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|---|---|
| City | Mayville, Wisconsin |
| Channels | |
| Branding | Trinity Broadcasting Network |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| History | |
First air date | 1997; 28 years ago (1997)[when?] |
Former channel number(s) |
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Call sign meaning | Wayne R. Stenz (part of original ownership group) |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 68547 |
| ERP | 504kW |
| HAAT | 186 m (610 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 43°26′11.4″N88°31′33.9″W / 43.436500°N 88.526083°W /43.436500; -88.526083 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
WWRS-TV (channel 52) is areligioustelevision station licensed toMayville, Wisconsin, United States, serving theMilwaukee andMadison areas as anowned-and-operated station of theTrinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). The station's transmitter is located inHubbard. WWRS-TV's signal covers much ofsoutheastern and south-central Wisconsin, along with extended cable coverage throughout the area.
The station was formerly owned by National Minority Television, ade facto subsidiary of TBN that was used by the network to circumvent theFederal Communications Commission (FCC)'s television station ownership restrictions. While TBN founderPaul Crouch was NMTV's president, one of its directors wasAfrican American and the other wasLatino, which met the FCC's definition of a "minority-controlled" firm.[2] In mid-2008, the station and its NMTV sisters came directly under TBN ownership.
Like most TBN stations, WWRS simulcasts the TBN national feed for most of the day. TBN typically buys full-power stations mainly to getmust-carry status on area cable systems, even though it offers almost no locally produced programming. However, WWRS airs FCC-requiredpublic affairs programming (Public Report) from its Brookfield studios,[3][4] with a nominal presence retained in at the station's transmitting facility and former main studio inIron Ridge. The station also airs church services from throughout the area, usually on Friday morning.
Charter Communications, the dominant cable provider in the Madison area, and several communities in the Milwaukee area before the 2017 purchase of Time Warner Cable and merge intoSpectrum, added TBN and all of itsdigital subchannels to its systems in the area beginning late August 2007, within the provider'sdigital family tier of channels. However, beyond must-carry situations where WWRS-DT1 must be carried on limited basic cable tiers in appropriate markets, the signal comes direct from TBN to the Spectrum headend, not through WWRS.[citation needed]
The station's signal ismultiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 52.1 | 720p | 16:9 | TBN HD | TBN |
| 52.2 | Merit | Merit Street | ||
| 52.3 | 480i | 4:3 | Inspire | TBN Inspire |
| 52.4 | 16:9 | ONTV4U | OnTV4U (infomercials) | |
| 52.5 | POSITIV | Positiv |
TBN-owned full-power stations permanently ceased analog transmissions on April 16, 2009.[5] The station's digital signal continued to broadcasts on its pre-transition UHF channel 43,[6] usingvirtual channel 52.
On April 1, 2002, a dispute arose betweenTime Warner Cable's Milwaukee-area system and WWRS regarding must-carry regulations. Must-carry regulations requirecable television providers within the Grade B contour of a full-power, full service television station to carry that station on their basic tier. When the dispute was settled, the FCC judged that the station was not required to be carried on the cable systems in the more distant counties ofKenosha,Racine andWalworth. However, WWRS was able to exercise must-carry to the Time Warner Cable lineup in the immediate Milwaukee area. This, combined with the lack of available channel space, caused the forced move ofMadison'sPBS member andPBS Wisconsinflagship stationWHA-TV (channel 21) to the digital cable tier in order to air WWRS on the basic cable tier.[7]