WETA-TV

WETA-TV virtual channel 26 (UHF digital channel 27) is a non-commercial educational PBS member television station licensed to and broadcasting from the capital city of Washington, District of Columbia, United States. The station is owned by the Greater Washington Educational Telecommunications Association, alongside sister radio outlet and NPR member station WETA (90.9 FM). WETA-TV's studios are located in nearby Arlington, Virginia, and its transmitter is located in the Tenleytown neighborhood in the northwest quadrant of Washington.

Among the programs produced by WETA that are distributed nationally by PBS are the PBS Newshour, Washington Week, and several nationally broadcast cultural and documentary programs, such as the Ken Burns' documentaries and A Capitol Fourth.

History

In 1952, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) allocated 242 channels for non-commercial use across the United States. Channel 26 was allocated for use in Washington, D.C. In 1953, the Greater Washington Educational Television Association was formed to develop programming for channel 26. GWETA credits Elizabeth Campbell with having founded the organization. In the early days, before it was granted a license for its own channel, the GWETA produced educational programming for WTTG.

Weta

Weta (plural weta) is the common name for a group of about 70 insect species in the families Anostostomatidae and Rhaphidophoridae, endemic to New Zealand. The word is from the Māori language, where singular and plural have the same form.

General characteristics

Many weta are large by insect standards and some species are among the largest and heaviest in the world. Their physical appearance is like a katydid, long-horned grasshopper, or cricket, but the hind legs are enlarged and usually very spiny. Many are wingless. Because they can cope with variations in temperature, weta are found in a variety of environments, including alpine, forests, grasslands, caves, shrub lands and urban gardens. They are nocturnal, and all New Zealand species are flightless. Different species have different diets. Most weta are predators or omnivores preying on other invertebrates, but the tree and giant weta eat mostly lichens, leaves, flowers, seed-heads, and fruit.

Weta can bite with powerful mandibles. Tree weta bites are painful but not particularly common. Weta can inflict painful scratches, with the potential of infection, but their defence displays consist of looking large and spiky, and they will retreat if given a chance. Tree weta arc their hind legs into the air in warning to foes, and then strike downwards, so the spines could scratch the eyes of a predator. Pegs or ridges at the base of the abdomen are struck by a patch of fine pegs at the base (inner surface) of the legs and this action makes a distinctive sound. These actions are also used in defence of a gallery by competing males. The female weta looks as if she has a stinger, but it is an ovipositor, which enables her to lay eggs inside rotting wood or soil. Some species of Hemiandrus have very short ovipositors, related perhaps to their burrowing into soil and laying their eggs in a special chamber at the end of the burrow.

Weta (insect)

Weta is a genus of cave weta in the family Rhaphidophoridae, endemic to New Zealand.

Species

References

External links

Weta (band)

Weta are a four piece rock band from Wellington, New Zealand.

The band was formed in 1995, and quickly developed an enviable live reputation, securing support slots for the likes of Everclear, The Foo Fighters and Soundgarden (after a Wellington Town Hall show, Soundgarden bassist Ben Shepherd presented Clinton Tokona with his Music Man bass guitar after falling out with it on stage).

In 1997 Aaron Tokona temporarily filled in on guitar for Adelaide, Australia band The Superjesus, after guitarist Chris Tennent left the band. When offered the position full-time, Tokona declined in order to concentrate on Weta. Impressed with his abilities as a guitarist, former Superjesus manager Dan Hennessy took a keen interest in the band and when he took over as A&R chief at Warner Bros. Records Australia, Weta were added to their roster and the band moved to Melbourne, Australia in 1998.

The band's first release came in 1999 with the Natural Compression EP, which had been recorded at Marmalade Studios in Wellington, with friend and Shihad drummer Tom Larkin producing.