WUSF-TV

WUSF-TV
Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida
United States
City Tampa, Florida
Branding WUSF
Slogan Watch and Learn
Watch Listen Learn
Channels Digital: 34 (UHF)
Virtual: 16 (PSIP)
Affiliations PBS
Owner University of South Florida
First air date September 12, 1966 (1966-09-12)
Call letters' meaning University of
South
Florida
Sister station(s) WUSF, WSMR
Former channel number(s) Analog:
16 (UHF, 1966–2009)
Former affiliations NET (1966–1970)
Transmitter power 475 kW
Height 453 m
Facility ID 69338
Transmitter coordinates 27°50′52″N 82°15′48″W / 27.84778°N 82.26333°W / 27.84778; -82.26333Coordinates: 27°50′52″N 82°15′48″W / 27.84778°N 82.26333°W / 27.84778; -82.26333
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: Profile
CDBS
Website www.wusf.usf.edu

WUSF-TV, virtual channel 16 (UHF digital channel 34), is a PBS member television station located in Tampa, Florida, United States and also serving the nearby city of St. Petersburg. The station is owned by the University of South Florida. WUSF maintains studio facilities located on the University of South Florida campus on East Fowler Avenue on the city's northeast side, and its transmitter is located in Riverview, Florida.

Overview

WUSF-TV's studio facilities, completed in 2001.

The station first signed on the air on September 12, 1966. WUSF-TV's main rival is fellow PBS member station WEDU (channel 3), which has long been one of the highest-rated public television stations in the country. However, due to its ties with the University of South Florida, most of WUSF's programming is educational in nature – including distance learning, which WUSF broadcasts during the afternoon and late-night hours. WUSF was also known for showing a wide variety of home improvement programming, such as Hometime, during the late 1980s and 1990s that WEDU did not regularly program.

In areas served by Bright House Networks, WUSF is available only to subscribers with a digital set, tuner or converter as of June 12, 2009.

On October 12, 2015, the University of South Florida voted to explore placing WUSF-TV into the Federal Communications Commission's spectrum auction in 2016, a move that could lead to the station sharing a channel with another area station, moving its signal to a VHF channel, or ceasing operations altogether. Any decision involving WUSF-TV would not affect sister station WUSF radio.[1]

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital channel is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[2]
16.1 720p 16:9 WUSF Main WUSF programming / PBS
16.2 480i 4:3 KIDS WUSF Kids†
16.3 CREATE Create
16.4 KNOWLED WUSF Knowledge††

Analog-to-digital conversion

WUSF-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 16, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television.[3] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 34,[4][5] using PSIP to display WUSF-TV's virtual channel as 16 on digital television receivers.

References

  1. ↑ Anastasia, Dawson (October 13, 2015). "WUSF TV's future even more in doubt as USF explores selling station's broadcast spectrum". The Tampa Tribune. Retrieved October 14, 2015.
  2. ↑ "RabbitEars.Info". rabbitears.info.
  3. ↑ List of Digital Full-Power Stations
  4. ↑ "CDBS Account Login". fcc.gov.
  5. ↑ http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/feb/09/wfla-will-wait-until-june-shut-down-analog-tv-sign/
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