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Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
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Wilmington, North Carolina once had a thriving Black middle class and an elected interracial government. In 1898 white supremacists used violence to overthrow that government, kill Black residents and drive many others from the city.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
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| City | Miami, Florida |
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| Channels | |
| Branding | South Florida PBS WPBT |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner | South Florida PBS, Inc. |
| History | |
| Founded | November 1953 |
First air date | August 12, 1955 |
Former call signs | WTHS-TV (shared operation, 1955–1979) |
Former channel numbers |
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| NET (1955–1970) | |
Call sign meaning | "Public Broadcasting Television" |
| Technical information[2] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| 13456 | |
| ERP | 1,000 kW |
| HAAT | 306 m (1,004 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 25°57′31″N 80°12′43″W / 25.95861°N 80.21194°W |
| Translator(s) | W31DC-D 31 Fort Pierce |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
WPBT (channel 2) is a PBS member television station in Miami, Florida, United States. It serves as the flagship station of South Florida PBS, which also owns Boynton Beach–licensed fellow PBS member WXEL-TV (channel 42, serving the West Palm Beach market) and Miami-licensed low-power station WURH-LD (channel 13). The three stations share transmitter facilities on Northwest 199th Street in Andover; WPBT's studios are located on Northeast 20th Avenue in North Miami. In addition to serving the Miami–Fort Lauderdale market, the station has significant viewership in much of the West Palm Beach market (alongside WXEL-TV), and is the only Miami area television station to serve the entire South Florida metropolis.
WPBT is one of two PBS member stations serving the Miami–Fort Lauderdale market, alongside WLRN-TV (channel 17), owned by Miami-Dade County Public Schools.
The Community Television Foundation of South Florida was formed in November 1953. It immediately jumped into the bidding for Florida's first non-commercial educational television station. The only major competition came from the Dade County School Board. Ultimately, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) awarded licenses to both groups in a time-share arrangement. They signed on channel 2 as a shared operation on August 12, 1955, operating as a member station of National Educational Television (NET) under the call letters WTHS-TV.
Under the arrangement, the school board and the foundation alternated airtime on channel 2 airing their programming from separate studios. The school board would air five hours of educational programming during the day, while Community Television Foundation was responsible for evening programming.
Gradually, Community Television Foundation expanded nighttime broadcasting hours, especially after the school board began WSEC-TV (channel 17) as a secondary station. WTHS-TV's broadcast day increased further after the formation of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in 1969. At that time, the foundation began using the WPBT call letters for its programming. WTHS-TV continued to share the channel with WPBT until the Dade County Schools moved all instructional programming to WSEC-TV.
As both PBS and South Florida grew during the 1970s, it became apparent that a time-share arrangement was no longer feasible for what had become a major market. Finally, in 1979, the Dade County School Board relinquished its share of channel 2 and returned the WTHS license to the FCC. The board moved WTHS' programming inventory to channel 17, which changed its calls to WLRN-TV.
Until WXEL-TV signed on as the PBS member for West Palm Beach in 1982, WPBT served as the default PBS member for the Palm Beaches and Treasure Coast. For some time after WXEL signed on, WPBT continued to claim the Palm Beaches as part of its primary coverage area, going as far as to identify as "Miami/Fort Lauderdale/Palm Beaches" in 1986. The analog channel 2 signal traveled a very long distance under normal conditions.
In 1990, WPBT expanded upon its popularity of the Nightly Business Report program, by launching NBR Enterprises to sell videotapes and newsletters centered around the show.[3]
WPBT partners with WFOR-TV to provide hurricane coverage with open captioning for those without TV sets that can show closed captioning when a hurricane warning is issued.[4]
In 2010, WPBT rebranded as "2 HD" along with its children's program block KidVision.
On July 15, 2015, the Community Television Foundation announced an agreement with the WXEL Public Broadcasting Corporation, owner of WXEL-TV, to merge the two stations' operations into a new entity, to be known as "South Florida PBS". The merger, which was formally filed with the FCC on July 16, would enable the two stations to pool resources and fundraising efforts to offer more program content.[5][6] However, the two stations have separate governing boards and conduct separate fundraising efforts. With the FCC's repack program, WXEL-TV would relocate its signal to WPBT's transmitter after relinquishing its digital channel 27 license to the FCC. WXEL continues to broadcast as a digital subchannel on WPBT's signal.
Some of WPBT's notable national programs include the science program Star Gazers, the bilingual sitcom ¿Qué Pasa, USA?, the film show film-maker and its most well known program, the business news and analysis program Nightly Business Report (which was widely distributed by public television stations, mainly those that are members of PBS and had its production responsibilities assumed by CNBC in 2013, and ended its run in December 2019[citation needed]). Locally produced programs that are seen exclusively on the station include Check, Please! South Florida, a restaurant review show based on the series Check, Please! that originated on fellow PBS station WTTW in Chicago.
The station also produces Your South Florida, a weekly half-hour public affairs and news program hosted by Pam Giganti that addresses issues in the local community.
WPBT has also produced two nature series, Wild Florida (hosted by Hunter Reno, which explored Florida's ecosystems and wildlife) and Changing Seas (which was narrated by Peter Thomas and explores the world's oceans along with leading experts who study the Earth's "last frontier").[7] It also produces several documentaries about the South Florida area; projects in development include Stranahan House, Florida’s State Parks, Into the Wild and Lost in Florida.
Since October 5, 1992 (one month before the 24th season of Sesame Street, six months after the debut of Barney & Friends and nine months after the debut of Lamb Chop's Play-Along), WPBT has had its very own children's programming block called KidVision which was a local version of PBS' children's strand (and later as PTV) until 2004 when it was turned into a local version of PBS Kids.
WPBT, WXEL-TV, and WURH-LD are broadcast from a transmitter facility on Northwest 199th Street in Andover.[8] The shared signal is multiplexed:
| License | Subchannel | Res. | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WPBT | 2.1 | 1080i | WPBT-HD | PBS |
| 2.2 | 480i | Create | Create | |
| 2.3 | WPBTHC | The Health Channel | ||
| 2.4 | KIDS360 | PBS Kids | ||
| WXEL-TV | 42.1 | 1080i | WXEL-DT | PBS |
| WURH-LD | 13.1 | 480i | WURH | The Health Channel |
WPBT ended regular programming on its analog signal, over VHF channel 2, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal continued to broadcast on its pre-transition UHF channel 18, using virtual channel 2.[9]
As part of the SAFER Act, WPBT kept its analog signal on the air until July 12 to inform viewers of the digital television transition through a loop of public service announcements from the National Association of Broadcasters.[10]
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Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
WPBT (channel 2) is a PBS member television station in Miami, Florida, United States. It serves as the flagship station of South Florida PBS, which also owns Boynton Beach–licensed fellow PBS member WXEL-TV (channel 42, serving the West Palm Beach market) and Miami-licensed low-power station WURH-LD (channel 13). The three stations share transmitter facilities on Northwest 199th Street in Andover; WPBT's studios are located on Northeast 20th Avenue in North Miami. In addition to serving the Miami–Fort Lauderdale market, the station has significant viewership in much of the West Palm Beach market (alongside WXEL-TV), and is the only Miami area television station to serve the entire South Florida metropolis. WPBT is one of two PBS member stations serving the Miami–Fort Lauderdale market, alongside WLRN-TV (channel 17), owned by Miami-Dade County Public Schools.
The 1944–45 Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons season was the fourth season of the franchise in the National Basketball League. This season was also the first season where the NBL disallowed the goaltending ability for defensive centers due to the rise of taller centers in the sport at hand; in previous seasons, the notion of a goaltending rule wasn't considered necessary since centers weren't seen as very tall players at the time and jumping above the rim was a very rare ability for players back then. The team was led by the star backcourt of two-time league MVP Bobby McDermott and Buddy Jeannette. The season ended with the Pistons winning a league best 25 out of 30 games and McDermott being awarded his third MVP award. As of 2026, this is still the best record in franchise history. The playoffs began with a 2–0 sweep over the Cleveland Allmen Transfers to make the team's fourth straight NBL Championship series. From there, they were met by the Sheboygan Red Skins for the third straight year. The series went to a full five games, with Sheboygan winning the first two, but ended with Fort Wayne defeating Sheboygan to successfully defend their NBL Championship in a reverse sweep. The Pistons would not return to the finals for another decade as the rebranded Fort Wayne Pistons and would not win another championship until the 1989 NBA Finals as the Detroit Pistons. At the end of the season Blackie Towery left the team to join the military for World War II, though he would return to the team one season later following the war's end. In addition to repeating as champions of the NBL, the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons also participated in the World Professional Basketball Tournament for the purposes of repeating as champions of the WPBT as well. Unlike the previous year's event, the Zollner Pistons would compete against another NBL team in the 1945 event with them going up against the Oshkosh All-Stars in the quarterfinal round. After beating Oshkosh in the quarterfinal round, they had a rematch against the independently ran New York Renaissance (this time blowing them out) in the semifinal round before competing in the championship match against the surprise team of the tournament, the also independently ran Dayton Acmes, who were composed of players from the American Basketball League and aforementioned New York Renaissance that were stationed at the Wright Field in Riverside, Ohio. Unlike their previous championship run in the WPBT, Fort Wayne would make easy competition out of their opponents throughout the entire tournament (with their lowest margin of victory being by eleven points against Oshkosh), which led to them being the only professional team to repeat as both NBL & WPBT champions in back-to-back seasons. Not only that, but their repeat WPBT championship success saw them complete their quartet of goals they had throughout the season which saw them wanting to beat the College All-Stars in what was (at the time considered to be) the annual College All-Star clash against a professional basketball squad where no professional team had beaten them yet (which Fort Wayne succeeded in with a 44–38 win over the College All Stars on December 1, 1944), wanting to lead the league for overall records once again, repeat as NBL champions, and repeat as WPBT champions, as well as later beating the NBL's All-Stars 59–47 in an exhibition match two nights after their WPBT championship match as a bonus success goal at hand.
The 1948 World Professional Basketball Tournament was the tenth and final edition of the World Professional Basketball Tournament. It was held in Chicago, Illinois, during the days of 8–11 April 1948 and featured eight teams, who by this point in time were primarily competing in the National Basketball League, with the only other professional team competing being the Wilkes-Barre Barons of the American Basketball League (who competed against what were to be the newly established Minneapolis Lakers in the quarterfinal round) and the only two independently ran teams being the New York Renaissance and the Bridgeport Newfield Steelers, who competed against each other in the quarterfinal round. Initially, there was supposed to have been a championship series between the champions of the National Basketball League (which were the Minneapolis Lakers) and the recently created Basketball Association of America (which were formerly the American Basketball League's own Baltimore Bullets, which was also the BAA's original Baltimore Bullets franchise) that year, but that ultimately never came to fruition. It was won by the Minneapolis Lakers (joining the Oshkosh All-Stars and Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons as the only other professional teams to win multiple championships during the same season throughout the 1940s), who defeated the New York Renaissance 75–71 in the title game, behind George Mikan's tournament record 40 points. The Anderson Duffey Packers came in third after beating the Tri-Cities Blackhawks 66–44 in the third-place game. Mikan led all scorers and was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player. With George Mikan winning the tournament's MVP award in both 1946 with the Chicago American Gears (despite his team not winning that year's event) and the final tournament ever held in 1948 with the Lakers, he would join Buddy Jeannette of the Detroit Eagles in 1941 and the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons four years later in 1945 as the only other player to be named the MVP of the WPBT for multiple years (both of whom would earn the honor while being with different teams). Following this tournament's conclusion alongside the 1948 NBL Finals and 1948 BAA Finals, the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons (soon rebranded to just be the Fort Wayne Pistons), Indianapolis Kautskys (soon rebranded as the Indianapolis Jets), and WPBT/NBL champion Minneapolis Lakers alongside the Rochester Royals would all jump ship from the NBL to the BAA by the start of the 1948 BAA draft, which started to signify the end of the WPBT as an established tournament to help determine the best of the best basketball teams across the nation. An attempt to run a similar tournament was held in 1949 by The Indianapolis News, which would have featured the Wilkes-Barre Barons of the ABL, three teams from the NBL, three teams from the upstart Basketball Association of America, and a team from a fourth professional league of sorts that remained unidentified until seeding was supposed to have been drawn out, but the BAA ultimately declined the invitation despite the NBL accepting the invitation themselves. Months after the spiritual successor to the WPBT failed to come to fruition, the BAA and NBL agreed to merge leagues together to become the modern-day National Basketball Association (which meant the other NBL teams from this year's tournament in the Anderson Duffey Packers (later rebranded to just be the Anderson Packers) and Tri-Cities Blackhawks joined most of the other NBL teams (including a planned expansion team called the Indianapolis Olympians alongside most of the surviving BAA teams in a sort of reunion with those teams there, though the Kautskys/Jets franchise wouldn't survive the merger due to them being bankrupt a year later), which essentially put an end to the WPBT entirely for good.
Nightly Business Report is an American business news magazine television program that aired on public television stations from January 22, 1979, to December 27, 2019, for most of that time syndicated by American Public Television. Internationally the show was seen on CNBC Europe and CNBC Asia. From January 22, 1979, to March 1, 2013, the show was produced at WPBT in Miami, Florida. In February 2013, CNBC purchased the program and closed its Miami operations. On November 11, 2019, CNBC announced that Nightly Business Report would be discontinued at the end of the year. The final broadcast aired on December 27, 2019, which ended NBR's nearly 41–year run.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Shirley Chisholm, elected in 1968.
