Our History
Over five decades ago, a group of motivated and eager individuals came together around a common goal. They sought to enrich people’s lives through high-quality, non-commercial, educational programming. Institutions like Trinity College and the State of ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø supported this goal of reaching out to the community through public broadcasting.
In 1962, the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Educational Television Station began broadcasting in black and white from the basement of the Trinity College Library in Hartford, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø. With a single videotape machine, 11 staff members launched what soon would become ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Television.
On October 1, 1962, at 9:40 a.m., CPTV (ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Television) aired a discussion of the humanities with critic Clifton Fadiman. It was the station’s first program, first broadcast, and first day as the nation’s 68th station in the National Education Television Network, the predecessor to PBS.
In 1978, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Radio joined the network, forming what is today known as ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Broadcasting, Inc., is the parent organization of CPTV, CPTV Spirit, PBS KIDS 24/7 and ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Radio (WNPR). Past TV channels included CPTV Sports and CPTV Create.
CPTV was the broadcast and web streaming home of from 1994 to 2012. The game broadcasts were the highest-rated locally produced programs in the PBS network.
CPTV has been a major producer of children's programming for the PBS network. Its best-known offering was . Other children's shows originated and/or distributed by CPTV are , , , , and as well as the first season of (the second season was distributed by ). From 1993 to 2005, Alan Alda hosted the science series , based on the popular magazine . That show was also produced by CPTV and aired nationwide.*
In 2004, CPBI made the move to a new broadcast home in Hartford's historic Asylum Hill neighborhood, a facility with contemporary technology that has enabled . A satellite office at Gateway Community College in New Haven also houses a ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Radio broadcast studio.
For its first 20 years, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Radio (WNPR) broadcast a mix of classical music, jazz and NPR talk, gradually increasing the news programming on its schedule beginning in the late 1990s. Ultimately, in 2006, WNPR dropped classical music altogether in favor of a full-time news and information format. In 2013, the station launched a new online web service, WNPR News.
From 1982 to 2019, hosted various shows out of the New Haven studio. She hosted The Faith Middleton Show and The Faith Middleton Food Schmooze, until she retired in 2019.**
ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø has received many awards and accolades for its original productions and programs over the decades, including multiple Emmy and Student Emmy Awards, 2 Peabody awards, Murrow awards, Gracie Allen awards, Mark Twain awards and more.
Thanks to the generous support of the communities we serve, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø has evolved from a single television station broadcasting in black and white to a vibrant statewide, multimedia broadcasting network.
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