Mission: WQED changes lives by creating and sharing outstanding public media that educates, entertains and inspires.
WQED was the nation’s first community-supported television station and went on the air on April 1, 1954. In 1973, Classical WQED-FM 89.3 was founded as the region’s only 24-hour classical radio station.
Today, WQED is educational public media with five television programming streams: WQED-TV; WQED Create; WQED WORLD; WQED Showcase; and WQED PBS Kids Channel. Three radio streams include: WQED-FM 89.3; WQEJ-FM 89.7/Johnstown; The Pittsburgh Concert Channel at WQED-FM HD-2 and www.wqed.org/fm online provide WQED content for free to all residents in the viewing and listening area, and online around the world; local and national television and radio productions; WQED Interactive, and a nationally-recognized educational initiative.
WQED has a proud history of honors, including 166 National and Mid-Atlantic Emmy® Awards, an Academy Award, and many, many others, including four Mid-Atlantic Emmy® Awards for Overall Excellence.
Throughout its history, WQED has partnered with hundreds of local community organizations toward improvements in education; arts and culture; community health; economics; and important local issues through its unique form of civic journalism. These partnerships are a hallmark of WQED’s mission and are an important part of its daily activities. As the only community-owned multimedia resource in the region, WQED is a convener, a central gathering place, and a conduit for other local non-profit organizations.
From local and national programming that exports Pittsburgh to the world to teacher training sessions and media literacy, WQED reaches every facet of life in southwestern Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, northern West Virginia, and western Maryland. No other local media entity can match WQED’s footprint or impact.
Whether natives or transplants, most Pittsburghers know WQED. Pittsburghers have come to rely on its quality programming and viewers and supporters appreciate WQED’s safe, educational content for children. WQED’s reverence for the city can be seen in local broadcasts that highlight Pittsburgh’s distinctiveness.
WQED was home to Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, which transformed what television could be for children and families. The program began as a local and live television visit with children called The Children’s Corner in 1954 with host Josie Carey and Fred Rogers behind the scenes as puppeteer. In 1968, Fred Rogers’ company, Family Communications, Inc., produced Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood for airing nationally on what was to become PBS. The program aired for more than 30 years until its last episode in 2001.
WQED has exported the region nationally with projects like August Wilson: The Ground On Which I Stand, which aired on PBS American Masters in February 2015. The documentary focuses on the life and work of Pittsburgh-native and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson and includes the August Wilson Education Project, an extensive educational initiative in key cities across the country. The War That Made America, a four part historical documentary on the French and Indian War, aired nationwide on PBS and told a local story that had national implications for the future of the United States.
WQED Producer Rick Sebak has become a local and national institution. His award-winning documentaries are part of The Pittsburgh History Series and a continuing series of national documentaries that air on PBS. In 2017, a crowdfunding campaign called “Rickstarter” was so successful that Nebby: Rick Sebak’s Tales of Greater Pittsburgh launched with a new series of 30-minute programs celebrating our region, its people and some of its idiosyncrasies.
In addition to the local and national documentaries, WQED produces and airs local programs that capture the stories of advancement, arts and diversity in our region.
Classical WQED-FM is “the voice of the arts in western Pennsylvania” by highlighting all that the station has meant for the region with retrospectives, tributes, community events, and celebrations. WQED-FM has offered classical and fine arts and cultural programs since its inception in 1973, allowing listeners to hear live and recorded classical performances and learn the latest arts and culture news from Pittsburgh and around the world. Listeners can hear WQED-FM at 89.3 and on its repeater stations, WQED-FM89.7 /Johnstown. In 2012, WQED launched WQED-HD2 (89.3-2FM), which is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. WQED-HD2 airs the Pittsburgh Concert Channel, exclusively broadcasting archived performances recorded by WQED from concerts by local performance groups.
WQED-FM’s national production of Pittsburgh Symphony Radio is heard around the country on more than 100 public radio stations and is distributed by Public Radio International.