Branding WSIU-TV | Affiliations PBS (1970–present) | |
Channels Digital:
WSIU-TV: 8 (VHF)
WUSI-TV: 19 (UHF)
Virtual:
WSIU-TV: 8 (PSIP)
WUSI-TV: 16 (PSIP) Owner Southern Illinois University
(Board of Trustees of Southern Illinois University) First air date WSIU-TV: November 6, 1961; 55 years ago (1961-11-06)
WUSI-TV: August 19, 1968; 48 years ago (1968-08-19) Call letters' meaning WSIU:
Southern
Illinois
University
WUSI: University of
Southern
Illinois
(anagram of WSIU) | ||
WSIU-TV, virtual channel and VHF digital channel 8, is a PBS member television station licensed to Carbondale, Illinois, United States. The station is owned by Southern Illinois University, and is a sister station to NPR member and Public Radio International affiliate WSIU (91.9 FM), also licensed to Carbondale. WSIU-TV maintains studio facilities on the university's campus in Carbondale, and its transmitter is located along US 51, near Tamaroa.
Contents
WUSI-TV, virtual channel 16 (UHF digital channel 19), licensed to Olney, Illinois, operates as a satellite station of WSIU-TV. The transmitter facilities of WUSI-TV are located at 7350 North Shipley Road (County Road 900 E) near Dundas. WUSI-TV is a sister station to WUSI (90.3 FM), also licensed to Olney, which airs the programming of WSIU(FM).
WSIU-TV also operates several UHF translators at the edges of its main coverage area where the station's signal is hard to receive, although it also operates as a translator that serves Carbondale. All of these translators map to virtual channel 8 and use the WSIU-TV callsign even though the translators broadcast on different channels. These translators are located in Carbondale (operating on UHF channel 40), Cape Girardeau, Missouri (operating on UHF channel 28), Edwardsville, Illinois (operating on UHF channel 41), and Vienna, Illinois (operating on UHF channel 43).
History
WSIU-TV first signed on the air on November 6, 1961; WUSI-TV signed on as a satellite of WSIU-TV on August 19, 1968.
Digital channels
The station's digital channel is multiplexed:
Analog-to-digital conversion
WSIU-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 8, at 9 p.m. on January 29, 2009. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 40 to VHF channel 8 for post-transition operations.
WUSI-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 16, at 9 p.m. on February 17, 2009, the original target date in which full-power television stations in the United States were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate (which was later pushed back to June 12, 2009). The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 19. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 16.
Programming
During Southern Illinois University's academic year, the stations broadcast a live student-produced newscast, River Region Evening Edition, which airs on Monday through Thursday evenings (on days when classes are held) at 5:00 p.m., with repeats of WSIU InFocus shown on Friday at 5:00 p.m. Three other student-produced programs also air on WSIU, alt.news 26:46, Studio A, and Scholastic Hi-Q. Both alt.news 26:46 and Studio A occasionally air on the station on Sundays at 10:00 p.m. with Scholastic Hi-Q airing each Sunday at 5:00 p.m.