Station Profile
WPBA TV 30, Georgia’s first Public Television Station, signed on February 17, 1958 with the call letters WETV. Licensed to the Atlanta Board of Education, and funded by the Atlanta and Fulton County Boards of Education, the station began as a classroom television service and telecast only during school hours. In January 1969, WETV became an affiliate of National Educational Television (which evolved into the Public Broadcasting Service ) and began serving the General Public as well as Atlanta and Fulton County’s school children.
Over the course of the next decade, WETV became more community oriented. More locally produced programs were aired and WETV began on-air fundraising campaigns. 1979 saw the formation of a group called the Public Broadcasting Association of Greater Atlanta, Inc. (PBA). Its functions were to advise WETV (and companion Radio Station, WABE), on non-instructional programming, and to assist in raising and administering private-sector funds.
In 1984, WETV’s call letters were changed to WPBA to more accurately reflect the station’s role in serving the needs of the Atlanta community. In April 1995, WPBA began broadcasting its instructional and public broadcasting programming twenty-four hours a day.
WPBA is a continuing source for informational, educational, and cultural programming in the Metro Atlanta area.
