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Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
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In August 1908, a white mob attacked Springfield, Illinois’s Black community, destroying homes and businesses and lynching two Black men. National outrage over the violence helped spur the movement that created the NAACP the following year.
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 | Oxford, Ohio |
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| Channels | |
| Branding | ThinkTV |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| WPTD, WCET | |
| History | |
First air date | 1959[a] |
Former call signs | WMUB-TV (1959–1977) |
Former channel numbers |
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| NET (1959–1970) | |
Call sign meaning | Public Television in Oxford |
| Technical information[4] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| 25065 | |
| ERP | 500 kW |
| HAAT | 279 m (915 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 39°7′27″N 84°31′18″W / 39.12417°N 84.52167°W |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | thinktv |
WPTO (channel 14) is a PBS member television station licensed to Oxford, Ohio, United States. It is owned by Public Media Connect alongside WCET (channel 48, CET) in Cincinnati and WPTD (channel 16, ThinkTV) in Dayton and is managed from studios at the ThinkTV TeleCenter on South Jefferson Street in downtown Dayton. The transmitter is co-located with Cincinnati's WXIX-TV in the CUF neighborhood near the Western Hills Viaduct. WPTO serves as a secondary PBS station for the Cincinnati and Dayton areas.
Channel 14 in Oxford began broadcasting in 1959 as WMUB-TV, the educational television service of Miami University. It primarily served the immediate Oxford area, though a rebroadcaster was added to provide service to Dayton schools in 1969. In 1972, when the Ohio Educational Television Network Commission spearheaded the conversion of Dayton's channel 16 to educational programming as WOET-TV, the two stations began simulcasting. Miami University contributed WMUB-TV to the consortium known as University Regional Broadcasting (later renamed Greater Dayton Public Television), which operated channels 14 and 16, in 1975; the two stations became WPTO and WPTD in 1978.
After simulcasting with WPTD for 20 years, Greater Dayton Public Television began providing separate programming on WPTO on July 1, 1992; the new program lineup consisted of instructional and international programming. The station was added the next year to cable systems in Dayton and Cincinnati. WPTO began digital broadcasting in 2004 from a site in Cincinnati. WPTO also provides transmission capacity for two channels of Kentucky Educational Television transmitter WCVN-TV as part of a reciprocal ATSC 3.0 (NextGen TV) hosting arrangement.
Miami University in Oxford had been telecasting educational programming within the campus using a closed-circuit system since 1956.[3] WMUB-TV began broadcasting on October 13, December 3, or December 4, 1959,[a] and initially served to broadcast the same lectures seen on the closed-circuit system until additional educational programming was added in February 1960.[5] The station originally broadcast for 15 hours a week, which within ten years had grown to 57 hours a week.[6] In March 1970, a translator on channel 72 was set up to provide service to schools in Dayton.[7] An affiliate of National Educational Television, WMUB became part of PBS when it was constituted later in 1970. The station also broadcast several local programs focusing on community and public affairs issues.[6] The variety program Studio 14 gave television executive Rick Ludwin, later of NBC, his start in broadcasting.[8]
In 1971, the Ohio Educational Television Network Commission acquired the license and transmitter of WKTR-TV, a failed commercial station in Kettering (near Dayton), returning it to the air as an educational television station under the WOET-TV call sign on April 24, 1972. WOET-TV began by rebroadcasting WMUB-TV. WMUB-TV, in turn, rebroadcast PBS programs from WCET in Cincinnati; the first week of programs on WOET was plagued by issues because WCET, the ultimate off-air source for the programs, held a local pledge drive. While the Network Commission intended a consortium of Miami University, Central State University, and Wright State University to run WOET-TV, they continued to quarrel over the shape of their partnership to run channel 16; Wright State objected to the inclusion of Miami, which the commission had insisted on because of its existing studios and previous television experience,[9] and believed it should be the sole operator of the Dayton station.[10] It ultimately relented and agreed to the tri-university consortium.[11] Plans for the consortium, to be known as University Regional Broadcasting (URB), took a step forward in 1974, when WMUB-TV was added to the proposed design of the group; eventually, separate programming for the two stations was foreseen.[12] On April 22, 1975, the FCC approved the transfer of the WOET-TV license from the Network Commission to University Regional Broadcasting, with the tri-university consortium taking over on July 1.[13] The stations changed their call letters on March 1, 1977, from WOET-TV to WPTD (Public Television in Dayton) and from WMUB-TV to WPTO (Public Television in Oxford).[14]
In 1988, WPTD moved to new studios in the Transportation Center in downtown Dayton.[15] The new studios also helped lay the groundwork for providing separate programming from WPTD and WPTO. Over a year between late 1986 and late 1987, fewer than 10 programs were aired separately on one station or the other.[16] However, it was not until transmitter improvements at both Dayton and Oxford created services with signal overlap that this vision was deemed feasible.[17] This eventually came to pass on July 1, 1992, when WPTO began airing a secondary lineup of primarily instructional and educational programs as well as documentaries and rebroadcasts of key PBS shows in different time periods.[18] WPTO was added to the major cable systems in Cincinnati and Dayton in 1993.[19] WPTO's program lineup also included international shows from Britain and Japan.[20]
In 2000, the ThinkTV stations and WCET began sharing a senior executive, Scott Elliott, who had previously only worked at WCET. While the employee-sharing did not represent a merger,[21] it paved the way for further collaboration between the public broadcasters, who had talked four times in 25 years about merging. On October 31, 2008, Greater Dayton Public Television and the Greater Cincinnati Television Educational Foundation (CET), owner of WCET, announced plans to merge their resources into one non-profit organization serving all of Southwest Ohio while maintaining separate identities.[22] In May 2009, after two years of discussions, Public Media Connect was formed as a merger of the two groups, with each continuing as local nonprofits and subsidiaries.[23] The merger resulted in the July 2010 transfer of WCET's master control operations to ThinkTV's facilities in Dayton.[24]
WPTD's digital signal is multiplexed. On June 5, 2023, WPTO began broadcasting two of the four subchannels of WCVN-TV in Covington, Kentucky, a transmitter of Kentucky Educational Television (KET), as part of a partnership between KET and Public Media Connect; KET provides transmission capacity in 3.0 format for WCET and WPTO (as well as datacasting capabilities for both organizations) and vice versa in 1.0 format. Fiber-optic links deliver signals between Public Media Connect's master control in Dayton and KET's in Lexington. This was the first partnership between separately owned public broadcasters.[25]
| Subchannel | Res. | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14.1 | 720p | WPTO-HD | PBS |
| 14.2 | 480i | Explore | ThinkTV 14 Explore |
| 14.3 | Kids | PBS Kids | |
| 14.4 | Ohio | The Ohio Channel | |
| 54.2 | 720p | KET2 | KET / PBS (WCVN-TV) |
| 54.4 | 480i | KETKIDS | PBS Kids (WCVN-TV) |
WPTO's subchannels from 2004 to 2009 were 14.2: a simulcast of analog channel 14; 14.3: "Prime", repeats of channel 14's prime time programming; 14.4: "Learn", PBS Kids and college telecourses; 14.5: the World Channel; and 14.6: distinct high-definition programming from PBS, simulcast on WPTD 16.6.[22] By sometime in 2008, 14.5 "World" was also carrying programming from The Ohio Channel overnight.[27]
After analog broadcasting ceased on May 1, 2009, WPTO realigned its subchannels: 14.1 began carrying former analog channel 14's programming in high definition and widescreen; "Prime" moved to 14.2; "Learn" moved to 14.3; "World" moved to 14.4; 14.5 became a standard-definition simulcast of 14.1; and 14.6 was dropped.[28]
On January 16, 2017, other programming was dropped from 14.3, leaving it to carry PBS Kids 24/7.[29]
Sometime in 2023, possibly when WPTO started broadcasting WCVN-TV's subchannels, 14.5 was dropped.[30]
After a December 2025 announcement, ThinkTV rebranded two of WPTO's subchannels effective January 5, 2026: 14.2 was rebranded as "Explore", continuing some prime time repeats and adding international programming from the World Channel. 14.4 was rebranded as "Ohio", dropping World Channel programming and continuing to carry The Ohio Channel, now 24/7. Similar changes were also made to WPTD.[31][32][33][34]
WPTO broadcasts from a facility co-located with Cincinnati's WXIX-TV near the Western Hills Viaduct.[35]
The station began broadcasting a digital signal from a transmitter on channel 28 in Cincinnati on June 28, 2004.[2] ThinkTV ceased analog broadcasting from Dayton and Oxford on May 1, 2009, earlier than the June 12 national transition deadline, with WPTO continuing to use channel 28.[36][37] WPTO moved its digital signal from channel 28 to channel 29 on October 18, 2019, as part of the FCC's spectrum reallocation process.[38] WPTO operated at low power from that date[39] until work was completed on May 1, 2020.[40]
Five full-time positions, including both master control operators, have been eliminated by CET. ... Starting last weekend, CET's signal was being sent from Dayton to the station here, and then to the Fairview Heights tower and Time Warner cable, employees say.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
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Includes stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of Ohio | ||
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Broadcast television stations by affiliation in the Commonwealth of Kentucky | ||
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Includes stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of Kentucky | ||
| ABC | ||
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Broadcast television stations by affiliation in the state of Indiana | ||
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Includes stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of Indiana | ||
| ABC | ||
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| The CW | ||
| Ion Television | ||
| Independent | ||
| PBS | ||
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Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
WPTO (channel 14) is a PBS member television station licensed to Oxford, Ohio, United States. It is owned by Public Media Connect alongside WCET (channel 48, CET) in Cincinnati and WPTD (channel 16, ThinkTV) in Dayton and is managed from studios at the ThinkTV TeleCenter on South Jefferson Street in downtown Dayton. The transmitter is co-located with Cincinnati's WXIX-TV in the CUF neighborhood near the Western Hills Viaduct. WPTO serves as a secondary PBS station for the Cincinnati and Dayton areas. Channel 14 in Oxford began broadcasting in 1959 as WMUB-TV, the educational television service of Miami University. It primarily served the immediate Oxford area, though a rebroadcaster was added to provide service to Dayton schools in 1969. In 1972, when the Ohio Educational Television Network Commission spearheaded the conversion of Dayton's channel 16 to educational programming as WOET-TV, the two stations began simulcasting. Miami University contributed WMUB-TV to the consortium known as University Regional Broadcasting (later renamed Greater Dayton Public Television), which operated channels 14 and 16, in 1975; the two stations became WPTO and WPTD in 1978. After simulcasting with WPTD for 20 years, Greater Dayton Public Television began providing separate programming on WPTO on July 1, 1992; the new program lineup consisted of instructional and international programming. The station was added the next year to cable systems in Dayton and Cincinnati. WPTO began digital broadcasting in 2004 from a site in Cincinnati. WPTO also provides transmission capacity for two channels of Kentucky Educational Television transmitter WCVN-TV as part of a reciprocal ATSC 3.0 (NextGen TV) hosting arrangement.
WPTD (channel 16) is a PBS member television station in Dayton, Ohio, United States, serving the Miami Valley. The station broadcasts from studios at the ThinkTV TeleCenter on South Jefferson Street in downtown Dayton and a transmitter near South Gettysburg Avenue in the Highview Hills neighborhood in southwest Dayton. Its signal is relayed by translator station W25FI-D in Maplewood, Ohio, which broadcasts to Celina, Lima, and Wapakoneta. WPTD and WPTO (channel 14), licensed to Oxford but primarily broadcasting to greater Cincinnati and providing secondary public TV service in the Dayton and Cincinnati areas, form ThinkTV (stylized as ThinkTV). ThinkTV, legally Greater Dayton Public Television, and WCET in Cincinnati are separate subsidiaries of Public Media Connect; master control for all three stations is located in Dayton. Channel 16 in Dayton was originally allocated for educational use, but this changed in 1965. A commercial station—WKTR-TV, owned by Kittyhawk Television and licensed to nearby Kettering—was built on channel 16 in 1967. It operated as a money-losing independent station for nearly all of its four-year history, with one major exception. On January 1, 1970, in a surprise, WKTR was announced as the new ABC affiliate for Dayton. This was vigorously contested by WKEF (channel 22), which had been airing most of ABC's programming in the market and was widely expected to become the full-time affiliate. Less than two months later, it was revealed that Kittyhawk management had bribed an ABC official in exchange for affiliation with the network, a scandal that led to a conviction, the resignations of two other network employees, and a federal investigation into bribery at the major networks. ABC also moved to revoke the affiliation agreement with WKTR-TV effective that August. In May, a federal judge overseeing a lawsuit filed by WKEF ordered ABC to supply its prime time programming to that station; WKTR-TV aired ABC's daytime shows until August 31, 1970, when all ABC programming moved to WKEF. Facing a challenge to its broadcast license and a petition by television program distributors to force it into involuntary bankruptcy, Kittyhawk took WKTR-TV off the air beginning February 27, 1971. Plans already existed at that time to activate an educational television station in Dayton. The Ohio Educational Television Network Commission, a state agency coordinating educational broadcasting activities, used funds initially intended for new station construction to acquire the WKTR-TV license and transmitter; channel 16 began broadcasting again on April 24, 1972, as WOET-TV. WOET-TV initially served to simulcast WMUB-TV (the now-WPTO) in Oxford. In 1975, the commission transferred the license to University Regional Broadcasting—a consortium of Miami University, Central State University, and Wright State University. The station changed its call letters to WPTD in 1977; University Regional Broadcasting renamed itself Greater Dayton Public Television in 1982. After previously having offices spread in multiple locations, the station consolidated into new downtown Dayton studios in 1988. WPTO became a separately programmed secondary station in 1992.
Public Media Connect, Inc. is a non-profit organization that owns southwest Ohio's largest PBS member television stations. It was formed in 2009 from the merger of the Greater Cincinnati Television Educational Foundation, which operates WCET in Cincinnati under the "CET" brand, and Greater Dayton Public Television, whose "ThinkTV" brand is shared by WPTD in Dayton and WPTO in Oxford, along with a translator (W25FI-D) in Maplewood. CET and ThinkTV continue to operate as subsidiary non-profits under the Public Media Connect umbrella organization. Combined, the three stations serve a potential audience of 3.3 million people in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. Until July 2010, the three stations maintained separate production and control staff. In July 2010, master control for both stations was centralized in Dayton, in order to reduce costs. They continue to maintain distinct program schedules and conduct separate fundraising efforts. Public Media Connect enables the stations to pool resources, again saving scarce financial and personnel resources from unnecessary duplication.
Dayton ( ) is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the time of 2020 United States census. The Dayton metropolitan area has an estimated 822,000 residents and is the state's fourth-largest metropolitan area. Dayton is located within Ohio's Miami Valley region, 40 miles (64 km) north of Cincinnati and 55 miles (89 km) southwest of Columbus, Ohio. Dayton was founded in 1796 along the Great Miami River and named after Jonathan Dayton, a Founding Father of the United States who owned a significant amount of land in the area. It grew in the 19th century as a canal town and was home to many patents and inventors, most notably the Wright brothers, who developed the first successful motor-operated airplane. It later developed an industrialized economy and was home to the Dayton Project, a branch of the larger Manhattan Project, to develop the polonium triggers used in early atomic bombs. With the decline of heavy manufacturing in the late 20th century, Dayton shifted from a manufacturing economy to more of a service economy. Ohio's borders are within 500 miles (800 km) of roughly 60 percent of the country's population and manufacturing infrastructure, making Dayton a logistics hub. The city near Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, a significant contributor to research and development in the industrial, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering fields. Along with defense and aerospace, healthcare accounts for much of the Dayton area's economy. Significant institutions in Dayton include the Air Force Institute of Technology, Carillon Historical Park, the Dayton Art Institute, the Dayton Performing Arts Alliance, Wright State University, and the University of Dayton.
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 →Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.
