WBYD-CD
| Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | |
|---|---|
| Channels | Digital: 39 (UHF)(PSIP) |
| Affiliations | Jewelry Television |
| Owner | Benjamin Perez |
| Founded | July 25, 1990[1] |
| Call letters' meaning | BYD = Bid |
| Former callsigns | W35AZ (1990-2001) WONT-LP (2001-2002) WBYD-CA (2002-2015) |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 35 (1997-2015) |
| Former affiliations | America's Collectibles Network (2000–2001)Shop at Home (2001–2015) |
| Transmitter power | 15 kW |
WBYD-CD is a digital Class A low-power television station in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area, licensed to broadcast digitally on channel 39. Its owner is Benjamin Perez and it broadcasts from the WQED tower in the Oakland area of Pittsburgh. However, the station is licensed to Johnstown, Pennsylvania. It is famous for televising a live auction for two years from 2001 to late 2002. It is an over-the-air station that is not carried on any local cable TV system or DBS provider.
History and Programming
W35AZ signed on in the early 1990s on analog channel 35. It was a Network One affiliate for the life of the short-lived network. After the demise of Network One, the station became an affiliate of America's Collectibles Network. In 2001, it changed its call letters to WONT-LP, and started broadcasting live programming from its studios, which at the time were located at the Eastland Mall in North Versailles, Pennsylvania.
WANTV was a live auction of salvage merchandise that ran from 7 PM until midnight daily. Originally, the show had multiple hosts, but in the first two months of the show being on the air, eventually had a rotating cast of three hosts: Sly Jock, a former DJ on WAMO-FM; John Hulmes, a local entertainer; and Cheryl McCall, a local florist. In the next few months, both Sly Jock and John Hulmes left and Cheryl McCall became the show's only host.
In mid-2001, WANTV was renamed Live Auction Television, and its hours were reduced to three days a week (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) from 7 PM to 1 am. Also, WONT ended its affiliation with ACN, and became an affiliate of the Shop at Home Network.
The station had a very small staff, and as a result, people had to perform multiple job functions during the live shows. The owner of the station, Benjamin Perez was the manager of the auctions, and the booth announcer, and Joe Krinock, the technical director at the station, served as the cameraman and master control operator. The station only owned one working studio camera, which caused the show to have a low-budget look. Also, the announcer or the manager of the auction would interrupt and talk to the host on-air to ask questions that viewers called in with, since the station did not have an IFB system.
The show was not profitable for the station, and in a move to boost revenue, in 2002, the show was renamed Auction Live, and started being simulcast on its sister stations at the time, WIIC-LP and WPTG-LP. Also in 2002, the station changed its callsign to "WBYD-CA" and became a Class A LPTV station.
In August 2002, Auction Live went on hiatus due to declining sales of merchandise on the show. It returned two months later, but the show ceased airing by the end of 2002.
WBYD-CA then began showing limited locally originated programming, including a local talk show created by the Pittsburgh-based band American Metal.
In 2005, the owner of the Eastland Mall, Benderson Development, announced the mall was going to be demolished, and cancelled the leases of all the remaining tenants, including WBYD. The station was moved to a trailer next to the broadcast tower of WQED.
WBYD-CA went off the air in 2013-2014 for financial reasons.[2][3]
WBYD-CA was owned by Abacus Television until it was sold, along with four other TV stations, to Fifth Street Enterprises LLC in April 2015.[4][5][6]
On May 15, 2015, it returned to the air, initially rebroadcasting WOSC-CD, on channel 39. In August 2015, it started broadcasting Jewelry TV.
See also
References
- ↑ http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/call_hist.pl?Facility_id=68395&Callsign=WBYD-CA
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