WLFG (channel 68) is a religious independent station licensed to Grundy, Virginia, United States, serving the Tri-Cities area of southwestern Virginia and northeastern Tennessee. The station is owned by Abingdon, Virginia–based Living Faith Television. WLFG broadcasts from a two-site distributed transmission system, with transmitters near Hansonville, Virginia, and Harlan, Kentucky.

WLFG
CityGrundy, Virginia
Channels
BrandingLFTV: Living Faith Television
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
OwnerLiving Faith Ministries, Inc.
History
First air date
January 2, 1995 (29 years ago) (1995-01-02)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog: 68 (UHF, 1995–2007)
  • Digital: 49 (UHF, 2003–2019)
Call sign meaning
Living Faith Grundy
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID37808
ERP
  • DTS1: 479 kW
  • DTS2: 0.1 kW
HAAT
  • DTS1: 662 m (2,172 ft)
  • DTS2: 482 m (1,581 ft)
Transmitter coordinates
Links
Public license information
Websitelivingfaithtv.com

The station's programming is relayed on two satellite stations: WAGV (channel 68) in Harlan (which shares transmitter facilities with WLFG) and WLFB (channel 40) in Bluefield, West Virginia (with transmitter atop East River Mountain, south of Bluefield, Virginia). WAGV was the first to broadcast exclusively in digital following a malfunction at its analog transmitter.[2]

History

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Living Faith Television was founded by The Reverend Buford Smith who stated that God had given him a vision to build a TV station in Virginia.[citation needed] The station grew from the original station in Grundy to include the other two transmitters.

Rev. Smith was pastor of Tookland Pentecostal Church in Grundy until his death in May 2003. His son, Michael Smith, was president of the station until Buford Smith's death, when he became president and CEO of Living Faith Television.

Tookland Pentecostal Church was a major financier when the station was founded; it broke most of its ties with the station after it declared its independence in 2006.

Living Faith Television is now under the control of its board of directors, with Mike Smith as president and CEO and wife Lisa Smith as CFO. Other personalities are Mary Smith (wife of the late Buford Smith), Laverne Tripp and Fred Schmidt, among others.

Programming

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The station's programming consists mostly of content by other ministries that purchase air time, along with some infomercials. Original programming is spread throughout the broadcast day by the flagship program Living Faith Now! (formerly From These Hills), along with Sing Time, Fred Schmidt, and Life Begins at Calvary, a program produced by Calvary Church of the Tri-Cities, and other programs.

Technical information

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Subchannels

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The station's signal is multiplexed:

Subchannels of WLFG[3]
Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming
68.1 480i 4:3 WLFG-DT Main WLFG programming
68.2 16:9 Defy Defy TV
68.3 4:3 ION Ion Television
68.4 TruReal [Blank]
68.5 16:9 GEB GEB Network
68.6 4:3 Buzzr Buzzr
68.7 16:9 QVC QVC
68.8 Quest Quest
68.9 4:3 Twist Twist
68.10 16:9 Decades Catchy Comedy
68.11 4:3 GetTv getTV
68.12 Scripps News
68.13 16:9 TheGrio TheGrio

Analog-to-digital conversion

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WLFG shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 68, in May 2007.[4] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 49,[5] using virtual channel 68.

Satellite stations

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Station City of license Channels
(RF / VC)
First air date ERP HAAT Facility ID Transmitter coordinates Public license information
WAGV Harlan, Kentucky 14 (UHF)
(shared with WLFG)
68
August 1999 (25 years ago) (1999-08)
(on analog channel 44)
DTS1: 479 kW
DTS2: 0.1 kW
DTS1: 662 m (2,172 ft)
DTS2: 482 m (1,581 ft)
37809 DTS1:
36°49′47.3″N 82°4′44.4″W / 36.829806°N 82.079000°W / 36.829806; -82.079000
DTS2:
36°48′0.3″N 83°22′35.6″W / 36.800083°N 83.376556°W / 36.800083; -83.376556
Public file
LMS
WLFB Bluefield, West Virginia 25 (UHF)
40
November 2, 2000 (23 years ago) (2000-11-02) 300 kW (STA)
734 kW (CP)
411.8 m (1,351 ft) (STA)
399 m (1,309 ft) (CP)
37806 37°13′12.3″N 81°15′19″W / 37.220083°N 81.25528°W / 37.220083; -81.25528 (WLFB) Public file
LMS

References

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  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WLFG". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ "FCC Form 387, Exhibit 3: Updated DTV Status Report". FCC Database. February 9, 2009. Retrieved March 12, 2009.
  3. ^ "RabbitEars TV Query for WLFG". RabbitEars.info. Retrieved January 26, 2024.
  4. ^ "Public Attachmatch" (PDF).
  5. ^ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Retrieved March 24, 2012.
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