WPXA-TV
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| WPXA-TV | |
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| Atlanta metro area / northwest Georgia | |
| City of license | Rome, Georgia |
| Branding | ION Television |
| Channels | |
| Subchannels | 14.1 - ion HD (720p) 14.2 - qubo (480i) 14.3 - ion Life (480i) 14.4 - Worship (480i) |
| Affiliations | Ion Television (analog) |
| Owner | Ion Media Networks, Inc. (Paxson Atlanta License, Inc.) |
| First air date | 1988[1] |
| Call letters’ meaning | PaX TV Atlanta |
| Former callsigns | WAWA-TV (1988-1990) WTLK-TV (1990-1998) |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 14 (1988-2009) |
| Former affiliations | independent (1988-1994) inTV (1994-1998) Pax TV (1998-2005) i (2005-2007) |
| Transmitter Power | 1000 kW (digital) |
| Height | 622 m (digital) |
| Facility ID | 51969 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | 34°18′47.3″N 84°38′55.6″W / 34.313139°N 84.648778°W |
| Website | www.ionline.tv |
WPXA-TV 14 is a television station on analog channel 14 and digital channel 51 in the metro Atlanta area, and carries Ion Television network programming. The station's transmitter and antenna are located well north-northwest of Atlanta on Bear Mountain, overlooking Lake Arrowhead near Waleska, near the Cherokee/Bartow county line. The TV studio was located in Marietta, next to Six Flags White Water along Cobb Parkway (U.S. 41). It is owned and operated by ION Media Networks, and Rome is its city of license.
The station's broadcast range extends into parts of Alabama and Tennessee and even the southwest corner of North Carolina. However, terrain shielding not accounted for in radio propagation models prevents this from regularly occurring, due to the north Georgia mountains.
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[edit] History
The station was issued a construction permit in 1984 on Channel 14 as WZGA but never went on-air. The station went on-air in 1988 as WAWA with studios on Shorter Avenue in Rome and TV tower on Mount Alto nearby. The station was owned by American Communications, and had a general entertainment format of low-budget shows, public domain movies, local TV news, and pre-empted network TV programs. WAWA/WTLK occasionally carried ABC/CBS/NBC pre-empted shows from the Atlanta TV market.
In 1990, the station launched "Talk TV" as WTLK-TV and moved its studios to Marietta and transmitter to Bear Mountain (west of Canton). Along with national talk shows like Phil Donahue and Sally Jesse Raphael, the station did local shows (with TV studio audiences) with WSB AM 750 radio's Neal Boortz, former Miss America Suzette Charles, Hosea Williams, Michael Young, WVEE FM 103.3's Mike Roberts, WGST AM 640's Brian Wilson and others. The station never took off in metro Atlanta as WTLK was not a must-carry on cable TV. WNGM-TV 34 also had the same issues as Floyd and Clarke counties were not in the Atlanta media market. Near the end of the American WTLK era, blocks of country music were run as "Country Music Time" along with many infomercials.
In 1996 the station was sold to Paxson Communications. The must-carry rules for cable systems took effect about the same time. Channels 14, 34 and 57 would be added to most metro cable systems immediately. The station's format consisted of infomercials by day and Worship Network at night. Pax TV was launched in 1998 and WTLK became WPXA as a charter affiliate. Pax TV later became i and ION television. During the Pax era, WPXA aired a late-night newscast replay of local NBC affiliate WXIA-TV 11. Most Pax stations had similar arrangements with the NBC stations in their markets.
The station's broadcast tower on Bear Mountain was also the first location for WCHK-FM 105.5, now WWVA-FM 105.7 on Sweat Mountain.
Rome also had a previous full-power TV station (ABC/CBS/NBC/Dumont) WROM-TV channel 9, from 1953-1957. That was later moved to Chattanooga and became what is now WTVC TV 9.
[edit] Digital television (over the air)
The station's over the air digital channel is multiplexed:
| Channel | Label | Size | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14.1 | ION | 720p | WPXA main programming from the Ion Television network |
| 14.2 | qubo | 480i | qubo |
| 14.3 | IONLife | 480i | ION Life |
| 14.4 | Worship | 480i | The Worship Network |
The station had selected 14 as its permanent digital channel in the digital channel election, but had to remain on 51 due to a co-channel RF interference conflict.[2]
The station's digital facility is at maximum power, while its analog was not (3800kW instead of 5000kW). Its digital TV antenna is also 15 meters (49 ft) higher on the same tower, improving the broadcast range further.
[edit] External links
- ION Television website
- FCC map of WPXA
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WPXA
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WPXA-TV
[edit] References
- ^ The Broadcasting and Cable Yearbook says January 15, while the Television and Cable Factbook says February 29.
- ^ FCC application BFRECT-20050210ADZ
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