WVAN-TV

WVAN-TV

Savannah/Pembroke, Georgia
Branding	GPB
Slogan	Television worth sharing
Channels	Digital: 9 (VHF) Virtual: 9 (PSIP)
Subchannels	9.1 - GPB/PBS HD (1080i) 9.2 - GPB Kids (480i) 9.3 - GPB Knowledge (480i)
Network	PBS
Owner	Georgia Public Broadcasting (Georgia Public Telecommunications Commission)
First air date	September 17, 1963
Call letters' meaning	We're in SaVANnah, Georgia
Sister station(s)	WSVH
Former channel number(s)	9 (VHF analog, 1963-2009) 13 (VHF digital, 2000-2009)
Former affiliations	NET (1963-1970)
Transmitter power	20 kW
Height	293 m (961 ft)
Facility ID	23947
Transmitter coordinates	32°8′49.2″N 81°37′4.3″W
Website	www.gpb.org

WVAN-TV channel 9 is a non-commercial educational television station located in Savannah, Georgia, USA. WVAN-TV is part of the Georgia Public Broadcasting public television network and carries programming from PBS, GPB and other sources. The station's transmitter is co-located with sister radio station WSVH (91.1 FM) on a broadcast tower in Pembroke, west of Savannah and just north of Fort Stewart.

The station's signal travels in about a 45-mile (75 km) radius from the TV antenna site. Like most stations in the Savannah media market, it also serves the extreme southern tip of South Carolina including Beaufort and Hilton Head Island.

History

WVAN-TV began broadcasting on September 17, 1963 as the fourth educational TV station in the state of Georgia. In 2000, WVAN's temporary digital signal on channel 13 was activated, making it one of the first for GPB TV. In 2009, its last analog TV transmission was turned off on February 17 at midnight (11:59PM), and its digital signal was moved permanently back to channel 9, requiring viewers to re-scan ATSC tuners to find the station's channels again. GPB did the same with at least two other stations.

Station ID

In station IDs for GPB's television stations, each station lists two cities in its legal ID -- the smaller community where the station is licensed (usually the transmitter location), and the larger city it serves. However, WVAN is actually licensed to serve Savannah. To conform to the pattern, WVAN's second city is Pembroke, where its transmitter is located. A similar situation exists for WJSP-TV, which is licensed to Columbus, Georgia with transmitter in Warm Springs.

Digital television

WVAN-TV broadcasts the following digital subchannels:

Channel	Label	Video	Aspect	Programming
9.1	WVAN-TV	1080i	16:9	Main GPB programming / PBS
9.2	Kids	480i		GPB Kids
9.3	Knowled		4:3	GPB Knowledge

External links

• GPB website
  • GPB stations map — includes WVAN coverage area
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WVAN
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WVAN-TV