| Prairie Public | |
| Location: | statewide North Dakota |
| Country: | US |
| Sister Stations: | Prairie Public Radio |
| Owner: | Prairie Public Broadcasting |
| Affiliations: | PBS, APT |
| Former Affiliations: | NET (1964–1970) |
Prairie Public's television service is a state network of public television signals operated by Prairie Public Broadcasting. It comprises all of the PBS member stations in the U.S. state of North Dakota.
The state network is available via flagship station KFME in Fargo and eight satellite stations covering all of North Dakota, plus portions of Minnesota, Montana, and South Dakota. It also has substantial viewership in portions of the Canadian province of Manitoba. Prairie Public is also available on most satellite and cable television outlets serving North Dakota and on Hulu.
Prairie Public is headquartered on 5th Street North in Fargo, with a satellite studio on North 15th Street in Bismarck.
In 1959, North Central Educational Television, the predecessor organization to Prairie Public, was incorporated. On January 19, 1964, KFME signed on from Fargo as North Dakota's first educational television station.
The Prairie Public name was adopted in 1974, the same year the first satellite station, KGFE in Grand Forks, signed on, marking the beginning of the statewide network. A year earlier, KFME almost shut down due to lack of funding. KFME acquired a color video tape recorder in 1967, and color cameras in 1975.
The FCC allocated educational frequencies to Bismarck, Minot, Williston and Dickinson in the 1960s. While KFME was picked up on cable in Bismarck in the early 1970s, most of the western part of the state was one of the few areas of the country without educational programming. It would be 1977 before the state legislature granted Prairie Public funding to build a statewide public television network. KBME in Bismarck was established in 1979, bringing over-the-air public television to the western portion of the state for the first time. KSRE in Minot followed suit in 1980 and KDSE in 1982. Prairie Public purchased the Fargo American Life Building in 1983 and moved its studios there in 1984. In 1989 KFME and cable feeds went to a 24-hour television broadcast schedule. The Prairie Satellite Network distance education state network, with 70 sites, was completed in 1994. Later, KWSE in Williston signed on in 1983, and KJRE in Ellendale/Jamestown signed on in 1992.
Prairie Public became the first broadcaster in North Dakota to broadcast in high definition, with KFME-DT and KBME-DT debuting in 2002. Digital-only station KCGE-DT Crookston/Grand Forks signed on in 2003, with the rest of the Prairie Public stations broadcasting in HDTV by 2004.
The transmitter for KGFE on the WDAZ-TV tower mast was damaged in May 2004, due to ice buildup on the tower, which caused very large chunks of ice to fall off and go through the roof of the transmitter building. This caused water damage to the transmitter's equipment, as well as damage to the roof of the transmitter site.[1] KGFE went back on the air in February 2005 at low power, then later became a secondary station from the KCGE tower. KMDE of Devils Lake signed on in 2006 to cover the western half of KGFE's viewing area, as KCGE covered the eastern half of KGFE's viewing area.
Prairie Public is carried on cable systems in southern Manitoba, including Winnipeg. Manitoba has historically been a significant supporter of Prairie Public. Indeed, the network's audience there is far larger than its American one; the Winnipeg area alone has a population greater than the entire state of North Dakota.
Prairie Public has produced numerous local documentaries, including many about southern Manitoba, including Portage Avenue: Dreams of Castles in the Sky, Red River Divide, Assiniboine Park: A Park for all Seasons, Lake Winnipeg's Paradise Beaches, among others.
Prairie Public was first available in Manitoba in 1974, when KGFE signed on VHF channel 2 from the WDAZ TV Tower in Dahlen, its signal was easily received in the Morden-Winkler area. Prairie Public has been carried on cable in Manitoba since 1975, when KGFE was picked up by cable systems in Winnipeg[2] and Brandon, Manitoba. In 1986, Prairie Public was nearly dropped from cable in Winnipeg.[3] [4] After the crisis, Prairie Public set up a fixed microwave link to carry stronger signals into Winnipeg. In 1998, a signal link failure forced PPTV off cable in Brandon for several months.[5]
Not only must Prairie Public take its large Canadian audience into account in its programming, but a significant portion of its donations during fundraising drives are in Canadian dollars. The station has opened up many of its contests for Canadian residents. It also has been involved in family events in Manitoba, including the International Friendship Festival in Winnipeg, and a Mister Rogers' Neighborhood Sweater Drive.[6]
Canadians are well-represented in Prairie Public's leadership; two directors of Prairie Public are from Winnipeg.[7] Additionally, a Manitoban chairs the television programming advisory board.[8]
Since KGFE's analog service went off the air in 2004, Prairie Public has been available only by cable in Manitoba. In 2012, MTS brought Prairie Public's signal into northern Manitoba for the first time when its Ultimate TV service launched in Thompson and The Pas.[9] [10] Coverage is not complete, however; cable systems as far south as Winkler use alternate PBS feeds. Prairie Public is also absent from the lineups of satellite providers Shaw Direct and Bell Satellite TV, making it unavailable to many rural residents and cottages.
Elsewhere in Canada, another local PBS member station is carried on cable in Kenora, Ontario, and is available over-the-air near Estevan, Saskatchewan. Prairie Public was formerly on cable throughout Saskatchewan, until 1984.[11] Cable companies in Saskatchewan largely carry Detroit Public Television instead, while SaskTel carries WGBH.
Many original Prairie Public productions are available on the broadcaster's YouTube channel.[12] The stations also carry programs from PBS, American Public Television, and other distributors, as well as from independent producers.
Current programs
Weekly regional programs
As a member of Minnesota Public Television Association Prairie Public also broadcasts Almanac from Twin Cities PBS in Minneapolis–Saint Paul, as well as Minnesota Channel on Prairie Public's digital channels throughout North Dakota.
Prairie Public Television is serviced by nine full-power stations and four low-powered translators throughout North Dakota, western Minnesota and eastern Montana:
| City of license | Facility ID | ERP | HAAT | Transmitter coordinates | First air date | Public license information | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KFME | 13 (13) | 53321 | 3420NaN0 | 47.0125°N -97.1947°W | |||||
| KGFE | 2 (15) | 53320 | 22.6 kW | 186.10NaN0 | 47.9772°N -96.605°W | ||||
| KBME-TV | 3 (22) | 53324 | 97.3 kW | 3920NaN0 | 46.5897°N -100.8006°W | ||||
| KSRE | 6 (15) | 53313 | 146 kW | 249.40NaN0 | 48.0506°N -101.3903°W | ||||
| KDSE | 9 (9) | 53329 | 8.35 kW | 243.50NaN0 | 46.7264°N -102.9158°W | ||||
| KWSE | 4 (11) | 53318 | 84.9 kW | 2780NaN0 | 48.1417°N -103.8928°W | ||||
| KJRE | 19 (20) | 53315 | 72.3 kW | 162.50NaN0 | 46.2989°N -98.8656°W | ||||
| KCGE | 16 (16) | 132606 | 105 kW | 219.60NaN0 | 47.9772°N -96.605°W | ||||
| KMDE | 25 (25) | 162016 | 134 kW | 244.50NaN0 | 48.0633°N -99.3358°W |
| City of license | Channel | Facility ID | ERP | HAAT | Transmitter coordinates | Translating | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 3624 | 0.015 kW | 90NaN0 | 46.3125°N -104.2074°W | KDSE | |||
| 17 | 52825 | 0.754 kW | 420NaN0 | 46.3347°N -104.513°W | KDSE | |||
| 13 | 53011 | 0.054 kW | 370NaN0 | 48.1403°N -105.1214°W | KWSE | |||
| 26 | 191359 | 0.239 kW | 680NaN0 | 48.7975°N -105.3573°W | KWSE |
All transmitters broadcast the same four subchannels.
| Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| xx.1 | PPB1 | Main programming / PBS | ||
| xx.2 | PPB2 | World | ||
| xx.3 | 16:9 | PPB3 | Minnesota Channel | |
| xx.4 | 4:3 | PPB4 | PBS Kids |
Prairie Public's stations converted to digital during the 2009 analog-to-digital transition on a staggered basis. KBME-TV, KSRE and KJRE shut down their analog transmitters on February 17, 2009, with all three remaining on their pre-transition digital signals (UHF channel 22, UHF channel 40 and UHF channel 20, respectively). KFME, KGFE, KDSE and KWSE shut down their analog transmitters on June 12, 2009. KFME's digital signal relocated from pre-transition UHF channel 23 to VHF channel 13; KGFE's digital signal relocated from pre-transition UHF channel 56 to UHF channel 15; KDSE's digital signal relocated from pre-transition UHF channel 20 to VHF channel 9; and KWSE's digital signal remained on pre-transition UHF channel 51. KCGE-DT and KMDE were digital-only stations when they signed on, but both temporarily suspended transmissions during the transition process.[13]
Prairie Public is carried on many cable systems in North Dakota, as well as on a number of cable systems in northwestern Minnesota and eastern Montana. In Manitoba, Prairie Public is carried by Shaw Cable on most systems south of the Interlake (including Winnipeg), and by Westman across southwest Manitoba. MTS carries Prairie Public on their phone-line service, MTS TV. In Ontario, Shaw Cable carries Prairie Public in Kenora.[14] [15] [16]
On satellite, KFME is carried on the Fargo/Grand Forks DirecTV and Dish Network local feeds, while KBME is carried on the Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson DirecTV and Dish Network feeds.
