KLRU

For the airport in Las Cruces, New Mexico assigned the ICAO code KLRU, see Las Cruces International Airport.
KLRU
Austin, Texas
United States
Branding KLRU
Slogan TV and Beyond
Channels Digital: 22 (UHF)
Virtual: 18 (PSIP)
Subchannels 18.1 PBS
18.2 Create
18.3 PBS Encore
18.4 V-me
Affiliations PBS
Owner Capital of Texas Public Telecommunications Council
First air date May 3, 1979[1] (satellite of KLRN until 1984)
Call letters' meaning KLRN University of Texas
Former channel number(s) Analog:
18 (UHF, 1979–2009)
Transmitter power 700 kW
Height 357.5 m
Facility ID 8564
Transmitter coordinates 30°19′19.3″N 97°48′12.6″W / 30.322028°N 97.803500°W / 30.322028; -97.803500
Website www.klru.org

KLRU, virtual channel 18 (UHF digital channel 22), is a PBS member television station located in Austin, Texas, United States. The station is owned by the Capital of Texas Public Telecommunications Council. KLRU's studios are located on Guadalupe and Dean Keeton streets at the University of Texas at Austin, and its transmitter is located on the West Austin Antenna Farm in unincorporated Travis County. In addition to airing program content from PBS, it produces original programming including the national music series Austin City Limits.

History

The station first signed on the air on May 3, 1979 as a satellite of KLRN in San Antonio. Before KLRU's sign-on, KLRN had served both cities from the Jesse H. Jones Communications Center on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin. Channel 18 had been allocated to Austin as a noncommercial frequency in the early 1950s, but it was thought that a UHF station would not be nearly be adequate enough to provide educational television for a market that stretched from Mason in the west to La Grange in the east. This left Austin as one of the largest cities without its own PBS station.

From the day KLRU signed on, however, KLRN's owner, the Southwest Texas Public Broadcasting Council, set about making it a separate station focused on Austin. Only a year after KLRU hit the airwaves, it received its own Austin-based governing board, though it continued under the ownership of the Southwest Texas Public Broadcasting Council. In 1984, after KLRN moved to a new tower in San Antonio, KLRU severed the electronic umbilical cord with KLRN and adopted a separate programming schedule. In 1987, the two stations finally went their separate ways, with KLRU coming under the ownership of the Capital of Texas Public Broadcasting Council, which continues to own the station today.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital channel is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[2]
18.1 1080i 16:9 KLRU-HD Main KLRU programming / PBS
18.2 480i 4:3 KLRU-CR Create
18.3 KLRU-Q Locally programmed channel with PBS/KLRU encores and additional programs not aired on primary channel. Q Night at the Movies on Saturday nights focuses on film[3]
18.4 KLRU-VM V-me[4]

Analog-to-digital conversion

KLRU shut down its analog signal on April 16, 2009. Before shutting down the signal forever, it played its nightly sign-off from the 70's one last time.[5] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 22, using PSIP to display KLRU's virtual channel as 18 on digital television receivers.

Programs produced by KLRU

Programs produced in Austin and presented by KLRU

References

  1. The Broadcasting and Cable Yearbook says May 4, while the Television and Cable Factbook says May 3.
  2. RabbitEars TV Query for KLRU
  3. "KLRU Q starts July 1". KLRU. June 30, 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-30.
  4. "Vme begins airing June 1 on 18.4". KLRU. May 31, 2011. Retrieved 2011-06-02.
  5. List of Digital Full-Power Stations
  6. http://thedaytripper.com

External links

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