WHIQ, Channel 25 suffered a major fire this morning and is off the air. The manager was interviewed by the CBS affilliate and said they will try to be back up as soon as possible but would have to scrounge equipment. Since they operate on donations, we've decided to go ahead and send in our next years donation now. Any of ya'll in there coverage area please support your PBS station also.

-- Anonymous, May 23, 2001

Answers

Probably we should send $ even locally. Maybe our local stations will chip in?

-- Anonymous, May 24, 2001

I found the Alabama Public TV website: http://www.aptv.org/

Contact info:

APT - Alabama Public Television 2112 11th Avenue South Suite 400 Birmingham, AL 35205-2884 Phone Number: (205) 328-8756 Fax Number: (205) 251-2192 Email Address: dbaker@aptv.org

There's a little story about the fire. Hope they had insurance! Over $1.6 million damage!

I would imagine that any donations sent to the general Alabama organization would need to be earmarked for getting Huntsville back on line.

-- Anonymous, May 24, 2001

I finally got through to the management today and they expect it to be several weeks or more before the station is back up. A friend that works with them during fundraisers said much of the lost equipment was donated and probally not covered for loss.

Joy,

Thanks for posting the address above. I didn't think to post it yesterday. Any donations need to be sent to that address with a note directing it to the Huntsville station support fund. The next nearest APT station that can sometimes be recieved in this area is ch 36, which comes in weak most times. Maybe they will try to raise its power and coverage during the rebuild.

-- Anonymous, May 24, 2001