KIXE-TV (channel 9) is a PBS member television station licensed to Redding, California, United States, and also serving Chico. The station is owned by the Northern California Educational Television Association. KIXE's studios are located along North Market Street on the north side of Redding and its transmitter is located atop Shasta Bally.

KIXE-TV
CityRedding, California
Channels
BrandingKIXE PBS
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
OwnerNorthern California Educational Television Association, Inc.
History
First air date
October 5, 1964 (59 years ago) (1964-10-05)
Former call signs
KIXE (CP, 1963–1964)[1]
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog: 9 (VHF, 1964–2008)
  • Digital: 18 (UHF, 2004–2008)
NET (1964–1970)
Call sign meaning
IX (Roman numeral 9) Educational
Technical information[2]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID47285
ERP15 kW
HAAT1,091 m (3,579 ft)
Transmitter coordinates40°36′8.5″N 122°39′5″W / 40.602361°N 122.65139°W / 40.602361; -122.65139
Translator(s)see § Translators
Links
Public license information
Websitewww.kixe.org

History edit

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

The station was originally located on Industrial Street in Redding. It soon expanded to a bigger facility on North Market Street (State Route 273), north of downtown. The new building had space for television broadcasting courses at Shasta College. Over the years, KIXE has featured numerous local media personalities, including Cal Hunter, Mike Mangas, Ray Roberts, and Ken Murray.

Technical information edit

Subchannels edit

The station's signal is multiplexed:

Subchannels of KIXE-TV[3]
Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming
9.1 720p 16:9 KIXE-DT Main KIXE-TV programming / PBS
9.2 480i CREATE Create
9.3 WORLD

Chico fill-in translator edit

Viewers in 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 on September 21.[when?] The 4,000-watt transmitter is located 200 feet up on a transmission tower and rebroadcasts KIXE's regular programming lineup as well as the CREATE channel. The transmitter is broadcast on their pre-transition UHF channel 18, but digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as channel 9.[citation needed]

Analog-to-digital conversion edit

KIXE-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 9, on August 18, 2008. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 18 to VHF channel 9.[4] Translators finally converted on September 1.

Early switch edit

KIXE is currently 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.[5] KIXE became the second all-digital PBS station in California, after KCSM-TV in San Mateo (which serves the San Francisco Bay Area).

Translators edit

The cities served by translators (except Big Bend) had cable headends nearby.[citation needed]

References edit

  1. ^ "FCC History Cards for KIXE-TV".
  2. ^ "Facility Technical Data for KIXE-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  3. ^ RabbitEars TV Query for KIXE
  4. ^ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2012.
  5. ^ KIXE has gone digital Trinity Journal August 27, 2008

External links edit