tv . wqed pittsburgh pennsylvania united states branding wqed pittsburgh slogan changes lives channels digital 13 vhf virtual 13 psip subchannels 13.1 pbs 13.2 create 13.3 world 13.4 showcase affiliations pbs 1970 present owner wqed multimedia first air date april 1 1954 ; 62 years ago 1954 04 01 call letters meaning quod erat demonstrandum sister station s wqed fm former channel number s analog 13 vhf 1954 2009 digital 38 uhf 1999 2009 former affiliations net 1954 1970 transmitter power 25 kw height 210 m facility id 41315 transmitter coordinates 40 26 46 n 79 57 51 w 40.44611 n 79.96417 w 40.44611 ; 79.96417 wqed licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.wqed.org wqed vhf channel 13 is a pbs member television station located in pittsburgh pennsylvania united states . the station is owned by wqed multimedia . established on april 1 1954 it was the first community sponsored television station in the united states as well as the fifth public television station . wqed also became the first station to telecast classes to elementary school classrooms when pittsburgh launched the metropolitan school service in 1955 . wqed has been the flagship station for mister rogers neighborhood where in the world is carmen sandiego in co production with wgbh tv and daniel tiger s neighborhood its live action sequences were filmed in pittsburgh . on cable wqed is carried on comcast channels 9 channel 14 in monroeville standard definition and 813 high definition and verizon fios channels 13 standard definition and 513 high definition . contents 1 history 1.1 early years 1.2 heyday 1.3 decline 1.4 tight knit group of employees 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 original programming 3.1 local 3.1.1 rick sebak pittsburgh series 3.2 state 3.2.1 rick sebak pennsylvania programs 3.3 national 3.3.1 rick sebak national programs 3.3.2 chris moore national programs 4 see also 5 references 6 external links history edit early years edit the idea for a public television station was the brainchild of pittsburgh mayor david l. lawrence who wanted 12 percent of all television stations in the united states to be for non commercial educational use . despite the fact that the fcc put an indefinite freeze on all television station licenses due to the excess amount of applications on file they granted lawrence one on the condition they could raise enough money to equip and operate the station . lawrence was also a close personal ally of then president harry s. truman which also helped out his cause . lawrence then recruited leland hazard an attorney for pittsburgh plate glass company who also supported the idea of public television to help get the station off the ground . the biggest obstacle however would be pittsburgh based westinghouse electric corporation owners of pioneer radio station kdka . westinghouse wanted to get a television station signed on in pittsburgh to compete with dumont o & o wdtv which at the time had a de facto monopoly in what was then the nation s sixth largest television market and was growing impatient with the freeze on television station licenses . westinghouse had launched wbz tv in boston in 1948 and would purchase wptz tv now kyw tv in philadelphia in 1952 but was unable to secure a license for a television station in its home market . by the time the freeze was lifted in 1952 the fcc granted station licences in smaller cities such as steubenville ohio ; wheeling west virginia ; clarksburg west virginia ; johnstown pennsylvania ; altoona pennsylvania ; youngstown ohio ; and erie pennsylvania the chance to sign on before more stations in pittsburgh signed on . all of those cities shared the vhf band with pittsburgh and only youngstown would ultimately end up as a uhf island . westinghouse later offered a compromise to the fcc offering to have them get the channel 13 license for the proposed kdka tv and have them share the frequency with wqed . considered unacceptable to hazard he called westinghouse ceo gwilym price to ask him if he should give up on his fight for public television . price said that hazard should keep fighting for it giving westinghouse backing for the future wqed . westinghouse even donated to hazard the tower westinghouse had purchased had it gotten the channel 13 license making way for wqed to sign on april 1 1954 . the station s call letters q.e.d. are taken from the latin phrase quod erat demonstrandum what had to be proved or what was to be demonstrated commonly used in mathematics . 1 westinghouse would not have to wait much longer for its own television station in pittsburgh though . knowing that dumont needed wdtv s cash flow to get its programming cleared in larger markets but also needed a short term cash infusion after dumont investor paramount pictures vetoed a merger between dumont and abc which itself had just merged with united paramount theaters westinghouse offered dumont a then record 10 million for wdtv which dumont promptly accepted in january 1955 . westinghouse immediately changed the call sign from wdtv to kdka tv making it a sister station to radio station kdka . dumont was not able to get clearance in larger markets and was out of business by the end of 1956 . although kdka tv is now owned by westinghouse successor cbs corporation as a cbs owned and operated station as a result of various mergers the station still retains a close relationship with wqed as a result of westinghouse helping to get wqed on the air . 2 during the late 1950s wqed was briefly affiliated with the nta film network sharing the affiliation with kdka tv wtae tv and wiic tv now wpxi . from its sign on until it was replaced by pbs in 1970 wqed was a member station of national educational television . heyday edit during its heyday in the 1970s and 1980s wqed was a vital supplier of programming to the national pbs system . for 15 years wqed produced the national geographic specials for the national geographic society . these programs among others and the craftspeople who produced them won numerous emmy awards and other accolades including peabody awards . over the years talent like michael keaton who worked behind the scenes on mister rogers neighborhood emerged from the station and went on to international fame . during its heyday wqed also supported a post production office and editing facility in los angeles . known as qed west the satellite was the editing center for much of wqed s national programming . decline edit wqed s headquarters right next to central catholic high school in pittsburgh pennsylvania . sculpture outside wqed s headquarters . during the beginning of the 1990s wqed faltered on a national level as the rapidly changing media landscape shifted . the downturn was exacerbated by a scandal in which top executives were discovered to have been augmenting their personal revenues without informing the board of directors . this period was chronicled in the 2000 book air wars the fight to reclaim public broadcasting by jerrold m. starr . the problems continued with a failed attempt to sell wqed s auxiliary station wqex channel 16 outright in 1999 . in 2002 wqex s non commercial educational status was removed and the station would move to an all shopping format first with america s store and later with shopnbc . in november 2010 wqed reached a deal to sell wqex to ion media networks for 3 million . the sale was consummated after fcc approval on may 2 2011 at which time the station s call sign changed from wqex to winp tv . 3 4 tight knit group of employees edit wqed s employees are historically a tight knit group . longtime soundman and ohio university professor john bear butler maintains an active e mail distribution list in which news about the members of wqed s community is updated regularly . digital television edit digital channels edit channel video aspect psip short name programming 5 13.1 1080i 16 9 wqed hd main wqed programming pbs 13.2 480i wqed d1 create 13.3 wqed d2 world channel 6 13.4 4 3 wqed d3 showcase on january 5 2009 wqed launched the create channel on 13.2 replacing the standard definition simulcast of wqed s main channel . 7 analog to digital conversion edit wqed shut down its analog signal over vhf channel 13 on june 12 2009 the official date in which full power television stations in the united states transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate . the station s digital signal relocated from its pre transition uhf channel 38 to vhf channel 13 . 8 this made wqed the only full powered station in the pittsburgh market to move its digital signal back to its analog era channel position . former sister station winp tv took over wqed s former digital channel 38 broadcasting on virtual channel 16.1 . original programming edit local edit onq 2000 present weekdays black horizons 1968 present weekly as the longest running african american issues program in the nation . 1 rick sebak pittsburgh series edit the mon the al & the o 1988 kennywood memories 1988 holy pittsburgh 1989 flying off the bridge to nowhere and other tales of pittsburgh bridges 1990 things that aren t there anymore 1990 downtown pittsburgh 1992 stuff that s gone 1994 houses around here 1994 the strip show 1996 north side story 1997 south side 1998 things that are still here 1999 something about oakland 2000 pittsburgh a to z 2001 happy holidays in pittsburgh 2002 things we ve made 2003 it s the neighborhoods 2004 what makes pittsburgh pittsburgh 2006 underground pittsburgh 2007 invented engineered and pioneered in pittsburgh 2008 right beside the river 2009 25 things i like about pittsburgh 2012 a history of pittsburgh in 17 objects 2014 return to downtown pittsburgh 2016 another trip downtown 2016 state edit eat pennsylvania 2006 rick sebak pennsylvania programs edit the pennsylvania road show 1992 pennsylvania diners and other roadside restaurants 1993 national edit mister rogers neighborhood 1968 2001 in association with family communications inc. drink drank drunk 1974 an hour long carol burnett hosted program on alcoholism . 9 national geographic specials 1975 1991 puzzle children 1976 an hour long julie andrews and bill bixby hosted special . 10 including me 1977 an hour long patricia neal hosted program spotlighting 6 handicapped children . 1 11 raised in anger 1979 an hour long ed asner hosted program on child abuse . 12 the chemical people 1982 1983 a nine part series on drug abuse . 13 14 planet earth 1986 in association with the national academy of sciences the infinite voyage 1987 1992 in association with the national academy of sciences 15 where in the world is carmen sandiego in partnership with wgbh in boston the very first national television townhall america speaks with bill clinton aired nationally in prime time by nbc . june 1992 16 where in time is carmen sandiego in partnership with wgbh in boston space age 1994 in association with the national academy of sciences doo wop 50 1999 and subsequent similar programs produced by tj lubinsky the war that made america 2006 rick sebak national programs edit an ice cream show 1996 shore things 1996 a hot dog program 1999 great old amusement parks 1999 a flea market documentary 2001 sandwiches that you will like 2002 a program about unusual buildings & other roadside stuff 2004 a cemetery special 2005 to market to market to buy a fat pig 2007 a ride along the lincoln highway 2008 breakfast special 2010 breakfast special 2 revenge of the omelets 2012 chris moore national programs edit wylie avenue days 1991 in country a vietnam story 2006 see also edit pittsburgh portal winp tv references edit a b c 50 facts about