NJTV


NJTV is a Public Broadcasting Service member network serving the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is owned by the New Jersey Public Broadcasting Authority, an agency of the New Jersey state government which owns the licenses to all but one of the PBS member stations licensed in the state. NJTV is operated by WNET.org, which is the parent company of New York City's flagship public television stations, Newark-licensed WNET and Garden City, New York-licensed WLIW. WNET.org runs NJTV through a subsidiary non-profit organization, Public Media NJ. NJTV's operations are based in Englewood, New Jersey. Its anchor studio is located at Gateway Center in Newark. Master control and some internal operations are based at WNET's studios in the Worldwide Plaza complex in midtown Manhattan. NJTV airs PBS programming and also produces and broadcasts its own programs mostly related to issues in New Jersey.
NJTV is the successor to New Jersey Network, the state-controlled public television and radio service. NJN ceased operations on June 30, 2011, and Public Media NJ took control of the former NJN television stations the following day.

History

Officials with the New Jersey Network asked the New Jersey Legislature in 2008 for permission to explore making NJN a community licensee owned by its fundraising arm, the NJN Foundation. However, on June 6, 2011, New Jersey's Governor during that time, Chris Christie, who vowed to end state-funded public broadcasting when he took office in 2010, announced an agreement to turn control of the NJN television network to WNET. As part of the deal, WNET.org created Public Media NJ as a separate New Jersey-based nonprofit to operate the stations.
Under the terms of the deal, Public Media NJ would operate the stations for a five-year period, with two additional five-year renewable options. The NJPBA would retain the licenses, while Public Media NJ would receive funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and all revenues related to the former NJN technical operations. The measure was defeated by the state assembly on June 23, 2011. The state senate, however, passed the resolution on June 27, allowing Public Media NJ to take over NJN's television operations as scheduled on July 1, 2011. All members of NJN automatically became members of NJTV. The first program to be aired on NJTV was Charlie Rose.
On July 26, 2011, NJTV announced a partnership with the Foundation for New Jersey Public Broadcasting to jointly fund and create additional public affairs programming. NJTV and the NJN Foundation merged in September 2012.

Programming

The Caucus Educational Corporation, a non-profit producer of New Jersey-focused public affairs programs, is under contract with Public Media NJ and WNET to provide original programming for NJTV. CEC produces Caucus: New Jersey, State of Affairs, and One on One with Steve Adubato, which are hosted by Steve Adubato. CEC also produced the New Jersey Capitol Report, which ended after a seven-year run in March 2017. NJTV also broadcasts programming distributed by PBS, American Public Television, and additional local productions.

Locally produced programming

At the inauguration of NJTV, the network launched NJ Today, a half-hour newscast that replaced NJN News and was aired on its former weekday time slots of 6, 7:30 and 11 p.m. It was originally anchored by WNET personality Rafael Pi Roman. Mike Schneider later took over the anchor roles. It was renamed to NJTV News on November 4, 2013. On June 12, 2014, Schneider announced his retirement as anchor on NJTV News and was replaced by veteran journalist Mary Alice Williams on July 1. Marry Alice Williams later would have left the newscast after March 13, 2020 to help care for some of her family members who were having health problems. She would have announced the following month on April 27, 2020 that she would step down as anchor of NJTV News. She would have been succeeded by Briana Vannozzi whom she has anchored the newscast since March 15, 2020. Schneider still appears on other WNET and NJTV produced programs, including Metrofocus. NJTV News is produced at the Agnes Varis studio in Two Gateway Center in Newark. The newscast can also be seen on sister station WNET and online via YouTube and on NJTV's website. Because of WNET and WHYY carrying PBS NewsHour, NJTV does not carry that program.
Michael Aron, the system's news director at its closure and a former member of the foundation's board, revived his former NJN programs Reporters Roundtable and On the Record on NJTV. He also appears on NJTV News as its chief political correspondent.

Lottery drawings

When NJN shut down operations, no New Jersey Lottery drawings were aired until September 8, 2011, on a tape delay. Before this happened, the New Jersey Lottery had no other outlet to showcase any of their live drawings except via online live streaming services such Ustream and Livestream.com. NJTV continued hosting the tape-delayed drawings until January 1, 2013, when the drawings were moved to two CBS owned stations, WLNY and WPSG-TV. As of 2016, lottery drawings are aired live on WPIX and WPHL-TV. As of 2020, only the evening drawings are televised; the Lottery's afternoon and Cash4Life drawings are carried on the Lottery's website and social media platforms.

Stations

NJTV's four full-power stations reach a potential audience of almost 28 million people in parts of five states—all of New Jersey, plus parts of New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Delaware. While this gives NJTV one of the largest potential audiences in the country, it also must compete directly with three of the most-watched PBS member stations in the country. It not only shares its coverage area with sister stations WNET and WLIW, but also with Philadelphia's main PBS outlet, WHYY-TV. Additionally, WLVT-TV in Allentown, Pennsylvania overlaps some of NJTV's broadcast area.
The NJTV television stations are:
StationCity of licenseChannels
VC / RF		First air dateFourth letter's meaningERPHAATTransmitter coordinatesFacility IDPublic license information
WNJT1Trenton52
23
Trenton197 kW
281 kW 		48465
WNJSCamden23
23
Southern New Jersey197 kW
281 kW 		48481
WNJN1, 2Montclair50
8
Northern New Jersey
or
Network 		40.82 kW48477
WNJBNew Brunswick58
8
New Brunswick40.82 kW48457

;Notes:
On January 23, 2018, per FCC filings, WNJN began channel-sharing with WNJB and WNJT began channel-sharing with WNJS.

Translators

Areas in the northwestern part of New Jersey are served by the following low-powered translators, which repeat both NJTV subchannels:
NJTV is available on all New Jersey cable providers, along with most cable, satellite and IPTV providers in the New York and Philadelphia television markets, into New York State, Delaware, and Pennsylvania.

Digital television

Digital channels

The digital signals of the NJTV stations are multiplexed:
ChannelVideoAspectPSIP Short NameProgramming
xx.11080i1Main NJTV programming / PBS
xx.21080iNHKWorldNHK World

1 Each station's respective callsign with "-DT" suffix serves as the PSIP name for the various NJTV stations.