WVIA-TV
Encyclopedia
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
.
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. 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.
'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. The tower collapse also destroyed the transmitter building but no one was hurt in either incidents.
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. 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. 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. They expect to be able to resume transmitting on channel 41 from their own tower in December 2011.
WVIA-DT2 offers re-airings of locally produced shows such as "Call the Doctor", "Homegrown Concerts" as well as shows that focus on Pennsylvania and Northeast Pennsylvania. A few time slots are filled with programming from the PBS Satellite feed.
WVIA Create offers a special separate program stream focusing mainly on creative programming such as cooking, gardening, home fix-it and travel shows.
. This area is very mountainous meaning that some areas cannot get a clear signal from channel 41.
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
(PBS) member Public television station broadcasting on channel 41 to most of northeastern and central Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. It is licensed to Scranton
Scranton, Pennsylvania
Scranton is a city in the northeastern part of Pennsylvania, United States. It is the county seat of Lackawanna County and the largest principal city in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area. Scranton had a population of 76,089 in 2010, according to the U.S...
, with studios in Jenkins Township
Jenkins Township, Pennsylvania
Jenkins Township is a township within the Greater Pittston area of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 4,584 at the 2000 census. The township is adjacent to the small city of Pittston...
(which shares a post office with Pittston
Pittston, Pennsylvania
Pittston is a city in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States, between Scranton and Wilkes-Barre. It gained prominence in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as an active anthracite coal mining city, drawing a large portion of its labor force from European immigrants. The population was...
) and transmitter at the northeast Pennsylvania tower farm on Penobscot Knob
Penobscot Knob
Penobscot Knob, also Penobscot Mountain, is a hill located near Mountain Top, Pennsylvania and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, that is best known as the site of many local television and radio station transmitters...
.
History
In 1963, several men first met at Coughlin High School in Wilkes-Barre to discuss bringing an Educational televisionEducational television
Educational television is the use of television programs in the field of distance education. It may be in the form of individual television programs or dedicated specialty channels that is often associated with cable television in the United States as Public, educational, and government access ...
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
WNEP-TV
WNEP-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for northeastern Pennsylvania licensed to Scranton. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 50 from a transmitter on Penobscot Knob in Mountain Top...
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
WBRE-TV
WBRE-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station for Northeastern Pennsylvania that is licensed to Wilkes-Barre. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 11 from a transmitter at the Penobscot Knob antenna farm near Mountain Top. It can also be seen on Comcast and Service...
and WDAU-TV (now WYOU
WYOU
WYOU is the CBS-affiliated television station for Northeastern Pennsylvania that is licensed to Scranton. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 13 from a transmitter at the Penobscot Knob tower farm near Mountain Top...
) 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
King's College, Pennsylvania
King's College is a liberal arts college located in Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. Accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, King's has been ranked among the best colleges in the nation by U.S. News and World Report for 16 straight years...
, and later to a school in Scranton. In 1969, WVIA moved to a specially-built studio at Marywood College
Marywood University
Marywood University is a selective, coeducational, Catholic liberal arts university located on a campus in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Established in 1915 by the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and currently enrolls approximately 3,500 students on a national award-winning campus...
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
Corporation for Public Broadcasting
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is a non-profit corporation created by an act of the United States Congress, funded by the United States’ federal government to promote 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
Hurricane Agnes
Hurricane Agnes was the first tropical storm and first hurricane of the 1972 Atlantic hurricane season. A rare June hurricane, it made landfall on the Florida Panhandle before moving northeastward and ravaging the Mid-Atlantic region as a tropical storm...
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
Fairfield County, Connecticut
Fairfield County is a county located in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The county population is 916,829 according to the 2010 Census. There are currently 1,465 people per square mile in the county. It is the most populous county in the State of Connecticut and contains...
and Nassau County, New York
Nassau County, New York
Nassau County is a suburban county on Long Island, east of New York City in the U.S. state of New York, within the New York Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,339,532...
). 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
Leave It to Beaver
Leave It to Beaver is an American television situation comedy about an inquisitive but often naïve boy named Theodore "The Beaver" Cleaver and his adventures at home, in school, and around his suburban neighborhood...
, and The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Dick Van Dyke Show is an American television sitcom that initially aired on the Columbia Broadcasting System from October 3, 1961, until June 1, 1966. The show was created by Carl Reiner and starred Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore. It was produced by Reiner with Bill Persky and Sam Denoff....
and The Honeymooners
The Honeymooners
The Honeymooners is an American situation comedy television show, based on a recurring 1951–'55 sketch of the same name. It originally aired on the DuMont network's Cavalcade of Stars and subsequently on the CBS network's The Jackie Gleason Show hosted by Jackie Gleason, and filmed before a live...
on weekday afternoons. Later, the station aired The Waltons
The Waltons
The Waltons is an American television series created by Earl Hamner, Jr., based on his book Spencer's Mountain, and a 1963 film of the same name. The show centered on a family growing up in a rural Virginia community during the Great Depression and World War II. The series pilot was a television...
at 4:30 and 5 p.m. and All in the Family
All in the Family
All in the Family is an American sitcom that was originally broadcast on the CBS television network from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979. In September 1979, a new show, Archie Bunker's Place, picked up where All in the Family had ended...
at 6 p.m. from 1989 to 1991. From 1991 until 2009, WVIA aired Little House on the Prairie
Little House on the Prairie
Little House is a series of children's books by Laura Ingalls Wilder that was published originally between 1932 and 1943, with four additional books published posthumously, in 1962, 1971, 1974 and 2006.-History:...
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
Sesame Street
Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
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
On December 16, 2007, the top section of WVIA's tower collapsed due to severe ice, wind, and snow. 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-FMWVIA-FM
WVIA-FM is the National Public Radio member station for Northeastern Pennsylvania. It is licensed to the community of Scranton. WVIA is owned by the Northeastern Pennsylvania Educational Television Association along with its sister television station, WVIA-TV. The station's studios are based in...
'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
WNEP-TV
WNEP-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for northeastern Pennsylvania licensed to Scranton. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 50 from a transmitter on Penobscot Knob in Mountain Top...
(channel 16) and WCLH
WCLH
WCLH is a non-commercial radio station licensed to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, USA, the station serves the Scranton area. The station is currently owned by Wilkes College. The station has obtained a construction permit from the FCC for a power increase to 205 watts...
-FM 90.7 MHz collapsed completely due to the ice and winds. The tower collapse also destroyed the transmitter building but no one was hurt in either incidents.
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. The station was returned to the air as of February 15, 2010 courtesy of the help of WNEP-TV
WNEP-TV
WNEP-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for northeastern Pennsylvania licensed to Scranton. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 50 from a transmitter on Penobscot Knob in Mountain Top...
(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
Telemundo
Telemundo is an American television network that broadcasts in Spanish. The network is the second-largest Spanish-language content producer in the world, and the second-largest Spanish-language network in the United States, behind Univision....
affiliate WWSI
WWSI
WWSI, digital channel 49, is a television station licensed to Atlantic City, New Jersey. It is considered to be the Philadelphia affiliate of the Spanish-language Telemundo television network. WWSI's transmitter is in Tuckerton, New Jersey; its tower is the tallest structure in New Jersey. The...
, but had not disassembled the former channel 49 facilities) to transmit all of their services. 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. They expect to be able to resume transmitting on channel 41 from their own tower in December 2011.
Digital programming
The station's digital signal is multiplexed:| Channel | Programming |
|---|---|
| 44.1 | main WVIA-TV programming / PBS HD |
| 44.2 | "via 2" |
| 44.3 | Create |
WVIA-DT2 offers re-airings of locally produced shows such as "Call the Doctor", "Homegrown Concerts" as well as shows that focus on Pennsylvania and Northeast Pennsylvania. A few time slots are filled with programming from the PBS Satellite feed.
WVIA Create offers a special separate program stream focusing mainly on creative programming such as cooking, gardening, home fix-it and travel shows.
Translators
WVIA serves one of the largest coverage areas east of the Mississippi RiverMississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
. This area is very mountainous meaning that some areas cannot get a clear signal from channel 41.
| Call letters | Channel | City of license |
|---|---|---|
| W20CP-D | 20 | Mansfield Mansfield, Pennsylvania Mansfield is a borough located in southern Tioga County, Pennsylvania, United States, in the Tioga River valley. It is situated at the intersection of U.S. Route 6 and U.S... |
| W25AQ-D | 25 | Towanda Towanda, Pennsylvania Towanda is a borough in and the county seat of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, United States, northwest of Wilkes Barre, on the Susquehanna River. The name means "burial ground" in the Algonquian language... |
| WVIA-TV | 44 | Waymart Waymart, Pennsylvania Waymart is a borough in Wayne County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,341 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Waymart is located at .... |
| W47DH-D | 47 | Clarks Summit Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania Clarks Summit is a borough in Lackawanna County northwest of Scranton in northeastern Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 5,116 at the 2010 census. It is also the northern terminus of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Northeast Extension, I-476.-History:... |
| WVIA-TV | 51 1 | Williamsport Williamsport, Pennsylvania Williamsport is a city in and the county seat of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania in the United States. In 2009, the population was estimated at 29,304... |
- Under construction