NJ PBS (known as NJTV prior to 2021) is a public television network serving the U.S. state of New Jersey. The network is owned by the New Jersey Public Broadcasting Authority (NJPBA), an agency of the New Jersey state government which owns the licenses for all but one of the PBSmember stations licensed in the state. NJPBA outsources the network's operations to Public Media NJ, a wholly-owned subsidiary of New York City–based The WNET Group (formerly known as the Educational Broadcasting Corporation and later as WNET.org), the parent company of Newark, New Jersey–licensed WNET (channel 13) and Garden City, New York–licensed WLIW (channel 21). In addition to PBS programming, NJ PBS airs shows distributed by American Public Television (APT); the network also produces and broadcasts its own programs, mostly related to issues in New Jersey. NJ PBS' operations are based in Englewood, New Jersey.[1] Its anchor studio is located at Gateway Center in Newark.[2]Master control and some internal operations are based at WNET's studios in the Worldwide Plaza complex in Midtown Manhattan.
NJ PBS is the successor to New Jersey Network (NJN), the state-controlled public television and radio service. NJN ceased operations on June 30, 2011, and Public Media NJ took control of the former NJN television stations the following day.
In 2008, officials with the New Jersey Network asked the New Jersey Legislature in 2008 for permission to explore making NJN an independent nonprofit organization. Under this scenario, the NJN licenses would have been transferred to the network's fundraising arm, the NJN Foundation.[3] However, on June 6, 2011, New Jersey's Governor during that time, Chris Christie, who vowed to end state-funded public broadcasting when he took office in 2010, announced an agreement to turn control of the NJN television network to WNET. As part of the deal, WNET.org created Public Media NJ as a separate New Jersey-based nonprofit to operate the stations.[4][5] NJN was created in 1971 partly due to concerns that WNET and Philadelphia's main PBS outlet, WHYY-TV (channel 12), were not adequately serving their New Jersey viewers.
Under the terms of the deal, the NJPBA would retain the licenses, but outsource the stations' operations to Public Media NJ for five years with two additional five-year renewal options. Public Media NJ would receive funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and all revenues related to the former NJN technical operations. The measure was defeated by the state assembly on June 23, 2011.[6] The state senate, however, passed the resolution on June 27, allowing Public Media NJ to take over NJN's television operations as scheduled on July 1, 2011.[7] The network was relaunched as NJTV; all members of NJN automatically became members of NJTV. The first program to be aired on NJTV was Charlie Rose (which was produced by its sister station WNET).[8]
On July 26, 2011, NJTV announced a partnership with the Foundation for New Jersey Public Broadcasting (formerly the NJN Foundation) to jointly fund and create additional public affairs programming. NJTV and the NJN Foundation merged in September 2012.[9]
Rebranding
On February 24, 2021, NJTV rebranded as "NJ PBS," adapting to the 2019 PBS rebrand recommended to its local stations.
Programming
The Caucus Educational Corporation (CEC), a non-profit producer of New Jersey-focused public affairs programs, is under contract with Public Media NJ and WNET to provide original programming for NJ PBS. CEC produces Caucus: New Jersey, State of Affairs, and One on One with Steve Adubato, which are hosted by Steve Adubato. CEC also produced the New Jersey Capitol Report, which ended after a seven-year run in March 2017.[10] NJ PBS also broadcasts programming distributed by PBS, American Public Television, and additional local productions.[citation needed]
At the inauguration of NJ PBS (as NJTV), the network launched NJ Today, a half-hour newscast that replaced NJN News and was aired at its former weekday time slots of 6, 7:30 and 11 p.m. It was originally anchored by WNET personality Rafael Pi Roman.[11][12]Mike Schneider later took over the anchor role. It was renamed to NJTV News on November 4, 2013.[13] On June 12, 2014, Schneider announced his retirement as anchor on NJTV News and was replaced by veteran journalist Mary Alice Williams on July 1.[14] Williams later left the newscast after March 13, 2020, to help care for family members who were suffering from health problems. She eventually announced the following month on April 27, 2020, that she would step down as anchor of NJTV News. She was succeeded by Briana Vannozzi, who has anchored the newscast since March 15, 2020. She was an interim anchor until September 9, 2020, when she became a full-time anchor.[15][16][17][18] Schneider still appears on other WNET and NJTV-produced programs, including WNET's Metrofocus. NJTV News is produced at the Agnes Varis studio in Two Gateway Center in Newark.[19] The newscast can also be seen on sister station WNET and online via YouTube and on NJTV's website. Because of WNET (as well as its sister station WLIW) and WHYY carrying PBS NewsHour, NJ PBS does not carry that program, to avoid unnecessary duplication.
Michael Aron, NJN's news director at its closure and a former member of the foundation's board, revived his former NJN programs Reporters Roundtable and On the Record on NJTV. He also appears on NJTV News as its chief political correspondent.[20][21]
NJ Spotlight News
On October 5, 2020, NJTV's newsroom merged with the New Jersey news site NJ Spotlight (which was acquired by WNET in 2019) and the newscasts were rebranded as NJ Spotlight News.[22] In May 2022, NJ Spotlight News released its first podcast series, Hazard NJ, hosted by journalist Jordan Gass-Pooré.[23][24]
Lottery drawings
When NJN shut down operations, no New Jersey Lottery drawings were aired until September 8, 2011, on a tape delay. Before this happened, the New Jersey Lottery had no other outlet to showcase any of their live drawings except via online live streaming services such Ustream and Livestream.com.[citation needed] NJTV continued hosting the tape-delayed drawings until January 1, 2013, when the drawings were moved to two CBS owned stations, WLNY and WPSG-TV. From 2014 to 2020, lottery drawings were aired live on WPIX and WPHL-TV.[25] As of 2020, no drawings for the state lottery are televised; instead the Lottery's afternoon, evening and Cash4Life drawings are carried on the Lottery's website and social media platforms.[26]Powerball and Mega Millions drawings were never aired on NJTV as WTXF-TV and WABC-TV air these drawings (with the latter occasionally airing Powerball drawings at certain occasions).
NJ PBS' four full-power stations reach a potential audience of almost 28 million people in parts of six states—all of New Jersey, plus parts of New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and even Maryland.[27] While this gives NJ PBS one of the largest potential audiences in the country, it also must compete directly against three of the most-watched PBS member stations in the country–sister stations WNET and WLIW, as well as WHYY-TV. Additionally, WLVT-TV (channel 39) in Allentown, Pennsylvania, overlaps some of NJ PBS' broadcast area.
In the FCC incentive auction concluded in 2017, WNJN and WNJT's spectrum was sold back to the FCC for $138,059,363 and $193,892,273, respectively.[28] NJ PBS has announced that these stations will share spectrum with the two remaining stations, WNJS and WNJB respectively.[29] On January 23, 2018, per FCC filings, WNJN began channel-sharing with WNJB[30] and WNJT began channel-sharing with WNJS.[31]
NJ PBS is available on all New Jersey cable providers, along with most cable, satellite and IPTV providers in the New York (utilizing WNJN/WNJB) and Philadelphia (utilizing WNJS/WNJT) television markets, into New York State, Delaware, and Pennsylvania (with some limited availability in Fairfield County, Connecticut, and Cecil County, Maryland).
Technical information
Subchannels
The signals of the NJ PBS stations are multiplexed:
WNET, branded on-air as "Thirteen", is a primary PBS member television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area. Owned by The WNET Group, it is a sister station to the area's secondary PBS member, Garden City, New York–licensed WLIW, and two class A stations: WMBQ-CD, and WNDT-CD. The WNET Group also operates New Jersey's PBS state network NJ PBS, and the website NJ Spotlight through an outsourcing agreement.
WNBC is a television station in New York City that serves as the flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey–licensed Telemundo station WNJU. WNBC's studios and offices are co-located with NBC's corporate headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan; WNJU's facilities in Fort Lee, New Jersey, also serve as WNBC's New Jersey news bureau. Through a channel sharing agreement with WNJU, the two stations transmit using WNJU's spectrum from an antenna atop One World Trade Center.
The New Jersey Network (NJN) was a network of public television and radio stations serving the U.S. state of New Jersey. NJN was a member of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) for television and the National Public Radio (NPR) for radio, broadcasting their programming as well as producing and broadcasting their own programming, mostly relating to issues in New Jersey. With studios in both Trenton and Newark, NJN's television network covered all of New Jersey, plus parts of Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut and Delaware. The radio network primarily served several areas of New Jersey that were not covered by Philadelphia and New York City public radio stations.
WLVT-TV is a PBS member television station in Allentown, Pennsylvania, United States. Owned by Lehigh Valley Public Media, it is a sister station to Philadelphia-licensed PBS member WPPT. WLVT-TV's studios are located in the south side of Bethlehem, and its transmitter is located south of nearby Allentown atop South Mountain.
WHYY-FM is a public radio station licensed to serve Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its broadcast tower is located in the city's Roxborough section of the city at while its studios and offices are located on Independence Mall in Center City Philadelphia. The station, owned by WHYY, Inc., is a charter member of NPR and contributes several programs to the national network.
WNJM is a radio station licensed to Manahawkin, New Jersey. The station is owned by WHYY, Inc., and simulcasts the public radio news and talk programming of WHYY-FM in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
WNJZ is a radio station licensed to Cape May Court House, New Jersey. The station is owned by WHYY, Inc., and simulcasts the public radio news and talk programming of WHYY-FM in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
WTVE is a television station licensed to Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, United States, serving the Philadelphia area and primarily airing paid programming from OnTV4U. It is owned by WRNN-TV Associates alongside Princeton, New Jersey–licensed ShopHQ affiliate WMCN-TV and Trenton, New Jersey–licensed Class A station WPHY-CD. WTVE and WPHY-CD share studios on East State Street in Trenton; through a channel sharing agreement, the two stations transmit using WPHY-CD's spectrum from an antenna in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia.
WKXW is a commercial FM radio station licensed to serve Trenton, New Jersey. The station is owned by Townsquare Media with studios and offices located in Ewing and its transmitter facility, which is shared with WPRB, located near the Quaker Bridge Mall in Lawrence Township in Mercer County, New Jersey.
WXIN is a television station in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Bloomington-licensed CBS affiliate WTTV, channel 4. The stations share studios on Network Place in northwestern Indianapolis; WXIN's transmitter is located on West 73rd Street on the northern outskirts of the city.
Mary Alice Williams is a pioneering journalist and broadcast executive who broke gender barriers by becoming the first female Prime Time anchor of a network news division and first woman to hold the rank of Vice President of a news division. Her work and visibility put her in the vanguard, whether at the birth of CNN or later at the dawn of the revolution in information technology. In addition to CNN, she has also served as anchor at many prominent networks, including PBS, Discovery, and NBC.
NJN News was a half-hour daily broadcast television news program by the New Jersey Network which also aired in New York City on WNET Monday through Friday. It was sometimes preempted on holidays by special programming.
Sara Lee Kessler is the former anchor for New York City's Channel 9 nightly local broadcast news program in the late 1980s and early 1990s. She was formerly a health reporter for New Jersey Network's nightly half hour NJN News broadcast. She currently reports for WABC radio in New York and NBC News Radio.
World Channel, also branded as World, is an American digital multicast public television network owned and operated by the WGBH Educational Foundation. It is distributed by American Public Television and the National Educational Telecommunications Association and features programming covering topics such as science, nature, news, and public affairs. Programming is supplied by the entities, as well as other partners such as WNET and WGBH. It is primarily carried on the digital subchannels of PBS member stations.
WTHA is a radio station licensed to Berlin, New Jersey. The station is owned by Bux-Mont Educational Radio Association, and simulcasts the public radio programming of WRDV in Warminster, Pennsylvania.
WNJN-FM is a radio station licensed to Atlantic City, New Jersey. The station is owned by WHYY, Inc., and simulcasts the public radio news and talk programming of WHYY-FM in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
WNJB-FM is a radio station licensed to Bridgeton, New Jersey. The station is owned by The Bridge of Hope, Inc., and simulcasts the Christian adult contemporary programming of WKNZ in Harrington, Delaware.
Steve Adubato is an American television broadcaster, author and university lecturer. In the mid 1980s he was New Jersey's youngest state legislator in the New Jersey General Assembly at age 26. Adubato holds a doctorate from Rutgers University in the field of mass media and communication. He is the author of four books.
A duopoly is a situation in television and radio broadcasting in which two or more stations in the same city or community share common ownership.
There is a long history of television and film in New Jersey, which is considered the birthplace of the movie picture industry.
References
↑ Staff. "Home page". NJTV. Retrieved November 8, 2012. NJTV, PO Box 5776, Englewood, NJ 07631
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