WVPT is owned by Commonwealth Public Broadcasting Corporation is a Staunton station that also serves Harrisonburg, West Virginia and Shenandoah Valley. Launched on Sep 9, 1968, the studios of the channel are located near the campus of James Madison University with transmitter installed in Central Augusta County, Virginia. WVPT also owns a second channel in New Market area of Virginia known as WVPY which previously served as a fulltime satellite service for Winchester and Shenandoah Valley (upper). It via a channel sharing agreement uses WVPT’s transmitter to broadcast for WCVW on Ch 51.2.
Watch WVPT Harrisonburg, VA Stream Online
Sub-Channels: 51.1. PBS
51.3 Create
51.4 PBS Kids
Website: www.wvpt.net/
History
WVPT was launched on Sep 9, 1968; Shenandoah Valley Educational Television Corporation was the original owner of the station. After WCVE in Richmond and WHRO in Hampton Roads it is the 3rd oldest educational television in Virginia. The satellite WVPY which was originally licensed to Front Royal came in the business in 1996 to replace LP translator W42AC which was active since 80s.
The channel also acted as the default PBS service for Charlottesville before WCVE replaced it in 1989. The channel signed on air on Oct 1, 2001 as WVPT became digital followed by WVPY’s digital transformation in Oct 2002. It announced to merge with Commonwealth Public Broadcasting Corporation in Nov 2017; CPBC would already own WNVT, WHTJ, WCVE, WNVC and WCVW. The merger completed on June 11, 2018. It currently operates with two transmitters, one in Charlottesville and the other in Monterey with 40 and 8-watts power respectively.
WVPT sold its Ch 21 allocation in FCC mandated spectrum allocation auction in 2016-17. The distributed transmitting facilities went silent on July 23, 2018. On April 11, 2018, WVPY signed a channel sharing agreement with WVPT. It’s over the air signal moved to Harrisonburg facility on June 11, 2018. Following the transfer of the signal the license of the WVPY was shifted to New Market due to difficulty in connecting with Front Royal as WVPT’s transmitters were fairly far. WPVY rebroadcasts the programming of WCVW on Ch 51.2.
It is available on DirecTv and Dish Network feed in Harrisonburg. Comcast Cable also carries the channel in Charlottesville and Central Virginia.
Programming
Virginia Farming, The Miller Center Forums and Radiotrip to History are the locally produced notable programs of the station. You can watch the educational programs, PBS Kids programming, PBS Parents, informative and cultural programs and more online. Follow WVPT on Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and Twitter. Here is the website: https://www.wvpt.net/
