WLRN-TV

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WLRN-TV
WLRN-TV logo.png
Miami–Fort Lauderdale, Florida
United States
CityMiami, Florida
ChannelsDigital: 26 (UHF)
Virtual: 17
BrandingWLRN Public Television
Programming
Affiliations17.1: PBS
Ownership
OwnerMiami-Dade County Public Schools
(The School Board of Miami-Dade County, Florida)
OperatorFriends of WLRN
(via management agreement[1])
WLRN-FM
History
First air date
September 7, 1962; 59 years ago (1962-09-07)
Former call signs
WSEC-TV (1962–1973)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog:
  • 17 (UHF, 1962–2009)
  • Digital:
  • 20 (UHF, 2003–2019)
NET (1962–1970)
Call sign meaning
"We Learn"
Technical information
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID66358
ERP1,000 kW
HAAT301.7 m (990 ft)
Transmitter coordinates25°58′47.9″N 80°11′45.5″W / 25.979972°N 80.195972°W / 25.979972; -80.195972Coordinates: 25°58′47.9″N 80°11′45.5″W / 25.979972°N 80.195972°W / 25.979972; -80.195972
Links
Public license information
Profile
LMS
Websitewww.wlrn.org

WLRN-TV, virtual channel 17 (UHF digital channel 26), is a secondary Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member television station licensed to Miami, Florida, United States. Owned by the Miami-Dade County Public Schools district, it is sister to National Public Radio (NPR) member station WLRN-FM (91.3); the two outlets are operated under a management agreement by Friends of WLRN, the stations' fundraising arm.[1] Both stations share studios on Northeast 15th Street and Northeast 1st Avenue in Miami, while WLRN-TV's transmitter is located at McTyre Park in Miami Gardens. WLRN-TV operates twenty closed-circuit educational channels for use by public schools within Miami-Dade County.

WLRN-TV is one of two PBS member stations serving the Miami–Fort Lauderdale market, the other being WPBT (channel 2), owned by South Florida PBS.

History[]

Prior to the station's sign-on, the UHF channel 17 allocation in the Miami–Fort Lauderdale market was occupied by ABC affiliate WITV. It lost the ABC affiliation to newly signed-on WPST-TV (channel 10, now WPLG) in August 1957, and went off the air soon afterward. Currently, the WITV callsign resides in Charleston, South Carolina on a transmitter of South Carolina ETV.

WLRN-TV first signed on the air on September 7, 1962 as WSEC-TV; it was the second non-commercial educational television station in the market. Operating as a member station of National Educational Television (NET), WSEC was originally owned by the Dade County School Board, which had persuaded the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to reallocate the channel 17 license for non-commercial use.

At the time, the Dade County School Board was part-owner of the VHF channel 2 allocation in the market as part of a shared-time agreement with Community Television Foundation of South Florida, owners of WPBT. Under the original arrangement, the School Board operated the channel 2 frequency for five hours each day as WTHS-TV, carrying instructional television during the daytime hours, while CTF would take over the channel for two hours each evening to broadcast WPBT. CTF had already begun increasing WPBT's operating hours, a process that accelerated with WSEC's sign-on. The 1970 formation of PBS brought a further increase in WPBT's broadcasting hours. By the late 1970s, PBS had grown enough that the split-time arrangement no longer made sense for a market of Miami–Fort Lauderdale's size. In 1973, the Dade County School Board returned the WTHS license to the FCC, while WPBT took over channel 2 full-time. Most of WTHS' educational programming moved to WSEC, which changed its call letters to the current WLRN-TV, to match its sister public radio station. Gradually, WLRN-TV evolved into a secondary PBS station for South Florida, alongside WPBT. WLRN began airing PBS' journalism documentary series Frontline on October 14, 2018 after WPBT declined to air it.[2]

Technical information[]

Subchannel[]

Channel Video Aspect Short name Programming[3]
17.1 1080i 16:9 WLRN-DT Main WLRN-TV programming / PBS

Analog-to-digital conversion[]

WLRN-TV terminated its analog signal, on UHF channel 17, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television.[4] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 20. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display WLRN-TV's virtual channel as 17.

References[]

  1. ^ a b Venta, Lance (February 14, 2022). "Friends Of WLRN To Take Over Management Of South Florida Public News/Talker". RadioInsight. Retrieved February 14, 2022.
  2. ^ http://www.wlrn.org/post/frontline-comes-wlrn-tv
  3. ^ RabbitEars TV Query for WLRN
  4. ^ List of Digital Full-Power Stations

External links[]

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