WDCQ-TV

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = WDCQ-TV / WDCP-TV
city =
station_
station_slogan = Today's PBS Channel
Delta College Quality Public Broadcasting
Quality Public Broadcasting for Mid-Michigan and the Thumb
station_branding = Q-TV
analog =
WDCP: 19 (UHF)
WDCQ: 35 (UHF)
digital =
WDCP: 18 (UHF) "(not used)"
WDCQ: 15 (UHF) / PSIP 19
other_chs =
affiliations = PBS
network =
founded =
airdate = WDCP: October 12, 1964
WDCQ: December 31, 1986
location = WDCP: University Center, Michigan
WDCQ: Bad Axe, Michigan
callsign_meaning = WDCP:
Delta
College
Public Television
WDCQ:
Delta
College
Quality Television
former_callsigns = WDCP:
WUCM-TV (1964-1997)
WDCQ-TV (1997-2003)
WDCQ:
WUCX-TV (1986-1997)
WDCP-TV (1997-2003)
former_channel_numbers =
owner = Delta College
licensee =
sister_stations =
former_affiliations = NET (1964-1970)
effective_radiated_power = WDCP:
1100 kW (analog)
50 kW (digital)
WDCQ:
85.1 kW (analog)
200 kW (digital)
HAAT = WDCP:
140 m (analog)
141 m (digital)
WDCQ:
155 m (analog)
309 m (digital)
class =
facility_id = WDCP: 16528
WDCQ: 16530
coordinates = WDCP:
coord|43|33|42.8|N|83|58|52.1|W|type:landmark_scale:2000
WDCQ:
coord|43|41|25.4|N|82|56|29.4|W|type:landmark_scale:2000|name=WDCQ-TV (analog)
coord|43|32|33|N|83|39|37|W|type:landmark_scale:2000|name=WDCQ-TV (digital)
homepage = [http://www.delta.edu/broadcasting/ www.delta.edu/broadcasting]

WDCQ-TV (Channel 35) is a PBS affiliate for the Flint-Saginaw-Bay City, Michigan television market. It is owned and operated by Delta College in University Center, an unincorporated community in southwestern Bay County, and licensed in Bad Axe, Michigan, the county seat of Huron County. Programming is also currently repeated by WDCP-TV channel 19 in University Center.

Facilities

Prior to January 2004, channel 19 was the main station as WDCQ and channel 35 was its satellite as WDCP. After that date, the two stations switched call signs. The intent being that when the station goes all-digital, the two analog stations will go off the air, and just one digital station on channel 15 will cover the area currently covered by the two analog stations. When each analog stations was assigned a digital channel, channel 19 in Bay City was assigned channel 18 for digital, and channel 35 in Bad Axe was assigned channel 15 for digital. For practicality and monetary reasons, the station management decided to use just channel 15 for the digital signal, from a location closer to the Tri-Cities.

The analog channel 19 transmitter is located on a 496 foot (151 m) tower on the campus of Delta College, near the corner of 4-mile and Delta Roads near Delta College in Bay County. The channel 15 digital tower is located in Quanicassee, in northwestern Tuscola County. The analog channel 35 tower is located just south of Ubly.

History

WDCP originally went on the air in October 1964. The original call sign was WUCM-TV, where UCM stood for University Center Michigan. In December 1986, they established a satellite station in Bad Axe for the Thumb area on channel 35, originally called WUCX-TV.

The WUCX calls are still used today for Delta College's Public Radio station, WUCX-FM 90.1, "Q90.1".

WDCQ is currently the third most-watched PBS affiliate in Michigan, behind WTVS in Detroit and WGVU-TV in West Michigan. As of 2008, Barry Baker is the general manager of WDCQ and WUCX-FM.

Programming

Programming on WDCQ is the general primary PBS fare, with some locally-produced shows, such as "Currently Speaking", a weekly, live current events discussion program hosted by Andy Rapp, who's been a personality at WDCQ since the early-1970s, when he hosted a daily discussion program, "Day By Day", which ran on the old WUCM into the 1980s.

Many cable systems in the Flint-Saginaw-Bay City market often carry WDCQ and either Flint's WFUM-TV or Mount Pleasant's WCMU-TV, the market's other PBS affiliates.

Digital Television

WDCQ's digital channel is multiplexed:

*After the Digital transition, WDCQ will continue to be on digital channel 15, but digital tuners with PSIP will display its virtual channel as "19", reflecting the analog channel position of WDCP. Even though FCC regulations regarding PSIP would usually mandate that "35" would be used as its PSIP channel, Delta College opted to use "19" instead, as most of its viewers live in the Tri-Cities and Flint, where they watched the station through channel 19.

Cable carriage of digital channels

WDCQ's digital subchannels are only available on Charter Communications in the Tri-Cities. However, a recent agreement between the American Cable Association, the Association of Public Television Stations and PBS will require them to be put on more digital cable television systems after the digital transition date of February 17, 2009. [ [http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6596993.html ACA Ratifies Digital-Carriage Deal With Public TV Stations] ]

WDCQ-TV actually has 5 digital subchannels. However, due to limited bandwidth on WDCQ's over-the-air digital signal, their Children's Channel and their PBS-X in HD channel split airtime on 15.4 / 19.4, as noted in the above chart. On Charter Communications, however, they both have their own separate, 24-hour channels. [ [http://www3.delta.edu/broadcasting/digitaltv.html Delta College Public Broadcasting: Q-TV's digital channels] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.delta.edu/broadcasting/ WDCQ-TV website]
*TVQ|WDCQ
*TVQ|WDCP
*BIA|WDCQ|TV|TV
*BIA|WDCP|TV|TV