KUSU-TV, VHF

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 ...

channel 12, was a non-commercial educational

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 ...

licensed A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

to Logan,

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

, United States, which broadcast from 1964 until 1970. The station was owned by

Utah State University Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...

. It went

dark Darkness, the direct opposite of lightness, is defined as a lack of illumination, an absence of visible light, or a surface that absorbs light, such as black or brown. Human vision is unable to distinguish colors in conditions of very low lu ...

in 1970 as part of a consolidation plan to unify Utah's fragmented educational television landscape and replaced with a translator of

KUED-TV KUED (channel 7), branded on-air as PBS Utah, is a PBS member television station in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The station is owned by the University of Utah, and has studios at the Eccles Broadcast Center on Wasatch Drive in the nort ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

History

The channel 12 construction permit was first obtained by a proposed

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

station for Logan, KVNU-TV, to be co-owned with

KVNU KVNU (610 AM) is a broadcast radio station in the United States. Licensed to Logan, Utah, KVNU is owned by the Cache Valley Media Group and has a news/talk format serving the Logan metropolitan area. The station first signed on in 1938 and was ...

radio (610 AM). The Cache Valley Broadcasting Company was granted the construction permit in February 1958; while the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...

canceled it in November for failure to be built, the company asked for the permit to be reinstated. Utah State had produced television programs for air on other stations—including, after 1958, the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

channel 7. Utah State also built its own TV studio in Logan, to be connected to Salt Lake via microwave link, in order to save on travel costs of people and tapes, which was completed in 1961. The university desired to build a TV station, but the lone VHF allocation for Logan was taken by the KVNU-TV construction permit. After deciding that programming an independent commercial TV station in Logan would be a difficult proposition, Cache Valley sold the station to the university in November 1960 for $6,331, a sum representing the company's expenses in procuring the permit. In January 1961, the KUSU-TV call letters were assigned; at the same time, KVSC became

KUSU-FM KUSU-FM (91.5 FM), known as Utah Public Radio, is an NPR-member radio station. It airs NPR programs, plus classical and folk music. Licensed to Utah State University in Logan, Utah, it broadcasts as Utah Public Radio on a series of 30 translato ...

. While the university initially considered a mountaintop site, the FCC at the time did not permit VHF television stations to be operated by remote control, so it was decided to instead build the station on campus. The university received funds from the Utah state legislature in 1963 and applied for additional federal monies under the Educational Television Facilities Act, becoming one of the first five grantees under the new law; in its application, USU noted that the Cache Valley did not receive a city-grade signal from KUED or the educational TV stations in Ogden ( KOET and KWCS-TV). A new tower, the highest structure on the campus, was commissioned for the station. KUSU signed on March 16, 1964, under program test authority from the FCC. The new station was a member of

National Educational Television National Educational Television (NET) was an American non-commercial educational, educational terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Ford Foundation and later co-owned by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. It o ...

at launch, originally "bicycling" tapes until a network microwave link was installed to Logan in January 1969. That same year, the station received permission to broadcast in color, though KUSU-TV's facilities could not originate color shows; colorcasts were limited to live network programs and color tapes. It also broadcast local instructional programming and productions from the University of Utah and

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

. KUSU-TV had formed part of a stampede of new noncommercial television stations in Utah. Between 1960 and 1965, the Weber County schools had built KWCS-TV; Ogden's city school board bought KVOG-TV and converted it to instructional programming as KOET; and BYU put

KBYU-TV KBYU-TV (channel 11) is a non-commercial educational independent television station licensed to Provo, Utah, United States, serving Salt Lake City and the state of Utah. The station is owned by Brigham Young University (BYU), an arm of the Church ...

on the air after having bought the license of the defunct KLOR-TV. In 1967, when the Ogden board put KOET up for sale, Utah State attempted to buy it and convert it into a semi-satellite of KUSU-TV. However, the sheer number of educational TV stations in the state led to a push for consolidation, and the Joint Commission on Educational Television opted to consolidate instructional television at KUED. In February 1970, KUSU-TV announced it would cease broadcast operations and return to supplying programs to KUED. On November 15, 1970, KUSU-TV was replaced with a new translator of KUED on channel 12, though at a different site and lower power, bringing to an end Logan's own noncommercial TV station. That day, the full-power antenna was removed by helicopter from the tower.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kusu-Tv USU-TV Television channels and stations established in 1964 1964 establishments in Utah Television channels and stations disestablished in 1970 1970 disestablishments in Utah Defunct television stations in the United States Educational and instructional television channels Logan, Utah Utah State University USU-TV