PITTSBURGH – WQED celebrates 40 years of Black Horizons - the nation’s longest-running minority affairs program – with a special look-back episode on Thursday, January 8 at 8pm on WQED-TV.

Hosted by Chris Moore – who’s helmed the program for the past 28 years – and series producer Minette Seate, the special features clips from 1968 to the present. Other clips focus on music, the arts, social causes, politics and more. Also included are portions of some of the many documentaries produced under the Black Horizons umbrella including Wylie Avenue Days, In Country: A Vietnam Story, Fly Boys: Western Pennsylvania’s Tuskegee Airmen, and more.

Since its premiere immediately following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in April 1968, Black Horizons has served as a voice for Pittsburgh’s African American community. In its early days, there were no black producers at the station to make Black Horizons, so WQED instituted a training program that ultimately resulted in turning out a number of successful African American journalists, producers, executives and academics.

During its 40-year history, Black Horizons has played host to national civil rights leaders, local politicians, African dancers, the NAACP National Convention, cooking demonstrations, athletes, activists, pageant contestants, jazz pianists, tap dancers, gospel groups, performance poets and former sitcom stars.

WQED Pittsburgh, honored with the 2007 and 2006 Mid-Atlantic Emmy® Award for Station Excellence, was founded in 1954 as the nation’s first community-supported broadcaster. WQED creates, produces and distributes quality programs, products and services to engage, inform, educate and entertain the public within its community and around the world. WQED Pittsburgh is one of the first broadcasters in the country to be fully high-definition (HD) in its studio and field production capabilities. It is the parent company of WQED-TV (PBS); WQED-DT; WQED: The Neighborhood Channel; WQED-HD; WQEX-TV (A ShopNBC affiliate); WQED-FM 89.3/Pittsburgh; WQEJ-FM 89.7/Johnstown; a publishing division that includes PITTSBURGH MAGAZINE; local and national television and radio productions; WQED Interactive (www.wqed.org); and The WQED Education Department.

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Tag(s): Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh Area, Pittsburgh History, Historical program

 

Additional documents:
Black Horizons Hosts and Specials - A listing of hosts since 1968 and specials produced under the Black Horizons banner.