WPBS-TV

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WPBS-TV & WNPI-TV
Watertown, New York / Norwood, New York
Branding	WPBS Television
Slogan	"The two-nation station"
Channels	WPBS: 16 (UHF) WNPI: 18 (UHF) analog, WPBS: 41 (UHF) WNPI: 23 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	PBS
Owner	St. Lawrence Valley Educational Television Council, Inc.
Founded	WPBS: August 5, 1971 WNPI: August 30, 1971
Call letters meaning	Watertown Public Broadcasting Service Watertown / Norwood Public Instruction
Former callsigns	WPBS: WNPE (1971-late 1990s)
Transmitter Power	(analog) WPBS: 525kw WNPI: 661kw
Website	www.wpbstv.org

This article is about the television station. For other uses see WPBS.

WPBS is a PBS member station in New York state, serving Watertown/Potsdam as well as south western Quebec and most of eastern/southeastern Ontario, including Kingston and Ottawa, although only on cable in the northwestern part of that market.

Contents 1 WPBS programming 1.1 WPBS-produced TV series 1.2 WPBS videos 1.3 WPBS-TV books 2 Vital statistics 3 About WPBS 4 History 5 External links

[edit] WPBS programming

[edit] WPBS-produced TV series

• The Gardener, produced in conjunction with National Capital Commission experts.
• Bill Saiff's Rod & Reel
• Cabin Country
• From A Country Garden
• The Artists' World
• Streamside
• Classical Stretch
• Whiz Quiz USA
• Whiz Quiz Canada
• sesame street

[edit] WPBS videos

• "The Remington Legacy"
• "Lighthouses Of The Seaway Trail"
• "Lumberjack Sky Pilot"
• "Boldt Castle: A Tribute To Love"
• "The 1000 Islands"
• "Ottawa: Capital Insights"
• "Tour of Singer Castle"
• "Winterlude at 25"
• "WPBS-TV's 40th Anniversary Video"

[edit] WPBS-TV books

• "From a Country Garden Book"
• "Vegetables From A Country Garden"
• "Bill Saiff's Rod & Reel Cookbook"
• "No Price Too High"

[edit] Vital statistics

WPBS-TV
1056 Arsenal Street
Watertown, NY 13601-2210

• Phone: (315) 782-3142
• Fax: (315) 782-2491

Canadian offices:
9 Antares Drive
Capital Corporate Center
Ottawa, ON K2E 7V5

• Phone: (613) 226-2660
• Fax: (613) 226-6225
• Canadian donation address: P.O. Box 45, Gananoque, ON K7G 2T6

Owner: St. Lawrence Valley Educational Television Council, Inc. (a not-for-profit community organization)

• Home DMA: Kingston–Watertown (178th US, 24th Canadian)
• Also serving Ottawa–Gatineau (4th largest, behind Toronto, Montréal and Vancouver)
• Slogan: "The two-nation station"

[edit] About WPBS

Although its call letters would lead one to believe so, WPBS-TV is not part of the famed group of New York network flagship stations, (WCBS-TV, WNBC and WABC), as it is nominally located in a relatively small market, at least on the United States side of the international border. WPBS-TV is unique in that its primary audience is in the capital of another country.

WPBS-TV can be seen by a total 2.2 million viewers, largely because the signal from its twin towers reaches far enough to serve the Ottawa region in Canada, a market of over 1.5 million people which is the fourth-largest in the nation.

WPBS's transmitter is located in Copenhagen, while WNPI's is located near Potsdam. Both the U.S. and Canadian national anthems are played on station sign-on and sign-off.

Call letters:

• WPBS-TV 16 - Watertown Public Broadcasting Service (full-power, serving Kingston/Watertown and the St. Lawrence Valley region - established as WNPE in 1971.)
• WNPI-TV 18 - Watertown / Norwood Public Instruction (full-power serving Potsdam, most of eastern Ontario (including Ottawa) and south western Quebec)
• Both stations are also available in digital low-power format.

[edit] History

The St. Lawrence Valley Educational Television Council, which was organized in 1958, originally produced educational programming to be carried by local commercial broadcaster WWNY. In 1971, it established an independent PBS station at Champion Hill, using the original studios of commercial station WWNY, which had recently relocated to a larger facility in Watertown. Outgrowing the Champion Hill location itself, WNPE moved to a new building in Watertown in 1978. Until the late 1990s, the station was known as WNPE-TV. Because of its large Canadian viewership, WNPE was considered one of the most successful PBS stations in America, with fundraising totals often exceeding those of stations in much larger markets. WNPI was a rebroadcaster, and programming was identical on both stations. The station identified as "WNPE Channel 16 in Watertown, and WNPI Channel 18 in Norwood".

For a minor sum, the rights to the WPBS call letters were purchased from a small radio station in Conyers, Georgia in the late 1990's.

The WPBS-TV callsign was also very briefly used by PBS affiliate WGTV in Athens, Georgia in February 1984 -- the station immediately abandoned the new calls after numerous complaints from their viewers.

[edit] External links

• Query the FCC's TV station database for WPBS
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WNPI
• WPBS-TV education
• SUNY Potsdam
• New York
• PBS educational video-on-demand
• NY Citizensand New Yorkers' Links
• CNY-media
• A parody of a WPBS pledge break (note that this WPBS is similar to Watertown's WPBS in calls only)
• HalfBakery.com proposal for a World Public Broadcast Station (note that this WPBS is also similar to Watertown's WPBS in calls only)