Connecticut Public Television
Encyclopedia
State network
A State Network in the United States broadcasting industry is a term which refers to a miniature television network serving an entire state or multiple states...
for the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
state of Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
. It is owned by Connecticut Public Broadcasting, who also owns Connecticut Public Radio
Connecticut Public Radio
Additionally, WECS, Eastern Connecticut State University's campus station, simulcasts the network's feeds of Morning Edition, All Things Considered and Car Talk.-External links:*...
. Together, the television and radio stations make up the Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network. CPBN is the state's only locally owned media organization producing TV, radio, print and Internet content for distribution to Connecticut's wide-ranging and diverse communities.
Services
All CPTV stations carry the same programming, featuring these subchannels:Shows produced by CPTV
CPTV is the broadcast and web streaming home of UConnUniversity of Connecticut
The admission rate to the University of Connecticut is about 50% and has been steadily decreasing, with about 28,000 prospective students applying for admission to the freshman class in recent years. Approximately 40,000 prospective students tour the main campus in Storrs annually...
Women's Basketball
Connecticut Huskies women's basketball
The Connecticut Huskies women's basketball team represents the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Connecticut in NCAA women's basketball competition. Under head coach Geno Auriemma, the Huskies have won 7 NCAA Division I national championships, advanced to 12 Final Fours, and won over 30 Big...
. The game broadcasts are the highest rated locally produced program in the PBS system.
CPTV is also the presenting station of the popular PBS children's series, Barney & Friends
Barney & Friends
Barney and Friends, also referred to by HiT Entertainment as Barney the Friendly Dinosaur, is an independent children's television show produced in the United States, aimed at children from ages 1-8...
(until 2006, now distributed by WNET
WNET
WNET, channel 13 is a non-commercial educational public television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey. With its signal covering the New York metropolitan area, WNET is a primary station of the Public Broadcasting Service and a primary provider of PBS programming...
in New York), Thomas & Friends, Bob The Builder
Bob the Builder
Bob the Builder is a British children's animated television show created by Keith Chapman. In the original series Bob appears as a building contractor specialising in masonry in a stop motion animated programme with his colleague Wendy, various neighbours and friends, and their gang of...
, Angelina Ballerina
Angelina Ballerina
Angelina Ballerina is a fictional mouse, created by author Katharine Holabird and illustrator Helen Craig, who is featured in a popular series of children's books...
The Saddle Club
The Saddle Club
The Saddle Club is a children's television series based on the books written by Bonnie Bryant and is an Australia/Canada co-production. Like the book series, the scripted live action series follows the lives of three teenage girls in training to compete in equestrian competitions at the fictional...
and Toddworld
Toddworld
ToddWorld is an animated children's TV programme about the adventures of a boy named Todd and his friends.ToddWorld features the artistic style of Todd Parr's children's books and was created by Todd Parr and writer Gerry Renert of SupperTime Entertainmenet...
.
Throughout the 1990s, M*A*S*H star Alan Alda
Alan Alda
Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo , better known as Alan Alda, is an American actor, director, screenwriter, and author. A six-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award winner, he is best known for his role as Hawkeye Pierce in the TV series M*A*S*H...
hosted a science show called Scientific American Frontiers
Scientific American Frontiers
Scientific American Frontiers was an American television program primarily focused on informing the public about new technologies and discoveries in science and medicine. It was a companion program to the Scientific American magazine. The show was produced for PBS in the U.S...
, based on the popular magazine Scientific American
Scientific American
Scientific American is a popular science magazine. It is notable for its long history of presenting science monthly to an educated but not necessarily scientific public, through its careful attention to the clarity of its text as well as the quality of its specially commissioned color graphics...
. That show was also produced by CPTV and aired nationwide.
Since 2002, CPTV has been working with HiT Entertainment
HIT Entertainment
Hit Entertainment is a British-American entertainment distribution company established in 1989, and originally the international distribution arm of Jim Henson Productions called Henson International Television...
, who has helped distribute some of CPTV's children's programs. Beginning in 2008, most of CPTV's kids programming (which are all of post 2002 production with HiT Entertainment) have been presented by WNET.
Some well-known programs that CPTV puts on are: Able Lives, All Things Connecticut, Behind the Wheel: Parents and Teens, Closing the Gap, Critical Call for Oral Health, Critical Condition: Focus on Connecticut, Eating CT, Facing the Mortgage Crisis, Landscapes Through Time with David Dunlop, My First Breath, Open Doors to Family Learning, Opening Doors Opening Minds, OTR: On The Record, Positively Connecticut, Power of Giving Series, Sprawl: Driven by Denial, The Impact Series, The Warming of Connecticut, Today's Children, Work Learn Live (Connecticut), Connecticut on Alert, WNPR Health Forum, Young American Heroes, A Child A Family A Future: Foster Care and Adoption in Connecticut.
Stations
As of 2009, the CPTV stations are:| Station | City of license City of license A city of license or community of license, in American and Canadian broadcasting, is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator.... |
Channels Channel (broadcasting) In broadcasting, a channel is a range of frequencies assigned by a government for the operation of a particular radio station, television station or television channel. In common usage, the term also may be used to refer to the station operating on a particular frequency.-See also:*Broadcast... TV Virtual channel In telecommunications, a logical channel number , also known as virtual channel, is a channel designation which differs from that of the actual radio channel on which the signal travels.... / RF Digital terrestrial television Digital terrestrial television is the technological evolution of broadcast television and advance from analog television, which broadcasts land-based signals... |
First air date | Fourth letter meaning |
ERP Effective radiated power In radio telecommunications, effective radiated power or equivalent radiated power is a standardized theoretical measurement of radio frequency energy using the SI unit watts, and is determined by subtracting system losses and adding system gains... |
HAAT Height above average terrain Height above average terrain is used extensively in FM radio and television, as it is actually much more important than effective radiated power in determining the range of broadcasts... |
Facility ID Facility ID The facility ID number or FIN is a unique positive integer assigned by the United States Federal Communications Commission to each domestic and international broadcast station in its Common Database System . Licensees are required to provide the relevant station's FIN when filing reports and... |
Transmitter Coordinates |
| WEDH | Hartford Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making... |
24 (PSIP Program and System Information Protocol The Program and System Information Protocol is the protocol used in the ATSC digital television system for carrying metadata about each channel in the broadcast MPEG transport stream of a TV station and for publishing information about television programs so that viewers can select what to watch... ) 45 (UHF Ultra high frequency Ultra-High Frequency designates the ITU Radio frequency range of electromagnetic waves between 300 MHz and 3 GHz , also known as the decimetre band or decimetre wave as the wavelengths range from one to ten decimetres... ) |
October 1, 1962 | Hartford | 490 kW | 505 m | 13602 | 41°42′13"N 72°49′57"W |
| WEDW | Bridgeport Bridgeport, Connecticut Bridgeport is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. Located in Fairfield County, the city had an estimated population of 144,229 at the 2010 United States Census and is the core of the Greater Bridgeport area... |
49 (PSIP) 49 (UHF) |
December 17, 1967 | Western Connecticut | 170 kW | 222 m | 13594 | 41°16′44"N 73°11′8"W |
| WEDN | Norwich Norwich, Connecticut Regular steamship service between New York and Boston helped Norwich to prosper as a shipping center through the early part of the 20th century. During the Civil War, Norwich once again rallied and saw the growth of its textile, armaments, and specialty item manufacturing... |
53 (PSIP) 9 (VHF Very high frequency Very high frequency is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz. Frequencies immediately below VHF are denoted High frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Ultra high frequency... ) |
March 5, 1967 | Norwich | 4.2 kW | 192 m | 13607 | 41°31′14"N 72°10′3"W |
| WEDY | New Haven New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and... |
65 (PSIP) 6 (VHF) |
December 1, 1974 | Yale University Yale University Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States... |
0.4 kW | 88 m | 13595 | 41°19′42"N 72°54′25"W |
The network previously operated a Waterbury
Waterbury, Connecticut
Waterbury is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, on the Naugatuck River, 33 miles southwest of Hartford and 77 miles northeast of New York City...
translator, W12BH (channel 12), but that station was taken off the air to allow WTXX to begin digital television operations.
WEDH is available in nearly all of the state on the Hartford/New Haven DirecTV
DirecTV
DirecTV is an American direct broadcast satellite service provider and broadcaster based in El Segundo, California. Its satellite service, launched on June 17, 1994, transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, Latin America, and the Anglophone Caribbean. ...
and Dish Network
Dish Network
Dish Network Corporation is the second largest pay TV provider in the United States, providing direct broadcast satellite service—including satellite television, audio programming, and interactive television services—to 14.337 million commercial and residential customers in the United States. Dish...
feeds, while WEDW is available on the New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
local feeds.
WEDY in New Haven went off the air on July 31, 2005, as the result of an equipment failure. Connecticut Public Broadcasting was granted permission by the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
to temporarily keep the station off-the-air until repairs were completed. CPBI also petitioned the FCC to allow WEDY's analog signal to remain off the air permanently, citing the need to use available funds on the construction of its digital facilities. WEDY resumed broadcasting, as a digital-only station, on June 13, 2009.
Digital television
WEDW in Bridgeport ceased analog transmissions over channel 49 on February 17, 2009, which was the previous deadline date for U.S. television stations to end analog broadcasts. WEDW had been transmitting its digital signal over channel 52, but moved back to channel 49 for its post-transition digital broadcasts.WEDH and WEDN continued to broadcast in both analog and digital until June 12, 2009, the new deadline date as recommended by the National Association of Broadcasters
Through the use of PSIP
Program and System Information Protocol
The Program and System Information Protocol is the protocol used in the ATSC digital television system for carrying metadata about each channel in the broadcast MPEG transport stream of a TV station and for publishing information about television programs so that viewers can select what to watch...
, digital television receivers display virtual channel
Virtual channel
In telecommunications, a logical channel number , also known as virtual channel, is a channel designation which differs from that of the actual radio channel on which the signal travels....
s for each CPTV station corresponding to their previous analog channel numbers.
On March 16, 2011, the FCC granted WEDY its petition to move from VHF channel 6 to UHF channel 41 because of viewer reception issues and interference from both WPVI-TV
WPVI-TV
WPVI-TV, channel 6, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. WPVI has its studios located on the border between Philadelphia and Bala Cynwyd, and its transmitter is located in the...
in Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
and WRGB
WRGB
WRGB, channel 6, is a television station located in Schenectady, New York, USA. WRGB is owned by Freedom Communications, and is the CBS affiliate for the Albany-Schenectady-Troy television market...
in Schenectady, New York
Schenectady, New York
Schenectady is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 66,135...
(both also operate on channel 6) after those two stations implemented recent power increases.
CPBN Media Lab
The CPBN Media Lab is a Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network initiative to create 21st century journalists. In the last three years, the CPBN Media Lab provided journalism and technical training to over 500 students at all school and college levels.The Media Lab has brought journalism and technical training to middle school students through its Future Producers Academy, and for high school students through its Media 101 and Young Entrepreneur courses in its Impact Academy.
Internships are provided to undergraduate college student, often for college credit, and for recent graduates seeking to acquire content producing skills, including interviewing, shooting, editing, and posting. The CPBN Media Lab has provided this real-world training for students from UConn, Syracuse University, Trinity College, Emerson College, University of Hartford, Quinnipiac University, Penn State, Central Connecticut State University, Eastern Connecticut State University, Amherst College, University of Rhode Island, Smith College, Boston College, University of Maryland and Springfield College. Current projects include two original web-based series, the Outdoor Enthusiast and (I)NTERVIEW.
The CPBN Media Lab also serves as the professional mentor for three Connecticut high schools who are participating as PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs.
The CPBN Media Lab has produced a series of original online productions, including Foul Play, a look into the use of metal bats in Little League baseball; Youth Vote, which documents the experiences of youth voters in recent elections; (I)NTERVIEW, a behind the scenes look into the lives of notable Connecticut celebrities; and Outdoor Enthusiast, a look into Connecticut's state parks and scenic areas that was launched to tie in with the original release of PBS's and Ken Burns' The National Parks series.
Most recently, the Media Lab competed in the Pepsi Refresh Project
Pepsi Refresh Project
The Pepsi Refresh Project is a 2010 initiative by PepsiCo to award $20 million in grants to individuals, businesses and non-profits that promote a new idea that has a positive impact on their community, state, or the nation...
. Placing 235 out of over 250,000 applicants, the Media Lab's proposal was to build upon the success of the Future Producers Academy by establishing satellite media labs in three Connecticut middle schools.
Graduates of the CPBN Media Lab have gone on to Journalism school in London, the Masters of Arts in Journalism program at Hofstra University
Hofstra University
Hofstra University is a private, nonsectarian institution of higher learning located in the Village of Hempstead, New York, United States, about east of New York City: less than an hour away by train or car...
and as working reporters for the Avon Patch and the Journal Inquirer
Journal Inquirer
The Journal Inquirer is a tabloid-sized newspaper published Monday through Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings in Manchester, Connecticut and serves 17 towns in the north-central part of the state of Connecticut.The regional paper prints in three editions:...
.