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{{Short description|Public broadcasting organization in Boston}}

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WEBSITE=CDBS PUBLIC ACCESSFEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION>ACCESS-DATE=DECEMBER 23, 2017WEBSITE=FORBESLANGUAGE=EN, }}The WGBH Educational Foundation (also known as GBH since August 2020) is an American public broadcasting group based in Boston, Massachusetts. Established in 1951, it holds the licenses to all of the PBS member stations in Massachusetts, and operates its flagship station WGBH-TV, sister station WGBX-TV, and a group of NPR member stations in the state. It also owns WGBY-TV in Springfield, which is operated by New England Public Media under a program service agreement.Nationally, WGBH is known as the distributor of a number of major PBS programs, including American Experience, Arthur, Frontline, Masterpiece, and Nova, among others; as the owner of Public Radio International until 2018, a syndicate of public radio programming; and for its role in the development of closed captioning and audio description technologies for broadcast television.

History

{{recentism|section|date=August 2018}}(File:WGBH logo.svg|thumb|right|WGBH logo used from 1974 to 2020)In the 1990s, the WGBH Educational Foundation published books and other educational materials such as Africans in America: America’s Journey Through Slavery.BOOK, Johnson, Charles R., Africans in America: America’s Journey Through Slavery, Smith, Patricia, Blight, David, Else, Jon H., Fields, Barbara, Frey, Sylvia, Gates Jr., Henry Louis, Gill, Gerald, Harding, Vincent, Authors, Harcourt Brace, 1998, 978-0-15-100339-6, 1st, United States, iv, Charles R. Johnson, Patricia Smith (poet), David Blight, Jon H. Else, Barbara Fields, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Vincent Harding, In 2003, WGBH and the City of Boston formed a joint venture for Boston Kids & Family TV channel that replaces one of the city’s cable access channels. Boston Kids was launched on October 31, 2003.NEWS, Ryan, Suzanne C., City revives kids’ PBS channel,archive.boston.com/ae/tv/articles/2003/10/31/city_revives_kids_pbs_channel/, January 27, 2017, Boston Globe, The New York Times Company, October 31, 2003, en, By December 2005, Boston’s WGBH and New York City’s WNET were already broadcasting a local version of World on a subchannel.NEWS, Knight Foundation backs launch planning for PBS’s Public Square,23g9r82i3f1d2a63qz3akhv1.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/files/archive-site/news/news0523publicsquare.shtml, March 30, 2016, Current, December 19, 2005,23g9r82i3f1d2a63qz3akhv1.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/files/archive-site/news/news0523publicsquare.shtml," title="web.archive.org/web/2016042613445323g9r82i3f1d2a63qz3akhv1.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/files/archive-site/news/news0523publicsquare.shtml,">web.archive.org/web/2016042613445323g9r82i3f1d2a63qz3akhv1.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/files/archive-site/news/news0523publicsquare.shtml, April 26, 2016, dead, mdy-all, and added by April 2006, Washington’s WETA. Then, WGBH and WNET teamed up with PBS, APT and NETA to roll out a national version of the local channels as PBS World. The network was launched nationally on August 15, 2007.NEWS, Egner, Jeremy, World and Go! streams flow into PBS plans,current.org/wp-content/uploads/archive-site/dtv/dtv0606multicast.shtml, March 30, 2016, Current, April 3, 2006, In July 2012, WGBH acquired Public Radio International (PRI). PRI would continue with its own board while WGBH would be able to distribute more of its programs through PRI.NEWS, Everhart, Karen, WGBH, the top producer of PBS programs, now owns Public Radio International,current.org/2012/07/wgbh-the-top-producer-of-pbs-programs-now-owns-public-radio-international/, January 28, 2017, Current, July 26, 2012, In November 2015, WGBH purchased GlobalPost, with editorial operation and reporting resources being merged with PRI’s The World news staff.NEWS, Yu, Roger, Boston-based WGBH buys world news site GlobalPost,www.usatoday.com/story/money/2015/09/24/boston-based-wgbh-buys-world-news-site-globalpost/72729086/, January 29, 2017, USA TODAY, September 24, 2015, en, On August 27, 2020, it was announced that WGBH would shorten its name to “GBH” as part of a larger corporate reimaging (which saw the adoption of purple as a new corporate color, and a font originally commissioned for Red Hat as its new corporate typeface) The foundation stated that due to its present-day multi-platform operations, the full WGBH call sign was too synonymous with broadcast media; “WGBH” will still be used as part of the organization’s formal name. All other WGBH-owned and operated stations similarly dropped the W from their respective brandings, such as WCRB rebranding as “CRB Classical 99.5”.WEB, Wyllie, Julian, August 31, 2020, To change with the times, WGBH drops its ‘W’ and pivots to purple,current.org/2020/08/to-change-with-the-times-wgbh-drops-its-w-and-pivots-to-purple/, August 31, 2020, Current (newspaper), Current, WGBH in Boston is removing the ‘W’ from its branding to become ‘GBH.’ [...] The legal name for the organization will remain the WGBH Education Foundation. The ‘W’ will also remain in its FCC registration., WEB, WGBH is dropping the ‘W’ from its name. Here’s why.,www.boston.com/news/media/2020/08/31/wgbh-is-now-gbh, 2021-05-23, Boston.com, en-US,

Board of trustees

Richard M. Burnes Jr. of Charles River Ventures is the chair of the board as of 2014, replacing Amos Hostetter Jr., who left the board. Henry P. Becton Jr., former WGBH President, and Maureen L. Ruettgers, the wife of former EMC Corporation CEO Michael Ruettgers, are vice chairs. Jonathan C. Abbott, as WGBH president, is also on the board. William N. Thorndike Jr., managing partner of the Housatonic Partners private equity firm, is on the board of trustees as the chair of the WGBH board of overseers.The presidents of four regional universities are institutional trustees: Joseph E. Aoun of Northeastern University, Jackie Jenkins-Scott of Wheelock College, Frederick M. Lawrence of Brandeis University, and L. Rafael Reif of MIT.The remaining board members are:

• Amy Abrams, wife of Abrams Capital founder David C. Abrams
• Terrie F. Bloom, wife of Berkshire Partners managing director Bradley Bloom
• Laura A. DeBonis, former Google Books manager and wife of hedge fund executive and State Department official Scott NathanWGBH Spring 2009
• Juan Enriquez, managing director of Excel Venture Management and husband of Cabot family heir Marjorie Cabot Lewis
• Ann L. Gund, wife of architect Graham Gund
• Susan B. Kaplan, daughter of Stanley H Kaplan and president of the Kaplin Family Foundation
• Marjie B. Kargman, wife of Commonwealth Capital Ventures founder Robert Kargman
• Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, sociologist
• William A. Lowell, partner of the Choate, Hall & Stewart law firm
• Richard K. Lubin, managing director of Berkshire Partners
• Oscar F. Malcolm, president of Darien Capital Management
• Christopher J. McKown, husband of Fidelity Investments executive Abigail Johnson
• Cathy E. Minehan, former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
• Paul R. Murphy, former partner at the Foley Hoag law firm and former counsel for Amherst College
• Melinda Alliker Rabb, Brown University professor and wife of Stop & Shop heir James Rabb
• Henri A. Termeer, retired chairman, president, and CEO of Genzyme Corporation
• David T. Ting, president of Mugar Enterprises, the investment firm of Star Market heir David Mugar
• Hans Ziegler, retired senior managing director of Bernstein Global Wealth Management

Units

• First 8 Studios, learning mobile app design group for kids ages 8 and younger
• Forum Network, a Lowell Institute funded online lecture
• GlobalPost
• PBS Distribution, a joint venture with PBS to distribute PBS and WGBH programs to various markets, home video, foreign, and commercial
• PBS LearningMedia, a joint venture with PBS to distribute teacher material related to PBS programs
• WGBH Education

Radio

• WCAI
• WCRB
• WGBH
• WNAN
• WZAI

WCAI, WNAN, and WZAI are the Cape, Coast, and Islands (CCI) NPR stations, serving part of southeastern Massachusetts.WEB, About Us,www.capeandislands.org/about-us, WCAI, 4 April 2021,

Former Radio Properties

• Public Radio International (merged with Public Radio Exchange in 2018)WEB,current.org/2018/08/pri-prx-merge-to-form-new-organization/, PRI, PRX merge to form new organization, Falk, Tyler, August 15, 2018, current.org, Current, January 16, 2020, Public Radio International and PRX will merge under an unusual arrangement that allows both to maintain separate identities and program portfolios., WEB,www.poynter.org/newsletters/2018/merger-of-2-public-radio-%C2%91outsiders%C2%92-has-something-for-both/, Merger of 2 public radio outsiders has something for both, Beard, David, August 20, 2018, poynter.org, Poynter Institute, January 16, 2020, Last week, the two public radio experimenters announced they would merge.,

Television

• WGBH-TV: the foundation’s flagship station
• WGBX-TV: its secondary Boston station
• WGBY-TV: Springfield, Massachusetts station; Operated by New England Public Media under a program service operating agreement.
• Create (TV network), a joint venture network with American Public Television (APT), WGBH, WNET, and National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA).NEWS, June-Friesen, Katy, Packaged channels for multicasting, 2009,current.org/wp-content/uploads/archive-site/dtv/dtv0904multicast.shtml, January 27, 2017, Current.org, March 2, 2009,
• World Channel, a joint venture network with WNET, NETA, and APT.

Public Media Management

{{Update|section|date=June 2021|inaccurate=yes|reason=PMM is no longer directly owned by GBH.}}Public Media Management is a joint venture of WGBH and Sony Electronics for remote TV master control services over the internet.NEWS, Halonen, Doug, Sony, WGBH roll out cloud-based alternative to master-control systems,current.org/2015/04/sony-wgbh-roll-out-cloud-based-alternative-to-master-control-systems/, January 27, 2017, Current (newspaper), Current, American University School of Communication, April 16, 2015, Public Media Management was tested for a year.NEWS, Soltz, Ned, WGBH and Sony Partner on Cloud Workflow,www.tvtechnology.com/news/0086/wgbh-and-sony-partner-on-cloud-workflow/275802, January 27, 2017, TV Technology, NewBay Media, May 7, 2015, The services were available starting April 1, 2015, just before the two Las Vegas shows, PBS’s April 8–10 TechCon and NAB Show April 11–16, to be able to showcase the service during the shows. WGBH’s two Boston stations went live with PMM first followed by its Springfield, Massachusetts station WGBY in early May 2015. New Hampshire Public Television launched the system next. In August 2015, Maryland Public Television switched to using their system.NEWS, Zurawik, David, More downsizing at MPT as master control function shifts to Boston,www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/tv/z-on-tv-blog/bal-downsizing-mpt--master-control-wgbh-boston-20150727-story.html, January 27, 2017, Baltimore Sun, July 28, 2015,

See also

• Ralph Lowell, president of the foundation (1951–1970s)WEB,www.cpb.org/aboutpb/awards/lowell/, Ralph Lowell Award, 20 July 2015, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, USA, 2017-01-05,

References

{{Reflist|30em}}

External links

• {{Official website|www.wgbh.org|Official WGBH Educational Foundation website}}
• WGBH alumni website
• forum-network.org
• first8studios.org

{{WGBH}}{{European Broadcasting Union Members}}{{Authority control}}