WXXI
Encyclopedia
WXXI Public Broadcasting Council is a community non-profit organization
of some 36,000 subscribing members in the Rochester, New York
metropolitan area, and owns that city's major public television and Community radio
stations, and other broadcasting services.
The Public Broadcasting Council also partners with the City of Rochester to operate and program named City12, a Government-access television (GATV) cable channel which airs Public-access television
programming and live City Council meetings on a 15-hour daily schedule.
It was first formed in 1958 by local educators and community leaders as the Rochester Area Educational Television Association to produce and provide Educational television
programming to be seen on the city's commercial broadcasting
television stations. During the early 1960's the organization raised funds to build its own independent signal which would furnish daily educational, cultural, and informational programming during both school hours and prime-time evening hours for an all-ages family audience. WXXI-TV
signed on in September 1966, from studios in the former East High School
building in Rochester. Those facilities eventually proved unable to accommodate the station's growth in audience and local programming, and could not provide room for a planned FM non-commercial
Community radio
sister station, so WXXI built a new Public Broadcasting Center and opened it in December 1974. It was at that time, that companion station WXXI-FM
was opened and became the Rochester community's first full-market-coverage Non-commercial educational
and cultural radio station. Demand for full-time Non-commercial radio service in both classical/fine arts and news/talk formats grew beyond the ability of one signal to serve. So Rochester AM station WSAY was acquired and became WXXI (AM)
, a regional service with a signal capable of reaching the six-county Rochester metropolitan region, was acquired. It opened its news/talk service with local and NPR programming on July 2 of that year. WXXI-FM then became a 24-hour classical and fine arts station. Each station has since built a substantial and growing audience.
The WXXI-FM facility now includes not only analog FM service and the Reachout Radio subcarrier
service for the blind and visually impaired
, but full-market digital coverage on both HD-1 and HD-2 channels, the latter of which simulcasts WXXI-AM in digital stereo. Later on, WXXI joined in partnership with the University of Rochester
to operate WRUR-FM
as a service with both news and adult alternative music and specialty programming, and took control of WXXY
(FM) in Houghton, New York
, in the Southern Tier
region to provide a mix of classical and news programming for a portion of the state which had previously been outside the range of a public signal. WXXI joined in partnership with Hobart and William Smith Colleges
(operators of National Public Radio (NPR) affiliate WEOS
(FM) in Geneva, New York
) to provide an alternative non-commercial service for the southern Finger Lakes
region: WITH (FM)
in Ithaca
opened during the spring of 2010.
WXXI-TV, meanwhile, continued to grow. The Public Broadcasting Center more than doubled in size in 1991, adding additional radio studios and three fully equipped TV production studios. It built a new digital full-service television transmitter capable of simultaneously transmitting four programming streams—the main WXXI-TV public signal in high definition, plus the Public Broadcasting Service
PBS World
programming schedule and the Create schedule emphasizing arts, instructional and how-to programming, all of which air 24 hours daily, plus a special training channel serving regional public safety agencies with professional Instructional television
programming.
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
of some 36,000 subscribing members in the Rochester, New York
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
metropolitan area, and owns that city's major public television and Community radio
Community radio
Community radio is a type of radio service, that offers a third model of radio broadcasting beyond commercial broadcasting and public broadcasting. Community stations can serve geographic communities and communities of interest...
stations, and other broadcasting services.
The Public Broadcasting Council also partners with the City of Rochester to operate and program named City12, a Government-access television (GATV) cable channel which airs Public-access television
Public-access television
Public-access television is a form of non-commercial mass media where ordinary people can create content television programming which is cablecast through cable TV specialty channels...
programming and live City Council meetings on a 15-hour daily schedule.
It was first formed in 1958 by local educators and community leaders as the Rochester Area Educational Television Association to produce and provide Educational television
Educational television
Educational television is the use of television programs in the field of distance education. It may be in the form of individual television programs or dedicated specialty channels that is often associated with cable television in the United States as Public, educational, and government access ...
programming to be seen on the city's commercial broadcasting
Commercial broadcasting
Commercial broadcasting is the broadcasting of television programs and radio programming by privately owned corporate media, as opposed to state sponsorship...
television stations. During the early 1960's the organization raised funds to build its own independent signal which would furnish daily educational, cultural, and informational programming during both school hours and prime-time evening hours for an all-ages family audience. WXXI-TV
WXXI-TV
WXXI is a public television station which operates on Channel 21 in Rochester, New York, and is the PBS member station for that city and the surrounding metro area...
signed on in September 1966, from studios in the former East High School
East High School (Rochester, New York)
East High School is a public high school serving the seventh through twelfth grade in Rochester, NY and is part of the Rochester City School District The Principal is Mr. Anibal Soler.-History:...
building in Rochester. Those facilities eventually proved unable to accommodate the station's growth in audience and local programming, and could not provide room for a planned FM non-commercial
Non-commercial
Non-commercial refers to an activity or entity that does not in some sense involve commerce, at least relative to similar activities that do have a commercial objective or emphasis...
Community radio
Community radio
Community radio is a type of radio service, that offers a third model of radio broadcasting beyond commercial broadcasting and public broadcasting. Community stations can serve geographic communities and communities of interest...
sister station, so WXXI built a new Public Broadcasting Center and opened it in December 1974. It was at that time, that companion station WXXI-FM
WXXI-FM
WXXI-FM is a public radio station in Rochester, New York. The station airs a classical music format. Its programs can also be heard in Houghton on WXXY 90.3 FM....
was opened and became the Rochester community's first full-market-coverage Non-commercial educational
Non-commercial educational
The term non-commercial educational applies to a radio station or TV station that does not accept on air advertisements , as defined in the United States by the Federal Communications Commission . NCE stations do not pay broadcast license fees for their non-profit uses of the radio spectrum...
and cultural radio station. Demand for full-time Non-commercial radio service in both classical/fine arts and news/talk formats grew beyond the ability of one signal to serve. So Rochester AM station WSAY was acquired and became WXXI (AM)
WXXI (AM)
WXXI is a National Public Radio member station in Rochester, New York, broadcasting news, talk and informational programming on a 24-hour daily schedule...
, a regional service with a signal capable of reaching the six-county Rochester metropolitan region, was acquired. It opened its news/talk service with local and NPR programming on July 2 of that year. WXXI-FM then became a 24-hour classical and fine arts station. Each station has since built a substantial and growing audience.
The WXXI-FM facility now includes not only analog FM service and the Reachout Radio subcarrier
Subcarrier
A subcarrier is a separate analog or digital signal carried on a main radio transmission, which carries extra information such as voice or data. More technically, it is an already-modulated signal, which is then modulated into another signal of higher frequency and bandwidth...
service for the blind and visually impaired
Radio reading service
A radio reading service or reading service for the blind is a service of many universities, community groups and public radio stations, where a narrator reads books, newspapers and magazines aloud for the benefit of the blind and vision-impaired. It is most often carried on a subcarrier, with...
, but full-market digital coverage on both HD-1 and HD-2 channels, the latter of which simulcasts WXXI-AM in digital stereo. Later on, WXXI joined in partnership with the University of Rochester
University of Rochester
The University of Rochester is a private, nonsectarian, research university in Rochester, New York, United States. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The university has six schools and various interdisciplinary programs.The...
to operate WRUR-FM
WRUR-FM
WRUR-FM is a radio station located in the Rochester, New York area and broadcasts at 88.5 FM. Its transmitter is located on Pinnacle Hill in Rochester.WRUR-FM is the public radio station of the University of Rochester...
as a service with both news and adult alternative music and specialty programming, and took control of WXXY
WXXY
WEHA is a radio station broadcasting a Gospel music format. Licensed to the suburb of Port Republic, New Jersey, it serves the Atlantic City metropolitan area. It first began broadcasting in 2003 under the call sign WIBF...
(FM) in Houghton, New York
Houghton, New York
Houghton is a hamlet located in the Town of Caneadea in Allegany County, New York. The population was 1,748 at the 2000 census.Houghton College is a private, coeducational college next to the hamlet.-Geography:...
, in the Southern Tier
Southern Tier
The Southern Tier is a geographical term that refers to the counties of New York State west of the Catskill Mountains along the northern border of Pennsylvania. It is a loosely defined term that generally includes the counties that border Pennsylvania west of Delaware County inclusive...
region to provide a mix of classical and news programming for a portion of the state which had previously been outside the range of a public signal. WXXI joined in partnership with Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Hobart and William Smith Colleges, located in Geneva, New York, are together a liberal arts college offering Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science and Master of Arts in Teaching degrees. In athletics, however, the two schools compete with separate teams, known as the Hobart Statesmen and the...
(operators of National Public Radio (NPR) affiliate WEOS
WEOS
WEOS is a college radio station licensed to Geneva, New York, broadcasting primarily on 89.7 FM across the Finger Lakes region of New York. It also broadcasts on a smaller relay transmitter on 90.3FM in Geneva . The station is owned by The Colleges of the Seneca, Inc., the legal name of Hobart...
(FM) in Geneva, New York
Geneva, New York
Geneva is a city in Ontario and Seneca counties in the U.S. state of New York. The population was 13,617 at the 2000 census. Some claim it is named after the city and canton of Geneva in Switzerland. Others believe the name came from confusion over the letters in the word "Seneca" written in cursive...
) to provide an alternative non-commercial service for the southern Finger Lakes
Finger Lakes
The Finger Lakes are a pattern of lakes in the west-central section of Upstate New York in the United States. They are a popular tourist destination. The lakes are long and thin , each oriented roughly on a north-south axis. The two longest, Cayuga Lake and Seneca Lake, are among the deepest in...
region: WITH (FM)
WITH (FM)
WITH is a radio station serving Ithaca, New York and the surrounding area. It is owned in a partnership between Rochester's WXXI Radio and Hobart and William Smith Colleges and went on the air on May 24, 2010. WITH broadcasts in HD, with a AAA music format, and has a full time classical service on...
in Ithaca
Ithaca, New York
The city of Ithaca, is a city in upstate New York and the county seat of Tompkins County, as well as the largest community in the Ithaca-Tompkins County metropolitan area...
opened during the spring of 2010.
WXXI-TV, meanwhile, continued to grow. The Public Broadcasting Center more than doubled in size in 1991, adding additional radio studios and three fully equipped TV production studios. It built a new digital full-service television transmitter capable of simultaneously transmitting four programming streams—the main WXXI-TV public signal in high definition, plus the Public Broadcasting Service
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
PBS World
PBS World
PBS World is a 24-hour United States over-the-air digital subchannel showing public TV non-fiction, science, nature, news, public affairs and documentaries...
programming schedule and the Create schedule emphasizing arts, instructional and how-to programming, all of which air 24 hours daily, plus a special training channel serving regional public safety agencies with professional Instructional television
Instructional television
Instructional television is the use of television programs in the field of distance education. Educational television programs on instructional television may be less than one half hour long to help their integration into the classroom setting...
programming.
Television
- WXXI-TVWXXI-TVWXXI is a public television station which operates on Channel 21 in Rochester, New York, and is the PBS member station for that city and the surrounding metro area...
,(Channel 21), Rochester's PBSPublic Broadcasting ServiceThe Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
member station
Radio
- WXXI (AM)WXXI (AM)WXXI is a National Public Radio member station in Rochester, New York, broadcasting news, talk and informational programming on a 24-hour daily schedule...
(1370), an NPRNPRNPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
member radio station, and a PRIPublic Radio InternationalPublic Radio International is a Minneapolis-based American public radio organization, with locations in Boston, New York, London and Beijing. PRI's tagline is "Hear a different voice." PRI is a major public media content creator and also distributes programs from many sources...
and APMAmerican Public MediaAmerican Public Media is the second largest producer of public radio programs in the United States of America after NPR. Its non-profit parent, American Public Media Group, also owns and operates radio stations in Minnesota, California, and Florida. Its station brands are Minnesota Public Radio,...
affiliate - WXXI-FMWXXI-FMWXXI-FM is a public radio station in Rochester, New York. The station airs a classical music format. Its programs can also be heard in Houghton on WXXY 90.3 FM....
(91.5), a classical musicClassical musicClassical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
station featuring NPR Newscasts. - Reachout Radio, a radio reading serviceRadio reading serviceA radio reading service or reading service for the blind is a service of many universities, community groups and public radio stations, where a narrator reads books, newspapers and magazines aloud for the benefit of the blind and vision-impaired. It is most often carried on a subcarrier, with...
for those with visual impairmentVisual impairmentVisual impairment is vision loss to such a degree as to qualify as an additional support need through a significant limitation of visual capability resulting from either disease, trauma, or congenital or degenerative conditions that cannot be corrected by conventional means, such as refractive...
s or blindnessBlindnessBlindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness... - WRUR-FMWRUR-FMWRUR-FM is a radio station located in the Rochester, New York area and broadcasts at 88.5 FM. Its transmitter is located on Pinnacle Hill in Rochester.WRUR-FM is the public radio station of the University of Rochester...
, a partnership with the University of RochesterUniversity of RochesterThe University of Rochester is a private, nonsectarian, research university in Rochester, New York, United States. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The university has six schools and various interdisciplinary programs.The...
providing NPRNPRNPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
news and eclectic music programming - WXXY-FM (90.3), a simulcast of WXXI-FM serving the Houghton, New YorkHoughton, New YorkHoughton is a hamlet located in the Town of Caneadea in Allegany County, New York. The population was 1,748 at the 2000 census.Houghton College is a private, coeducational college next to the hamlet.-Geography:...
area.
External links
- About WXXI Services — official web page about overall operations