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WGBH is an established public television and public radio broadcast service located in Boston, Massachusetts. It operates over ten broadcasts - 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.

History

WGBH received its first broadcasting license 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.

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 their new studios located at 125 Western Avenue in Allston on August 29, 1964.

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

Logo and ID

WGBH 's distinctive, synthesized audio "sounder" (accompanied by differing animated visuals) has appeared in the open or close of its national TV programs for more than 30 years. The first such logo appeared in 1974. The seven-second ID begins with a white or yellow background, and then the letters WGBH (in black or blue) zoom out (emerging from the front) to the center of the screen and to the vanishing point. It is then followed by the word BOSTON zooming in from the center and taking up the whole screen (similar to Viacom's V of Doom), which then goes black or blue. The logo concludes with the word PRESENTS (in white or gold) slowly zooming in from the center. This logo is now believed to be extinct, though it is occasionally seen in reruns of very old WGBH programming, particularly Julia Child's The French Chef (which in the case of this program used the official colors of France when they did the intros on some of her shows).

The same music is also used in the current synth-animation signature. The original seven-second piece began appearing at the beginning of WGBH's national shows in late 1978, accompanied by different visuals—including the "outline" design that is the WGBH emblem. In the original version, the WGBH letters and the shadow outline form as the music builds, then in the last two seconds the "outline logo" bursts into light and morphs into "Boston presents."

The WGBH national sounder/ID now appears as a three- or four-second stinger at the end of its PBS programs, based on the national web's request that station IDs be as succinct as possible.

The ID is among the most famous and longest lasting station signatures on television, public or commercial, along with the former "radar" signature of WNET and the animated shapes of the Public Broadcasting Service closing ID. Many thought the WGBH jingle and logo were "eerie" because of its characteristics:

  1. When it starts up, it flashes and eerie moog synthesizer spacelike beeps pop in.
  2. The moog synthesizer makes a slow violin like sound.
  3. The tone builds up, and the neon sign (while looking very real) "catches fire"
  4. The neon blurs out and fades into the words "Boston presents" as the moog synthesizer tone reaches its crescendo.

Within the last couple of years, the WGBH Logo has been altered slighty, in the sense that the viewer follows the progression of the light beam though the neon tube, zooms out, and concludes with a outline of 2, in white (the background music stays the same, with the adding of an electrical hum when the 2 is glowing).

Currently 3 versions can be viewed on the WGBH Network:

  • WGBH Boston: (See above picture, presumly being phased out)

  • WGBH-->PBS Logo: Instead of Boston appearing at the end, the PBS Logo takes its place. Accompanied by one of two voice-overs:
Your Watching WGBH, Boston (used on all TV stations, excluding channel 2) and A Production of WGBH, Boston (Used as Show Intro)

  • WGBH-->2: See above Paragraph. Used as Station ID on Channel 2

While not intending to be scary, it was frightening to some viewers because it was random and unpredictable for the first time. It was surreal, abstract, and subtly psychedelic to some. On certain shows, this sting was overridden by the show's music itself, such as in the case of the Arthur, Between the Lions, and Postcards from Buster TV series, possibly because the logo/music is deemed to be too scary for the children who watch these shows (though the children's series ZOOM plays this sting without being overridden, which could possibly be to establish continunity with the original ZOOM series).

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 CANCOM satellite uplink facility which provides Boston broadcast television stations to Canadian cable and satellite TV distributors. As a Canadian company, CANCOM 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.

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 2006, WGBH will move to new studios in Boston's Brighton neighborhood.

Callsign history

WGBH's original transmitter was located on Great Blue Hill in Milton, Massachusetts 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.)

Channels and digital services

  • WGBH-TV 2 Boston (DT 19)
  • WGBX-TV 44 Boston (DT 43)
  • WGBH World (WGBX-DT and digital cable)
  • WGBH Create (WGBX-DT and digital cable)
  • 'GBH Kids (WGBX-DT and digital cable)
  • WGBH On Demand (digital cable)
  • WGBH High Definition (WGBH-DT and digital cable)
  • Boston Kids & Family TV (Boston cable)
  • WGBY-TV 57 Springfield (DT 58)
  • WGBH 89.7 Boston
  • Cape and Islands NPR www.cainan.org

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.

Major WGBH productions

Television

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

Online

  • FFFBI
  • Teachers' Domain
  • The WGBH Forum Network

Footnote

Forum Network

External links

PBS member stations | Television stations in Boston | Television stations in Massachusetts | Radio stations in Boston | Radio stations in Massachusetts | NPR member stations

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "WGBH".

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