Today’s show brought to you by ... lightning!

Thanks to Mother Nature, Charlottesville’s PBS affiliate is transitioning to digital broadcasting a little earlier than expected — and that means free digital converter boxes for some local residents.

WHTJ’s main analog transmitter on Carter’s Mountain was permanently damaged during a June 11 electrical storm.

The lightning strike did not affect the network’s three digital channels, and engineers were able to create a temporary low-power solution to keep the analog signal broadcasting after the bad weather. However, WHTJ said, viewers of the analog channel 41 are getting poor reception.

To resolve the problem, the station is purchasing digital converter boxes and offering them to affected members — those who contribute to the local station — without cable or satellite services. The station estimates that it has about 3,000 members in the Charlottesville area, and each will be sent a letter outlining the program’s logistics.

Once verified by the station, those members without cable or satellite will be given the digital equipment to hook up to their televisions, station manager D.J. Crotteau said.
The converter boxes typically cost $40 to $50. With the equipment, viewers can receive over-the-air signals from WHTJ and the local NBC, ABC, CBS and FOX affiliates. Crotteau said repairing the transmitter would be fruitless because several parts are obsolete.

“We searched high and low for these parts,” Crot-teau said in a statement. “It’s like shopping for a wooden telephone with a wind-up dial.”

To continue receiving over-the-air broadcasts, anyone without a digital tuner will have to purchase a converter box by Feb. 17, when the all the country’s analog broadcast signals will convert to digital at the behest of the Federal Communications Commission. The change will free up the broadcast spectrum for public safety communications and wireless services.