WKAS
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WKAS, virtual channel 25 (UHF digital channel 26), is a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member television station licensed to Ashland, Kentucky, United States. Owned by the Kentucky Authority for Educational Television, the station is operated as part of the statewide Kentucky Educational Television (KET) network. WKAS' transmitter is located on DeBord Hill in Ashland.
History
The station began its first broadcast on September 23, 1968 at 3 p.m. Eastern Time as a member of the ten charter stations of the KET network.[1] All of the network's satellites were strategically located to serve as much of the state as possible.
Digital television
The station's digital television companion signal, WKAS-DT, along with the digital companions of thirteen other KET stations (except WKPC and WKMJ) signed on the air in May 2002.[1]
Analog-to-digital conversion
On April 16, 2009, WKAS shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 25 as part of the mandatory analog-to-digital television transition of 2009. The deadline was moved from February 17 to June 12 of that year as part of the DTV Delay Act, but all KET stations completed the transition on April 16.[3] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 26. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 25.
Spectrum incentive auction results
WKAS currently holds a construction permit to reallocate its digital signal onto UHF channel 36 as part of the network's involvement in the FCC's spectrum auction. The station must relocate its digital signal to their new elected allocation due to a channel repack. The transition, in this case, should be complete at some point in September to mid-October 2019.[4][5]
Furthermore, as another result of the spectrum auction, WKAS, along with West Virginia Public Broadcasting flagship WVPB-TV, became the sole PBS stations in the Huntington–Charleston market to remain as Ohio State University-owned WOSU-TV in Columbus, Ohio elected to sign off their Portsmouth-based satellite station WOUB-TV due to enough duplication of PBS signals in the West Virginia–Ohio–Kentucky tri-state area.[6]
Availability
Over-the-air
The WKAS digital signal reaches Boyd, Lawrence, Carter, Greenup and Elliott counties in northeastern Kentucky, as well as the southernmost counties of Ohio, as well as Cabell, Wayne and northwestern Lincoln counties of West Virginia. Major cities included in this described area include Ashland, Kentucky; Huntington, West Virginia; and Portsmouth, Ohio.[7]
WKAS signal covers some of the same areas as two other KET stations, WKPI-TV in Pikeville to the south, and WKMR in Morehead to the west. WKAS also takes in some of the coverage area of WKMR's low-powered translator W28DD-D in Louisa. Signal coverage of all three stations in the general area, however, is subject to change due to the 2016 FCC Spectrum incentive auction.
Cable availability
KET’s statewide cable coverage includes several locally-owned cable systems in northeastern Kentucky, and the Charter Spectrum systems in the Ashland and Ironton, Ohio areas. Both WKAS and WVPB are uplinked to satellite providers DirecTV and Dish Network in the entire Charleston–Huntington market, thus making KET available in the immediate Charleston area and much of the western two-thirds of West Virginia via satellite television.[8]
See also
References
- ^ a b ”Directory of Radio Stations in the United States and Canada”. Broadcasting Yearbook 2003-2004. Washington, DC: Broadcasting Publications, Inc. 2003-04.pp. B37-B39. [1]
- ^ Digital TV Market Listing for WKAS
- ^ "Calls come after KET, WKYT digital TV transition". Lexington Herald-Leader. April 17, 2009. Retrieved May 8, 2014.
- ^ http://rabbitears.info/phasemap.php?maptype=s&phase=6
- ^ Post Incentive Auction Television Data Files
- ^ Edwards, Mary Morgan (March 3, 2017). "Ohio State sells license for WPBO". The Columbus Dispatch. Retrieved August 14, 2017.
- ^ Signal coverage maps of all full-power stations -- Charleston-Huntington, West Virginia. (Federal Communications Commission, 2009)
- ^ KET Cable and Satellite Company Channel Listings