Alabama Public Television

Alabama Public Television
statewide Alabama
United States
Branding APT
Slogan America's First. Alabama's Only. Yours Exclusively
Channels Digital: see table below
Subchannels see table below
Affiliations PBS (since 1970)
Owner Alabama Educational Television Commission
First air date January 7, 1955 (1955-01-07)
Call letters' meaning all stations:
W
second letter: see table below
Intelligence
Quotient
Sister station(s) WLRH-FM Huntsville
Former affiliations NET (1955–1970)
Transmitter power see table below
Height see table below
Facility ID see table below
Transmitter coordinates see table below
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: Public Television Profile
Public Television CDBS
Website www.aptv.org

Alabama Public Television is a state network of PBS member television stations serving the U.S. state of Alabama. It is operated by the Alabama Educational Television Commission, which holds the licenses for all the PBS member stations licensed in the state. The broadcast signals of the nine stations cover almost all of the state, as well as parts of Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee. The network produces public affairs and documentary programming; broadcast and online education programs for classroom use and teacher professional development; and electronic field trips serving K-12 students.

The network's offices and network operations center are located in Birmingham. APT maintains offices and studio facilities located adjacent to Patterson Field in the state capital of Montgomery, as well as a small secondary studio located in the basement of the Alabama State House. APT also operates a studio in Washington, D.C., in partnership with the Folger Shakespeare Library. The AETC also operates a public radio station, WLRH (89.3 FM) in Huntsville.

History

APT logo, used from the 1960s to the 1980s.

Alabama was one of the earliest states to enter into educational television broadcasting when the Alabama General Assembly created the Alabama Educational Television Commission in 1953. In an unusual move at the time, the Commission requested allocations for four stations which would air the same programming at all times, fed from a central studio in Birmingham. At the time, it was apparent that much of the state outside of Birmingham, Montgomery, and Mobile was too poor and too rural to support a standalone educational station. The Commission thus wanted to ensure that all of the state's children would have access to educational television.

After two years of preparation, it signed on the nation's ninth educational television station, WEDM in Munford, serving Talladega. The transmitter was located atop Cheaha Mountain, the highest point in Alabama. When WBIQ in Birmingham came online in April 1955, Alabama became the first state in the nation with an educational television network. Alabama Educational Television made its first broadcast as a network shortly after WBIQ signed on. Since then, 25 other states have started public television networks, all based on Alabama's model. The network changed its name to the Alabama Public Television Network in the late 1960s, and shortened the name to simply Alabama Public Television in 1988.

APT's studio in Montgomery.

WAIQ in Andalusia (now WDIQ in Dozier) went on the air in August 1956, bringing APT to south Alabama for the first time before being reassigned to Montgomery in December 1962. WAIQ was the first APT station to broadcast a digital signal in 2003, on UHF channel 14, but that signal was later moved to channel 27 on account of Montgomery station WSFA signing on its digital signal on channel 14. Commercial-licensed station WALA-TV in Mobile donated its former transmitter in Spanish Fort to APT in 1964, allowing WEIQ to bring the network to Alabama's Gulf Coast counties that November. WEIQ's transmitter power was increased during the 1980s.

In 1976, the Federal Communications Commission delayed renewal of AETC's licenses due to APT's refusal to air programs pertaining to the Vietnam War or the African-American community. APT management feared that airing these types of programs would cause angry public officials to cut the network's funding and put the network's future in jeopardy. Therefore, APT followed orders by state officials not to air certain programming during the 1960s and 1970s. However, it has taken a more independent stance over the last 30 years. The AETC took over the operation of Huntsville public radio station WLRH in 1977.

In January 1982, a major ice storm caused the collapse of the WCIQ tower, which was then rebuilt.

In August 2004, APT began datacasting on its digital broadcast signals to distribute digital multimedia content to ten elementary and secondary schools, in a pilot program. The datacasting model was replaced by APTPLUS, an online distribution of multimedia content which became available to every school in Alabama via the Internet. Every public school in Alabama registered to use APTPLUS within its first year of operation. Many private school teachers and home school families are also registered users.

APT logo, used from the 1980s to the early 2000s.

For more than a quarter century, Alabama Public Television aired a nightly public affairs program, For the Record, covering statewide news and Alabama politics. The longest-running program of its kind on a PBS member station or regional or state network, it won an award for Best Local News Program from the National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA), an organization of public television stations. Capitol Journal succeeded For the Record in 2008 and is produced at APT's Statehouse studio in Montgomery.

APT began broadcasting a high definition channel (APT HD) in 2005. In December 2006 it launched a digital how-to channel featuring established cooking, gardening, decorating, crafts and sewing programs called APT Create. A third digital channel, APT IQ, debuted in March 2007. Originally called APT IQ, the channel became APT World in October 2012 and offers news and documentary programming.

Today, APT's mission continues to be focused mainly on education. It provides educational services to Alabamans online, on-air through three digital subchannels, and through outreach services to educators and service provides statewide.

Board members

The members of the Alabama Educational Television Commission Board as of 2012 are: Ferris W. Stephens, Chairman, Birmingham (6th congressional district), Gregory O. Griffin, Sr., Vice-Chairman, Montgomery (2nd congressional district), Dr. Rodney D. Herring, Secretary, Opelika (3rd congressional district), Bebe Williams, Huntsville (5th congressional district), Les Barnett, Mobile (1st congressional district) and Dr. Dannetta K. Thornton Owens, Birmingham (7th congressional district).

Stations

The Alabama Public Television stations are:

Station City of license Channels
TV / RF		 First air date Second letter
meaning		 ERP HAAT Transmitter coordinates Facility ID Public license
information
WAIQ Montgomery 26 (PSIP)
27 (UHF)		 December 18, 1962 Alabama 600 kW 178.7 m 32°22′55″N 86°17′33.3″W / 32.38194°N 86.292583°W / 32.38194; -86.292583 (WAIQ) 706 Profile
CDBS
WBIQ Birmingham 10 (PSIP)
10 (VHF)		 April 28, 1955 Birmingham 3 kW 426.2 m 33°29′4.5″N 86°48′25.5″W / 33.484583°N 86.807083°W / 33.484583; -86.807083 (WBIQ) 717 Profile
CDBS
WCIQ1 Mount Cheaha 7 (PSIP)
7 (VHF)		 January 7, 1955 Cheaha 34.8 kW 575.8 m 33°29′6.2″N 85°48′32.7″W / 33.485056°N 85.809083°W / 33.485056; -85.809083 (WCIQ) 711 Profile
CDBS
WDIQ2 Dozier 2 (PSIP)
10 (VHF)		 August 8, 1956 Dozier 30 kW 224.8 m 31°33′17″N 86°23′31.4″W / 31.55472°N 86.392056°W / 31.55472; -86.392056 (WDIQ) 714 Profile
CDBS
WEIQ Mobile 42 (PSIP)
41 (UHF)		 November 18, 1964 Educational 199 kW 185 m 30°39′33.9″N 87°53′33.5″W / 30.659417°N 87.892639°W / 30.659417; -87.892639 (WEIQ) 721 Profile
CDBS
WFIQ Florence 36 (PSIP)
22 (UHF)		 August 9, 1967 Florence 418.8 kW 207.6 m 34°34′41″N 87°47′1.8″W / 34.57806°N 87.783833°W / 34.57806; -87.783833 (WFIQ) 715 Profile
CDBS
WGIQ Louisville 43 (PSIP)
44 (UHF)		 September 9, 1968 Greater Alabama 925 kW 262 m 31°43′4.8″N 85°26′2.9″W / 31.718000°N 85.434139°W / 31.718000; -85.434139 (WGIQ) 710 Profile
CDBS
WHIQ Huntsville 25 (PSIP)
24 (UHF)		 November 15, 1965 Huntsville 396 kW 338.2 m 34°44′12.7″N 86°31′45.3″W / 34.736861°N 86.529250°W / 34.736861; -86.529250 (WHIQ) 713 Profile
CDBS
WIIQ Demopolis 41 (PSIP)
19 (UHF)		 September 13, 1970 Informational 1000 kW 324 m 32°21′46.1″N 87°52′30.5″W / 32.362806°N 87.875139°W / 32.362806; -87.875139 (WIIQ) 720 Profile
CDBS

Notes:

Coverage areas

Station Signal Reach
WAIQ Montgomery and the southern portion of the geographical center of the state
WBIQ Birmingham and the northern portion of the geographical center of Alabama, and the west central counties of the state including the city of Tuscaloosa
WCIQ Talladega, Anniston, Gadsden and Auburn, and the east central portion of the state to western Georgia, including the western outskirts of Metro Atlanta; also provides secondary signal for Birmingham
WDIQ The south central portion of the state to Interstate 10 in the Florida Panhandle
WEIQ Mobile and Baldwin counties along Alabama's Gulf Coast and several counties to the north as well as parts of southeastern Mississippi and the far western Florida Panhandle and the city of Pensacola
WFIQ Florence and the northwestern portion of the state and some counties in southern central Tennessee and northeastern Mississippi; secondary signal for Decatur
WGIQ Dothan and most of the southeastern portion of the state and some parts of southwestern Georgia; closest APTV signal to Phenix City
WHIQ Huntsville, Decatur and most of the north central and northeastern portion of the state as well as some counties in southern central Tennessee; secondary signal for Gadsden
WIIQ Much of southwestern Alabama in the region known as the "Black Belt" as well as Meridian and some counties in eastern central Mississippi; secondary signal for Tuscaloosa and Selma

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital channel is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]
x.1 720p 16:9 APT Main APT programming / PBS
x.2 480i 4:3 APT World
x.3 APT Create

Analog-to-digital conversion

Although the DTV Delay Act extended the mandatory deadline to June 12, 2009, APT shut down the analog signals of all ten stations as originally scheduled on February 17, 2009.[16]

On July 29, 2010 WBIQ received a construction permit to move its digital channel from channel 10 to channel 39.[17]

See also

References

External links

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