WPXD

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = WPXD
city =
station_
station_slogan =
station_branding = ION Television
analog = 31 (UHF)
digital = 33 (UHF)
(moving to 31 (UHF) in 2009)
other_chs = W48AV Detroit
affiliations = ION Television
network =
founded =
airdate = January 12, 1981
location = Ann Arbor/Detroit, Michigan
callsign_meaning = PaX TV Detroit
former_callsigns = WRHT (1981)
WIHT (1981-1989)
WBSX (1989-1998)
former_channel_numbers =
owner = ION Media Networks, Inc.
licensee = Paxson Communications License Company, LLC
sister_stations =
former_affiliations = independent (1981)
IT (1981-1983)
independent (1983-1989)
HSN (1989-1998)
Pax TV (1998-2005)
i (2005-2007)
effective_radiated_power = 2880 kW (analog)
48 kW (digital)
HAAT = 329 m (analog)
327 m (digital)
class =
facility_id = 5800
coordinates = coord|42|22|25.5|N|84|4|10.2|W|type:landmark_scale:2000
homepage = [http://www.ionline.tv/ www.ionline.tv]

WPXD is a television station licensed to Ann Arbor, Michigan. It is the ION Television network (formerly Pax TV and i) affiliate for Detroit.

WPXD's transmitter is located on Highway M-52 in Lyndon Township, Michigan located in Washtenaw County seven miles north of the town of Chelsea, Michigan. The station's transmitter is actually closer to Lansing and Jackson than it is to Detroit and is 55 miles from downtown Detroit. (Comcast systems in Lansing and Jackson get their ION programming from Battle Creek's WZPX, however.) WPXD's signal can be picked up as far away as St. Johns, Flint, and Owosso, and almost makes it to Battle Creek, Coldwater and Toledo. WPXD broadcasts its signal from an antenna that is 1,079 feet in height.

WPXD also has one translator station, W48AV channel 48 near Downtown Detroit.

According to the FCC coverage maps for both WPXD and W48AV ( [http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=TV529039.html] , [http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=TX226105.html] ), neither the main WPXD signal nor the W48AV translator covers the entire Metro Detroit area. WPXD's main signal partially reaches Detroit, while its W48AV translator, on the shores of Lake St. Clair near the Grosse Pointes, is directional towards the west, covering Warren and Center Line and going as far west as Madison Heights, but only covering a small portion of northeastern Detroit. The new digital signal on channel 33 will be 110kw from the same transmitter location as the analog channel 31 signal, interfering with W33BY a Class-A station currently on channel 33. However WPXD will be switching to Channel 31 for post-transition digital operations in 2009. [http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101234520&formid=387&fac_num=5800]

On cable, WPXD can be seen on Comcast Detroit channel 16, Wide Open West channel 19 and Bright House Livonia channel 21. It is not seen on Cogeco Windsor.

Digital Programming

The station's digital channel is multiplexed, with all signals carried in 4:3 480i:

History

The station signed on as WRHT on January 13, 1981 as an independent station. The first program it aired was a basketball game between Texas Tech and Baylor. Most of TV31's early programming was either locally produced or outsourced by other production companies; they also carried live news from cable financial network FNN (now known as CNBC). WRHT's callsign was changed to WIHT on February 1, 1981; IHT stood for "In-Home Theater", more commonly known as IT, an over-the-air subscription pay-TV service. Non-subscribers that tuned into WIHT during IT's airtime were treated to audio programming from NOAA Weather Radio station WXK81 in Onondaga, Michigan. WXON, Channel 20 in Detroit offered a similar service, ON-TV, at that time. IT and ON-TV both faded away in 1983 as cable TV became more prevalent in the Detroit area.

Channel 31 was purchased by Blackstar television and their call letters changed to WBSX on July 14, 1989; local/syndicated programming was phased out in favor of home shopping programming. On February 4, 1998, Paxson Communications of Palm Beach, Florida (now ION Media Networks) purchased WBSX to be part of a new "family network" called PAX (renamed to i in July 2005 and ION Television on January 29, 2007) and changed its call letters to WPXD-TV and moved it from its offices in Ann Arbor, to a location in downtown Detroit, before moving back to its office in Ann Arbor.

Coverage

WPXD is carried on cable systems throughout Southeast Michigan.

External links

* [http://www.ionline.tv/ Official website]
*TVQ|WPXD
**TVQ|W48AV
*BIA|WPXD|TV|TV