Georgia Public Broadcasting


Georgia Public Broadcasting is a state network of PBS member television stations and NPR member radio stations serving the U.S. state of Georgia. It is operated by the Georgia Public Telecommunications Commission, an agency of the Georgia state government which holds the licenses for most of the PBS and NPR member stations licensed in the state. The broadcast signals of the nine television stations and 19 radio stations cover almost all of the state, as well as parts of Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.
The network's headquarters and primary radio and television production facilities are located on 14th Street in Midtown Atlanta, just west of the Downtown Connector in the Home Park neighborhood. The facility and GPB are also a major part of Georgia's film and television industry, and in addition to commercial production occurring at the GPB facilities, some production companies also rent production offices from GPB.

History

On May 23, 1960, the University of Georgia signed on WGTV, the second educational television station in Georgia. From 1960 to 1964, in a separate initiative, the Georgia Board of Education launched four educational television stations across the state, aimed at providing in-school instruction. In 1965, UGA and the Board of Education merged their efforts as Georgia Educational Television. The state network was renamed Georgia Public Television in 1970, one year after the state legislature transferred authority for the stations to the Georgia Public Telecommunications Commission, the board that oversees GPB. The commission held the licenses for all of the network's stations except flagship WGTV, which remained licensed to UGA but was operated by the commission. However, in 1982, UGA sold WGTV's license to the GPTC.
In 1984, the GPTC entered into public radio, launching stations in Macon and Columbus. These formed the nuclei of Peach State Public Radio, which was eventually 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. This would eventually become the umbrella title for all GPB operations in early 2004, when GPTV and Georgia Public Radio simultaneously rebranded under the Georgia Public Broadcasting name.
GPB's 14th Street office/production facility in Midtown Atlanta 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 studio facilities were used for the production of the first season of the CBS Television Distribution-syndicated program Swift Justice With Nancy Grace, via a subsidy by the Georgia Film, Music and Digital Entertainment Office, and received an on-screen credit at the end of each episode. As of the summer of 2014, another syndicated court program, Lauren Lake's Paternity Court, now uses the GPB facilities under the same arrangement.
GPB has experienced significant controversy within the past 20 years or so, including extravagant expenses in constructing the Midtown Atlanta studios mentioned above, accusations of political manipulation by the governor's office in the administration and affairs of the operation, cronyism in hiring a former state senator, Chip Rogers, to host a radio program, and most recently, the network's arrangement to program most of the broadcast day of WRAS, the student-run radio station of Georgia State University in Atlanta. These have been documented by the public broadcasting trade website Current.org.

GPB Television

GPB Television broadcasts PBS programming and statewide programs produced specifically for the GPB network 24 hours a day on a network of nine full-power stations as well as numerous low-power translator stations. Certain programs broadcast by GPB Television feature a Descriptive Video Service track that is audible over the second audio program channel of each station; GPB Radio feeds could previously be heard during times when DVS-transcribed programs were not airing, prior to the 2009 digital television transition. All stations within the GPB Television network act as rebroadcasters, simulcasting the network's programming at all times. GPB-produced programs include Gardening in Georgia, Georgia Backroads, Georgia's Business, Georgia Outdoors and Georgia Traveler, as well as annual coverage of the Georgia General Assembly when it is in legislative session early in the year. Live coverage of the football and basketball championship games from the Georgia High School Association is broadcast at the end of their respective seasons.
on the GPB Knowledge channel; note the prior logo.
GPB Television also operates four digital subchannels that are carried on most of its stations: GPB Knowledge debuted in September 2008, but officially launched on October 1 of that year. GPB Knowledge carries programming from the World network during prime time hours, and GPB documentary and news programming at other times. It replaced GPB Education, which is still available to schools statewide on demand over the Internet. GPB Kids, launched in January 2009 as the second digital subchannel of the GPBTV stations, replacing the standard-definition feed of GPB's main channel. GPB Kids aired 24/7 with content from PBS Kids. During December 2008, the subchannel carried only a static station identification for all nine stations, and the electronic program guide for the channel continued to show main channel information for the GPBTV stations. In March 2015, GPB Kids was replaced with Create. In January 2017, PBS Kids 24/7 was launched, being the fourth digital subchannel of the GPB TV stations.

Television stations

Each of GPB's television stations identify themselves with two locations—usually, the smaller community where the station is licensed by the Federal Communications Commission and the larger city that it serves. The exceptions are WVAN-TV and WJSP-TV, which are actually licensed in major Georgia cities: WVAN-TV is licensed to Savannah, while WJSP-TV is licensed to Columbus. However, in order to conform to the pattern, GPB lists the locations for the stations' transmitters as the second city.
This rule only applies to the television stations, not to those on radio, which, except for two, bear only the city of license.
The GPB television stations are:
StationCity of license1
Channels
VC / RF		FoundedERPHAATTransmitter coordinatesFacility IDPublic license informationCall letters' meaning
Athens
8
8 		21 kW23948
W Georgia Television
Waycross
8
8 		20 kW23929
Waycross, Georgia
Savannah
9
9 		20 kW23947
Ernest Vandiver
Pelham
14
6 		3.8 kW23917
W Albany and West Georgia
Chatsworth
18
33 		426 kW23942
North Georgia Highlands
Wrens
20
6 		30 kW23937
Central-East Georgia and South Carolina
Dawson
25
8 		6 kW23930
AmericuS
Columbus
28
5 		250 kW23918
James S. Peters
Cochran
29
7 		22 kW23935
Mercer University Macon

;Footnotes
On December 23, 2010, the University of Georgia announced that it would enter into a programming partnership with GPB, which would provide all programming for the university-owned WNEG-TV in Toccoa, with most of the content coming from its GPB Knowledge subchannel. The station filed with the FCC to convert WNEG's station license to non-commercial status. The new partnership between UGA and GPB is due to a reduction of advertising dollars, resulting from the economic downturn and the loss of WNEG's CBS affiliation. At 5:30 am on May 1, 2011, the station began carrying GPB Knowledge programming; the following day, its call letters were changed to WUGA-TV. UGA sold WUGA-TV to Marquee Broadcasting in 2015; at 12:01 am on July 1, 2015, the new owners dropped all GPB Knowledge programming, changed the station's call letters to WGTA, and returned the station to commercial operation with programming from the Heroes & Icons, Decades, and Movies! networks.

Digital television

WGTV, WXGA-TV, and WVAN-TV were the first GPB stations to begin operating their own digital television signals. The other six stations signed on their digital signals in July 2008. The ERP/HAAT figures listed within the table for those stations are based on those listed in the stations' individual Wikipedia articles, though some of the stations were operating at low power, and only upgraded to full-power when the digital transition occurred.

Digital channels

The digital signals of GPB's TV stations are multiplexed:
ChannelVideoAspectPSIP Short NameProgramming
xx.11080iMain GPB programming / PBS
xx.2480iCreateCreate
xx.3480iKnowledgeGPB Knowledge
xx.4480iKidsPBS Kids

All nine stations carry the same programming from each of the four channels, but channel labels differ somewhat between the stations.

Analog-to-digital conversion

The GPB Television stations shut down their analog signals on February 17, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television.
Each stations' post-transition digital allocations are as follows:
GPB has placed most of its stations on VHF due to the lower effective radiated power requirements, which in turn reduces the cost of purchasing the transmitter and using the electrical power for it. For WABW and WCES, this makes them one of the few television stations in the country to operate on low-band VHF channels, which require larger receiving antennas, are prone to tropospheric ducting and impulse noise, make mobile TV difficult, and for 5 and 6 are also an obstacle to expanding the FM broadcast band. The high-band VHF channels also have these problems, but not to a major extent.

Cable and satellite availability

GPB Television's various stations are carried on all cable providers in Georgia. Additionally, Savannah's WVAN is carried on cable systems on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina; Columbus' WJSP is carried on cable systems in Phenix City and Auburn, Alabama; and Augusta's WCES is carried on most cable systems in Aiken and Edgefield, South Carolina. WABW is carried on Comcast's system in Tallahassee, Florida.
On satellite, WGTV, WVAN, WCES, WJSP, WNUM, WABW, WNGH, and WXGA are carried on the Atlanta, Savannah, Augusta, Columbus, Macon, Albany, Chattanooga, and Jacksonville DirecTV and Dish Network feeds, respectively.

Broadcast translators

GPB Television operates several low-power translator stations located in the hilly terrain of the north Georgia mountains. These include:
StationCity of licenseNotes
W13DJ-D
CarrolltonDigital signal reaches parts of Carroll County in northern west-central Georgia, replaced W49AD in late summer 2009
W08EG-D
ToccoaSignal reaches parts of Stephens and Habersham counties in northeastern Georgia, and replaced W68AF
W11DD-D
Hartwell/RoystonSignal reaches Hart and neighboring counties in northeastern Georgia, replaced analog W22AC
W12DK-D
Young HarrisLocated on Brasstown Bald with future GPB station WBTB FM;
was formerly W04BJ, whose signal from a different site reached parts of Towns and Union counties in far north-northeastern Georgia,
off-air since May 2008 due to an equipment failure

The first two translators directly repeat WGTV, the third directly repeats WCES, and the fourth directly repeats WNGH. W49AD in downtown Carrollton formerly repeated WJSP, while W13DJ-D is located outside of town.

Former translators

The following translators were abandoned by GPB, which had their licenses cancelled by the FCC, apparently at GPB's request, possibly due to the expense of running and upgrading them.
City of licenseChannel #Notes
Carnesville52Signal reached parts of Franklin County in northeastern Georgia; directly repeated WGTV
Cedartown65Signal reached parts of Polk and Floyd counties in northwestern Georgia; directly repeated WNGH
Draketown27Signal reached parts of Haralson and Paulding counties in northwestern Georgia; directly repeated WNGH
Elberton60Signal reached parts of Elbert County in northeastern Georgia; directly repeated WGTV
Flintstone51Signal reached parts of Walker, Dade, and Catoosa counties in Northwestern Georgia, as well as parts of Hamilton County and Chattanooga, Tennessee; directly repeated WNGH
LaFayette35Signal reached parts of Walker and Dade counties in northwestern Georgia; directly repeated WWNGH
Hiawassee50Signal reached parts of Towns and Rabun counties in northeastern Georgia, digital coverage provided by W04BJ's replacement

Television programs

Series

GPB Radio broadcasts 24 hours a day on several FM radio stations across the state, except in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The network had previously operated a translator station in Atlanta, W264AE, which broadcast from a transmission tower located in the city's downtown district. However, it was forced to go silent when full-power station WWWQ moved from Anniston, Alabama into the Atlanta market on an adjacent channel. Despite having almost no presence in metropolitan Atlanta prior to 2014, the network reaches nearly all the rest of Georgia, plus parts of Alabama, Florida, South Carolina and Tennessee. Atlanta-area listeners heard NPR programming on locally licensed stations WABE and WCLK instead.

WRAS-Atlanta controversy

On May 6, 2014, Georgia State University announced an arrangement allowing Georgia Public Broadcasting to program the University's station WRAS from 5a.m. to 7p.m. daily, leaving 7p.m. to 5a.m. as the only remaining student airtime. This took effect on June 29. In exchange, GPB promised to provide internships at GPB for GSU students and other media collaborations between the two institutions, with WRAS broadcasting a separate feed from the main statewide network. The announcement immediately prompted intense opposition and denunciations from WRAS listeners, staffers, and GSU alumni, going so far as evoking a protest at GSU's commencement ceremony, a social media campaign with the tag #savewras, and a petition with more than 10,000 signatories on Change.org. Some of them have made accusations of secrecy and even illegality surrounding the transaction as they protested that the alternative rock format was unique to the Atlanta market and that it was being displaced by programming that largely duplicated offerings on WABE. This has led to a public effort to boycott GPB and its underwriters.
Despite these protests, the network announced plans to increase news and talk programming later in 2014 to cater to WRAS listeners.

Programming

Most of the stations presently air a mix of classical music, and news and talk programming sourced from NPR; however, some stations carry select locally produced programming. WRAS airs NPR news and talk programming during the hours that GPB programs it.
Previously, GPB Radio was transmitter over the second audio program feed of GPB's television stations at most times prior to the 2009 digital television transition. GPB Radio is still audible through this function on DirecTV, but not GPB's digital television stations or on cable for unknown reasons.
GPB Radio stations in southern and southeastern Georgia also relay hurricane evacuation information for listeners approaching or leaving Georgia's Atlantic Coast or the Florida Panhandle. Signs along interstate and other major highways in the region direct the evacuee to the nearest GPB Radio station carrying the emergency information.

Radio stations

WGPB and WNGH were commercial radio stations purchased by a GPB foundation in the late 2000s, hence their location outside of the 88-92 MHz reserved band.
Except for W250AC in Athens and the former W264AE in Atlanta, none of the translator stations are owned by GPB/GPTC, but rather by Radio Assist Ministry and Edgewater Broadcasting, two related companies that speculatively apply for such stations during FCC filing windows, assign them to non-commercial educational "parent" stations to avoid broadcast license fees, then rent or sell them to other stations for a profit. While many more RAM/EB stations are assigned to rebroadcast GPB stations in the FCC database, only these five are .

GPB Education

GPB Education serves state agencies and the Georgia learning community through the use of telecommunications technology. GPB delivers high-quality educational programming that reflects state standards to Georgia classrooms using the GPB satellite network, open-air television, and the GPB video streaming portal. GPB provides professional development to Georgia educators through face-to-face trainings, satellite-delivered programs, and interactive webcasts. GPB also meets the training needs of state agencies through its video production, satellite broadcast, and interactive webcasting services, as well as through its extensive digital library.
GPB is currently transitioning its GPB Education programming from direct broadcast satellite to digital terrestrial television, through its GPB Knowledge subchannel.

Departments

GPB News

GPB News is the news department of Georgia Public Broadcasting. It is responsible for providing news updates to both GPB Radio and GPB Television, and collaborates with the Atlanta Business Chronicle to produce the program Georgia Business News. The legislative discussion program Prime Time Lawmakers provided coverage and commentary on the Georgia General Assembly throughout each session; it aired from 1971 to 2014, when it was replaced by "On the Story".

GPB Sports

GPB Sports produces news coverage and commentary on sports throughout the state, with an emphasis on high school football. It produces the programs GPB SportsCentral, PrepSports and Road to the Dome.