PBS Western Reserve is the PBS service of WNEO (Alliance) and WEAO (Akron), based in Kent, Ohio. It brings public television, regional productions and PreK-12 educational services to Northeast Ohio and Western Pennsylvania.
PBS Western Reserve is the public television service for Northeast Ohio and Western Pennsylvania. It is the business name of Northeastern Educational Television of Ohio, Inc. (NETO), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation that began as a consortium of the University of Akron, Kent State University and Youngstown State University. Its operations center and administrative offices are at 1750 W. Campus Center Drive in Kent, Ohio, on the Kent State campus.
The organization runs two separately licensed PBS member stations that simulcast all programming. WNEO, established in 1971 and licensed to Alliance, serves the Youngstown market from a transmitter in Salem. WEAO, on the air since 1975 and licensed to Akron, serves the Cleveland-Akron-Canton market from a transmitter in Copley. A third transmitter, W13DP-D, reaches low-lying areas of the Mahoning Valley. The station describes itself as serving the largest population of Ohio's eight PBS member stations, with its broadcast channels available to 4.9 million viewers.
Alongside the main PBS Western Reserve channel, it broadcasts Fusion, a mix of arts and culture, public affairs, regional productions and BBC programming, and FNX, which carries Native content from tribes across the United States. It produces regional programming, works with independent producers in the region, and streams more than 100 hours of original regional video on its website, the PBS App and PBS.org. More than 16,000 members support the station, which publishes a monthly member Program Guide.
Its Educational Services division, funded by donors and grants, serves PreK-12 students and educators across the viewing area with instructional programming, locally produced multimedia curriculum projects and in-school technology and consultation services, and is part of Ohio's statewide network of educational technology agencies.
PBS Western Reserve has a staff of about 22 and offers paid internships; its most recent FCC EEO report lists interns in production, educational services and marketing. It hires across development and corporate support, production, educational services, marketing, administration and operations and engineering, and posts openings on its website jobs page and through Indeed.
In September 2026 PBS Western Reserve and Ideastream Public Media announced that both boards had approved an agreement to merge. Once the transaction is complete the combined organization will operate as Ideastream Public Media, with WNEO and WEAO continuing as PBS member stations alongside WVIZ. The organizations have said no layoffs are planned and every employee has a place in the combined organization.
