ETPtv

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WETP-TV & WKOP-TV
WETP: Sneedville, Tennessee WKOP: Knoxville, Tennessee
Branding	ETPtv; East Tennessee Public Television
Channels	WETP: 2 (VHF) WKOP: 15 (UHF) analog, WETP: 41 (UHF) digital WKOP: 17 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	PBS
Owner	ETPtv Broadcasting Inc. (East Tennessee Public Communications Corp.)
Founded	WETP: March 15, 1967 WKOP: August 15, 1990
Call letters meaning	WETP: East Tennessee Public Television WKOP: Knoxville Public Television
Former callsigns	WETP: as WSJK-TV (1967-2002)
Former affiliations	WETP: as WSJK-TV NET (1967-1970)
Transmitter Power	WETP: 100 kW (analog) 4.86 kW (digital) WKOP: 2240 kW (analog) 5 kW (digital)
Website	www.etptv.org/

ETPtv (East Tennessee Public Television) is a PBS member station serving the Knoxville and Tri-Cities regions of East Tennessee.

It has two channels in operation, both airing the same programs:

• WETP-TV, Channel 2 (DT-41), Sneedville (serving the Tri-Cities)
• WKOP-TV, Channel 15 (DT-17), Knoxville

Contents 1 History 1.1 Early years 1.2 A Knoxville station at last 2 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Early years

WETP-TV was founded in 1967 as WSJK-TV (Sneedville-Johnson City-Knoxville) as the first in a series of four stations that the Tennessee state board of education would establish over the next decade or so, the others being WLJT-TV in Martin, WTCI-TV in Chattanooga and WCTE-TV in Cookeville. The transmitter was built on Short Mountain near Sneedville, not by choice, but by necessity (see below), and studios were located at the University of Tennessee campus in Knoxville. A satellite studio was located at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City. However, reception was spotty at best in much of the central eastern Tennessee viewing area, especially in the counties to the south and west of Knoxville, due to the long distance the signal had to travel and the rugged, mountainous terrain between that area and Sneedville. Even in the Tri-Cities, many areas also received a less than adequate signal. The Tri-Cities would not get a city-grade signal from PBS until WSBN-TV in Marion, Virginia signed on in 1971 as a satellite of WBRA-TV in Roanoke.

However, the 1955 legislation authorizing a public television system in the state mandated that these stations serve the school populations in their areas first. Sneedville, located about halfway between the Tri-Cities and Knoxville (and just a few miles south of the Kentucky state line), was technically the only location to serve the schools in both areas. The channel 2 signal travels a very long distance under most conditions, and WSJK was short-spaced to WDCN-TV in Nashville (now WNPT on channel 8) and WSB-TV in Atlanta. The Sneedville location was the only location that could best serve the school populations in the most efficient way, while at the same time protecting WDCN and WSB from interference. Engineers believed that WSJK's antenna could not be moved a mile in any direction and not cause interference with WDCN and WSB. They also called the Short Mountain transmitter site "a broadcasting island," surrounded by possible interference. It is one of only a few broadcasting transmitter sites around the country that cannot be physically relocated in any direction.

The FCC had already allocated channel 15 to Knoxville for noncommercial use, and plans to activate it as a satellite of WSJK cropped up from 1972 onward. There were also attempts to activate a satellite in the Tri-Cities on channel 41. However, they all collapsed, due to a lack of state funding to match the available federal funding, a situation caused by the 1970s economic recessions affecting state revenues. As a result, WSJK-TV became, quite by default, the only public television station in the northern two-thirds of East Tennessee. This left Knoxville as one of the largest markets in the country without a city-grade signal from PBS.

[edit] A Knoxville station at last

In 1981, the state legislature passed a law that allowed the state board to transfer its four stations to community organizations (WKNO-TV in Memphis and WDCN in Nashville were operated by respectively, a community board and the local school board, and were never part of the state system). The East Tennessee Public Communications Corporation was formed to take over operation of WSJK. WSJK was the first to complete the separation, in 1983. Eventually, the state discontinued even token financial support of all ETV operations after the stations were emancipated; this did not adversely affect the stations, because their release to community boards had already encouraged them to develop different sources of financial support.

Almost immediately, the new authority approved plans to build WKOP as the PBS station for the Knoxville area, with WSJK reoriented to serve the Tri-Cities (though it still reaches portions of the Knoxville market over the air). WKOP began broadcasting in 1990 from a transmitter and tower located on top of Sharp's Ridge.

In 2000, WSJK-DT (channel 41) and WKOP-DT (channel 17) signed on. In 2002, WSJK-TV was renamed WETP-TV and both stations started using the brand "ETP-TV" (East Tennessee Public TV). In 2005, the East Tennessee Public Communications Corporation changed its name to ETPtv Broadcasting, though its license still bears the former name.

Although WETP may appear to be the main station (since it was the original one), the station's main studios are and have always been located in Knoxville.

[edit] External links

• ETPtv website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WETP-TV
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WKOP-TV

Broadcast television in the Knoxville market  (Nielsen DMA #58)
WETP 2/WKOP 15 (PBS) - WKXE-LP 4 (IND) - WATE 6 (ABC) - WVLT 8 (CBS) (My Network TV on DT2) - WBIR 10 (NBC) - WFEM 12 (FamilyNet/A1) - W14CX 14 (IND) - WBXX 20 (The CW) - WJZC-LP 22/WEZK-LP 28 (IND) - WEEE-CA 32 (FamilyNet) - WDTT-LP 38 (A1) - WTNZ 43 (FOX) (The Tube on DT2) - W46DC 46 (TBN) - WVLR 48 (CTN) - W50CG 50 (3ABN) - WPXK 54 (ION)
Local digital television channels
WMAK 7 (IND)
Significantly Viewed Out-of-Market Broadcast Stations Reception may vary by geographical location WLOS 13 (ABC, Asheville) - WYMT 57 (CBS, Hazard, KY)