About WVIZ/PBS ideastream

For loyal viewers of WVIZ/PBS, it’s not enough that the station offers some of the world’s highest quality educational, cultural, news and information programs: WVIZ/PBS viewers expect more. They are looking for in-depth understanding of local, regional and world events they know they won’t find anywhere else. They want to come away from their television having acquired knowledge they can act on, and that will add to their interactions with family, friends and others.

WVIZ/PBS viewers also expect variety. They want arts and drama, nature and science, history, home and hobby, news and information, and public affairs series and specials. And, of course, they expect the very best educational children’s programming. Moreover, they want to be inspired, and they look for opportunities to inspire others.

From Applause, Masterpiece, and NOVA, to Great Performances, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer and Feagler & Friends, to Antiques Roadshow and Sesame Street, WVIZ/PBS ideastream provides the highest quality programs from around the world, as well as those developed right here in Northeast Ohio.

Through lively in-studio interviews, performance segments, and out-in-the-community reviews and previews, Applause focuses its weekly broadcast on the rich arts and cultural activities in Northeast Ohio. The weekly program Feagler & Friends remains true to its long-standing, award-winning form, using interviews and roundtable discussions to deliver provocative takes on the news and information that matter most to Northeast Ohioans. A range of topics and issues identified as critical by the citizens of the region are explored in the multiple-media specials Ideas.

A valuable source of current events for thousands of Ohio third through eighth grade students, NewsDepth helps teachers meet state academic content standards in language arts and social studies, while linking Ohio students with the world.

Established to encourage new ideas and the free exchange of thought, The City Club of Cleveland is the oldest continuous free speech forum in the country. Through a partnership with The City Club, each week’s City Club Forum program on WVIZ/PBS presents the City Club proceedings to a wide broadcast audience.

The Ohio Public Radio and Television Statehouse News Bureau’s weekly program The State of Ohio has become an essential source of information on statewide issues.

Backstage With..., produced in partnership with Playhouse Square, is a series of one-hour interactive “master class” specials featuring producers, directors, performers, composers, choreographers and more. Guests have included Tony Award-winning musical theater composer and lyricist, Adam Guettel; Tony Award-winning actress, singer and dancer, Chita Rivera; and award-winning composer Marvin Hamlisch.

About ideastream®

Stimulated by the success of a collaborative project, the planning committees of WVIZ/PBS and 90.3 WCPN met in the fall of 1999 to discuss how the two stations could continue to partner to better serve the community. As discussions evolved, it became clear that the then separate organizations shared a public service mission, had identical business models, and held a common view of the digital future.

In January of 2000, the committees made the following recommendation to their respective Boards: Combine WCPN & WVIZ to form a new non-profit multi-media entity with distinctive, locally-based content in areas of news, education, entertainment, culture and public service to serve the Northeast Ohio community and beyond.

Both Boards agreed, and each appointed members to an implementation team. That team worked diligently over the next nine months to outline a specific plan to merge the organizations into a new non-profit entity. The plan was approved by the two Boards and announced in October of 2000.

On June 30, 2001, the former non-profit organizations, Educational Television Association of Metropolitan Cleveland and Cleveland Public Radio, were dissolved. On July 1, a non-profit organization, ideastream, took life as a new public service multiple media organization with a Board of Trustees comprised of members of the former Boards of the predecessor organizations.

The concept of ideastream is to bring together a variety of educational and public service media programs to leverage creative, technical and financial assets to better serve our communities.

ideastream Mission

To strengthen our communities by providing distinctive, thought-provoking programs and services that enlighten, inspire, educate and entertain.

ideastream Vision

ideastream will be recognized for its ability to help the region achieve success and, as a result, will be considered worthy of philanthropic and public investment.