WYES-TV
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WYES-TV,
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 ...
12 (
VHF Very high frequency (VHF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves (radio waves) from 30 to 300 megahertz (MHz), with corresponding wavelengths of ten meters to one meter. Frequencies immediately below VHF ...
digital Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Technology and computing Hardware *Digital electronics, electronic circuits which operate using digital signals **Digital camera, which captures and stores digital i ...
channel 11), is a Public Broadcasting Service (
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 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 earth ...
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
New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster.
; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...
, United States. The station is owned by the Greater New Orleans Educational Television Foundation. WYES-TV's studios are located on Navarre Avenue in the city's
Navarre Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, ...
neighborhood, and its transmitter is located on Magistrate Street in
Chalmette Chalmette ( ) is a census-designated place (CDP) in, and the parish seat of, St. Bernard Parish in southeastern Louisiana, United States. The 2010 census reported that Chalmette had 16,751 people; 2011 population was listed as 17,119; however, th ...
. 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 ...
, the station is available on
Cox Communications Cox Communications, Inc. (also known as Cox Cable and formerly Cox Broadcasting Corporation, Dimension Cable Services and Times-Mirror Cable) is an American digital cable television provider, telecommunications and home automation services. It i ...
channel 12 in both
standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object th ...
and high definition. WYES is the only independently owned
public television Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing ...
station in Louisiana as it is not part of
Louisiana Public Broadcasting Louisiana Public Broadcasting (LPB) is a state network of Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member television stations serving the U.S. state of Louisiana. The stations are operated by the Louisiana Educational Television Authority, an agency cr ...
(LPB), which owns all of the PBS member stations in the state that are located outside of New Orleans, and maintains a programming agreement with and partial ownership of the city's independent public television station,
WLAE-TV WLAE-TV, virtual channel 32 ( UHF digital channel 23), is an educational independent television station licensed to New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. The station is owned by the Educational Broadcasting Foundation, a partnership between the ...
(channel 32). WYES-TV is also available 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 ...
providers in
Biloxi Biloxi ( ; ) is a city in and one of two county seats of Harrison County, Mississippi, United States (the other being the adjacent city of Gulfport). The 2010 United States Census recorded the population as 44,054 and in 2019 the estimated popu ...
and
Gulfport, Mississippi Gulfport is the second-largest city in Mississippi after the state capital, Jackson. Along with Biloxi, Gulfport is the co-county seat of Harrison County and the larger of the two principal cities of the Gulfport-Biloxi, Mississippi Metropolitan ...
, despite the presence of
Mississippi Public Broadcasting Mississippi Public Broadcasting (MPB) is the public broadcasting state network serving the U.S. state of Mississippi. It is owned by the Mississippi Authority for Educational Television (MAET), an agency of the state government that holds the lic ...
(MPB) transmitter WMAH-TV. WYES-TV carries PBS and
American Public Television American Public Television (APT) is an American nonprofit organization and syndicator of programming for public television stations in the United States. It distributes public television programs nationwide for PBS member stations and independ ...
(APT) distributed programs, as well as programs from other distributors. Many national programs produced by WYES-TV are distributed by APT.


History

WYES-TV traces its history to 1953, when a group of civic leaders formed the Greater New Orleans Educational Television Association. 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) had assigned the VHF channel 8 allocation in the New Orleans market for
non-commercial A non-commercial (also spelled noncommercial) activity is an activity that does not, in some sense, involve commerce, at least relative to similar activities that do have a commercial objective or emphasis. For example, advertising-free community ...
use, and the group quickly snapped up the license. After numerous fits and starts, the station first signed on the air on April 1, 1957. It was the 12th educational television station to sign on in the United States and the second in Louisiana as well as New Orleans' third television station (behind
WDSU WDSU (channel 6) is a television station in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Hearst Television. The station's studios are located on Howard Avenue in the city's Central Business District, and its transmitte ...
and WVUE, but before
WWL-TV WWL-TV (channel 4) is a television station in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Slidell-licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate WUPL (channel 54). Both stations share studios on Rampart Street ...
and
WGNO WGNO (channel 26) is a television station in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside CW owned-and-operated station WNOL-TV (channel 38). Both stations share studios at The Galleria ...
). The state's first educational station, KLSE signed on a month earlier from Monroe, but went off the air in 1964, making WYES the oldest continuously operating educational station in Louisiana. After KLSE shut down, WYES would be the only educational station in the state until LPB
flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...
WLPB-TV in
Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-sma ...
signed on in September 1975. It originally operated as a member 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); the station joined the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), when NET was reorganized in 1970. On June 8 of that year at 8:00 p.m., the station swapped channel positions with then-
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...
affiliate WVUE and moved to channel 12, where the station remains today as its virtual channel. This was done in order for WVUE to be able to have a stronger broadcast signal which did not interfere with
Jackson, Mississippi Jackson, officially the City of Jackson, is the Capital city, capital of and the List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city is also one of two county seats of Hinds County, Mississippi, ...
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 Entertainmen ...
affiliate WJTV, which also broadcasts on channel 12. WYES is best known outside of New Orleans as the home of famous Louisiana chef and storyteller Justin Wilson, whose show originated from WYES-TV's studios. It is also known as the home for another famous Louisiana chef,
Paul Prudhomme Paul Prudhomme (July 13, 1940 – October 8, 2015), also known as Gene Autry Prudhomme, was an American celebrity chef whose specialties were Creole and Cajun cuisines, which he was also credited with popularizing. He was the chef propriet ...
. In 1984, WYES premiered ''Informed Sources'', a program devoted to in-depth discussion of the news by local journalists; it is still running today. ''Informed Sources'' was inspired by a former WYES show entitled ''City Desk'', which ran from 1971 to 1978. On July 8, 1984,
WLAE-TV WLAE-TV, virtual channel 32 ( UHF digital channel 23), is an educational independent television station licensed to New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. The station is owned by the Educational Broadcasting Foundation, a partnership between the ...
signed on as a secondary PBS member station for the market. It was owned by a partnership of the Willwoods Community and LPB; the later bought a stake in order to get its Louisiana-focused programming into New Orleans. Through PBS' Program Differentiation Plan, WLAE carried only 25% of the programming broadcast by PBS, with channel 12 carrying the remainder of the network's programs. WYES became one of the earliest TV stations in the United States (and the first in New Orleans) to broadcast in
stereo Stereophonic sound, or more commonly stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configuration ...
, doing so in May 1985. WYES became the market's exclusive PBS member once again on August 1, 2013, when WLAE ended its membership with the network to increase its focus on its locally produced programming. Among the PBS shows that WLAE had carried prior to leaving PBS were ''
Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...
'', which it shared with WYES, and 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 ...
'', whose removal from channel 32 resulted in the news program only being available in the market through WYES-TV's
World In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...
subchannel on digital channel 12.2 until it was added to that station's primary channel the following month on September 2; the program had aired on WLAE under a longstanding arrangement with WYES.


Hurricane Katrina

Due to massive flooding caused by the levee failures that occurred during
Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...
's landfall on August 29, 2005, WYES' Navarre Avenue studios, where the station had been based for nearly its entire existence, sustained severe damage from flood waters of up to . The Navarre neighborhood is located in a low-lying area that sustained particularly severe damage due to flooding. The station's transmitters were spared serious damage, but the storm damaged a backup generator that provided emergency power to the transmitter facility, keeping the station off the air for almost four months. Following Katrina, WYES partnered with local
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 ...
providers including Cox Communications and
Charter Communications Charter Communications, Inc., is an American telecommunications and mass media company with services branded as Spectrum. With over 32 million customers in 41 states, it is the second-largest cable operator in the United States by subscribers, ...
to pipe in LPB's signal starting in November 2005. WYES restored its broadcast signal on December 30, operating from a temporary facility located on Veterans Boulevard and Phosphor Avenue in Metairie. It would take almost six years for WYES to return to New Orleans itself. In May 2011, WYES began construction of a new broadcast facility located behind the original building that cost $7 million to build. Funding for its construction came from multiple sources, including funds raised during since-aborted plans for an unrelated facility, to have been known as the "Teleplex", that was planned to be built in the 1990s on the campus of the
University of New Orleans The University of New Orleans (UNO) is a public research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is a member of the University of Louisiana System and the Urban 13 association. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High rese ...
. The facility was constructed in two phases: with a building that houses the station's technical equipment being built first, followed by another complex that would replace the original facility, which would house other operations. The station moved its fundraising operations back to the original Navarre Avenue facility in 2012, with the rest of the station's operations following suit later that year.


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 ...
:


Analog-to-digital conversion

WYES-TV shut down its analog signal, over
VHF Very high frequency (VHF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves (radio waves) from 30 to 300 megahertz (MHz), with corresponding wavelengths of ten meters to one meter. Frequencies immediately below VHF ...
channel 12, at 7 a.m. on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal continued to broadcasts on its pre-transition VHF channel 11. 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 A ...
, 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 VHF analog channel 12.


References


External links


Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wyes-Tv PBS member stations Television stations in New Orleans Television channels and stations established in 1957 1957 establishments in Louisiana