Maryland Public Television


Maryland Public Television is the Public Broadcasting Service member state network for the U.S. state of Maryland. It operates under the auspices of the Maryland Public Broadcasting Commission, an agency of the Maryland state government that holds the licenses for all PBS member stations licensed in the state. It benefits from the support of an affiliated non-profit organization, the MPT Foundation, Inc.. Studios are located in the unincorporated community of Owings Mills in northwestern Baltimore County.
MPT operates six full-power transmitters that cover nearly all of the state, plus Washington, D.C. and parts of Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. Its local and regional television credits include several state-focused programs on civic and public affairs, as well as a variety of original performance, documentary, and entertainment offerings for the citizens of Maryland. Beyond broadcasting, MPT creates instructional videos, develops training, and builds Internet sites that serve tens of thousands of students, teachers, and child-care providers annually. The centerpiece of MPT's service to Maryland educators, students, and families is Thinkport, a Web site that offers online teaching resources, professional development opportunities and digital technology tools to assist educators.
Maryland Public Television has earned awards ranging from television Emmys for its quality productions to government citations for its volunteerism and educational accomplishments. MPT has been led by Larry Unger, president and chief executive officer, since 2011.

History

WMPB first signed on in 1969 as the first station of the Maryland Center for Public Broadcasting; it gained satellite stations in Salisbury, Hagerstown, and Annapolis between 1971 and 1975, resulting in a formation of a statewide public television network. The network adopted its current name in 1984. Maryland Instructional Television, a division of the State Department of Education, was also housed at the network until 1991. On July 4, 1987, WFPT signed on as a third PBS member station for the Washington market, while WGPT in Oakland signed on as the MPT station for extreme western portions of Maryland ; prior to the latter station's launch, PBS programming was only available over the air via WNPB-TV.
About 1999, the network launched an afternoon Britcom programming block, Afternoon Tea, replacing children's programming. By 2009, MPT was airing kids' programming during the day on its MPT Select channel.
In September 2015, as part of budget cuts, MPT outsourced its master control operations to Public Media Management—a joint venture of Boston PBS member WGBH and Sony Corporation.

Productions

Current regional productions

Nationally distributed productions

The MPT stations are:
StationCity of licenseChannels VC/RFFirst air dateCallsign meaningERPHAATTransmitter coordinatesFacility IDPublic license information
WMPBBaltimore67
22 		Maryland
Public
Broadcasting
90 kW65944
WCPBSalisbury28
16 		Coastal
Public
Broadcasting		320 kW40618
WWPBHagerstown31
29 		Western Maryland
Public
Broadcasting		700 kW65943
WMPTAnnapolis22
21 		Maryland
Public
Television		1000 kW65942
WFPTFrederick62
28 		Frederick
Public
Television		71.3 kW40626
WGPTOakland36
26 		Garrett County
Public
Television		200 kW40619

Notes:

Digital channels

The stations' digital signals are multiplexed:
ChannelVideoAspectPSIP Short NameProgramming
xx.11080iMPT-HDMain MPT programming / PBS
xx.2720pMPT-2MPT2 / Create
xx.3480iMPTKIDSPBS Kids
xx.4480iNHK-WLDNHK World

Analog-to-digital conversion

MPT's stations shut down their analog signals on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital channel allocations post-transition are as follows:
As a part of the repacking process following the 2016–2017 FCC incentive auction, channels 38 through 51 will be removed from television broadcasting. None of MPT's stations sold their allocations, but five of them will move channels within the UHF band: WMPT moved to channel 21, WMPB to channel 22, WWPB to channel 29, WGPT to channel 26, and WCPT to channel 16.

Awards

For 2008, MPT received 14 Emmy Award nominations from the National Capital Chesapeake Bay Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. MPT received Emmys for Eatin' Crabs Chesapeake Style, two awards for Bob the Vid Tech: The Mystery of the Missing Pizza and one for ArtWorks: Manuel Barrueco Special.
MPT received two 2008 CINE Golden Eagle Awards for The Transformation Age: Surviving a Technology Revolution with Robert X. Cringely, a coproduction of MPT/University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business, and Lethal Landscapes: Canvases of the Combat Artist.
For 2007, the station received 11 nominations and won 1 National Capitol Emmy including 3 nominations for their regional The War series and 5 nominations for Outdoors Maryland. Motorweek also received the Board of Governors Award.