WGVU-TV


WGVU-TV, virtual channel 35, is a Public Broadcasting Service member television station licensed to Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States. It operates a full-time satellite station, WGVK in Kalamazoo. The two stations are owned by Grand Valley State University, and maintain studios in the Meijer Public Broadcast Center, located in the Eberhard Center on the GVSU Pew Campus in downtown Grand Rapids. WGVU's transmitter is located near the GVSU main campus in Allendale, while WGVK's transmitter is based in Kalamazoo's Westwood neighborhood.

History

The station signed on the air on December 17, 1972 as WGVC-TV, owned by what was then Grand Valley State College. Channel 35 originally operated from the basement of Manitou Hall on GVSC's Allendale campus.
WGVC-TV's signal was somewhat marginal in the southern portion of the vast West Michigan market. It must conform its signal to protect fellow PBS member WNIT in South Bend, Indiana, on adjacent channel 34. In much of this area, WGVC-TV could only be seen on cable. This was very similar to what the area's main ABC affiliate, WZZM-TV, faced due to the presence of WTVG in Toledo, Ohio. To make up for this shortfall in coverage, Grand Valley State signed on WGVK as a satellite station in 1984. In 1986, the station relocated to its current studio facility at the Meijer Public Broadcast Center. The station's callsign was changed to WGVU in 1987, when Grand Valley State was elevated to university status.

Programming

WGVU produces numerous local programs. It also carries national shows from PBS, American Public Television, and the National Educational Telecommunications Association. NPR and PRI programming heard on WGVU-FM is aired on the fifth digital subchannel's SAP channel.

Weekly

WGVU produces documentaries. Notable documentaries are LZ Michigan, Time and Chance: Gerald Ford's Appointment with History, Surviving Auschwitz: Children of the Shoah and Defying Hitler.

Digital television

Digital channels

WGVU and WGVK's digital channels are multiplexed:
ChannelVideoAspectPSIP Short NameProgramming
35.1
52.1		1080iWGVU-DT
WGVK-DT		Main programming / PBS
35.2
52.2		720pWGVU-DT2
WGVKDT2		PBS Kids
35.3
52.3		480iWGVU-DT3
WGVKDT3		PBS Encore
35.4
52.4		480iWGVU-DT4
WGVKDT4		World
35.5
52.5		480iWGVU-DT5
WGVKDT5		Schedule and WGVU/WGVS/WGVU-FM

WGVU/WGVK's main channel offers programming in 1080i high definition; standard definition programs are shown with pillarboxing. WGVU/WGVK's fifth digital subchannel offers a scrolling still screen featuring schedule information for the station's three other subchannels, along with background audio and NPR news updates from oldies radio sister station. WGVU-FM is available through the SAP channel.

Analog-to-digital conversion

Both stations shut down their analog signals respectively, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television: