Prairie Public Television

Prairie Public Television

statewide North Dakota
Channels	Digital: see table below
Subchannels	see table below
Owner	Prairie Public Broadcasting, Inc.
First air date	January 19, 1964
Call letters' meaning	see table below
Sister station(s)	Prairie Public Radio
Former affiliations	NET (1964-1970)
Transmitter power	see table below
Height	see table below
Facility ID	see table below
Transmitter coordinates	see table below
Website	www.prairiepublic.org

Prairie Public Television is the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member state network for the U.S. state of North Dakota. Along with its state radio network Prairie Public, the state network currently has nine digital stations covering all of North Dakota, plus portions of Minnesota, Montana, South Dakota and the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario. The network is headquartered in Fargo.

History

In 1959, North Central Educational Television, the predecessor organization to Prairie Public, was incorporated. On January 19, 1964, KFME signed on from Fargo as North Dakota's first educational television station.

KFME then set up a satellite station in 1974, KGFE in Grand Forks, marking the beginning of what is now the statewide Prairie Public network. A year earlier, KFME had almost shut down due to lack of funding. KFME acquired a color video tape recorder in 1967, and color cameras were purchased in 1975. Also in 1975, the organization adopted the "Prairie Public" name, and appeared on cable TV in Canada for the first time when it was picked up by cable systems in Winnipeg and Brandon, Manitoba.

In 1977, the state legislature granted Prairie Public funding to build a statewide public television network.

KBME in Bismarck was established in 1979, bringing public television to the western portion of the state for the first time (though KFME had been picked up on cable in Bismarck earlier in the decade). KSRE in Minot followed suit in 1980 and, KDSE in Dickinson in 1982. Prairie Public purchased the Fargo American Life Building in 1983 and moved into the new broadcasting facilities to there in 1984. In 1989 Prairie Public went to a 24 hour television broadcast schedule. The Prairie Satellite Network distance education state network, with 70 sites, was completed in 1994. Later, KWSE in Williston signed on in 1983, and KJRE in Ellendale/Jamestown signed on in 1992.

Prairie Public became the first broadcaster in North Dakota to broadcast in high definition, with KFME-DT and KBME-DT, of Fargo and Bismarck respectively, debuting in 2002. Digital-only station KCGE-DT signed on from Crookston/Grand Forks, in 2003, with the rest of the Prairie Public analog stations broadcasting in HDTV by 2004. The transmitter for KGFE was damaged in May 2004, due to ice buildup on the tower, which caused very large chunks of ice to fall off and go through the roof of the transmitter building. This caused water damage to the transmitter's equipment, as well as damage to the roof of the transmitter site. KGFE went back on the air on February, 2005 on low power. KMDE-DT of Devils Lake signed on in 2005, covering the western half of KGFE's viewing area, as KCGE covered the eastern half of KGFE's viewing area.

Prairie Public has produced numerous local documentaries, including many about southern Manitoba, including Portage Avenue: Dreams of Castles in the Sky, Red River Divide, Assiniboine Park: A Park for all Seasons, Lake Winnipeg's Paradise Beaches, among others.

Manitoba has historically been a significant supporter of Prairie Public Television. Indeed, the network's audience there is far larger than its American one (Winnipeg alone has 700,000 people--slightly more than the entire state of North Dakota), in part because unlike most other provinces, Manitoba has never had its own full-time public or educational television station. Not only must Prairie Public take its large Canadian audience into account in its programming, but a significant portion of its donations during fundraising drives are in Canadian dollars. The station has opened up many of its contests for Canadian residents. It is also involved in many family events in Manitoba, including the International Friendship Festival in Winnipeg.

Local Programming

Prairie Public has broadcast a weekly regional program of various names through most of its history:

• SPIN (1976)
• North Dakota This Week (1980)
• Skyline (early 1980s)
• Prairie News Journal (1990–1997)
• PlainsTalk (1998)
• Prairie Pulse (2004–present) - hosted by John Harris also broadcasts in High Definition.

As a member of Minnesota Public Television Association, Prairie Public also broadcasts Almanac from Twin Cities Public Television in Minneapolis-St. Paul, as well as carries TPT's digital Minnesota Channel on Prairie Public's digital channels, interestingly, throughout all of North Dakota. In a similar manner, many of shows produced locally by Prairie Public are enjoyed by the Minnesota Channel's viewers throughout Minnesota.

Stations

Station	City of license	Channels	First air date	Call letters meaning	ERP	HAAT	Facility ID	Transmitter Coordinates
KFME	Fargo	Digital: 13 (VHF) Virtual: 13 (PSIP)	January 19, 1964	Fargo- Moorhead Educational	56.2 kW	342 m	53321	47°0′45″N 97°11′41″W
KGFE	Grand Forks	Digital: 15 (UHF) Virtual: 2 (PSIP)	September 9, 1974	Grand Forks Educational	22.6 kW	186.1 m	53320	47°58′38″N 96°36′18″W
KBME-TV1	Bismarck	Digital: 22 (UHF) Virtual: 3 (PSIP)	June 18, 1979	Bismarck- Mandan Educational	97.3 kW	392 m	53324	46°35′23″N 100°48′2″W
KSRE	Minot	Digital: 40 (UHF) Virtual: 6 (PSIP)	January 25, 1980	Souris River Educational	146 kW	249.4 m	53313	48°3′2″N 101°23′25″W
KDSE	Dickinson	Digital: 9 (VHF) Virtual: 9 (PSIP)	August 4, 1982	Dickinson/ Stark County Educational	8.35 kW	243.5 m	53329	46°43′35″N 102°54′57″W
KWSE	Williston	Digital: 51 (UHF) Virtual: 4 (PSIP)	April 8, 1983	WilliSton Educational	53.9 kW	247.9 m	53318	48°8′30″N 103°53′34″W
KJRE	Ellendale	Digital: 20 (UHF) Virtual: 19 (PSIP)	May 19922	James River Educational	72.3 kW	162.5 m	53315	46°17′56″N 98°51′56″W
KCGE-DT	Crookston, MN (Grand Forks)	Digital: 16 (UHF) Virtual: 16 (PSIP)	2003	Crookston/ Grand Forks Educational	105 kW	219.6 m	132606	47°58′38″N 96°36′18″W
KMDE	Devils Lake	Digital: 25 (UHF) Virtual: 25 (PSIP)	2006	Minnewaukan- Devils Lake Educational	134 kW	244.5 m	162016	48°3′47.8″N 99°20′8.7″W

1: KBME-TV used the callsign KBME (without the -TV suffix) from its 1979 sign-on until 1998.
2: The Broadcasting and Cable Yearbook says KJRE signed on May 12, while the Television and Cable Factbook says it signed on May 11.

Prairie Public Television is also relayed by translators K07NE Lisbon and K11QD Hazen.

A translator in Valley City, K02FO, was in operation until 1992 when KJRE in Ellendale signed on, which made the translator redundant in its duties, as well as providing extended broadcast coverage for the area it served. KFME also reaches Valley City.

Additionally, KCGE is carried on Shaw Cable systems in Winnipeg and Brandon.

Digital television

The state network carries four digital subchannels:

• On November 1 2011 World replaced Prairie Public Television's Standard Defanition channel.

Subchannel (## = local channel)	Network	Programming Description
##.1	Prairie Public Television HD	Prairie Public Television's traditional schedule in 1080i high definition; standard definition programs are shown with pillarboxing.
##.2	World	World covers history, news, science and documentary programs that run in PBS prime time.
##.3	Minnesota Channel	Programming from Twin Cities Public Television's program service which provides shows of regional and political interest. Despite the channel's name, programming relevant to North Dakota is carried often on the state network.
##.4	PPB Lifelong Learning Channel	A channel featuring a mix of instructional programming on weekdays (including programming from Create) and encore airings of PBS's weeknight primetime programming and locally produced documentaries during the weekends.

See also

• Prairie Public (radio)
• Prairie Public
• List of Dish Network local channels

External links

• Prairie Public Broadcasting website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KFME
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KGFE
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KBME
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KSRE
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KDSE
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KWSE
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KJRE
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KCGE
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KMDE
• Query the FCC's TV station database for K11QD
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KFME-TV
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KGFE-TV
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KBME-TV
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KSRE-TV
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KDSE-TV
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KWSE-TV
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KJRE-TV
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KCGE-TV
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KMDE-TV