KSMQ-TV (channel 15) is a

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

member

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth ...

Austin, Minnesota Austin is a city in, and the county seat of, Mower County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 26,174 at the 2020 census. The town was originally settled along the Cedar River and has two artificial lakes, East Side Lake and Mill Po ...

, United States. The station is locally owned by KSMQ Public Service Media, Inc. KSMQ-TV's studios are located on the campus of

Riverland Community College Riverland Community College is a public community college with three campuses in southeastern Minnesota: Albert Lea, Austin, and Owatonna. Founded in 1940, Riverland offers a variety of educational programs and courses to over 4,900 students ann ...

on 8th Avenue Northwest (near

I-90 Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental freeway and the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It begins in Seattle, Washington, and travels through the Pacific Northwest, Mountain West, Great Plains, Midwest, and ...

) in Austin, and its transmitter is located in rural east-central

Mower County Mower County () is a county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,029. The county seat is Austin. Mower County comprises the Austin Micropolitan Statistical Area and is included in the Rochester-Austin Co ...

, northwest of Ostrander.

History

The station signed on the air in December 1971 as KAVT-TV, broadcasting on

analog Analog or analogue may refer to: Computing and electronics * Analog signal, in which information is encoded in a continuous variable ** Analog device, an apparatus that operates on analog signals *** Analog electronics, circuits which use analog ...

UHF channel 15 from a transmitter located near Austin. It was owned by the Austin school board. The station changed to the current KSMQ callsign in 1984. The school board sold the station to KSMQ Public Media, a community group, in 2004. While much of the station's programming comes from PBS (it has been a member station since its inception), the station features additional programming supplied by numerous sources, including the National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA) and

American Public Television American Public Television (APT) is an American nonprofit organization and syndicator of programming for public television stations in the United States. It distributes public television programs nationwide for PBS member stations and independ ...

(APT). In the mid-2000s, the station signed on its digital signal on UHF channel 20 from the Ostrander tower shared by

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

affiliate

KXLT-TV KXLT-TV (channel 47) is a television station licensed to Rochester, Minnesota, United States, serving as the Fox affiliate for Southeast Minnesota and Northern Iowa. It is owned by SagamoreHill Broadcasting alongside Telemundo affiliate KXSH-LD ( ...

(channel 47). KSMQ produces a wide variety of local content, including a weekly arts program, ''Off 90''; ''On Q'', a weekly public affairs program; and the agricultural education program ''Farm Connections''. Additionally, since 2012 the station has produced

documentaries A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in term ...

focused on topics of regional concern, including

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

and school

bullying Bullying is the use of force, coercion, hurtful teasing or threat, to abuse, aggressively dominate or intimidate. The behavior is often repeated and habitual. One essential prerequisite is the perception (by the bully or by others) of an imba ...

. During election years, KSMQ produces and broadcasts panel discussions featuring every state legislative district in its viewing area. KSMQ is the recipient of five regional

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

s for excellence in its locally produced programs. On May 2, 2015, KSMQ was presented with the Commanders' Award for Public Service by the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

. The Commanders' Medal, the fourth-highest Army decoration bestowed to civilians, was given to KSMQ Public Television for its continuing educational and marketing efforts in support of its 2013 World War II documentary ''The Typist''. During the early morning of September 5, 2012, KSMQ's STL tower collapsed due to

straight-line winds In meteorology, a downburst is a strong downward and outward gushing wind system that emanates from a point source above and blows radially, that is, in straight lines in all directions from the area of impact at surface level. Capable of pro ...

severe thunderstorms Severity or Severely may refer to: * ''Severity'' (video game), a canceled video game * "Severely" (song), by South Korean band F.T. Island See also

* * {{disambig ...

moved through the Austin area, partially falling onto a building that housed the station's power equipment. There were no injuries.Storms downs Austin’s KSMQ tower
''

Albert Lea Tribune The ''Albert Lea Tribune'' is an American, English language newspaper published in Albert Lea, Minnesota. It was founded in 1897. It is published Tuesday thru Saturday and has a circulation of 3,366. It was owned by Boone Newspapers Boone N ...

'', September 5, 2012. The station set up alternate transmitter facilities the following evening by installing a microwave dish atop its studios and manually redirecting it at its transmitter near Grand Meadow.KSMQ station operating again
''

Austin Daily Herald ''The Austin Daily Herald'' is an American, English language newspaper published Tuesday-Saturday mornings in Austin, Minnesota. Distribution is 5,280, mostly within Austin, Minnesota. It also publishes the ''Shopping News'' which is distribute ...

'', September 6, 2012. While insurance covered the costs of constructing a new broadcast tower, the station subsequently set up a fund for the construction due to a minimum $7,000 deductible that the station owed. In December 2013, the station recouped a portion of its loss from an insurance settlement. KSMQ has been digital-only since May 1, 2009.http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-07-138A2.pdf

Subchannels

The station's digital signal is

multiplexed In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource - a ...

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ksmq-Tv SMQ-TV PBS member stations Television channels and stations established in 1971 1971 establishments in Minnesota