KSPS-TV (channel 7) 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 ...

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Canada ...

, United States, owned by KSPS Public Television. The station's studios are located on South Regal Street in the

Southgate Southgate or South Gate may refer to: Places Australia *Southgate, Sylvania *Southgate Arts and Leisure Precinct, an area within Southbank, Victoria Canada *Southgate, Ontario, a township in Grey County * Southgate, Middlesex County, Ontario Ed ...

neighborhood of Spokane, and its transmitter is located on

Krell Hill Krell Hill, also known as Tower Mountain, is a peak at the southern end of the Selkirk Mountains in Spokane County, Washington. It rises abruptly to the southeast of the relatively flat Neighborhoods in Spokane, Washington#South Hill, South Hill ...

southeast of Spokane.

History

On April 24, 1967, KSPS-TV first signed on the air,"Educational TV Station on Air Soon"
''

The Spokesman-Review ''The Spokesman-Review'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Spokane, Washington, the city's sole remaining daily publication. It has the third-highest readership among daily newspapers in the state, with most of its readership base in ...

'', April 21, 1967. Retrieved: May 19, 2012. from the basement of Adams Elementary of

Spokane Public Schools Spokane Public Schools (District No. 81) is a public school district in Spokane County, Washington, and serves the city of Spokane. The district includes oversight and administration of seven high schools, six middle schools, and 34 elementary sc ...

. 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. 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. 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 Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

and

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

, and it operates a translator network covering parts of Washington, Idaho,

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

and

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

. It is also carried on

cable Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...

in most of

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

and parts of

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, and on satellite systems across western Canada. Montana and Alberta are on the

Mountain Time Zone The Mountain Time Zone of North America keeps time by subtracting seven hours from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) when standard time ( UTC−07:00) is in effect, and by subtracting six hours during daylight saving time ( UTC−06:00). The clo ...

, and programs are viewed one hour later by local time. A significant portion of the station's donations and viewing audience comes from

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

and

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

. 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 dollar The Canadian dollar ( symbol: $; code: CAD; french: dollar canadien) is the currency of Canada. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, there is no standard disambiguating form, but the abbreviation Can$ is often suggested by notable style ...

s. 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 Mary Ann Wilson (born July 25, 1936) is an American nurse and TV fitness instructor. Wilson is also the founder and host of the award-winning exercise show ''Sit and Be Fit'', which is broadcast on over 100 PBS television stations across the Unite ...

's ''

Sit and Be Fit ''Sit and Be Fit'' is a television exercise program for older adults and anyone needing slow gentle movement. The program is broadcast throughout the United States, distributed to public television stations (although not by WNET). ''Sit and Be F ...

'' program, as KSPS serves as the primary production studio and distributor of the series since it debuted in 1987.

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.

Digital television

Digital channels

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 ...

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 (where its digital signal was originally slated to remain post-transition) to channel 7.

Translators

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ksps-Tv PBS member stations Television channels and stations established in 1967 Spokane Public Schools SPS-TV 1967 establishments in Washington (state)