WNGH-TV

WNGH-TV
Chatsworth/Dalton, Georgia
United States
Branding GPB
Slogan Television worth sharing
Channels Digital: 33 (UHF)
Virtual: 18 (PSIP)
Subchannels

18.1 - GPB/PBS HD (1080i)
18.2 - GPB Create TV (480i)

18.3 - GPB Knowledge (480i)
Translators W12DK-D 12 Young Harris,
W50AB 50 Hiawassee
Affiliations PBS (1970–present)
Owner Georgia Public Broadcasting
(Georgia Public Telecommunications Commission)
First air date January 30, 1967 (1967-01-30)
Call letters' meaning North Georgia Highlands
Sister station(s) WNGH-FM 98.9
Former callsigns WCLP (1967–1979)
WCLP-TV (1979–2008)
Former channel number(s) Analog:
18 (UHF, 1967–2009)
Former affiliations NET (1967–1970)
Transmitter power 426 kW
Height 537 m (1,762 ft)
Facility ID 23942
Transmitter coordinates 34°45′2.3″N 84°42′52.7″W / 34.750639°N 84.714639°W / 34.750639; -84.714639
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: Profile
CDBS
Website www.gpb.org/

WNGH-TV is a PBS member public television station licensed to serve Chatsworth, Georgia on digital TV channel 33 (virtual channel 18). It is part of the Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) state network, serving North Georgia and the Chattanooga media market. Despite its UHF frequency, the height of WNGH's transmitter makes it one of GPB's strongest stations. It provides at least secondary coverage as far north as Athens, Tennessee and as far south as metro Atlanta's north-northwestern suburbs, many of which can no longer get GPB's primary public television station, WGTV TV 8. Two broadcast translator stations help bring the signal to the mountainous parts of the service area. However, some network program duplication occurs with WTCI-TV, the main PBS station for the Chattanooga area.

History

The station made its first broadcast on January 30, 1967 as WCLP, a National Educational Television and Georgia Educational Television network affiliate. In effect, it was also Chattanooga's first educational television station, as WTCI-TV did not start broadcasting until 1970. In early 1979, the station added the suffix to its callsign, becoming WCLP-TV on February 2. In 2002, WCLP's digital signal started on channel 33.

On April 15, 2008, WCLP-TV changed its call sign to WNGH-TV, which matches GPB's new local FM radio station, WNGH-FM. (It is unclear why the reverse was not done, since WCLP-FM was available to match the callsign the TV station had used for over 40 years since its inception.) After purchasing the FM, it was moved to transmit from the same broadcast tower as the TV station, atop a mountain within Fort Mountain State Park.

Due to equipment failure in 2008, its analog signal was operating at reduced power (30% of normal, or 1500 kW) until it switched entirely to digital.

Translators

All of WNGH's broadcast translators have been located near the state's borders regions with Alabama, Tennessee, and North Carolina – areas where coverage from a full-powered GPB transmitter is insufficient, due to the distance from the main transmitters and the terrain of the north Georgia mountains.

Currently, only W12DK-D is operating, having applied for and been granted a broadcast license to cover its construction permit in December 2009. It is atop Brasstown Bald, the highest point in the state, which will also hold new 97-watt GPB radio station WBTB FM 90.3.

This replaces two other stations that were recently operating:

This area near the North Carolina border is home to retirees and the vacation homes of others from the Atlanta area, at and near Lake Chatuge.

Four others near Alabama had their analog licenses and digital applications or construction permits canceled, apparently at GPB's request:

This was the largest number of translators assigned to any of the GPB stations. Two others are currently assigned to primary ("parent") station WGTV, though all stations simulcast at all times.

Digital television

WNGH-TV broadcasts the following digital subchannels:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming
18.1 1080i 16:9 WNGH-DT Main GPB programming / PBS
18.2 480i 4:3 Kids Create TV
18.3 4:3 Knowled GPB Knowledge

[1]

Analog-to-digital conversion

WNGH-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 18, on February 17, 2009, the original target date in which full-power television stations in the United States were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate (which was later pushed back to June 12, 2009). The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 33.[2] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 18.

References

  1. ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for WNGH
  2. ↑ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-03-24.
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