Updated markers are coming to Shirlington next year in honor of a husband and wife who made waves in Arlington civic life for more than half a century.
The Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board (HARLB) has approved a request from Federal Realty Investment Trust to replace the existing markers honoring Edmund and Elizabeth Campbell.
County Board members are honoring WETA’s upcoming 61st birthday and pledging to support the public-media outlet as it faces budget challenges and a hostile Trump administration.
“We are extremely proud to defend you and stand by you,” Board Chair Takis Karantonis said on Sept. 16 during the presentation of a proclamation honoring the organization’s first day on the air: Oct. 2, 1961.
Tough times are ahead for WETA, the Shirlington-based producer of the “PBS News Hour” and other public programming, following millions of dollars in federal funding cuts.
Congress’s decision to withdraw $1.1 billion from public broadcasting nationwide will cost WETA $9 million in previously allocated funds during both of the next two fiscal years — a roughly 7% cut to the station’s budget.
The spotlight is on South Arlington in an upcoming episode of WETA’s local real estate television series, “If You Lived Here,” which airs next week.
The episode and season finale showcases three homes in the Four Mile Run area and in the Fairlington and Claremont neighborhoods. Part of the series’ fourth season exploring D.C.-area homes, the episode premieres this Monday, March 24.
Students from two Arlington high schools will put their knowledge to the test in a teen quiz show airing new episodes throughout March.
Bishop Dennis J. O’Connell and Washington-Liberty High School students will compete against other high-achieving students from D.C. area schools on “It’s Academic.”
The $50 million renovation of WETA’s headquarters in Shirlington is nearing completion.
After about two years, the local public broadcasting station WETA is set to finish off its 17,000-square-foot expansion on Campbell Avenue later this year. The refresh will include four floors of studios, offices, a consolidated headquarters, and more large spaces for public gatherings and screenings, Vice-President of External Affairs Mary Stewart told ARLnow.
After 61 years with D.C.’s local NBC station, the teen quiz show “It’s Academic” has a new broadcast home: WETA-TV in Arlington.
And the inaugural episode on the public TV station will feature a team of three Arlington students from Washington-Liberty High School, who will face teams from Herndon High School and W.T. Woodson High School in Fairfax County.
A proposal to expand public television station WETA’s Shirlington headquarters has been approved by the Arlington County Board.
The station is planning to construct a four-story addition between the existing office building, at 3939 Campbell Avenue, and its parking garage. The 17,000 square foot addition would then house the WETA studios that produce the national PBS NewsHour broadcast, allowing the current NewsHour studios to be razed and used to expand Jennie Dean Park.
(Updated at 4:15 p.m.) It was a seemingly uncontroversial item on the County Board agenda: shifting a temporary parking lot for television station WETA down the block, in order to allow renovations to Jennie Dean Park to proceed.
But the proposal, which was approved unanimously last night after a detailed discussion, ended up raising questions about race, equity and public engagement. It was the subject of a recent op-ed published by the Sun Gazette entitled “Arlington government again fails Green Valley,” accusing the county of repeatedly ignoring the wishes of the historically Black neighborhood.
Progress is being made on an expansion plan for public broadcaster WETA’s Shirlington offices.
The plan is to construct a four-story addition between the existing office building, at 3939 Campbell Avenue, and its above-ground parking garage. The 17,000 square foot addition would then house the WETA studios — and the approximately 130 employees, according to county documents — that produce the national PBS NewsHour broadcast.
With a key bit of planning work on the Four Mile Run valley in Nauck wrapped up, the county is pushing ahead with the development of additional design guidelines for parks and other features in the area.
Arlington is currently soliciting feedback on both a park master plan and an area plan to guide the valley’s future, and will accept comments on both through Aug. 20.
Arlington County is considering buying property owned by local PBS affiliate WETA in the Four Mile Run Valley, as part of a park expansion project and a plan to keep WETA’s headquarters in Shirlington.
Under a deal announced yesterday (Thursday), the county has an option to purchase the WETA studio at 3620 27th Street S., and use the land for the future expansion of Jennie Dean Park. If WETA’s Board of Trustees approves the plan, a sale could happen in the next two years.
