WNEO

WNEO (channel 45) is a non-commercial educational television station licensed to Alliance, Ohio, United States. It is simulcast full-time over satellite station WEAO (channel 49) in Akron, Ohio. Both are member stations of PBS and jointly brand as PBS Western Reserve. WNEO is the Youngstown market's PBS station of record, while WEAO provides the Cleveland market with a second choice for PBS programming alongside the market's primary PBS station, WVIZ (channel 25).

For the WEAO radio station in Columbus, Ohio, see WOSU (AM).
WNEO
CityAlliance, Ohio
Channels
BrandingPBS Western Reserve
Programming
Affiliations
  • 45.1: PBS
  • 45.2: Fusion
  • 45.3: FNX
Ownership
Owner
  • Western Reserve Public Media
  • (Northeastern Educational Television of Ohio, Inc.)
History
First air date
May 30, 1973 (1973-05-30)
Former call signs
WNEO-TV (1973–1990)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog:
  • 45 (UHF, 1973–2008)
  • Digital:
  • 46 (UHF, 2003–2008)
  • 45 (UHF, 2008–2020)
Call sign meaning
Northeastern Ohio
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID49439
ERP465 kW
HAAT251.1 m (823.8 ft)
Transmitter coordinates40°54′23.2″N 80°54′39.3″W
Links
Public license information
Websitewesternreservepublicmedia.org
Satellite station
WEAO
CityAkron, Ohio
Channels
Ownership
Owner
  • Western Reserve Public Media
  • (Northeastern Educational Television of Ohio, Inc.)
History
First air date
September 21, 1975 (1975-09-21)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog:
  • 49 (UHF, 1975–2009)
  • Digital:
  • 50 (UHF, 2004–2019)
Call sign meaning
Eastern Ohio
Technical information[2]
Facility ID49421
ERP191 kW
HAAT294.6 m (966.5 ft)
Transmitter coordinates41°4′58.5″N 81°38′1.6″W
Links
Public license information

WNEO and WEAO are owned by Northeastern Educational Television of Ohio, which is a consortium of the University of Akron, Kent State University and Youngstown State University. The two stations operate from studios on Kent State's campus in Kent,[3] northeast of Akron and roughly west of Youngstown. WNEO's transmitter is located in Salem, while WEAO's transmitter is based in Copley Township.

WNEO also operates W13DP-D, a low-power digital translator in Youngstown, which serves low-lying areas in the Mahoning Valley that are not covered from the main WNEO signal. The translator signed on as analog W58AM in May 1980, converted to digital as W44CR-D in November 2009, and moved to its current channel in November 2019.[4]

History

WNEO first signed on the air on May 30, 1973.[5] It was originally intended to serve all of Northeast Ohio from Youngstown to Cleveland. Its city of license, Alliance, is split between both major markets in the region. Most of the city is in Stark County, which is in the Cleveland market; a small portion is in Mahoning County, However, it was later decided to reorient WNEO to serve Youngstown and sign on a satellite station to serve Akron and Cleveland. That station, WEAO, signed on the air more than two years later on September 21, 1975.[6] Prior to WEAO's sign-on, the channel 49 allocation in the Cleveland/Akron market was occupied by Akron-based WAKR-TV from 1953 to 1967, when that station moved to UHF channel 23. WNEO and WEAO were jointly branded as PBS 45 & 49 until late 2008 when they changed their on-air branding to “Western Reserve PBS", as part of the parent organization's overall branding change to Western Reserve Public Media in 2008.[7]

Technical information

Subchannels

The stations' digital signals are multiplexed:

Subchannels of WNEO[8] and WEAO[9]
Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming
WNEOWEAOWNEOWEAO
45.149.1 720p16:9WNEO HDWEAO HDMain WNEO programming / PBS
45.249.2 480iWNEO FSWEAO FSFusion:
The Ohio Channel 9 a.m.– 5 p.m.
NHK Newsline/BBC World News/DW News 5 p.m.– 6:30 p.m.
Educational independent: 7 p.m. – 11 p.m.
Classic Arts Showcase 11 p.m – 9 a.m.
45.349.3 WNEO FNWEAO FNFNX

WNEO and WEAO carried Create on digital channels 45.3 and 49.3 and the Ohio Channel on digital channels 45.4 and 49.4 until August 2007, when the two subchannels were removed to make room for their high definition feeds. The analog simulcast of WNEO/WEAO remained on digital channels 45.2 and 49.2 until the June 12, 2009, digital transition, when they were replaced with Western Reserve PBS Fusion, a local service which aired concerts and music-related programs until August 1, 2009, at which point it switched to a mix of local programming; WNEO/WEAO then added MHz Worldview to digital channels 45.3 and 49.3 on June 13.[10] WNEO and WEAO carried V-Me on digital channels 45.4 and 49.4 on September 19, 2009. The channel was discontinued in April 2017.

Translator
City of license Callsign Translating Channel ERP HAAT Facility ID Transmitter coordinates
YoungstownW13DP-D WNEO13 (VHF)0.27 kW186 m (610 ft)4943241°04′48.6″N 80°38′24.4″W

Analog-to-digital conversion

WNEO discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 45, on November 19, 2008. Two days later on November 21, the station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 46 to channel 45 for post-transition operations.[11]

WEAO discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 49, on June 12, 2009, the official date on 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 50,[11] using PSIP to display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 49.

References
  1. "Facility Technical Data for WNEO". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. "Facility Technical Data for WEAO". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  3. "Organization Profile". WesternReservePublicMedia.org. Western Reserve Public Media. 2009. Retrieved May 21, 2009. The operations center, administrative offices, main studio and location of public files are housed at 1750 Campus Center Drive, Kent, Ohio, 44240. The organization's Western Reserve Production Hub is located on the first floor of the United Building in downtown Akron.
  4. FCC TV query for W13DP-D
  5. "Channel 45? It's WNEO". The Akron Beacon Journal. June 1, 1973. p. B6. Retrieved May 17, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. "Ch. 49 goes on air today". The Akron Beacon Journal. September 21, 1975. p. TV Preview 3. Retrieved May 17, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. PBS 45 & 49 to Change Name to Western Reserve Public Media
  8. RabbitEars TV Query for WNEO
  9. RabbitEars TV Query for WEAO
  10. "Digital Services". westernreservepublicmedia.org. Archived from the original on December 24, 2008.
  11. "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2012.
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