WDSE (TV)

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WDSE
WDSE WRPT PBS logo (2019).png
Duluth, Minnesota/Superior, Wisconsin
United States
CityDuluth, Minnesota
ChannelsDigital: 8 (VHF)
Virtual: 8
BrandingWDSE/WRPT PBS
PBS North
Programming
Affiliations8.1: PBS (1970–present)
8.2: PBS Explore/World Channel
8.3: Create
8.4: Minnesota Channel
8.5: PBS Kids[1]
Ownership
OwnerDuluth–Superior Area Educational Television Corporation
WDSE-FM
History
First air date
September 1, 1964 (57 years ago) (1964-09-01)
Former call signs
WDSE-TV (1964–2009)
Former channel number(s)
Analog:
8 (VHF, 1964–2009)
Digital:
38 (UHF, 2003–2009)
NET (1964–1970)
Call sign meaning
Duluth–Superior Educational
Technical information
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID17726
ERP34 kW
HAAT295 m (968 ft)
Transmitter coordinates46°47′29.7″N 92°7′21.4″W / 46.791583°N 92.122611°W / 46.791583; -92.122611
Links
Public license information
Profile
LMS
Websitewww.wdse.org
WRPT
Satellite of WDSE
Hibbing, Minnesota
United States
ChannelsDigital: 31 (UHF)
Virtual: 31
Brandingsee WDSE infobox
Programming
Affiliations31.1: PBS (2008–present)
31.2: PBS Explore/World Channel
31.3: Create
31.4: Minnesota Channel
31.5: PBS Kids
Ownership
OwnerDuluth–Superior Area Educational Television Corporation
History
First air date
December 27, 2008 (13 years ago) (2008-12-27)
Call sign meaning
Iron Range Public Television
Technical information
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID159007
ERP250 kW
HAAT167 m (548 ft)
Transmitter coordinates47°22′53″N 92°57′16″W / 47.38139°N 92.95444°W / 47.38139; -92.95444 (WRPT)
Links
Public license information
Profile
LMS

WDSE, virtual and VHF digital channel 8, is a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member television station licensed to Duluth, Minnesota, United States, serving northeastern Minnesota, northwestern Wisconsin, and the far western portion of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Owned by the Duluth–Superior Area Educational Television Corporation, it is sister to adult album alternative radio station WDSE-FM (103.3). The two outlets share studios on rented space at the University of Minnesota Duluth; the television station's transmitter is located west of downtown Duluth in Hilltop Park.

WRPT (virtual and UHF digital channel 31) in Hibbing, Minnesota operates as a full-time satellite of WDSE; this station's transmitter is located at Maple Hill Park south of Hibbing. WRPT covers areas of Minnesota's Iron Range (including Grand Rapids, Virginia and Chisholm) that receive a marginal to non-existent over-the-air signal from WDSE, although there is significant overlap between the two stations' contours otherwise. WRPT is a straight simulcast of WDSE; on-air references to WRPT are limited to Federal Communications Commission (FCC)-mandated hourly station identifications during programming. Aside from the transmitter, WRPT does not maintain any physical presence locally in Hibbing.

History[]

WDSE first went on the air on September 13, 1964 as the second educational station in Minnesota. The founding general manager was George Beck, former principal of Duluth Central High School, who had led the campaign for educational television in the Twin Ports for over a decade.

The station originally operated from the Bradley Building in downtown Duluth. When the building was condemned to make room for Interstate 35, UMD offered the station space on campus for a new studio. WDSE moved to its current facility in 1978. It is named the Sax Brothers Memorial Communications Center in honor of the brothers of Duluth physician Milton Sax, who gave the initial $200,000 bequest for the project.

In November 1982, WDSE was the first Minnesota television broadcaster to utilize a circularly polarized broadcast antenna, and in April 1985 it was the first in Minnesota to begin full-time stereo television broadcasting. Its digital signal first went on the air on April 28, 2003, and in May 2003, WDSE became the first broadcaster in Minnesota to launch a channel, 8.2 PBS-HD, fully devoted to high-definition programming. In June 2008, WDSE became the first station in the Duluth–Superior market to begin producing local programming in high definition. WDSE/WRPT was the first station in the Duluth–Superior market to begin broadcasting in 5.1 Dolby surround sound starting June 12, 2009. On June 16, 2009, WDSE-TV/DT officially changed the station's call sign to simply WDSE, dropping the "TV" or "DT" at the end of the call sign.

WDSE's former logo until September 2010.

WRPT began broadcasting December 27, 2008 utilizing a directional antenna that beams the signal across the Minnesota Iron Range communities. Much of this area had been among the few areas without a clear over-the-air signal from a PBS station; Iron Range viewers had only been able to watch WDSE when cable arrived in the area in the 1970s. WRPT was one of the first of two construction permits ever granted by the FCC as a "digital singleton" facility; making it a rare ground-up digital only station that had no analog counterpart. On March 1, 2010, WRPT-DT officially changed the station's call sign to simply WRPT dropping the "DT" at the end of the call sign.

In late August 2010, WDSE was rebranded from PBS eight to PBS North to reflect their extended coverage with WRPT into more of northeastern Minnesota.

Programming[]

Along with programming from PBS, Minnesota Public Television and PBS Wisconsin, locally produced programs such as Minnesota Legislative Report, WDSE Cooks, Almanac North, Venture North, Native Report, Great Gardening, Lawyers on the Line, and Doctors on Call are area favorites included in the broadcast schedule. WDSE produces, broadcasts, and supplies to the networks an intensive schedule of local and regional programming.

During the school year, WDSE airs educational/instructional programming from PBS Wisconsin from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. during daytime hours, and the overnight "block feed" for pre-recording purposes from 1 a.m. to 3 a.m.

In addition to regular television programming, WDSE broadcasts computer data on a full-time basis, a service called "datacasting." The stream consists of Datacast Wisconsin, a service of PBS Wisconsin. One Mbps of WDSE's 19.3 Mbit/s digital stream is devoted to Datacast Wisconsin.[2]

Technical information[]

Subchannels[]

The stations' digital signals are multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[3][4]
WDSE WRPT WDSE WRPT
8.1 31.1 1080i 16:9 WDSEpbs WRPTpbs Main programming / PBS
8.2 31.2 720p[1] WDSE2nd WRPT2nd PBS Explore / World Channel
8.3 31.3 WDSEcrt WRPTcrt Create
8.4 31.4 480i WDSEmn WRPTmn Minnesota Channel
8.5 31.5 WDSEkids WRPTkids PBS Kids[1]

Analog-to-digital conversion[]

WDSE discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over VHF channel 8, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television.[5] The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 38 to VHF channel 8.

Translator[]

City of license Callsign Channel Translating ERP HAAT Facility ID Transmitter coordinates Owner
Kabetogama K36LA-D 36 WRPT 0.1 kW 125 m (410 ft) 14106 48°21′40.0″N 93°00′37.0″W / 48.361111°N 93.010278°W / 48.361111; -93.010278 (K30AF-D) Koochiching County

The last translator owned directly by WDSE was K67CT in Grand Marais. Rather than move from channel 67 to a channel between 2 and 51 as required to comply with the digital television transition in the United States, the translator was taken off the air December 1, 2011.[6]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c "PBS Kids, More HD Channels Coming to Duluth-Superior". Northpine.com. January 22, 2020. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  2. ^ "main menu". Archived from the original on December 10, 2005.
  3. ^ "RabbitEars TV Query for WDSE". www.rabbitears.info. Retrieved April 7, 2019.
  4. ^ "RabbitEars TV Query for WRPT". www.rabbitears.info. Retrieved April 7, 2019.
  5. ^ List of Digital Full-Power Stations
  6. ^ "Grand Marais Translator Service Ends 12/1". WDSE • WRPT - PBS 8 & 31. Retrieved December 1, 2011.

External links[]

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