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WBPA-LD
Television station in Pittsburgh From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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WBPA-LD (channel 12) is a low-power television station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The station is owned by Venture Technologies Group.
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History
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On January 14, 1988, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted a construction permit to Channel 29 Associates of Calabasas, California—owned by Venture founder Lawrence Rogow—for a new low-power TV station on channel 29 at Pittsburgh, W29AH. The station began test broadcasts on September 28, 1989, airing programming from the Video Jukebox Network.[2]
After five years of running music videos, channel 29 found a new calling in January 1995, when The WB launched. W29AH was intended to serve as one half of a simulcast with Johnstown's WTWB-TV channel 19, filling the largest missing market gap for the new network.[3] W29AH became WTWB-LP on June 1, 1995, and WBPA-LP on December 15. Channels 19 and 29 became the new UPN affiliate in 1998 when that network's former outlet, WPTT channel 22, switched to The WB (with WTWB-TV becoming WNPA); they briefly were independents due to lawsuits surrounding that station's change.[4][5]
Venture sold channel 19 to the Paramount Stations Group late in 1998, making it a network owned-and-operated station and splitting it from WBPA-LP.[6] For several months, the two continued simulcasting.[7] In the early 2000s, WBPA-LP moved to channel 30.
In 2012, Venture sought to build digital facilities for WBPA-LP on channel 6, utilizing hybrid analog-digital technology to turn it into a "Franken-FM" station with audio on 87.7 MHz. The FCC denied this proposal on technical grounds with the standard that the company proposed for WBPA and a station in Lubbock, Texas.[8]
WBPA-LP was displaced during the repack by Class A station WPTG-CD and applied to move to channel 12 and convert to digital. The station went silent to allow WPTG-CD to move in 2019, but delays from the COVID-19 pandemic, the availability of transmitter installers, and a contracted electrician's foot operation set the reconstruction of WBPA back enough that Venture had to apply for a waiver to avoid automatic license cancellation.[9] The facility was completed in late October, when a license to cover was filed.[10]
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Subchannels
The station's signal is multiplexed:
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References
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