WTIU,
virtual channel
In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the ''program number'' as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered via digits on a receiver's ...
30 (
UHF digital channel 33), is a Public Broadcasting Service (
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
)
member
Member may refer to:
* Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon
* Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set
* In object-oriented programming, a member of a class
** Field (computer science), entries in ...
television station
A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the eart ...
serving
Indianapolis,
Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
, United States that is
licensed
A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit).
A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
to
Bloomington. Owned by
Indiana University
Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana.
Campuses
Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI.
*Indiana Universi ...
, it is a
sister station to National Public Radio (
NPR
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
) member
WFIU
WFIU (103.7 MHz) is a public radio station broadcasting from Indiana University Bloomington (IUB) in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. The station is a member station of NPR, Public Radio International and American Public Media. Together w ...
(103.7 FM). The two stations share studios on the Indiana University campus on East 7th Street in Bloomington; WTIU's transmitter is located on Sare Road on the city's southeast side.
On
cable
Cable may refer to:
Mechanical
* Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof
* Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...
, WTIU is available on
Comcast Xfinity
Comcast Cable Communications, LLC, doing business as Xfinity, is an American telecommunications company and division of Comcast Corporation used to market consumer cable television, internet, telephone, and wireless services provided by the com ...
channel 5 in Bloomington in
AT&T U-verse
U-verse TV is a DirecTV brand of IPTV service. Launched on June 26, 2006, U-verse included broadband Internet (now AT&T Internet or AT&T Fiber), IP telephone (now AT&T Phone), and IPTV (U-verse TV) services in 48 states.[standard definition
Standard-definition television (SDTV, SD, often shortened to standard definition) is a television system which uses a resolution that is not considered to be either high or enhanced definition. "Standard" refers to it being the prevailing sp ...]
, and in
high definition on Xfinity
digital channel 1022 in Bloomington and AT&T U-verse channel 1030 in Indianapolis.
The station also serves as the default PBS member station for the
Terre Haute
Terre Haute ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Vigo County, Indiana, United States, about 5 miles east of the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 60,785 and its metropolitan area had a ...
market, despite having
WVUT
WVUT (channel 22), branded on-air as Vincennes PBS, is a PBS member television station in Vincennes, Indiana, United States (which is technically part of the Terre Haute television market, for which WVUT is the PBS member station of record). O ...
(channel 22) in Vincennes from the
Vincennes University
Vincennes University (VU) is a public college with its main campus in Vincennes, Indiana. Founded in 1801 as Jefferson Academy, VU is the oldest public institution of higher learning in Indiana. VU was chartered in 1806 as the Indiana Terri ...
. It is carried by most cable providers in west-central Indiana.
History
![WFIU and WTIU open house - DSCF7242](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/WFIU_and_WTIU_open_house_-_DSCF7242.JPG)
In late 1968, after receiving support from University president Herman B. Wells, Indiana University applied for a
license from the
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...
(FCC) to operate an
educational
Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Vari ...
television station. The station first signed on the air on March 3, 1969 as a member station of
National Educational Television
National Educational Television (NET) was an American educational broadcast television network owned by the Ford Foundation and later co-owned by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. It operated from May 16, 1954 to October 4, 1970, and ...
(NET); the first program ever broadcast on WTIU was ''
The Friendly Giant
''The Friendly Giant'' was a children's television program that aired on CBC Television from September 30, 1958 through to March 1985. It featured three main characters: a giant (mythology), giant named Friendly (played by Bob Homme), who lived in ...
'', a Canadian-produced children's show. WTIU became a member of PBS when NET was reorganized on October 6, 1970.
Channel 30 originally maintained a very small staff of only three employees, and initially broadcast on Mondays through Saturdays for five hours a day during the afternoon hours. As the station was unable to afford equipment to allow programming to be transmitted in
color
Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are assoc ...
, much of the programming broadcast by WTIU was aired in
black and white in the early years. Through PBS' Program Differentiation Plan, the network's programming was eventually divided between it and three other PBS members in the Indianapolis market –
WFYI (channel 20),
Muncie
Muncie ( ) is an incorporated city and the seat of Delaware County, Indiana. Previously known as Buckongahelas Town, named after the legendary Delaware Chief.http://www.delawarecountyhistory.org/history/docs/lenape-villages.pdf It is located in ...
-based
WIPB (channel 49) and by 1992, WTBU (channel 69, now
Daystar owned-and-operated station
WDTI).
Digital television
Digital channels
The station's digital signal is
multiplexed
In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource - a ...
:
In 2009, WTIU upgraded the station's primary digital channel to allow the transmission of programming in
high definition, originally maintaining a schedule separate from that of WTIU's main channel. The station also launched a secondary service on digital subchannel 30.2, branded as "TIU-2," which primarily aired educational programming and college
telecourses; the subchannel was converted into "TIU World," serving as an affiliate of PBS World in 2010. At the same time, WTIU added two additional subchannels, respectively carrying programming from the lifestyle and how-to service Create (branded as "TIU Create"), safety and emergency network Echo (branded as "TIU Echo") and the respectively carrying programming from the children's service PBS Kids (branded as "TIU Kids").
Analog-to-digital conversion
WTIU began operating its digital signal in 2007, broadcasting on UHF channel 14. WTIU shut down its analog signal, over
UHF channel 30, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television in the United States
transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal continued to broadcast on its pre-transition UHF channel 14.
Through the use of
PSIP
The Program and System Information Protocol (PSIP) is the MPEG (a video and audio industry group) and privately defined program-specific information originally defined by General Instrument for the DigiCipher 2 system and later extended for the AT ...
, digital television receivers display the station's
virtual channel
In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the ''program number'' as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered via digits on a receiver's ...
as its former UHF analog channel 30.
Programming
WTIU's flagship original production is the
public and cultural affairs program ''The Weekly Special'', in production since 2005. ''The Friday Zone'', in production since 1999, is a children's program syndicated on seven PBS stations across Indiana. WTIU also regularly produces
documentaries
A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in term ...
, typically focusing on local or regional topics. Documentary series produced by the station have included ''Our Town'' (which focus on a single community's culture and history) and ''The Spirit of
Monroe County Monroe County may refer to seventeen counties in the United States, all named for James Monroe:
* Monroe County, Alabama
*Monroe County, Arkansas
* Monroe County, Florida
* Monroe County, Georgia
*Monroe County, Illinois
*Monroe County, Indian ...
'' (which focuses on the people and places of interest in Monroe County). WTIU also produces news updates in the form of twice-daily five-minute ''NewsBreak'' segments as well as the half-hour weekly newsmagazine ''Indiana Newsdesk''. In 1973, WTIU collaborated with the IU Opera Theater to produce a telecast of the opera ''
Myshkin'', which earned the station a
Peabody Award.
References
External links
Official website''The Weekly Special'' website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wtiu
Indiana University
Television channels and stations established in 1969
TIU
1969 establishments in Indiana