states branding wyes slogan your public television station in new orleans channels digital 11 vhf virtual 12 psip subchannels 12.1 pbs 12.2 kids & world 12.3 create affiliations pbs kids world dt2 create dt3 owner greater new orleans educational television foundation first air date april 1 1957 1957 04 01 call letters meaning the word yes former channel number s analog 8 vhf 1957 1970 12 vhf 1970 2009 former affiliations net 1957 1970 transmitter power 70.8 kw height 306 m facility id 25090 transmitter coordinates 29 57 15.1 n 89 56 59.3 w 29.954194 n 89.949806 w 29.954194 ; 89.949806 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.wyes.org wyes tv virtual channel 12 vhf digital channel 11 is a pbs member television station located in new orleans louisiana united states . the station is owned by the greater new orleans educational television foundation . wyes maintains studio facilities located on navarre avenue in the city s navarre neighborhood and its transmitter is located on paris road highway 47 in chalmette . wyes is the only independently owned public television station in louisiana as it is not part of louisiana public broadcasting which owns all of the pbs member stations in the state that are located outside of new orleans . the station is also available on cable providers in biloxi and gulfport mississippi despite the presence of mississippi public broadcasting satellite wmah tv . wyes carries pbs and american public television distributed programs as well as programs from other distributors . many wyes produced national programs are distributed by apt . contents 1 history 1.1 hurricane katrina 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 references 4 external links history edit wyes traces its history to 1953 when a group of civic leaders formed the greater new orleans educational television association . the federal communications commission had assigned the vhf channel 8 allocation in the new orleans market for non commercial use and the group quickly snapped up the license . wyes tv s previous logo used from 1975 to 2001 . alternate version of wyes s logo used from 2001 to 2008 . after numerous fits and starts the station first signed on the air on april 1 1957 . it was the 12th educational television station to sign on in the united states and the second in louisiana as well as new orleans 3rd television station behind wdsu and wvue but before wwl tv and wgno the state s first educational station klse signed on a month earlier from monroe but went off the air in 1964 making wyes the oldest continuously operating educational station in louisiana . after klse shut down wyes would be the only educational station in the state until louisiana public broadcasting flagship wlpb tv in baton rouge signed on in september 1975 . it originally operated as a member of national educational television ; the station joined the public broadcasting service pbs when net was reorganized in 1970 . on june 8 of that year at 8 00 p.m. the station swapped channel positions with abc affiliate wvue now a fox affiliate and moved to channel 12 where the station remains today as its virtual channel . this was done in order for wvue to be able to have a stronger broadcast signal which did not interfere with jackson mississippi cbs affiliate wjtv which also broadcasts on channel 12 . 1 wyes is best known outside of new orleans as the home of famous louisiana chef and storyteller justin wilson whose show originated from wyes s studios . it is also known as the home for another famous louisiana chef paul prudhomme . on july 8 1984 wlae tv signed on as a secondary pbs member station for the market . it was owned by a partnership of the willwoods community and lpb ; the later bought a stake in order to get its louisiana focused programming into new orleans . through pbs program differentiation plan wlae carried only 25 % of the programming broadcast by pbs with channel 12 carrying the remainder of the network s programs . wyes became the market s exclusive pbs member once again on august 1 2013 when wlae ended its membership with the network to increase its focus on its locally produced programming . 2 3 among the pbs shows that wlae had carried prior to leaving pbs were sesame street which it shared with wyes and the the news hour with jim lether whose removal from channel 32 resulted in the news program only being available in the market through wyes s world subchannel on digital channel 12.2 until it was added to that station s primary channel the following month on september 2 ; the program had aired on wlae under a longstanding arrangement with wyes . 2 3 hurricane katrina edit sign in front of wyes new orleans studio building with visible high water lines from katrina s earlier flooding . due to massive flooding caused by the levee failures that occurred during hurricane katrina s landfall on august 29 2005 wyes navarre avenue studios where the station had been based for its entire history sustained severe damage from flood waters of up to five feet . 4 the navarre neighborhood is located in a low lying area that sustained particularly severe damage due to flooding . the station s transmitters were spared serious damage but the storm damaged a backup generator that provided emergency power to the transmitter facility keeping the station off the air for almost four months . following katrina wyes partnered with local cable providers including cox communications and charter communications to pipe in lpb s signal starting in november 2005 . wyes restored its broadcast signal on december 30 operating from a temporary facility located on veterans boulevard and phosphor avenue in metairie . it would take almost six years for wyes to return to new orleans itself . in may 2011 wyes began construction of a new 20 000 square foot broadcast facility located behind the original building that cost 7 million to build . funding for its construction came from multiple sources including funds raised during since aborted plans for an unrelated facility to have been known as the teleplex that was planned to be built in the 1990s on the campus of the university of new orleans . the facility was constructed in two phases with a building that houses the station s technical equipment being built first followed by another complex that would replace the original facility which would house other operations . 4 the auction department moved back to the original navarre avenue facility in 2012 with the rest of the station s operations following suit later that year . 5 digital television edit digital channels edit channel video aspect psip short name programming 6 12.1 720p 16 9 wyes hd main wyes tv programming pbs 12.2 480i 4 3 wyessd1 wyes kids world 12.3 wyessd2 create analog to digital conversion edit wyes tv shut down its analog signal over vhf channel 12 on june 12 2009 at 7 00 am 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 remained on its pre transition vhf channel 11 . 7 through the use of psip digital television receivers display the station s virtual channel as its former vhf analog channel 12 . references edit wyes wvue stations switch channel numbers the times picayune june 10 1970 . a b new orleans pdp station wlae ends pbs membership . current . august 2 2013 . retrieved january 16 2014 . a b walker dave july 29 2013 . newshour charlie rose viewers will scramble as wlae drops pbs affiliation . the times picayune . retrieved january 16 2014 . a b wyes tv finally breaks ground on new headquarters . the times picayune . june 23 2011 . retrieved may 9 2014 . wyes contact information rabbitears tv query for wyes dtv tentative channel designations for the first and second rounds pdf . retrieved 2012 03 24 . external links edit wyes.org wyes tv official website query the fcc s tv station database for wyes biafn s media web database information on wyes tv v t e broadcast television in the new orleans region including hammond and slidell reception may vary by location and some stations may only be viewable with cable television full power wwl 4.1 cbs 4.2 justice 4.3 decades wdsu 6.1 nbc 6.2 metv wvue 8.1 fox 8.2 bounce tv 8.3 grit wyes 12.1 pbs 12.2 world 12.3 create whno 20.1 lesea 20.2 cozi tv 20.3 weathernation tv wgno 26.1 abc 26.2 antenna tv 26.3 escape wlae 32.1 public ind. lpb 32.2 mhz worldview 32.3 catholictv 32.4 v me spanish wnol 38.1 cw 38.2 this tv 38.3 comet kgla dt 42.1 tmd spanish wpxl 49.1 ion 49.2 qubo 49.3 ion life 49.4 shop tv 49.5 qvc 49.6 hsn wupl 54.1 mnt 54.2 mundomax spanish 54.3 h & i low power wtno lp 22.1 aza spanish knld ld 28.1 daystar kfol cd 30.1 ind knov cd 41.1 tourist info k47jo d 47.1 hsn2 local cable channels newswatch 15 catholic life defunct stations khma 11 independent houma see also baton rouge tv biloxi tv jackson tv v t e pbs member stations in the state of louisiana lpb kltm 13 monroe kltl 18 lake charles klpb 24 lafayette klts 24 shreveport klpa 25 alexandria wlpb 27 baton rouge other wyes 12 new orleans see also abc cbs cw fox ion mynetworktv nbc pbs other stations in louisiana retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title wyes tv & oldid 743579075 categories pbs member stationstelevision stations in new orleanstelevision channels and stations established in 1957hidden categories articles with spanish language external links navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export 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