TV Technical Profile: WBIH


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Channel:
34
Programming:
29.1 - Tri-State Christian Television (HD)
29.2 - TCT (SD)
29.3 - ShopLC
29.4 - blank
29.5 - blank
29.6 - DigiTV
Transmitter Location:
[map] [street view] In the middle of absolutely nowhere.  North of AL-14 several miles along and north of CR-1, west of the Bonita community in Autauga County.
Power (ERP):
1 MW
Height Above Average Terrain (HAAT):
1,324 feet
Antenna:
Directional
Other Information:
41 dBu protected contour map, from the FCC. (OSM Link)
[FCC]
[FCCdata]
[RabbitEars]
[Wikipedia]
[Facebook]
[Street View] A view of the nondescript studio space in Prattville.
Owned by Radiant Life Ministries
History:
Operated by Flinn Broadcasting out of Memphis, this station began by airing mostly infomercials.  It came on the air in May 2002 as an analog station, but later flash cut to digital on the existing channel.  For the early life of the station, it ran mostly infomercials, despite being listed as an affiliate of the America One network.  In January 2011 the station picked up the Legacy TV network, which features religious programming.  They have, however, chosen to retain some secular programming and infomercials.  In March 2013 the station added Blab TV programming during the early evening hours.  Blab TV originates from the Florida panhandle and is infomercials targeting the Pensacola, Fort Walton Beach and Mobile markets, but the version this station is presenting is targeted towards the Montgomery area and has its own website and Facebook pages.  Whether it will last is anyone's guess, as the station has announced plans to affiliate with the upcoming Soul of the South network, an African-American targeted entertainment and news channel slated to launch in July of 2013.

As part of the FCC repacking process, this station received a permit to relocate from RF channel 29 to 35 in late July 2017.  In August 2019 the station began operating under a Special Temporary Authority with 461 kW on RF channel 29 as part of the repacking process.  It later moved to the post-repack channel of 34, still on lower power.  The station filed a license to cover for the full power 1 MW authorization in early April 2020.

In June 2020 the station was sold to Radiant Life Ministries.  They flipped the station to their Christian "Tri-State Christian Television" (TCT) network a few months after acquisition. They later added a copy of that to the —.2 subchannel, in standard definition.

The station added ShopLC to the —.3 subchannel in October 2021.  It seems to be a placeholder until DigiTV launches on November 1st.  That date came and went without a launch, so the listing is now just marked "soon", as it's stilled listed as TBD on the DigiTV website.  It appears that in April 2022, DigiTV launched on the —.6 subchannel instead.