KSPS-TV

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = KSPS-TV
city =
station_
station_slogan =
station_branding =
analog = 7 (VHF)
digital = 8 (VHF)
other_chs =
affiliations = PBS
network =
founded =
airdate = April 24, 1967
location = Spokane, Washington
callsign_meaning = Spokane Public Schools
former_callsigns =
former_channel_numbers =
owner = Spokane Public Schools
licensee = Spokane School District #81
sister_stations =
former_affiliations = NET (1967-1970)
effective_radiated_power = 316 kW (analog)
21.6 kW (digital)
HAAT = 558 m (both)
class =
facility_id = 61956
coordinates = coord|47|34|33.2|N|117|18|1.7|W|type:landmark_scale:2000
homepage = [http://www.ksps.org/ www.ksps.org]

KSPS-TV, channel 7, is the PBS station in Spokane, Washington. It also has significant viewership in the province of Alberta, Canada, including the cities of Edmonton and Calgary. The station broadcasts its main signal from its site at Krell Hill, a.k.a. "Tower Mountain".

History

The station first signed on the air on April 24, 1967 from the basement of Spokane Public Schools' Adams Elementary. A series of school levy failures in the early 1970s forced the station to secure alternate funding through other sources, and in 1972, Friends of Seven was founded to provide financial support to KSPS.

Programming

KSPS provides a mix of diverse programing from PBS and local sources, as well as instructional programming. The station's main signal reaches parts of Washington and Idaho, and it operates a large translator network covering parts of Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Montana. It is also carried on cable in parts of British Columbia and Alberta, and on satellite systems across western Canada.

The majority of the station's donations from telethons come from Calgary and Edmonton, and most of the station's members are from those two cities. Calgary and Edmonton both have populations which are far larger than the entire population of the Spokane market. It is one of five local Spokane TV stations seen in Canada on the Star Choice satellite provider.

It was the first station to carry Mary Ann Wilson's "Sit and Be Fit" program.

Tower Collapse

On November 29, 2006, at approximately 2:50 AM Pacific Standard Time, the top 200 feet (60 meters) of the station's antenna at the Krell Hill transmission site collapsed, disrupting its off-air signal. The circumstances regarding the tower collapse are unknown. An engineering crew is surveying the site and the structure to determine the cause of the collapse, and if there is any way to save the tower. Other area television broadcasters, as well as Comcast cable, have promised to lend short-term support, in the event the tower is unsalvageable.

Cable and satellite feeds in the US and Canada were not affected, as fiber is used to transmit its signal to the headends. It is unclear if service via low-power repeaters has been affected. [http://www.ksps.org/about/pressroom/tower_update.htm]

Digital Television

The station's over the air digital channel is multiplexed:

Translators

Idaho

* Bonners Ferry - Channel 56 *TVQ|K56AB
* Couer D' Alene - Channel 44 *TVQ|K44EC
* Lewiston/Clarkston - Channel 53 *TVQ|K53GN
* Priest Lake - Channel 5/31
* Sandpoint - Channel 24 *TVQ|K24DW

Montana

* Kalispell/Big Horn/Lakeside, MT - Channel 67 *TVQ|K67CZ
* Kalispell/Whitefish/Columbia Falls, Mt - Channel 29 *TVQ|K29AA
* Libby and surrounding area, MT - Channel 68 *TVQ|K68AS
* Missoula, MT - Channel 32*TVQ|K32EU
* Troy, MT - Channel 13

Oregon

* Milton Freewater, OR - Channel 29 *TVQ|K29EG

Washington

* Brewster/Pateros, WA - Channel 56 *TVQ|K56BK
* Cashmere/Peshastin/Dryden, WA - Channel 57 *TVQ|K57AY
* Ellesford/Tonaskat, WA - Channel 67
* Ephrata/Soap Lake, WA - Channel 60
* Goat Mtn., WA - Channel 44
* Lake Wenatchee, WA - Channel 13 *TVQ|K13SQ
* Levenworth, WA - Channel 13
* Malott, WA - Channel 67
* Manson/Chelan, WA - Channel 07 *TVQ|K07JO
* Moses Lake, WA - Channel 52
* Odessa, WA - Channel 64 *TVQ|K64AB
* Omak/Okanagan, WA - Channel 13 *TVQ|K17EV
* Prescott, WA - Channel 30
* Quincy, WA - Channel 50*TVQ|K50BO
* Wenatchee, WA - Channel 67 *TVQ|K67CD

External links

* [http://www.ksps.org/ KSPS - Public Television]
*TVQ|KSPS-TV
*BIA|KSPS|TV|TV

References