WNED-TV

WNED-TV

Buffalo, New York
Branding	WNED
Channels	Digital: 43 (UHF) Virtual: 17 (PSIP)
Subchannels	17.1 PBS-HD 17.2 PBS 17.3 ThinkBright
Affiliations	PBS
Owner	Western New York Public Broadcasting Association
First air date	March 30, 1959
Call letters' meaning	Western New York EDucational Television
Sister station(s)	WNED (AM), WNED-FM
Former channel number(s)	17 (UHF analog, 1959-2009)
Former affiliations	NET (1959-1970)
Transmitter power	156 kW
Height	328 m
Facility ID	71928
Transmitter coordinates	43°1′48″N 78°55′15″W
Website	http://www.wned.org/

WNED-TV is a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member Public television station in Buffalo, New York. Owned by the Western New York Public Broadcasting Association, it broadcasts on digital channel 43 from studios in downtown Buffalo and a transmitter located in Grand Island, New York. Until April 16, 2009, it was also broadcast on analog channel 17.

In addition to Buffalo, WNED also has a substantial viewership in Southern Ontario, including Toronto; it identifies as "Buffalo/Toronto" on-air. Many cable and satellite providers in Southern Ontario include WNED as the PBS station, and more than half of its financial support comes from Canada.

History

As WBUF-TV

Channel 17 first signed on in 1953 as WBUF-TV an early UHF commercial station launched in 1953. It was sold to NBC in 1955. At first it was locally owned and took those programs from all networks which the city's oldest station, WBEN-TV (Channel 4) didn't opt to carry. Later, in 1954, WGR-TV (Channel 2) signed on, and claimed most of the ABC and some NBC programming which Channel 17 had previously used to fill much of its schedule. This could have left WBUF without a significant source of the network programming most viewers preferred. But NBC then bought channel 17 as an experiment to see if a UHF station could compete with VHF given sufficient signal strength, marketing promotion and program investment. The network also hoped to expand its presence in major markets beyond the five where the FCC allowed any network or group owner to operate full power VHF stations...a limit NBC had reached by 1948. But there was a loophole in the ownership limits allowing any such group owner to acquire two additional UHF outlets without relinquishing a VHF property. NBC expanded WBUF's power considerably to improve its signal strength and range, and built a new studio and transmitter complex on Buffalo's north side to provide service capabilities to match market-leading CBS affiliate WBEN-TV on Channel 4 and fast-rising ABC affiliate WGR-TV on Channel 2. However, despite a large investment, WBUF never made much headway against WBEN-TV (now WIVB-TV) and WGR-TV (now WGRZ-TV). Part of the problem was that television manufacturers were not required to build in UHF tuning capability. Viewers needed a converter to watch WBUF, and even with one the picture quality was often inferior to the VHF competition without an outdoor antenna. In fact, viewers of NBC programs in the eastern portion of the Buffalo metropolitan area often got a better signal from WROC-TV in Rochester, which then operated with full power on low-band VHF channel 5. The final blow came in late 1956, when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ended an almost decade-long competitive process and issued a third VHF license to Buffalo, on channel 7 -- the winner was Churchill Broadcasting, owner of WKBW Radio, for the station which was to become WKBW-TV. NBC signed off WBUF on September 30, 1958 (two months to the day before WKBW-TV signed on) and moved its affiliation to WGR-TV Channel 2, while ABC signed with the new Channel 7.

As WNED-TV

NBC donated its license and some equipment to the newly-formed Western New York Public Broadcasting Association. Channel 17 returned to the air on March 30, 1959 as WNED-TV, the second educational station in New York State. Although WNED-TV still had a commercial license, it operated as a noncommercial educational station.

WNED-TV has become a leading PBS member. It produced several original programs that have been carried throughout the PBS system such as the Mark Russell comedy specials and Reading Rainbow, produced in association with GPN until early 2006. Starting in May 2006, co-production of Reading Rainbow continued with Educate Inc. of Baltimore, Maryland, after the University of Nebraska Regents (the owners of GPN and NET) sold its long-time production interest to WNED. [1]

In 1975, the Western New York Public Broadcasting Association bought two commercial radio stations, WEBR-AM and WREZ-FM. The AM station had been founded in 1924, while the FM station was founded as WEBR-FM in 1960, becoming WBCE-FM in the early 1970s before becoming WREZ. The FM station was renamed WNED-FM in 1977, when it adopted a classical music format. In 1977, WEBR-AM became the nation's first public all-news radio station and was the top-rated public radio station in the country by 1978. In 1993 it was renamed WNED-AM after cutbacks in government funding forced it to dramatically cut its local programming in favour of network and syndicated content.

From 1987 to 2000, WNED-TV operated a sister station, WNEQ, on channel 23. The operation of two PBS television stations proved unviable. In late 1999, the Western New York Public Broadcasting Association announced that it would sell WNEQ to LIN Broadcasting. It is now known as WNLO.

Until this time WNED-TV had maintained the old commercial license it had inherited from WBUF-TV, while WNEQ had operated on a traditional non-commercial license. LIN needed WNED's commercial license in order to make its acquisition viable. At one point, it seemed likely that LIN would actually purchase channel 17 from the Western New York Public Broadcasting Association. This would have resulted in the WNED-TV intellectual unit moving to channel 23, while channel 17 would have become a commercial station. However, the long history of channel 17 as a PBS station made this an undesirable option for the public broadcaster. The FCC was persuaded to allow channel 17 and channel 23 to swap licenses, allowing WNEQ to be sold to LIN. After 42 years of operating as a commercial licensee operating as a non-commercial broadcaster, WNED acquired an educational license in 2000. WNEQ was sold to LIN in early 2001, and is now WNLO, an affiliate of the CW network.

Through the use of a digital subchannel, WNED-TV now provides ThinkBright as a second programming service, covering most of New York State with twelve hours a day of regional, educational and cultural programming. It is available on all New York PBS member stations except Long Island/New York City.

WNED-TV is simulcast on many translators, including W46BA, in Jamestown, New York, and W62AE, licensed to Cherry Creek, New York. These stations are analog, but are "grandfathered," allowing them to operate past the national digital transition if necessary. Because of inadequate signal coverage to rural schools in the valley areas of mountainous southwestern New York State, WNED once had a massive network of translator licenses--some active and some now defunct, in some cases even "extra-legal." The transmitters and towers belong to the Chautauqua Board of Cooperative Educational Services, the experimental Appalachian Television Project, and Cattaraugus Area Television System (CATS) group and are scattered across numerous small towns in Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and Allegany Counties in areas that have virtually no population in their FCC-designated coverage areas. It is unknown whether or not these licenses have actual stations associated with them, but the network predates the FCC's discontinuation of channels 70 through 83, since some of the Cattaraugus County licenses were in that range. In addition, the CATS system originates some of its own local programming, such as live high school football games.

Station presentation

Over the years, WNED-TV has shown different logos, citing stylistic changes and changes in network logos as well.

• 

  Current logo of PBS HD/WNED-HD (WNED-DT) "Buffalo-Toronto" (DT 43.1)

• 

  Current logo of WNED-TV/-DT "Buffalo-Toronto" (DT 43.2)

• 

  Current logo of WNED-TV/-DT "Buffalo-Niagara" (DT 43.3)

Digital television

The station's digital signal on UHF channel 43 is multiplexed:

Digital channels

Channel (RF/Physical)	Channel (PSIP/Virtual)	Name	Programming
43.1	17.1	WNED-HD	Main WNED programming / PBS HD
43.2	17.2	WNED-SD	SD Simulcast of 43.1
43.3	17.3	WNED-TH	ThinkBright TV

WNED converted to digital-only broadcast on April 16, 2009. W46BA and W62AE, as low-power stations, are not required to broadcast digitally. WNED offers audio simulcasts of WNED-AM and WNED-FM on SAP on 17.3.

See also

• WNED (AM)
• WNED-FM
• WNLO

External links

• Official site
• UHF Morgue: History of WBUF-TV Channel 17's earlier incarnation
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WNED
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WNED-TV
• Gallery of past logos for WNED