WJSP-TV

WJSP-TV

Columbus-Warm Springs, Georgia
Branding	GPB
Slogan	Bringing You the Best
Channels	Digital: 23 (UHF)
Subchannels	28.1 - GPB/PBS HD (1080i) 28.2 - GPB Kids (480i) 28.3 - GPB Knowledge (480i)
Translators	former W49AD Carrollton
Network	PBS
Owner	Georgia Public Broadcasting (Georgia Public Telecommunications Commission)
First air date	August 10, 1964
Call letters' meaning	James S. Peters
Sister station(s)	WJSP-FM 88.1
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 28 (1964-2009)
Former affiliations	NET (1964-1970)
Transmitter power	250 kW
Height	462 m
Facility ID	23918
Transmitter coordinates	32°51′6.9″N 84°42′5.6″W
Website	www.gpb.org/

WJSP-TV 23 (DTV 28.1/2/3), part of the Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member Public broadcasting network, serves Columbus, Georgia and the surrounding west-central Georgia and far east-central Alabama region. The transmitter and radio antenna are located just south of Warm Springs on the same radio tower as WJSP-FM 88.1. It's one of only two GPB stations actually licensed to a major Georgia city, the other being WVAN-TV in Savannah. However, to conform to GPB's pattern of naming two cities in station IDs, the station's shown as "WJSP-DT 28, Columbus/Warm Springs".

The station's signal travels in about a 45-mile (75 km) radius from the transmitter site, though this is variable since it uses a directional antenna.^[1] The signal also reaches far south-southwest metro Atlanta, and is a better source for GPB in that area than its main station, WGTV.

WJSP primarily serves the northern and central part of the Columbus TV market. The southern part of the Columbus market, as well as much of Columbus itself, is served by Dawson's WACS-TV. While WJSP is the official GPB station for Columbus, its signal is marginal at best in much of the city.

The station had originally chosen to return to channel 28 for digital TV during the first-round digital channel election, but due to an interference conflict it was forced to remain permanently on channel 23.

There was also one broadcast translator, W49AD, channel 49 in downtown Carrollton, in the southwest corner of the Atlanta market. That translator's digital companion channel is W13DJ-D on channel 13, on-air since July/August 2009, but officially relaying WGTV. It is east-southeast of town, immediately southeast of the Oak Mountain Championship Golf Course.

Digital TV

WJSP-TV broadcasts the following digital subchannels:

Channel	Video	Aspect	PSIP Short Name	Programming
28.1	1080i	16:9		Main GPB programming / PBS
28.2	480i			GPB Kids
28.3		4:3		GPB Knowledge

History

WJSP-TV signed on August 10, 1964 as the fifth public television station in Georgia. Its somewhat reduced-power digital signal, on channel 23, began in 2003. In 2009, analog transmissions permanently ceased at midnight on the night of February 17.

The channel 28 frequency was originally home to WTVM from 1953 to 1960, when it moved to channel 9.

WJSP's callsign is from the initials of long-time Georgia legislator and member of the state's board of education, James S. Peters of Manchester, Georgia.

External links

• GPB Website
  • GPB stations map — includes WJSP coverage area
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WJSP
  • Query the FCC's TV station database for DW49AD
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WJSP-TV
• RECnet query for DW49AD