WYES-TV (channel 12) is a PBS member television station in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, owned by the Greater New Orleans Educational Television Foundation. The station's studios are located at the Paulette and Frank Stewart Innovation Center for Educational Media on Navarre Avenue in the city's Navarre neighborhood, and its transmitter is located on Magistrate Street in Chalmette.
WYES-TV is the only independently owned public television station in Louisiana as it is not part of Louisiana Public Broadcasting (LPB), which owns all of the PBS member stations in the state that are located outside of New Orleans, and maintains a programming agreement with and partial ownership of the city's independent public television station, WLAE-TV (channel 32). WYES-TV is also available on cable providers in Biloxi and Gulfport, Mississippi, despite the presence of Mississippi Public Broadcasting (MPB) transmitter WMAH-TV. WYES-TV carries PBS and American Public Television (APT) distributed programs, as well as programs from other distributors. Many national programs produced by WYES-TV are distributed by APT.
History
WYES-TV traces its history to 1953, when a group of civic leaders led by Marion Abramson formed the Greater New Orleans Educational Television Association. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had assigned the VHF channel 8 allocation in the New Orleans market for non-commercial use, and the group quickly snapped up the license.