A RESOLUTION

 

1Recognizing the 60th anniversary of WQED Pittsburgh, the
2nation's first community-supported television station.

3WHEREAS, WQED went live for the first time on April 1, 1954,
4broadcasting on a previously unused television station in
5Pittsburgh – VHF Channel 13; and

6WHEREAS, A year earlier, in April 1953, the station was
7incorporated, becoming the first community-supported television
8station in the nation; and

9WHEREAS, WQED's call letters have significant meaning – "W,"
10the mandatory designation for the region and "QED" for the Latin
11"Quod erat demonstrandum," meaning "that which was to be
12demonstrated"; and

13WHEREAS, On Monday, April 5, 1954, Fred Rogers and his
14program titled "Children's Corner" began to appear on WQED,

1eventually becoming "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" to millions of
2children throughout the country; and

3WHEREAS, In 1955, WQED inaugurated instructional programs for
4children in Pittsburgh schools – the first station in the
5country to telecast classes to elementary school students; and

6WHEREAS, Over the years, WQED has branched out to several
7different endeavors; and

8WHEREAS, WQEX-TV/Channel 16 debuted on September 14, 1959,
9broadcasting highly specialized programs to meet the needs of
10select audiences; and

11WHEREAS, Just over a decade later, WQED began its successful
12foray into print, establishing Pittsburgh Magazine on July 1,
131970; and

14WHEREAS, In 1973, Classical WQED-FM 89.3 was founded as the
15region's only 24-hour classical radio station; and

16WHEREAS, Black Horizons is the longest running series for the
17African-American audience in the country, premiering on WQED in
18April 1968; and

19WHEREAS, Today, WQED is an educational public media giant
20with four television programming streams, three radio stations,
21and serves as host to numerous national and local television and
22radio productions; and

23WHEREAS, WQED's educational programs for children continue to
24offer free and highly effective educational tools that can make
25dramatic differences in how children perform and achieve; and

26WHEREAS, WQED's local production schedule is truly impressive
27including seven locally produced programs every Monday through
28Saturday evening; and

29WHEREAS, WQED currently reaches residents of southwestern
30Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, northern West Virginia and western

1Maryland; and

2WHEREAS, In recognition of its outstanding work in the field
3of media, WQED has been awarded numerous awards and honors,
4including 73 Mid-Atlantic Emmy Awards (including two for Station
5Excellence), 61 national Emmy Awards, an Academy Award, 10
6Peabody Awards, 5 DuPont/Columbia batons, 10 Gabriel Awards, 27
7CINE Golden Eagle Awards, 1 Edward R. Murrow Award, 95 Golden
8Quill Awards, 23 awards from the Pennsylvania Association of
9Broadcasters (PAB) and 13 Telly Awards; and

10WHEREAS, WQED continues to be one of the busiest producers of
11local programming in the entire Public Broadcasting Service
12(PBS) system; and

13WHEREAS, Throughout its history, WQED has partnered with
14hundreds of local community organizations in the Pittsburgh
15region toward improvements in education, arts and culture,
16community health, economics and important local issues through
17its form of engaging civic journalism; and

18WHEREAS, All of this is in keeping with the organization's
19mission – changing lives by creating and sharing outstanding
20public media that educates, entertains and inspires; therefore
21be it

22RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives recognize the
2360th anniversary of WQED and call attention to the great work
24WQED Multimedia continues to do on behalf of Western
25Pennsylvania.