| Alabama Public Television | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| statewide Alabama | |
| Branding | APT |
| Slogan | Learn something new every day. |
| Channels | Digital: see table below |
| Affiliations | PBS (since 1970) |
| Owner | Alabama Educational Television Commission |
| First air date | January 7, 1955 |
| 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 |
| Website | www.aptv.org |
Alabama Public Television is a network of PBS member stations serving the US state of Alabama. The stations are licensed by the Alabama Educational Television Commission, which was created by the Alabama state legislature in 1953. The broadcast signals of the nine stations cover almost all of the state, as well as parts of Florida, Mississippi and Tennessee. The network produces its own TV news and public affairs programming and broadcasts content produced by the state's universities for online education and course credit as well.
Contents |
History
Alabama was one of the earliest states to enter educational broadcasting when the state created the Alabama Educational Television Commission in 1953. After two years of preparation, it signed on the nation's ninth educational television station, WTIQ (now WCIQ) for Talladega, though the city of license was Munford. The transmitter was located atop Cheaha Mountain. When WBIQ in Birmingham came online in April, 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. Twenty-five other states have started public television networks, all based on Alabama's model. The network changed its name to Alabama Public Television in the early 1980s.
Today APT's mission continues to be focused mainly on education. It provides educational services to the people of Alabama online, on air from three digital and one analog channel, and through outreach services to educators and service provides statewide.
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 as Channel 14 in 2003, but it was later changed to physical (RF) TV channel 27 on account of Montgomery station WSFA. Station WALA-TV in Mobile donated its former transmitter in Spanish Fort to APT in 1964, allowing WEIQ to bring the network to Mobile and Baldwin counties in November. WEIQ's power was increased during the 1980s.
In 1976, the FCC 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 have put the network's future in jeopardy, due to potential losses of funding from outraged (politically conservative) public officials. 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.
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.
For longer than a quarter century, Alabama Public Television has aired a public affairs program, For the Record, which takes a very aggressive approach to covering state government. The longest-running program of its kind on a PBS affiliate or regional or state network, it airs every Friday evening at 9 p.m. For many years, it aired every night, but was reduced to its weekly slot in 2007 due to budget cuts. Capitol Journal, which covers the Alabama Legislature's activities, is aired on the third Friday of each month at 9:30 p.m.
APT began broadcasting a high definition channel (APT HD) in 2005. In December 2006 it launched a how-to channel featuring established cooking, gardening, decorating, crafts and sewing programs on APT Create. A family learning channel, APT IQ, began airing in March 2007.
Stations
As of 2009, the Alabama Public Television stations are:
Notes:
- 1. Virtual channel (PSIP).
- 2. WCIQ used the callsign WTIQ (the T standing for Talladega) from its 1955 sign-on until 1959 or 1960. Also, the station's city of license was previously Mount Cheaha State Park, where the station's tranamitter (and mountain) is located. For unknown reasons, Nielsen Media Research (and therefore the FCC) considers the station to be a part of the Atlanta, Georgia media market.[1]
- 3. WDIQ used the callsign WAIQ (the A standing for Andalusia) from its 1956 sign-on until sometime in the early 1960s.
- 4. The Broadcasting and Cable Yearbook says WEIQ signed on November 6, while the Television and Cable Factbook says it signed on November 18.
- 5. The Broadcasting and Cable Yearbook says WFIQ signed on August 16, while the Television and Cable Factbook says it signed on August 9.
- 6. The Broadcasting and Cable Yearbook says WHIQ signed on November 8, while the Television and Cable Factbook says it signed on November 15.
- 7. WIIQ signed on this date according to the Broadcasting and Cable Yearbook and some other sources. However, the Television and Cable Factbook says WIIQ signed on for the first time on September 13, 1970. WIIQ can be seen over the air in some areas of East Central Mississippi. (Ironically, Nielsen Marketing Research places the station as part of the Meridian Television market which covers two counties in West Central Alabama. The WIIQ tower is located in Marengo County, Alabama. Marengo County is assigned to the Montgomery television market.)
- 8. WBIQ and WCIQ will be returning to their original VHF channel assignments at the end of the digital switchover as the corresponding UHF DTV installations are on channels which will be out-of-band after 2009. There have also been issues with inability (or prohibitive cost) to provide coverage to the original WBIQ viewing area on these higher frequencies.[2]
| Station | Signal Reach |
| WAIQ | the southern portion of the geographical center of the state. |
| WBIQ | the northern portion of the geographical center of Alabama and the west central counties of the state including the city of Tuscaloosa to the Mississippi state line |
| WCIQ | the east central portion of the state to the Georgia state line |
| WDIQ | the south central portion of the state to the Florida state line |
| WEIQ | Mobile and Baldwin counties along Alabama's Gulf Coast and several counties to the north as well as parts of southeastern Mississippi and northwestern Florida |
| WFIQ | the northwestern portion of the state and some counties in southern central Tennessee and northeastern Mississippi |
| WGIQ | most of the southeastern portion of the state and some parts of southwestern Georgia |
| WHIQ | most of the north central and northeastern portion of the state as well as some counties in southern central Tennessee |
| WIIQ | much of southwestern Alabama in the region known as the "Black Belt" as well as some counties in eastern central Mississippi |
On all stations, HDTV is on subchannel 1. The date the station commenced broadcasting is in parentheses. The network's offices and network operations center are located in Birmingham, but APT also operates a studio in Montgomery (the state capital) for pledge drives and For the Record. The AETC has operated a public radio station, WLRH 89.3 FM, in Huntsville, since 1977.
Digital television
The network's digital signals are multiplexed:
Digital channels
| Sub-channel | Programming |
|---|---|
| x.1 | APT HD |
| x.2 | APT IQ |
| x.3 | APT Create |
After analog shutdown
Although the DTV Delay Act extended the mandatory deadline to June 12, APT intends to end all analog service as originally scheduled on February 17, 2009. [3]
- WAIQ, WEIQ, WFIQ, WGIQ, WHIQ, and WIIQ remained on their respective, pre-transition channel numbers (27, 41, 22, 44, 24, and 19); [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]
- WBIQ and WCIQ returned to channels (10 and 7); [10] [11]
- WDIQ moved its digital broadcasts to channel 10. [12]
Using PSIP to display virtual channels for each APT station corresponding to their former analog channels.
Previous logos
 1960's/1970's/1980's |
 1980's/1990's/early 2000's |
References
- ^ http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-09-221A5.pdf
- ^ http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-07-90A1.pdf
- ^ http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf
- ^ CDBS Print
- ^ CDBS Print
- ^ CDBS Print
- ^ CDBS Print
- ^ CDBS Print
- ^ CDBS Print
- ^ CDBS Print
- ^ CDBS Print
- ^ CDBS Print
See also
External links
- Alabama Public Television
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WAIQ
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WBIQ
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WCIQ
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WDIQ
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WEIQ
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WFIQ
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WGIQ
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WHIQ
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WIIQ
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WAIQ-TV
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WBIQ-TV
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WCIQ-TV
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WDIQ-TV
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WEIQ-TV
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WFIQ-TV
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WGIQ-TV
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WHIQ-TV
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WIIQ-TV
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