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WGBH vs. Rhode Island PBS

S

ssetta

This is something I figure I'd bring up. I know that WSBE used to have a very cheesy look, and was very old-fashioned, back in the 90s. They had a limited number of children's shows, and some of the in-school programming they aired was very old. For instance, I know that sometimes in 2000 or so, they would air old Reading Rainbow episodes with the original theme song, which was no longer being used by that time. Now, in 2010, the station is now bigger and better than it ever was, and is carried on Verizon FiOS throughout Rhode Island, and ALL of eastern Massachusetts, up to the New Hampshire border. So they now have more viewers than ever.

Anyway, I have never seen ANY old clips of WSBE channel 36 on YouTube, or anywhere. I have a couple of Sesame Street episodes taped off of WSBE, but I have never seen any other shots of their old big green "36" logo they had up until 2003. I seem to be the only one who has any material from WSBE at all. But here's what I was getting to: I have looked at old Boston schedules from the 70s and 80s, and it looked like for the most part, WSBE's schedule was identical to that of WGBH. And as small a station WSBE was back in the day, I wonder if they simply aired WGBH's exact feed. Would anyone here happen to know who is from Rhode Island?
 
All I know about WSBE is that they have the biggest Television studio in the state. "America's Funniest Home Videos" with Bob Saget had LIVE voting during one if it's specials back in the 90's. They had audiences in four cities. Providence was one of them. WPRI didn't have a room big enough for the studio audience in it's own building. So they sent us all to WSBE for taping in their studio. I was surprised to learn that a public television station had a larger studio than Channel 12 does.
 
How about an opinion not only from someone in Rhode Island, but someone from WSBE Rhode Island PBS? :)

I have been the public information manager here since November 2000. Thanks so much for noticing that our schedule - and our look - has evolved nicely since our current program director arrived in early 2001! I'll pass that along to her; she'll be happy to hear it.

What the program schedules looked like before she arrived, I cannot say with certainty. However, it is possible that in the earlier days of public television, the schedules of WSBE Rhode Island PBS (known as "Channel 36" back then) and WGBH were similar or the same, especially the prime-time line-up. I do know that, if the programming was the same, WSBE was not airing "WGBH's feed," but the same feed that WGBH and other public TV stations were getting.

I can testify that, at least by the mid-1980s, the children's programming was different between the two stations: I was raising babies in the '80s and I'd switch between 36 and 2 for their (and my) favorite PBS shows.

When "Common Carriage" was introduced by PBS, it gave public television programming schedules a more consistent look across markets. That's when programming between WSBE and WGBH really started to differentiate. As an NPS (National Programming Service) common carriage station, WGBH airs the full national PBS line-up. On the other hand, WSBE Rhode Island PBS is a PDP (Program Differentiation Plan) station. We air more programming from non-PBS sources, and have more flexibility to broadcast content created by local independent producers. We can also air "niche" or "destination" programming that appeals to our audiences (for example, Brit-Com Tuesdays, The Lawrence Welk Show, Rhode Island Stories).

As for the Big Green 36, part of my job is to keep that old logo out of the public eye and promote our "new" brand logo the best I can. : ) Since the digital conversion, the analog "36" is obsolete. At the most, we're 36.1 (WSBE Rhode Island PBS) and 36.2 (WSBE Learn). Cable companies and other subscription TV services have us scattered over the "dial" when it comes to channel number.

You'll find some video on YouTube (admittedly not nearly as much as I'd like to have!) if you search Rhode Island PBS, WSBE, or the combination.
 
WSBE does have good programming. The only bad thing about the station is its digital OTA signal is weak at only 50 kw from their transmitter location in Rehoboth on the WJAR/WLNE tower. They transmit in channel 21 and probably cannot increase their power too much because of short spacing with WCVB-DT 20 (WCVB-TV 5) Boston and WLWC-DT 22 (WLWC-TV 28) in New Bedford.
 
I don't have cable. There is to much garbage on that I don't care about these days. So I'm not paying for it. My TV's are all equipped with good quality indoor antennas. So I appreciate having quality programming on local affiliates. I just wish WSBE wouldn't shut their over the air transmitter off at 11:30. Not sure why they are the only station that does this.
 
Skynet74, my TV viewing is OTA only, also. :)

We at WSBE are gearing up to have the transmitter left on 24/7. We're already scheduling 24/7 programming on both of our channels, and cable vendors in RI and MA are picking it up through a direct feed.

However, for at least the next 2 months or so, Dish customers and OTA viewers have to wait a little longer.
 
elemare said:
You'll find some video on YouTube (admittedly not nearly as much as I'd like to have!) if you search Rhode Island PBS, WSBE, or the combination...
Click to expand...

You work for WSBE - couldn't you put in a copyright claim to get those videos removed?
 
DtotheJ, in 2007 or so, there were one or two videos uploaded to YouTube that contained misleading information using the station's name, but not our logo. Although truth and accuracy is important to me, curtailing free speech is not (neither is getting into a video-response war). Thankfully, time passes, truth prevails, and bad quality videos fade away.

Unless you are seeing videos I am not finding, the ones that show up in a search are from our account. Of course, misspelling "ribs" and posts by the business school at UNH will bring up interesting results. :)
 
elemare said:
DtotheJ... Unless you are seeing videos I am not finding, the ones that show up in a search are from our account...
Click to expand...

Hmm, was not aware. I actually had no idea WSBE/RIPBS had their own YouTube channel, actually. Thanks for the response!
 
The other day I accidently came across a video that didn't even have WSBE in the title or in the description. But it had their Logo in the corner. So unless you watch all 12 million videos on youtube, there is always going to be stuff available that you don't even know about.
 
Skynet74 said:
The other day I accidently came across a video that didn't even have WSBE in the title or in the description. But it had their Logo in the corner. So unless you watch all 12 million videos on youtube, there is always going to be stuff available that you don't even know about.
Click to expand...

You're absolutely right. I scan for searchable tags, but - as you showed with your example - there will be incidents of copyright infringement that go undetected.
 
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