WGBH

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WGBH-TV / WGBX-TV
Boston, Massachusetts
Branding	WGBH Boston
Channels	2 (WGBH) (VHF) 44 (WGBX) (UHF) analog, 19 (WGBH) (UHF) 43 (WGBX) (UHF) digital
Affiliations	PBS (see article for digital offerings)
Owner	WGBH Educational Foundation
Founded	1951 (FM) May 2, 1955 (TV)
Call letters meaning	W Great Blue Hill — see below
Former affiliations	NET (1956-1970)
Website	www.wgbh.org

WGBH is an established public television and public radio broadcast service located in Boston, Massachusetts. It operates over ten stations -- primarily WGBH 2 and WGBX 44 (television), and WGBH 89.7 FM (radio). WGBH is a member of PBS in regard to its television broadcasts, and both a member of NPR and an affiliate of PRI for its radio broadcasts. The license-holder is the WGBH Educational Foundation.

WGBH produces many shows for the above organizations, including nearly a third of PBS's national prime-time TV. Programs produced for PBS include NOVA, Frontline, American Experience, The Victory Garden and This Old House.

Recognized for its contributions to non-commercial educational television programming, WGBH is also a leader in services for people who are deaf, hard-of-hearing, blind, or visually impaired. WGBH invented television closed captioning and the Descriptive Video Service (DVS); they provide these access services to commercial and public TV producers, and to home video, Web sites, and movie theaters nationwide.

Contents 1 History 2 Transmission facilities 3 Studios 4 Callsign history 5 ID 6 Scare Factor 7 Channels and digital services 7.1 WGBH Radio 7.2 WGBH-TV 7.3 WGBX-TV 7.4 Other TV services 7.5 WGBH Online 8 Major WGBH productions 8.1 Television 8.2 Radio 8.3 Online 8.4 Podcasting 9 Footnote 10 External links

[edit] History

For more of a history of the Lowell Institute Cooperative Broadcasting Council see the article on John Lowell, Jr.

WGBH Educational Foundation received its first broadcasting license (for radio) in 1951 under the auspices of the Lowell Institute Cooperative Broadcasting Council, a consortium of local universities and cultural institutions, whose collaboration stems from an 1836 bequest by textile manufacturer John Lowell, Jr. calling for free public lectures for the citizens of Boston.

WGBH Radio Boston signed on at 89.7 mHz FM on October 6, 1951, with a live broadcast of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

The original construction permit for Channel 2 in Boston went to Raytheon, an electronics company based in neighboring Waltham, Massachusetts, who would have launched a commercial television station under the call letters WRTB-TV (for Raytheon Television Broadcasting). WRTB never made it on the air, opening the way for the FCC to allocate Channel 2 for noncommercial purposes and for WGBH to receive a license to operate on that channel.

WGBH-TV Channel 2 went on the air on May 2, 1955, at 5:20 p.m. with studios located at 84 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge. When a fire destroyed the studios in the early morning hours of October 14, 1961, WGBH-TV Channel 2 and WGBH 89.7 FM signed-on from the studios of other broadcasting stations until they were able to build their new studios located at 125 Western Avenue in Allston, and sign on there on August 29, 1963.

WGBH was New England's first non-commercial television station and a pioneer in what is now known as Public Television. Many programs seen on National Educational Television and later, the Public Broadcasting Service, originated at the facilities of WGBH or were otherwise produced by the station.

[edit] Transmission facilities

"GBH" stands for Great Blue Hill, the location of WGBH's FM transmitter, as well as the original location of WGBH-TV's transmitter. Great Blue Hill in Milton, Massachusetts, has an elevation of 635 feet (193 m) and is the highest point in the Boston area. Today, WGBH-TV's and WGBX-TV's transmitters are located at the CBS digital television facility in Needham, Massachusetts, where channel 44 originally signed on September 25, 1967; channel 2 moved there on June 18, 1966. WGBX-TV's digital service on channel 43 shares the master antenna at the very top of the tower with the commercial stations. Analog channel 44 has a separate antenna lower down that is shared with WGBH-DT on channel 19.

WGBH operates a Shaw Broadcast Services satellite uplink facility which provides Boston broadcast television stations to Canadian cable and satellite TV distributors. As a Canadian company, Shaw is not legally entitled to operate an uplink facility in the United States. Hence, it pays WGBH to perform this service on its behalf. This facility is also located at the CBS (WBZ-TV) tower in Needham.

WGBH also owns three stations in the Cape Cod and Islands area, licensed to Woods Hole (WCAI), Nantucket (WNAN), and Brewster (WZAI). All simulcast National Public Radio programming but are programmed separately from WGBH. A fourth station, WNCK, is owned by Nantucket Public Radio, but simulcasts WGBH-FM programming.

All of WGBH's radio signals are available as Internet radio, and WGBH-FM and WGBH-HD2 were added to the iTunes online radio channel lineup in August 2006.

[edit] Studios

WGBH's original studios were located at 84 Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge, Massachusetts (presently Stratton Student Center) on the campus of MIT until the building burned down in a 1961 fire. Three years later, after being based in temporary offices and using the studios of Boston's commercial television stations to produce local programming, the station moved to 125 Western Avenue in the Allston neighborhood of Boston. The ZIP code of the station and its post-office box—PO Box 350, Boston, Mass 02134—was made famous in a recurring jingle on its 1970s and late 1990s children's program, ZOOM. Due to Harvard University planning new buildings for the land the studios sit on (which is currently owned by Harvard), in 2007, WGBH will move to new studios under construction in Boston's Brighton neighborhood. The new land address will be "1 Guest Street, Boston MA 02135".

[edit] Callsign history

WGBH's original transmitter was located on Great Blue Hill in Milton, Massachusetts (thus the choice of WGBH as a callsign) and the FM radio transmitter is still there. As a result, all of WGBH's TV stations have the WGB* form; channel 44 in Boston has WGBX (supposedly for Great Blue Experimental), while channel 57 in Springfield, Massachusetts has WGBY for Great Blue Yonder. There was to be a WGBW in Adams, Massachusetts at one point that would have operated on channel 35; its W was to stand for West. The callsign has since been reassigned to a Christian radio station in Florida.

The original Cape Cod and Islands stations are WCAI for CApe and Islands and WNAN for NANtucket; WZAI seems to be derived from the 'CAI callsign.

WNCK is derived from a shortening of NantuCKet as well.

WGBH's callsign is occasionally jokingly expanded as "God Bless Harvard", although the station's connections with the university are at best indirect. (Harvard was one of several Boston-area universities which took part in the Lowell Institute Cooperative Broadcasting Council, and provided land on Western Avenue in Allston for the station's studios.)

[edit] ID

• WGBH's distinctive audio sounder has been aired for more than 30 years accompanied by different graphics. The first such logo appeared in 1974. The seven-second jingle begins with a bluish green background, then the letters "WGBH" in a yellow Helvetica font zooming away from the viewer to its vanishing point. Then the word "Boston" zooms forward (like Viacom's V of Doom), engulfing the whole screen and creating a yellow background, which at that point, the word "Presents" slowly zooms forward in bluish green. This ident was believed to be extinct, but now it could be seen on YouTube and Yahoo's Closing Logo Group and can be seen on episodes of Zoom from 1972-78, Julia Child's The French Chef, and pre-1978 NOVA programming on VHS.

• The same music is also used in the current ID. The "circle outline" ident began in late 1978 at the beginning of WGBH's national shows. Sometime in the mid-1980's, this ident was shortened to just the latter half.

[edit] Scare Factor

• While not intending to be scary, the 1974 and 1978 versions may have frightened many viewers because of the graphics and mainly the synth jingle. The 1978 version may be described as random and eerie following this sequence:

The jingle begins with a black background. Lights start to form the outline as eerie space-like beeps pop in. The lights form an orange outline of WGBH in the center of the screen, as a slow violin-like synth is noticed as it gradually crescendos. The tone reaches the crescendo as the outline catches "fire". Then the outline morphs into "Boston Presents".

• A more "viewer-friendly" version was created circa 1993. The logo was moved to the end of the show following the end credits, and reduced in length, featuring just the latter-half. This version features the WGBH logo already formed as an orange flash starts under the outline and "B O S T O N" appears under it and probably was less intense because of the animations and the music. Also, an announcer said "A production of WGBH Boston" in most cases. On some shows, the closing theme of the show plays over the logo, as with most children's programming so younger children wouldn't be frightened. Surprisingly on the new ZOOM, the sting plays over with a kid on the show voicing over it. Post-2002 episodes just had the animation and the music. However, as of 2007, the only show where an announcer voices over the music is NOVA. Circa 2001, this version was replaced with the complete animation in fast motion.

[edit] Channels and digital services

[edit] WGBH Radio

• WGBH 89.7 Boston — "Boston's NPR, Arts and Culture Station", broadcasting a mixed-format of classical, jazz, folk, blues, Celtic music, NPR News programs and PRI's The World. The WGBH Radio programming is also broadcast:
  • in Nantucket heard on WNCK 89.5
  • in East Cambridge heard on W242AA 96.3
• WGBH-HD2 — classical music stream on HD Radio and available over the Web
• Cape and Islands NPR www.cainan.org — broadcasting news, information, light entertainment. Heard on:
  • WCAI 90.1 Woods Hole
  • WNAN 91.1 Nantucket
  • WZAI 94.3 Brewster

[edit] WGBH-TV

This is the main television service of WGBH, as it is the television station first licenced by the Foundation.

• WGBH-TV 2/DT 19 Boston (also on Comcast cable channels 2 and 97)
• WGBH High Definition (WGBH-DT 2.2 and Comcast Digital Cable channel 802 — runs a different schedule than the SD channel; notably the lack of local content like "Greater Boston")

[edit] WGBX-TV

Similar to WQED-TV in Pittsburgh, WGBH operates a secondary station, WGBX-TV. The current tagline for this station is "independent, original, 'GBH 44". It functions as a secondary station to WGBH-TV, and focuses more promenently on program genres not covered by WGBH-TV. Reruns of the previous night's programming either from WGBH-TV or from WGBX-TV itself makes up a part of this station's programming.

• WGBX-TV 44/DT 43 Boston (also on Comcast cable channel 16)
• WGBH World (WGBX-DT 44.2 and Comcast Digital Cable channel 209) - a serious channel focusing on news and current affairs
• WGBH Create (WGBX-DT 44.3 and Comcast Digital Cable channel 237) - a DIY/lifystyle and human interest type of channel
• 'GBH Kids (WGBX-DT 44.4 and Comcast Digital Cable channel 217)

[edit] Other TV services

• WGBH On Demand (Comcast On Demand)
• Boston Kids & Family TV (Comcast channel 22 and RCN channel 3, only available in Boston)
• WGBY-TV 57/DT 58 Springfield

WGBH is one of six local Boston TV stations seen in Canada on the Bell ExpressVu satellite provider.

At one point, WGBH operated a Hyannis translator on channel 8 that had the W08CH call sign, which later ceased operations. It was deleted by the FCC in 2004.^[1]

[edit] WGBH Online

The internet is WGBH's "third platform" - All radio and television programs have web components that are available at wgbh.org. There are also "web-only" productions:

• WGBH Forum Network — Live and archived webcasts of free public lectures in partnership with Boston's leading cultural and educational organizations - wgbh.org/forum
• WGBH Podcasts - wgbh.org/podcasts

[edit] Major WGBH productions

[edit] Television

• All About You
• American Experience
• Andre's Mother
• Antiques Roadshow
  • Antiques Roadshow FYI
• Arthur
• Basic Black (formerly Say Brother)
• Between the Lions
• Curious George
• Destinos: An Introduction to Spanish
• Discovering Psychology
• Don't Look Now! (1983, a short-lived spinoff clone of the Canadian TV show You Can't Do That On Television)
• Evening at Pops
• FETCH! with Ruff Ruffman
• French in Action
• The French Chef
• Frontline
  • Frontline/World
• The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship
• Greater Boston
• La Plaza
• Masterpiece Theatre
• Mystery!
• NOVA
  • NOVA scienceNOW
• Peep and the Big Wide World
• Postcards from Buster
• Rebop
• Simply Ming
• This Old House
• Time Warp Trio(the only WGBH-produced show that does not air on PBS)
• The Victory Garden
• War and Peace in the Nuclear Age
• The Western Tradition
• Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego (in partnership with WQED in Pittsburgh)
• ZOOM

[edit] Radio

• Open Source
• A Celtic Sojourn
• Says You!
• Sound & Spirit
• The World (co-produced with the BBC)
• The Changing World
• From the Top
• Arts and Ideas

[edit] Online

• FFFBI
• Teachers' Domain
• The WGBH Forum Network

[edit] Podcasting

• Morning Stories Public radio's first podcast directed and produced by Tony Kahn for WGBH 89.7 and WGBH.org.

[edit] Footnote

1. ^ Call Sign History. CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved on February 19, 2006.

Forum Network

[edit] External links

• Morning Stories videos on YouTube
• WGBH 1974 logo on YouTube
• Screen capture of the Flash of Doom at retrojunk.com
• WGBH Educational Foundation
• Cape and Islands NPR (covers WCAI, WNAN, and WZAI)
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WGBH
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WGBX
• Query the FCC's FM station database for WGBH
• Query the FCC's FM station database for WCAI
• Query the FCC's FM station database for WNAN
• Query the FCC's FM station database for WZAI
• Query the FCC's FM station database for WNCK

v • d • e

Broadcast television in the Boston market (Nielsen DMA #7)

Local television stations WGBH 2 (PBS) - WBZ 4 (CBS) - WCVB 5 (ABC) - WHDH 7 (NBC) (WX+ on DT2) - WFXZ 24 (AZA) - WFXT 25 (FOX) - WUNI 27 (UNI) - WTMU 32 / WNEU 60 (TEL) - WSBK 38 (Ind) - WGBX 44 (PBS) - WWDP 46 (Shop NBC) - WYDN 48 (DS) - WZMY 50 (MNTV) - WLVI 56 (The CW) (The Tube on DT2) - WMFP 62 (S@H / JTV) - WUTF 66 (TFU) - WBPX 68 (ION)

Defunct stations WJZB 14 (IND/NBC)

Local digital television channels WHDN 26 (DW)

Local and regional cable television channels CN8 - NECN 6 - NESN - FSN New England - CatholicTV - TV3 Medford - CKSH 9 (SRC, Sherbrooke)