Subchannels 39.1 CTN
39.2 CTNi | Affiliations CTN (1991–present) | |
Branding CTN; sometimes called "Nashville 39" Channels Digital: 38 (UHF)
Virtual: 39 (PSIP) Owner Christian Television Network, Inc. First air date December 30, 1983; 33 years ago (1983-12-30) | ||
WHTN digital channel 38 is a not-for-profit television station licensed to Murfreesboro, Tennessee that serves the Nashville market. It is owned by Clearwater, Florida-based Christian Television Network. WHTN offers 24-hour religious programming, much of which is produced either locally or at the CTN home base in Florida. WHTN's studios are currently located in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee.
Contents
History
WHTN signed on as WFYZ on December 30, 1983, with a general entertainment format featuring cartoons, sitcoms, movies and music videos. It was originally owned by Murfreesboro TV Corporation. In 1984, lacking the resources to grow and amidst signal problems in parts of Nashville, the station's management realized it was unable to compete against other independent stations Channel 30 (WCAY-TV, then owned by TVX, Inc.) and Channel 17 (WZTV, then owned by Multimedia). It was bought by businessman Bob Hudson and its callsign changed to WHTN ("Hudson Television Nashville"; the radio station he bought in a nearby area was likewise temporarily changed to WHRD ["Hudson Radio Dickson]"). Hudson experimented with long-form, limited-commercial programs such as feature films with only two commercial breaks. This format also failed to gain a sizable audience. By 1985, the station shifted to a 24-hour music video format. Later in 1985, the station was sold to CTN and flipped to an all-religious format at the beginning of 1986.
Digital channels
The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
Analog-to-digital conversion
WHTN shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 39, 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 38. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 39.