WEDU

WEDU

Tampa–St. Petersburg, Florida United States
City	Tampa, Florida
Channels	Digital: 13 (VHF), shared with WEDQ Virtual: 3
Branding	WEDU PBS
Programming
Affiliations	3.1: PBS 3.2: World 3.3: The Florida Channel
Ownership
Owner	Florida West Coast Public Broadcasting, Inc.
Sister stations	WEDQ
History
First air date	October 27, 1958 (66 years ago) (1958-10-27)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 3 (VHF, 1958–2009) Digital: 54 (UHF, until 2009)
Former affiliations	NET (1958–1970)
Call sign meaning	Education
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	21808
ERP	25 kW 38 kW (CP)
HAAT	470.9 m (1,545 ft) 471.9 m (1,548 ft) (CP)
Transmitter coordinates	27°50′51.5″N 82°15′49.4″W / 27.847639°N 82.263722°W / 27.847639; -82.263722
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Website	www.wedu.org

WEDU (channel 3) is a PBS member television station licensed to Tampa, Florida, United States, serving the Tampa Bay area. It is owned by Florida West Coast Public Broadcasting alongside WEDQ (channel 3.4). The two stations share studios on North Boulevard in Tampa and transmitter facilities in Riverview, Florida.

WEDU began broadcasting on October 27, 1958, as a service to regional schools. During the day, it aired local and national educational programs for telecast in schools, while programs for adults from National Educational Television were telecast in the evenings. The station flourished over the course of the 1960s as schools' use of its programming grew rapidly; in the early 1970s, it suffered as some of that support was reduced. In early 1980, WEDU moved to its present, purpose-built facility on North Boulevard, abandoning its original studios, a surplus United States Navy power plant in dilapidated condition.

In 1984, WEDU proposed to switch channels with WTOG-TV (channel 44), a commercial independent station. The proposed deal with WTOG-TV's owner, Hubbard Broadcasting, would have moved WEDU to channel 44 and given it nearly $50 million in cash and incentives; Hubbard sought channel 3 for WTOG-TV so it could shed the stigma of being a UHF station and achieve parity with the region's three VHF network affiliates. The deal sparked a sharp local and national reaction as other commercial and public broadcasters decried the proposal. It was eventually barred by a clause inserted into the Federal Communications Commission budget by Congress. WEDU and Hubbard ultimately reached an understanding that moved channel 3's transmitter to WTOG-TV's tower, replacing its outdated, failing facility.

In the 1990s, WEDU grew its stature in national programming production but failed to find promised revenue in the sector; the ten-year management tenure of Steve Rogers ended with layoffs of nearly a third of the station's staff amid a downturn in viewer contributions. Dick Lobo, a retired broadcast executive, came out of retirement to run the station and succeeded in improving its corporate underwriting and financial reputation. In 2017, WEDU absorbed the license and programming that had been associated with competing public station WUSF-TV, owned by the University of South Florida, when the university sold its spectrum. WEDU produces local public affairs and cultural programming focused on the Tampa Bay area.