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(Posted March 1, 2003)
WMHT Educational Communications, which serves New York’s Capital Region and western
New England, recently made a decision that will save the station approximately $8 million. Instead of building a new facility for the
network’s 80 employees, WMHT will move into the MapInfo building in Rensselaer
Technology Park in North Greenbush, New York.
“We are fortunate to have this option that saves millions of dollars and will allow
us to begin digitally broadcasting our local and educational programs sooner than
previously planned,” said WMHT President and General Manager Deborah Onslow.
Local
programming focused on the interests and activities of individual communities and the
entire state is considered the cornerstone of WMHT’s existence. Just Down the Road
takes viewers on a tour of area attractions; a "miniseries”
within the series visits New York State's 19 Halls of Fame, including the National
Baseball Museum and Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. On New York Week in Review, journalists of the region
share their views on the state’s current political issues.
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InSight, which
introduces viewers to places and faces in the region, has created a program to complement Becoming American: The
Chinese Experience, a Bill Moyers special to air this month. WMHT worked with the Chinese Community
Center of the Capital District on this local outreach initiative.
Ric Orlando’s TV Kitchen
shows viewers how to use environmentally
sustainable ingredients to prepare
“clean food.” HealthLink
presents guest experts sharing their medical and healthy lifestyles knowledge and
answering viewers’ call-in and email questions.
It’s
An Age Thing! (premiering nationally in June) will provide strategies to meet
the challenges of aging.
WMHT considers its program content, both acquired and produced, its real strength. “We are always working to entertain and to
address community and state issues, but we remain committed to providing what individual
viewers need to achieve their educational goals,” said Onslow. (Note: Onslow serves as vice chair of the NETA Board of
Directors.)
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When WMHT began operating in 1962, all of its content was educational, and since 1993, it
has been developing online educational resources and training teachers to use the Internet
in the classroom. Many educators have
discovered the power of interactive media and the value of digital technology as an
educational resource through WMHT services. A
partnership with other stations and unitedstreaming has enabled WMHT to offer a free,
online library to students, parents, and teachers throughout the state.
More than 30,000 of the station’s 494,000 viewers have become WMHT members to support
the station’s mission to be the primary non-commercial educational telecommunications
center serving the Hudson/Mohawk region. This
“center” includes public
television station WMHT and WMHT2
(a cable-based service providing a PBS feed on a secondary channel) and arts and classical
music radio stations WMHT-FM and WRHV-FM.
One
of WMHT’s most important community service outreach projects is RISE, a
radio-reading service for the blind and print-disabled.
This 24-hour
information service is operated by volunteers and transmitted on a sub-carrier of
WMHT-FM’s main signal. Listeners enjoy local and national newspapers, periodicals and
books, and specialty programming – all delivered via tabletop receivers that are
loaned to them. |
As WMHT continues to provide its many community services and prepares to relocate its
operations center, it also keeps its digital conversion process on track. The “community tower” (constructed with
area commercial stations) and the antenna are up. The
digital transmitter will be installed by September. “We
are experiencing many changes, but our focus on local content is a constant, the
cornerstone that we intend to keep,” said Onslow.
- by Diane Jowers |
 Visit WMHT's Web site: www.WMHT.org |
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