W33BY

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = W33BY, a.k.a. "WHPR"
"(a Class-A station)"
station_
station_slogan =
station_branding = "TV 33"; "WHPR"; "UHF 68 Highland Park"
analog = 33 (UHF), 68 (UHF, airs a separate schedule?)
digital = None, for either
affiliations = Independent station
founded = August 31, 1990
location = Detroit, Michigan
callsign_meaning = W
Highland Park Radio
"(unofficial calls, named after its sister radio station)"
owner = R. J.'s Late Night Entertainment Corporation
"(Highland Park Broadcasting, LP)"
former_callsigns = W68CH (1990-2003)
former_affiliations = The Box, AIN, UATV
"(exact dates unknown, though AIN and The Box left the station by December 2000)"
effective_radiated_power = 15 kW/111.6 m
homepage = [http://tv33whpr.com/ Official Site]

WHPR is the unofficial call sign of TV channel 33 (officially called W33BY), and is a low-power broadcasting station based in Highland Park, Michigan.

The station is a Class-A operation, even though the station's official calls are still translator-style calls.

Neither Comcast Detroit, Bright House Livonia nor Cogeco Windsor has this channel in their line-ups. At one time on [http://www.whprtv33.com WHPR's web site] , it mentioned that it was carried on Comcast channel 20, but as of current, it is not actually on Comcast's line-up. (The mention has since been removed.)

Background

WHPR is the Detroit area's first Black-owned TV station since channel 62 (then WGPR) became a CBS affiliate. The station is owned by R.J. Watkins, who, in the late-1980s and early-1990s, hosted and produced a dance program for WGPR-TV, "The New Dance Show".

The station's television airtime is occupied mostly by phone-in talk shows (most are radio simulcasts), televangelism, fundraising, traditional television commercials and apparently Bloomberg-inspired on-screen advertising. Its sister radio station, WHPR-FM, was admonished by the FCC in 2001 for running advertising contrary to its status as "Noncommercial Educational Station." At night music videos are seen.

History

The station started out as W68CH on channel 68 back in 1990, and branded itself as "UHF 68, Highland Park". The station "moved" to W33BY in November, 2001, but the station still operated on both channels. This continued until August 2002, when 33 and 68 carried separate schedules. Channel 68 would close down for good in September 2003. However, as of July 2006, TVguide.com still shows the station as on the air, carrying a schedule separate from W33BY. [http://online.tvguide.com/listings/?rnd=705.5475] As of current, however, the FCC database has no listings for W68CH, or any channel 68, in the Detroit area. Viewers in the area have confirmed that channel 68 is no longer broadcasting, and hasn't for quite some time.

Here is a list of its former call signs, from most recent to oldest, from [http://www.fccinfo.com fccinfo.com] .

* W33BY from Oct 11 2002
* W68CH from Jun 3 1999
* W33BY from Jun 2 1999
* W68CH from Jun 2 1999
* DW68CH from Mar 12 1996 (D in callsign signifies deleted callsign)
* W68CH from Aug 31 1990

See also

* WHPR-FM

External links

* [http://tv33whpr.com/ Official website]
* [http://www.michiguide.com/dials/tv/w33by.html Michiguide: W33BY]
* [http://www.fccinfo.com fccinfo.com]
*