KLVX

KLVX
Las Vegas, Nevada
Branding Vegas PBS
Slogan Trusted. Valued. Essential.
Channels Digital: 11 (VHF)
Virtual: 10 (PSIP)
Subchannels 10.1 PBS
10.2 Create
10.3 V-me
Translators see list below
Affiliations PBS (1970–present)
Owner Clark County School District
(KLVX Communications Group)
First air date March 25, 1968
Call letters' meaning Las Vegas
X = Roman numeral 10
Former channel number(s) Analog:
10 (VHF, 1968–2009)
Former affiliations NET (1968–1970)
Transmitter power 105 kW
Height 371 m
Facility ID 11683
Transmitter coordinates 36°0′27″N 115°0′24″W / 36.00750°N 115.00667°W
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: Profile
CDBS
Website www.vegaspbs.org

KLVX, virtual channel 10 (VHF digital channel 11), is a PBS member television station located in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. The station is owned by the Clark County School District. KLVX's studios are located at the Vegas PBS Educational Technology Campus in Las Vegas, and its transmitter is located atop Black Mountain, near Henderson (southwest of I-515/U.S. 93/U.S. 95).

History

In 1964, following authorization of federal matching grants for the construction of non-commercial educational television facilities, the Clark County School Trustees proposed a state network of educational television stations with multiple statewide transmitters offering television programming originating in Las Vegas. The proposal was vigorously opposed by educators in other communities, and in 1966, the school trustees gave up the proposal of a statewide service. The Trustees then sought and received Federal Communications Commission approval to construct a single educational station in Las Vegas.

KLVX first signed on the air as Nevada's first educational and public television station on March 25, 1968. The state would not receive another educational station until Reno PBS member station KNPB signed on in 1983. Channel 10 originally operated from two converted classrooms located at the Southern Nevada Vocational Technical Center in Las Vegas. Students were involved in all engineering and production operations as part of a vocational training program of the School District.

In September 1968, the station activated four Instructional Television Fixed Service (ITFS) channels which offered live instructional television programs produced by the station covering foreign language, math and fine arts. Between 1978 and 1996, sixteen other ITFS channels were activated to provide 67,000 hours a year of instructional television programming, career professional development, college courses and staff orientations serving schools in the communities of Las Vegas, Henderson, North Las Vegas, Boulder City and Pahrump. In 1971, Charlotte Hill convened a group of community leaders who eventually founded Channel 10 Friends, a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation established to raise private support for KLVX's non-instructional programs, and encourage community viewing of channel 10. The organization renamed itself Southern Nevada Public Television in 2002, when the group assumed leadership of a $64 million campaign to fund digital television conversion and a new building for the station's studio facilities.

Expansion of KLVX's viewing area continued through the 1970s and 1980s throughout Clark, Lincoln, Nye and White Pine counties with construction of a network of 19 translator stations that repeat KLVX's programming for viewers in a four state, 38,000-square-mile (98,000 km2) service area. Some translators are operated by the station, but others are operated by counties or rural translator districts that rely on voluntary support.

In 1976, CCSD School Superintendent and future Nevada Governor Kenny Guinn proposed that a new building be constructed to house KLVX's operations. The proposal was adopted by the School Trustees and the Murray Peterson Public Television Center was dedicated in 1978. The new facility was located at 4210 Channel 10 Drive on 10 acres (40,000 m2) of desert land sold by the Bureau of Land Management for $1,200 at the "eastern edge of urban development". The facility was designed for 35 employees and student vocational training using "state of the art" film production and development processes.

In 2004, KLVX became the first station in the United States to demonstrate what digital television has to offer in times of emergency. That demonstration and the follow on technology led to the Digital Emergency Alert System (DEAS). During 2007, using $1.2 million, KLVX installed equipment to broadcast DEAS data, including the ability to do so for up to seven days without external power. The grant also covers the installation of digital television data receivers in 120 Clark County School District Police Department vehicles.[1]

In September 2006, KLVX rebranded as "Vegas PBS" to reflect its current multiple-channel offerings and diversified multimedia services provided to the Las Vegas metropolitan area and statewide schools, in addition to its regular programming on its main channel. In 2009, KLVX moved its operations from the Channel 10 Drive building to the 112,000-square-foot (10,400 m2) Vegas PBS Educational Technology Campus. The new facility houses the KLVX studios, the Clark County School District's Virtual High School and Educational Media Center and the Homeland Security and Emergency Response support system. The facility is also the first in the United States to meet the Media Security and Reliability Council's guidelines.[2]

Digital television

Digital channels

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[3]
10.1 1080i 16:9 KLVX-HD Main KLVX programming / PBS
10.2 480i 4:3 Create Create
10.3 VMe V-me

KLVX also operates MHz Worldview, as well as Vegas PBS Rewind and Vegas PBS Jackpot, as cable-only channels.[4]

Analog-to-digital conversion

KLVX shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 10, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition VHF channel 11.[5] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 10.

Translators

KLVX-TV's signal is rebroadcast throughout Nevada on the following translator stations:

City of license Callsign Channel
Alamo K08PE-D 8
Caliente K45AL-D 45
Ely K26HY-D 26
Ely & McGill K13NR-D 13
Glendale K27JK-D 27
Laughlin K06PG-D 6
Lund K49AM-D 49
Mesquite K25LU-D 25
Overton K43LD-D 43
Pahrump K28CS-D 28
Panaca K43DS-D 43
Pioche K45AO-D 45
Ruth K13NQ-D 13
Ursine K50DA-D 50

External links

References

  1. ↑ Richmond, Emily (2007-07-06). "Vegas PBS at the ready in case of disaster or terror attack". Las Vegas Sun. Retrieved 2007-07-08.
  2. ↑ "A base for broadcasting and bettering community". Retrieved 2008-09-20.
  3. ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for KLVX
  4. ↑ http://www.vegaspbs.org/
  5. ↑ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-03-24.