Split from state control
WTCI was the third of four stations built by the Tennessee Department of Education to expand educational television coverage in Tennessee, alongside WSJK-TV in Sneedville (serving Knoxville and the Tri-Cities) and WLJT in Lexington and Martin. A fourth station, WCTE-TV in Cookeville, followed in 1978.[14] In addition, there were educational stations in Nashville and Memphis (WDCN-TV and WKNO, respectively), which were not owned by the state.[15]
In 1980, a controversy brewed whose effects would change the course of educational television in much of Tennessee. The year before, WSJK-TV general manager Al Curtis had produced a 30-minute documentary on the successful 1978 gubernatorial campaign of Republican Lamar Alexander, The Extra Mile. The film used his campaign theme song, and most of the source footage was shot by a consulting firm for his campaign, though a WTCI crew also participated.[16] The consultant, Doug Bailey, noted he had input in the production of the program. Gene Dietz, a Democrat and head of the state network, denied Curtis permission to broadcast the program. At the time, Curtis was in line to succeed Dietz. However, when the issue came to light, state education commissioner Ed Cox abolished the position and began a formal audit.[17] Dietz described his firing as politically motivated and called the rejected program "pure political propaganda".[18]
This controversy led the state comptroller to audit the state educational television system, and Governor Alexander asked the Finance Department to evaluate the program. In April, it recommended all the stations be spun out to local community control. The report criticized the heavy bias in favor of state-owned stations in funding decisions, which disadvantaged the community-owned stations.[19] A separate inquiry into the educational television system, produced by consultant Donald Mullally for the Tennessee Higher Education Commission, returned its findings in July. Citing underfunding compared to state networks in other Southern states and the same inequities found in the Finance Department report, it too called for the state educational television apparatus to be disbanded[20] and WTCI to be put under local control.[21] A local council[22] was just one idea on the table. State senator Ray Albright floated transferring WTCI to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) or Chattanooga State,[23] and an amendment to allow UTC to take possession of channel 45 progressed through the state legislature.[24]
Ultimately, the council plan came to fruition. In April 1981, the Tennessee legislature passed the Tennessee Educational Television Network Act of 1981,[26] which was signed by Governor Alexander in May. This legislation provided for the transfer of the four Department of Education-owned stations to community entities by 1986.[27] A 24-member board was convened in October to provide oversight to WTCI, and by 1982, the 30-member Greater Chattanooga Public Television Corporation was in existence.[28] It became the licensee of WTCI on July 1, 1984.[29] The Tennessee Educational Television Network Act authorized the stations being spun out by the state to raise funds in the community for the first time; with WTCI needing to raise as much as 47 percent of its budget by 1985 from private sources, in order to offset declines in federal and state revenue, the station began airing pledge drives in August 1981 and ramped up its efforts to seek local donors.[30]
In 1991, Tennessee discontinued all financial subsidies for public television, leading to a 37-percent decrease in WTCI's operating revenue. Victor Hogstrom, the then-new general manager, worked to increase station viewership and membership to help the station soften the blow,[31] though cuts to staff and the budget were still necessary.[32] A second round of staff reorganization and layoffs was carried out in 1998 as federal and local support continued to dwindle.[33] In addition, the station's transmitter, which had been replaced in 1989,[34] had been unreliable; by 1998, it had needed to be nearly totally rebuilt, and on two occasions, malfunctioning high-voltage contacts had to be temporarily replaced with silver dimes so the transmitter could run.[35]
