Network Knowledge

This article is about the Illinois broadcaster. For British Columbia channel, see Knowledge (TV channel).
WMEC / WQEC / WSEC
WMEC: Macomb, Illinois
WQEC: Quincy, Illinois
WSEC: Jacksonville, Illinois
United States
Branding Network Knowledge
Slogan Watch and learn.
Channels Digital:
WMEC: 21 (UHF)
WQEC: 34 (UHF)
WSEC: 15 (UHF)
Virtual:
WMEC: 22 (PSIP)
WQEC: 27 (PSIP)
WSEC: 14 (PSIP)
Translators W08DP: 8 (VHF), Springfield
Affiliations PBS
Owner West Central Illinois Educational Telecommunications Corporation
First air date WMEC: October 1, 1984 (1984-10-01)
WQEC: March 1985 (1985-03)
WSEC: August 1984 (1984-08)
Call letters' meaning Macomb / Quincy / Springfield
Educational
Consortium
Former callsigns Analog:
WMEC:
WIUM-TV (1984–1989)
WQEC:
None
WSEC:
WJPT (1984–1989)
Digital:
WMEC:
WMEC-DT (2003–2009)
WQEC:
WQEC-DT (2003–2009)
WSEC:
WSEC-DT (2003–2009)
Former channel number(s) Analog:
WMEC:
22 (UHF, 1984–2009)
WQEC:
27 (UHF, 1985–2009)
WSEC:
14 (UHF, 1984–2009)
Transmitter power WMEC: 75 kW
WQEC: 58.6 kW
WSEC: 75 kW
Height WMEC: 153 m
WQEC: 153 m
WSEC: 297 m
Class Non-commercial educational
Facility ID WMEC: 70537
WQEC: 71561
WSEC: 70536
Transmitter coordinates WMEC:
40°23′54″N 90°43′55″W / 40.39833°N 90.73194°W / 40.39833; -90.73194 (WMEC)
WQEC:
39°58′41″N 91°18′32″W / 39.97806°N 91.30889°W / 39.97806; -91.30889 (WQEC)
WSEC:
39°36′9″N 90°2′47″W / 39.60250°N 90.04639°W / 39.60250; -90.04639 (WSEC)
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: / WQEC / WSEC Profile
/ WQEC / WSEC CDBS
Website www.networkknowledge.tv

Network Knowledge is a consortium of three Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) stations in west central Illinois. It is operated by the West Central Illinois Educational Telecommunications Corporation. The corporation previously used the brand name Convocom from 1978 until October 13, 2004.

The three stations serve as the PBS member stations for the Quincy market, as well as the western portion of the Champaign/Springfield/Decatur market.[1]The three stations serve a large and mostly rural swath of western Illinois, northeastern Missouri and southeastern Iowa. A digital translator W08DP located in Springfield broadcasts on channel 8 for full coverage in that metropolitan area.

History

Establishing an educational consortium

In 1970, the west-central region of Illinois was one of the few areas in the United States without a PBS station. Commercial broadcast television networks (CBS, NBC, ABC) and their local affiliates in the west-central Illinois region provided some educational programming for children in the 1950s and 1960s, but this program content disappeared by 1970. Parts of this region were served from WILL-TV in Urbana; WTVP in Peoria; and Iowa Public Television outlet KIIN-TV in Iowa City. Cable television systems in north-central Illinois and Macomb carried Iowa Public Television or WTVP, while WILL-TV was piped in by cable systems in Springfield. However, Quincy, the second-largest city in the region, had no over-the-air coverage.

A number of meetings were held with civic organizations, businesses, elected public representatives, private and public educational institutions from 1970 to 1976. The outcome of these discussions was the establishment of the West Central Illinois Educational Telecommunications Corporation, incorporated on February 9, 1976. It was a consortium of Bradley University in Peoria, Western Illinois University in Macomb, Blackhawk Community College in Moline, and Sangamon State University in Springfield. Its mission was "to establish an educational television network, provide educational content, create local and public affairs programming to serve the residents and businesses of west-central Illinois". Bylaws for the corporation were approved on January 13, 1984.[2]

The brand name Convocom was adopted in 1978 for the corporation and its offices were established on West Bradley Avenue in Peoria. George Hall was appointed as first president that same year. He had previously served as general manager for North Carolina State University's educational television station.[3]

Initial engineering design and FCC application filings were performed in 1977 and 1978 by Gary Breed and Don Markley of D.L. Markley and Associates,[4] in Peoria, a well known broadcast engineering consulting firm. Breed was a faculty member of Bradley University's Engineering department and Markley, president and owner of the firm, grew up in Ipava, Illinois.[5]

The original television network design for Convocom would encompass 5 broadcast transmitters at: Quad Cities, Peoria, Macomb, Quincy and Springfield/Jacksonville. The master control would be located at Convocom headquarters in Peoria (at or near WTVP, Bradley University) with 3 microwave interconnections (links). A northern link to WQPT in Quad Cities; a western link to WIUM-TV in Macomb and WQEC in Quincy; and a southern link from Peoria to WJPT in Springfield/Jacksonville region.

The D. L. Markley design was a balance of engineering, economics, and the service region of the education institution members in the largely rural west-central Illinois region. Larger urban areas in the region were considered crucial for ongoing community support and sufficient financial support (grants, fund raising) to cover operational costs of the non-commercial educational network.[6]

West Central Illinois Educational TV Network (Convocom) as presented to regional representatives, educational institutions, major businesses, civic and community organizations in 1977 and 1978:[7]

Station City of license NTSC Channels
TV / RF		 First air date Call letters'
meaning		 ERP HAAT Facility ID Convocom educational member Transmitter Site Coordinates
WTVP Peoria 47
(UHF)		 June 27, 1971 Tele
Vision
Peoria		 190 kW 216 m 28311 Bradley University 40°37′44″N 89°34′12″W / 40.62889°N 89.57000°W / 40.62889; -89.57000 (WTVP)
WQPT Moline 24
(UHF)		 November 2, 1983 Quad Cities
Public
Television		 80 kW 269 m 5468 Black Hawk College 41°18′44.5″N 90°22′46.2″W / 41.312361°N 90.379500°W / 41.312361; -90.379500 (WQPT)
WJPT1 Jacksonville 14
(UHF)		 1979 1
August 11,1984		 Jacksonville
Public
Television		 490 m Sangamon State University 39°45′31″N 90°31′8″W / 39.75861°N 90.51889°W / 39.75861; -90.51889 (WJPT)
WIUM-TV Macomb 22
(UHF)		 October 1, 1984 Western
Illinois
University
Macomb		 75 kW 148 m Western Illinois University 40°25′40″N 90°40′58″W / 40.42778°N 90.68278°W / 40.42778; -90.68278 (WIUM)
WQEC2 Quincy 27
(UHF)		 March 9, 1985 Quincy
Educational
Consortium		 58.6 kW 153 m 39°58′39.9″N 91°18′32.6″W / 39.977750°N 91.309056°W / 39.977750; -91.309056 (WQEC)

Notes:

Convocom

WJPT was the first new Convocom station to go on the air. It was slated to sign on in 1979 using a 1,610 foot tower near Bluffs, Illinois that had previously been used ABC affiliate WJJY-TV. However, the tower collapsed in a massive ice storm on Easter Sunday 1978.[8] Constructing a replacement 1,000 foot tower at the Bluffs site by April 1979 would require $ 1 million, that Convocom did not have and changed the anticipated regional coverage from that location. A survey for prospective tower sites for WJPT in the Jacksonville/Springfield market and WQEC in the Quincy/Hannibal market began in the summer of 1978.

Western Illinois University had been surveying tower sites, south of Macomb, since the late 1960s to relocate the tower for the university's FM station, WIUM. The 250 foot guyed radio tower was located next to Sallee Hall, in the middle of the university's campus. In 1976, WIU selected a tower site on land that was bequeathed to the university by Jack Horn, regional Coca-Cola bottler. In 1977, WIU and Convocom agreed to co-locate the television station, WIUM-TV on this same tower. Construction of a new 500 foot (152 m) tower was completed in 1980 and WIUM's transmitters were relocated to the site in 1981. Two microwave relay towers were constructed between Peoria and Quincy at Cuba, Illinois[9] and Carthage, Illinois[10] and completed in 1983 for PBS program feeds, local program feeds, master control and TV studios at WIU in Macomb and WGEM-TV in Quincy.

By 1983, a site west of Waverly was selected for construction of an 800-foot (244 m) tower. However, for reasons that remain unknown, the FCC only licensed WJPT for 34 kilowatts of broadcast power at that specific location. As a result, WJPT only had a fringe (grade B) signal in Springfield. A site east of Quincy owned by Blackhawk of Quincy, Inc. was selected for a new 500-foot (152 m) tower for WQEC.[11] Convocom had to raise $5.5 million to complete construction of these planned and unplanned replacement facilities.[12]

George Hall resigned as President of Convocom in 1982 to serve as Virginia's Director of Telecommunications under Gov. Charles Robb.[3] The consortium appointed Dr. Jerold Gruebel as the Executive Director of Convocom in April 1983. Dr. Grubel had previously served as the Assistant Director of IHETS (Indiana Higher Education Telecommunications System), a statewide network of video, voice and data networks connecting all 77 of Indiana's colleges and universities, with headquarters in Indianapolis, Indiana.[13]

WQPT in Moline signed on November 2, 1983 serving the Quad Cities metropolitan area, east-central Iowa, and north-western Illinois through a translator (channel 48) in Sterling, Illinois. WQPT, owned and operated by Black Hawk College, elected to develop its own brand identity for the Quad Cities market and never joined the Convocom microwave network and control facilities in Peoria, as originally envisioned in the 1970s design. Ironically, under ownership of Western Illinois University-Quad Cities the master control for WQPT was migrated and centralized at WTVP in Peoria on June 30, 2014, via fiber optic cabling, as envisioned in the 1970s D.L. Markley & Associates design.[14]

WJPT in Jacksonville signed on August 11, 1984, serving the western portion of the Champaign/Springfield/Decatur market and south-central Illinois. This gave this region the distinction of being served by two separately programmed PBS stations, as WILL-TV in Urbana continued to serve as the PBS outlet for the eastern half of the market. The Champaign/Springfield/Decatur market was assigned by Nielsen Designated Market Area (DMA) and the FCC Television Market Area (TMA) in the 1950s.[15] Eight weeks later, on October 1, 1984, WIUM-TV in Macomb signed on as the primary station serving Macomb and west-central Illinois. This was followed five months later, on March 9, 1985, by WQEC in Quincy signed on serving Hannibal/Quincy, western Illinois, north-eastern Missouri and south-eastern Iowa.[16]

WTVP in Peoria, owned by the Illinois Valley Public Telecommunications Corporation, elected to keep its brand identity, ownership structure and broadcast operations in Peoria. Like WQPT, the station never joined the 3 newly built Convocom broadcast facilities in Macomb, Quincy and Jacksonville.

Smaller network and change in mission

By the late 1980s, Convocom's service region was smaller than the original 1970s D.L. Markley & Associates design. Over the next ten years, regional, political and consortium membership change led to revisions in financial support, and a different mission statement. The new mission statement: "To collaborate with people and enterprises in the communities we serve to bring quality programs, learning opportunities and economic development to our region."

In 1989, it was argued that access to the Illinois Board of Higher Education and state representatives in Springfield would further the revised mission of Convocom if the administrative offices were relocated from Peoria to Springfield. The FCC call signs for two of the three Convocom broadcast facilities, for marketing and brand consistency, were also changed in 1989: WIUM-TV became WMEC and WJPT became WSEC,.

On July 1, 1995 Governor Jim Edgar signed a bill which realigned the public higher educational structure in Illinois. The Board of Regents and Board of Governors were abolished. Sangamon State University was merged with the University of Illinois system as the University of Illinois at Springfield. Western Illinois University was expanded to a dual campus, single university structure with the creation of a new Western Illinois University-Quad Cities campus. John Deere Corporation, Moline Foundation, IBM Corporation, and the Rock Island County Board provided land grants, facilities support, and resources for this new Riverfront campus in Moline, IL. Before 1995, the Quad Cities was the largest metropolitan region in the US without a public four-year university.

In 1997, 30 acres of land southeast of Colchester, near Fandon was purchased by Convocom for a new 430' (131 m) tower. The WMEC transmitter was moved to this new tower. This relocation ended WIU's co-location support for WMEC at the WIUM-FM tower location (1983-1997) on WIU's Horn Campus, south of Macomb.

In 1998, in order to address reception problems in Springfield from WSEC at Waverly, a 1,400 watt translator was built in the city originally broadcasting on channel 65 as W65BV. Previously, Springfield viewers could only get an acceptable signal via cable and satellite. This translator was moved to VHF channel 8 in 2001 and became W08DP.[17]

On July 21, 2000 Convocom filed with the FCC a request for a Waiver of Section 73.1125. This waiver request was for the relocation of the master control and technical/engineering facilities from Peoria to Chatham, southwest of Springfield. This eventual approval by FCC effectively ended the original 1970s design, and would have financial consequences for the next decade.[18] However, PBS continues to reckon WMEC in Macomb as the network's flagship station.

Transition to digital television

In 1998, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) mandated that broadcast stations migrate from analog (NTSC) to digital (ATSC) television transmission in United States.[19] This had the effect of imposing an unfunded federal mandate on public television stations. Digital television transition. Since 1993, auctions of former television spectrum to the wireless (cellular) telephone and broadband service companies by the FCC generated $52 billion.[20] That revenue was not used to mitigate the digital transition costs for the non-commercial, educational television stations.

For comparison, Iowa Public Television, which operates a state-wide television and telecommunications network with 9 high-power digital transmitters and 8 translators spent $47,000,000 to complete the digital television conversion. That capital expenditure was financially supported by the State of Iowa, the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. More than 1,000,000 viewers watch IPTV each week. Contributing membership to the IPTV Foundation (Friends of Iowa Public TV) consists of approximately 55,000 households.[21]

This required Convocom to review its engineering design, equipment, and operations in order to continue broadcasting to the West-Central Illinois service region, after the digital television transition.

In March 2002, Convocom's technical support, engineering office and network master control were moved from Peoria to Chatham with the completion of a new digital master control facility and interconnection system. The WSEC transmitter site was moved from Waverly to a new 976' (295 m) tower in Franklin.

A new interconnection system composed of digital microwave (90 Mbs) and fiber-optic cabling was designed and implemented with the relocation of master control. It extends from Chatham through Franklin (WSEC's transmitter site) to Golden where it splits and sends a fiber signal to Quincy for WQEC and a microwave signal to Macomb for WMEC. There are also linkages to television studios in Quincy at WGEM (NBC affiliate) and in Macomb at Western Illinois University. The television tower for WQEC in Quincy, erected in 1984 by Convocom, was sold by Network Knowledge to Clearview Tower on January 5, 2011[22] On February 14, 2014 Clearview Tower sold this tower site to K2 Tower.[23]

In 2004, after completion of system changes and migration to digital broadcasting, the corporation adopted the brand name Network Knowledge and retired the Convocom brand name after 27 years of use.

The network's geographic service region is now defined by the 3 broadcast facilities at Franklin (Springfield/Jacksonville), Macomb, and Quincy.

Financial challenges

The smaller geographical service region of 3 broadcast facilities presented financial challenges, as predicted in the 1970s, for all participants.

In May 2001, the State of Illinois granted Convocom almost $1 million for the digital conversion.[24] Despite the early success, Dr. Jerold Gruebel, president and CEO of Network Knowledge said, "the organization first ran into financial trouble in 2002, due to unfunded federal mandates to convert to digital television". Network Knowledge raised more than $15 million to fund the conversion, but was forced to borrow nearly $5 million to pay the rest of the bill.[19]
In January 2008, WTVP in Peoria faced financial difficulties after their digital television upgrade and studio relocation from Bradley University, an original member of the Convocom consortium, to a new Peoria Riverfront studio and offices. A special campaign, Save Our Station, generated thousands of special contributions and led to an agreement with the bank.[25]

In 2013, an experimental collaboration involving joint management and operational cooperation of WTVP with WILL-TV and the University of Illinois worked well enough that the WTVP Board of Directors voted on December 2013 to extend this cooperative agreement for an additional three years. The overall purpose of the agreement is to help both public broadcasting stations operate more cost effectively in serving eastern and central Illinois.[26]

In July 2008, WQPT, owned by Black Hawk College, an original member of the Convocom consortium, lost financial support when the station was removed from the college's FY2009 fiscal budget.[27]
In May 2010, WQPT was sold to Western Illinois University-Quad Cities, with the primary objective to return WQPT to its original mission of creating more local and public affairs programming. The station moved from its longtime home on Black Hawk's campus to new studios and offices in Riverfront Hall on the WIU-QC Campus on July 1, 2014.[28]
WQPT-TV was added cable television systems serving Macomb and McDonough County after the WQPT transmitter was relocated to Orion, IL in 2002 and later 2010 ownership change to WIU-QC. The Macomb and McDonough County cable television systems have carried KIIN', Iowa Public TV and WTVP in Peoria since 1969.
On June 30, 2014 WQPT centralized its master control at WTVP, in Peoria, as planned by D. L. Markley and Associates in the original Convocom network plan.

The smaller, three station Network Knowledge network relies heavily on corporate and government grant funding, instead of membership support (only 6% of the viewing audience donates to the three stations).
In contrast, Friends of Iowa Public Television (Iowa Public Television Foundation Board) was created in 1970 for the development, growth and support through building a strong statewide (Iowa) membership base. Its 65,000 member households across Iowa and bordering states contribute nearly 90% of the out-of-pocket costs for acquiring and producing general audience programming. The foundation's board with its 65,000 households continue their support of IPTV's mission to educate, enlighten and entertain.[29]

In 2009, Network Knowledge also lost its grant support. The organization received an annual average of $750,000 from three foundations in Quincy and one foundation in Decatur. Due to their own economic shortfalls, Gruebel said, none of these organizations gave grants to the network.[19] In 2009, Network Knowledge applied for assistance from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's financial distress program. Mark Erstling, senior vice president for CPB System Development and Media Strategy and CPB Chief Operating Officer Vincent Curren traveled to Springfield to begin talks with the organization.

Programming

Local programming

Network Knowledge produces a number of regularly scheduled programs each month, including:

Special programming has included

Stations

Network Knowledge has three full-power television stations, each of which provide the same three digital subchannels.

All numbers given are for the digital television signal. Virtual channel prefixes are the same as the analog channel was for each station before the digital transition.

Callsign Old Ch.
(virtual)		 Air date City of License ERP
(kW)		 HAAT
(m)		 Facility ID Antenna coordinates
WMEC WIUM-TV 21 (22) October 1, 1984 Macomb 75.0 153 70537 40°23′53.2″N 90°43′54.5″W / 40.398111°N 90.731806°W / 40.398111; -90.731806 (WMEC)
WQEC WQEC 34 (27) March 9, 1985 Quincy 58.6 153 71561 39°58′39.9″N 91°18′32.6″W / 39.977750°N 91.309056°W / 39.977750; -91.309056 (WQEC)
WSEC WJPT 15 (14) August 11, 1984 Jacksonville 75.0 297 70536 39°36′8.8″N 90°2′47.4″W / 39.602444°N 90.046500°W / 39.602444; -90.046500 (WSEC)
  1. ^ WMEC and WSEC were given their current callsigns in 1989.
  2. ^ The Broadcasting and Cable Yearbook says WQEC signed on March 11, while the Television and Cable Factbook says it signed on March 9.
  3. ^ As of 16 June 2009, the FCC still shows an analog record for WSEC on channel 14 with 34 kW ERP at 271 meters HAAT.
  4. ^ The Broadcasting and Cable Yearbook says WSEC signed on August 21, while the Television and Cable Factbook says it signed on August 11.

Digital television

Digital channels

The stations' digital signals are multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[30][31][32]
x.1 720p[33] 16:9 WMEC-DT
WQEC-DT
WSEC-DT 		Main programming / PBS
x.2 480i 4:3 WMEC-D2
WQEC-D2
WSEC-D2 		PBS World (prime time) and other programming
x.3 WMEC-D3
WQEC-D3
WSEC-D3 		Create

Analog-to-digital conversion

During 2009, in the lead-up to the analog-to-digital television transition that would ultimately occur on June 12, Network Knowledge shut down the analog transmitters of its stations on a staggered basis. Listed below are the dates each analog transmitter ceased operation as well as their post-transition channel allocations:[34]

References

  1. ↑ "Nielsen Television DMA rankings" (PDF). Retrieved 30 August 2013.
  2. ↑ "FCC 323-E, Ownership Report For Noncommercial Educational Broadcast Station, Facility number 70537". 30 June 2003. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
  3. 1 2 "George Hall, advocate for educational TV institutions (Obituary)". Current.org. 15 June 2011. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
  4. ↑ "D.L. Markley & Associates". Retrieved 16 July 2012.
  5. ↑ "Donald L. Markley (Obituary)". Peoria Journal Star. 24 October 2009.
  6. ↑ "George Hoffmann Papers, 1960-1991" (PDF). University of Illinois at Springfield, Archives/Special Collections. 1960–1991.
  7. ↑ Convocom: Bringing People Together through Telecommunication. CONVOCOM. 1979.
  8. ↑ Hopper, Mitch. "The Rise and Fall of WJJY-TV". Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  9. ↑ "Cuba tower, ASR Registration 1018310". FCC. January 1, 1983.
  10. ↑ "Carthage tower, ASR Registration 1018311". FCC. January 1, 1984.
  11. ↑ "Quincy public television is assigned call letters WQEC". Press-News Journal. Canton, MO. 17 January 1985. Retrieved 29 January 2013.
  12. ↑ Tim Blackmore (19 October 1978). "Convocom educational TV will serve area". Press-News Journal. Canton, MO. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  13. ↑ "Dr. Gruebel appointment to Convocom". Proceedings of the Board of Regents of the State of Illinois. April 1983.
  14. ↑ Dru Sefton (August 11, 2014). "In Illinois, WTVP takes over TV broadcast operations for WQPT". Current.org.
  15. ↑ "Springfield Television". Doug Quick. Retrieved 30 August 2013.
  16. ↑ "CONVOCOM Granted license by FCC this week". Press-New Journal, Canton, MO. June 27, 1985.
  17. ↑ http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs//document/view.action?id=1912430001
  18. ↑ "Request of Waiver of FCC Section 73.1125" (PDF). FCC. 21 July 2000. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
  19. 1 2 3 "Under a mountain of debt, WSEC-TV struggles for survival". Illinois Times. 3 June 2009. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  20. ↑ "Data Innovation Initiative: Spectrum Auctions - Data, Benefits Abound". Federal Communications Commission. 6 August 2010. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  21. ↑ "Iowa Public Television - Independent Auditor's Report" (PDF). State of Iowa. 30 June 2011.
  22. ↑ "Quincy tower, ASR Registration 1018308". FCC. January 1, 1985.
  23. ↑ "K2 Tower purchase, ASR Registration A0893301". FCC. February 14, 2014.
  24. ↑ "$1.3 Million in Illinois FIRST Projects for Central Illinois". IGNN. 15 May 2001.
  25. ↑ "Banks agree to lighten WTVP's debt load; $450,000 still needed". The Pantagraph. Bloomington, Illinois. 29 January 2008.
  26. ↑ Chet Tomczyk (January 2014). "Notes from President & CEO".
  27. ↑ Bill Mayeroff (2 July 2008). "WQPT to save money by focusing on Q-C produced shows". The Q-C Leader. Retrieved 19 July 2012.
  28. ↑ Burke, David (11 April 2012). "WQPT GM to retire in June". QC Times. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  29. ↑ "Friends of Iowa Public Television Foundation". IPTV. Retrieved 30 August 2013.
  30. ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for WMEC
  31. ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for WQEC
  32. ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for WSEC
  33. ↑ "Digital TV Market Listing for WMEC". Rabbit Ears. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  34. ↑ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-03-24.

External links

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