Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) 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 Establishing the network On May 23, 1960, the University of Georgia signed on WGTV, the second educational television station in Georgia (after Atlanta's WETV, later WPBA, now WABE-TV). 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. This evolved into the Georgia Educational Television Network, which aired Board of Education-produced classes for schools and evening programming from WGTV. WGTV moved its transmitter to Stone Mountain in 1969, adding Atlanta to its coverage area.
In November 1980, Governor George Busbee proposed the consolidation of WGTV with the state's network of transmitters into a new Georgia Public Telecommunications Council and also called for said body to negotiate to buy WETV from the Atlanta Board of Education. The Georgia state senate approved the bill, but it stalled in the House of Representatives due to the objections of Athens-area members and those involved with the UGA station. After the legislative session ended, Governor Busbee revived the proposal by executive order. On January 1, 1982, the new council took operational control of WGTV, and the combined service rebranded as Georgia Public Television; by June 1982, after the expiration of remaining program contracts, WGTV was fully incorporated into the network, and UGA's role was reduced to program supplier.
Growth into radio In February 1985, the GPTC entered into public radio, launching stations serving Macon, Columbus and Valdosta in the first year. These formed the nuclei of Peach State Public Radio, which provided the first public radio services to much of Georgia; previously, only Atlanta and Savannah had public stations. During the 1980s and 1990s, stations that had been operated by other educational institutions and community groups became affiliated with the network. The service was renamed Georgia Public Radio in 2001.
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 January 2004, when GPTV and Georgia Public Radio simultaneously rebranded under the Georgia Public Broadcasting name.
New studios and new scandals The late 1990s were a time of political scandal for GPB. In 1997, the agency used Georgia Lottery funds earmarked for technology to build its present facility in Midtown, later cited as one of several unnecessary projects using lottery monies. Financial mismanagement led Governor Roy Barnes in 1999 to oust the executive director, Vernon Rogers, and board of directors, appointing longtime state auditor Claude Vickers to turn around a three-year deficit nearing $7 million. The ouster of Rogers came after an audit revealed that the agency had a stack of accounts receivable, the oldest of them 12 years old; a bank loan that the Georgia legislature never approved; and had misplaced $1 million in equipment. Under Vickers, GPB cut expenses by $5.2 million without cutting radio or television program production and had its first positive audit in six years.
As the audiovisual industry has grown in Georgia, GPB studios have been used for the production of commercial television programming. The studio facilities were used for the production of the first season of the CBS Television Distribution-syndicated program Swift Justice with Nancy Grace; production of that series was moved to Los Angeles for its second and final season, with a new judge under the new name Swift Justice with Jackie Glass. In 2014, another syndicated court show, Lauren Lake's Paternity Court, began using the GPB facilities under the same arrangement; in 2017, it was joined by Couples Court with the Cutlers.
GPB is an agency under the oversight of the governor, which has led to concerns of political connections in the broadcasting operation. In 2012, the director of the agency hired state senator Chip Rogers to host a program on a direct recommendation from Nathan Deal; the arrangement was panned by former NPR president Vivian Schiller and seen as a way to land the politician in a favorable position. Rogers was let go from GPB in 2014.
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 (especially in the state's mountainous northeastern counties). Certain programs broadcast by GPB Television (mainly those provided by PBS) feature a Descriptive Video Service track that is audible over the second audio program (SAP) 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.
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 (including BBC World News) 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 (which mirrored each station's analog 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 (including the GPB/PBS Kids logo), 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 (almost always the station's transmitter location) 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: Call sign City of license FID ERP HAAT Transmitter coordinates Founded FCC info Call letter meaning WABW-TV 14 (6) Pelham 23917 Bob Wright, vice chair of the State Board of Education WACS-TV 25 (7) Dawson 23930 Americus WCES-TV 20 (6) Wrens 23937 Then-Governor Carl E. Sanders WGTV 8 (7) Athens 23948 "Georgia Television" WJSP-TV 28 (5) Columbus 23918 James S. Peters, then-president of the Georgia State Board of Education WMUM-TV 29 (9) Cochran 23935 Mercer University Macon WNGH-TV 18 (4) Chatsworth 23942 "North Georgia Highlands" WVAN-TV 9 (8) Savannah 23947 Former Governor Ernest Vandiver WXGA-TV 8 (7) Waycross 23929 "Waycross, Georgia" (the "X" referring to "cross")
Footnotes
Broadcast translators GPB Television operates several low-power translator stations located in the hilly terrain of the north Georgia mountains. These include:
City of license Call sign Channel Translating FID ERP HAAT Transmitter coordinatesCarrollton 23 WJSP 28 167054 8.1 kW Young Harris 25 WNGH 18 23945 5 kW Toccoa 28 WGTV 7 23924 15 kW Hartwell & Royston 32 WCES-TV 20 23928 15 kW
Former translators The following translators were abandoned by GPB, which had their licenses (and in some cases, digital applications and permits) cancelled by the FCC, apparently at GPB's request, possibly due to the expense of running and upgrading them. City of license Channel # Notes Carnesville 52 (UHF) Signal reached parts of Franklin County in northeastern Georgia; directly repeated WGTV Cedartown 65 (UHF) Signal reached parts of Polk and Floyd counties in northwestern Georgia; directly repeated WNGH Draketown 27 (UHF) Signal reached parts of Haralson and Paulding counties in northwestern Georgia; directly repeated WNGH Elberton 60 (UHF) Signal reached parts of Elbert County in northeastern Georgia; directly repeated WGTV Flintstone 51 (UHF) Signal reached parts of Walker, Dade, and Catoosa counties in Northwestern Georgia, as well as parts of Hamilton County and Chattanooga, Tennessee; directly repeated WNGH LaFayette 35 (UHF) Signal reached parts of Walker and Dade counties in northwestern Georgia; directly repeated WNGH Hiawassee 50 (UHF) Signal reached parts of Towns and Rabun counties in northeastern Georgia, digital coverage provided by W04BJ's replacement
WUGA-TV
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 (channel 32) 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.Application for Consent to Assignment of Broadcast Station Construction Permit or License The partnership between UGA and GPB was due to a reduction of advertising dollars, resulting from an economic downturn and the loss of WNEG's CBS affiliation (the station had been with CBS since August 1995, receiving affiliation as a by-product of the CBS programming moving in the adjacent Atlanta market from WAGA-TV [channel 5] to WGCL-TV [channel 46] in December 1994). 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 MeTV, Heroes & Icons, Decades, and Movies! networks.
Digital television