broadcaster . for british columbia channel see knowledge tv channel . wmec wqec wsec wmec macomb illinois wqec quincy illinois wsec jacksonville illinois united states branding network knowledge slogan watch and learn . channels digital wmec 21 uhf wqec 34 uhf wsec 15 uhf virtual wmec 22 psip wqec 27 psip wsec 14 psip translators w08dp 8 vhf springfield affiliations pbs owner west central illinois educational telecommunications corporation first air date wmec october 1 1984 ; 32 years ago 1984 10 01 wqec march 1985 ; 31 years ago 1985 03 wsec august 1984 ; 32 years ago 1984 08 call letters meaning macomb quincy springfield educational consortium former callsigns analog wmec wium tv 1984 1989 wqec none wsec wjpt 1984 1989 digital wmec wmec dt 2003 2009 wqec wqec dt 2003 2009 wsec wsec dt 2003 2009 former channel number s analog wmec 22 uhf 1984 2009 wqec 27 uhf 1985 2009 wsec 14 uhf 1984 2009 transmitter power wmec 75 kw wqec 58.6 kw wsec 75 kw height wmec 153 m wqec 153 m wsec 297 m class non commercial educational facility id wmec 70537 wqec 71561 wsec 70536 transmitter coordinates wmec 40 23 54 n 90 43 55 w 40.39833 n 90.73194 w 40.39833 ; 90.73194 wmec wqec 39 58 41 n 91 18 32 w 39.97806 n 91.30889 w 39.97806 ; 91.30889 wqec wsec 39 36 9 n 90 2 47 w 39.60250 n 90.04639 w 39.60250 ; 90.04639 wsec licensing authority fcc public license information wqec wsec profile wqec wsec cdbs website www.networkknowledge.tv network knowledge is a consortium of three public broadcasting service pbs stations in west central illinois . it is operated by the west central illinois educational telecommunications corporation . the corporation previously used the brand name convocom from 1978 until october 13 2004 . the three stations serve as the pbs member stations for the quincy market as well as the western portion of the champaign springfield decatur market . 1 the three stations serve a large and mostly rural swath of western illinois northeastern missouri and southeastern iowa . a digital translator w08dp located in springfield broadcasts on channel 8 for full coverage in that metropolitan area . contents 1 history 1.1 establishing an educational consortium 1.2 convocom 1.3 smaller network and change in mission 1.4 transition to digital television 1.5 financial challenges 2 programming 2.1 local programming 3 stations 4 digital television 4.1 digital channels 4.2 analog to digital conversion 5 references 6 external links history edit establishing an educational consortium edit in 1970 the west central region of illinois was one of the few areas in the united states without a pbs station . commercial broadcast television networks cbs nbc abc and their local affiliates in the west central illinois region provided some educational programming for children in the 1950s and 1960s but this program content disappeared by 1970 . parts of this region were served from will tv in urbana ; wtvp in peoria ; and iowa public television outlet kiin tv in iowa city . cable television systems in north central illinois and macomb carried iowa public television or wtvp while will tv was piped in by cable systems in springfield . however quincy the second largest city in the region had no over the air coverage . a number of meetings were held with civic organizations businesses elected public representatives private and public educational institutions from 1970 to 1976 . the outcome of these discussions was the establishment of the west central illinois educational telecommunications corporation incorporated on february 9 1976 . it was a consortium of bradley university in peoria western illinois university in macomb blackhawk community college in moline and sangamon state university in springfield . its mission was to establish an educational television network provide educational content create local and public affairs programming to serve the residents and businesses of west central illinois . bylaws for the corporation were approved on january 13 1984 . 2 the brand name convocom was adopted in 1978 for the corporation and its offices were established on west bradley avenue in peoria . george hall was appointed as first president that same year . he had previously served as general manager for north carolina state university s educational television station . 3 initial engineering design and fcc application filings were performed in 1977 and 1978 by gary breed and don markley of d.l. markley and associates 4 in peoria a well known broadcast engineering consulting firm . breed was a faculty member of bradley university s engineering department and markley president and owner of the firm grew up in ipava illinois . 5 the original television network design for convocom would encompass 5 broadcast transmitters at quad cities peoria macomb quincy and springfield jacksonville . the master control would be located at convocom headquarters in peoria at or near wtvp bradley university with 3 microwave interconnections links . a northern link to wqpt in quad cities ; a western link to wium tv in macomb and wqec in quincy ; and a southern link from peoria to wjpt in springfield jacksonville region . the d. l. markley design was a balance of engineering economics and the service region of the education institution members in the largely rural west central illinois region . larger urban areas in the region were considered crucial for ongoing community support and sufficient financial support grants fund raising to cover operational costs of the non commercial educational network . 6 west central illinois educational tv network convocom as presented to regional representatives educational institutions major businesses civic and community organizations in 1977 and 1978 7 station city of license ntsc channels tv rf first air date call letters meaning erp haat facility id convocom educational member transmitter site coordinates wtvp peoria 47 uhf june 27 1971 tele vision peoria 190 kw 216 m 28311 bradley university 40 37 44 n 89 34 12 w 40.62889 n 89.57000 w 40.62889 ; 89.57000 wtvp wqpt moline 24 uhf november 2 1983 quad cities public television 80 kw 269 m 5468 black hawk college 41 18 44.5 n 90 22 46.2 w 41.312361 n 90.379500 w 41.312361 ; 90.379500 wqpt wjpt1 jacksonville 14 uhf 1979 1 august 11 1984 jacksonville public television 490 m sangamon state university 39 45 31 n 90 31 8 w 39.75861 n 90.51889 w 39.75861 ; 90.51889 wjpt wium tv macomb 22 uhf october 1 1984 western illinois university macomb 75 kw 148 m western illinois university 40 25 40 n 90 40 58 w 40.42778 n 90.68278 w 40.42778 ; 90.68278 wium wqec2 quincy 27 uhf march 9 1985 quincy educational consortium 58.6 kw 153 m 39 58 39.9 n 91 18 32.6 w 39.977750 n 91.309056 w 39.977750 ; 91.309056 wqec notes 1 . wjpt planned to use the 1 610 foot 491 m wjjy tv tower at bluffs il . that tower collapsed on march 26 1978 easter sunday in an ice storm . a new 800 foot 243 m tower site west of waverly was selected and began broadcasting august 11 1984 . 2 . wqec was added since the new wjpt tower at waverly would not provide coverage to the quincy hannibal market . convocom edit wjpt was the first new convocom station to go on the air . it was slated to sign on in 1979 using a 1 610 foot tower near bluffs illinois that had previously been used abc affiliate wjjy tv . however the tower collapsed in a massive ice storm on easter sunday 1978 . 8 constructing a replacement 1 000 foot tower at the bluffs site by april 1979 would require 1 million that convocom did not have and changed the anticipated regional coverage from that location . a survey for prospective tower sites for wjpt in the jacksonville springfield market and wqec in the quincy hannibal market began in the summer of 1978 . western illinois university had been surveying tower sites south of macomb since the late 1960s to relocate the tower for the university s fm station wium . the 250 foot guyed radio tower erected in 1956 was located next to sallee hall in the middle of the university s expanding campus . in 1976 wiu selected a tower site on land bequeathed to the university by jack horn regional coca cola bottler . in 1977 wiu and convocom agreed to co locate the television station wium tv on this same tower . construction of a new 500 foot 152 m tower was completed in 1980 and wium s transmitters were relocated to the site in 1981 . two microwave relay towers were constructed between peoria and quincy at cuba illinois 9 and carthage illinois 10 and completed in 1983 for pbs program feeds local program feeds master control and tv studios at wiu in macomb and wgem tv in quincy . by 1983 a site west of waverly was selected for construction of an 800 foot 244 m tower . however for reasons that remain unknown the fcc only licensed wjpt for 34 kilowatts of broadcast power at that specific location . as a result wjpt only had a fringe grade b signal in springfield . a site east of quincy owned by blackhawk of quincy inc. was selected for a new 500 foot 152 m tower for wqec . 11 convocom had to raise 5.5 million to complete construction of these planned and unplanned replacement facilities . 12 george hall resigned as president of convocom in 1982 to serve as virginia s director of telecommunications under gov. charles robb . 3 the consortium appointed dr. jerold gruebel as the executive director of convocom in april 1983 . dr. grubel had previously served as the assistant director of ihets indiana higher education telecommunications system a statewide network of video voice and data networks connecting all 77 of indiana s colleges and universities with headquarters in indianapolis indiana . 13 wqpt in moline signed on november 2 1983 serving the quad cities metropolitan area east central iowa and north western illinois through a translator channel 48 in sterling illinois . wqpt owned and operated by black hawk college elected to develop its own brand identity for the quad cities market and never joined the convocom microwave network and control facilities in peoria as originally envisioned in the 1970s design . ironically under new ownership by western illinois university quad cities in 2010 the master control for wqpt was migrated and centralized at wtvp in peoria on june 30 2014 via fiber optic cabling as envisioned in the original 1970s d.l. markley & associates design . 14 wjpt in jacksonville signed on august 11 1984 serving the western portion of the champaign springfield decatur market and south central illinois . this gave the central illinois region a distinction of being served by two separately programmed pbs stations as will tv in urbana continued to serve as the pbs outlet for the eastern half of the market . springfield is assigned to the champaign springfield decatur market by nielsen designated market area dma and the fcc television market area tma since the 1950s . 15 wium tv in macomb signed on october 1 1984 as the primary station serving macomb and west central illinois . wqec in quincy signed on march 9 1985 serving hannibal quincy western illinois north eastern missouri and south eastern iowa . 16 wtvp in peoria owned by the illinois valley public telecommunications corporation elected to keep its brand identity ownership structure and broadcast operations in peoria . like wqpt the station never joined the 3 newly built convocom broadcast facilities in macomb quincy and jacksonville . smaller network and change in mission edit by the late 1980s convocom s service region was smaller than the original 1970s d.l. markley & associates design . over the next ten years regional political and consortium membership change led to revisions in financial support and a different