PBS 45 & 49 to Change Name to Western Reserve Public Media

New identity will reflect organization’s regional service to northeast Ohio

KENT, Ohio — June 23, 2008 — PBS 45 & 49 will launch a new corporate identity this fall as Western Reserve Public Media. The new identity better reflects the public broadcaster’s regional coverage, which unifies the four major metropolitan areas of northeast Ohio — Akron, Canton, Cleveland and Youngstown.

Western Reserve Public Media will include the two separately licensed public television stations, WNEO/Alliance and WEAO/Akron, which together reach the entire northeast Ohio market. The new name will also represent the full range of the organization’s broadcast, Internet, new media and print services.

Trina Cutter, president and CEO of PBS 45 & 49, said the new identity prepares the organization for advancements in broadcast technology. “The advent of digital television opens a new realm of possibilities for multiple broadcast channels,” Cutter said. “Western Reserve Public Media better reflects the breadth of public television services that we have already begun to provide to northeast Ohioans.”

Under this umbrella identity, the channels PBS 45 & 49 will become Western Reserve PBS and continue to operate as the primary broadcast service. Additional standard definition channels will be named to reflect the Western Reserve concept. Beginning in July, the organization will open its Western Reserve Production Hub in downtown Akron’s United Building, where some of its production operations will be moved. Western Reserve Public Media will join 89.7 WKSU and the Cleveland-based NBC affiliate WKYC (channel 3) in group-leasing the ground-level broadcasting studios.

The organization is working with Triad Communications Inc. of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, to help develop its new identity system, which will reflect both the advancing broadcast technologies and the organization’s regional presence.

About Western Reserve Public Media
Western Reserve Public Media is owned and operated by Northeastern Educational Television of Ohio, Inc., a private, nonprofit corporation and consortium of Kent State University, The University of Akron and Youngstown State University. A trusted community resource, Western Reserve Public Media uses the power of commercial-free television and related services to enrich the lives of people through high-quality programming and educational services that teach, illuminate and inspire. The only broadcast television service that reaches all of northeast Ohio, Western Reserve Public Media is available to 1.8 million households and 4.4 million people in the Cleveland and Youngstown designated market areas. In an average week, over 500,000 households tune in. Through funding from eTech Ohio, the organization provides K-12 educational technology training and instructional television programming to 21,500 educators and 256,700 students in eight Ohio counties. For more information about Western Reserve Public Media, visit www.WesternReservePublicMedia.org or call 1-800-554-4549.