KOZK

Not to be confused with KOZL-TV, an independent station in Springfield.
KOZK / KOZJ
KOZK: Springfield, Missouri
KOZJ: Joplin, Missouri
United States
Branding Ozarks Public Television
Slogan Public Broadcasting for the Ozarks
Channels Digital:
KOZK: 23 (UHF)
Virtual: 21 (PSIP)
KOZJ: 25 (UHF)
Virtual: 26 (PSIP)
Subchannels 21.1/26.1: PBS
21.2/26.2: OPT-ED
21.3/26.3: Create
Affiliations PBS
Owner Missouri State University
(Board of Governors of Missouri State University)
First air date KOZK: January 1975[1]
KOZJ: June 1, 1986
Call letters' meaning KOZK: OZarKs
KOZJ: KOZK Joplin
Former channel number(s) Analog:
KOZK:
21 (UHF, 1975–2009)
KOZJ:
26 (UHF, 1986–2009)
Transmitter power KOZK: 100 kW
KOZJ: 55 kW
Height KOZK: 617 m
KOZJ: 281 m
Facility ID KOZK: 51102
KOZJ: 51101
Transmitter coordinates KOZK:
37°10′11″N 92°56′30″W / 37.16972°N 92.94167°W / 37.16972; -92.94167
KOZJ:
37°4′37″N 94°32′15″W / 37.07694°N 94.53750°W / 37.07694; -94.53750 (KOZJ)
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: / KOZJ Profile
/ KOZJ CDBS
Website www.optv.org

KOZK, virtual and UHF digital channel 21, is a PBS member television station located in Springfield, Missouri, United States. The station is owned by Missouri State University. KOZK maintains studio facilities and offices located on the Missouri State University campus on National Avenue in southern Springfield, and its transmitter is located on Switchgrass Road, north of Fordland.

The station's programming is simulcast on satellite station KOZJ, virtual and UHF digital channel 26), in Joplin; its transmitter is located on West 13th Street/Junge Boulevard in northwestern Joplin. The two stations utilize the unified brand Ozarks Public Television, and both their signals cover the Ozarks region of southwestern Missouri, southeastern Kansas, northwestern Arkansas and far northeastern Oklahoma.

History

KOZK's history can be traced to the founding of Springfield Community Television, a nonprofit group that was formed in 1974 to bring public television to the area. At the time, it was standard practice for PBS to offer its programming to commercial television outlets in markets without a PBS station of their own. For instance, NBC affiliate KYTV (channel 3) aired Sesame Street at 9:00 a.m. during the week. After securing a license from the Federal Communications Commission and funding from various groups, Springfield Community Television was able to launch its first station. KOZK first signed on the air in January 1975, broadcasting from a former Naval Reserve center located on the campus of Drury University. From there, the station originally broadcast five days a week with seven employees on its staff (augmented by a lot of student volunteerism), eventually expanding to a 24-hour operation with 25 employees. The station borrowed transmitter space from Springfield CBS affiliate KOLR (channel 10).

On June 1, 1986, KOZJ signed on from Joplin as KOZK's sister station. Its business offices are located in downtown Joplin, with its broadcasting equipment located at Missouri Southern State University. Prior to that station's sign-on, the Joplin/Pittsburg market had been one of the few markets in the United States that did not have a PBS member station of their own.

In 1990, the station moved its operations to the new Shewmaker Communications Center on the campus of Drury College. In 2001, the board agreed to sell the station to Southwest Missouri State University (now Missouri State University); later that year, the station's operations moved to Strong Hall on the MSU campus.

Digital television

Digital channels

KOZK and KOZJ's digital channels are multiplexed:

KOZK KOZJ Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[2][3]
21.1 26.1 1080i 16:9 OPT HD Main OPT programming / PBS HD
21.2 26.2 480i 4:3 OPT ED OPT-ED
(airs telecourses from MSU as well as miscellaneous PBS programming)
21.3 26.3 Create Create

Analog-to-digital conversion

KOZJ & KOZK discontinued regular programming on their analog signals, over UHF channels 21 and 26, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television.[4] The stations' digital signals remained on their pre-transition UHF channels 23 & 25, using PSIP to display KOZJ's & KOZK's virtual channels as 21 & 26 on digital television receivers.

References

  1. ↑ The Broadcasting and Cable Yearbook says January 21, while the Television and Cable Factbook says January 20.
  2. ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for KOZJ
  3. ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for KOZK
  4. ↑ List of Digital Full-Power Stations

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, January 05, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.