WGBX 44: История Бостонского Телеканала Образования

PBS member station in Boston

WGBX TV (channel 44), branded GBH 44, is the secondary PBS member television station in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is owned by the WGBH Educational Foundation, alongside WGBH TV (channel 2), WFXZ CD (channel 24), and multiple public radio stations in Boston and on Cape Cod. WGBX TV, WGBH TV and the WGBH and WCRB radio stations share studios on Guest Street in northwest Boston's Brighton neighborhood; WGBX TV's transmitter is located on Cedar Street (southwest of I 95/MA 128) in Needham, Massachusetts. WGBX TV began broadcasting in September 1967 as a source of experimental, alternative, and additional educational programming, in addition to repeats of shows aired by WGBH TV. It also provided an outlet for specialty telecourses and instructional material. In the 1960s and 1970s, such programs as The Most Dangerous Game, Catch 44, and Club 44 attracted national attention or moved to the parent station. WGBX TV provided the first gavel to gavel telecast of an American state legislature in 1984 when the Massachusetts House of Representatives agreed to have their sessions televised in full, and it was a test bed for experimentation with new digital audio standards in the late 1980s. In the 1990s, WGBX TV programming was revamped to feature themed nights and increase awareness of its identity. WGBX TV itself broadcasts standard definition versions of WGBX and WGBH (both in high definition from the WGBH TV multiplex) and several multicast services. WBTS CD, NBC Boston, shares the channel, allowing the station to broadcast at high power to the Boston area.

Channel 44 had originally been allotted to Boston as a commercial television channel. Two companies, Integrated Communications Systems and United Artists Broadcasting, applied for the channel in 1963. They were soon joined by the WGBH Educational Foundation, which proposed a non commercial educational station. All three applications were designated for comparative hearing in February 1964, but in July, the FCC reserved channel 44 for educational use in Boston and transferred channel 25 from Barnstable to serve as a new commercial channel. The two commercial applicants then switched their proposals to channel 25, leaving WGBH alone in its channel 44 application and allowing the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to award the construction permit in October. The Department of Health, Education and Welfare awarded a $725,000 grant for the construction of WGBX TV in January 1966; the station was projected to provide specialized educational programming. WGBX TV began broadcasting on September 25, 1967, two weeks after the station aired its first test pattern. In addition to replays and additional PBS programs as well as college telecourses, WGBX has offered a wide range of innovative programs and services in its history. The very first program broadcast by the station was a teacher in service program designed to help first grade instructors teach drama. On The Most Dangerous Game, telecast in 1967, viewers could call a telephone number to control the movement of a fictional country, Transania, in a hypothetical foreign policy crisis. A monthly series on the intersection of law enforcement and critical justice was distributed to other educational stations. In 1968, WGBX TV and WBZ TV broadcast Read Your Way Up: A TV Read In, an adult literacy program. In November 1970, the station debuted a public access show, Catch 44. The program attracted widespread national and international interest; other public stations copied the format, as did the BBC, which launched Open Door in 1973. In 1973, as part of an initiative by the WGBH Educational Foundation, it and nine other public stations in northeastern cities began airing an open captioned version of the ABC Evening News. WGBX began airing live, gavel to gavel coverage of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1984, making it the first state legislative chamber to have full, unedited proceedings televised. The Massachusetts State Senate joined the House on WGBX in 1994. Legislative coverage on channel 44 continued through 2006; the contracts with each chamber were not renewed for 2007. Beginning in 1986 and continuing through at least 1988, with special FCC permission, it was the only station in the United States authorized to broadcast pulse code modulation (PCM) digital audio on its video signal; the audio programs, primarily simulcasts of WGBH FM aired overnight but also including specially recorded concerts, could then be decoded from the video tape by residents with the appropriate decoder equipment. In 1987, weekend programming on WGBX was expanded to add 18 additional hours, primarily replays of programs aired by WGBH, as part of celebrations for the 20th anniversary of channel 44. However, the station's reputation as "the other Channel 2" continued. In January 1995, WGBH relaunched WGBX under the brand GBH44, to bring it closer to the main station. It increased emphasis on independent and offbeat programming, including the use of themed nights, to counterprogram WGBH TV, though it would continue to air shows bumped off of the channel 2 schedule, and it would continue to broadcast the main WGBH lineup during the station's annual auction. By 1997, WGBX TV was the 26th most watched public television station in prime time, demonstrating that the changes had given channel 44 an identity and increased recognition.

In 1999, the tower used by WGBX TV in Needham, owned by WBZ TV, was overhauled to support digital broadcasting for its tenants, including WBZ, WGBH and WGBX, and WCVB TV. However, WGBX TV did not begin digital broadcasts on its own channel until January 1, 2003. WGBX TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 44, on April 23, 2009. The WGBH Educational Foundation had previously warned that defective equipment might force the station to close prior to the June transition date. The station's digital signal continued to be broadcast on its pre transition UHF channel 43, using virtual channel 44. On January 16, 2017, WGBX switched its fourth subchannel from a locally programmed loop of children's programming (which looped twice a day) to the relaunched national PBS Kids channel.

On January 18, 2018, WGBX began a channel share with Nashua, New Hampshire–licensed WYCN CD (channel 15, now WBTS CD), which was acquired by the NBC Owned Television Stations subsidiary of NBCUniversal. Though WBTS CD is a Class A low power station, it is broadcast by a full power station, providing the station a full market signal. WYCN CD had been a "zombie station"—a license without a transmitter—after selling its spectrum in the 2016 United States wireless spectrum auction. Moving WYCN CD to the WGBX multiplex gave it full market coverage.

The station's signal is multiplexed. There is no channel 44.1 on the WGBX TV multiplex, as it is broadcast by WGBH TV. +Subchannels of WGBX TV Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming2.2480i16:9WorldWorld2.3WGBH SD PBS (WGBH TV)44.2WGBX SD PBS44.3CreateCreate44.4KidsPBS Kids