Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania United States |
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Branding | WQED Pittsburgh |
Slogan | Changes Lives |
Channels |
Digital: 13 (VHF) Virtual: 13 () |
Subchannels | |
Affiliations | PBS (1970–present) |
Owner | WQED Multimedia |
First air date | April 1, 1954 |
Call letters' meaning | Quod Erat Demonstrandum |
Sister station(s) | WQED-FM |
Former channel number(s) |
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Former affiliations | NET (1954–1970) |
Transmitter power | 25 kW |
Height | 210 m |
Facility ID | 41315 |
Transmitter coordinates | 40°26′46″N 79°57′51″W / 40.44611°N 79.96417°W |
Licensing authority | FCC |
Public license information: |
Profile CDBS |
Website | www.wqed.org |
WQED, VHF channel 13, is a PBS member television station located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The station is owned by WQED Multimedia. Established on April 1, 1954, it was the first community-sponsored television station in the United States as well as the fifth public television station. WQED also became the first station to telecast classes to elementary school classrooms when Pittsburgh launched the Metropolitan School Service in 1955. WQED has been the flagship station for Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? (in co-production with WGBH-TV), and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood (its live action sequences were filmed in Pittsburgh).
On cable, WQED is carried on Comcast channels 9 (channel 14 in Monroeville) (standard definition) and 813 (high definition), and Verizon FiOS channels 13 (standard definition) and 513 (high definition).
The idea for a public television station was the brainchild of Pittsburgh mayor David L. Lawrence, who wanted 12 percent of all television stations in the United States to be for non-commercial educational use. Despite the fact that the FCC put an indefinite "freeze" on all television station licenses due to the excess amount of applications on file, they granted Lawrence one on the condition they could raise enough money to equip and operate the station. Lawrence was also a close personal ally of then-President Harry S. Truman, which also helped out his cause. Lawrence then recruited Leland Hazard, an attorney for Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company who also supported the idea of public television, to help get the station off the ground.