KPIF (channel 15) is a

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 ear ...

licensed to Pocatello, Idaho, United States, serving the Idaho Falls–Pocatello

media market A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television and radio station offerings, and may also in ...

as an affiliate of the digital multicast network

Grit Grit, Grits, or Gritty may refer to: Food * Grit (grain), bran, chaff, mill-dust or coarse oatmeal * Grits, a corn-based food common in the Southern United States Minerals * Grit, winter pavement-treatment minerals deployed in grit bins * ...

. It is owned by Ventura Broadcasting alongside

Ion Television Ion Television is an American broadcast television network owned by the Katz Broadcasting subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. The network first began broadcasting on August 31, 1998, as Pax TV, focusing primarily on family-oriented ent ...

affiliate KVUI (channel 31, also licensed to Pocatello). The two stations share studios on West Alameda Road in Pocatello; KPIF's transmitter is located on Howard Mountain.

History

The original

construction permit Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building per ...

for KPIF was granted on March 2, 2001, to Pocatello Channel 15,

L.L.C. A limited liability company (LLC for short) is the US-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of a ...

, a partnership between KM Communications, Inc. of Skokie, Illinois, Kaleidoscope Foundation, Inc. of

Little Rock, Arkansas ( The "Little Rock") , government_type = Council-manager , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_party = D , leader_title2 = Council , leader_name2 ...

(a subsidiary of

Equity Broadcasting Corporation Equity Media Holdings Corporation was a broadcasting company based in Little Rock, Arkansas that owned and operated television stations across the United States. Prior to March 30, 2007, the company was known as Equity Broadcasting, a name later ...

), and Potelco Broadcasting of

Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte, North Car ...

. The three companies had been competing applicants for a channel 15 television station in Pocatello, and agreed in 2000 to form a partnership in order to expedite construction of the station. In 2003, due to irreconcilable differences that caused delays in development of the permit, Myoung Hwa Bae of KM Communications extended an offer to buy out the other two members. KM Communications completed construction of the station and signed on in March 2004 under Program Test Authority from the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisd ...

(FCC). The station applied for a license to cover the construction permit on March 1, 2004, and was granted the license on October 11, 2006. Initially, KPIF was affiliated with America One, but the station picked up a WB affiliation in July 2004. It became an affiliate of

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...

on September 18, 2006. At one point,

KBEO KBEO, VHF digital channel 11, was a Retro TV-affiliated television station licensed to Jackson, Wyoming, United States. The station was owned by KM Communications Inc. History KBEO signed on March 30, 2001. The station originally operated s ...

(channel 11) from Jackson, Wyoming (which was the first to sign on, on March 30, 2001) became a satellite of KPIF (KBEO has since gone dark). After The CW moved to a

digital subchannel In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compressi ...

of ABC affiliate KIFI-TV (channel 8) on September 7, 2009, the station switched to RTV (later RTN, now Retro TV).

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed: As of November 2021, Grit moved from 15.2 to the main subchannel. A few other subchannels changed their affiliations too, including 15.2 ( Heroes & Icons to Defy TV), 15.3 (Grit to TrueReal), 15.4 (

Stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

to Bounce TV; the latter network previously aired on 15.4 from 2020 to June 2021), and 15.7 ( Pursuit Channel to Newsy).

Analog-to-digital conversion

KPIF shut down its analog signal, over

UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter (on ...

channel 15, on June 12, 2009, and "

flash-cut A flash cut, also called a flash cutover, is an immediate change in a complex system, with no phase-in period. In the United States, some telephone area codes were split or overlaid immediately, rather than being phased in with a permissive dia ...

" its digital signal into operation on UHF channel 15, as they were granted original construction permits after the FCC finalized the DTV allotment plan on April 21, 1997. While KPIF did broadcast a digital signal after the analog shutdown, it did not apply for a license to cover or an extension of the digital construction permit (which expired on June 12, 2009) until 2014. KPIF was granted a broadcast license for its digital signal on February 6, 2016.

References

External links

Post Register article on station sign-on
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kpif Television channels and stations established in 2004 2004 establishments in Idaho PIF Grit (TV network) affiliates Defy TV affiliates TrueReal affiliates Bounce TV affiliates This TV affiliates Court TV affiliates Scripps News affiliates True Crime Network affiliates Daystar (TV network) affiliates