is an established
Public Television and
Public Radio broadcast service located in
Boston, Massachusetts . It operates over ten broadcasts - primarily WGBH 2 and WGBX 44 (television), and WGBH 89.7 FM (radio). WGBH is a member of
PBS in regard to its television broadcasts, and both a member of
NPR and an affiliate of
PRI for its radio broadcasts. The license-holder is the WGBH Educational Foundation.
WGBH produces many shows for the above organizations, including nearly a third of PBS's national prime-time TV. Programs produced for PBS include ''
Nova '', ''
Frontline '', ''
American Experience '', ''
The Victory Garden '' and ''
This Old House ''.
Recognized for its contributions to non-commercial educational television programming, WGBH is also a leader in services for people who are deaf, hard-of-hearing, blind, or visually impaired. WGBH invented television
Closed Caption ing and the Descriptive Video Service (DVS); they provide these access services to commercial and public TV producers, and to home video, Web sites, and movie theaters nationwide.
WGBH received its first broadcasting license in 1951 under the auspices of the
Lowell Institute Cooperative Broadcasting Council , a consortium of local universities and cultural institutions, whose collaboration stems from an 1836 bequest by textile manufacturer
John Lowell, Jr. calling for free public lectures for the citizens of Boston.
WGBH-TV Channel 2 went on the air on until a fire destroyed the studios in the early morning hours of
October 14 ,
1961 . After going to so many studios, and on
August 29 ,
1964 , WGBH-TV Channel 2 and WGBH 89.7 FM signed-on from their new studios located at 125 Western Avenue in Allston.
WGBH 's distinctive, synthesized audio "sounder" (accompanied by differing animated visuals) has appeared in the open or close of its national TV programs for more than 30 years. The first such logo appeared in
1974 . The seven-second ID begins with a white background, and then the letters WGBH (in black) zoom out (emerging from the front) to the center of the screen and to the vanishing point. It is then followed by the word BOSTON zooming in from the center and taking up the whole screen (similar to Viacom's ''
V Of Doom ''), which then goes black. The logo concludes with the word PRESENTS (in white) slowly zooming in from the center. This logo is now believed to be extinct, though it is occasionally seen in reruns of very old WGBH programming, particularly
Julia Child 's ''
The French Chef ''.
The same music is also used in the current synth-animation signature. The original seven-second piece began appearing at the beginning of WGBH's national shows in late
1978 , accompanied by different visuals—including the "outline" design that is the WGBH emblem. In the original version, the WGBH letters and the shadow outline form as the music builds, then in the last two seconds the "outline logo" bursts into light and morphs into "Boston presents."
The WGBH national sounder/ID now appears as a three- or four-second stinger at the end of its PBS programs, based on the national web's request that station IDs be as succinct as possible.
The ID is among the most famous and longest lasting station signatures on television, public or commercial, along with the former "radar" signature of
WNET and the animated shapes of the
Public Broadcasting Service closing ID. Many thought the WGBH jingle and logo were "eerie" because of its characteristics:
#When it starts up, it flashes and eerie spacelike beeps pop in.
#A synthesizer (presumably a MOOG) makes a slow violin like sound.
#The tone builds up, and the neon sign (while looking very real) "catches fire"
#The neon blurs out and fades into the word "Boston" as the tone reaches its crescendo.
While not intending to be scary, it was frightening to some viewers because it was random and unpredictable for the first time. It was surreal, abstract, and subtly psychedelic to some. On certain shows, this sting was overridden by the show's music itself, such as in the case of the ''Arthur'' and ''Between the Lions'' TV series, possibly because the logo/music is deemed to be too scary for the children who watch these shows.
"GBH" stands for
Great Blue Hill , the location of WGBH's FM transmitter, as well as the original location of WGBH-TV's transmitter. Great Blue Hill in
Milton, Massachusetts , has an elevation of 635
Feet (193
M ) and is the highest point in the Boston area. Today, WGBH-TV's and WGBX-TV's transmitters are located at the
CBS digital television facility in
Needham, Massachusetts , where channel 44 originally signed on
September 25 ,
1967 ; channel 2 moved there on
June 18 ,
1966 . WGBX-TV's digital service on channel 43 shares the master antenna at the very top of the tower with the commercial stations. Analog channel 44 has a separate antenna lower down that is shared with WGBH-DT on channel 19.
WGBH operates a
CANCOM satellite uplink facility which provides Boston broadcast television stations to Canadian cable and satellite TV distributors. As a Canadian company, CANCOM is not legally entitled to operate an uplink facility in the United States. Hence, it pays WGBH to perform this service on its behalf. This facility is also located at the CBS tower in Needham.
WGBH also owns three stations in the
Cape Cod And Islands area, licensed to
Woods Hole (WCAI),
Nantucket (WNAN), and
Brewster (WZAI). All simulcast
National Public Radio programming but are programmed separately from WGBH. A fourth station,
WNCK , is owned by Nantucket Public Radio, but simulcasts WGBH-FM programming.
WGBH's original studios were located in
building W20 (presently Stratton Student Center) on the campus of
MIT until the building burned down in a 1963 fire. The building was rebuilt, but by the time of completion, the station had moved to its present location on
Harvard University property in the
Allston neighborhood of Boston. The
ZIP Code of the station and its post-office box—PO Box 350, Boston, Mass 02134—was made famous in a recurring jingle on its
1970s and late
1990s children's program, ''
ZOOM ''. In
2006 , WGBH will move to new studios in Boston's
Brighton neighborhood.
- form; channel 44 in Boston has WGBX (supposedly for reat '''B'''lue E'''x'''perimental), while channel 57 in Springfield, Massachusetts has WGBY for reat '''B'''lue '''Y'''onder. There was to be a WGBW in Adams, Massachusetts at one point that would have operated on channel 35; its W was to stand for '''W'''est. The callsign has since been reassigned to a Christian radio station in Florida.
The original
Cape Cod And Islands stations are WCAI for pe and '''I'''slands and WNAN for '''NAN'''tucket; WZAI seems to be derived from the 'CAI callsign.
WNCK is derived from a shortening of NantuCKet as well.
WGBH's callsign is occasionally jokingly expanded as "God Bless
Harvard ", although the station has no direct connection with the university other than being located very nearby.
- WGBH-TV 2 Boston (DT 19)
- WGBX-TV 44 Boston (DT 43)
- WGBH World (WGBX-DT and digital cable)
- WGBH Create (WGBX-DT and digital cable)
- 'GBH Kids (WGBX-DT and digital cable)
- WGBH On Demand (digital cable)
- WGBH High Definition (WGBH-DT and digital cable)
- Boston Kids & Family TV (Boston cable)
- WGBY -TV 57 Springfield (DT 58)
- WGBH 89.7 Boston
- --- in Nantucket heard on WNCK 89.5
- --- in East Cambridge heard on W242AA 96.3
- --- WGBH-HD2 -- classical music stream available over the Web and on HD Radio
- Cape and Islands NPR www.cainan.org
- --- WCAI 90.1 Woods Hole
- --- WNAN 91.1 Nantucket
- --- WZAI 94.3 Brewster
WGBH is one of six local Boston TV stations seen in
Canada on the
Bell ExpressVu satellite provider.
At one point, WGBH operated a
Hyannis Translator on channel 8 that had the W08CH call sign, which later ceased operations. It was deleted by the
FCC in 2004.
- ''Open Source''
- ''A Celtic Sojourn''
- '' Says You! ''
- '' Sound & Spirit ''
- ''The World'' (co-produced with the BBC )
- ''The Changing World''
- ''From the Top''
- ''Arts and Ideas''
- ''The WGBH Forum Network''
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Call Sign History
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http://svartifoss2fccgov/cgi-bin/wsexe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/call_histplFacility_id=72095&Callsign=W08CH
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2006-02-19
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Federal Communications Commission
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