American Experience, originally titled The American Experience, is an American television program and a PBS documentary series created by Peter McGhee. The series airs documentaries about significant historical events or figures in United States history. The show is produced primarily by WGBH-TV, a television station and PBS affiliate located in Boston, Massachusetts. WGBH-TV creates non-commercial educational programs and distributes them on public television stations throughout the United States. However, other PBS affiliate stations, such as WNET in New York City, have co-produced episodes for the television series. Since the program's debut on October 4, 1988, American Experience has broadcast 355 new episodes and has been a recipient of over 265 broadcast and web awards.