KSKN

KSKN, virtual channel 22 (UHF digital channel 36), is a CW-affiliated television station licensed to Spokane, Washington, United States and also serving Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. The station is owned by Tegna Inc., as part of a duopoly with CBS affiliate KREM (channel 2). The two stations share studios on South Regal Street in Spokane; KSKN's transmitter is on Krell Hill southeast of Spokane. There is no separate website for the station.

KSKN
Spokane, Washington–
Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
United States
CitySpokane, Washington
ChannelsDigital: 36 (UHF)
Virtual: 22 (PSIP)
BrandingSpokane's CW 22 (general)
KREM 2 News (newscasts)
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
OwnerTegna Inc.
(KSKN Television, Inc.)
KREM
History
First air date
October 1, 1983 (1983-10-01)[1]
Former channel number(s)
Analog:
22 (UHF, 1983–2009)
  • Primary:
  • Independent (1983–1987)
  • Dark (1987–1994)
  • HSN (1994–1997)
  • UPN (1997–2002)
  • The WB (2002–2006)
  • Secondary:
  • The WB (1999–2002)
Call sign meaning
SpoKaNe
Technical information
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID35606
ERP1000 kW
HAAT622 m (2,041 ft)
Transmitter coordinates47°35′41″N 117°17′57″W
Links
Public license information
Profile
LMS

On cable and satellite, the station can be seen in high definition on Comcast Xfinity channel 111 in the Spokane area, Charter Spectrum channel 1212 in the Coeur d'Alene area and the Palouse, and channel 22 (in both standard and high definition) on Dish Network and DirecTV.

History

KSKN signed on the air on October 1, 1983 as an independent competitor to KAYU-TV (channel 28). The station featured a general entertainment format consisting of classic cartoons from 6 to 9 a.m., religious shows from 9 a.m. to noon, classic sitcoms from noon to 2:30 p.m., new cartoons from 2:30 to 5 p.m., recent sitcoms from 5 to 7 p.m., movies from 7 to 9 p.m., a mix of old and recent sitcoms from 9 p.m. to midnight, and movies during the overnight hours. Weekends consisted of more movies and drama shows. The station had good ratings, but overspent on programming. The original owners, Lee Shulman's Broadcast Vision Television, filed for bankruptcy in the summer of 1985. The station scaled back operations to daily from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. The station added more barter shows and dropped the stronger programming. In the fall of 1985, KSKN was sold to Sun Continental Group. The new owners, former owners of KMSB in Tucson, returned the station to stronger programming and added most of the shows the previous owners lost.

However, once principal Gene Adelstein died in March 1986, financial troubles returned. In February 1987, the station trimmed two and a half hours out of its broadcast day;[2] in March, the station filed for bankruptcy again, and in May, it began airing home shopping programs 10 hours a day.[3] On June 27, 1987, the ailing station went off the air.[4] These owners also filed bankruptcy in April 1987. After a 1990 attempt to return the station to air with the ill-fated Star Television Network failed,[5] the station remained off the air until emerging in late 1994 with Home Shopping Network programming 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with the exception of several hours on Sunday morning when they ran religious and educational children's shows. In July 1996,[6] KSKN entered into a local marketing agreement with KREM, which was owned by The Providence Journal Company at the time. The station became an affiliate of the United Paramount Network (UPN), after KAYU-TV (channel 28) carried the network for its first two seasons, and carryed its prime time programs and a couple hours a day of cartoons were added in afternoons in pattern. The station was re-launched early in 1997 with an overhaul of programming. Home Shopping Network programming was relegated to overnights; daytime hours consisted of cartoons until 9 a.m. and from 3 to 5 p.m., sitcoms from 9 a.m. to noon, talk and reality shows from noon to 3 p.m., sitcoms from 5 to 8 p.m. and from 10:30 p.m. to midnight, and a newscast at 10 p.m.

In 1999, the station joined The WB as secondary affiliate after the Superstation feed of Chicago's WGN-TV dropped the network as there was enough stations nationwide to carry it. KSKN aired both networks (with WB programming airing from 6 to 8 p.m. and UPN from 8 to 10 p.m.) til 2002, when it dropped its UPN affiliation and became a primary WB affiliate (UPN would return to Spokane a year later when KQUP signed on). It would gradually began dropping weekday cartoons from 1999 to 2006, due to changes in the broadcast industry. Belo, who bought out ProJo back in 1997, bought KSKN outright in October 2001. In January 2006, it was announced that The WB and UPN would merge in September 2006 to form The CW Television Network. It was confirmed on April 10 that KSKN would become the new affiliate for The CW. On June 13, 2013, the Gannett Company announced that it would acquire Belo.[7] The sale was completed on December 23, making KSKN Gannett's first CW-affiliated station outside of digital subchannels under its ownership.[8] KSKN became the first station in Spokane to air their news (sister station KREM) from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. in September 2014.[9] On June 29, 2015, the Gannett Company split in two, with one side specializing in print media and the other side specializing in broadcast and digital media. KSKN and KREM were retained by the latter company, named Tegna.[10]

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[11]
22.11080i16:9KSKN-DTMain KSKN programming / The CW
22.2480i4:3KSKN-SDLaff
22.316:9Quest

On December 6, 2011, Belo announced it signed affiliation agreements with KSKN and Seattle sister station KING-TV to add Live Well Network to their digital subchannels; Live Well Network replaced Universal Sports on digital subchannel 22.2 effective January 1, 2012, as Universal Sports transitioned into a cable and satellite channel during the first quarter of 2012.[12]

Analog-to-digital conversion

KSKN discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 22, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 36.[13] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 22.

Programming

Some of KSKN's current syndicated programming offerings include The People's Court, Maury, Extra, Friends, and Family Guy.

References
  1. The Broadcasting and Cable Yearbook says October 1, while the Television and Cable Factbook says December 18.
  2. Sowa, Tom (February 14, 1987). Spokesman-Review https://www.newspapers.com/clip/35347622/. Retrieved August 27, 2019. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. "KSKN to carry home-shopping service". Spokesman-Review. May 2, 1987. Retrieved August 27, 2019.
  4. DeFede, Jim. "Financial troubles pull plug on KSKN". Spokesman-Review. p. A1. Retrieved August 27, 2019. (Continued)
  5. "Independent station KSKN to be Star network affiliate". Spokesman-Review. July 12, 1990. Retrieved August 27, 2019.
  6. "A marriage between KREM and KSKN". Spokesman-Review. July 21, 1996. Retrieved August 27, 2019.
  7. "Gannett to buy KREM-TV owner Belo for $1.5 billion". KREM.com. Associated Press. June 13, 2013. Retrieved June 13, 2013.
  8. Gannett Completes Its Acquisition of Belo, TVNewsCheck, Retrieved December 23, 2013
  9. "For the first time, 7:00-9:00 a.m. morning news in Spokane". changingnewscasts.wordpress.com. August 31, 2014. Retrieved January 4, 2015.
  10. "Separation of Gannett into two public companies completed | TEGNA". Tegna. Retrieved June 29, 2015.
  11. RabbitEars TV Query for KSKN
  12. Live Well Net Adds Two More Belo Stations, TVNewsCheck, December 6, 2011.
  13. "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2012.
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