that focus on pennsylvania and northeast pennsylvania . create offers creative programming such as cooking gardening home fix it and travel shows . overnight all 3 channels air encore presentations of pledge programming . analog to digital conversion edit wvia tv shut down its analog signal over uhf channel 44 on february 17 2009 the original target date in which full power television stations 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 . 7 through the use of psip digital television receivers display the station s virtual channel as its former uhf analog channel 44 . translators edit wvia serves one of the largest coverage areas east of the mississippi river . this area is very mountainous meaning that some areas can not get a clear signal from channel 41 . call letters channel city of license w20cp d 20 mansfield w25aq d 25 towanda wvia tv 44 waymart w47dh d 47 clarks summit wvia tv 51 williamsport references edit wvia tv december 17 2007 . ice storm affects wvia tv signal fm and tv 44 still on the air . wvia . retrieved december 17 2007 . a b steve mocarsky and mark sowers december 17 2007 . storm tips tv towers . the times leader wilkes barre pennsylvania . retrieved december 17 2007 . gaydos kristen february 13 2010 . fire destroys wvia building knocks out signal . the citizens voice . retrieved february 13 2010 . archived copy . archived from the original on february 22 2010 . retrieved february 16 2010 . http www.wnep.com wnep luz thieves swipe copper from tv station 20110819 0 7633363 . story rabbitears tv query for wvia dtv tentative channel designations for the first and the second rounds pdf . retrieved 2012 03 24 . external links edit wvia tv website query the fcc s tv station database for wvia query tv fool s coverage map for wvia biafn s media web database information on wvia tv v t e broadcast television in northeastern pennsylvania including scranton and wilkes barre reception may vary by location and some stations may only be viewable with cable television stations w08em d 8.1 ewtn wnep tv 16.1 abc 16.2 atv 16.3 justice wyou 22.1 cbs 22.2 escape 22.3 bounce tv wbre tv 28.1 nbc 28.2 laff 28.3 grit wyln lp 35 youtoo america w16co d 35.1 cor wswb 38.1 the cw 38.2 metv 38.3 comet 38.4 asn w43co d 43.1 daystar 43.2 cor 43.3 ctn wvia tv 44.1 pbs 44.2 via 2 44.3 create wqmy 53.1 mntv 53.2 fox 53.3 the cw wolf tv 56.1 fox 56.2 the cw 56.3 mntv wqpx tv 64.1 ion 64.2 qubo 64.3 life 64.4 ion shop 64.5 qvc over air 64.6 hsn adjacent locals binghamton ny wbng tv 12.1 cbs 12.2 the cw wbgh cd 20.1 nbc 20.3 abc wivt 34.1 abc 34.2 nbc 34.3 laff 34.4 escape wicz tv 40.1 fox 40.2 mntv wskg tv 46.1 pbs 46.2 world 46.3 create johnstown wjac tv 6.1 nbc 6.2 metv 6.3 grit wtaj tv 10.1 cbs philadelphia kyw tv 3.1 cbs 3.2 decades wpvi tv 6.1 abc 6.2 live well network 6.3 laff wcau 10.1 nbc 10.2 cozi tv wfmz tv 69.1 ind 69.2 accuwx 69.3 heroes & icons 69.4 retro tv defunct stations w26cd tbn w39bt 39 tbn pennsylvania broadcast television binghamton new york buffalo new york elmira new york erie johnstown altoona state college new york city philadelphia pittsburgh scranton wilkes barre susquehanna valley harrisburg washington dc youngstown ohio v t e broadcast television in southwestern ny state including elmira and corning reception may vary by location and some stations may only be viewable with cable television local stations wetm tv 18.1 nbc 18.2 ind 18.3 laff 18.4 escape wska 30.1 pbs 30.2 world 30.3 create weny tv 36.1 abc 36.2 cbs 36.3 the cw wjkp ld 39.1 mntv wydc 48.1 fox 48.2 mntv 48.3 accuwx outlying areas w20cp d 20.1 pbs 20.2 via2 20.3 create w26cv d 26.1 abc 26.2 antenna tv 26.3 justice network cable only stations spectrum news southern tier yes msg western new york adjacent locals binghamton wbng tv 12.1 cbs 12.2 the cw wbgh cd 20.1 nbc 20.3 abc wivt 34.1 abc 34.2 nbc 34.3 laff 34.4 escape wicz tv 40.1 fox 40.2 mynetworktv wskg tv 46.1 pbs 46.2 world 46.3 create buffalo wivb tv 4.1 cbs wkbw tv 7.1 abc 7.2 laff 7.3 escape wbbz tv 67.1 metv 67.2 this tv 67.4 daystar johnstown pa wpsu tv 3.1 pbs 3.2 create 3.3 world wjac tv 6.1 nbc 6.2 metv 6.3 comet 6.4 grit wtaj tv 10.1 cbs 10.2 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