WQLN (channel 54) is a PBS member television station in Erie, Pennsylvania, United States. It is owned by Public Broadcasting of Northwest Pennsylvania, Inc. alongside NPR member WQLN-FM (91.3). The two stations share studios and transmitter facilities in Summit Township on Peach Street, south of the Erie city limits; the road to the studios is named Sesame Street.
In addition to its local viewership in Northwestern Pennsylvania and portions of nearby Ohio and New York State, WQLN is also seen in the London, Ontario, area on Rogers Cable channel 8, and on other cable systems in Southwestern Ontario, Canada.
History
Groundwork for an educational television station in northwest Pennsylvania was laid in 1953 with the founding of Educational Television of Erie. Its initial effort to sign on a station was unsuccessful, but the group eventually reserved channel 54 for noncommercial use. The group, which was renamed Educational Television of Northwest Pennsylvania in 1964, pressed on until finally winning a construction permit on December 6, 1966. The group initially chose the call sign WLRN (for "Learn"), but those letters were already being used by a public radio station in Miami, Florida. They the group went with their next choice, WQLN ("We Question and Learn").