WOSU-TV

WOSU-TV

Columbus, Ohio United States
Channels	Digital: 16 (UHF) Virtual: 34
Branding	WOSU PBS
Programming
Affiliations	34.1: PBS for others, see § Subchannels
Ownership
Owner	Ohio State University
Sister stations	WOSU-FM, WOSA
History
First air date	February 20, 1956 (68 years ago) (1956-02-20)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 34 (UHF, 1956–2009) Digital: 38 (UHF, 2004–2020)
Former affiliations	NET (1956–1970)
Call sign meaning	Ohio State University
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	66185
ERP	675 kW
HAAT	332 m (1,089 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	40°9′33″N 82°55′22.7″W / 40.15917°N 82.922972°W / 40.15917; -82.922972
Translator(s)	W18ES-D Mansfield
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Website	wosu.org/television/
Former satellite station
WPBO
Portsmouth, Ohio
Channels	Digital: 43 (UHF) Virtual: 42
History
First air date	October 1, 1973 (1973-10-01)
Last air date	October 25, 2017 (2017-10-25) (44 years, 24 days)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 42 (UHF, 1973–2009)
Technical information
Facility ID	66190
ERP	50 kW
HAAT	382 m (1,253 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	38°45′42″N 83°3′41″W / 38.76167°N 83.06139°W / 38.76167; -83.06139 (WPBO)

WOSU-TV (channel 34) is a PBS member television station in Columbus, Ohio, United States. Owned by Ohio State University as part of WOSU Public Media, it is sister to public radio stations WOSU-FM (89.7) and WOSA (101.1 FM). The three stations share studios on North Pearl Street near the OSU campus; WOSU-TV's transmitter is located on Highland Lakes Avenue in Westerville, Ohio.

WOSU-TV began broadcasting on February 20, 1956, though Ohio State University had pushed to start an educational television station as early as 1951. It initially engaged in the broadcast of programs for schools and college students as well as programming from National Educational Television, forerunner to PBS. As the first UHF station in the market, many households could not receive channel 34 when it launched; a major step forward for the station was its 1968 telecast of a highly anticipated football game between Ohio State and Michigan, leading many to go out and buy all-channel television sets or converters. Channel 34 continued to telecast live football games on a viewer-supported basis through 1971, after which the NCAA prevented the station from continuing with the practice.

In the early 1970s, WOSU-TV moved from its original studios into the Fawcett Center for Tomorrow on the OSU campus, from its original tower to its present site in Westerville, and into Portsmouth with the launch of rebroadcaster WPBO (channel 42), which broadcast from 1973 to 2017. In the 1980s, Ohio State's public broadcasting operation was the subject of internal and external reviews that found deficiencies in management, ethics, and television programming; the university placed the WOSU stations under academic supervision, where they remained through the 1990s and were frequently subject to budget cuts.

WOSU was Central Ohio's first TV station to use a digital signal to broadcast multiple channels of programming. In 2006, it opened a second studio inside the COSI museum in downtown Columbus. This closed in 2021 when the university opened a new headquarters for the WOSU Public Media stations adjacent to the OSU campus. WOSU produces programs covering Central Ohio politics, arts and culture, and communities.