WTVP
Encyclopedia
WTVP is the PBS
station for Peoria
, Bloomington
, and Galesburg, Illinois
. It operates on TV digital channel 46 and uses virtual channel
s starting with 47 to reflect its previous analog channel number. WTVP has 3 digital subchannels: WTVP HD, WTVP World
, and WTVP Create. Its studio is located in Peoria and its broadcast tower is located in East Peoria
. The station serves a radius of 50 miles (80.5 km) with viewers in 20 counties.
and Bradley's public radio station WCBU
, but WTVP is independently owned by the Illinois Valley Public Telecommunications Corporation, an Illinois non-profit organization whose main purpose is to run the TV station. IVPTC is governed by a board of trustees, all of whom serve voluntarily. Each IVPTC trustee is nominated by the Board's nominating committee and approved by a vote of the full Board. The full Board of Trustees meetings are open to the public. Permanent seats were reserved by its original charter for one voting representative from each of the following institutions: Bradley University
, Lakeview Museum of Arts and Sciences, Peoria Public Schools, Peoria Public Library, Pekin Public Schools, and Illinois Central College
.
analog television
channel allocations, 59 was channel reserved for public television use in Peoria; but when WTVP was established, it chose 47, the other, lower open channel in Peoria. The FCC
later moved the official public television reservation to 47 to open 59 to commercial use, and channel 59 was eventually used by WAOE
in 1999.
A Bradley University academic dean, Phil Weinberg, founded WTVP and is credited with pursuing the idea for the station in the late 1960s.
The callsign WTVP was used by channel 17 in Decatur, Illinois
until that station changed its callsign to WAND
in 1966, a few years before channel 47 came on the air and chose WTVP for its own callsign.
Weinberg served as the organization's first President. From 1971, Elwin Basquin served as the station's first paid manager and retired as General Manager in 1996. Chet Tomczyk succeeded Basquin as general manager and became President & CEO.
From its first broadcast in 1971 until 2003, the WTVP studio and offices were in Jobst Hall on the campus of Bradley University
.
As a result of a fund-raising campaign beginning in 1999 entitled Funds for Forty-Seven, WTVP raised the resources toward its conversion to digital broadcasting. To accommodate for its anticipated digital broadcasting capacity, the station began to plan for a new facility in 2000. Once the Board of Trustees approved a search for an appropriate site to construct a new studio, the station explored many possibilities. 101 State Street, the former location of the O'Neill Transportation depot across the railroad tracks from the Post Office in downtown Peoria, was identified as a potential location and, through the generosity of the property's owner, William J. O'Neill, was made affordable to the station. A 30000 square feet (2,787.1 m²) facility was designed by PSA and Clark Engineering. After a competitive bid process, CORE Construction was selected as general contractor. The facility was designed to give the station the ability to offer more and better productions of interest, services to the public, and community interaction.
At the end of 2007 and early 2008, the station faced long-term debt pressures, which were widely reported by other local media and later resolved in an agreement with its bank, and with the help of thousands of special contributions resulting from a campaign called Save Our Station.
WTVP has collaborated widely with other non-profits in the Central Illinois region. Since constructing and moving to the Peoria downtown/riverfront studio facility in June, 2003, WTVP's 101 State Street location has become a frequent space for events, open houses, tours, dinners, productions, and art exhibitions.
and its short-form programs produced and broadcast by the station at no charge to many local arts organizations that year.
WTVP patrons Glen and Polly Barton received the PBS Leadership Award in 2003. The O'Neill Family, represented by P. Joseph O'Neill, received the PBS Leadership Award in 2006.
Since its inception, WTVP has received national recognition in the form of PBS Development Awards and Certificates of Achievement for its fund-raising innovations and achievements.
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
station for Peoria
Peoria, Illinois
Peoria is the largest city on the Illinois River and the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, in the United States. It is named after the Peoria tribe. As of the 2010 census, the city was the seventh-most populated in Illinois, with a population of 115,007, and is the third-most populated...
, Bloomington
Bloomington, Illinois
Bloomington is a city in McLean County, Illinois, United States and the county seat. It is adjacent to Normal, Illinois, and is the more populous of the two principal municipalities of the Bloomington-Normal metropolitan area...
, and Galesburg, Illinois
Galesburg, Illinois
Galesburg is a city in Knox County, Illinois, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 32,195. It is the county seat of Knox County....
. It operates on TV digital channel 46 and uses virtual channel
Virtual channel
In telecommunications, a logical channel number , also known as virtual channel, is a channel designation which differs from that of the actual radio channel on which the signal travels....
s starting with 47 to reflect its previous analog channel number. WTVP has 3 digital subchannels: WTVP HD, WTVP World
PBS World
PBS World is a 24-hour United States over-the-air digital subchannel showing public TV non-fiction, science, nature, news, public affairs and documentaries...
, and WTVP Create. Its studio is located in Peoria and its broadcast tower is located in East Peoria
East Peoria, Illinois
East Peoria is a city in Tazewell County, Illinois, United States. The population was 23,402 at the 2010 census. East Peoria is part of the Peoria, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area, located across the Illinois River from downtown Peoria. It is home to many Caterpillar Inc. facilities...
. The station serves a radius of 50 miles (80.5 km) with viewers in 20 counties.
Governance
WTVP has had a long history of cooperation with Bradley UniversityBradley University
Bradley University, founded in 1897, is a private, co-educational university located in Peoria, Illinois. It is a small institution with an enrollment of approximately 6,100 undergraduate and postgraduate students and a full-time faculty of approximately 350....
and Bradley's public radio station WCBU
WCBU
WCBU is a listener-supported, non-commercial public radio station owned by Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. The station is a National Public Radio affiliate and is located on Bradley's campus.WCBU first signed on in 1970...
, but WTVP is independently owned by the Illinois Valley Public Telecommunications Corporation, an Illinois non-profit organization whose main purpose is to run the TV station. IVPTC is governed by a board of trustees, all of whom serve voluntarily. Each IVPTC trustee is nominated by the Board's nominating committee and approved by a vote of the full Board. The full Board of Trustees meetings are open to the public. Permanent seats were reserved by its original charter for one voting representative from each of the following institutions: Bradley University
Bradley University
Bradley University, founded in 1897, is a private, co-educational university located in Peoria, Illinois. It is a small institution with an enrollment of approximately 6,100 undergraduate and postgraduate students and a full-time faculty of approximately 350....
, Lakeview Museum of Arts and Sciences, Peoria Public Schools, Peoria Public Library, Pekin Public Schools, and Illinois Central College
Illinois Central College
Illinois Central College, often called ICC, is a large Illinois community college with its largest campus in East Peoria, Illinois, off Illinois State Route 116 near U.S. Route 150 and the McClugage Bridge...
.
History
Under the original FCCFederal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
analog television
Analog television
Analog television is the analog transmission that involves the broadcasting of encoded analog audio and analog video signal: one in which the message conveyed by the broadcast signal is a function of deliberate variations in the amplitude and/or frequency of the signal...
channel allocations, 59 was channel reserved for public television use in Peoria; but when WTVP was established, it chose 47, the other, lower open channel in Peoria. The FCC
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
later moved the official public television reservation to 47 to open 59 to commercial use, and channel 59 was eventually used by WAOE
WAOE
WAOE is the MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station for West-Central Illinois licensed to Peoria. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 39 from a transmitter at studios on Springfield Road in East Peoria. The station can also be seen on Comcast channel 11...
in 1999.
A Bradley University academic dean, Phil Weinberg, founded WTVP and is credited with pursuing the idea for the station in the late 1960s.
The callsign WTVP was used by channel 17 in Decatur, Illinois
Decatur, Illinois
Decatur is the largest city and the county seat of Macon County in the U.S. state of Illinois. The city, sometimes called "the Soybean Capital of the World", was founded in 1823 and is located along the Sangamon River and Lake Decatur in Central Illinois. In 2000 the city population was 81,500,...
until that station changed its callsign to WAND
WAND
WAND, virtual channel 17, is an NBC-affiliated television station serving the Decatur–Springfield–Champaign area. It is owned by Block Communications...
in 1966, a few years before channel 47 came on the air and chose WTVP for its own callsign.
Weinberg served as the organization's first President. From 1971, Elwin Basquin served as the station's first paid manager and retired as General Manager in 1996. Chet Tomczyk succeeded Basquin as general manager and became President & CEO.
From its first broadcast in 1971 until 2003, the WTVP studio and offices were in Jobst Hall on the campus of Bradley University
Bradley University
Bradley University, founded in 1897, is a private, co-educational university located in Peoria, Illinois. It is a small institution with an enrollment of approximately 6,100 undergraduate and postgraduate students and a full-time faculty of approximately 350....
.
As a result of a fund-raising campaign beginning in 1999 entitled Funds for Forty-Seven, WTVP raised the resources toward its conversion to digital broadcasting. To accommodate for its anticipated digital broadcasting capacity, the station began to plan for a new facility in 2000. Once the Board of Trustees approved a search for an appropriate site to construct a new studio, the station explored many possibilities. 101 State Street, the former location of the O'Neill Transportation depot across the railroad tracks from the Post Office in downtown Peoria, was identified as a potential location and, through the generosity of the property's owner, William J. O'Neill, was made affordable to the station. A 30000 square feet (2,787.1 m²) facility was designed by PSA and Clark Engineering. After a competitive bid process, CORE Construction was selected as general contractor. The facility was designed to give the station the ability to offer more and better productions of interest, services to the public, and community interaction.
At the end of 2007 and early 2008, the station faced long-term debt pressures, which were widely reported by other local media and later resolved in an agreement with its bank, and with the help of thousands of special contributions resulting from a campaign called Save Our Station.
Local programming
The station broadcasts PBS programming and other national content, but also has produced many original programs for local audiences. Projects include documentaries such as a Peoria historical documentary entitled Main Street Memories and its first high definition program, entitled Grand View Drive. In addition, WTVP has produced local public affairs programming such as At Issue and Interesting People.WTVP has collaborated widely with other non-profits in the Central Illinois region. Since constructing and moving to the Peoria downtown/riverfront studio facility in June, 2003, WTVP's 101 State Street location has become a frequent space for events, open houses, tours, dinners, productions, and art exhibitions.
Awards and recognitions
In 2005, the station earned the ArtsPartner of the Year Award in recognition of its efforts to promote culture in Central Illinois, acknowledging its investment in local arts production such as a series of broadcasts with the Peoria Symphony OrchestraPeoria Symphony Orchestra
The Peoria Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Peoria, Illinois conducted by George Stelluto. Founded in 1898 as the Bradley Symphony Orchestra , it is the fifteenth oldest orchestra in Illinois...
and its short-form programs produced and broadcast by the station at no charge to many local arts organizations that year.
WTVP patrons Glen and Polly Barton received the PBS Leadership Award in 2003. The O'Neill Family, represented by P. Joseph O'Neill, received the PBS Leadership Award in 2006.
Since its inception, WTVP has received national recognition in the form of PBS Development Awards and Certificates of Achievement for its fund-raising innovations and achievements.