WPSU TV/FM - Penn State Public Broadcasting

History

Education through the use of closed circuit television was taking place in classrooms across Penn State’s campus in the mid 1950’s. Courses in U.S. History and other areas were taught using a televised lecture followed by discussion groups led by graduate students.

A decade later, after a group of individuals interested in both education and television met at the Nittany Lion Inn to discuss instructional television, a local newspaper headline read "UNIVERSITY STATION WILL SOON GO ON THE AIR. "Educational television", later to become Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) was born in 1965 when WPSX, Channel 3 began broadcasting with a transmitter on Penfield Mountain, north of Clearfield, Pa.

Since then, WPSU-TV has grown from an educational television station with limited programming and broadcast range, to one of more than 340 stations affiliated with the Public Broadcasting Service. Serving one of the largest geographic coverage areas in the nation, WPSU reaches over 1 million viewers in central Pennsylvania, three hundred and sixty five days a year, delivering more than 8760 hours of commercial-free programming. WPSX-TV’s history, rich in educational content, comes full circle as digital technology becomes a reality, allowing WPSX to fully maximize its mission and reach.

WPSU-FM, which began as a local student operated radio station in the 1960s, has evolved into central Pennsylvania’s only full service National Public Radio (NPR) affiliate. With transmitters located throughout the region, professionally staffed WPSU-FM now serves over 500,000 listeners in 12 central counties of the Commonwealth, 24 hours a day. Through nationally- and locally-produced news, features and music programs, WPSU-FM offers a variety of programming for a widely diverse listening audience. WPSU is also streamed across the Internet 24-hours a day.

Through WPSU TV and FM, along with the creative services of Media Solutions and the marketing and distribution services of Media Sales, Penn State Public Broadcasting meets its mission and enriches the quality of life for all of its diverse audiences.

Historic Timeline

Penn State Public Broadcasting celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. Penn State put station WPSU on the air in 1965. Penn State was the location of the inaugural conference in 1952 which launched the public broadcasting initiative in the United States.

• April 20, 1952
National public broadcasting conference was held at Penn State's Nittany Lion Inn. More than 100 leaders in education, broadcasting and government gathered to envision a noncommercial educational television service.

• December 6, 1953
Penn State station WDFM began broadcasting as an FM station on an assigned frequency of 91.1 megacycles with a maximum power of 250 watts.

• May 1, 1962
President Kennedy signed the Educational Television Facilities Act into law, marking the first major federal aid to educational broadcasting.

• September 22, 1964
Penn State's public television station was granted a construction permit.

• March 1, 1965
WPSX-TV begins broadcasting with one hour and forty minutes of instructional programming in Russian, English, Art and Music.

• June 7, 1965
WPSX began an evening schedule of educational programs.

• June 17, 1965
WPSX received its license to broadcast as the 101 st public television station. The original studio was located at the station's transmitter site on Penfield Mountain in Clearfield, PA.

• June 1966
WPSX-TV began broadcasting from Wagner Building. Staff members used a remote truck parked next to the building as a control room until Wagner Annex was completed in the summer of 1967.

• September 18, 1967
WPSX was on the air for a complete broadcast day from 8:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. The following weekend, the station began its first Saturday evening broadcasts and could now boast a full week broadcast schedule.

• November 7, 1967
Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 established the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private, non-profit corporation created by Congress to promote public telecommunications services for the American people.

• November 1968
The Pennsylvania General Assembly passed and the Governor signed a bill, which created the Pennsylvania Public Television Network Commission.

• Fall 1969
Corporation for Public Broadcasting created a separate entity called the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) to manage the interconnection of stations to determine which programs would be sent out nationally.

• 1978
WPSX-TV formed a partnership with Pennsylvania cable television stations to create PENNARAMA, a pioneering statewide educational cable television channel that became PCN and is now delivered via satellite to cable systems around the state.

• 1978
WPSX-TV was a member of the Appalachian Educational Satellite Program (AESP), which used an experimental satellite to deliver educational television programs in nursing, teacher education and early childhood development throughout the Appalachian region. The AESP later became The Learning Channel.

• 1980
WPSX-TV worked with the Pennsylvania Department of Education to experiment with the use of videodisc in the classroom by producing a program sampler for the Allegheny Educational Broadcast Council member schools and, with federal funds, worked with the College of Education to create a videodisc on American Sign Language.

• August 19, 1984
Student station WDFM changed call letters and went on-air as WPSU. Student programming was broadcast from 6:00 p.m. - 6:00 a.m. Classical music aired from 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. and WPSU broadcast "The Morning," which featured modern jazz and classical music from 6:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.

• June 22, 1986
Student station WPSU began airing NPR's "All Things Considered"

• Fall 1987
Student station WPSU began airing NPR's "Morning Edition"

• 1988
An analog tube transmitter replaced WPSX-TV's original RCA transmitter. The RCA transmitter was retained as a back-up transmitter.

• In February 1990,
WPSU expanded classical music into the evening schedule. Student programming was broadcast after 9:00 p.m.

• 1994
Student radio station becomes full-time public radio outlet and WPSU-FM joins WPSX-TV to form Penn State Public Broadcasting.

• October 31, 1995
WKPS, a new student radio station formed with the help of PSPB, went on-air on at an assigned frequency of 90.7 and 100 watts.

• April 24, 1997
FCC assigned WPSX-TV UHF channel 15 with 1000 kW of power and an antenna height of 268 m for digital television broadcasting.

• August 1998
WPSX-TV began a 24-hour-day broadcast schedule.

• March 2003
WPSX Digital channel 15 goes on air, broadcasting PBS digital programming.

• May 24, 2005
WPSU-FM began broadcasting from new facilities in the Outreach Building at Innovation Park.

• Summer, 2005
Penn State Public Broadcasting moves into new facilities in the Outreach Building at Innovation Park.

• October, 2005
Penn State Public Broadcasting consolidates call letters into WPSU TV/FM

Compiled by Penn State Public Broadcasting, July 2005