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 |
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.
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.