KSPS-TV

KSPS-TV, virtual and VHF digital channel 7, is a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member television station licensed to Spokane, Washington, United States. The station is owned by KSPS Public Television. KSPS-TV's studios are located on South Regal Street in Spokane, and its transmitter is located on Krell Hill southeast of Spokane.[2]

KSPS-TV
Spokane, Washington
United States
ChannelsDigital: 7 (VHF)
Virtual: 7 (PSIP)
Programming
Affiliations7.1: PBS
7.2: World
7.3: Create
7.4: PBS Kids
Ownership
OwnerKSPS Public Television
(Friends of KSPS)
History
First air date
April 24, 1967 (1967-04-24)
Former channel number(s)
Analog:
7 (VHF, 1967–2009)
Digital:
8 (VHF, 2003–2009)
NET (1967–1970)
Call sign meaning
Spokane Public Schools
(original licensee)
-or-
Spokane's Seven
Technical information
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID61956
ERP45.1 kW[1]
HAAT558 m (1,831 ft)
Transmitter coordinates47°34′34″N 117°18′2″W
Links
Public license information
Profile
LMS
Websitewww.ksps.org

On cable and satellite, the station can be seen in high definition on Comcast Xfinity channel 107 in the Spokane area, Charter Spectrum channel 1221 in the Coeur d'Alene area and the Palouse, Idaho, and channel 7 (in both standard and high definition) on Dish Network and DirecTV.

History

On April 24, 1967, KSPS-TV first signed on the air,[3] from the basement of Adams Elementary of Spokane Public Schools. It was affiliated with National Educational Television (NET), and moved to its successor network, PBS, on October 5, 1970. A series of school levy failures in the early 1970s forced the station to secure alternate funding and, in 1972, Friends of Seven, now known as Friends of KSPS, was founded to provide financial support to KSPS.

Former logo used until 2019.

On July 26, 2012, the board of Spokane Public Schools voted unanimously to spin off KSPS to the Friends of KSPS. A day later, the Friends of KSPS board also voted unanimously to move forward with taking full control of the station. The transition from an educational license to a community license was completed in fall 2013. School board employees working for KSPS would become employees of the non-profit organization. Gary Stokes, the executive director of the Friends of KSPS, says that he hopes to "keep things as business-as-usual as possible. That includes keeping the employees a part of our station." Friends of KSPS has become the primary financial supporter for the station in recent years and Stokes said he believed that his organization was in a position to take over the station outright. The station plans to remain at Ferris High School in the short term; the school board has no plans to sell the building in which the station is located.[2][4] Soon after the sale closed and the station officially became a community-licensed station, Friends of KSPS changed its trading name to KSPS Public Television.

Programming

KSPS provides programing from PBS and local sources. The station's main signal reaches parts of Washington and Idaho, and it operates a translator network covering parts of Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Montana. It is also carried on cable in most of Alberta and parts of British Columbia, and on satellite systems across western Canada. Montana and Alberta are on the Mountain Time Zone, and programs are viewed one hour later by local time.

A significant portion of the station's donations and viewing audience comes from Calgary and Edmonton.[5] Calgary and Edmonton each have populations which are more than double the entire population of KSPS's American coverage area, and most of the station's members live in those two cities. Not only must KSPS take its large Canadian audience into account in its programming, but a significant portion of its donations are in Canadian dollars. It is one of five local Spokane TV stations seen in Canada on Shaw Cable.

It was the first station to carry Mary Ann Wilson's Sit and Be Fit program, as KSPS serves as the primary production studio and distributor of the series since it debuted in 1987.[6]

Tower collapse

On November 29, 2006, ice and wind caused the top 200 feet (60 meters) of the station's antenna at the Krell Hill transmission site to collapse, disrupting its off-air signal. Other area television broadcasters promised to lend short-term support. Cable and satellite feeds in the U.S. and Canada were not affected, as fiber is used to transmit the signal to the head ends. Over-the-air broadcasts were interrupted for almost a month while the tower was being repaired.[7][8]

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[9]
7.11080i16:9KSPS-HDMain KSPS-TV programming / PBS
7.2480iKSPS WoWorld
7.3720pKSPS CrCreate
7.4480iKIDSPBS Kids

Analog-to-digital conversion

KSPS-TV discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over VHF channel 7, on February 17, 2009, the original target date in which full-power television stations in the United States were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate (which was later pushed back to June 12, 2009). The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition VHF channel 8 to channel 7 for post-transition operations.[10]

Translators
This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions.

The following translators re-broadcast KSPS-TV:[11]

*Note that some of the translators on this list are confirmed on the KSPS-TV website but they do not have any known FCC data. There are also some translators that are not on the list at the KSPS-TV website, but are listed on the RabbitEars website under the states of Washington, Idaho, Montana and/or Oregon.

Notes
  1. Shared with and owned by KAYU-TV; carries the 7.1 and 7.3 subchannels in SD only
  2. Owned by KXLY-TV

References
  1. https://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=KSPS
  2. "Schools, TV station consider cutting ties". spokesman.com. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  3. "Educational TV Station on Air Soon" The Spokesman-Review, April 21, 1967. Retrieved: May 19, 2012.
  4. Lawrence-Turner, Jody (27 July 2012). "KSPS board agrees to begin divorce talks with school district". The Spokesman-Review.
  5. Guilfoil, Michael (19 February 2017). "Front & Center: As KSPS turns 50, Gary Stokes helps TV station keep moving forward". The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
  6. About Mary Ann
  7. "KSPS - Public Television - Spokane, WA". 29 September 2007. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-03-11. Retrieved 2013-06-06.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. "RabbitEars.Info". www.rabbitears.info. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  10. "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-08-29. Retrieved 2012-03-24.
  11. "Technical help: Translators" Archived 2012-01-19 at the Wayback Machine. KSPS. Retrieved 2014-07-04.
  12. "RabbitEars.Info". www.rabbitears.info. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  13. http://www.peckycox.com/priestlake/2011/07/channel-lineup-from-the-priest-lake-translator-district.html%5B%5D
  14. "RabbitEars.Info". www.rabbitears.info. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  15. "RabbitEars.Info". www.rabbitears.info. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
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