Channel 8 Becomes NPT - Nashville Public Television, With New WNPT Call Letters, Beginning Feb. 22.Business Editors NASHVILLE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 18, 2000 The name "NPT NPT National Pipe Taper (pipe thread specification) NPT Non-Proliferation Treaty NPT Nonprofit Times NPT Newport (Rhode Island) NPT Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty NPT Neath Port Talbot ," denoting Nashville Public Television, and call letters call letters pl.n. The identifying code letters or numbers of a radio or television transmitting station, assigned by a regulatory body. Also called call sign. WNPT will soon identify public television in Tennessee's capital city. The Federal Communications Commission Federal Communications Commission (FCC), independent executive agency of the U.S. government established in 1934 to regulate interstate and foreign communications in the public interest. (FCC (1) (Federal Communications Commission, Washington, DC, www.fcc.gov) The U.S. government agency that regulates interstate and international communications including wire, cable, radio, TV and satellite. The FCC was created under the U.S. ) has approved a request from Channel 8, the region's PBS PBS in full Public Broadcasting Service Private, nonprofit U.S. corporation of public television stations. PBS provides its member stations, which are supported by public funds and private contributions rather than by commercials, with educational, cultural, member station, to change its call letters from WDCN to WNPT, in order to align the call letters with the station's new identity as NPT, Nashville Public Television. When Channel 8 begins operating as NPT on Feb. 22, the official WNPT call letters will completely supplant the WDCN call letters. Station management announced the FCC approval today, less than seven months after WDCN Channel 8 was transferred to an independent nonprofit community organization from its long-time owner, the Metro Nashville Board of Public Education. President and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. Steven M. Bass explained in a mailing this week to Channel 8 members that the change will make clear the station is locally owned and will further distance the station from the excessively "conventional, safe approach to programming" that sometimes meant "avoiding programming deemed too challenging or controversial" while the station operated under Metro government control. Bass also wrote that the name change will ensure that local and national viewers are more aware of the Nashville origins of programs produced here. Bass continued, "Changing our name to 'Nashville Public Television' (NPT, for short) plants a flag on this new territory, signaling our aspiration to create a locally owned station that is of and for the Nashville area. We also hope that NPT productions will grace the airwaves both regionally and nationally, sharing the intellectual, cultural and artistic riches that our region has to offer viewers near and far." Station management also believes the new name will help attract more donations and underwriting that will, in turn, help fund the station's $5.8 million annual operating budget Noun 1. operating budget - a budget for current expenses as distinct from financial transactions or permanent improvements budget items, operating cost, operating expense, overhead - the expense of maintaining property (e.g. , and pay for producing or acquiring new programs and services. In 1999, Metro government agreed to transfer the station to a new community nonprofit, WDCN Public Television Corporation, and supported FCC assignment of the station's broadcast license to the organization. The transaction enabled Metro to shed ownership costs projected at nearly $10 million over five years for basic operations and for upgrading the station to meet digital-television (DTV (Digital TeleVision) Transmitting TV using digital signals. The major DTV standards are ATSC (North America), DVB (Europe) and ISDB (Japan). All three use MPEG-2 video compression and Dolby Digital audio compression. DVB and ISDB also include MPEG audio compression. ) broadcasting standards mandated by the federal government. The school system continues to make annual grants to ensure the continued availability of instructional programming and the overall success of the station's transfer. Channel 8's broadcast signal reaches an estimated 2.2 million residents in middle Tennessee “Middle Tennessee” redirects here. For the university in Murfreesboro, see Middle Tennessee State University. Middle Tennessee is a distinct portion of the state of Tennessee, delineated according to law as well as custom. and southern Kentucky. The station's instructional broadcasts reach 34 school systems in the region. Channel 8 broadcasts 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The organization also provides most programming currently carried on Intermedia's Educational Access channels 9 and 10 in Davidson County. |
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