For a minor sum, the rights to use the WPBS call letters were purchased from a small radio station in Conyers, Georgia in the late 1990s; the call sign change to WPBS-TV took effect on September 1, 1998. Following the shutdown of analog television signals, WPBS switched to a "-DT" suffix on July 2, 2009, as did WNPI; WPBS returned to the "-TV" suffix on March 11, 2020. Despite the calls, which mimic the callsign schemes used by stations owned by ABC, NBC and CBS in New York City and Los Angeles, WPBS-TV is not an owned-and-operated station (nor is similarly-named KPBS in San Diego, California), as PBS cannot own or operate any of its member stations or regional member networks due to the network's local and non-profit nature; the WPBS callsign reflects the station's affiliation and programming, but not any special status within PBS.