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WPXR-TV

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For the radio station in Rock Island, Illinois which held the call sign WPXR from 1987 to 1995, see WLKU.
WPXR-TV
CityRoanoke, Virginia
Channels
BrandingIon
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
History
FoundedMay 23, 1983
First air date
January 3, 1986 (38 years ago) (1986-01-03)
Former call signs
WEFC (1986–1998)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog: 38 (UHF, 1986–2009)
  • Digital: 36 (UHF, 2002–2019)
Call sign meaning
Pax TV Roanoke
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID70251
ERP609 kW[2]
HAAT623.6 m (2,046 ft)[2]
Transmitter coordinates37°11′56″N 80°9′0″W / 37.19889°N 80.15000°W / 37.19889; -80.15000[2]
Links
Public license information
Websiteiontelevision.com

WPXR-TV (channel 38) is a television station licensed to Roanoke, Virginia, United States, broadcasting the Ion Television network to the Roanoke–Lynchburg market. The station is owned and operated by the Ion Media subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company, and maintains a transmitter 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 non-network affiliated station in Roanoke, and the first new UHF station in the market to sign on following the demise of WRLU channel 27 nearly 11 years earlier. Coincidentally, a new channel 27, under the calls of WVFT, would sign on two months after WEFC, carrying a similar format.

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

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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.[3] 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.[4]

Technical information

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Subchannels

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The station's signal is multiplexed:

Subchannels of WPXR-TV[5]
Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming
38.1 720p 16:9 ION Ion Television
38.2 480i CourtTV Court TV
38.3 Laff Laff
38.4 Mystery Ion Mystery
38.5 IONPlus Ion Plus
38.6 Grit Grit
38.7 Jewelry Jewelry TV
38.8 HSN HSN
38.9 QVC QVC

Analog-to-digital conversion

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WPXR-TV ended regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 38, on June 12, 2009, the official date on 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,[6] using virtual channel 38.

References

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  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WPXR-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ "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.
  4. ^ "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.
  5. ^ RabbitEars TV Query for WPXR
  6. ^ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2012.
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