WHPS-CD

WHPS-CD

File:WHPS-CD ID 2024.webp
Detroit, Michigan United States
Channels	Digital: 15 (UHF) Virtual: 15
Branding	WHPS Detroit Live
Programming
Affiliations	see § Subchannels
Ownership
Owner	HME Equity Fund II, LLC
History
Founded	August 31, 1990
First air date	1995 (1995)
Former call signs	W68CH (1990–2001) W33BY (2001–2015) W33BY-D (2015–2018)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 68 (UHF, 1990–2003), 33 (UHF, 2001–2014) Digital: 33 (UHF, 2014–2019)
Former affiliations	MTV2 American Independent Network UATV (1990–2000) Launch TV (2000s–2010s)
Call sign meaning	We're Highland Park's Station
Technical information
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	25722
Class	CD
ERP	15 kW
HAAT	124.4 m (408 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	42°24′22″N 83°6′44″W ⧼validator-fatal-error⧽
Links
Public license information	Profile LMS

WHPS-CD (channel 15) is a low-power, Class A television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, owned by HME Equity Fund II. The station broadcasts from its studios at the corner of Victor and Brush Streets (near the intersection of Woodward Avenue and the Davison Freeway) in Highland Park, with its transmitter located near Burt Road and Capitol Avenue in the Weatherby section of Detroit, shared with radio stations WMUZ-FM and WCHB.

WHPS-CD is available nationwide through online streaming and on Roku and Xfinity channel 91 in Highland Park, Hamtramck, and most of Detroit (except for the southern portion of the Detroit neighborhood of Boynton).

Until December 4, 2014, the then-W33BY was also the only remaining American station in the Metro Detroit area to still broadcast only in analog. On April 23, 2014, the station had announced that LocusPoint Networks was beginning procedures to purchase it, making it a sister station to WDWO-CD (channel 18) and potential sister to WUDT-LD (channel 23), if that station is allowed to be sold from Daystar to LocusPoint. The sale closed successfully.

Background

WHPS-CD was the Detroit area's first Black-owned TV station since WGPR (channel 62, now WWJ-TV) became a CBS affiliate. The station was owned until 2015 by R. J. Watkins, who, between 1988 and 1996, hosted and produced a dance program for WGPR-TV, The New Dance Show, which moved to WHPS-CD in 1995, and reruns still air on the station at various evening timeslots.

The station's television airtime is occupied mostly by phone-in talk shows (most are radio simulcasts), fashion shows, televangelism, paid advertisements, and a children's show called K.E.Y.S. Kids, which encourages kids to "Enjoy Yourselves Without Drugs".

WHPS-CD, WHPR-FM, and WVIE, a U.S. Virgin Islands radio station owned by Watkins, are also streamed online via their website. WHPS-CD is also on Roku. WVIE-FM has been simulcast on 33.3 since November 7, 2015. And WHPR-FM has been simulcast on 33.2 since November 8, 2015. In December 2015, the simulcast of 33.1 on 33.4 was replaced with The Dream Network.

History

The station started out as W68CH on channel 68 in early 1995, and branded itself as "TNVC-Channel 68" and later "UHF 68, Highland Park". The station "moved" to W33BY in November 2001, but the station still operated on both channels. This continued until August 2002, when 33 and 68 carried separate schedules. Channel 68 would close down for good in September 2003. However, as of July 2006, TVguide.com still shows the station as on the air, carrying a schedule separate from W33BY. As of current, however, the FCC database has no listings for W68CH, or any channel 68, in the Detroit area. Viewers in the area have confirmed that channel 68 is no longer broadcasting, and has not for quite some time.

They later filed a construction permit to flash cut channel 33 to a digital signal, broadcasting at 4 kW from facilities at its studios in Highland Park. The permit was to expire September 1, 2015, the date on which all low-powered television stations in the United States must convert to digital or close down, as per the FCC's digital conversion plan. The station converted to digital operations on December 4, 2014, and was licensed by the FCC for digital operation on January 29, 2015.

When W33BY converted to digital, it was given a total of four subchannels. 33.1 was broadcast in 720p, with the other 3 subchannels being 480i simulcasts with a 4:3 aspect ratio. However, on November 7, 2015, a simulcast of WVIE with a slide saying "W33BY DETROIT" was added to 33.3. On November 8, 2015, WHPR-FM was added to 33.2, and The Dream Network was added to 33.4. 33.4 was however, reverted to a simulcast of 33.1 again in May 2016. On August 3, 2018, the station changed its call letters to WHPS-CD.

Subchannels

The station's signal is multiplexed:

Subchannels of WHPS-CD

Channel	Res.	Aspect	Short name	Programming
15.1	1080i	16:9	WHPSCD-	Mariavision
15.2	480i		HlyFld	iHolyField TV
15.3			ShopLC	Shop LC
15.4			Retro	Retro TV
15.5			Hland	Heartland
15.6			JTV	Jewelry TV
15.7			RCTV	Rare Collectibles TV

As part of the FCC's incentive auction, W33BY-D moved to UHF 15 as WHPS-CD (initially proposed as W15EC-D).

See also

• WHPR-FM
• WVIE-FM
• Media in Detroit

References

This article "WHPS-CD" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:WHPS-CD. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

---