KAKM

KAKM
Anchorage, Alaska
United States
Branding Alaska Public Television
Slogan Life. Informed
Channels Digital: 8 (VHF)
Virtual: 7 (PSIP)
Subchannels 7.1 PBS
7.2 Create
7.3 360 North
Affiliations PBS
Owner Alaska Public Media
(Alaska Public Telecommunications, Inc.)
First air date May 7, 1975 (1975-05-07)
Sister station(s) KSKA
Former channel number(s) Analog:
7 (VHF, 1975-2009)
Transmitter power 50 kW
Height 240 m
Facility ID 804
Transmitter coordinates 61°25′19.8″N 149°52′27.8″W / 61.422167°N 149.874389°W / 61.422167; -149.874389
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: Profile
CDBS
Website http://www.alaskapublic.org/kakm/

KAKM is a Public television station in Anchorage, Alaska, broadcasting locally on digital channel 8 as a PBS member station. The station is owned by Alaska Public Telecommunications, Inc., and was the only PBS station in Alaska that was not part of AlaskaOne during its existence. Its program is transmitted from Knik TV Mast, and its studios are located at the Elmo Sackett Broadcast Center on the campus of Alaska Pacific University. The call letters were chosen to represent the 3 major geographic areas served by the station Anchorage, Kenai, and Matanuska.

History

The station first started regular transmissions on May 7, 1975. Previously, PBS programming had been offered to Anchorage stations on per-program basis. (For example, Sesame Street was carried on KTVA, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood on KIMO (now KYUR), and The Electric Company on KENI-TV (now KTUU-TV.)

KAKM became the flagship station of Alaska Public Television, the successor to AlaskaOne, replacing KUAC-TV in Fairbanks, on July 1, 2012.[1]

Station presentation

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital channel is multiplexed:

Digital channels

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[2]
7.1 1080i 16:9 KAKM-HD Main KAKM programming / PBS
7.2 480i 4:3 KAKM-CR Create
7.3 KAKM-7. 360 North

360 North provides statewide coverage of Alaska public affairs, documentaries, historical programs, and Native topics. Originating at KTOO-TV, 360 North replaced Gavel to Gavel Alaska, which televised the Alaska Legislature.[3]

Analog-to-digital conversion

KAKM shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 7, 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 8.[4] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 7.

Translators

KAKM extends its over-the-air coverage through a network of translator stations.

Translators of KAKM
Call sign Community of license Additional Information
K05FW-D Girdwood, Alaska FCC
K07PF-D Homer, Alaska FCC
K12LA-D Kenai, Alaska FCC
K21AM-D Ninilchik, Alaska FCC
K48AC-D Kasilof, Alaska FCC

References

  1. ↑ "Split in Alaska public TV consortium". Television Business Report. December 9, 2011. Retrieved December 10, 2011.
  2. ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for KAKM
  3. ↑ http://www.360north.org/about.php
  4. ↑ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-03-24.

External links

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