WFWA

WFWA (channel 39) is a PBS member television station in Fort Wayne, Indiana, United States. Owned by Fort Wayne Public Television, Inc., the station maintains studios at the Dr. Rudy and Rhonda Kachmann Teleplex on the campus of Purdue University Fort Wayne at the corner of East Coliseum Boulevard and Crescent Avenue, and its transmitter is located at its former studio facility on Butler Road in Fort Wayne.

History

On February 2, 1975,[1] W39AA, a translator of WBGU-TV in Bowling Green, Ohio, signed on the air on channel 39; the coverage of W39AA was generally restricted to the immediate Fort Wayne area, as its coverage was not powerful enough to cover the entire market. This low-power repeater station was merely a placeholder, as channel 39 was allocated as a full-power educational channel in Fort Wayne. In December 1985, the station became a translator of Indianapolis PBS station WFYI, after the translator was allowed to originate programming.[2]

In October 1984, Fort Wayne Public Television applied to build a full-power station on channel 39.

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's signal is multiplexed:

Previously, WFWA had shown the national PBS Kids feed (also seen nationally on digital cable/satellite) on channel 39.2. The service ended on September 26, 2005, but WFWA continued the channel by self-programming it locally until 2017, when the national 24/7 PBS Kids Channel relaunched.

Channel 39.3 was originally a 24-hour delayed feed from PBS ("PBS Encore"), but it was replaced by the national Create TV channel on July 1, 2006.[7]

WFWA aired the Annenberg/CPB Channel on 39.4 until October 1, 2008. The satellite feed for Annenberg was discontinued at that time.[8] The subchannel was then programmed locally with news and information programming and other documentaries supplied by PBS and various public media distributors. It was originally branded as "39-4you" (using a similar logo to PBS YOU, though it had no affiliation with that retired service), and later became known as "Explore" in 2014. On January 1, 2026, the subchannel became affiliated with the national World Channel.[9][6]

Channel 39.5 officially launched on July 1, 2019, providing local weather radar and forecasts on screen, with audio from NOAA Weather Radio.[10]

Channel 39.6 began broadcasting in May 2025 as a dedicated channel for Allen County Public Library's audio reading service. The audio feed was first broadcast via SAP on channel 39.4.[11]

Analog-to-digital conversion

WFWA ended regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 39, on February 17, 2009, the original target date on 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 40, using virtual channel 39.[12]

As part of the SAFER Act,[13] WFWA kept its analog signal on the air for 2+ weeks to inform viewers of the digital television transition through a loop of public service announcements from the National Association of Broadcasters.

callsign	WFWA
branding	PBS Fort Wayne
digital	18 (UHF)
virtual	39
affiliations	39.1: PBS for others, see
owner	Fort Wayne Public Television, Inc.
location	Fort Wayne, Indiana
country	United States
founded	February 2, 1975 (establishment of W39AA)
airdate	December 5, 1986
callsign meaning	"Fort Wayne"
former channel numbers	Analog: 39 (UHF, 1986–2009) Digital: 40 (UHF, 2003–2018)
erp	350 kW
haat	219.1 m
facility id	22108
coordinates	41.10361°N, -85.19111°W
licensing authority	FCC
website	https://www.pbsfortwayne.org/

History

Technical information

Subchannels

Analog-to-digital conversion

External links

References