WVIZ

WVIZ
The Ideastream symbol, a circle divided into four pieces by a star shape, in blue. To the right, on two lines, the words "ideastream" and "public media" in black in a rounded sans serif. Next to that, in the upper right, black letters W V I Z with a blue line above them.
Channels
BrandingWVIZ Ideastream Public Media
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
OwnerIdeastream
History
First air date
February 7, 1965
(59 years ago) (1965-02-07)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog: 25 (UHF, 1965–2009)
  • Digital: 26 (UHF, 2004–2019)
NET (1965–1970)
Call sign meaning
viz. is abbreviation for videlicet, the Latin word meaning "namely"[1]
Technical information[2]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID18753
ERP219.5 kW
HAAT330 m (1,083 ft)
Transmitter coordinates41°23′9.9″N 81°41′20.7″W / 41.386083°N 81.689083°W / 41.386083; -81.689083
Translator(s)
Links
Public license information
Websiteideastream.org

WVIZ (channel 25) is a PBS member television station in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is owned by Ideastream Public Media alongside classical music station WCLV (90.3 FM) and co-managed with Kent State University–owned WKSU (89.7 FM), the NPR member for both Cleveland and Akron. The three stations share studio facilities at the Idea Center on Playhouse Square in Downtown Cleveland; WVIZ's transmitter is located in suburban Parma, Ohio.

WVIZ began broadcasting on February 7, 1965, as Cleveland's first educational television station and the 100th such station in the United States. Its activation culminated years of work by business, philanthropic, and educational leaders to bring non-commercial television to Cleveland. For most of its first three decades of service, under general manager Betty Cope, the station intensively focused on producing and broadcasting educational television programming for schools. WVIZ's commitment to instructional fare sometimes came to the exclusion of the types of national and public affairs series other public television stations in major markets began producing as the medium evolved. This began to change after Cope's 1993 retirement, with the introduction of a daytime schedule of children's programs as well as a weekly arts magazine and documentaries focused on area history.

In 2000, WVIZ merged with WCPN, then Cleveland's NPR news, talk and jazz station;[a] the combined venture, known as Ideastream, then moved to new studios in Playhouse Square in 2006. The station produces local news and arts programming to complement programs from PBS and other national public television distributors; Ideastream also manages The Ohio Channel, a statewide service.

  1. ^ Dyer, Bob (July 10, 1988). "What's in a call letter? Legends, lore behind station names". The Akron Beacon Journal. pp. B1, B6. Archived from the original on July 7, 2023. Retrieved May 17, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WVIZ". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference ChangeDateIdea was invoked but never defined (see the help page).


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).