KWCM-TV (channel 10) is a
PBS member
television station in
Appleton, Minnesota, United States, owned by the West Central Minnesota Educational TV Corp. KWCM-TV's studios are located on Pioneer Drive in
Granite Falls, and its transmitter is located near Appleton.
KSMN (channel 20) in
Worthington
Worthington may refer to:
People
* Worthington (surname)
* Worthington family, a British noble family
Businesses
* Worthington Brewery, also known as Worthington's
* Worthington Corporation, founded as a pump manufacturer in 1845, later a dive ...
operates as a full-time
satellite of KWCM-TV; this station's transmitter is located near
Chandler, Minnesota. KSMN covers areas of southwestern Minnesota that receive a marginal to non-existent
over-the-air signal from KWCM, although there is significant overlap between the two stations'
contours
Contour may refer to:
* Contour (linguistics), a phonetic sound
* Pitch contour
* Contour (camera system), a 3D digital camera system
* Contour, the KDE Plasma 4 interface for tablet devices
* Contour line, a curve along which the function has a ...
otherwise. KSMN is a straight
simulcast of KWCM; on-air references to KSMN are limited to
Federal Communications Commission (FCC)-mandated hourly
station identifications during programming. Aside from the transmitter, KSMN does not maintain any physical presence locally in Worthington.
The two stations are collectively branded as Pioneer PBS. Their combined signal can also be received in parts of
Iowa,
South Dakota and
North Dakota. Several other
translators carry the signal into other communities.
History
KWCM went on the air for the first time on February 7, 1966. In the early years, it repeated the signal of
KTCA-TV in the
Twin Cities. It adopted the Pioneer Public Television name in 1982, and added KSMN in 1997.
The station is available on the
DirecTV and
Dish Network
DISH Network Corporation (DISH, an acronym for DIgital Sky Highway) is an American television provider and the owner of the direct-broadcast satellite provider Dish, commonly known as Dish Network, and the over-the-top IPTV service, Sling TV. A ...
feeds for the Twin Cities and
Sioux Falls
Sioux Falls () is the most populous city in the U.S. state of South Dakota and the 130th-most populous city in the United States. It is the county seat of Minnehaha County and also extends into Lincoln County to the south, which continues up t ...
markets
Market is a term used to describe concepts such as:
* Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand
* Market economy
*Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market
Geography
*Märket, a ...
. Appleton is part of the Twin Cities market, while Worthington is in the Sioux Falls market. This gives Pioneer a potential audience of 4.8 million people in Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota and
Wisconsin. As of November 3, 2019, the station became Pioneer PBS due to PBS' overhaul.
Pioneer-produced shows
Some locally produced shows include ''Postcards'', ''Prairie Sportsman'', ''Funtime Polka'', ''Your Legislators'', ''Country Spires'' and programs produced with the
University of Minnesota Morris, ''Prairie Yard and Garden'', ''Academic Challenge'', ''Echoes of Cry of the Marsh'' and ''Minnesota Rivers and Fields''. Some of these shows have also been shown on the
Minnesota Channel, a statewide network originated at KTCI-TV in the Twin Cities which carries local programs on Saturday and Sunday evenings.
Technical information
Subchannels
The stations' digital signals are
multiplexed:
Analog-to-digital conversion
KWCM-TV and KSMN shut down their analog transmitters on June 12, 2009.
[http://www.morrissuntribune.com/articles/index.cfm?id=16452§ion=News] KWCM-TV's digital signal relocated to
VHF
Very high frequency (VHF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves (radio waves) from 30 to 300 megahertz (MHz), with corresponding wavelengths of ten meters to one meter.
Frequencies immediately below VHF ...
channel 10 from
UHF
Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter (on ...
channel 31, while KSMN's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 15.
Translators
A network of digital translators in western Minnesota translates KWCM.
References
External links
Pioneer Public TelevisionRabbitears.info Query - KWCMRabbitears.info Query - KSMN
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kwcm-Tv
PBS member stations
Television stations in Minnesota
Television channels and stations established in 1966
1966 establishments in Minnesota