Lakeland PBS


Lakeland PBS is the collective brand for two PBS member television stations serving northern and central Minnesota: KAWE in Bemidji and KAWB in Brainerd. The stations are owned by Northern Minnesota Public Television, Inc., and maintain studios on Grant Avenue Northeast in northeast Bemidji with a secondary studio and an underwriting office on NW 3rd Street in northwest Brainerd. KAWE's transmitter is located southeast of Blackduck, while KAWB's tower sits near East Gull Lake.
KAWB operates as a full-time satellite of KAWE, covering areas of central Minnesota that receive a marginal to non-existent over-the-air signal from the main station, although there is significant overlap between their contours otherwise. KAWB is a straight simulcast of KAWE; on-air references to KAWB are limited to Federal Communications Commission -mandated hourly station identifications during programming.
The network first took to the air on June 1, 1980, and was formerly known as Lakeland Public Television; it re-branded on January 8, 2018, to better align its brand with PBS. It is the only full-power television broadcasting operation based in north central Minnesota, an area that is served mainly by translators of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul television stations.
Lakeland PBS utilizes KAWB's channel 22 position on DirecTV and Dish Network's Twin Cities local lineups to avert confusion with Fox owned-and-operated station KMSP-TV in Minneapolis.

Newscasts

Lakeland PBS produces a 30-minute local newscast Monday through Friday. The newscast originates from its studios in Bemidji, and the station also has a news-production facility in Brainerd. Lakeland PBS airs the only local newscast in north central Minnesota.

Technical information

Subchannels

Lakeland PBS' television signals are multiplexed into six subchannels.

Translators

The broadcast areas of KAWE and KAWB are extended by way of nine digital translators in northern and central Minnesota.
  • Alexandria:
  • Baudette:
  • Big Falls:
  • Birchdale:
  • International Falls:
  • Red Lake:
  • Roseau:
  • Walker:
  • Williams: