Mission   History   Employment   Contact Us   EEO Report

Mission

PBS eight – a non-profit community partner providing media and services for the public good.

History

Tenuous Beginnings
The Duluth-Superior Area Educational Television Corporation has faithfully served the people of northeastern Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin for more than four decades. Yet this public television station came from humble and tenuous beginnings.
In 1952 the Federal Communication Commission reserved 162 channels on the newly-assigned UHF band and 80 channels on the VHF band for nationwide non-commercial, educational television. By the end of that year Minnesota had 11 channels assigned for educational television, including Channel 8 in Duluth, Channel 10 in Hibbing and Channel 2 in the Twin Cities.

The Beck Years
On March 18, 1953, George A. Beck, then principal of Duluth Central High School, and about a dozen interested Duluthians met to form the Duluth Citizens Committee for Educational TV. Beck was elected chairman. Unfortunately educational television failed to raise much interest outside of the committee, and so they disbanded a year later.
In the summer of 1956, the issue of educational television became more critical. Several investment groups petitioned the FCC to reassign VHF Channel 8 for commercial use since it was supposed that it would never be used for educational purposes. The FCC agreed and proposed to reassign UHF Channel 32 to Duluth-Superior for educational television. Beck and the committee from 1953 mobilized to keep Channel 8 for educational television, marshalling support from some 75 community organizations. In November 1956, Beck’s committee filed comments with the FCC, which ruled early in 1957 that Channel 8 would remain dedicated to educational television.
With new enthusiasm, Beck reactivated the educational television committee as the Duluth-Superior Educational Television Corporation in June 1957. Although initial fundraising efforts failed, the group persevered, and in 1963 applied for an FCC broadcast license for VHF Channel 8. In that same year WDSE qualified for a facilities grant from the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. After nearly a decade of struggle and disappointment, northeastern Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin finally had an educational television channel of their own.
From 1964 to 1966, the station’s offices were located in one room on the fourth floor of the Bradley Building in downtown Duluth. For several years in the mid 1960’s, the station also leased production studios in Superior. In 1968, WDSE moved to the former KDAL television studio space on the second floor of the Bradley Building.
In early 1967, the Carnegie Commission issued its landmark report, “Public Television: A Plan for Action.” Later that year, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Public Broadcasting Act, which in 1968 led to the creation of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and National Educational Television (NET). A year later, CPB and the nation’s public television stations decided to change NET’s title, forming the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting created a funding mechanism to develop innovative cultural, children’s, and documentary programming, launching signature PBS series, and earning a reputation for providing high quality programs. Meanwhile WDSE pioneered local public affairs programming. Two regular shows were Know Your Government and A Report to the People, public affairs programs that explored issues dealing with area city councils, county boards and school boards. WDSE also produced regular “Meet Your Candidate” programs prior to elections.

Save Channel 8!
In 1972 the Minnesota Department of Transportation announced plans to condemn the Bradley Building in order to make way for the extension of Interstate 35 through downtown Duluth. When Dr. Raymond Darland, then chancellor of the University of Minnesota Duluth offered the station a site on campus for a new building, the board gave their approval to make plans for a new facility.
Fundraising began in late 1975 spearheaded by the chairs of the building committee, Dr. Arthur C. Josephs and his wife, Adrienne. To kick off the effort, Dr. Milton Sax, a prominent Duluth physician, made a $200,000 bequest in memory of his late brothers. Construction began in April of 1976.
Leading the “Save Channel 8” campaign, Arthur and Adrienne Josephs raised just over $400,000 between October 1977 and January 1978. By the time the Sax Brothers Memorial Communications Center was finished and furnished in the summer of 1978, more than 10,000 persons, businesses, organizations and government agencies had contributed to the effort to insure the future of WDSE-TV.
With 170,000 viewers spread out across northeastern Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin, WDSE-TV entered the 1980s with a renewed commitment to serve the community. A $2 million investment in upgrading the transmitter system during 1981-1982 strengthened the Channel 8 signal throughout the viewing area.
Local funding has always made up fully fifty percent of the station’s annual operating budget. In March of 1976 PBS and WDSE began on-air pledge drives using station resources to reach the widest possible audience in order to request community support. In 1983, Channel 8 added an additional week of on-air pledging in December. At first, Channel 8 Boosters manned the phones in the studio during pledge drives. But increasingly, teams from Duluth businesses, churches, community and civic groups and government agencies vied to answer the phones in the studio.

The Jauss Era
George Beck’s vision of public television for the Northland came to full fruition and he retired in 1981, handing the reins to George Jauss, a former teacher and longtime station assistant general manager. In 1982, Adrienne and Arthur Josephs worked to create the Beck Foundation and directed its development for nearly two decades.
With support from the Beck Foundation, WDSE-TV has stayed true to its mission, providing a venue for national and local educational, cultural and public affairs programming. Channel 8’s longest-running and most popular locally produced show went on the air on October 1, 1981. Venture North premiered as a half-hour magazine style program designed to acquaint Northland viewers with the unique people and places of the Lake Superior basin. WDSE-TV followed this success by introducing Doctors on Call in 1982, creating a medical call-in show, featuring physicians from Duluth and surrounding communities. Eventually, in response to community needs, WDSE added more shows, including Minnesota Legislative Report, Album, Lawyers on the Line, Family Focus, Almanac North, Iron Country, Waasa Inaabidaa, Native Report, and other various specials and documentaries.

Community Partner for a New Era
WDSE-TV has been a good neighbor. When a storm in March of 1991 toppled WDIO-TV’s (ABC) 850-foot tower, Channel 8’s management offered Channel 10 space on WDSE’s tower. WDIO broadcasted from Channel 8’s tower until it could erect a new tower later that spring. When KBJR-TV’s (NBC) downtown Duluth studios were destroyed by fire in November 1997, their crews, engineers and studio personnel were invited to share studio space with the staff of WDSE-TV.

In 1995 Allen Harmon became the third general manager in WDSE-TV’s history, overseeing the station’s transition to a new generation of broadcast technology. In April of 2004 WDSE launched the broadcast of its high definition digital channels to better serve viewers in the Northland. Although technology has changed, WDSE-TV remains true to the vision George Beck established over 40 years ago: To create educational and truly public television worth watching.
 

Employment

PBS eight currently has no openings

Contact Us

The PBS eight Office is located at:

632 Niagara Court
Duluth, Minnesota 55811-3098

Phone: (218) 724-8567
Fax: (218) 724-4269

Email us at: email@wdse.org
 

Duluth-Superior Area Educational Television Corporation

EEO Public File Report
 WDSE-TV/WDSE-DT/WRPT-DT
Year Ending November 30, 2008