KIXE-TV

KIXE-TV

Redding/Chico, California
City of license	Redding, California
Branding	KIXE
Channels	Digital: 9 (VHF) Virtual: 9 (PSIP)
Subchannels	9.1 HD 9.2 Create 9.3 PBS World
Translators	KIXE-LD 18 Chico (see article)
Affiliations	PBS
Owner	Northern California Educational Television Association, Inc.
First air date	October 5, 1964
Call letters' meaning	IX (Roman numeral 9) Educational (Similar to Sacramento's KVIE)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 9 (VHF, 1964-2008) Digital: 18 (UHF, 2004-8/22/2008)
Former affiliations	NET (1964-1970)
Transmitter power	15 kW
Height	1091 m
Facility ID	47285
Transmitter coordinates	40°36′9″N 122°39′5″W / 40.60250°N 122.65139°W / 40.60250; -122.65139
Website	www.kixe.org

KIXE-TV, channel 9, is the digital-only Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member Public television station in the Sacramento Valley of California. The station broadcasts to ten California counties, including: Shasta County, Modoc County, and Colusa County. The IX in KIXE is for the Roman numeral 9.

History

KIXE went on the air in black and white in 1964. In 1967 the station moved from Chico, California to Redding, California, and began broadcasting in color in 1971.

The station was originally located in Redding, on Industrial Street. It soon ran out of room and expanded to a bigger facility on N. Market Street (State Route 273), north of downtown. The new building had space for television broadcasting courses at Shasta College. Many local media personalities have appeared on KIXE over the years like Cal Hunter, Mike Mangas, Ray Roberts, Ken Murray and others.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Chico fill-in Translator

Viewers in the Chico, Paradise, Oroville, Magalia, Orland and surrounding areas who had originally had trouble receiving KIXE’s digital signal from Redding began to notice a substantial improvement with a new fill-in transmitter on Cohasset Ridge that went online Monday September 21. The 4,000-watt transmitter is located 200 feet up on a transmission tower and is rebroadcast KIXE’s regular programming lineup as well as the popular CREATE channel. The transmitter is broadcast on Channel 18 (a UHF signal) but viewers’ TV sets should “see” it as Channel 9-1 (KIXE’s traditional lineup), 9-2 (CREATE)and 9-3 (WORLD).^{[citation needed]}

Analog-to-digital conversion

KIXE-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 9, on August 18, 2008, four days later. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 18 to its former analog VHF channel 9 for post-transition operations.^[2] Translators finally converted on September 1.

Early Switch

KIXE is broadcasting in a digital format on VHF channel 9. The exclusive digital broadcast began August 22, 2008, well before the then planned transition date in 2009. The early switch was mainly due to the transmission location being covered with snow on the original switchover mandate of February 2009.^[3] KIXE became the second all-digital PBS station in California, after KCSM-TV in San Mateo (which serves the San Francisco Bay Area).

Rebroadcasters

KIXE is rebroadcast on 12 digital translator stations:^[4]

• Modoc County, California
  • K08OR-D Channel 8 Canby (19 watts)
  • K08OB-D Channel 8 Newell (4 watts)
  • K20DE-D Channel 20 Alturas (900 watts)
• Shasta County, California
  • K14HX-D Channel 14 Lakehead/Shasta Lake Area (58 watts)
  • K28DB-D Channel 28 Fall River Mills/Burney Basin (66 watts)
• Siskiyou County, California (Medford market)
  • K03HX-D Channel 3 Etna/Scott Valley (2 watts)
  • K19GL-D Channel 19 Yreka (120 watts)
• Trinity County, California (K02EE and K05CR are licensed to Trinity County Office of Education)
  • K02EE-D Channel 2 Weaverville (15 watts)
  • K05CR-D Channel 5 Hayfork (7 watts)
  • K28CY-D Channel 28 Lewiston (14 watts)
  • K39DG-D Channel 39 Trinity Center (59 watts)(TEMPORARILY OFF-THE-AIR)

The cities served by translators, (except Canby and Big Bend) had cable headends nearby.^{[citation needed]}

Local programs

• "Northstate Profile" - a weekly public affairs program
• "Jobs" - a continuing series on employment
• "Seeking Solutions" - a public affairs program on drug abuse
• "Love Thy Neighbor" - a public affairs special about tolerance
• "Why a Will is Not Enough" - a public affairs special regarding estate planning

NATURE: Caught In The Act

NATURE: Caught In The Act is an online film festival hosted by KIXE, in which viewers from their 10-county viewing area were able go out and film footage of wildlife and scenery in Northern California and upload them to the dedicated website using Youtube. 8 of the 10 submissions were shown on KIXE on October 18 at 7:30 P.M., right before Nature. The program was part of Film Vista and was hosted by assistant producer Matthew Shoutte.

The program featured a variety of locations around Northern California including Lassen National Park, Lava Beds National Monument, and Modoc National Wildlife Refuge. Another festival will be held in Spring 2010.^[5]

Featured Videos

• Stealhead Salmon (Brian Swierczynski)
• Badger Pups At Play (Lon and Kat Yarbrough)
• Caves Of Lava Beds (Brian Swierczynski)
• Lizard Lunch (Tristan Howard)
• Lassen Wildlife & Activity (Brian Swierczynski)
• Postcards From Modoc (Lon and Kat Yarbrough)
• Lassen Fantastic Lava Beds (Brian Swierczynski)
• Duckling Dawn (Tristan Howard)

References

External links

• KIXE-TV Channel 9
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KIXE
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KIXE-TV