WXXI-TV

Channel 13 application

As the FCC debated whether to assign channel 13, WVET-TV (the Veterans Broadcasting Company) and RAETA jointly filed for the channel in February 1960. The intention was to provide a VHF channel for educational use and to get WVET-TV out of its share-time status with WHEC-TV on channel 10 and into a share-time with RAETA.[16] The need for the latter was obviated two years later when WVET-TV bought WROC-TV and sold its remaining interest in channel 10 to WHEC-TV, giving Rochester two full-time commercial stations on separate channels.[17]

On July 8, 1961, the FCC allocated channel 13 to Rochester and moved channel 5 to channel 8. In expressing its desire for a third station to go into service as soon as possible, it permitted the applicants to file for interim operating authority to run the channel while proceedings for its final use progressed. This was seen as a disappointment for RAETA, which was struggling to raise funds.[18] Its board called the FCC decision "arbitrary" but announced its plans to file for interim authority anyway.[19] It proposed to be on the air with educational programming 52 hours a week.[20] A host of commercial applicants also filed, and the Rochester board of education called on them to drop out.[21] In November, RAETA modified its application to seek a share-time with a new applicant, Rochester Telecasters, which proposed to broadcast commercially with ABC affiliation for 81 hours a week while RAETA operated 44 hours weekly.[22] RAETA and Rochester Telecasters were two of the eleven applications awaiting disposition by the commission.[23] Meanwhile, eight applicants—not including RAETA—received interim authority to start broadcasting from channel 13,[24] which began as WOKR on September 15, 1962.[25]

On January 28, 1964, FCC examiner Annie Neal Huntting rendered an initial decision in favor of the share-time bid by RAETA and Rochester Telecasters. She found their combined service superior to any of the other commercial applicants, noting, "The strong preference due the RAETA–RTI combination for the best proposal to fill the most significant unfulfilled programming need in the area proposed to be served outweighs such preferences as have been earned by any of the remaining commercial applicants."[26] The losing applicants and ABC, which believed affiliating with a share-time channel 13 unviable for its purposes and a "last resort", appealed Huntting's decision,[27] leading to oral argument in front of the FCC.[28]

During this time, channel 21 periodically came up in discussions. RAETA and its supporters believed at the time that UHF was not suited for their purpose. Harold S. Hacker, the president of RAETA, wrote an editorial in May 1961 that decried attempts to give educational television "second-class UHF status" on a band that required conversion.[29] The channel remained in the state's plans,[30] though legislators cut money to build it from the 1963 budget.[31]

The FCC remanded the Rochester channel 13 case to an examiner on May 13, 1965. In its decision, it asked for findings on whether a share-time commercial station would provide viable third-network service and whether "alternative means" were available to broadcast educational programming in Rochester, including channel 21.[32] By this time, new TV sets were required to include UHF tuning, and transmission equipment had improved to increase the area that a UHF station could cover. In light of the decision, RAETA began exploring its options for channel 21.[33] Several of the commercial applicants offered to reimburse RAETA for its legal costs if the group dropped out of the channel 13 contest.[34] On September 24, RAETA took the offer and dropped out of the channel 13 contest, ensuring that educational television in Rochester would arrive on a UHF channel.[35]

Early years

On December 8, 1965, the New York State Department of Education filed to transfer the construction permit for WROH to RAETA and establish new technical parameters for channel 21.[36] At the same time, RAETA began raising funds to secure matching grants from the state.[37] In January 1966, RAETA was permitted to withdraw its channel 13 application, a necessary step for the grant of the permit assignment,[38] which came the next month.[39] The WROH call sign was changed to WXXI, representing the Roman numeral for 21 and seen by RAETA as a more distinctive designation compared to other local stations.[40]

WXXI signed on September 6, 1966, as Rochester's first non-commercial educational television station.[41] Non-local programming came from National Educational Television—replaced with PBS in October 1970[42]—and the Eastern Educational Network.[43] The next year, New York state inaugurated a statewide educational TV interconnection, the New York Network, with WXXI as one of the first five stations.[44] Channel 21 grew in the years that followed, as educational television transitioned into public television with increasing federal and community support as well as adult viewership. In 1969, the station acquired two used production trucks for outside broadcasting use, and by 1976 it was presenting some 30 remote broadcasts annually.[45] Also in 1969, the station began raising funds with an annual on-air auction.[46] Local programming ranged from newscasts in Spanish and for the deaf to live broadcasts of women's high school sports and hockey games.[47]

Opening of the Public Broadcasting Center and expansion

The East High School space became unsuitable for continued use by channel 21 as it grew. On one occasion, general manager William Pearce recalled a camera wobbling as it moved over uneven floors in the studio, causing the picture to shake. In 1972, Eastman Kodak donated $400,000 in cash as well as a $100,000 land parcel that had previously been a parking lot for the construction of a new studio facility.[48] Two years later, the station moved into the Public Broadcasting Center at 280 State Street. Its opening coincided with the launch of Rochester's first public radio station, WXXI-FM 91.5.[49] The new facilities made possible the debut of a nightly news program, Newsroom, the first Rochester newscast to use electronic news gathering.[50] It lasted for more than two years before being converted into a current affairs program in 1977.[51]

In the 1980s and 1990s, WXXI expanded into a multichannel public broadcaster. A second radio station was added in 1984 with the purchase of commercial station WRTK (1370 AM) to become WXXI AM[52][53] and the 1988 takeover of Reachout Radio, the area's radio reading service.[54] The Public Broadcasting Center was expanded in 1992 with a 45000 ft2 addition including a third television studio and more office space.[55] During this time, WXXI-TV won Rochester television's first Peabody Award for Safe Haven, a 1987 documentary about the Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter in Oswego, New York.[56][57]

The 1990s saw budget cuts, real and threatened, as well as the first leadership transition in a quarter-century. From 1990 to 1994, WXXI saw less money come in from New York State and Monroe County, but the station cut payroll, increased its use of outside grant monies to fund programs and saw steady increases in membership.[58][59] In 1993, WXXI began operating City 12, the government access channel for Rochester on cable television systems, under an arrangement with the city.[60] William Pearce retired in 1995 after a 26-year run as president and was replaced by Norm Silverstein, previously of Maryland Public Television.[61] In 1998, WXXI co-produced the documentary Echoes of the Ancients with the University of Rochester, on the ancient Israeli town of Yodfat. It was the first nationally distributed documentary by WXXI since Safe Haven and aired on some 300 PBS stations.[62]

In 2002, WXXI produced a pilot health talk show, Second Opinion.[63] Second Opinion became a nationally distributed program in 2004 and ran for 18 seasons, the last two hosted by former Good Morning America anchor Joan Lunden.[64][65]

Digital era

In September 2003, WXXI-TV began broadcasting the first full-power digital television signal in Rochester; though three commercial stations were broadcasting in digital, they were doing so at low power. WXXI was also the first local station to offer digital subchannels. To support the project, the station launched the 21/21 Vision capital campaign,[66] The campaign met its goal thanks to a $2 million donation from Tom Golisano, founder of Rochester-based Paychex Inc. and owner of the Buffalo Sabres hockey team, which was the largest gift in station history to that time.[67] The digital signal was also used to provide data distribution to fire, police and medical facilities in the Rochester area.[68] WXXI-TV continued analog broadcasting until June 12, 2009, when its programming became digital-only as part of the digital television.[69]

Assignment: The World, which had grown over the years from a local production to regional and later national distribution through the Agency for Instructional Technology, remained in production continuously until May 2013, when it was discontinued after a 53-year run due to rising costs of acquiring news material.[70] Another nationally distributed children's program from this period was Biz Kids, a joint production with Junior Achievement which featured youth entrepreneurs. The production team was based in Seattle, and the show was presented mostly by West Coast actors.[71][72]

Loss of federal funding and reorganization

Norm Silverstein announced his retirement in 2023 and was replaced the next year as general manager of the WXXI stations by Chris Hastings, former chief editor of the World Channel.[73]

In 2025, the elimination of federal funding through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting threatened to reduce WXXI's operating budget by approximately $1.9 million annually, with PBS Kids educational programming identified as one of the most at-risk areas.[74] Membership growth during that time period of $5.3 million helped offset the shortfall,[75] leading to only two staff cuts.[76] The cuts also led to an internal reorganization of WXXI.[77]