View source for WHPS-CD

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{{More citations needed|date=June 2024}}
{{cleanup rewrite|date=November 2018}}
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{{Short description|Television station in Detroit}}
{{Infobox television station
| callsign               = WHPS-CD
| logo                   = WHPS-CD ID 2024.webp
| logo_size              = 220px
| branding               = WHPS Detroit Live
| analog                 =
| digital                = 15 ([[UHF]])
| virtual                = 15
| affiliations           = ''see {{Section link||Subchannels}}''
| founded                = August 31, 1990
| airdate                = {{start date and age|1995}}
| location               = [[Detroit, Michigan]]
| country                = United States
| callsign_meaning       = We're [[Highland Park, Michigan|Highland Park]]'s Station
| owner                  = HME Equity Fund II, [[LLC]]
| licensee               = 
| former_callsigns       = {{ubl|W68CH (1990–2001)|W33BY (2001–2015)|W33BY-D (2015–2018)}}
| former_channel_numbers = {{ubl|'''Analog:''' 68 (UHF, 1990–2003), 33 (UHF, 2001–2014)|'''Digital:''' 33 (UHF, 2014–2019)}}
| former_affiliations    = {{ubl|[[MTV2]]|[[American Independent Network]]|[[Urban America Television|UATV]] (1990–2000)|Launch TV (2000s–2010s)}}
| erp                    = 15 [[kW]]
| haat                   = {{convert|124.4|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}
| facility_id            = 25722
| class                  = [[Class A television service|CD]]
| coordinates            = {{coord|42|24|22|N|83|6|44|W}}
| licensing_authority    = [[FCC]] 
| website                = 
}}

'''WHPS-CD''' (channel 15) is a [[low-power broadcasting#Television|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, Michigan|Highland Park]], [[Hamtramck]], and most of Detroit (except for the southern portion of the Detroit neighborhood of [[Boynton-Oakwood Heights (Detroit)|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 Television Network|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<ref name="Detr941230">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90569643/channel-62-fixture-dances-last-dance/|date=December 30, 1994|page=3F, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90569675/ 2F]|first=Carol|last=Teegardin|title=Channel 62 fixture dances last dance: 'New Dance Show' marks end of an era with Saturday special|newspaper=Detroit Free Press|location=Detroit, Michigan|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=January 23, 2022|archive-date=January 23, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220123192230/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90569643/channel-62-fixture-dances-last-dance/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Fri -->, 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,{{r|Detr941230}} 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.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://online.tvguide.com/listings/?rnd=705.5475 |title=Archived copy |access-date=July 19, 2006 |archive-date=July 19, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060719025253/http://online.tvguide.com/listings/?rnd=705.5475 |url-status=dead }}</ref> 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&nbsp;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 television transition in the United States|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, 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 [[multiplex (TV)|multiplexed]]:
{| class="wikitable"
|+Subchannels of WHPS-CD<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=WHPS#station|title=RabbitEars TV Query for WHPS|website=[[RabbitEars.info]]|accessdate=June 11, 2024}}</ref> 
! [[Digital subchannel#United States|Channel]]
! [[Display resolution|Res.]]
! [[Aspect ratio (image)|Aspect]]
! Short name
! Programming
|-
! scope = "row" | 15.1 
| [[1080i]] || rowspan=7|[[16:9]] || WHPSCD- || Mariavision
|-
! scope = "row" | 15.2 
| rowspan=6|[[480i]] || HlyFld || iHolyField TV
|-
! scope = "row" | 15.3 
| ShopLC || [[Shop LC]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 15.4 
| Retro || [[Retro TV]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 15.5 
| Hland || [[Heartland (TV channel)|Heartland]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 15.6 
| JTV || [[Jewelry TV]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 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)|WVIE-FM]]
* [[Media in Detroit]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Detroit TV}}
{{Other Michigan Stations}}

[[Category:1995 establishments in Michigan]]
[[Category:Heartland (TV network) affiliates]]
[[Category:Highland Park, Michigan]]
[[Category:LocusPoint Networks]]
[[Category:Low-power television stations in Michigan|HPS-CD]]
[[Category:Retro TV affiliates]]
[[Category:Television channels and stations established in 1995]]
[[Category:Television stations in Detroit|HPS-CD]]