This article is about the PBS member station in New York City. For the TV station in Providence that once used the call sign, see WNAC-TV. For the FNX-affiliated TV station that currently uses the former call sign of this station, see WNDT-CD.
The history of WNET begins with WATV (Channel 13), established on May 15, 1948, as the fourth TV station in New York City, and the 25th in the United States. Originally it was owned by Bremer Broadcasting Corporation, who's CEO, Frank V. Bremer, also owned WAAT (970 AM) and WAAT-FM (94.7 FM). Its transmitter was originally located atop First Mountain in West Orange, New Jersey, and later moved to the Empire State Building in 1953.
WNTA-TV[]
1958–1962[]
SVG NEEDED
On October 6, 1957, Bremer Broadcasting sold the station to the NTA Film Network, changing the call letters to WNTA-TV, which the radio station also adopted on May 7, 1958.
WNDT[]
1962–1970[]
On June 29, 1961, in the nearly end of the NTA Film Network, the station was sold to the Educational Television Metropolitan Area (ETMA) for $6.2 million, under a condition of the 9-month sign-off period for transition from commercial to public TV station, which realized on December 22 due to FCC approval earlier in October of the same year. On September 16, 1962 after three months of preparation from ETMA (now the Educational Broadcasting Corporation), the station changed the callsign to WNDT (stood for New Dimensions in Television) and resumed its transmissions, making the first educational TV station, being a member of National Educational Television (NET). A version of this logo is now being used as a favicon on thirteen.org.
WNET[]
1970–1972[]
On October 1, 1970, WNDT changed the call letters to the present WNET as a legacy (similar to the callsigns used by WNBC, WCBS-TV, and WABC-TV), before NET was replaced by PBS four days later.
1972-1973[]
Designer:
Unknown
Typography:
Bauhaus Geometric (modified)
Launched:
Unknown
Onscreen, the "w" was blue, the "n" was orange, the "e" was yellow-green, and the "t" and "13" were green. This logo uses a variation of the Bauhaus typeface as its font, and it is a legacy of NET, whose name was withdrawn entirely after fully merging into PBS.
Around mid-2008, the logo appeared on wnet.org, but this logo wouldn't be officially used until 2009. On May 12, 2009, WNET parent company WNET.org was re-branded, along with both stations, WNET and WLIW. The new identity was developed with Pentagram in New York. The corporation and the stations are linked through the dot in WNET.org. This logo was still used for its kids subchannel until 2017.
In 2012, the logo was modified, and they removed the dot above the "i", making it a capital "I" for the first time.
2023–present[]
In 2021, the logo was modified again for the first time in 9 years. The "R" now goes into part of the "T", and the PBS logo was updated to match the 2019 PBS branding. The logo wouldn't go into full use until April 5, 2023.
