KVIE

KVIE

Sacramento/Stockton/Modesto, California United States
City	Sacramento, California
Branding	KVIE
Channels	Digital: 9 (VHF) Virtual: 6 (PSIP)
Subchannels	6.1 KVIE 6.2 KVIE2 6.3 WORLD 6.4 V-Me
Affiliations	PBS
Owner	KVIE, Inc.
First air date	February 23, 1959
Call letters' meaning	VI = Roman numeral 6 Education
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 6 (VHF, 1959–2009)
Former affiliations	NET (1959–1970)
Transmitter power	33 kW
Height	566 m
Facility ID	35855
Transmitter coordinates	38°16′18″N 121°30′18″W / 38.27167°N 121.50500°W / 38.27167; -121.50500
Licensing authority	FCC
Public license information:	Profile CDBS
Website	www.kvie.org

KVIE, virtual channel 6 (VHF digital channel 9), is a PBS member television station located in Sacramento, California, United States. The station is owned by KVIE, Inc., a community-based nonprofit that is governed by a volunteer board of directors.^[1] KVIE maintains studio facilities located on West El Camino Avenue in Sacramento, and its transmitter (a 2,000 feet (610 m) tall tower owned by KTXL) is located near Walnut Grove.

History

The station was incorporated in 1955 as Central California Educational Television (CCET) and first signed on the air on February 23, 1959. The letters "VI" in the KVIE call letters represent the Roman numerals for the station's then-channel number, "6", and the "E" stands for "education".^[2] During its early years, it only ran daily programming during the afternoon and evening hours (during the school year) and nearly all day on weekends. By the end of the 1970s, KVIE expanded its programming throughout the daytime hours, and in the mid-1980s moved to a 24-hour daily schedule.

In addition to PBS programming, KVIE produces in-house programs for distribution locally, regionally and nationwide. Among its current and past series include Studio Sacramento, America's Heartland (Nationally Syndicated), ViewFinder, Central Valley Chronicles, California Heartland, Rob on the Road, New Valley, and KVIE Arts Showcase.

Like other PBS stations, KVIE has held many fundraising events. For over three decades until the early 1990s, it held a general auction during the early summer months from many different venues, and emceed by numerous personalities from Sacramento broadcasting. The station's annual art auction has been on the air for over 30 years and broadcasts in September as a three-day event; the 2011 edition marked the art auction's 30th anniversary. The station also has pledge drives throughout the year covering approximately 75 days of the year with the majority of occurring during March, June, August and December.

Among KVIE's personalities over the years have included former KOVR news anchor George Reading, former KTXL anchor Pat McConahay, former KCRA-TV weather anchor Bette Vasquez and Christina Dillon. Current personalities include staff members Rob Stewart (host of KVIE's Rob on the Road), David Lowe (President and GM), Heath Buckmaster (On-Air Fundraising Director), and Kevin Smith-Fagan (VP Leadership Giving).

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital channel is multiplexed:

On June 17, 2011, KVIE became the first broadcaster in the Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto television market to launch a Mobile DTV channel with the launch of KVIE-GO.

Analog-to-digital conversion

KVIE shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 6, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television.^[4] The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 53, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition, to VHF channel 9, using PSIP to display KVIE's virtual channel as 6 on digital television receivers. Prior to the transition, the audio feed of KVIE was audible at 87.7 FM in Sacramento and surrounding areas.

References

External links

• KVIE official website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KVIE
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KVIE-TV