WETA-TV

File:WETA logo.svg

In 1952, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) allocated 242 channels for non-commercial use across the United States; channel 26 was allocated for use in Washington, D.C.{{cite news|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1953/BC-1953-03-23.pdf|work=Broadcasting|date=March 23, 1953|title=Second D. C. Group Proposes Filing for Reserved Ch. 26|page=76|via=World Radio History|access-date=January 25, 2021}} In 1953, the Greater Washington Educational Television Association (GWETA) was formed to file for a channel 26 construction permit, joining the D.C. Board of Education.{{cite news|date=March 21, 1953|newspaper=Washington Post|title=Educational TV Group Is Organized|page=13}} The Board of Education would drop its bid in 1954.{{Cite news|newspaper=Washington Post|title=Lack Of Federal Assistance Cited; Field Is Cleared For Co-op Video|date=February 18, 1954|first=Jeanne|last=Rogers|page=25}} GWETA credits Elizabeth Campbell with having founded the organization.{{cite web | url = http://www.weta.org/about/inside/history/founder | title = Our Founder | publisher = Greater Washington Educational Telecommunications Association | location = Washington, DC | access-date = November 13, 2010 }} In the early days, before it was granted a license for its own channel, GWETA produced educational programming for WMAL-TV and WTTG.{{cite news|title=Education TV Group Plans 13 Programs|date=December 10, 1954|page=29|newspaper=Washington Post}}{{cite news|newspaper=Washington Post|date=September 23, 1958|title=Thousands View First TV School Science Lesson|first=Erwin|last=Knoll|page=B1}}

An application was finally filed on May 3, 1961, and approved on June 12, for a construction permit for the channel.{{Cite web|url= https://cdbs.recnet.com/corres/?doc=83610 |title= History Cards for WETA-TV|publisher=Federal Communications Commission}} (Guide to reading History Cards) GWETA was eventually granted a license by the FCC to activate channel 26; WETA-TV first signed on the air on October 2, 1961, with the first televised class being aired on October 16.{{cite news|newspaper=Washington Post|title=Classroom TV Makes Debut; Result: Comme Ci, Comme Ca|first=Carole|last=Bowie|page=B1|date=October 17, 1961}} WETA originally operated out of Yorktown High School in Arlington;{{r|comme}} the station later relocated its operations to the campus of Howard University in 1964.{{r|hc}} Rapid growth led a station that had been described as having "a rough time meeting the monthly bills" in 1963{{Cite news|title=Educational TV: what it is, where it's going|work=Changing Times|date=February 1963|volume=16|issue=2|pages=38–46}} to even pursue thoughts of a second channel in 1965.{{cite news|work=Broadcasting|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1965/1965-01-04-BC.pdf|title=D.C. ETV wants second channel|date=January 4, 1965|page=41|access-date=January 25, 2021|via=World Radio History}} In 1967, WETA began producing Washington Week in Review (now simply titled Washington Week), a political discussion program that became the station's first program to be syndicated nationally to other non-commercial educational stations and is now the network's longest-running public affairs program.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/20/arts/television/paul-duke-a-moderator-on-public-tv-dies-at-78.html|title=Paul Duke, a Moderator on Public TV, Dies at 78|work=New York Times|first=Wolfgang|last=Saxon|date=July 20, 2005|access-date=January 25, 2021}}

Around 1970, the Greater Washington Educational Television Association changed its name to the Greater Washington Educational Telecommunications Association to reflect the oversight of the new WETA (FM). In 1971, the station begin producing shows for the newly-formed National Public Affairs Broadcast Center (later National Public Affairs Center for Television), a group led by PBS for its news programming.{{Cite news |date=August 30, 1971 |title=Public broadcasting gets it together |pages=46 |work=Broadcasting Magazine |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/71-OCR/1971-08-30-BC-OCR-Page-0046.pdf |access-date=July 15, 2023}}{{Cite news |date=September 27, 1971 |title=NPACT hires former NBC newsman |pages=38 |work=Broadcasting Magazine |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/71-OCR/1971-09-27-BC-OCR-Page-0038.pdf |access-date=July 15, 2023}} In 1972, the producing organization National Public Affairs Center for Television merged into WETA.{{Cite news| issn = 0362-4331| title = Public Affairs Center and Capital's WETA to Join (Published 1972)| work = The New York Times| access-date = January 1, 2021| date = April 5, 1972| url = https://www.nytimes.com/1972/04/05/archives/public-affairs-center-and-capitals-weta-to-join.html}}{{Cite news |date=April 10, 1972 |title=NPACT, Washington's WETA-TV to merge |pages=42 |work=Broadcasting Magazine}} In 1992, WETA broadcast the first publicized over-the-air high-definition television signal in the United States.{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1992/03/24/tuning-in-to-a-trophy-technology/a6ce01c7-266b-4448-9253-46fffc03985e/|newspaper=Washington Post|date=March 24, 1992|first=John|last=Burgess|access-date=January 25, 2021|title=Tuning In to a Trophy Technology}} In 1995, WETA acquired CapAccess, an interactive computer network. From that acquisition, WETA helped connect public schools, public libraries and local government agencies to the Internet.{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1995/09/21/weta-to-manage-capaccess-area-computer-network/907b9e50-f7b7-4c2f-a616-c5136d945369/|title=WETA TO MANAGE CAPACCESS AREA COMPUTER NETWORK|last=Swisher|first=Kara|author-link=Kara Swisher|date=September 21, 1995|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=February 26, 2017}}

In 1996, WETA launched its first national educational project, LD Online, a website that seeks to help children and adults reach their full potential by providing accurate and up-to-date information and advice about learning disabilities and ADHD. It was joined in 2001 by Reading Rockets, a multimedia project offering information and resources on how young kids learn to read, why so many struggle, and how caring adults can help. In 2003, Reading Rockets spun off Colorín Colorado, a free web-based service that provides information, activities, and advice for educators, and Spanish-speaking families of English language learners (ELLs).{{cite news|url=https://www.eschoolnews.com/2003/10/22/colorin-colorado-helps-hispanic-parents-encourage-their-children-to-read/|work=eSchool News|date=October 22, 2003|title="Colorin Colorado" helps Hispanic parents encourage their children to read|access-date=January 24, 2021}} To support the parents and educators of older students who struggle with reading, WETA launched Adlit.org in 2007. AdLit.org is a multimedia educational initiative offering research (articles, instructional strategies, school-based outreach events, professional development webcasts, and book recommendation) to develop teens' literacy skills, prevent school dropouts, and prepare students for the demands of college.{{cite news|url=https://thejournal.com/articles/2007/11/08/adlitorg-debuts-to-help-struggling-adolescents-read-write.aspx|work=THE Journal|first=David|last=Kopf|date=November 8, 2007|access-date=January 24, 2021|title=AdLit.org Debuts To Help Struggling Adolescents Read, Write}} Seeing a need to educate the public about brain injuries, in 2008 WETA, in partnership with the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center, launched BrainLine.org. The site features videos, webcasts, recent research, personal stories, and articles on preventing, treating, and living with traumatic brain injuries.{{Cite web |title=BrainLine.org Confronts Traumatic Brain Injury Crisis |url=http://www.brainline.org/downloads/PDFs/Press_release-08.pdf}}

In 1997, WETA tested its new full-power digital transmitter by broadcasting the first-ever high definition telecast of a live Major League Baseball game to the National Press Club; the digital facility was activated for full-time broadcasting in November 1998.{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/tech/janpullout/feature2.htm|date=January 29, 1999|access-date=January 25, 2021|title= Up in the Air – The High-Definition Deficit |first=Scott|last=Moore|newspaper=The Washington Post}}

With the national closure of the PBS Kids network in 2005, WETA did not become a PBS Kids Sprout partner.{{cite web |url=http://current.org/files/archive-site/kids/kids0901multicast.shtml |title=Many stations packaging their own kids' channels |publisher=Originally published in Current |date=January 12, 2009 |author=Katy June-Friesen |access-date=December 9, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160416074819/http://current.org/files/archive-site/kids/kids0901multicast.shtml |archive-date=April 16, 2016 |url-status=dead }} By April 2006, the station had added World programming to a subchannel prior to its January 2007 launch as a nationwide network.{{cite news|last1=Egner|first1=Jeremy|title=World and Go! streams flow into PBS plans|url=http://23g9r82i3f1d2a63qz3akhv1.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/files/archive-site/dtv/dtv0606multicast.shtml|access-date=March 30, 2016|work=Current|date=April 3, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160425232107/http://23g9r82i3f1d2a63qz3akhv1.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/files/archive-site/dtv/dtv0606multicast.shtml|archive-date=April 25, 2016|url-status=dead}} In 2007, WETA started broadcasting a children's channel branded under the name WETA Kids. By February 2009, WETA only aired a daily three-hour children's morning block on its primary channel, clearing the afternoon for general audience programs like Charlie Rose, travel shows, repeats of the previous night's prime time shows, movies, documentaries, and miniseries.

WETA decided to drop Create due to the network moving to being fee-based on July 1, 2012, and perceived lack of programming flexibility. WETA How-To lifestyle programming replaced Create in January 2012. How-To was replaced by WETA UK on July 4, 2012, after an analysis of audience and local viewers' demand for British programs.{{cite news|last1=Sefton|first1=Dru|title=Multicasts tailored to local priorities|url=http://current.org/files/archive-site/dtv/dtv1211multicast.html|access-date=March 31, 2016|work=Current|publisher=American University SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION|date=June 11, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160417024714/http://current.org/files/archive-site/dtv/dtv1211multicast.html|archive-date=April 17, 2016|url-status=dead}}

The station's signal is multiplexed:

Channel 26.2, "WETA UK", is a subchannel programmed in-house with a schedule of shows produced in the United Kingdom. Channel 26.5, "WETA Metro", is also produced in-house and focuses on timeshifted rebroadcasts of news programming and reruns that interest a local audience.

WETA-TV began broadcasting a digital television signal on UHF channel 27 in May 1999, as the first publicly demonstrated digital multicast signal in the Greater Washington area.{{Cite web |date= |title=Inside WETA: History |url=http://www2.weta.org/inside/history/ |url-status= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040906075257/http://www2.weta.org/inside/history/ |archive-date=2004-09-06 |access-date=2025-05-21 |website=WETA}} The station shut down its analog signal, on UHF channel 26, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The digital signal continued to broadcast on its pre-transition UHF channel 27,{{cite web|url=http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf |title=DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds |access-date=March 24, 2012}} using virtual channel 26. On July 29, 2019, during the FCC repack, WETA relocated from channel 27 to channel 31.{{Cite magazine |last=WETA |date=July 24, 2019 |title=August 2019 - WETA Magazine |url=https://issuu.com/weta_magazine/docs/weta_magazine_aug_2019 |magazine=WETA |page= |pages=2}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Official website|http://www.weta.org/tv}}
• [http://watch.weta.org/video/15161243 WETA's First Broadcast: A New Era (1961)] – documentary produced by WETA-TV

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{{Commons category|WETA-TV}}

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Category:1961 establishments in Washington, D.C.

Category:Members of the Cultural Alliance of Greater Washington

Category:PBS member stations

Category:Television channels and stations established in 1961

ETA-TV