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WAWD Fort Walton Beach and Pensacola LPTV stations — all off air?

tomservo

tomservo

I got an e-mail from a visitor to my site who says they've never been able to pick up WAWD, ever. They supposedly broadcast from a site near Holley, just up the street from the K-Love site for radio. I'm too far away to know, but they are definitely on all the cable/satellite outlets. Is anyone in the area able to confirm that they've never broadcast digitally, or not in the last several years?

This same person, in Pensacola, says that WBQP, WCTU, W39BP and WRBD are all off the air, and have been for over a year, too. WBQP is on cable in Pensacola still, though.

Can anyone in the area confirm all this for me? I'm just too far from the area to pick up any LPTV.
 
From what information I get, WAWD is still on the air broadcasting digitally on channel 49 and displayed as 58, running Beach TV tourist info (with Panama City sister station WPCT/channel 46) at 39.8 KW. WRBD I think has been off the air for awhile. The others I'm not sure about.
 
Ccook55 said:
From what information I get, WAWD is still on the air broadcasting digitally on channel 49 and displayed as 58, running Beach TV tourist info (with Panama City sister station WPCT/channel 46) at 39.8 KW. WRBD I think has been off the air for awhile. The others I'm not sure about.
Click to expand...

According to the FCC CDBS:
DWRBD-LP 69994 TX UPPER GULF COAST, L.L.C. LICENSE CANCELLED
DW39BP 52226 TX PRAISE 95, INC. LICENSE CANCELLED
 
Ccook55 said:
From what information I get, WAWD is still on the air broadcasting digitally on channel 49 and displayed as 58, running Beach TV tourist info (with Panama City sister station WPCT/channel 46) at 39.8 KW. WRBD I think has been off the air for awhile. The others I'm not sure about.
Click to expand...

I think... WDES-CA is on the air using virtual channel 58 "simulcasting" WAWD. WAWD should put a strong signal over WDES-CA's coverage area.
It's interesting that DishNet carries WAWD on channel 49 while all other local channels are on their virtual frequencies.

The last I remember of WRBD they were running America One 24/7 with a "WBQP-2" bug in the corner of the screen.

I could tell the analog history of W39BP if anyone is interested.
 
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seedless said:
I think... WDES-CA is on the air using virtual channel 58 "simulcasting" WAWD. WAWD should put a strong signal over WDES-CA's coverage area.
It's interesting that DishNet carries WAWD on channel 49 while all other local channels are on their virtual frequencies.
Click to expand...
Yep, RabbitEars shows that WDES-CA transmits on channel 35 while using 58 as its virtual. It has 5,000 watts of power.
 
If I read it correctly, no one has ever reported stream data from WAWD to Rabbitears.


Long story short on W39BP:
Pensacola's 3rd translator (I think). Pensacola's strongest ANALOG translator.
Put on air by Pensacola Christian College as PACTS (Pensacola American Christian Television Service) carrying the national feed of ACTS (as seen on most southern cable systems) with local commercials and church services from the PCC on campus church (this always seemed strange to me, a cable channel carried OTA).
Circa 1990, PCC built some new 10 story dorms. Durring construction of the dorms, Cox Cable began having trouble receiving W39BP at their head end. Once it was determined channel 39 would need to build or move to a new tower to stay on Cox Cable they shut the station down. It turned out W39BP was only useful as an OTA STL. PCC would turn the transmitter on several times a year running a loop of 1980's commercials and PSAs until they sold the station to Michael Glinter/Pensacola Christian Radio. Glinter never did anything with the TV translator and he apparently allowed it to be deleted by the FCC.

Someone told ABMP that 39 was running a FamilyNet at the end. I know nothing of this. I know nothing of digital service by W39BP.
 
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Interesting story. I'm not at all familiar with that ACTS cable channel, it was never on any system I've encountered in my life. I have only known the name. There are a few cable channels that have been broadcast OTA. Of course HSN could possibly fit that. I'm not sure if it started out on broadcast and moved to cable or vice-versa.

MTV2 was a popular cable channel carried on dozens of LPTV stations in the late 90's and early 2000s. I think stations in Birmingham and Montgomery showed it at one time.

And these days, QVC is starting to be seen more OTA subchannels, although I don't think it's on anywhere around us.
 
MTV2/The Box was carried part time by WBQP-LP, back before it was carried on local cable. MTV2 had a full time translator in Tallahassee and (I think) Dothan.

W39BP is (was) the only translator I've ever seen advertised on billboards and the newspaper.
 
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