WVIZ
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| WVIZ | |
|---|---|
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| Cleveland, Ohio | |
| Branding | WVIZ/PBS Ideastream |
| Slogan | Where You Belong |
| Channels | Analog: 25 (UHF) |
| Affiliations | PBS |
| Owner | Ideastream |
| First air date | February 7, 1965 |
| Call letters’ meaning | viz. is abbreviation for videlicet, the Latin word meaning "namely" |
| Sister station(s) | WCPN |
| Former affiliations | NET (1965-1970) |
| Transmitter Power | 2140 kW (analog) 100 kW (digital) |
| Height | 304 m (analog) 313 m (digital) |
| Facility ID | 18753 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | |
| Website | www.wviz.org |
WVIZ is a public television station in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It was the 100th public television station to sign on in America. Its founder was Betty Cope, a former producer at Cleveland's ABC affiliate, WEWS, who recognized the value of non-commercial television for the schools. After a long struggle to clear all the hurdles, WVIZ signed on Sunday, February 7, 1965, just in time for the start of the Cleveland school year's second semester. Original studios were located in Cleveland's Max Hayes Trade School.
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[edit] Overview
The first voice heard on WVIZ was that of Alan R. Stephenson, Ph.D. He was the first director of WVIZ's educational services department. Stephenson's duties included casting, setting budgets, and acting as executive producer for dozens of local instructional television productions.
WVIZ's first affiliation was with National Educational Television (NET), which became PBS in 1970. While some large-market PBS stations established themselves with prime-time series, WVIZ remained committed first and foremost to the schools, and chose not to engage in national productions for a number of years.
However, when PBS began feeding programs via satellite in 1979, WVIZ hired its first executive producer, Milton Hoffman. He oversaw a few WVIZ productions before resigning in 1982. The next executive producer was Dennis Goulden, formerly of NBC (owned-and-operated) affiliate WKYC. Goulden was responsible for the creation of a number of programs and series, such as Kovels On Collecting, Producers Showcase, Mediscene, Dimension and CookSmart He credits Betty Cope with their creation because, Goulden says, she let him experiment.[1] He also gave Larry Elder (now a nationally syndicated radio host) his first show.
There were specials, too. There was a Paul Meincke-hosted special on the tenth anniversary of busing in Cleveland; an hour special on Margaret Bourke White, and others. Mediscene was a medical series hosted by an ex-nurse, now deceased, M. R. Berger. CookSmart was hosted by Susie Heller, and guests included Jacques Pepin and Julia Child. Dimension was modeled along the lines of CBS' Sunday Morning and aired monthly. Kovels On Collecting was a well-traveled showcase of the wonderfully talented Ralph and Terry Kovel. Dennis Goulden lasted approximately four years; WVIZ replaced Goulden quickly in mid-1988 with Mark Rosenberger.
On June 1, 1993, after 28 years at the helm, WVIZ president Betty Cope stepped down. Her post went to Jerrold Wareham, the former general manager at Greater Dayton Public Television (operating WPTD in Dayton and WPTO in Oxford, Ohio). Wareham effectively rid WVIZ of its ITV schedule, filling the daytime hours with PBS Kids series such as Barney & Friends. Wareham also modified the station name to WVIZ/PBS in December 1999. This was to play the name game with their closest PBS affiliates, WNEO and WEAO in Portage County (they adopted the nickname "PBS 45 & 49" in late 1998).
In December 2001, WVIZ/PBS merged with Cleveland NPR station 90.3 WCPN to establish a unified source for public broadcasting and lectures. The non-profit entity is known as ideastream.
In early 2006, WVIZ/PBS with WCPN 90.3FM moved to a new digital studio headquarters in Downtown Cleveland. WVIZ was originally on Brookpark Road and WCPN was based out of Cleveland State University. WVIZ is one of few PBS affiliates to have a new updated digital studio center. WVIZ is in the heart of Cleveland's Playhouse Square or theater district. Its new facility has an auditorium to studios for dance to music.
WVIZ also operates two translators in northeastern Ohio—W63CT in Eastlake, and W64AK in Conneaut.
[edit] Digital TV
WVIZ's digital transmitter is temporarily located atop its previous studio building at the very south edge of Cleveland, and is operating at a very low 1 kW ERP. WVIZ has a construction permit for a full-power antenna at its main North Royalton transmitter facility.[1] However, the North Royalton transmittion tower also holds a FM antenna, (WNCX) owned by CBS Radio, which is causing some issues with installing a digital antenna.[2] An AM transmitter (WJMO) is also within close proximity of the transmitter site. WVIZ plans to mount their permanent full-power digital antenna on top of WKYC's tower. Along with WKYC's digital antenna, the new antenna stack will replace the current WKYC analog antenna after the February 17, 2009 analog cut-off date.[3]
WVIZ-DT has two digital sub-channels. They are:
- WVIZ-DT channel 25-1, the PBS HD Channel, features a mix of new and library HD and widescreen programs, including PBS’ most renowned signature series: AMERICAN EXPERIENCE, GREAT PERFORMANCES, NATURE, NOVA, and MASTERPIECE THEATRE. New HD and widescreen programs will simulcast with their analog national PBS premiere broadcast, and will repeat on the PBS HD channel during the week following their premiere.
- WVIZ-DT channel 25-2, the Ohio Channel, features broadcasts of the Ohio legislature and supreme court as well as other programming of interest to Ohioans.
[edit] External links
- WVIZ home page
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WVIZ
- Query the FCC's TV station database for W63CT
- Query the FCC's TV station database for W64AK
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WVIZ-TV
[edit] References
- ^ Cleveland Plain Dealer, December 20, 1987
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