Alabama Public Television - History

History

Alabama was one of the earliest states to enter educational television broadcasting when the Alabama General Assembly created the Alabama Educational Television Commission in 1953. 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, 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 late 1960s.

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 aired a public affairs program, For the Record, which took 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 aired nightly for many years beginning in the late 1970s, but was reduced to a weekly slot in 2007 due to budget cuts. Capitol Journal, which covers the Alabama Legislature's activities, succeeded FTR, and production moved to Birmingham when the Montgomery studio closed in 2011.

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.