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|---|---|
| City | Bad Axe, Michigan |
| Channels | |
| Branding | Delta College Public Media PBS |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner | Delta College |
| WUCX-FM | |
| History | |
First air date |
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Former call signs |
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Former channel numbers | Analog: 35 (UHF, 1986–2009) |
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Call sign meaning | Delta College Quality |
| Technical information[2] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 16530 |
| ERP | 200kW |
| HAAT | 309 m (1,014 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 43°32′33″N83°39′37″W / 43.54250°N 83.66028°W /43.54250; -83.66028 (WDCQ-TV) |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
WDCQ-TV (channel 19), brandedDelta College Public Media, is aPBS membertelevision station licensed toBad Axe, Michigan, United States, serving theFlint–Tri-Citiestelevision market. The station is owned byDelta College, and it is a sister station toNPR memberWUCX-FM (90.1 MHz, owned byCentral Michigan University (CMU) and jointly operated by Delta College and CMU). The two stations share studios at the Frank N. Andersen Broadcast Center on the Delta College campus on Delta Road inUniversity Center, an unincorporated community inFrankenlust Township in southwesternBay County; WDCQ-TV's transmitter is located inQuanicassee, in northwesternTuscola County.
The station first signed on the air on October 12, 1964, as WUCM-TV; the "UCM" stood forUniversity Center, Michigan, its city of license. The station was affiliated withNational Educational Television (NET) from 1967 to 1970, when the present-day PBS replaced NET. In 1986, WUCM established asatellite, WUCX-TV (channel 35) in Bad Axe, to better cover Michigan's Thumb area. In 1997, concurrent with a rebranding to "Q-TV", both stations changed their calls, with WUCM becoming WDCQ-TV, and WUCX becoming WDCP-TV.
Theanalog channel 19 transmitter was located on a 496-foot (151 m) tower on the campus of Delta College, near the corner of 4-Mile and Delta Roads in Bay County. The analog channel 35 tower was located just south ofUbly.
The WUCX calls are still used today for Delta College'sNPR member station,WUCX-FM (90.1). That station is owned byCentral Michigan University, and jointly run by Delta College and CMU.
WDCQ is currently the third most-watched PBS station in Michigan, behindWTVS inDetroit andWGVU-TV inGrand Rapids.[citation needed] As of 2021, Thomas Bennett is the general manager of WDCQ and WUCX-FM.[3]
In late August 2020, Delta College re-branded its public broadcasting operations from "Q-TV" to "Delta College Public Media" to better identify its TV and radio stations as associated with Delta College.[4]
Programming on WDCQ consists of the general primary PBS fare, with some locally produced shows, such asCurrently 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.
Starting in 2005, WDCQ-TV began to produce local documentaries which looked at aspects of local history in the Great Lakes Bay Region and surrounding areas. These documentaries received many state and national awards including four Michigan Association of Broadcasters "Excellence in Broadcasting" Awards, numerous "Telly" awards among others. Documentaries produced include:[5]
The station's signal ismultiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19.1 | 720p | 16:9 | WDCQ-DT | PBS |
| 19.2 | 480i | 4:3 | World | |
| 19.3 | Create | |||
| 19.4 | PBS Kids | |||
| 19.5 | Michigan Learning Channel |
With the impending end of analog broadcasting in the United States, Delta College decided to use one digital station to cover its entire coverage area. Since it was widely believed that digital signals would travel further than analog signals, Delta College anticipated this would make up for the main WDCQ signal's shortfall on the Thumb. When each analog station was assigned a digital channel, WDCQ-TV in University Center was assigned channel 18 while WDCP-TV in Bad Axe was assigned channel 15 for digital. For practicality and monetary reasons, school officials opted to activate only channel 15, from a location that was close enough to the Tri-Cities to provide city-grade coverage to the area. Accordingly, on November 28, 2003; the two stations switched callsigns, with channel 19 becoming WDCP-TV, and channel 35 becoming WDCQ-TV.
WDCQ-TV ended regular programming on its analog signal, overUHF channel 35, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United Statestransitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 15,[7] usingvirtual channel 19—reflecting the analog channel position of WDCP. Even though FCC regulations would usually mandate that WDCQ use "35" as its virtual channel, Delta College sought and received permission to use "19" instead. This is because most of its viewers live in the Flint–Tri-Cities area and had watched the station on channel 19 for almost half a century. However, WDCQ-TV is on channel 35 forDirecTV customers in its market.
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