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WNET (channel 13), branded on-air as "Thirteen" (stylized as "THIRTEEN"), is a primary
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
member
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 earth ...
licensed to
Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
area. Owned by The WNET Group (formerly known as the Educational Broadcasting Corporation and later as WNET.org), it is a
sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...
to the area's secondary PBS member,
Garden City, New York Garden City is a village located on Long Island in Nassau County New York. It is the Greater Garden City area's anchor community. The population was 23,272 at the 2020 census. The Incorporated Village of Garden City is primarily located within ...
–licensed WLIW (channel 21), and two class A stations which share spectrum with WNET:
WNDT-CD WNDT-CD, (channel 14) is a class A low–power, First Nations Experience- affiliated television station, licensed to New York, New York. Owned by The WNET Group (formerly known as the Educational Broadcasting Corporation and later as WNET.org ...
(channel 14) and
WMBQ-CD WMBQ-CD (channel 46) is a class A low–power, First Nations Experience- affiliated television station, licensed to New York, New York. Owned by WNET, the station is sister to the city's two PBS member stations, Newark-licensed WNET (channel 1 ...
(channel 46); through an
outsourcing Outsourcing is an agreement in which one company hires another company to be responsible for a planned or existing activity which otherwise is or could be carried out internally, i.e. in-house, and sometimes involves transferring employees and ...
agreement, The WNET Group also operates New Jersey's PBS state network
NJ PBS NJ PBS (known as NJTV prior to 2021) is a public television network serving the U.S. state of New Jersey. The network is owned by the New Jersey Public Broadcasting Authority (NJPBA), an agency of the New Jersey state government which owns the ...
and the website NJ Spotlight. WNET and WLIW share studios at
One Worldwide Plaza One Worldwide Plaza is the largest tower of Worldwide Plaza, a three-building commercial and residential complex in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Designed by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), One ...
in
Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...
with an auxiliary street-level studio in the
Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...
complex on Manhattan's
Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...
; WNET's transmitter is located at
One World Trade Center One World Trade Center (also known as One World Trade, One WTC, and formerly Freedom Tower) is the main building of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Designed by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Mer ...
.


History


Independent station (1948–1962)

WNET commenced broadcasting on May 15, 1948, from a transmitter located atop First Mountain in
West Orange, New Jersey West Orange is a suburban township in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 48,843, an increase of 2,636 (+5.7%) from the 46,207 counted in the 2010 Census.
, as WATV, a commercial television station owned by Atlantic Television, a subsidiary of Bremer Broadcasting Corporation. Frank V. Bremer, the CEO, also owned two
North Jersey North Jersey comprises the northern portions of the U.S. state of New Jersey between the upper Delaware River and the Atlantic Ocean. The designation of northern New Jersey with a distinct toponym is a colloquial one rather than an administrativ ...
radio stations,
WAAT Waat is a village in the northeastern part of South Sudan. It is located in Nyirol County, Jonglei State Jonglei State is a state of South Sudan with Bor as its centre of government and the biggest city. Jonglei state comprises nine counties ...
(970 AM) and WAAT-FM (94.7 MHz). The three stations were based in the Mosque Theatre at 1020 Broad Street in Newark. WATV was the first of three new stations in the New York City television market to sign on the air during 1948, and was also the first
independent station An independent station is an independent radio or terrestrial television station which is independent in some way from broadcast networks. The definition of "independence" varies from country to country, reflecting governmental regulations, market ...
. One unusual daytime program, ''Daywatch,'' consisted of a camera focused on a
teletypewriter A teleprinter (teletypewriter, teletype or TTY) is an electromechanical device that can be used to send and receive typed messages through various communications channels, in both point-to-point (telecommunications), point-to-point and point- ...
printing
wire service A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and radio and television broadcasters. A news agency may also be referred to as a wire service, newswire, ...
news stories, interspersed with cutaways to mechanical toys against a light music soundtrack. Another early series by the station was '' Stairway to Stardom'' (1950–1951), one of the first TV series with an African-American host. WATV's transmitter was moved to the
Empire State Building The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from "Empire State", the nickname of the st ...
in November 1953. On October 6, 1957, Bremer Broadcasting announced it had sold its stations for $3.5 million to
National Telefilm Associates National Telefilm Associates (NTA) was an audio-visual marketing company primarily concerned with the syndication of American film libraries to television, including the Republic Pictures film library. It was successful enough on cable television ...
(NTA), an early distributor of motion pictures for television, joining its
NTA Film Network The NTA Film Network was an early American television network founded by Ely Landau in 1956. The network was not a full-time television network like CBS, NBC, or ABC. Rather, it operated on a part-time basis, broadcasting films and several first ...
. On May 7, 1958, channel 13's
call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...
was changed to WNTA-TV to reflect the new ownership; the radio stations also adopted these call letters. NTA's cash resources enabled WNTA to produce a schedule of programming with greater emphasis on the people and events of New Jersey, compared to the other commercial television stations. NTA also sought to make channel 13 the center of a new commercial network, though during its run the NTA Film Network offered only one night of "in-pattern" network programming, Friday nights in 1957–58, and for most purposes WNTA served as the New York showcase for nationally syndicated programming and produced several such entries, notably the anthology drama series ''Play of the Week''; the
talk show A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show ...
''
Open End ''The David Susskind Show'' is an American television talk show hosted by David Susskind which was broadcast from 1958 to 1986. The program began locally in New York City in 1958 as ''Open End,'' which referred to the fact that the program was open ...
'', hosted by
David Susskind David Howard Susskind (December 19, 1920 – February 22, 1987) was an American producer of TV, movies, and stage plays and also a TV talk show host. His talk shows were innovative in the genre and addressed timely, controversial topics beyond th ...
;
children's show Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during the early evenin ...
''
The Magic Clown ''The Magic Clown'' is an NBC TV series which ran from 1949 to 1954. The final NBC broadcast was on June 27, 1954. The show then moved to WABD where it stayed until 1958. After that, it was renamed ''Bonomo, The Magic Clown'' and was broadcast on ...
''; and a popular dance program emceed by
Clay Cole Clay Cole (born Albert Franklin Rucker Jr.; January 1, 1938 – December 18, 2010) was an American host and disk jockey, best known for his eponymous television dance program, ''The Clay Cole Show'', which aired in New York City on WNTA-TV and ...
. The station continued to lag behind New York's other independent stations—
WNEW-TV WNYW (channel 5) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside Secaucus, New Jersey–licensed MyNetworkTV flagship ...
(channel 5),
WOR-TV WWOR-TV (channel 9) is a television station licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area as the flagship of MyNetworkTV. It is owned and operated by Fox Television Stations alongside Fox flagship WNYW (ch ...
(channel 9) and
WPIX WPIX (channel 11) is a television station in New York City. Owned by Mission Broadcasting, it is operated under a local marketing agreement (LMA) by Nexstar Media Group, making it a ''de facto'' owned-and-operated station and flagship (broadcas ...
(channel 11)—in terms of audience size, and NTA incurred a large debt load. National Telefilm Associates put the WNTA stations up for sale in February 1961.


Transition (1961–1962)

At least three prospective purchasers expressed interest in WNTA. The most prominent was the New York City-based group Educational Television for the Metropolitan Area (ETMA), a consortium of businesspeople, cultural leaders and educators who intended to turn channel 13 into New York City's educational station. By this time, it was obvious that the non-commercial frequency that 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 jurisdiction ...
(FCC) originally allocated to the city, UHF channel 25, would not be nearly adequate enough to cover a market that stretched from
Fairfield County, Connecticut Fairfield County is a County (United States), county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is the List of counties in Connecticut, most populous county in the state and was also its fastest-growing from 2010 to 2020. A ...
in the north to
Ocean County, New Jersey Ocean County is a county located along the Jersey Shore in the south-central portion of the U.S. state of New Jersey. It borders the Atlantic Ocean on the east. Its county seat is Toms River.All-Channel Receiver Act The All-Channel Receiver Act of 1962 (ACRA) (), commonly known as the All-Channels Act, was passed by the United States Congress in 1961, to allow the Federal Communications Commission to require that all television set manufacturers must include ...
passed in 1961, most viewers could not view UHF stations except with an expensive converter; only a few manufacturers made sets with built-in UHF tuning. Even for those who could access UHF stations, reception was marginal even under the best conditions. With assistance from the
University of the State of New York The University of the State of New York (USNY, ) is the state of New York (state), New York's governmental umbrella organization for both public and private institutions in New York State. The "university" is not an educational institution: it i ...
, ETMA had attempted to purchase channel 13 and convert it into a non-commercial station in 1957, when Bremer Broadcasting first put the station on the block; this bid was later withdrawn. This time ETMA was competing with NTA founding president
Ely Landau Ely Abraham Landau (January 20, 1920 – November 4, 1993) was an American producer and production executive best remembered for films of plays in the American Film Theatre series. Landau began working in television as a director and producer i ...
, who had formed a syndicate to buy the station after resigning from NTA; and David Susskind, who received financial backing from
Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
. ETMA's initial bid of $4 million was rejected by NTA, but the citizens' group remained persistent. With the support and guidance of
National Educational Television National Educational Television (NET) was an American non-commercial educational, educational terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Ford Foundation and later co-owned by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. It o ...
(NET), ETMA later received an endorsement from newly appointed FCC chairman
Newton N. Minow Newton Norman Minow (born January 17, 1926) is an American attorney and former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission. He is famous for his speech referring to television as a " vast wasteland". While still maintaining a law practice, Mi ...
, who established public hearings to discuss the fate of channel 13. The pendulum quickly shifted in favor of channel 13 going non-commercial, and the commercial suitors withdrew their interest. On June 29, 1961, ETMA agreed to purchase WNTA for $6.2 million. About $2 million of that amount came from five of the city's six remaining commercial VHF stations (WPIX was the lone holdout), all of whom were pleased to see a competitor eliminated. In addition,
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
later donated a facility in Manhattan to ETMA and NET to use as a studio. The FCC approved the transfer in October, and converted channel 13's commercial license to non-commercial. The outgoing New Jersey governor,
Robert B. Meyner Robert Baumle Meyner (July 3, 1908 – May 27, 1990) was an American Democratic Party politician and attorney who served as the 44th governor of New Jersey from 1954 to 1962. Before being elected governor, Meyner represented Warren County in t ...
, addressing state lawmakers' concerns over continued programming specific to New Jersey, and fearing the FCC would move the channel 13 allocation to New York City, petitioned the
United States courts of appeals The United States courts of appeals are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal judiciary. The courts of appeals are divided into 11 numbered circuits that cover geographic areas of the United States and hear appeals fr ...
on September 6, 1961, to block the sale of WNTA-TV. The court ruled in the state's favor two months later. The unsettled deal almost caused National Telefilm Associates to reconsider its decision to sell the station altogether, and NTA made plans to go forward: WNTA-TV made a play to acquire broadcast rights for the
New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...
baseball team for its inaugural 1962 season. Faced with either consummating the transaction or seeing it cancelled, ETMA settled their differences with New Jersey officials on December 4, 1961. After a few last-minute issues arose to cause further delays, the transfer became final on December 22. Later that evening, WNTA-TV signed off for the final time. ETMA and NET then went to work converting the station, which they said would return with its new educational format within three months. Ten months later, channel 13 was ready to be reborn under new call letters, WNDT (for "New Dimensions in Television"). With
Edward R. Murrow Edward Roscoe Murrow (born Egbert Roscoe Murrow; April 25, 1908 – April 27, 1965) was an American broadcast journalist and war correspondent. He first gained prominence during World War II with a series of live radio broadcasts from Europe f ...
—then director of the
United States Information Agency The United States Information Agency (USIA), which operated from 1953 to 1999, was a United States agency devoted to "public diplomacy". In 1999, prior to the reorganization of intelligence agencies by President George W. Bush, President Bill C ...
—as host of the maiden broadcast, ETMA—now the Educational Broadcasting Corporation—flipped the switch on September 16, 1962. The return of channel 13 as WNDT gave the New York City market its first educational station, and with a dial position on the coveted VHF band (in many other cities, including large ones, educational stations had to make do with UHF frequencies). New York's non-commercial UHF channel, on the other hand, signed on as
WNYE-TV WNYE-TV (channel 25) is a Non-commercial educational station, non-commercial Independent station (North America), independent television station in New York City. The station is operated by NYC Media, a division of the Mayor's Office of Media and ...
four-and-a-half years later in April 1967.
Richard Heffner Richard Douglas Heffner (August 5, 1925 – December 17, 2013) was the creator and host of '' The Open Mind,'' a public affairs television show first broadcast in 1956. He was a University Professor of Communications and Public Policy at Rutgers Uni ...
was appointed as WNDT's first general manager, serving in that position in its first year; Heffner continued to appear on channel 13 as producer and host of the public affairs program '' The Open Mind'' until his death in December 2013.


Educational/public television station (1962–present)

During the transition, and after the inaugural broadcast, WNDT faced an immediate crisis. The
American Federation of Television and Radio Artists The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) was a performers' union that represented a wide variety of talent, including actors in radio and television, radio and television announcers and newspersons, singers and recording ar ...
(AFTRA) was concerned about the use of teachers—some of whom were union-certified performers—on non-commercial television, and how they would be compensated should their work be distributed nationally. AFTRA called a strike on the morning of WNDT's debut. Engineers and technicians who were members of the
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) is a labor union that represents approximately 775,000 workers and retirees in the electrical industry in the United States, Canada, Guam, Panama, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands; ...
(IBEW) refused to cross the AFTRA picket line, leaving the station's management and other non-union employees to produce the three-hour inaugural broadcast. Immediately afterwards, channel 13 went off the air again, as the strike continued for nearly two weeks. The striking workers returned WNDT to the air after ten days and on September 28, the labor dispute was settled. However, the station's financial resources were drained, requiring an infusion of cash from the
Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...
to help keep the station running. NET originally wanted to merge its operations with WNDT, which would have given the station a direct line of funding as well as make channel 13 NET's flagship station. The Ford Foundation, which supported both groups, stopped the proposed mergers on at least two different occasions in 1962 and 1965. Events that began in 1967 led the Ford Foundation to change its stance and push for a WNDT-NET merger. The newly formed
Corporation for Public Broadcasting The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is an American publicly funded non-profit corporation, created in 1967 to promote and help support public broadcasting. The corporation's mission is to ensure universal access to non-commercial, ...
(created by an act of the
United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
) initially supported NET's network role, while providing government funding for programming. But that move was followed two years later by the establishment of the Public Broadcasting Service as the CPB's own distribution system—which was a direct threat to NET's territory. It has been intimated that the CPB's creation was an attempt to curb NET's production of controversial documentaries and replace it with a less controversial, government-friendly broadcaster, less hostile in particular to the
Johnson Johnson is a surname of Anglo-Norman origin meaning "Son of John". It is the second most common in the United States and 154th most common in the world. As a common family name in Scotland, Johnson is occasionally a variation of ''Johnston'', a ...
, and later the
Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
administrations (NET ignored the demand and continued with the production of the critically acclaimed documentaries). At one point, President Nixon, frustrated with NET's documentaries criticizing his administration, especially its handling of the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
, almost managed to cut NET's $20 million funding grant in half. This led both the Ford Foundation and the CPB to threaten NET with funding withdrawal in early 1970, unless it merged its operations with WNDT. Not long after, the Ford Foundation brokered the merger of WNDT and NET, which took effect on June 29, 1970. Channel 13's call sign was changed to the present WNET on October 1, 1970. NET ceased network operations three days later, with PBS taking over the following day. The station continued to produce some shows for the national PBS schedule with the NET branding until early 1972, when they began to be identified as "WNET/13" programs; a formal consolidation of the corporation's separate national and local production facilities occurred later that year. Following the merger,
David Loxton David R. Loxton (January 28, 1943 – September 20, 1989), was a British producer of documentaries and other programs for public television in the US. Loxton was born in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, the son of Bill Loxton and Binkie Loxton (née Pa ...
established the TV Lab in 1972 with support from the Rockefeller Foundation and New York State Council on the Arts. TV Lab provided artists with equipment to produce video pieces through an artist-in-residence program. The Independent Documentary Fund and Video Tape Review series were both produces of TV Lab. TV Lab ended in 1984 when the CPB withdrew funds. Since 1979, the station has been known on-air as "Thirteen." It continued to include Newark in its legal IDs (though logos for national productions read "New York") until the late 1990s. Since then, it has identified mostly as "New York," though it is still legally licensed to Newark. Even after becoming a noncommercial station, channel 13 retained its original studios and offices at the Mosque Theater in Newark. The station eventually moved to the Gateway Center office building, also in Newark. In 1982, more than 20 years after becoming the New York area's flagship public television station, WNET moved its operations to the
Hudson Hotel The Hudson New York was a boutique hotel located along West 58th Street (at Ninth Avenue), in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The hotel closed in November 2020 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. History The Hudson New York was const ...
at 237 West 58th Street in Manhattan, while retaining the Gateway Center studios for a few more years. In 1987, Channel 13 celebrated its silver anniversary with a series of rebroadcasts of older programs titled '' Thirteen Revisited''. In 1998, WNET moved to 450 West 33rd Street, straddling the railroad tracks going into
Pennsylvania Station Pennsylvania Station (often abbreviated Penn Station) is a name applied by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) to several of its grand passenger terminals. Several are still in active use by Amtrak and other transportation services; others have been ...
. Channel 13's transmitter facilities, including a newly installed digital transmission system, were destroyed in the
terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
. Gerard (Rod) Coppola, channel 13's head transmitter engineer, was among those who died when the north tower collapsed. His remains were discovered on December 25, 2001. For the next ten months, WNYE-TV, headquartered in
Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, became WNET's surrogate transmitter and airwave: for those without cable, repeats of WNET's prime time schedule were broadcast on WNYE until Channel 13 could re-establish transmission facilities back at the Empire State Building. Some time later, in February 2003, WNET completed its merger with Long Island PBS broadcaster WLIW (licensed to Garden City and based in Plainview), combining the two stations into one operation. While most of the two stations' operations have been merged, they still have separate studio facilities, separate governing boards, and conduct separate fundraising efforts. During 2009, WNET's parent company, WNET.org, sustained financial difficulties, and in January, the company pared its workforce from 500 employees to 415, due to severe problems with its budget and fundraising. In October, WNET announced that its studios at 450 West 33rd Street would soon be up for sale, as it no longer needed the extra space. In November, WNET announced that all WNET.org employees would take an unpaid furlough for three to five days between Christmas and New Year's Day, with a skeleton crew of engineers remaining during that time to keep the stations on the air; however, they, too, would have to go on furloughs at the start of 2010. In 2011, WNET moved its studios and offices to Worldwide Plaza. WNET has been broadcasting digital-only since June 12, 2009. On July 1, 2011, WNET took over the programming of
New Jersey Network The New Jersey Network (NJN) was a network of public television and radio stations serving the U.S. state of New Jersey. NJN was a member of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) for television and the National Public Radio (NPR) for radio, br ...
's television stations, which were relaunched as NJTV (now
NJ PBS NJ PBS (known as NJTV prior to 2021) is a public television network serving the U.S. state of New Jersey. The network is owned by the New Jersey Public Broadcasting Authority (NJPBA), an agency of the New Jersey state government which owns the ...
). The network features increased coverage of news and issues pertinent to New Jersey, as well as programming from the WNET and PBS libraries. The transfer of programming to WNET was part of Governor
Chris Christie Christopher James Christie (born September 6, 1962) is an American politician, lawyer, political commentator, lobbyist, and former federal prosecutor who served as the 55th governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018. Christie, who was born in Ne ...
's plan for the New Jersey government's exit from public broadcasting. As part of the deal, WNET airs NJTV's nightly statewide newscast, ''NJ Today'' (which was renamed ''NJTV News'' on November 4, 2013), to meet its local programming obligations since it still operates on a frequency allocated to Newark. Previously, it had aired NJN's newscast, ''
NJN News NJN News was a half-hour daily broadcast television news program by the New Jersey Network which also aired in New York City on WNET WNET (channel 13), branded on-air as "Thirteen" (stylized as "THIRTEEN"), is a primary PBS member television ...
'', which it co-produced with NJN from 1978 to 1981 (the program continued to air on WNET even after NJN took full control over its production). In 2014, the Tisch WNET Studios at Lincoln Center were built at the southwest corner of 66th and Broadway; this facility houses two television studios. The space can also accommodate lectures, screenings and concerts. The facility is named in honor of James S. Tisch and his wife, Merryl H. Tisch, whose $15 million gift was, at that time, the single largest donation from individuals in WNET's history. On May 9, 2017, it was announced that WNET would resume broadcasting from Lower Manhattan at One World Trade Center by the end of the year. In 2019, WNET acquired New Jersey news website NJ Spotlight. The following year, it merged NJ Spotlight with NJTV's newsroom, with the NJTV newscasts becoming ''NJ Spotlight News.'' NJ Spotlight would merge with NJTV News in 2020. On March 25, 2021, WNET.org was reorganized as The WNET Group.


Original productions


Notable general-audience programs produced by WNET

WNET has produced, created and/or presented a number of PBS shows. This includes, but is not limited to: * ''Africa'' (2001) * ''The African-American Journey'' (2002–2005) * ''Aging Out'' (2005) * ''Amato: A Love Affair with Opera'' (2001) * ''
Amanpour & Company ''Amanpour & Company'' is a late-night global-affairs interview television program hosted by Christiane Amanpour. The hour-long show premiered on PBS on September 10, 2018, as an expanded version of the CNN International show ''Amanpour'', augm ...
'' (2018–present) * ''
American Masters ''American Masters'' is a PBS television series which produces biographies on enduring writers, musicians, visual and performing artists, dramatists, filmmakers, and those who have left an indelible impression on the cultural landscape of the ...
'' (1983–present) * ''Assignment America'' (1974–1975) * ''Australia: Beyond the Fatal Shore'' (2000) * ''Bill Moyers Reports: Earth On Edge'' (2001) * '' Black Journal'' * '' Center of the Storm'' (2002) * ''Changing Stages'' (2001) * ''
Charlie Rose Charles Peete Rose Jr. (born January 5, 1942) is an American former television journalist and talk show host. From 1991 to 2017, he was the host and executive producer of the talk show '' Charlie Rose'' on PBS and Bloomberg LP. Rose also co-an ...
'' (1991–2017) * ''Chasing the Dream'' (2014–present) * '' Colonial House'' (2004) * ''Cucina Amore'' (1999–2002) * ''Dickens'' (2003) * ''DNA'' (2003) * ''Echoes From the White House'' (2001) * '' EGG, the Arts Show'' (2000–2003) * ''Extreme Oil'' (2004) * '' Firing Line'' (2018–present) * ''Freedom: A History of Us'' (2003) * ''
Frontier House ''Frontier House'' is a historical reality television series that originally aired on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States from April 29 to May 3, 2002. The series followed three family groups that agreed to live as homest ...
'' (2002) * ''
The Great American Dream Machine ''The Great American Dream Machine'' was a weekly satirical variety television series, produced in New York City by WNET and broadcast on PBS from 1971 to 1972. The program was hosted by humorist and commentator Marshall Efron. Other notable cast ...
'' (1971–1972) * ''Great Food'' (2001) * ''
Great Performances ''Great Performances'' is a television anthology series dedicated to the performing arts; the banner has been used to televise theatrical performances such as plays, musicals, opera, ballet, concerts, as well as occasional documentaries. It is pr ...
'' (1972–present) * ''Heroes of Ground Zero'' (2002) * ''In Search of Ancient Ireland'' (2002) * ''Innovation: Life, Inspired'' (2004) * ''Justice and the Generals'' (2002) * ''
Live from Lincoln Center ''Live from Lincoln Center'' is a seventeen-time Emmy Award-winning series that has broadcast notable performances from the Lincoln Center in New York City on PBS since 1976. The program airs between six and nine times per season. Episodes of ''L ...
'' (1976–present) * ''Local News'' (2001) * ''
Lord of the Universe ''Lord of the Universe'' is a 1974 American documentary film about Prem Rawat (at the time known as Guru Maharaj Ji) at an event in November 1973 at the Houston Astrodome called "Millennium '73". ''Lord of the Universe'' was first broadcast on ...
'' * ''
MasterChef USA ''MasterChef USA'' is an American competitive cooking show that aired on PBS from 2000 to 2001. The series was hosted by Gary Rhodes. The series format was based directly on BBC's ''MasterChef'', which used Rhodes as host during 2001. The show ...
'' (2000–2001) * ''The Mind'' * ''
Monarchy A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state for life or until abdication. The political legitimacy and authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutional monarchy) ...
'' * ''Moyers on Addiction: Close to Home'' (1998) * ''
Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...
'' (1982–present) * '' New York: A Documentary Film'' (1999–2003; co-produced with
WGBH-TV WGBH-TV (channel 2), branded on-air as GBH or GBH 2 since 2020, is the primary PBS member television station in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is the flagship property of the WGBH Educational Foundation, which also owns Boston's sec ...
) * ''
NOW Now most commonly refers to the present time. Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to: Organizations * Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization * National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization * Now ...
'' (2002–2010) * ''
NYC-ARTS ''NYC Arts'', stylized as ''NYC-ARTS'' and formerly called ''Sunday Arts'' and ''SundayArts Primetime'', is a program dedicated to promoting cultural groups, activities and events in the New York tri-state area produced by and aired by WNET. It is ...
'' (2012; formerly known as ''Sunday Arts'') * ''On Our Own Terms: Moyers on Dying'' (2000) * '' The Open Mind'' (1956–present) * ''Our Genes Our Choices'' (2003) * ''Reagan Needs Help'' (1979–present) * '' Realidades'' (1975–1977) * ''Red Gold: The Epic Story of Blood'' (2002) * ''
Religion & Ethics Newsweekly ''Religion & Ethics Newsweekly'' was an American weekly television news-magazine program which aired on PBS. History and content Premiering in 1997, ''Religion & Ethics Newsweekly'' was devoted to news of religion and spirituality, along with ...
'' (1997–2017) * ''Reel New York'' * ''The Rise and Fall of
Jim Crow The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...
'' (2002) * ''
Savage Earth Savage may refer to: Places Antarctica * Savage Glacier, Ellsworth Land * Savage Nunatak, Marie Byrd Land * Savage Ridge, Victoria Land United States * Savage, Maryland, an unincorporated community * Savage, Minnesota, a city * Savage, Mi ...
'' (1998) * ''Savage Seas'' (1999; co-produced with
Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was it ...
) * ''The Secret Life of the Brain'' (2002) * ''
Secrets of the Dead ''Secrets of the Dead'', produced by WNET 13 New York, is an ongoing PBS television series which began in 2000. The show generally follows an investigator or team of investigators exploring what modern science can tell us about some of the great m ...
'' (2000–present) * ''
Simon Schama's Power of Art ''Simon Schama's Power of Art'' is an eight-part BBC TV mini-series examining the works of eight artists, the context surrounding one of their works and the message they intended to convey with these. It was written, created, narrated, and presen ...
'' (Schama hosted ''The Story of the Jews'' and ''A History of Britain'' with the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
) * '' The Six Wives of Henry VIII'' (TV series) (2003) * ''
Slavery and the Making of America ''Slavery and the Making of America'' is a 2004 Public Broadcasting Service, PBS four-part documentary series on African American slaves and their contributions to the United States. Famous African Americans such as Colonel Tye and historical fig ...
'' (2004) * '' Sound and Fury'' (2000) * ''
Soul! ''Soul!'' (also stylized in uppercaseC. Gerald Fraser January 30, 1991, ''New York Times''. Accessed online 21 April 2008.) is a performance/ variety television program that showcased African American music, dance and literature in the late 1960s ...
'' (1968–1973) * ''
Space Racers ''Space Racers'' is an American CGI STEM-focused educational animated television series featuring the cadets of the Stardust Space Academy. The show began as a web series on March 22, 2011 entitled Space Race, then debuted as a television series ...
''** (2014–present) * '' Srebrenica: A Cry from the Grave'' (1999) * ''
Stage on Screen ''Stage on Screen'' was a series broadcast on public television PBS affiliate Thirteen WNET New York, which presents American theatrical productions that consist of cinematic and made-for-TV adaptations, live broadcasts, and documentaries that rel ...
'' (2001) * ''
The Story of English ''The Story of English'' is an Primetime Emmy Award, Emmy Award-winning nine-part television series, produced in 1986, detailing the development of the English language. ''The Story of English'' is also a companion book, also produced in 1986. ...
'' * ''
Sunday Arts Sunday Arts is a weekly program on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) in Australia every Sunday. It gives a broad view of the various artists working in Australia today ranging from theatre, music, visual art, film, literature, to ind ...
'' * ''
Tavis Smiley Tavis Smiley (; born September 13, 1964) is an American talk show host and author. Smiley was born in Gulfport, Mississippi, and grew up in Bunker Hill, Indiana. After attending Indiana University, he worked during the late 1980s as an aide to ...
'' (2004–2017) * ''Taxi Dreams'' (2001) * ''That Money Show'' (2000–2001) * ''Thomas Hampson: I Hear America Singing'' (1997) * '' Verna: U.S.O. Girl'' * The ''A Walk Through...'' series of historical walking tours of New York City: ''A Walk Through
Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...
'', ''A Walk Through
Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...
'', ''A Walk Through the Bronx'', ''A Walk Through Brooklyn'', ''A Walk Through Queens'', and ''A Walk Through Staten Island'' * '' Warrior Challenge'' (2003) * ''Who Cares: Chronic Illness in America'' (2001) * ''Who's Dancin' Now?'' (2001) * ''
Wide Angle Wide angle may refer to: * Wide-angle lens, type of camera lens * ''Wide Angle'' (TV series), television series * ''Wide Angle'', 1999 album by Hybrid * ''Wide Angles'', 2003 album by Michael Brecker * Wide-angle X-ray scattering In X-ray crystal ...
'' (2002–present) * ''
Wild TV Wild TV is a Television in Canada, Canadian English language Category B Services, Category B specialty channel broadcasting programming focusing on hunting, fishing, shooting, and the outdoors. The channel is owned by Dieter Kohler through Wild TV ...
'' (2002) * ''
Woman Alive! ''Woman Alive!'' was a feminist television show resulting from a collaboration between ''Ms. Magazine'' and American public television. It consisted of one pilot episode (1974) and two series (1975 and 1977). Background In 1974, ''Ms. Magazine' ...
'' (1974-1977) * ''
Worldfocus ''Worldfocus'' was an American newscast focused on international news and reporting. The newscast was originally anchored by Martin Savidge and later hosted by Daljit Dhaliwal. It was produced by WNET New York and distributed to U.S. public telev ...
'' (2008–2010)


Notable children's programs produced by WNET

* ''
Angelina Ballerina ''Angelina Ballerina'' is a children's book series by author Katharine Holabird and illustrator Helen Craig about a fictional mouse (full name Angelina Jeanette Mouseling) who is training to become a ballerina. The first book in the series was ...
''* (2005–2009 and original series broadcast 2002–2003; produced with
HIT Entertainment HIT Entertainment Limited (commonly written as HiT) was a British-American entertainment company founded in 1982 as Henson International Television, the international distribution arm of The Jim Henson Company, by Jim Henson, Peter Orton, and Soph ...
) * '' Angelina Ballerina: The Next Steps'' (2009–2011) * ''
Barney & Friends ''Barney & Friends'' is an American children's television series targeted at young children aged 2–7, created by Sheryl Leach. The series premiered on PBS on April 6, 1992. The series features the title character Barney, a purple anthropomorp ...
''* (1992–2010; produced with
HIT Entertainment HIT Entertainment Limited (commonly written as HiT) was a British-American entertainment company founded in 1982 as Henson International Television, the international distribution arm of The Jim Henson Company, by Jim Henson, Peter Orton, and Soph ...
) (Original series) * ''
Bob the Builder ''Bob the Builder'' is a British animated children's television series created by Keith Chapman for HIT Entertainment and Hot Animation. The series follows the adventures of Bob, a building contractor, specialising in masonry, along with hi ...
''* (2005–2018; produced with
HIT Entertainment HIT Entertainment Limited (commonly written as HiT) was a British-American entertainment company founded in 1982 as Henson International Television, the international distribution arm of The Jim Henson Company, by Jim Henson, Peter Orton, and Soph ...
) * ''
Cyberchase ''Cyberchase'' is an educational animated sci-fi children's television series that airs on PBS Kids. The series centers around three children from Earth: Jackie, Matt, and Inez, who are brought into Cyberspace, a digital universe, in order to p ...
'' (2002–present; produced with
Nelvana Nelvana Enterprises, Inc. (; previously known as Nelvana Limited, sometimes known as Nelvana Animation and simply Nelvana or Nelvana Communications) is a Canadian animation studio and entertainment company owned by Corus Entertainment. Founded ...
seasons 1–5, season 4 with Flying Minds Entertainment, seasons 6–present with
PiP Animation Services PiP Animation Services Inc. is a Canadian full-service animation studio. Its most recent work includes the CBC series ''Wandering Wenda'' and the WNET series ''Cyberchase''. Animation accomplishments Somewhere between 2000 and 2002, Pip did so ...
and Title Entertainment) * ''
Franny's Feet ''Franny's Feet'' is a children's animated television series created by Cathy Moss and Susin Nielsen. The show was produced by Decode Entertainment (now WildBrain) with the participation of Family Channel and in association with Channel Five ...
'' (2004–2011; produced with
Decode Entertainment WildBrain Studios is the in-house television studio arm of Canadian entertainment company WildBrain based in Vancouver which was established in 2016 as DHX Studios. History In January 2016, DHX Media announced that they would be building a 60 ...
and C.O.R.E. Toons for season 3) * ''
Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks ''Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks'' (or simply ''Jakers'' in Europe) is a computer-animated children's television series. The series was broadcast on PBS Kids in the United States, and on CBBC and CBeebies in the United Kingdom. It was a ...
'' (2003–2008; produced with Entara Ltd.,
Mike Young Productions Splash Entertainment, LLC., formerly known as Mike Young Productions, Inc., MoonScoop Entertainment, LLC. and Taffy Entertainment, is an American animation studio that produces children's TV series. Splash also controls the streaming service Kab ...
, and Crest Communications) * '' Noddy'' (1998–2000; produced with
BBC Worldwide Americas BBC Worldwide Ltd. was the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the BBC, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in January 1995. The company monetises BBC brands, selling BBC and other British programming for broadca ...
, Catalyst Entertainment Inc., and Enid Blyton Ltd.) * ''
Shining Time Station ''Shining Time Station'' is an American children's television series jointly created by British television producer Britt Allcroft and American television producer Rick Siggelkow. The series was produced by Quality Family Entertainment (the Ame ...
'' (1989–1993) * ''
Thomas and Friends ''Thomas & Friends'' (originally known as ''Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends'' and later ''Thomas & Friends: Big World! Big Adventures!'') is a British children's television series that aired across 24 series from 1984 to 2021. Based on ''The ...
''* (2004–2017; produced with
HiT Entertainment HIT Entertainment Limited (commonly written as HiT) was a British-American entertainment company founded in 1982 as Henson International Television, the international distribution arm of The Jim Henson Company, by Jim Henson, Peter Orton, and Soph ...
) *indicates a program that was originally presented by
Connecticut Public Television Connecticut Public Television (CPTV) is the Public Broadcasting Service ( PBS) member network for the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is owned by Connecticut Public Broadcasting, a community-based non-profit organization that holds the licenses ...
.
WNET has also produced programming for public television stations distributed outside of the PBS system, including: * ''Planet H2O'' * ''In the Mix: The New Normal'', a co-production with '' In the Mix'' * ''What's Up in Factories'' * ''What's Up in Finance'' * ''What's Up in Technology''


Other programming

WNET was also one of the original co-producing entities of the ''
PBS NewsHour ''PBS NewsHour'' is an American evening television news program broadcast on over 350 PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virg ...
'', along with
Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
PBS member station
WETA-TV WETA-TV (channel 26) is the primary PBS member television station in Washington, D.C. Owned by the Greater Washington Educational Telecommunications Association, it is a sister station to NPR member WETA (90.9 FM). The two outlets share studios ...
and MacNeil-Lehrer Productions. The show debuted in 1975 as a local news-analysis program, ''The
Robert MacNeil Robert Breckenridge Ware MacNeil, OC (born January 19, 1931) is a Canadian-American journalist and writer. He is a retired television news anchor who partnered with Jim Lehrer to create ''The MacNeil/Lehrer Report'' in 1975. Early life and ed ...
Report''.
Jim Lehrer James Charles Lehrer (; May 19, 1934 – January 23, 2020) was an American journalist, novelist, screenwriter, and playwright. Lehrer was the executive editor and a news anchor for the ''PBS NewsHour'' on PBS and was known for his role as a deb ...
, a frequent guest on MacNeil's show, became co-host the following year, when the show was picked up by other PBS stations. WNET produced weekend editions of ''PBS NewsHour'' alongside WETA-TV for the weekday editions until 2022 when WETA assumed production for the weekend edition in addition to the weekday editions.


Criticism and controversy


Misuse of federal grants

In 2010 the office of the
United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York The United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York is the chief federal law enforcement officer in eight New York counties: New York (Manhattan), Bronx, Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, Orange, Dutchess and Sullivan. Establishe ...
, filed a lawsuit asserting that the WNET subsidiary, the Educational Broadcasting Corporation, misused grant money worth $13 million, donated by the
National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...
, the
National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...
and the
National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...
between September 2001 and January 2008. The suit asserted that WNET had used grant money that was given for the production of programs including ''
American Masters ''American Masters'' is a PBS television series which produces biographies on enduring writers, musicians, visual and performing artists, dramatists, filmmakers, and those who have left an indelible impression on the cultural landscape of the ...
'', ''
Great Performances ''Great Performances'' is a television anthology series dedicated to the performing arts; the banner has been used to televise theatrical performances such as plays, musicals, opera, ballet, concerts, as well as occasional documentaries. It is pr ...
'' and ''
Cyberchase ''Cyberchase'' is an educational animated sci-fi children's television series that airs on PBS Kids. The series centers around three children from Earth: Jackie, Matt, and Inez, who are brought into Cyberspace, a digital universe, in order to p ...
'' for other purposes. WNET settled the lawsuit in June 2010 by paying back the United States government $950,000, pledging to instate a program to ensure they honored all future federal grant requirements and agreeing to not receive $1,015,046 in
federal grant In the United States, federal grants are economic aid issued by the United States government out of the general federal revenue. A federal grant is an award of financial assistance from a federal agency to a recipient to carry out a public purp ...
money that was about to be awarded, WNET Vice President and General Counsel, Robert Feinberg, said to ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'': "This is not a scenario we want to repeat and we have no intention of repeating it."


Board member influence on programming

In November 2012, WNET was scheduled to air
Alex Gibney Philip Alexander Gibney (; born October 23, 1953) is an American documentary film director and producer. In 2010, ''Esquire'' magazine said Gibney "is becoming the most important documentarian of our time". Gibney's works as director include '' ...
's film '' Park Avenue: Money, Power and the American Dream'' produced by
Independent Lens ''Independent Lens'' is a weekly television series airing on PBS featuring documentary films made by independent filmmakers. Past seasons of ''Independent Lens'' were hosted by Angela Bassett, Don Cheadle, Susan Sarandon, Edie Falco, Terrence Ho ...
. The film compared the
wealth gap There are wide varieties of economic inequality, most notably income inequality measured using the distribution of income (the amount of money people are paid) and wealth inequality measured using the distribution of wealth (the amount of we ...
between the New York residents of
Park Avenue Park Avenue is a wide New York City boulevard which carries north and southbound traffic in the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. For most of the road's length in Manhattan, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the west and Lexington Avenu ...
in the
Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
and the wealthy residents of an exclusive
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
apartment block at
740 Park Avenue 740 Park Avenue is a luxury cooperative apartment building on the west side of Park Avenue between East 71st and 72nd Streets in the Lenox Hill neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It was described in ''Business Insider'' in 2011 as "a l ...
, including
David Koch David Hamilton Koch ( ; May 3, 1940 – August 23, 2019) was an American businessman, political activist, philanthropist, and chemical engineer. In 1970, he joined the family business: Koch Industries, the second largest privately held c ...
, a billionaire businessman and political activist. At the time Koch was a board member of WNET and was planning on making "a seven-figure donation—maybe more" to WNET. A furor erupted when ''The New Yorker'' revealed in May 2013 that to appease Koch, the president of WNET,
Neal Shapiro Neal B. Shapiro (born March 9, 1958) is the President and CEO of WNET. He worked previously as the President of NBC News and the executive producer for ''Dateline NBC''. Prior to this Shapiro spent 13 years as a news producer at ABC News. Early ...
, called Koch offering him the opportunity to screen Gibney's film before broadcast and rebut it after it aired with a written statement. Shapiro said to ''The New Yorker'' that he "just called David Koch. He's on our board. He's the biggest main character. No one else, just David Koch. Because he's a trustee. It's a courtesy. I can't remember doing anything like this efore. WNET replaced the film's introduction by
Stanley Tucci Stanley Tucci Jr. ( ; born November 11, 1960) is an American actor and filmmaker. Involved in acting from a young age, he made his film debut in John Huston's ''Prizzi's Honor'' (1985), and continued to play a variety of supporting roles in film ...
with a new introduction calling the film "controversial" and "provocative". Immediately after the broadcast, they aired a statement from
Koch Industries Koch Industries, Inc. ( ) is an American privately held multinational conglomerate corporation based in Wichita, Kansas and is the second-largest privately held company in the United States, after Cargill. Its subsidiaries are involved in th ...
criticizing the film as "disappointing and divisive", although a Koch spokesperson said David Koch had only watched the trailer. WNET followed the statement with an on-air round-table discussion where the moderator repeatedly mentioned that Koch's philanthropic contributions totaled a billion dollars. Gibney was not invited to appear at the round-table and was quoted as saying, "Why is WNET offering Mr. Koch special favors? And why did the station allow Koch to offer a critique of a film he hadn't even seen? Money. Money talks. They tried to undercut the credibility of the film, and I had no opportunity to defend it." Koch did not make the large donation to WNET and resigned from their board on May 16, 2013.


Ethical issues with funding

In September 2013, WNET launched a series called ''The Pension Peril'', examining the economic sustainability of public
pensions A pension (, from Latin ''pensiō'', "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments ...
and promoting cuts to their funding. On December 18, 2013, Neal Shapiro, president and CEO of WNET was quoted in a press release saying "this is the type of complex public policy story that only public television covers in an in-depth and ongoing way. WNET is poised to lead and further the dialogue about this challenging situation all across public media, on PBS, public radio, and online". On February 12, 2014
PandoDaily PandoDaily, or simply Pando, was a web publication offering technology news, analysis, and commentary, with a focus on Silicon Valley and startup companies. History PandoDaily was started by former TechCrunch writer Sarah Lacy on January 16, 201 ...
reported that the sole sponsor of ''The Pension Peril'' was former
Enron Enron Corporation was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was founded by Kenneth Lay in 1985 as a merger between Lay's Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both relatively small regional companies. ...
trader
John D. Arnold John Douglas Arnold (born 1974) is an American philanthropist, former Enron executive and founder of Arnold Ventures LLC, formerly the Laura and John Arnold Foundation. In 2007, Arnold became the youngest billionaire in the U.S. His firm, Centa ...
who had financially backed efforts to cut public employee pension benefits. Stephen Segaller, WNET's vice president for programming told ''The New York Times'' on February 13, 2014, that he had "absolute conviction" that the
Laura and John Arnold Foundation Arnold Ventures LLC (formerly known as The Laura and John Arnold Foundation) is focused on evidence-based giving in a wide range of categories including: criminal justice, education, health care, and public finance. The organization was founded by ...
was an admissible funder and the funding did not violate PBS' "perception" rule. On February 14, Segaller told ''The New York Times'' that WNET had reversed course after discussing with PBS "both the facts and the optics. We all take very, very seriously any suggestion that there's a perception problem about the integrity of our work or the sources of our funding, and we came to the conclusion that it's better to err on the side of caution". WNET and PBS issued a joint statement saying the series would go on hiatus and WNET would return the $3.5 million grant it had received from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation. Segaller said in the statement, "We made a mistake, pure and simple". PBS
ombudsman An ombudsman (, also ,), ombud, ombuds, ombudswoman, ombudsperson or public advocate is an official who is usually appointed by the government or by parliament (usually with a significant degree of independence) to investigate complaints and at ...
,
Michael Getler Michael Getler (November 13, 1935 – March 15, 2018) was an American journalist. Biography Getler was ombudsman for the Public Broadcasting Service in the United States. He was the first holder of this post, and the first ombudsman to be appo ...
, commented that PandoDaily's article "shines a light, once again, on what seems to me to be ethical compromises in funding arrangements and lack of real transparency for viewers caused, in part, by the complicated funding demands needed to support public broadcasting, and in part by managers who make some questionable decisions". Getler added that WNET "went seriously wrong" and that their "decision to accept a grant of $3.5 million from the Arnold Foundation, with a stated interest in 'public employee benefits reform', flunks PBS's own 'perception test', which is part of the service's Funding Standards and Practices."


Neglecting public mission and mandate

In late 2014, WNET programming chief Stephen Segaller received widespread criticism for proposing to push the multi award-winning documentary strands ''Independent Lens'' and '' POV'' out of a prime time slot and onto a secondary station, WLIW (Channel 21). Over 2,000 documentarians signed a petition, stating that WNET's action would lead to the shows being marginalized by PBS affiliates nationwide and have a severe effect on cutting edge documentary filmmaking. Among the prominent opponents of rescheduling ''POV'' and ''Independent Lens'' were filmmakers Alex Gibney and Laura Poitras, who had campaigned against a similar move by WNET in 2012. TV producer
Norman Lear Norman Milton Lear (born July 27, 1922) is an American producer and screenwriter, who has produced, written, created, or developed over 100 shows. Lear is known for many popular 1970s sitcoms, including the multi-award winning ''All in the Famil ...
wrote an
op-ed An op-ed, short for "opposite the editorial page", is a written prose piece, typically published by a North-American newspaper or magazine, which expresses the opinion of an author usually not affiliated with the publication's editorial board. O ...
in ''The New York Times'' accusing WNET and PBS of a ratings-chase that "could devastate independent documentary film making". He criticized the broadcaster for "threatening, for the second time in four years, to downgrade documentaries, which are at the heart of its public mission." Many of the subjects ''POV'' and ''Independent Lens'' covered — like the Koch brothers' influence on American politics in Alex Gibney's film, ''Park Avenue: Money, Power and the American Dream'' — have been controversial, leading the Indie Caucus, a group of Independent filmmakers to speculate if the provocative subjects they explored might also be relegating them to the more obscure TV schedule. Segaller said it was "preposterous" to suggest that WNET had a censorship agenda when both programs had run for more than a decade. "One disputatious moment in a many-year history does not a conspiracy make," he declared. In April 2015, WNET relented and restored both strands to their original slots.


Inaccuracy and improper influence

In June 2015, a media furor forced WNET to postpone the third season of ''
Finding Your Roots ''Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.'' is a documentary television series hosted by Henry Louis Gates Jr. that premiered on March 25, 2012, on PBS. In each episode, celebrities are presented with a "book of life" that is compiled with ...
'' when the
Sony Pictures hack On November 24, 2014, a hacker group identifying itself as "Guardians of Peace" leaked a release of confidential data from the film studio Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE). The data included personal information about Sony Pictures employees ...
revealed via hacked emails that a subject of the series,
Ben Affleck Benjamin Géza Affleck (born August 15, 1972) is an American actor and filmmaker. His accolades include two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and a Volpi Cup. Affleck began his career as a child when he starred in the PBS educationa ...
, had lobbied for material relating to a relative owning slaves be removed from the show. Those edits, which violated PBS ethics standards, brought strong criticism from the media to WNET and the producers of the show. PBS issued a statement saying "the series co-producers violated PBS standards by failing to shield the creative and editorial process from improper influence, and by failing to inform PBS or WNET of Mr. Affleck's efforts to affect program content". The statement promised the episode would be withdrawn from distribution and that the series would employ "an independent genealogist to review all versions of program episodes for factual accuracy". After the suspension of the series, ''
Adweek ''Adweek'' is a weekly American advertising trade publication that was first published in 1979. ''Adweek'' covers creativity, client–agency relationships, global advertising, accounts in review, and new campaigns. During this time, it has cover ...
'' commented: "The network clearly understands that its integrity has been thrown into question by this controversy. Even if they understood where the producers of the show were coming from when they decided to entertain the request, PBS and the veracity of all that's included in their documentaries, requires decisive action that conveys just how serious this infraction was". The series returned to the air in January 2016.


Technical information


Subchannels

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 ...
:


Out-of-market carriage

WNET is carried in all of
Mercer County, New Jersey Mercer County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Its county seat is Trenton, also the state capital, but also directly borders the Philadelphia metropolitan area and is included within the Federal Communications Commission's ...
on
Comcast Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...
,
Optimum TV Optimum is an American Internet, television, mobile and home phone company serving Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas ...
and Verizon Fios. It is also carried on cable in Abaco in the
Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...
.


See also

*
Media of New York City New York City has been called the media capital of the world. The media of New York City are internationally influential and include some of the most important newspapers, largest publishing houses, biggest record companies, and most prolific te ...


References


External links


Official website

WNET logos and screenshots from the 1950s to the present day

WNET records
at the
University of Maryland libraries The University of Maryland Libraries is the largest university library in the Washington, D.C. - Baltimore area. The university's library system includes eight libraries: six are located on the College Park campus, while the Severn Library, an of ...

Episodes of the 1975 "Assignment America" series from Thirteen WNET, American Archive of Public Broadcasting
{{PBSTV Mass media in Newark, New Jersey
NET Net or net may refer to: Mathematics and physics * Net (mathematics), a filter-like topological generalization of a sequence * Net, a linear system of divisors of dimension 2 * Net (polyhedron), an arrangement of polygons that can be folded up ...
NET Net or net may refer to: Mathematics and physics * Net (mathematics), a filter-like topological generalization of a sequence * Net, a linear system of divisors of dimension 2 * Net (polyhedron), an arrangement of polygons that can be folded up ...
PBS member stations Television channels and stations established in 1948 1948 establishments in New Jersey Peabody Award winners