Branding TCT Affiliations TCT (2007–present) | Translators WLNM-LD 27 Lansing | |
Channels Digital: 48 (UHF)
Virtual: 49 (PSIP) Owner Tri-State Christian Television, Inc.
(TCT of Michigan, Inc.) First air date March 26, 1985; 32 years ago (1985-03-26) | ||
WAQP is a television station in Saginaw, Michigan, owned and operated by the Tri-State Christian Television (TCT) religious network.
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WAQP broadcasts on digital channel 48 (using PSIP to display its virtual channel as 49), from transmission facilities near Chesaning. The main WAQP signal covers Saginaw, Flint, Bay City and Midland, and goes as far southwest as Lansing.
The station also has a rebroadcaster on channel 27 in Lansing, which uses the callsign WLNM-LD. That channel was originally W69BJ channel 69, but it relocated to channel 27 as W27CN in November 2003. As of July 2009, WLNM-LD has been broadcasting in digital-only format.
WAQP also originally had a repeater serving Jackson, W59CA channel 59, which was relocated to Ann Arbor in November 2000 and rechristened "W27CJ" channel 27, repeating a low-powered TCT station in Detroit, WDWO-CD. In October 2007 W27CJ was sold to SMG Media Group, for $80,000 and is now WFHD-LP.
Digital channels
The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
On December 12, 2008, WAQP split up its digital channel into 3 separate feeds, 2 in standard definition and 1 in high definition. TCT SD airs programs which are available in standard definition only; while TCT HD airs an entirely different lineup of shows in high definition only. Some programs are simulcast on both feeds. TCT also provides a secondary feed, "WAQP-DT2," that, in addition to reruns of TCT programming, airs public domain sitcoms and cartoons (such as TCT Kids programming).
Analog-to-digital conversion
WAQP discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 49, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 48, using PSIP to display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 49.
The WLNM-LD digital broadcast uses the station's former analog channel 27 number, both in actual channel designation and via PSIP display, and mirrors the main WAQP broadcast.