WQPT-TV
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| Moline-Rock Island, Illinois/Davenport, Iowa | |
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| Branding | WQPT |
| Slogan | Quad Cities PBS |
| Channels | Digital: 23 (UHF) Virtual: 24 (PSIP) |
| Subchannels | 24.1 PBS 24.2 MHz Worldview |
| Translators | W48CK Sterling Analog |
| Affiliations | PBS |
| Owner | Western Illinois University Quad Cities |
| First air date | November 2, 1983 |
| Call letters' meaning | We're Quad Cities Public Television |
| Former callsigns | Digital: WQPT-DT (2002–2009) |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 24 (1983–2009) |
| Transmitter power | 80 kW |
| Height | 269 m |
| Class | Non-commercial educational |
| Facility ID | 5468 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 41°18′44.5″N 90°22′46.2″W / 41.312361°N 90.3795°W |
| Website | www.wqpt.org |
WQPT-TV is the PBS member station for the Quad Cities region of northwestern Illinois and eastern Iowa, broadcasting on digital channel 23 (remapping to former analog channel 24 via PSIP). It is owned by Western Illinois University-Quad Cities, which is located in Moline, Illinois; where the station is licensed. The station also currently operates an analog repeater station W48CK in Sterling, Illinois on channel 48.
The station signed on November 2, 1983.[1] It was owned by Black Hawk College, a junior college in Moline. Until then, Iowa Public Television's Iowa City outlet, KIIN-TV, had been providing at least grade B coverage to most of the market (its transmitter was intentionally located at West Branch, halfway between Cedar Rapids and Davenport, in order to serve both the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City area and the Quad Cities). KIIN was available on many Quad Cities cable systems for many years after WQPT's sign-on. Many cable systems on the Illinois side of the market also carried Chicago's WTTW and/or Peoria's WTVP.
From 1992 to 2003, WQPT operated a satellite station, KQCT in Davenport. After WQPT boosted its signal to better cover the Iowa side of the market, it sold KQCT to Iowa Public Television, who renamed it KQIN.
In May 2010, Black Hawk College sold WQPT to Western Illinois University-Quad Cities. At that time, the station moved from its longtime home on Black Hawk's campus to rented space in the Crown Center office complex in Moline. A new studio is being built on WIU-QC's Riverfront Campus, and channel 24 expects to move there as early as 2012.
In August 2010, WQPT launched a 24-hour broadcast schedule on both its main/traditional service (channel 24.1) and its MHz Worldview subchannel affiliation (channel 24.2). The move left WHBF-TV and KQIN as the last TV stations in the Quad Cities to sign-off during the overnight hours (WHBF would go to a 24-hour schedule as well in the fall of 2011).
[edit] Digital television
WQPT-TV's signal is multiplexed:
| Virtual Channel |
Physical RF Channel |
Video | Aspect | Name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24.1 | 23.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | WQPT-HD | Main WQPT Programming / PBS HD |
| 24.2 | 23.2 | 480i | 4:3 | WQPT-SD | MHz Worldview |
On May 25, 2009, WQPT-TV prematurely ended analog broadcasts when its analog transmitters failed.[2][3] Repairs were estimated to cost over $20,000 and the station didn't believe that it would be feasible to repair the transmitter with less than three weeks left of broadcasting in analog. It remains on digital channel number 23[4] using PSIP to be displayed on digital televisions as virtual channel 24.
After the official end of the digital transition in June, WQPT transferred the "WQPT-TV" callsign from the now-defunct analog channel 24 to digital channel 23 and removed the "WQPT-DT" callsign from its digital operations. Also, at the same time, WQPT ended HDTV broadcasts on subchannel 24.2 and shifted them to the main subchannel 24.1, leaving the DT2 subchannel vacant for a few months. In late August 2009, WQPT-TV launched an affiliation with MHz Networks' Worldview, which broadcasts international programming, on channel 24.2. WQPT is the only public television station serving the state of Iowa to offer this service. WQPT is also the second PBS member station in the state of Illinois to offer programming from MHz Worldview; the first being WYCC in Chicago.
[edit] References
- ^ WQPT | About Your Quad Cities PBS
- ^ http://www.kwqc.com/global/story.asp?s=10425267
- ^ http://www.wqpt.org/digitalconversion
- ^ http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf
[edit] External links
- Official site
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WQPT-TV
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WQPT-TV
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