WPXR-TV
Roanoke/Lynchburg, Virginia United States | |
---|---|
City | Roanoke, Virginia |
Channels | Digital: 27 (UHF) Virtual: 38 |
Branding | Ion |
Programming | |
Affiliations | 38.1: Ion Television 38.2: Court TV 38.3: Laff 38.4: Court TV Mystery 38.5: Defy TV 38.6: TrueReal 38.7: Newsy |
Ownership | |
Owner | Ion Media (E. W. Scripps Company) (Ion Media License Company, LLC) |
History | |
First air date | January 3, 1986 |
Former call signs | WEFC (1986–1998) |
Former channel number(s) | Analog: 38 (UHF, 1986–2009) Digital: 36 (UHF, 2002–2019) |
Analog/DT1: Religious (1986–1997) inTV (1997–1998) DT2: Qubo (until 2021) DT3: Ion Plus (until 2021) DT4: Ion Shop (until 2021) DT5: HSN (until 2021) DT6: QVC (until 2021) | |
Call sign meaning | PaX TV Roanoke |
Technical information | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
Facility ID | 70251 |
ERP | 609 kW[1] |
HAAT | 623.6 m (2,046 ft)[1] |
Transmitter coordinates | 37°11′56″N 80°9′0″W / 37.19889°N 80.15000°W[1] |
Links | |
Public license information | Profile LMS |
Website | iontelevision |
WPXR-TV, virtual channel 38 (UHF digital channel 27), is an Ion Television owned-and-operated station licensed to Roanoke, Virginia, United States and also serving Lynchburg. The station is owned by the Ion Media subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. WPXR-TV's transmitter is located atop Poor Mountain in unincorporated southwestern Roanoke County.
History[]
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The station signed on January 3, 1986 as WEFC, a religious station owned by Evangel Foursquare Church (hence the call letters). It was the first new station to sign on in Roanoke in 31 years.
Paxson Communications bought the station in 1997 and made it part of the all-infomercial inTV network. It joined Pax TV (later i: Independent Television and now Ion Television) on the network's launch in 1998.
Newscasts[]
From September 1996 until August 1997, WDBJ produced a 10 p.m. newscast, News 7 Primetime, for WEFC; the newscast was canceled due to low ratings.[2] From 2000 to 2005, WPXR aired rebroadcasts of WSLS-TV's newscasts as part of a joint sales agreement between Paxson Communications and WSLS owner Media General.[3]
Technical information[]
Subchannels[]
The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
Channel | Video | Aspect | Short name | Programming[4] |
---|---|---|---|---|
38.1 | 720p | 16:9 | ION | Ion Television |
38.2 | 480i | CourtTV | Court TV | |
38.3 | Laff | Laff | ||
38.4 | Mystery | Court TV Mystery | ||
38.5 | Defy TV | Defy TV | ||
38.6 | TrueReal | TrueReal | ||
38.7 | Newsy | Newsy |
Analog-to-digital conversion[]
WPXR-TV discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 38, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 36,[5] using PSIP to display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 38.
References[]
- ^ a b c "Modification of a DTV Station Construction Permit Application". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission. March 4, 2019. Archived from the original on March 6, 2019. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
- ^ "Channel 7 cancels WEFC 10 p.m. news". The Roanoke Times. August 8, 1997. p. B4. Archived from the original on September 15, 2017. Retrieved December 4, 2011.
- ^ "PAX TV Signs Strategic Agreement With Media General's NBC-Affiliated Stations in Tampa & Roanoke". Online Media Daily. November 3, 2000. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved June 17, 2012.
- ^ RabbitEars TV Query for WPXR
- ^ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-08-29. Retrieved 2012-03-24.
External links[]
- Official website
- BIAfn's Media Web Database — Information on WPXR-TV
- Site of the Week – Roanoke, Virginia – discusses WPXR's antennas
- Ion Television affiliates
- Court TV affiliates
- Laff (TV network) affiliates
- Court TV Mystery affiliates
- Defy TV affiliates
- TrueReal affiliates
- Newsy affiliates
- E. W. Scripps Company television stations
- Television channels and stations established in 1986
- Television stations in Roanoke, Virginia
- 1986 establishments in Virginia
- Southern United States television station stubs