WCTE

WCTE-TV, Channel 22, is owned and operated by the Upper Cumberland Broadcast Council, a not-for-profit corporation created to govern the television station. The broadcast coverage area of the station includes all 14 counties of the Upper Cumberland and 14 contiguous counties in Tennessee and southeastern Kentucky (an approximate 90 mile radius from the transmitter tower).
In almost the center of the Upper Cumberland region, on the highest point in Putnam County, stands the 805-foot television tower built to broadcast the signal of WCTE-TV. The station and main offices are located in the west side of Tucker Stadium on the campus of Tennessee Technological University.

The station broadcasts more than 6,200 hours of programming each year providing viewers with a complete service from the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and local programs as well. When local schools are in session, WCTE-TV offers extensive instructional television programs to enhance educational opportunities for children in the station's broadcast area.

In conjunction with Tennessee Tech, WCTE-TV offers college credit telecourses to residents of the entire Upper Cumberland region. With programs like "The Newshour with Jim Lehrer," "Frontline," "Nature," "Nova," "American Playhouse," "Mystery!" and "Masterpiece Theatre," and with various painting, cooking, and how-to series, the station offers viewers informational programs acquired through PBS, the American Program Service, the National Educational Telecommunications Association, and other program services.

WCTE-TV provides residents of the Upper Cumberland with regularly scheduled local programming. The staff of WCTE-TV produces around 300 hours of local programs in its studio and with cameras traveling throughout the entire region. "Upper Cumberland Camera" offers regional features on people, places, activities, and events.

The local programming content runs the gamut from educational and informational to entertainment and recreational. With a fully-equipped remote truck, the production staff produces both live and recorded programs throughout the region. The staff has provided coverage of Tennessee Tech football, Golden Eagle and Eaglette basketball, volleyball, softball and baseball.

A series produced with the Tennessee Tech Department of Curriculum and Instruction, entitled "Stepping Stones: Pathways to Early Development," has won two national public television awards and is still being distributed nationwide. In the past, shows like "A Cumberland Christmas Concert," produced with the Tennessee Tech Department of Music and Art, and "Cathy's Christmas Classics," produced with Human Ecology professor Cathy Cunningham, were distributed to all public television stations in the country. Other programs produced by WCTE-TV, including "Patriotic Brass" and "The Smithville Fiddlers' Jamboree," are also enjoying nationwide distribution.

WCTE-TV has won national awards and honors for several other endeavors, including "The Great TV Auction," "The Smithville Fiddlers' Jamboree," and "Stations of Imagination" - a local outreach project for school children which was free of charge for participants.

WCTE-TV continues to produce a number of series with Tennessee Tech professors. "Upper Cumberland Business Profiles," with professor Don Weinrauch, is now in its eleventh season and continues to be one of the more popular programs on WCTE-TV. "Tennessee Tech: Voices and Views", hosted by TTU's Karen Lykins, interviews individuals that make Tennessee Technological University a unique and academically outstanding institution. University visitors, student segments and events are also featured.

WCTE-TV is not only an educational/public station, but it is also a regional station serving residents of the Upper Cumberland and southeastern Kentucky with the best from PBS and from right here at home.

Additional information may be found at: http://www.wcte.org

Office of Research
Tennessee Tech University
P.O. Box 5036
Cookeville, TN 38505
Phone: (931) 372-3374 Fax: (931) 372-6374
Questions or Comment, please e-mail: Research@tntech.edu