65 Fun Facts for CET’s 65th Birthday

In honor of CET’s 65^th birthday on July 26, 2019, check out these 65 fun facts!

• 1953 – The Greater Cincinnati Television Education Foundation is granted a non-profit corporate charter.  WCET studios are located in Music Hall (now Corbett Tower).  

• 1954 – WCET’s transmitter is turned on for the first time.

• 1954 – WCET’s first live broadcast is Tel-A-Story.

• 1955 – The Federal Communications Commission issues its first non-commercial license (FCC #001) to WCET 48.

• 1958 – More than 25,000 students watch WCET in-school programs weekly in more than 300 schools throughout Greater Cincinnati.

• 1959 – WCET moves to the former WLWT studios at 2222 Chickasaw Street, leasing space for $1 per year.

• 1966 – A new game show, Culture Anyone?, hosted by Irma Lazarus airs for the first time.  The program would later become Conversation with Irma.

• 1967 – The Public Broadcasting Act passes creating the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and the Public Broadcasting System (PBS).

• 1968 – The first Action Auction raises $31,000 in two days.

• 1972 – Lilias, Yoga and You is produced and premieres on WCET.  The series is soon broadcast by public television stations across the nation.

• 1976 – WCET moves into the Crosley Telecommunications Center on Central Parkway. 

• 1978 – WCET’s new transmitter tower begins operation expanding the station’s coverage from 137,000 homes to a half-million.

• 1979 – WCET produces Congressional Outlook, a national public affairs program.

• 1979 – WCET use by students in the classroom increases from 12,000 in 1956 to over 200,000 in 1979.

• 1980 – WCET is the first station in Cincinnati to provide closed captioning.

• 1981 – Warner Cable and WCET agree to set aside eight cable channels for Instructional Television in addition to WCET 48’s broadcast schedule.

• 1983 – WCET is the first station in the nation to provide cable-only on-demand services to public and private schools under a 1983 agreement with Warner Amex.

• 1985 – WCET 48 airs the first stereo television broadcast in Cincinnati – The Music Man.

• 1985 – WCET becomes the first station in the nation to provide local K-12 teachers with an online database of instructional resources through Curriculum Connection.

• 1988 – WCET 48 celebrates Cincinnati’s bicentennial with several special productions including the Emmy-award winning documentary Powel Crosley Jr. and the 20^th Century.

• 1988 – WCET 48 joins with the Smithsonian Institution and four other public broadcasters to establish the National Demonstration Laboratory for Interactive Technologies in Washington, D.C.

• 1989 – WCET’s Action Auction breaks the 1 million dollar mark.

• 1990 – WCET is the first local station to utilize Descriptive Video Service (DVS).

• 1990 – FutureThon, a live special from WCET 48 studios broadcast on all six Cincinnati TV stations recruits volunteers for the Cincinnati Youth Collaborative.

• 1993 – Project Equity helps low-income school districts move into the high tech age by utilizing multimedia to increase math scores.

• 1994 – WCET produces Keep America Singing a national pledge special recorded in Cincinnati’s historic Music Hall and hosted by Mitch Miller.

• 1995 – WCET is the presenting station for Cincinnati Pops Holiday, a national Christmas special.  This program was viewed by more than three million people nationwide and is the first of nine PBS specials featuring Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops.

• 1995 – WCET local productions include: Because They Were Jews: Cincinnati Survivors Remember the Holocaust; Glorifying the Lion (produced in cooperation with the Urban League of Greater Cincinnati) and Safe at Home: Crosley Field and the Cincinnati Reds.

• 1996 – WCET produces Time Out: Talk Radio Unplugged in conjunction with Xavier University and WVXU-FM.  NPR’s Scott Simon hosts.

• 1996 – WCET produces Voices in Harmony: Keep America Singing II, the second national barbershop pledge special hosted by Mitch Miller.

• 1997 – The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra makes its national television debut with Jesús López-Cobos conducting and special guest artist Alicia de Larrocha performing selections from Ravel and Dvořák

• 1997 – The second Cincinnati Pops special, Cincinnati Pops Holiday: Erich Kunzel’s Halloween Spooktacular, airs on PBS stations nationwide.

• 1997 – WCET forms a partnership with Mayerson Academy and begins to produce teacher training sessions distributed via videotape and cable.

• 1998 – The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra rings in the New Year for America with Cincinnati Pops Holiday: Big Band New Year’s Eve.

• 1998 – WCET produces and distributes Pathwise: Training for teachers and schools through Time Warner Cable.

• 1998 – Antiques Roadshow’s visit to the Cincinnati Convention Center premieres in February.

• 1999 – Cincinnati Pops Holiday: Love is in the Air, the fourth PBS special with the Cincinnati Pops, celebrates Valentine’s Day from historic Music Hall.

• 1999 – WCET begins production of Ohio Mathworks, a multi-media math instruction series.  The award-winning accompanying website was recognized by the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse as a math site that will engage most resistance math students.

• 1999 – The fifth Cincinnati Pops Holiday special, A Family Thanksgiving premieres.

• 2001 – Following civil disturbances in Cincinnati, WCET forms the Cincinnati Media Collaborative.  The collaborative, which is made up of every local media outlet in Cincinnati, produces, broadcasts and/or promotes a series of live, interactive forums on race relations in Greater Cincinnati titled Common Ground.

• 2001 – WCET 48 broadcast Bravo Paavo! The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, a 3-hour live presentation of the inaugural concert ofPaavo Järvi as Music Director of CSO.

• 2002 – WCET converts to digital broadcasting, making it the first public television station in the state to do so.

• 2003 – WCET drops the “W” to better reflect the diversity of services provided to the community, particularly in education.

• 2003 – In June, public television stations nationwide broadcast CET’s production of Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra: Paavo Järvi Inaugural Concert.

• 2005 – CET expands its high definition service to 24/7 becoming the first local broadcast station to provide the extensive service.

• 2006 – Cincinnati Pops: Take Me to the River is broadcast on PBS stations nationwide.

• 2006 – CET unveils CETconnect.org, the first community based PBS station internet service of its kind. CET Express, an online interview program for and about Greater Cincinnati premieres.

• 2008 – CET partners with the Home Ownership Center of Greater Cincinnati and WLWT to present what eventually becomes a series of Foreclosure Prevention Phone-A-Thons.

• 2009 – CET collaborates with human services, financial and media partners for Facing the Mortgage Crisis to offer advice to at-risk homeowners.

• 2009 – The Boards of Trustees of CET and Think^TV announce the formation of a regional nonprofit public broadcasting and media corporation, Public Media Connect, Inc.

• 2009 – May 1 at 12:01 AM, The analog transmitter was shut off as we entered the “digital age” of television broadcast.

• 2010 – On February 1, CET Arts, the first local 24-hour arts and cultural channel in the country signed on-the-air.

• 2011 – SHOWCASE with Barbara Kellar, a monthly arts and cultural interview series premieres on CET Arts.

• 2011 – CET partners with local arts organizations to bring Greater Cincinnati performances into homes through CET Arts.

• 2012 – CET is selected as one of only 20 public broadcasting organizations to participate in American Graduate, a national initiative to help curb the high school dropout rate.

• 2012 – CET hosts the taping of three Antiques Roadshow episodes. Thousands of people attended the taping at the Duke Energy Convention Center.  Three Antiques Roadshow Cincinnati episodes premiered nationwide in April 2013.

• 2013 – CET partners with 9 on Your Side (WCPO) to produce and broadcast Cradle to Career: Moving the Needle in Education.

• 2013 – CET joins in celebrating Louis Langrée’s arrival as Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Music Director with the premiere of LumenoCity on CET and CET Arts.

• 2014 – CET continues its work with area schools through the production and broadcast of an American Graduate Community Town Hall.

• 2015 – LumenoCity: Masters and Dreams, the awe-inspiring concert and light show with Music Hall, is simulcast on CET and WCPO: 100,000 local viewers enjoyed the show on-air and 4,300 viewers from 10 countries online.

• 2016 – CET and Think^TV receive a record 25 regional Emmy Awards, leaving the awards ceremony with 10 trophies.

• 2017 – A one-hour documentary on the revitalization of Music Hall airs with resounding praise. Cincinnati Music Hall: The Next Movement later receives two regional Emmy awards.

• 2017 – SOITA (Southwestern Ohio Instructional Technology Association) integrates with Public Media Connect. SOITA’S services to school districts become a service of Public Media Connect.

• 2018 – The Development Department receives two PBS awards. The Corporate Support Team was recognized for outstanding partnership development and Sue Ellen Stuebing received the C. Scott Elliott Award for Development Professional of the Year.

• 2019 – Public Media Connect celebrates its 10^th Anniversary. PBS continues to encourage other stations to achieve the model that we created.