WRBU

WRBU, virtual channel 46 (UHF digital channel 47), is a Ion Television owned-and-operated television station serving St. Louis, Missouri, United States that is licensed to East St. Louis, Illinois. The station is owned by a broadcast trust with Gary Chapman as trustee and Ion Media Networks as its beneficiary. WRBU maintains studio facilities in the Victor Roberts Building located on North Kingshighway Boulevard on the northwest side of St. Louis, and its transmitter is located near House Springs.

History

The station first signed on the air on September 11, 1989 as WHSL; at the outset, it was a straight simulcast of the Home Shopping Network. It was founded by Roberts Broadcasting and was its first television station (Roberts would sign on two other stations, WRBJ in Jackson, Mississippi and WZRB in Columbia, South Carolina; and acquire WAZE-TV in Evansville, Indiana during 2005 and 2006). In June 2001, the station announced plans to become a commercial network affiliate when it signed a deal to join UPN starting in 2003. However, WHSL began a temporary secondary affiliation with UPN in September 2002 to carry Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Enterprise, which had been dropped by UPN's previous secondary affiliate, WB affiliate KPLR-TV (channel 11); this required getting permission from HSN to preempt two hours of its programming.