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's surface to any number of tuned receivers simultaneously.
57-654: WYCC (channel 20) was a public television station in Chicago, Illinois , United States. It was last owned by not-for-profit broadcasting entity Window to the World Communications, Inc. , alongside PBS member station WTTW (channel 11) and classical music radio station WFMT (98.7 FM). WYCC's operations were housed with WTTW and WFMT in the Renée Crown Public Media Center, located at 5400 North Saint Louis Avenue (adjacent to
114-771: A barter in some cases. National Educational Television National Educational Television ( NET ) is a former American educational broadcast television network owned by the Ford Foundation and later co-owned by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting . It operated from May 16, 1954, to October 4, 1970, and was succeeded by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), which has memberships with many television stations that were formerly part of NET. The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) provided funds for cataloging
171-403: A "network". It put together a weekly five-hour package of television programs , distributing them primarily on kinescope film to the affiliated stations by mail. By 1956, ETRC had 22 affiliated stations, expected to grow to 26 by March 1957. The programming was noted for treating subjects in depth, including hour-long interviews with people of literary and historical importance. The programming
228-671: A Chicago TV station. By 1987, the station had an annual budget of $ 1 million—$ 300,000 from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the rest from the City Colleges—and was reputedly the only PBS station to never have aired a pledge drive . It was on the air for 18 hours a day, though its only regular programming produced in-house was a weekly talk show with the City Colleges chancellor plus specials, news updates, and program promotions. The audience for its college courses had increased to 10,000 by 1991 and 15,000 by 1993. In 1992,
285-515: A failure. Plagued by a weak signal and a schedule filled with what former WTTW station manager Edward Morris called "talking heads and a blackboard", WXXW limped along until it quietly went dark in 1974. Throughout its entire existence, WXXW was only able to transmit in black-and-white , making it and commercial independent station WCIU-TV (channel 26) the only television stations in the Chicago market that had not transitioned to color broadcasts in
342-402: A grant from the Ford Foundation 's Fund for Adult Education (FAE). It was originally a limited service for exchanging and distributing educational television programs produced by local television stations to other stations; it did not produce any material by itself. In the spring of 1954, ETRC moved its operations to Ann Arbor , Michigan , and on May 16 of that year, it began operating as
399-415: A much shorter wavelength, and thus requires a shorter antenna, but also higher power. North American stations can go up to 5000 kW ERP for video and 500 kW audio, or 1000 kW digital. Low channels travel further than high ones at the same power, but UHF does not suffer from as much electromagnetic interference and background "noise" as VHF, making it much more desirable for TV. Despite this, in
456-557: A plan with the FCC was November 24, 2017. In 2016, WYCC had an annual budget of $ 8.2 million, of which the City Colleges provided $ 5.7 million. The station lost $ 732,000 in 2016 in its non-operating budget, despite funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the state of Illinois, and private donors. On October 25, 2017, a notice was posted on the station's website saying that subchannel 20.1 would broadcast MHz WorldView , though
513-425: A variety of ways to generate revenue from television commercials . They may be an independent station or part of a broadcasting network , or some other structure. They can produce some or all of their programs or buy some broadcast syndication programming for or all of it from other stations or independent production companies. Many stations have some sort of television studio , which on major-network stations
570-496: Is non-commercial educational (NCE) and considered public broadcasting . To avoid concentration of media ownership of television stations, government regulations in most countries generally limit the ownership of television stations by television networks or other media operators, but these regulations vary considerably. Some countries have set up nationwide television networks, in which individual television stations act as mere repeaters of nationwide programs . In those countries,
627-470: Is broadcast via terrestrial radio waves. A group of television stations with common ownership or affiliation are known as a TV network and an individual station within the network is referred to as O&O or affiliate , respectively. Because television station signals use the electromagnetic spectrum, which in the past has been a common, scarce resource, governments often claim authority to regulate them. Broadcast television systems standards vary around
SECTION 10
#1732798017336684-792: Is often used for newscasts or other local programming . There is usually a news department , where journalists gather information. There is also a section where electronic news-gathering (ENG) operations are based, receiving remote broadcasts via remote pickup unit or satellite TV . Outside broadcasting vans, production trucks , or SUVs with electronic field production (EFP) equipment are sent out with reporters , who may also bring back news stories on video tape rather than sending them back live . To keep pace with technology United States television stations have been replacing operators with broadcast automation systems to increase profits in recent years. Some stations (known as repeaters or translators ) only simulcast another, usually
741-605: Is what NET would have been reduced to. The Ford Foundation, interested Educational Television Stations , and President Johnson supported the recommendations of the Carnegie Commission in the Public Broadcasting Act, which was signed into law on November 7, 1967. The Public Broadcasting Service ( PBS ) began as an entity in November 1969, with NET continuing to produce several programs and to be
798-657: The BBC into the United States, starting with An Age of Kings in 1961. It increased its programming output to ten hours a week. Most NETRC network programs were produced by the affiliate stations because the NETRC had no production staff or facilities of its own. NETRC also contracted programs from independent producers and acquired foreign material from countries like Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Yugoslavia,
855-610: The Carnegie Foundation to conduct a study on the future of educational television. The Carnegie Commission released its report in 1967, recommending educational television be transformed into " public television ". The new organization would be controlled by the nonprofit Corporation for Public Broadcasting (a corporation established by the federal government ) and receive funding from the government and other sources. Under this plan, funds were to be distributed to individual stations and independent production centers – which
912-463: The Field Building , from which WTTW had broadcast, but a proposed skyscraper to be built by First National Bank of Chicago created possible multipath interference issues for both stations. 1000 Lake Shore Plaza offered free antenna space to both stations; the antenna switch set WXXW back from a planned September 1964 debut. However, the planned expansion of educational television for schools
969-405: The broadcast range , or geographic area, that the station is limited to, allocates the broadcast frequency of the radio spectrum for that station's transmissions, sets limits on what types of television programs can be programmed for broadcast and requires a station to broadcast a minimum amount of certain programs types, such as public affairs messages . Another form of television station
1026-534: The electricity bill and emergency backup generators . In North America , full-power stations on band I (channels 2 to 6) are generally limited to 100 kW analog video ( VSB ) and 10 kW analog audio ( FM ), or 45 kW digital ( 8VSB ) ERP. Stations on band III (channels 7 to 13) can go up by 5 dB to 316 kW video, 31.6 kW audio, or 160 kW digital. Low-VHF stations are often subject to long-distance reception just as with FM. There are no stations on Channel 1 . UHF , by comparison, has
1083-659: The Beltway , which also airs nationally on radio, ran on WYCC until the end. In 2011, Garrard McClendon , formerly seen on CLTV , began hosting Off 63rd with Garrard McClendon , which won a regional Emmy Award . In 2013, WYCC debuted In the Loop , a half-hour weekly public affairs show on Thursday evenings, hosted by Barbara Pinto and Chris Bury (both of whom formerly served as correspondents for ABC News ); Robin Robinson and Lauren Cohn (both former anchors at WFLD ) joined
1140-431: The City Colleges closed City-Wide College, the extension division under which WYCC was operated, with Harold Washington College absorbing most of its functions, though the studios were located at Daley College . Four years later, the station began to introduce its own local program productions. Irma Blanco , at the time a morning co-host on Chicago radio, hosted the arts program Absolute Artistry . Other programs included
1197-482: The City Colleges in 1981. When it returned to the air as WYCC on February 17, 1983, the station began airing telecourses in such titles as "History of the American People from 1865", "Descriptive Astronomy 1", and "Introduction to Business". It broadcast for 52 hours a week with an annual budget of just $ 275,000 and 20 staffers; Elynne Chaplik Aleskow, the general manager, was the first woman to hold that post at
SECTION 20
#17327980173361254-646: The NET collection, and as part of an on-going preservation effort with the Library of Congress , over 10,000 digitized television programs from the non-commercial TV stations and producers spanning 20 years from 1952 to 1972 have been contributed to the American Archive of Public Broadcasting . The network was founded as the Educational Television and Radio Center ( ETRC ) in November 1952 by
1311-647: The U.S., the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is taking another large portion of this band (channels 52 to 69) away, in contrast to the rest of the world, which has been taking VHF instead. This means that some stations left on VHF are harder to receive after the analog shutdown . Since at least 1974, there are no stations on channel 37 in North America for radio astronomy purposes. Most television stations are commercial broadcasting enterprises which are structured in
1368-669: The USSR, France, Italy, and West Germany. Starting from 1962, the federal government took over the FAE's grants-in-aid program through the Education Television Facilities Act. In November 1963 NETRC changed its name to National Educational Television , and spun off its radio assets. Under the centerpiece program NET Journal , which began airing in the fall of 1966, NET began to air controversial, hard-hitting documentaries that explored numerous social issues of
1425-584: The WTTW-WYCC channel sharing agreement on June 1, 2022, announcing that the WYCC license would be surrendered after that date. The license was canceled on June 2, 2022. Television station The Fernsehsender Paul Nipkow ( TV Station Paul Nipkow ) in Berlin , Germany , was the first regular television service in the world. It was on the air from 22 March 1935, until it was shut down in 1944. The station
1482-547: The World Communications relinquished the license of WYCC, with an effective date of June 1, 2022. With the license defunct, WTTW replaced FNX with the World Channel , now mapping to channel 11.6. On the heels of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)'s recent lifting of its moratorium on new television station applications (the result of the agency's passage of the Sixth Report & Order of 1952) as well as
1539-495: The call letters WIND-TV for their new station, which never signed on under their purview. On November 8, 1956, the Westinghouse Electric Corporation purchased the construction permit and WIND radio for $ 5.3 million. UHF stations struggled mightily during the 1950s, with many shutting down outright, due partly to the fact that manufacturers did not include UHF tuners in television sets (an issue that
1596-626: The call sign WXXW. It continued in this role until it was shuttered in 1974. After being transferred to a consortium of educational institutions but never returned to air, the City Colleges of Chicago obtained the license in 1982 and brought it back to air in February 1983 as WYCC ("We are Your City Colleges"). It served as a secondary public station in Chicago, where WTTW was the primary PBS station, and focused on instructional programs and output from independent producers. The City Colleges sold
1653-500: The city colleges, the Metropolitan Higher Education Council also included Chicago State University , Governors State University , Northeastern Illinois University , and University of Illinois at Chicago Circle . The consortium projected a mid-1979 start date to return channel 20 to the air after obtaining the license; little headway was made, and the consortium offered to transfer the license to
1710-456: The day such as poverty and racism . While praised by critics, some affiliates, especially those in politically and culturally conservative markets, objected to the perceived liberal slant of the programming. Another NET produced program begun in 1967, Public Broadcast Laboratory , produced similar complaints. In 1966, NET's position as a combined network and production center came into question when President Lyndon Johnson arranged for
1767-631: The early 1970s. The monochrome transmissions were just another nail in the station's coffin. When the transmitter broke down in 1974, channel 20 was plunged into silence lasting nearly nine years. The station had held a construction permit to move to the John Hancock Center since 1972. In 1977, a consortium known as the Chicago Metropolitan Higher Education Council acquired the long-dark WXXW license from WTTW general manager Bill McCarter (again,
WYCC - Misplaced Pages Continue
1824-658: The education magazine Educate! and profiles of Chicago personalities on First from Chicago . In 1999, it was proposed to move WYCC to a rebuilt Kennedy-King College in the city's Englewood neighborhood. This materialized eight years later, when the new facility opened in 2007; it was also part of a high-definition production pilot for PBS. The work also coincided with the station's digital television transition. WYCC began broadcasting in digital on May 1, 2003, and converted completely to digital on April 16, 2009. WYCC continued to grow its portfolio of local public affairs programming. A televised version of political talk show Beyond
1881-420: The highest point available in the transmission area, such as on a summit , the top of a high skyscraper , or on a tall radio tower . To get a signal from the master control room to the transmitter, a studio/transmitter link (STL) is used. The link can be either by radio or T1 / E1 . A transmitter/studio link (TSL) may also send telemetry back to the station, but this may be embedded in subcarriers of
1938-535: The idea of a second station seemed like the perfect answer to provide additional sources for the displaced educational programming. In October 1962, the FCC, at the request of WTTW's owner, then known as the Chicago Educational Television Association (CETA), changed channel 20's status to reserved noncommercial. The CETA filed for the construction permit on January 18, 1963, receiving it on September 23. WTTW intended to devote
1995-403: The license was allegedly purchased for $ 1, making it the cheapest television license ever in the Chicago area) and changed its call letters to WCME. The consortium, which was led by City Colleges chancellor Oscar Shabat, had earlier examined the purchase of the partially built but unused WCFL-TV (channel 38) because channel 20 would have needed a new Sears Tower antenna installed. In addition to
2052-400: The local television station has no station identification and, from a consumer's point of view, there is no practical distinction between a network and a station, with only small regional changes in programming, such as local television news . To broadcast its programs, a television station requires operators to operate equipment, a transmitter or radio antenna , which is often located at
2109-419: The main broadcast. Stations which retransmit or simulcast another may simply pick-up that station over-the-air , or via STL or satellite. The license usually specifies which other station it is allowed to carry. VHF stations often have very tall antennas due to their long wavelength , but require much less effective radiated power (ERP), and therefore use much less transmitter power output , also saving on
2166-623: The main campus of Northeastern Illinois University ) in the city's North Park neighborhood; WYCC and WTTW shared transmitter facilities atop the Willis Tower on South Wacker Drive in the Chicago Loop . WYCC previously maintained studios at Kennedy–King College on South Union Avenue and Halsted Parkway in the Englewood neighborhood. Channel 20 was started as a secondary channel for educational programming from WTTW in 1965, under
2223-462: The main source of the controversies surrounding NET. Instead, local stations and outside suppliers would provide programming for the system, a model that endures to this day with PBS. In early 1970, both Ford and the CPB threatened to cut NET's funding unless NET merged its operations with New York City-area affiliate WNDT . NET agreed to do so. WNDT's call sign was changed to WNET on October 1, 1970, as
2280-406: The name of the network. NET's production of NET Journal and Public Broadcast Laboratory continued to be liabilities amid accusations of partisanship funded by the government. Eventually, Ford and the CPB decided to shut NET down, to be replaced by PBS as the network distributing programming to stations, but, unlike NET, it was not directly involved in production matters, which had been perceived as
2337-523: The opening of additional channels on the UHF band, WIND Inc., a joint venture between the Chicago Daily News and the family of Ralph J. Atlass—one-time owners of radio stations WBBM (780 AM) and WIND (560 AM)—petitioned the FCC for a construction permit to build a television station on UHF channel 20, which would be licensed to nearby Gary, Indiana . The group also applied for and received
WYCC - Misplaced Pages Continue
2394-614: The program as rotating co-hosts starting in September 2015. In addition, WYCC aired programs produced by the Pritzker Military Library . In 2015, the Chicago Tribune editorial board recommended WYCC sell its license in the forthcoming spectrum auction . After initial refusal, mayor Rahm Emanuel authorized the City Colleges to sell the license. In April 2017, WYCC sold its spectrum for $ 15,959,957; at
2451-597: The program schedule of the station—to be given the call letters WXXW—for a variety of instructional programs including such concepts as training for as police officers and firefighters and professional development for doctors and dentists. The new WXXW would also engage in rebroadcasting of the Midwest Program on Airborne Television Instruction school programs at times more convenient to Chicago schools than their initial broadcast from airplanes flying high above Indiana. The WXXW antenna had been intended to be placed on
2508-476: The programmes seen on its owner's flagship station, and have no television studio or production facilities of their own. This is common in developing countries . Low-power stations typically also fall into this category worldwide. Most stations which are not simulcast produce their own station identifications . TV stations may also advertise on or provide weather (or news) services to local radio stations , particularly co-owned sister stations . This may be
2565-399: The station announced there would be no changes to the 20.2 or 20.3 subchannels. WorldView, which offered international news and entertainment programming, had been carried on a subchannel of WYCC since 2010; the 20.2 subchannel had been airing FNX since November 1, 2013. WTTW began accepting WYCC members. On December 7, 2017, Window to the World Communications, owner of WTTW, announced that it
2622-494: The station's staff had been laid off following the conclusion of the auction. However, prior to September 22, 2017, WTTW approached WYCC with a channel-sharing agreement to stay on the air. WYCC then announced in a letter to employees that it would remain on the air through November 24; if a channel-sharing agreement was reached, operation of WYCC's channels would be handled by WTTW, with a tentative plan to use "a combination of WYCC and WTTW brands and programming". The deadline to file
2679-519: The station, WIND-TV was among five that were deleted at the owners' request. First conceived in 1953 and debuting in September 1955 as Chicago's first non-commercial educational television station, WTTW began to experience growing pains by the early 1960s. Gradually moving away from its original mission of providing classroom instructional courses as more and more of its broadcast day was filled first with programming from National Educational Television (NET) and those distributed by other member stations,
2736-487: The television industry as "bicycling"). The center's headquarters moved from Ann Arbor to New York City in 1958, and the organization became known as the National Educational Television and Radio Center ( NETRC ). The center became more aggressive at this time, aiming to ascend to the role of the U.S.' fourth television network . Among its efforts, the network began importing programs from
2793-502: The time, the station indicated that it would enter into a post-auction channel sharing agreement. Not only was the bid much lower than many had expected, but the potential windfall would be further eroded by continuing expenses, as the station's lease for antenna space at the John Hancock Center ran through 2029. On September 13, 2017, WYCC announced in a letter to contributors that it would shut down October 25, 2017; most of
2850-550: The underlying spectrum for $ 16 million in 2016, and after shelving initial plans to shut down at that time, in October 2017, WYCC dropped its long-running affiliation with PBS to air MHz Worldview ; a month later, on November 27, it went off the air completely and was sold to Window to the World, essentially becoming a subchannel of WTTW with a separate license, airing MHz Worldview and then First Nations Experience (FNX). Window to
2907-399: The world. Television stations broadcasting over an analog system were typically limited to one television channel , but digital television enables broadcasting via subchannels as well. Television stations usually require a broadcast license from a government agency which sets the requirements and limitations on the station. In the United States, for example, a television license defines
SECTION 50
#17327980173362964-527: Was also noted for being dry and academic, with little consideration given to entertainment value, a marked contrast to commercial television . Many of the shows were designed as adult education, and ETRC was nicknamed the "University of the Air" (or, less kindly, "The Bicycle Network", both for its low budget and for the way NET supposedly sent programs to its affiliates, by distributing its program films and videotapes via non-electronic means such as by mail, termed in
3021-406: Was approved by the FCC on March 13, 2018, and was completed on April 20. As a part of MHz WorldView's closure on March 1, 2020, WTTW planned to move World programming to channel 20.1, while its original channel slot (11.3) would have broadcast Create . However, WTTW changed its plan to provide FNX programming instead. In May 2022, Window to the World Communications filed an application to dissolve
3078-471: Was carried out by retaining some instructional programs on WTTW and purchasing time on the other UHF station in the city, WCIU-TV (channel 26). On September 20, 1965, WXXW signed on as Chicago's second UHF television station and second non-commercial outlet. However the station, known as "the Classroom of the Air" and financed entirely from school reimbursements for educational programming, was essentially
3135-539: Was named after Paul Gottlieb Nipkow , the inventor of the Nipkow disk . Most often the term "television station" refers to a station which broadcasts structured content to an audience or it refers to the organization that operates the station. A terrestrial television transmission can occur via analog television signals or, more recently, via digital television signals. Television stations are differentiated from cable television or other video providers as their content
3192-488: Was remedied when the FCC made these tuners a requirement for sets made from 1964 onward through its passage of the All-Channel Receiver Act ). By the end of the decade, Westinghouse Broadcasting (which never ran an independent television station) had soured on the idea of launching a station in the Chicago market. After the FCC sent 50 permitholders letters in February 1960 inquiring as to their plans for
3249-435: Was seeking to purchase WYCC from the City Colleges of Chicago, in a move that would put the two stations back under the same corporate umbrella. However, the license assignment application was not submitted to the FCC until late January 2018, which disclosed that Window to the World Communications would acquire the WYCC license for $ 100,000. As part of the purchase, WYCC entered into a channel sharing agreement with WTTW. The sale
#335664