Channel 21 was the originally allotted channel to Norfolk for educational use when reserved channels were made available in 1952. However, there was no immediate interest in building a station to use the channel as a result of the cost involved. Educational television did not come to Hampton Roads until September 1957, when WVEC-TV (then on channel 15) began broadcasting two hours a day of programs for Norfolk city schools. This was reduced to one hour in 1959, wh…

The station's signal is multiplexed:
TBN-owned full-power stations permanently ceased analog transmissions on April 16, 2009.
Because it was granted an original construction permit after the FCC finalized the DTV allotment plan on April 21, 1997, WTPC-TV (as WHRE) did not receive a companion channel for a digital television station. The station shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 21, on February 17…