The Bible Belt is an informal region in the Southern United States in which conservative evangelical Protestantism plays a strong role in society and politics, church attendance across the denominations is higher than the nation's average. The region contrasts with the religiously diverse Midwest and Great Lakes, the Mormon Corridor in Utah and southern Idaho, the secular Western and New England regions of the United States. Whereas the state with the highest percentage of residents identifying as non-religious is the New England state of Vermont at 37%, in the Bible Belt state of Alabama it is just 12%. Tennessee has the highest proportion of Evangelical Protestants, at 52%; the Evangelical influence is strongest in northern Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina and Western Virginia, West Virginia, South Carolina, all of Texas. The earliest known usage of the term "Bible Belt" was by American journalist and social commentator H. L. Mencken, who in 1924 wrote in the Chicago Daily Tribune: "The old game, I suspect, is beginning to play out in the Bible Belt."

In 1927, Mencken claimed the term as his invention. The name "Bible Belt" has been applied to the South and parts of the Midwest, but is more identified with the South. In a 1961 study, Wilbur Zelinsky delineated the region as the area in which Protestant denominations Southern Baptist and evangelical, are the predominant religious affiliation; the region thus defined included most of the Southern United States, including most of Texas and Oklahoma, in the states south of the Ohio River, extending east to include central West Virginia and Virginia, from the Shenandoah Valley southward into Southside Virginia and North Carolina. In addition, the Bible Belt covers most of Missouri and Kentucky and southern parts of Illinois and Ohio. On the other hand, areas in the South which are not considered part of the Bible Belt include Catholic Southern Louisiana and southern Florida, which have been settled by immigrants and Americans from elsewhere in the country, overwhelmingly Hispanic South Texas.

A 1978 study by Charles Heatwole identified the Bible Belt as the region dominated by 24 fundamentalist Protestant denominations, corresponding to the same area mapped by Zelinsky. According to Stephen W. Tweedie, an Associate Professor Emeritus in the Department of Geography at Oklahoma State University, the Bible Belt is now viewed in terms of numerical concentration of the audience for religious television, he finds two belts: one more eastern that stretches from Florida, through Alabama, Kentucky, the Carolinas, into Southside Virginia. "is research broke the Bible Belt into two core regions, a western region and an eastern region. Tweedie's western Bible Belt was focused on a core that extended from Little Rock, Arkansas to Tulsa, Oklahoma, his eastern Bible Belt was focused on a core that included the major population centers of Virginia and North Carolina. A study was commissioned by the American Bible Society to survey the importance of the Bible in the metropolitan areas of the United States.

The report was based on 42,855 interviews conducted between 2005 and 2012. It determined the 10 most "Bible-minded" cities were Tennessee. In addition to the South, there is a smaller Bible Belt in West Michigan, centered on the Dutch-influenced cities of Holland and Grand Rapids. Christian colleges in that region include Calvin College, Hope College, Cornerstone University, Grace Bible College, Kuyper College. West Michigan is fiscally and conservative. During the colonial period, the South was a stronghold of the Anglican church, its transition to a stronghold of non-Anglican Protestantism occurred over the next century as a series of religious revival movements, many associated with the Baptist denomination, gained great popularity in the region. It seems a link between the colonial Bible Belt and the Southern Bible Belt may be seen in the impact which some Northern figures had on the religious development of the South. "The centre of Particular Baptist activity in early America was in the Middle Colonies.

In 1707 five churches in New Jersey and Delaware were united to form the Philadelphia Baptist Association, through the association they embarked upon vigorous missionary activity. By 1760 the Philadelphia association included churches located in the present states of Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware and West Virginia; the Philadelphia association provided leadership in organizing the Charleston Association in the Carolinas in 1751."An influential figure was Shubal Stearns: "Shubael Stearns, a New England Separate Baptist, migrated to Sandy Creek, North Carolina, in 1755 and initiated a revival that penetrated the entire Piedmont region. The churches he organized were brought together in 1758 to form the Sandy C

Margaret Majella Keech is an Australian Labor Party politician who served as a minister in the Cabinet of Queensland, the Government Whip, the Member of Parliament for Albert. Prior to entering Parliament, Keech was a language and learning advisor for international students, ranging from kindergartners to post-doctoral students at the Queensland University of Technology. In 2001, she was the first woman elected to represent Albert in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland, she was Labour's Caucus Secretary from 28 March 2001 to February 2004. Keech served as Minister for Tourism, Fair Trading and Wine Industry Development in the Beattie Ministry from March 2004, taking on the additional role of Minister for Women in November 2006; when Anna Bligh installed her Ministry in September 2007, Keech was appointed Minister for Child Safety and Women. She was made Government Whip in March 2009, in which role she served until she lost her seat at the 2012 to Mark Boothman. In 1981, Keech started the first public playgroup in Beenleigh and established the popular Sunday craft market in Main St.

She is the co-founder of the local Residents Association and was chair of the Beenleigh Police District Community Consultative Committee. Keech has a small business background and is a member of the Beenleigh Yatala Chamber of Commerce and the Australian Services Union, she has a Master of Arts, a Bachelor of Economics, a Graduate Diploma in Teaching and a Graduate Diploma in Applied Linguistics. Keech and her husband Peter and their three children, James and Helen, have lived in Albert since 1980. Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 2001–2004 Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 2004–2006 Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 2006–2009 Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 2009–2012

The Waltham transmitting station is a broadcasting and telecommunications facility at Waltham-on-the-Wolds, 5 miles north-east of Melton Mowbray. It sits inside the Waltham civil parish near Stonesby, in the district of Melton, Leicestershire, UK, it has a 315 metres guyed steel tubular mast. The main structure height to the top of the steelwork is 290.8 metres, with the UHF television antennas contained within a GRP shroud mounted on top. The first mast was built in 1966. On 16 November 1966, it collapsed. Parts of the wreckage are still in use as pig shelters, it had been built by the British Insulated Cables Construction Company. It was to have begun broadcasts in the summer of 1967; the structure was rebuilt in 1968 by the BBC. This delayed its first transmissions until 31 August 1968 of BBC2 only, it broadcast ITV from February 1970 and BBC1 from August 1970. On 9 April 1970, the whole region lost the signal when an excavator damaged the station's main cable; the mast was one of three similar types built at the same time with Mendip and Bilsdale.

It is a shorter version of the second Emley Moor transmitter which collapsed whilst broadcasting on 19 March 1969, due to the weight of ice on the structural cables. The Waltham mast has four sets of stay levels as opposed to the six of the former Emley mast; the latter was identical to the current 385m high Belmont mast, both built by the ITA. It is east of the A607 between Melton Mowbray; the mast was built to provide BBC2 to the East Midlands. It became the main mast for ITV's Central East Midlands from 1982 and BBC East Midlands from 1991, it had carried broadcasts from Birmingham. It is now the main TV transmitter for all digital terrestrial channels covering the East Midlands, predominantly including most of Leicestershire, Rutland and Derbyshire, it can be received in parts of Norfolk, Huntingdonshire, Warwickshire, Staffordshire and Lincolnshire. It is operated by Arqiva. Waltham first broadcast digital TV on 15 November 1998. In July 2007 was confirmed by Ofcom that at DSO Waltham would be transmitting five - of the six - MUXes within its original C/D group.

For reception of all 6 MUXES a wideband is required. When Waltham undertakes its 700MHz clearance, between February and March 2020, it will become an A group - excluding MUXES 7 and 8 which are due to be switched off before the end of 2022 anyway; the two most powerful relays are at Stanton Moor. The area to the north west of the latter transmitter is the meeting point between the Winter Hill, Emley Moor, Sutton Coldfield, Waltham broadcasting regions and this is why just north-west of Bakewell, the filler transmitters are BBC North West. Stanton Moor transmitter feeds the Darley Dale site, Britain's 1000th television relay station. Analogue television is no longer transmitted from Waltham. BBC Two closed on UHF 64 on 17 August 2011. ITV1 was moved into its frequency at the time and the BBC A multiplex began transmitting on UHF 61; the remaining four analogue channels were switched off on 31 August. List of tallest structures in the world – 300 to 400 metres List of tallest structures in the United Kingdom List of radio stations in the United Kingdom Info and pictures of Waltham transmitter including historical power/frequency changes and present co-receivable transmitters.

The Transmission Gallery: photographs, coverage maps and information Waltham Transmitter at thebigtower.com Waltham at UK Free TV Ashbourne on Wyaston Road Ashford-in-the-Water off the A6 Belper on Firestone Hill near Hazelwood Birchover at Uppertown Farm towards Winster Bolehill near the National Stone Centre Darley Dale Eastwood next to Morrisons Little Eaton next to the A38 Matlock at High Tor, east of the A6 Nottingham in Strelley, Broxtowe Parwich towards Tissington Stamford on Barnack Road next to Stamford High School Stanton Moor at Stanton in Peak next to the Nine Ladies