KWCM-TV (channel 10) is a

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member

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the eart ...

Appleton, Minnesota Appleton is a city in Swift County, Minnesota, United States. Its population was 1,412 at the 2010 census. The town is home to a vacant medium-security prison, the Prairie Correctional Facility, which is wholly owned and operated by Correctio ...

, United States, owned by the West Central Minnesota Educational TV Corp. KWCM-TV's studios are located on Pioneer Drive in Granite Falls, and its transmitter is located near Appleton. KSMN (channel 20) in Worthington operates as a full-time

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioi ...

of KWCM-TV; this station's transmitter is located near

Chandler, Minnesota Chandler is a town in Murray County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 270 at the 2010 census. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land. Minnesota State Highway 91 and Murray C ...

. KSMN covers areas of southwestern Minnesota that receive a marginal to non-existent over-the-air signal from KWCM, although there is significant overlap between the two stations'

contours Contour may refer to: * Contour (linguistics), a phonetic sound * Pitch contour * Contour (camera system), a 3D digital camera system * Contour, the KDE Plasma 4 interface for tablet devices * Contour line, a curve along which the function has a ...

otherwise. KSMN is a straight

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simulta ...

of KWCM; on-air references to KSMN are limited to

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(FCC)-mandated hourly

station identification Station identification (ident, network ID or channel ID or bumper) is the practice of radio and television stations and networks identifying themselves on-air, typically by means of a call sign or brand name (sometimes known, particularly in th ...

s during programming. Aside from the transmitter, KSMN does not maintain any physical presence locally in Worthington. The two stations are collectively branded as Pioneer PBS. Their combined signal can also be received in parts of

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large porti ...

and

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, So ...

. Several other

translators Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...

carry the signal into other communities.

History

KWCM went on the air for the first time on February 7, 1966. In the early years, it repeated the signal of KTCA-TV in the

Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in sta ...

. It adopted the Pioneer Public Television name in 1982, and added KSMN in 1997. The station is available on the

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and Dish Network feeds for the Twin Cities and

Sioux Falls Sioux Falls () is the most populous city in the U.S. state of South Dakota and the 130th-most populous city in the United States. It is the county seat of Minnehaha County and also extends into Lincoln County to the south, which continues up t ...

markets. Appleton is part of the Twin Cities market, while Worthington is in the Sioux Falls market. This gives Pioneer a potential audience of 4.8 million people in Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota and

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. As of November 3, 2019, the station became Pioneer PBS due to PBS' overhaul.

Pioneer-produced shows

Some locally produced shows include ''Postcards'', ''Prairie Sportsman'', ''Funtime Polka'', ''Your Legislators'', ''Country Spires'' and programs produced with the

University of Minnesota Morris The University of Minnesota Morris (UMN Morris) is a public liberal arts college in Morris, Minnesota. It is part of the University of Minnesota system and was founded in 1960 as a public, co-educational, residential liberal arts college offering ...

, ''Prairie Yard and Garden'', ''Academic Challenge'', ''Echoes of Cry of the Marsh'' and ''Minnesota Rivers and Fields''. Some of these shows have also been shown on the

Minnesota Channel The Minnesota Channel is an American free-to-air television channel originating at Twin Cities Public Television. It features programming related to Minnesota (and some related to Wisconsin and North Dakota), plus coverage of the Minnesota Legisl ...

, a statewide network originated at KTCI-TV in the Twin Cities which carries local programs on Saturday and Sunday evenings.

Technical information

Subchannels

The stations' digital signals are

multiplexed In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource - a ...

Analog-to-digital conversion

KWCM-TV and KSMN shut down their analog transmitters on June 12, 2009.http://www.morrissuntribune.com/articles/index.cfm?id=16452§ion=News KWCM-TV's digital signal relocated to VHF channel 10 from UHF channel 31, while KSMN's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 15.

Translators

A network of digital translators in western Minnesota translates KWCM.

References

External links

Pioneer Public TelevisionRabbitears.info Query - KWCMRabbitears.info Query - KSMN
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kwcm-Tv PBS member stations Television stations in Minnesota Television channels and stations established in 1966 1966 establishments in Minnesota