January 7, 1955

Alabama Public Television (APT), then known as Alabama Educational Television, initiated its first broadcast from a transmitter on Mount Cheaha. Created by Gov. Gordon Persons as a solution to the state’s regional disparities in educational quality, APT became the nation’s first educational television network when it emitted a second signal from a transmitter in Birmingham in April 1955. The network’s first on-air content included the inauguration of Gov. Jim Folsom and taped instructional material from various educational entities across the state. Today, APT operates nine digital transmitters that cover 98 percent of the state and parts of Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee.

Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.

Alabama Public Television logo. (Courtesy of Alabama Public Television)

For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.