WNET
WNET, channel 13, is a non-commercial educational, public television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey, USA. With its signal covering the New York metropolitan area, WNET is a member station of, and program provider to, the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). WNET's main studios and offices are located in Midtown Manhattan with an auxiliary street-level studio in the Lincoln Center complex on the Upper West Side. The station's transmitter is on the Empire State Building.
The license-holder is WNET.org, formerly known as the Educational Broadcasting Corporation. WNET is also the parent of the Long Island-based PBS station WLIW (channel 21) and the operator of the New Jersey PBS network NJTV.
History
Independent station
WNET commenced broadcasting on May 15, 1948, as WATV, a commercial television station owned by Atlantic Television, a subsidiary of Bremer Broadcasting Corporation. Bremer also owned two northern New Jersey radio stations, WAAT (970 AM, now WNYM) and WAAT-FM (94.7 MHz., now WNSH). The three stations were based in the Mosque Theatre (now Symphony Hall) at 1020 Broad Street in Newark. WATV was the first of three new stations in the New York City television market to sign on the air during 1948, and was also the first independent station. One unusual daytime program, Daywatch, consisted of a camera focused on a teletypewriter printing wire service news stories, interspersed with cut-aways to mechanical toys against a light music soundtrack. Another early series by the station was Stairway to Stardom (1950-1951), one of the first TV series with an African-American host.