KGTF (channel 12) is a

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

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 earth's s ...

licensed to

Hagåtña, Guam Hagåtña, formerly Agana or Agaña, is a coastal village and the capital of the United States territory of Guam. From the 18th through mid-20th century, it was Guam's population center, but today, it is the second smallest of the island's 19 ...

, serving the

U.S. territory In the United States, a territory is any extent of region under the sovereign jurisdiction of the federal government of the United States, including all waters (around islands or continental tracts). The United States asserts sovereign rights for ...

. The station is owned by the Guam Educational Telecommunications Corporation, an agency of the

territorial government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonomy, o ...

. KGTF's studios are located in

Mangilao Mangilao is a village on the eastern shore of the United States territory of Guam. The village's population has decreased slightly since the island's 2010 census. Cliffs lie along much of the village's shoreline provide dramatic views, including ...

, adjacent to Guam Community College, and its transmitter is located on Mount Barrigada in

Barrigada Barrigada () is a village in the United States territory of Guam. A largely residential municipality, its main village is located south of the Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport near the intersections of Routes 8, 10, and 16. The communi ...

. KGTF currently operates from 6 a.m. to midnight seven days a week.

History

The National Educational Association set up an educational television project in Guam in August 1967, in line with similar plans in other US overseas territories, under the perception that television would bring the "modernization of education". Such consultancy would culminate in the creation of KGTF, with the launch set for 1970. The station signed on the air on October 30, 1970, with only hours of programming Monday through Friday, of which they would later expand throughout its 50-year history, including producing local shows and various projects. Original materials from PBS Guam have been contributed to the

American Archive of Public Broadcasting The American Archive of Public Broadcasting (AAPB) is a collaboration between the Library of Congress and WGBH Educational Foundation, founded through the efforts of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). The AAPB is a national effort to di ...

. The channel was made possible by a $150,000 grant by the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. The station was in financial trouble in 1975, facing problems in raising the percentage of its government funding required by law. That year, it became a PBS branch station by the authorization of the 12th Guam Legislature Bill, creating the Guam Educational Telecommunications Corporation. As of 1993, KGTF produced 30 percent of the output it aired. Such content at the time included a Filipino current affairs program, a competition program for high school students, meetings of the

Guam Legislature The Legislature of Guam () is the law-making body for the United States territory of Guam. The unicameral legislative branch consists of fifteen senators, each serving for a two-year term. All members of the legislature are elected at-large with ...

, public service announcements and conventional educational programs. Nearly all of the 22 staff employed by the station were Guamanians. The station used a 6-kilowatt transmitter to deliver its terrestrial signal as well as being relayed on cable television, whereas two repeaters had been purchased at the time to boost its coverage towards the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands to the north. KGTF shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 12, on January 23, 2009, approximately five months before the official date on 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 5, using

virtual channel In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the ''program number'' as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered as digits on a receiver's ...

12. KGTF is a partner of the

Pacific Community The Pacific Community (PC), formerly the South Pacific Commission (SPC), is an international development organisation governed by 27 members, including 22 Pacific island countries and territories around the Pacific Ocean. The organisation's hea ...

's television newsmagazine ''The Pacific Way''. PBS Guam received PBS' overhaul branding in late-November 2019.

Subchannels

The station's signal is

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— ...

References

External links

* GTF PBS member stations Television channels and stations established in 1970 1970 establishments in Guam Hagåtña, Guam Public broadcasting in insular areas of the United States {{Guam-stub

History

Subchannels

See also

References

External links