KCTS-TV

KCTS-TV
Seattle - Tacoma, Washington United States

City	Seattle, Washington
Branding	KCTS 9
Slogan	InquisiTV
Channels	Digital: 9 (VHF) Virtual: 9 (PSIP)
Translators	18 K18AD-D Wenatchee
Affiliations	.1: PBS .2: V-me .3: Create
Owner	KCTS Television
First air date	December 7, 1954 (1954-12-07)
Call letters' meaning	King County Community Television Service^[1]
Sister station(s)	KYVE
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 9 (VHF, 1954–2009) Digital: 41 (UHF, 1999-2009)
Former affiliations	NET (1954–1970)
Transmitter power	21.7 kW
Height	249 m (817 ft)
Facility ID	33749
Transmitter coordinates	47°36′58″N 122°18′28″W / 47.61611°N 122.30778°W / 47.61611; -122.30778Coordinates: 47°36′58″N 122°18′28″W / 47.61611°N 122.30778°W / 47.61611; -122.30778
Licensing authority	FCC
Public license information:	Profile CDBS
Website	www.kcts9.org

KCTS-TV, channel 9, is a non-commercial educational television station licensed to Seattle, Washington, USA. KCTS-TV is the primary member station of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) for the Seattle-Tacoma television market. The station's offices and studios are located at the northeast corner of Seattle Center, and its transmitter is based on Capitol Hill in Seattle.

KCTS-TV also operates KYVE (channel 47) in Yakima, Washington, which serves as the PBS member station for the western portion of the Yakima/Tri-Cities market. KYVE has its own studio on Second Street in Yakima, though some support operations are based at KCTS' studios in Seattle.

History

KCTS studios at Seattle Center.

KCTS crew recording an interview with Dennis Kelso, then-commissioner of the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, during the cleanup of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989.

KCTS logo used from 1999 until late 2006.

KCTS first went on the air on December 7, 1954, broadcasting from the campus of the University of Washington, the station's original licensee, and using equipment donated by KING-TV owner Dorothy Bullitt.

During the 1950s and 1960s, KCTS primarily supplied classroom instructional programs used in Washington State's K–12 schools, plus National Educational Television programs. Outside of schoolrooms, KCTS' audience among the general public was somewhat limited, and most programming was in black-and-white until the mid-1970s.

In 1970, National Educational Television was absorbed into the newly created Public Broadcasting Service. Under PBS affiliation, KCTS began offering a vastly enhanced scope of programming for the general public, including British programming. KCTS is perhaps best known for producing/distributing the popular PBS Kids show Bill Nye the Science Guy, as well as other programs such as Students by Nature (not a PBS-distributed program), The Miracle Planet, and the annual televised high school academic competition KYVE Apple Bowl, among other shows.

KCTS moved to its present location on the Seattle Center campus in 1986. A year later, UW spun off KCTS, and the station became a community licensee.

KCTS is seen throughout southwestern British Columbia on local cable systems, as well as across Canada on the Bell TV and Shaw Direct satellite providers, as well as on many other Canadian cable TV systems. According to KCTS, "over 800,000 viewers tune in every week" from BC.^[2] KCTS receives substantial financial support from its far-flung Canadian audience as well as from viewers in Washington State.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital channel is multiplexed:

Channel	Video	Aspect	PSIP Short Name	Programming^[3]
9.1	720p	16:9	KCTS-HD	Main KCTS-TV programming / PBS
9.2	480i	4:3	Vme	V-me
9.3	480i	16:9	Create	Create

Analog-to-digital conversion

KCTS-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 9, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television.^[4] The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 41 to VHF channel 9.

KYVE
Yakima, Washington United States

Branding	KYVE 47
Channels	Digital: 21 (UHF) Virtual: 47 (PSIP)
Subchannels	47.1 PBS 47.2 V-me 47.3 Create
Translators	17 K17IL-D Ellensburg
Affiliations	PBS (1970-present)
Owner	KCTS Television
First air date	November 1, 1962 (1962-11-01)
Call letters' meaning	Yakima Valley Educational
Sister station(s)	KCTS-TV
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 47 (UHF, 1962–2009)
Former affiliations	NET (1962–1970)
Transmitter power	50 kW
Height	280 m (919 ft)
Facility ID	33752
Transmitter coordinates	46°31′58″N 120°30′33″W / 46.53278°N 120.50917°W / 46.53278; -120.50917
Licensing authority	FCC
Public license information:	Profile CDBS
Website	www.kcts9.org/about/kyve47

History

In 1994, KCTS merged with KYVE, which has served central Washington since November 1, 1962. However, this wasn't the first time that the two stations had partnered together; during the early 1960s KYVE's engineers switched to and from KCTS' signal until the station's owners, the Yakima Board of Education, got enough funding for the station to be self-supporting. The station became a community licensee in 1984, but found the going difficult until its merger with KCTS.

During the mid- and late-1990s, some programs included a combined KCTS/KYVE visual bug in the lower-right corner of the screen, indicating they were simulcast to both markets. However, since the late 1990s, KYVE has largely been a straight simulcast of KCTS. Combined, the two stations serve 2.4 million people, including almost two-thirds of Washington's population.

KCTS also operates a cable television service called KCTS Plus, currently carried on Seattle area cable systems. KCTS Plus runs 24-hour Classic Arts Showcase programming.

On December 2, 2015, it was announced that KCTS would acquire and merge with local news websites Crosscut.com and What’s Good 206, under the proposed name "Cascade Public Media".^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8]

References

↑ http://www.washington.edu/research/showcase/1954a.html
↑ http://kcts9.org/kcts-9-in-canada | KCTS 9 in Canada
↑ RabbitEars TV Query for KCTS
↑ List of Digital Full-Power Stations
↑ Hanscom, Greg; Power-Drutis, Tamara (December 2, 2015). "An Exciting New Chapter for Northwest Public Media". Crosscut.com. Retrieved December 2, 2015.
↑ Cullen, Hilda (December 2, 2015). "News Website Crosscut Merging into KCTS 9" (PDF) (Press release). KCTS-TV. Retrieved December 2, 2015.
↑ Tu, Janet I. (December 2, 2015). "KCTS-TV to absorb Crosscut and another local website". The Seattle Times. Retrieved December 2, 2015.
↑ Connelly, Joel (December 2, 2015). "KCTS-TV will merge with Crosscut". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved December 2, 2015.

External links

Broadcast television in Seattle

Major network affiliates	KOMO (4.1 ABC, 4.2 Comet, 4.3 Grit) KING (5.1 NBC, 5.2 Justice) KIRO (7.1 CBS, 7.2 GetTV, 7.3 Laff) KCTS (9.1 PBS, 9.2 V-me, 9.3 Create) KSTW (11.1 CW, 11.2 Decades) KCPQ (13.1 Fox, 13.2 This TV, 13.3 Escape) KZJO (22.1 MNTV, 22.2 KCPQ SD, 22.3 Antenna TV) KBTC/KCKA (28.1/15.1 PBS, 28.2/15.2 Worldview, 28.3/15.3 TVW)

Other stations	K08OU-D (8.1 3ABN, 8.3 Dare To Dream, 8.4 3ABN Latino, 8.5 3ABN Radio, 8.7 Radio74) KONG (16.1 Ind, 16.2 SD) KTBW (20.1 TBN, 20.2 Church, 20.3 JUCE TV/Smile, 20.4 Enlace, 20.5 Salsa) KRUM-LD (24.3 Ind, 24.4 Ind) KWPX-TV (33.1 Ion, 33.2 qubo, 33.3 Ion Life, 33.4 Ion Shop, 33.5 QVC, 33.7 Telemundo) KWDK (42.1 DS) KFFV (44.1 Infomercials, 44.2 AZA, 44.3 AAT TV, 44.4 KBS World, 44.5 Cozi, 44.6 KVOS) KUSE-LD (46.1 color bars, 46.2 Peace TV, 46.3 SonLife, 46.4 color bars, 46.5 Hot TV, 46.6 infomercials) KUNS (51.1 Uni, 51.2 MundoMax)

Cable-only	Northwest Cable News Root Sports Northwest SCAN Seattle Channel TVW (Olympia) UWTV

ATSC-M/H Mobile DTV stations encrypted channels italicized	KWPX-TV (33.82 Gran Cine, 33.85 NFL Net, 33.87 GOL TV, 33.88 NFL RedZone, 33.90 Starz, 33.96 AirBox, 33.98 MTV Classic)

Defunct stations	KPEC 56 (NET) Research Channel

See also List of television stations in Washington state, plus British Columbia, Bellingham, Spokane, Portland, and Yakima/Tri-Cities TV

Broadcast television in Central Washington, including Yakima

Yakima	KUNW-CD (2.1 UNI) KNDO (23.1 NBC, 23.3 SWX) KIMA-TV (29.1 CBS, 29.2 The CW) KAPP (35.1 ABC, 35.2 KXMN-LD) KCYU-LD (41.1 Fox, 41.2 This TV) KYVE (47.1 PBS, 47.2 V-me, 47.3 Create, 47.5 PBS-HD) K51JG-D (73.1 3ABN, 73.2 3ABN Latino, 73.3 3ABN Radio, 73.4 Radio74)

Ellensburg	K25FP-D 25 (3ABN) K39DM 39 (TBN)

Tri-Cities	KFFX-TV (11.1 Fox, 11.2 This TV) KVVK-CA 15/KORX-CA 16 (UNI) KEPR-TV (19.1 CBS, 19.2 The CW) KNDU (25.1 NBC, 25.3 SWX) KTNW (31.1 PBS-HD, 31.2 V-me) KVEW (42.1 ABC, 42.2 KXMN-LD) KRLB-LD (49.1 TBN)

Walla Walla	KTVR 13 (PBS/OPB) K21JQ-D 22 (Hope/Worship) K33EJ-D (3ABN) KWWO-LP 47 (TBN)

Wenatchee	KNEE-LD 10 (Ind) KWCC-LD 47 (Ind)

Cable channels	Northwest Cable News Root Sports Northwest

Defunct stations	KCWK 9/KCWK-LP 27 (Fox/AZA/CW) KCWT 27 (Fox/CA/TBN) K34EM (TBN)

See also List of television stations in Washington List of television stations in Oregon Seattle Spokane Portland Boise TV

PBS member stations in the state of Washington

KSPS 7 (Spokane) KCTS 9 / KYVE 47 (Seattle / Yakima) KWSU 10 / KTNW 31 (Pullman / Richland) KBTC 28 / KCKA 15 (Tacoma / Centralia)

See also ABC CBS CW Fox Ion MyNetworkTV NBC PBS Other stations in Washington

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/20/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.