WWTO-TV
| LaSalle/Chicago, Illinois United States |
|
|---|---|
| City of license | LaSalle, Illinois |
| Channels | Digital: 10 (VHF) Virtual: 35 (PSIP) |
| Affiliations | TBN |
| Owner | Trinity Broadcasting Network, Inc. (TCCSA, Inc., d/b/a Trinity Broadcasting Network) |
| First air date | December 1986[1][2] |
| Call letters' meaning | Wide World of TOmorrow[citation needed] |
| Former callsigns | Digital: WWTO-DT (2003–2009) |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 35 (UHF, 1986–2009) |
| Transmitter power | 80 kW |
| Height | 415 metres (1,362 ft) |
| Facility ID | 998 |
| Transmitter coordinates | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. (NAD83) |
| Website | http://www.tbn.org |
WWTO-TV, virtual channel 35 (VHF digital channel 10), is a TBN owned-and-operated television station serving Chicago, Illinois, United States that is licensed to LaSalle. The station is owned by the Trinity Broadcasting Network. WWTO-TV maintains studios and offices located on East Stevenson Road in Ottawa, and its transmitter is located in Deer Park (near Starved Rock State Park). Though nominally within the Chicago television market, LaSalle is geographically at the far edges of several television markets.
Contents
History
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. The first station to broadcast on UHF channel 35 from LaSalle went on the air on November 7, 1957 as WEEQ, a satellite station of WEEK-TV in Peoria.[3][4] WEEK and WEEQ were acquired by a company related to Kerr-McGee, but sold off after Senator Robert S. Kerr's death.[5] The sale, approved by the Federal Communications Commission on July 13, 1966, was for $3,088,650 ($22,526,600 adjusted for inflation) and transferred the stations to Mid-America Television Co., owned by Kansas City Southern Industries.[6] The station still appeared in the 1973 Broadcasting Yearbook but not the 1974 edition.
WWTO-TV began broadcasting operations in early December 1986.[1][2]
Digital television
Digital channels
This station's digital signal, like most other full-service TBN owned-and-operated stations, carries five different TBN-run networks.
| Channel | Video | Aspect | PSIP Short Name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 35.1 | 480i | 4:3 | TBN | Main TBN programming |
| 35.2 | TCC | The Church Channel | ||
| 35.3 | COMBO | JUCE TV/Smile of a Child TV | ||
| 35.4 | Enlace | Enlace USA | ||
| 35.5 | SALSA | TBN Salsa |
TBN-owned full-power stations permanently ceased analog transmissions on April 16, 2009.
WWTO shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 35, on that date. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition VHF channel 10.[7] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 35.
Cable carriage
LaSalle lies at the far western end of its nominal Chicago media market. The Federal Communications Commission has declared many communities in Chicago area cable systems to be outside of WWTO-TV's designated market, and denied must-carry status. In 1997 ruling in favor of Time Warner Cable, the FCC noted that "WWTO-TV has at best a minimal viewing presence in the Chicago, ADI as a whole, and the communities are located approximately 65 to 70 miles from WWTO-TV. Furthermore, the station has never been carried on the cable system in question, offers no programming specifically for the relevant communities, and provides no over-the air signal coverage of the Communities."[8] The FCC made a similar ruing in 1999 concerning dozens of cable services in McHenry, DuPage, Lake, Cook, Kane and Will Counties in Illinois and Lake, Porter, LaPorte and Jasper Counties in Indiana. In that order, the FCC noted that "out of the 10 counties herein, the A.C. Nielsen 1997 County/Coverage Survey does not even list WWTO-TV and for the one where it is listed, Will County, only minimal viewership is recorded."[2]
With the switch of many of Comcast's Chicago systems to analog to digital-exclusive service, that provider has added WWTO and its subchannel services to the provider. WWTO and its subchannel services are currently carried digital only on channels 380-384 (380 TBN, 381 TBN Salsa, 382 Smile of a Child/Juce, 383 Church Channel, 384 & 633 Enlace), though areas where WWTO has not acquired must-carry instead carry only the national TBN feed in standard definition on channel 380.
Translators
Until 2010, WWTO rebroadcast its signal on translators throughout Northern and Central Illinois; however, due to financial strains endured by TBN, these translators closed down in early 2010.
- W19CX in Sterling-Dixon (formerly W52BI; off-air as of March 29, 2010)[9]
- W22AJ in Arlington Heights (formerly W64CQ; off-air as of April 13, 2010)[10]
- W25CL in Rockford (off-air as of March 26, 2010)[11]
- W29BG in Decatur (off-air as of March 25, 2010)[12]
- W34DL in Champaign (off-air as of April 13, 2010)[13]
- W40BY in Chicago (formerly W68DO; now WESV-LD)
- W50DD in Peoria (formerly W41BO; off-air as of March 26, 2010)[14]
- W51CT in Bloomington (off-air as of March 28, 2010)[15]
- W51DT in Galesburg (formerly W50BY; off-air as of April 13, 2010)[16]
W19CX would later be sold to Luken Communications, the parent company of Retro Television Network, under the licensee name "Digital Networks - Midwest".[17]
W22AJ would later be sold to one of the owners of KAXT-CD in San Jose, California, under the licensee name of "Chicago 22, LLC".[18] The callsign was changed to WRJK-LP on January 18, 2013.[19]
W34DL, W51CT and W51DT would later be donated to the Minority Media and Television Council (MMTC);[20] however W34DL and W51CT would later be cancelled, due to inactivity for over one year.[21] The current occupant of channel 34 in Champaign, W34EH-D, is on a new license under a different owner.[22] Only W51DT would remain active under MMTC's ownership.
W40BY would be purchased by Spanish-language broadcaster Liberman Broadcasting, the parent of Estrella TV in February 2010, giving that network a station in Chicago. The sale was completed on December 6, 2010, with the call letters changed to WESV-LD.
To date, TBN still holds the licenses for W25CL, W29BG and W50DD; however, these translators are among the 36 TBN has sold to Regal Media, a broadcasting group headed by George Cooney, the CEO of the EUE/Screen Gems studios, on April 13, 2012.[23]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 For the 1986 air date, the Broadcasting and Cable Yearbook says December 1, while the Television and Cable Factbook says December 5.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 DA-99-307: Memorandum Option and Order: Jones Cable TV Fund 12-A, Ltd./Jones Cable TV Fund 15-A, Ltd. and TCI of Illinois, Inc. and its Affiliates. For Modification of the ADI of Station WWTO-TV, LaSalle, Illinois. CSR-5314-A and CSR-5315-A. Federal Communications Commission. 5 February 1997Template:Accessdate
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Thesis cites Tulsa Tribune of 5 December 1957 as its reference for Kerr-McGee adding some stations.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ DA-97-545: Memorandum Option and Order: Time Warner Entertainment - Advance Newhouse Partnership, dba Time Warner Cable. Granted petition for special relief for modification of the television market of Station WWTO-TV, La Salle, Illinois. Federal Communications Commission. 14 March 1997Template:Accessdate
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/prefill_and_display.pl?Application_id=1368700&Service=TX&Form_id=910&Facility_id=68061
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ FCC application: "Notification of Suspension of Operations / Request for Silent STA" for W19CX
- ↑ FCC application: "APPLICATION FOR AUTHORITY TO CONSTRUCT OR MAKE CHANGES IN A LOW POWER TV, TV TRANSLATOR OR TV BOOSTER STATION" for W22AJ
- ↑ http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/call_hist.pl?Facility_id=68061&Callsign=WRJK-LP
- ↑ FCC document: "COMMENTS OF LPTV ENTREPRENEURS", December 17, 2010.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ FCC records for W34EH-D
- ↑ FCC document: "Asset Purchase Agreement: Trinity Christian Center Of Santa Ana, Inc. / Trinity Broadcasting Of Arizona, Inc. (Sellers) and Regal Media, Inc. (Buyer)
