The staff of PBS’ The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer is celebrating the program’s first high-definition broadcast, along with a new set and control room, both optimized for HD.

Pictured here are anchor/executive editor Jim Lehrer, executive producer Linda Winslow (left of Lehrer), and colleagues toasting the cutting-edge developments last night (additional names after the jump).

The first HD NewsHour broadcast occured Monday evening, and, according to a press release, PBS has more in HD to come: the network plans “approximately 24 hours of live, HD primetime coverage of the 2008 Democratic National Convention (in August)…and the Republican National Convention (in September).”

Front Row:
Les Crystal, MacNeil/Lehrer Productions President; Linda Winslow, NewsHour Exec. Producer; Jim Lehrer, Exec. Editor & Anchor; Kathleen McCleery, NewsHour Deputy Exec. Producer

Back Row:
Chris Lane, WETA-TV Vice President of Engineering (WETA-TV, Washington, D.C. is co-producer of The NewsHour); Chris Dee, MacNeil/Lehrer Productions Director of Production; Steve Howard, Director of the NewsHour; Chuck Nixon,WETA-TV Engineering Supervisor