| KCTS: Seattle, Washington KYVE: Yakima, Washington |
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|---|---|
| Branding | KCTS 9 KYVE 47 |
| Slogan | The Public Network |
| Channels | Digital: KCTS: 9 (VHF) KYVE: 21 (UHF) |
| Subchannels | KCTS: 9.1 KCTS-DT 9.2 V-me 9.3 Create KYVE: 47.1 KYVE-DT 47.2 V-me 47.3 Create |
| Translators | (see article) |
| Affiliations | PBS |
| Owner | KCTS Television |
| First air date | KCTS: December 7, 1954 KYVE: November 1, 1962 |
| Call letters' meaning |
KCTS: Yakima Valley Educational |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: KCTS: 9 (VHF, 1954-2009) KYVE: 47 (UHF, 1962-2009) Digital: KCTS: 41 (UHF, 1999-2009) |
| Former affiliations | NET (1954–1970) |
| Transmitter power | KCTS: 21.7 kW KYVE: 50 kW |
| Height | KCTS: 249 m KYVE: 280 m |
| Facility ID | KCTS: 33749 KYVE: 33752 |
| Transmitter coordinates | KCTS: KYVE: |
| Website | www.kcts9.org www.kcts9.org/about/kyve47 |
KCTS-TV is a public television station in Seattle, Washington, that is a member of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), that broadcasts on digital channel 9. Its offices and broadcasting center are located at the northeast corner of Seattle Center. Its transmitter is located 1.9 miles east on Capitol Hill in Seattle.
KCTS also operates KYVE in Yakima, Washington (digital channel 21, PSIP channel 47), which serves as the PBS member station for the western portion of the Yakima/Tri-Cities market. It has its own studio on Second Street in Yakima, though some support operations are based at KCTS' studios.
Effective June 12, 2009, KCTS's broadcasts are digital-only.[3]
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KCTS first went on the air on December 7, 1954, broadcasting from the campus of the University of Washington and using equipment donated by KING-TV owner Dorothy Bullitt.
During the 1950s and 1960s, KCTS primarily supplied classroom instructional programs used in Washington State's K–12 schools, plus National Educational Television programs. Outside of schoolrooms, KCTS' audience among the general public was somewhat limited, and most programming was in black-and-white until the mid-'70s.
In 1970, National Educational Television was absorbed into the newly created Public Broadcasting Service. Under PBS affiliation, KCTS began offering a vastly enhanced scope of programming for the general public, including British programming. KCTS is perhaps best known for producing/distributing the popular PBS Kids show Bill Nye the Science Guy, as well as other programs such as Students by Nature (not a PBS-distributed program), The Miracle Planet, and the annual televised high school academic competition KYVE Apple Bowl, among other shows.
KCTS moved to its present location on the Seattle Center campus in 1986. A year later, UW spun off KCTS, and the station became a community licensee.
KCTS is seen throughout southwestern British Columbia on local cable systems, as well as across Canada on the Bell TV and Shaw Direct satellite providers, as well as on many other Canadian cable TV systems. According to KCTS, "over 800,000 viewers tune in every week" from BC.[4] KCTS receives substantial financial support from its far-flung Canadian audience as well as from viewers in Washington State.
In 1994, KCTS merged with KYVE, which has served central Washington since November 1, 1962. However, this wasn't the first time that the two stations had partnered together; during the early 1960s KYVE's engineers switched to and from KCTS' signal until the station got enough funding to be self-supporting. During the mid- and late-1990s, some programs included a combined KCTS/KYVE visual bug in the lower-right corner of the screen, indicating they were simulcast to both markets. However, since the late 1990s, KYVE has largely been a straight simulcast of KCTS. Combined, the two stations serve 2.4 million people, including almost two-thirds of Washington's population.
KCTS also operates a cable television service known as KCTS Plus, currently carried on Seattle area cable systems. KCTS Plus runs 24-hour Classic Arts Showcase programming.
From 1999 until late-2006, KCTS used a logo similar to the ones used by Detroit's WTVS and Houston's KUHT. These stations are members of LARK International, a public-television production company, which owns the sunburst-on-square logo; however, they are not related to each other.
On December 23, 2006 one of KCTS's analog transmitters failed, leaving the station no other choice but to operate at 158 kW, about half their licensed power. They requested a Special Temporary Authority from the FCC, and it was granted on February 20, 2007. On August 2, 2007 they requested an extension of the STA. They had the transmitter parts on order from NEC Japan.
KCTS was returned to full power operation in December, 2007 just about one year after the initial failure. It remained at full power until October 2008 at which time one of the NEC analog transmitters was removed from the building to make room for a brand new Rohde & Schwarz digital transmitter for operation on channel 9.
On June 12, 2009 the remaining NEC analog transmitter, indeed actually the one that originally failed, was shut down and the Rohde put into service as part of the nationwide transition to digital broadcasting.
KCTS is rebroadcast on * K18AD Channel 18 Wenatchee
KYVE is rebroadcast on * K17IL Channel 17 Ellensburg
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