WETA-TV

WETA-TV

Washington, DC
Branding	WETA TV 26
Channels	Digital: 27
Subchannels	26.1 WETA HD 26.2 WETA Create 26.3 WETA Kids Channel 26.4 WETA-TV
Affiliations	PBS
Owner	Greater Washington Educational Telecommunications Association
First air date	October 2, 1961 (1961-10-02)
Call letters' meaning	Washington Educational Television Association
Sister station(s)	90.9 WETA (FM)
Former callsigns	WETA (1961–1980)
Former channel number(s)	26 (analog, 1961–2009)
Former affiliations	NET (1961–1970)
Transmitter power	90 kW
Height	254 meters (833 ft)
Class	Non-commercial educational
Facility ID	65670
Transmitter coordinates	38°57′1.4″N 77°4′45.9″W (NAD83)
Website	www.weta.org/tv

WETA-TV is a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member public television station for the Washington, D.C., area. Its studios are in nearby Arlington, Virginia. Among WETA's nationally-broadcast programs are PBS Newshour and Washington Week and several nationally-broadcast cultural and documentary programs, such as the Ken Burns' documentaries and A Capitol Fourth.

History

In 1952, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) allocated 242 channels for non-commercial use across the U.S.. Channel 26 was allocated for use in Washington, D.C.^{[citation needed]}

In 1953, the Greater Washington Educational Television Association was formed to develop programming for channel 26.^{[citation needed]} GWETA credits Elizabeth Campbell with having founded the organization.

In the early days, before it was granted a license for its own channel, the GWETA produced educational programming for WTTG.^{[citation needed]}

Finally, on 2 October 1961, the GWETA was granted a license by the FCC to activate channel 26. Until WETA moved to Howard University in 1964, WETA operated from Yorktown High School.^{[citation needed]}

In 1967, WETA produced Washington Week in Review, its first nationally syndicated program for non-commercial educational stations.^{[citation needed]}

Around 1970, the Greater Washington Educational Television Association changed their name to the Greater Washington Educational Telecommunications Association to reflect the oversight of the new WETA-FM.^{[citation needed]}

In 1992, WETA broadcast the first over-the-air HDTV signal in the U.S.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

In 1996, WETA launched its first national educational project, LD Online, a web site 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).^{[citation needed]} 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. 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.

In 1997, WETA tested its new full-power HDTV transmitter and began to showcase it to the public in 1999.

In 2002, WETA became one of the first^{[citation needed]} stations to offer digital subchannels, which initially included WETA Prime, WETA Plus, and WETA Kids. In January 2006, WETA changed subchannels lineup with WETA Create, WETA Family, and WETA World, after the closure of national services PBS You and PBS Kids.

Digital television

WETA's digital channel is 27, using PSIP to display its virtual channel as 26. It is multiplexed into the following digital subchannels.

Digital channels:

Channel	Programming
26.1	Main WETA Programming / PBS
26.2	Create
26.3	PBS Kids
26.4	PBS programming in HD

Like many American television stations, WETA-TV turned off its analog signal and went digital-only on June 12, 2009. The station is now digital-only as WETA-DT on channel 27, using PSIP to appear as channels 26.1 to 26.4 on digital televisions.

Despite its positioning, channel 26.4 is WETA-TV's main program. 26.4 is broadcast in standard definition and is the equivalent of the former analog channel 26. Therefore, channel 26.4 is the channel that is provided on the standard-definition tiers of local cable systems.^{[citation needed]}

Channel 26.1 simulcasts any 26.4 programming that is available in high definition, as well as 26.4's entire primetime and overnight lineup regardless of whether the programming is in high or standard definition. At other times, 26.1 shows reruns of PBS high definition programming. Both schedules for 26.1 and 26.4 are different for those reasons.

Channel 26.2 runs the APT-owned network Create, while channel 26.3 shows repeats of PBS children's programming.

Author, Author!

"Author, Author!" is a videoblog hosted by journalist and critic Bethanne Patrick. This project of WETA.org, the website for WETA-TV, launched in September 2007. The site showcases authors and books through reviews and video interviews. Visitors are invited to contribute thoughts and ideas to the site through the blog's comments feature.

Past and future blog guests include:

• Mary Gordon, author of Circling My Mother, a memoir
• Richard Russo
• Geoffrey C. Ward, co-author, with Ken Burns, of The War: An Intimate History, now a PBS documentary, The War
• Frank Warren
• Naomi Wolf

External links

• WETA — official site
  • National Education Projects — links to WETA's other websites
  • History of WETA (requires proprietary software)
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WETA
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WETA-TV