Smoky Hills Public Television

"KOOD" redirects here. For the village in Rajasthan, India, see Kood, Rasjasthan.
Smoky Hills Public Television
western Kansas
United States
Branding Smoky Hills Public Television
Slogan Making Kansas a Better Place to Live and Work
Channels Analog: see table below
Digital: see table below
Subchannels x.1 PBS SD
x.2 PBS HD
x.3 Create
x.4 World
Affiliations PBS
Owner Smoky Hills Public Television Corporation
First air date November 10, 1982
Call letters' meaning see table below
Transmitter power see table below
Height see table below
Facility ID see table below
Transmitter coordinates see table below
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: Hills Public Television Profile
Hills Public Television CDBS
Website www.shptv.org

Smoky Hills Public Television is a regional network of PBS member television stations serving central and western portions of the U.S. state of Kansas. It is operated by the Smoky Hills Public Television Corporation, which holds the licenses for all the PBS member stations licensed in the network. The broadcast signals of the four stations cover most of the western half of the state outside of Wichita.

The network produces public affairs programming and holds the broadcast rights to several Kansas high school athletic championship events sanctioned by the Kansas State High School Activities Association. The network's offices and network operations center are located in Bunker Hill (just east of Russell), in a historic native stone building.

History

The Smoky Hills Public Television Corporation was founded in 1978, with the intent to start a non-commercial educational television station in western Kansas, which is part of the Wichita-Hutchinson market, an unusually large market that covers over 70 counties stretching from the Flint Hills to the Colorado border (encompassing almost three-fourths of the state), making it the largest designated market area (DMA) by number of counties in the United States. Up to that time, much of the area received PBS programming on cable via either Wichita member station KPTS (channel 8) or Denver member station KRMA (channel 6).

Flagship station KOOD (channel 16) in Hays was the first station in the network to sign on the air on November 10, 1982. This was followed by the debut of full-power satellites KSWK (channel 8) in Lakin on March 15, 1989 and KDCK (channel 21) in Dodge City on March 3, 1998; KWKS (channel 19) in Colby was the last satellite to sign on, debuting as a digital-only station, in June 2007.

Most viewers watch SHPTV's programming through cable, which is all but essential for an acceptable signal in most of this vast area due to its hilly terrain. In 2005, satellite providers DirecTV and Dish Network began carrying the network in the Wichita market, boosting its potential viewership to over 1.5 million people in Kansas and Nebraska.

Stations

Station City of license Channels
(Digital)		 First air date Call letters’
meaning		 ERP
(Digital)		 HAAT
(Digital)		 Facility ID Transmitter coordinates
KOOD Hays 16 (UHF)
9 (PSIP)		 November 10, 1982 496 kW 304 m 60675 38°46′16″N 98°44′17″W / 38.77111°N 98.73806°W / 38.77111; -98.73806 (KOOD)
KSWK Lakin 8 (VHF)
3 (PSIP)		 March 15, 1989 South
Western
Kansas		 33 kW 153 m 60683 37°49′39.9″N 101°6′36.9″W / 37.827750°N 101.110250°W / 37.827750; -101.110250 (KSWK)
KDCK1 Dodge City 21 (UHF)
21 (PSIP)		 March 1998 Dodge
City
Kansas		 8.42 kW 99 m 79258 37°49′32.8″N 100°10′42.5″W / 37.825778°N 100.178472°W / 37.825778; -100.178472 (KDCK)
KWKS1 Colby 19 (UHF)
19 (PSIP)		 June 2007 Western
KansaS		 464 kW 383 m 162115 39°14′31″N 101°21′40″W / 39.24194°N 101.36111°W / 39.24194; -101.36111 (KWKS)

Notes:

Until 2009, Smoky Hills Public Television also relayed its signal on seven low-power translator stations:

Station City of license Channels
K15CG 15 (UHF) Oakley
K23BU 23 (UHF) Goodland
K32BY 32 (UHF) Oberlin
K39BS 39 (UHF) Norton
K64BS 64 (UHF) Concordia
K66CD 66 (UHF) Phillipsburg
K69DB 69 (UHF) Hoxie

The Hoxie translator was owned by the government of Sheridan County, the others were owned by the Smoky Hills Public Television Corporation. All of the translators were taken out of service upon the digital television transition in 2009.

Digital television

Digital channels

The digital channels of each of the Smoky Hills Public Television stations are multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[1][2][3][4]
x.1 480i 4:3 SHPTV-DT Main SHPTV programming / PBS SD
x.2 480i/1080i 4:3/16:9 SHPTV-HD Main SHPTV programming / PBS HD**
x.3 480i 4:3 SHPTV-DT3 Create*
x.4 SHPTV-DT4 World*

Notes:

Analog-to-digital conversion

Although the DTV Delay Act extended the mandatory deadline to June 12, 2009, Smoky Hills Public Television shut down the analog signals of two of its stations as originally scheduled on February 17, 2009, the original date in which full-power television stations in the United States were scheduled to transition from analog to digital broadcasts. KOOD and KSWK shut down their respective analog signals, over UHF channel 16 and VHF channel 8, on that date. KOOD's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 16; KSWK's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 47.[5] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display KOOD's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 9 and KSWK's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 3.

Programming

Locally produced programs broadcast by Smoky Hills Public Television include the medical advice program Doctors On Call, the public affairs program The Kansas Legislature, the high school sports highlight program Scoreboard Show and the music program Down Home Country: Live in Branson. The network also holds broadcast rights to the Miss Southwest Kansas Pageant as well as several Kansas high school athletic championship events sanctioned by the Kansas State High School Activities Association (including the Eight-Man Division 1 and 2 Football Championship games, Class 3-2-1A state wrestling tournament and the Class 1A girls' and boys' basketball tournament championship games). Smoky Hills Public Television also broadcasts the Signature Auction, an annual fundraiser held each March; as well as Kansas Candidates, an ongoing series held during the election season.

References

  1. ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for KOOD
  2. ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for KDCK
  3. ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for KWKS
  4. ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for KSWK
  5. ↑ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-03-24.

External links

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