public broadcasting slogan be more inspired channels digital 23 uhf virtual 49 psip subchannels 49.1 pbs 49.2 create world 49.3 weather radar wbst audio simulcast affiliations pbs owner ball state university first air date october 31 1971 ; 44 years ago 1971 10 31 call letters meaning indiana public broadcasting sister station s wbst former channel number s analog 49 uhf 1971 2009 transmitter power 250 kw height 246 m facility id 3646 transmitter coordinates 40 5 37 n 85 23 32 w 40.09361 n 85.39222 w 40.09361 ; 85.39222 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.wipb.org wipb virtual channel 49 uhf digital channel 23 is a pbs member television station located in muncie indiana united states . the station is owned by ball state university and is a sister station to npr member radio station wbst 92.1 fm . wipb maintains studio facilities located at the e.f. ball communication building on the university s campus on university avenue in northwestern muncie and its transmitter is located on county road 50 in rural southern delaware county south of cowan . on cable wipb is available in standard definition on comcast xfinity channel 2 in muncie and channel 19 in indianapolis and in high definition on xfinity digital channel 1023 in both cities . contents 1 history 1.1 uhf channel 49 in central indiana 1.2 wipb station history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 4 trivia 5 references 6 external links history edit uhf channel 49 in central indiana edit the uhf channel 49 allocation in central indiana was originally occupied by wlbc tv which signed on the air on june 14 1953 as a primary cbs affiliate with secondary affiliations with abc and nbc . the station was founded by don burton owner of muncie radio station wlbc 1340 am now wxfn . during the late 1950s the station was also briefly affiliated with the nta film network . 1 wlbc tv dropped cbs programming in the early 1960s becoming a primary nbc and secondary abc affiliate . burton expanded the wlbc radio facility on 29th street in southeast muncie and constructed a 500 feet 150 m tower outside the building . although wlbc served as the nbc and abc affiliates of record for the muncie area in the 1960s the city and surrounding areas received at least grade b signal coverage from television stations out of indianapolis located about 60 miles 97 km southwest of muncie including nbc affiliate wfbm tv channel 6 now abc affiliate wrtv and abc affiliate wlwi tv channel 13 now nbc affiliate wthr as well as stations from dayton about 80 miles 130 km to the east and fort wayne roughly 75 miles 121 km to the north . to make matters worse wlbc tv was hampered by low viewership as only a small percentage of central indiana area television sets were even capable of receiving uhf stations since set manufacturers were not required to equip televisions with uhf tuners until the federal communications commission passed the all channel receiver act in 1961 ; even then uhf tuners were not included on all newer sets until 1964 and the retail prices for standalone uhf tuners at the time were high . the station eventually started a news department in the 1960s . wipb station history edit burton sold the uhf channel 49 license in 1971 to eastern indiana community television a local ad hoc nonprofit group led by gretchen huff and sunny spurgeon which had been working to apply for a license to operate an educational television station in muncie . the group converted it into a noncommercial educational license and changed the station s call letters to wipb for indiana public broadcasting . eastern indiana community television subsequently sold the license to ball state university which signed on the station on the afternoon of october 31 1971 as a pbs member station ; as part of pbs s program differentiation plan the network s programming was divided between it and two other pbs members in the indianapolis market wfyi channel 20 and bloomington based wtiu channel 30 ; they were joined in 1992 by wtbu in indianapolis channel 69 now daystar owned and operated religious station wdti . wipb as a noncommercial outlet briefly operated a news department during the 1980s producing a daily newscast titled on line 49 . digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 2 49.1 720p 16 9 wipb dt main wipb programming pbs 49.2 480i 4 3 wipb d2 indiana channel 4 00 7 00 p.m. create all other times 49.3 wipb d3 weather radar and audio simulcast of wbst fm analog to digital conversion edit wipb began broadcasting a digital signal on october 31 2005 . wipb shut down its analog signal over uhf channel 49 on february 18 2009 the day after the original target date for full power television stations in the united states to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate which congress had moved the previous month to june 12 . the station s digital signal remained on its pre transition uhf channel 23 . 3 4 through the use of psip digital television receivers display the station s virtual channel as its former uhf analog channel 49 . following the transition wipb decommissioned its original east 29th street tower that formerly occupied its analog transmitter which was dismantled in january 2013 ; its digital signal operates from a separate 800 feet 240 m tower located to its south . programming edit wipb s claim to fame is most likely having been the originating station of the joy of painting a half hour art program hosted by bob ross . the station also produces connections live a half hour weekly magazine program that focuses on the people and places of interest in central indiana that connect people to their communities ; the program has won four regional emmy awards since 2002 . trivia edit wipb s station identifications from the late 1980s utilized the same fanfare used by wpsu tv then wpsx around the same time period . as an example this id can be found on older recordings of the joy of painting . references edit require prime evening time for nta films boxoffice 13 november 10 1956 rabbitears tv query for wipb dtv tentative channel designations for the first and the second rounds pdf . retrieved 2012 03 24 . cdbs print external links edit www.wipb.org wipb official website wipb tv documentary video collection in the ball state university libraries digital media repository newslink indiana query the fcc s tv station database for wipb biafn s media web database information on wipb tv v t e television stations in central indiana including indianapolis english stations wttv wttk 4.1 29.1 cbs 4.2 29.2 independent 4.3 29.3 comet wrtv 6.1 abc 6.2 htsn 6.3 laff 6.4 escape wish tv wiih cd 8.1 the cw 8.2 get tv 8.3 justice network wthr 13.1 nbc 13.2 cozi tv 13.3 metv wfyi 20.1 pbs 20.3 create indiana channel classic arts showcase wndy tv 23.1 mntv 23.2 bounce tv 23.3 wish tv walv cd 46.1 metv wbxi cd 47.1 local wx wipx lp 51 silent wxin 59.1 fox 59.2 antenna tv 59.3 this tv wipx tv 63.1 ion 63.2 qubo 63.3 ion life 63.4 ion shop 63.5 qvc 63.6 hsn spanish stations wdni cd 19.1 telemundo wfyi 20.2 v me wclj tv 42.4 enlace religious whmb tv 40.1 lesea 40.2 wht wclj tv 42.1 tbn 42.2 tcc 42.3 juce tv 42.5 soac wdti 69.1 ds outlying areas martinsville wrep ld 15 a1 terre haute wudz ld 28.1 buzzr 28.2 tcn 28.3 sonlife 28.4 lc 28.5 qvc 28.6 qvc bloomington wtiu 30.1 pbs 30.2 world 30.3 create 30.4 v me wclj tv 42.1 tbn 42.2 tcc 42.3 juce tv 42.4 enlace 42.5 soac muncie wipb 49.1 pbs 49.2 create indiana channel 49.3 weather wbst fm audio simulcast marion wiwu cd 51.1 tln cornerstone wht wsot ld 27.1 the walk nrb tln cable channels wcty tv 16 gov. access fox sports indiana cn81 comcast network defunct muncie wmun lp 26 tbn indianapolis wkog lp 31 wkgk lp 50 religious brookston wajn lp 43 ind. adjacent areas central illinois chicago cincinnati dayton evansville fort wayne lafayette louisville south bend terre haute v t e pbs member stations in the state of indiana wnin 9 evansville wfyi 20 indianapolis wvut 22 vincennes wtiu 30 bloomington wnit 34 south bend elkhart wfwa 39 fort wayne wipb 49 muncie wyin 56 gary see also abc cbs cw fox ion mynetworktv nbc pbs other stations in indiana v t e ball state university located in muncie indiana academics colleges architecture and planning business communication information and media teachers other burris laboratory school center for business and economic research center for middletown studies indiana academy for science mathematics and humanities athletics ball state cardinals football baseball men s basketball scheumann stadium worthen arena ball diamond irving gymnasium pride of mid america marching band blue key victory bell bronze stalk trophy charlie cardinal mid american conference campus history art museum auditorium beneficence bracken house bracken library christy woods frog baby lafollette complex observatory orchid collection and species bank shafer tower life the daily news stance wbst wbsu tv wcrd wipb people alumni ball brothers presidents founded 1918 students 21 053 endowment 192.11 million retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title wipb & oldid 743485731 categories pbs member stationsball state universitymuncie indianatelevision channels and stations established in 1971television stations in indianapolis 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 9 october 2016 at 21 41 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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