Georgia Public Broadcasting - History

History

In 1960, the University of Georgia began WGTV, Georgia's second public television station (after WETV, now WPBA). From 1960 to 1964, in a separate initiative, the Georgia Board of Education started up four educational television stations across the state, aimed at in-school instruction. In 1965, the university and the board merged their efforts as Georgia Educational Television (GETV). It became Georgia Public Television (GPTV) in 1983, a year after the state legislature transferred authority for the stations to the Georgia Public Telecommunications Commission, the oversight board for GPB.

In 1984, the GPTC entered public radio for the first time, starting stations in Macon and Columbus. These formed the nuclei of Peach State Public Radio, renamed Georgia Public Radio in 2001. During the 1980s and 1990s, stations that had been operated by other educational institutions and community groups became affiliated with the network.

In 1995, the GPTC began using "Georgia Public Broadcasting" as its corporate name. In early 2004, GPTV and Georgia Public Radio officially became known as Georgia Public Broadcasting, which now serves as an umbrella title for all GPB operations.

Its headquarters and primary radio and television production facility is on Fourteenth Street in Midtown Atlanta, just west of the Downtown Connector in the Home Park neighborhood, north of Georgia Tech and south of Atlantic Station. This facility caused some controversy when, because of its inherently educational nature, GPB was allowed to use Georgia Lottery funds for construction of the mid-rise building.

The GPB studios were used for the first-season production of the syndicated CBS Television Distribution program Swift Justice With Nancy Grace via a subsidy by the Georgia Film, Music & Digital Entertainment Office, and was credited as such at the end of each episode. Production of that series was moved to Los Angeles for its second season.