WEDU (channel 3) is a PBS member television station licensed to Tampa, Florida, United States, serving the Tampa Bay area. It is owned by Florida West Coast Public Broadcasting alongside WEDQ (channel 3.4). The two stations share studios at the Berkman Family Broadcast Center on North Boulevard in Tampa and transmitter facilities in Riverview, Florida.
WEDU began broadcasting on October 27, 1958, as a service to regional schools. During the day, it aired local and national educational programs for telecast in schools, while programs for adults from National Educational Television were telecast in the evenings. The station flourished over the course of the 1960s as schools' use of its programming grew rapidly; in the early 1970s, it suffered as some of that support was reduced. In early 1980, WEDU moved to its present, purpose-built facility on North Boulevard, abandoning its original studios, a surplus United States Navy power plant in dilapidated condition.
In 1984, WEDU proposed to switch channels with WTOG-TV (channel 44), a commercial independent station. The proposed deal with WTOG-TV's owner, Hubbard Broadcasting, would have moved WEDU to channel 44 and given it nearly $50 million in cash and incentives; Hubbard sought channel 3 for WTOG-TV so it could shed the stigma of being a UHF station and achieve parity with the region's three VHF network affiliates. The deal sparked a sharp local and national reaction as other commercial and public broadcasters decried the proposal. It was eventually barred by a clause inserted into the Federal Communications Commission budget by Congress. WEDU and Hubbard ultimately reached an understanding that moved channel 3's transmitter to WTOG-TV's tower, replacing its outdated, failing facility.
In the 1990s, WEDU grew its stature in national programming production but failed to find promised revenue in the sector; the ten-year management tenure of Steve Rogers ended with layoffs of nearly a third of the station's staff amid a downturn in viewer contributions. Dick Lobo, a retired broadcast executive, came out of retirement to run the station and succeeded in improving its corporate underwriting and financial reputation. In 2017, WEDU absorbed the license and programming that had been associated with competing public station WUSF-TV, owned by the University of South Florida, when the university sold its spectrum. WEDU produces local public affairs and cultural programming focused on the Tampa Bay area.
History Early years The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) allocated channel 3 to Tampa, Florida, for educational broadcasting in 1952. As early as the following year, regional education leaders from five area counties—Hillsborough, Manatee, Pinellas, Polk, and Sarasota—came together to incorporate the Florida West Coast Educational Television Corporation. State legislators representing the area refused to back the plan, finding it variously premature and expensive.
The organization was reformed in 1955. By 1956, pressure from groups who sought channel 3 for commercial use was spurring action. In March, a meeting was held by Tampa mayor Curtis Hixon, at which Tampa radio station WTSP—owned by the St. Petersburg Times newspaper—reiterated its offer of a tower site if necessary. As planning began in earnest in Tampa, Gene Dyer, permittee of the unbuilt UHF station WTVI at Fort Pierce, Florida, proposed to have channel 3 moved there for his use. This heightened the urgency to convey to the FCC that there was interest in keeping channel 3 as an educational channel in Tampa. A steering committee was formed to spearhead a fundraising drive, and plans were more definite by January 1957, with leadership chosen and contributions from Tampa's two existing commercial stations, WFLA-TV (channel 8) and WTVT (channel 13).
A second group took an interest in using channel 3 for commercial use. WSUN-TV (channel 38) in St. Petersburg offered to swap channel 38 for channel 3, seeking parity with its commercial competitors and claiming that Florida West Coast Educational Television could get on the air earlier from the existing channel 38. The offer was rebuffed, but the two groups were now racing to see who would file first at the FCC.
Florida West Coast Educational Television applied on April 5, 1957, for channel 3. In expectation of getting the construction permit, the station began organizing program proposals and contacting regional school superintendents to solicit ideas for educational telecasts. The permit was granted by the FCC on September 19, 1957, and Florida West Coast Educational Television announced that their station would have studios in St. Petersburg and Tampa and would begin fundraising drives in both areas. Briefly called WFCE in the local press, it was WEDU by November, when planning began for station programming. For its Tampa studios, WEDU moved into a former Navy power plant on 20th Street, on land that had been deeded to the Hillsborough County school board. The facility had high enough ceilings to accommodate a television studio with little conversion. To help raise funds, a dinner was held, featuring Governor LeRoy Collins among its guests. In August, courses and teachers were announced, with contributions from multiple counties in the channel 3 coverage area. On weekends, WTVT trained staff members in television production.
WEDU made its first broadcast on October 27, 1958. The first program featured Ceil Hedman of St. Petersburg teaching third-grade reading. She was followed by teachers with courses on high school American history, Spanish, and science, as well as after-school programs for adult audiences—then comparatively rare on educational stations that were mostly devoted to classroom instruction. In addition to local educational shows, the station aired programs from National Educational Television (NET) and educational series produced by NBC.
Shortly after, at the start of 1959, the second studio at St. Petersburg Junior College opened; with both studios in operation, the station would be on the air 10 hours a day during the week. Over the course of the year, the station won a major Ford Foundation grant to support its teaching programs, obtained its first video tape recorder, and boosted its power to improve coverage and reception. The audience for its educational programming steadily grew to 75,000 students by 1960, 120,000 by 1962, and 151,000 by 1963; the Tampa facilities were expanded to include a second studio. Live NET programming became a reality on channel 3 in 1961. The staff grew from 11 people to 38 in 1962 and 50 in 1963. In December 1965, WEDU began weekend broadcasting for the first time, making it the first educational station in Florida to institute a regular weekend schedule and the 12th nationwide. The station began holding an annual televised auction in 1968 as a fundraiser.
Educational competition and a budget crisis In 1964, WEDU joined with the University of South Florida (USF) to propose the construction of a new transmitter facility in Riverview. The site would house a higher-power WEDU as well as a new UHF station to be owned by the university. After obtaining federal grant money, the site was completed two years later, and WEDU began broadcasting from it on August 30, 1966, with the maximum low-VHF power of 100,000 watts. On September 11, the USF station signed on as WUSF-TV (channel 16). Initially, WUSF-TV had no network programming, as WEDU was the local station for National Educational Television programs. Instead, it focused on providing local shows and college-level telecourses; during the day, the station was off the air while the studios were in use to produce closed-circuit programs. WEDU was supportive of WUSF-TV because, per general manager R. Leroy Lastinger, it provided an outlet for college and higher education needs that channel 3 could not serve alone with its existing commitments. In 1970, PBS supplanted NET as the public television network.
However, shortly after coming on the air, WUSF-TV began angling for more resources and prominence. Within two years, it faced a budget crunch, exacerbated by its status as a secondary outlet with no national network programs. Channel 16 sought parity and the ability to simulcast PBS programs, and it indicated a desire to begin fundraising in the community, which irked WEDU officials fearing a dilution of viewer support and audience. A lobbying battle came to a fever pitch in January 1971, when leaders from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and the Florida Department of Education and several influential state legislators forced leaders of WEDU and WUSF-TV into a motel room to work out their differences. The consensus that emerged allowed WUSF-TV to become a PBS station, but the stations agreed not to simulcast programs. It encouraged channel 16 to develop an alternative lineup to WEDU's programs for schools and children and made it the primary source of local evening programming. To protect WEDU, WUSF-TV agreed not to tap the community for funds. PBS leaders hoped the "Tampa format" could be applied to similar situations in other cities.
Another theme of the late 1960s and early 1970s was changing support from local school systems. As early as 1967, Pinellas County—a major contributor—contemplated ceasing financial support for WEDU. Two of 11 counties pulled out in 1971, Polk and Manatee—one over factional disputes concerning cable TV and another due to its own money woes. In Polk alone, 38,000 students viewed WEDU programs, and the district paid the station's rate of $1.35 per student. When Pinellas reduced its support by nearly half in 1972, WEDU responded by laying off 12 of its 43 employees—including its entire local production unit—and cutting back its broadcast day. In response, the station held an emergency pledge drive and began seeking underwriting support for its programs, which helped alleviate the crunch.
Color programming and new facilities In 1971, WEDU began color program production locally when it received a donation of color cameras from WFLA-TV. Florida West Coast Educational Television reincorporated as Florida West Coast Public Broadcasting in 1974 as part of a broadening of its by-laws to permit operation of a radio station.
By the mid-1970s, the old Navy power plant had become inadequate as a studio facility and run-down. Station staff joked, "We'll be all right as long as the termites don't stop holding hands—that's all that is holding this place up." Some employees worked out of two mobile homes parked behind the main studio. Discussion for a new facility had stretched as far back as 1969, when a site near WestShore Plaza was under consideration, but the 1976 session of the Florida Legislature made it a reality by allocating $2.25 million for WEDU to build new studios on property provided by the city of Tampa along North Boulevard near Interstate 75. The construction of the new studios would be overseen by a new general manager; Lastinger, one of WEDU's founders, retired from the position in 1977 (continuing as president until 1982) and was replaced by Mark Damen, an official in the Florida Department of Education. Ground was broken in December 1977; it was not officially opened until February 1980 owing to inflation-related cost overruns.