Nebraska Public Media


Nebraska Public Media, formerly Nebraska Educational Telecommunications, is a state network of public radio and television stations in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is operated by the Nebraska Educational Telecommunications Commission. The television stations are all members of the Public Broadcasting Service, while the radio stations are members of National Public Radio.
The network is headquartered in the Terry M. Carpenter & Jack G. McBride Nebraska Public Media Center which is located at 1800 North 33rd Street on East Campus of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in Lincoln, and has a satellite studio in Omaha.

History

Television

Nebraska was one of the first states in the nation to begin the groundwork for educational broadcasting. The University of Nebraska successfully applied to have channel 18 in Lincoln allocated for educational use in 1951.
Meanwhile, broadcasting pioneer John Fetzer purchased Lincoln's two commercial TV stations, KOLN-TV in August 1953 and KFOR-TV in February 1954. In order to avoid running afoul of Federal Communications Commission ownership regulations and to create a commercial broadcast monopoly for himself in the Lincoln market, Fetzer moved KOLN from its sign-on channel 12 to KFOR's channel 10 and offered to donate the channel 12 license to UNL. Since this would allow UNL to use more signal at less cost, the school quickly jumped at this proposal. KUON-TV went on the air on November 1, 1954, from KOLN-TV's studios, where the stations had to take turns using studio space; when KOLN was live, KUON had to broadcast a film, and vice versa. The station joined the nascent National Educational Television network upon its sign-on. It was operated in trust for UNL until 1956, when the FCC granted the channel 12 license to the school's Board of Regents. In 1957, KUON moved to its own studios in the Temple Building on the UNL campus. In 1960, the Nebraska Council for Educational Television was created by six school districts in Nebraska. By 1961, five VHF and three UHF channels were allocated for educational use in Nebraska—the largest set ever approved for educational use in a single state. In 1963, the state legislature, per a committee's recommendation, approved plans for a statewide NETC-controlled educational television network on the model of Alabama Educational Television. A deal was quickly reached in which Lincoln's KUON-TV would remain under UNL's ownership, but serve as the new network's flagship.
In 1965, KLNE-TV in Lexington became the first station in the new state network, followed a month later by KYNE-TV in Omaha. The network grew quickly; six stations signed on from 1966 to 1968. It began a full seven-day schedule in 1969. The Nebraska Educational Telecommunications Center opened in 1972; it is named for Carpenter, a state senator who introduced legislation in 1969 to fund the center, and McBride, NET's founding general manager for 43 years. National Educational Television would be absorbed into the Public Broadcasting Service in October 1970, and the stations joined the new network.
On June 8, 1975, the network's statewide affiliates would formally adopt the "Nebraska ETV Network" name alongside a new unifying logo—a red stylized abstract "N" formed from two trapezoids, designed by art director William E. "Bill" Korbus. In October of the same year, NBC unveiled a new identity designed by Lippincott & Margulies set to launch at the start of 1976; its centerpiece being a new "N" mark identical to that of Nebraska ETV save for its red-and-blue coloring. Local press began to cover the commission's response to the similarity within the week of NBC adopting the symbol, with the commission moving to sue the network for trademark infringement in February 1976, garnering national press attention. In an out-of-court settlement, NBC donated a color mobile unit and other equipment totaling over $800,000 to Nebraska ETV, alongside an additional $55,000 for the costs of designing and implementing a new logo in exchange for the continued use of the stylized "N" for itself.
Nebraska ETV discontinued its use of the logo in the midst of the dispute, using a plain-text placeholder from April 1, 1976 until its replacement was unveiled on May 25th. The new logo, a geometric lowercase "n", was designed by Michael "Mike" Buettner, an employee of the network's art department under the direction of Bill Korbus. Due to mixed reception to the symbol outside of this controversy, NBC would update their N in 1979 by adding a modernized peacock symbol to the center, phasing it out entirely by 1986.
Since 1974, NET has operated a studio in Omaha, on the campus of the University of Nebraska Omaha. It is primarily used when KYNE breaks off from the network to broadcast programming of specific interest to the Omaha market.
A CPB study, Study of School Use of Television and Video, found Reading Rainbow to be the most used and viewed children's television program in America during the 1990–1991 school year.
In January 2005, Nebraska ETV and Nebraska Public Radio were united under a single name, Nebraska Educational Telecommunications.
In May 2021, NET changed its name to Nebraska Public Media to more accurately represent the organization's entire impact.

Radio

The Educational Television Commission had its mission broadened to radio in 1986, but it was 1989 before it could begin the groundwork for building a statewide public radio network. For many years, there were only two NPR members in the entire state—Omaha's KIOS and Lincoln's KUCV, which had signed on in 1974. In 1989, however, UNL bought KUCV from Union College. KUCV officially relaunched from its new studios on October 10, 1989. In 2001, KUCV moved from 90.9 FM to 91.1.
In 1990, the commission opened stations in Alliance, Lexington, Columbus, Norfolk, and Hastings. North Platte, Bassett, Merriman, and Chadron followed in 1991. The entire Nebraska Public Radio Network was formally dedicated on October 8 in a special ceremony, broadcast live on NPRN and NETV.
The Nebraska Educational Telecommunications Facilities Corporation was established to facilitate lease/purchase of the GTE SpaceNet 3 transponder.

Television stations

Nebraska Public Media consists of nine full-power TV stations that make up the network; all stations have callsigns beginning with the letter K, as licensed by the Federal Communications Commission, and ending in NE except "UON" for the Lincoln station. Combined, they reach almost all of Nebraska, as well as parts of Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, South Dakota, and Wyoming. Eight of the stations are owned by the NETC. Flagship station KUON is owned by the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, but is operated by the Commission through a long-standing agreement between the Commission and NU.
StationCity of licenseFacility IDERPHAATCall sign
meaning		Transmitter coordinatesFirst air datePublic license information
KTNE-TVAlliance13 4799627 kWTelevision Nebraska
KMNE-TVBassett7 4798127 kWMiddle Nebraska
KHNE-TVHastings29 47987200 kWHastings, Nebraska
KLNE-TVLexington3 47975375 kWLexington, Nebraska
KUON-TVLincoln12 6658975 kWUniversity of Nebraska–Lincoln
KRNE-TVMerriman12 4797175 kWMerriman, Nebraska
KXNE-TVNorfolk19 47995475 kWAcross Nebraska
KPNE-TVNorth Platte9 4797385 kWNorth Platte, Nebraska
KYNE-TVOmaha26 4797421.5 kWYour Nebraska

Translators

Nebraska Public Media operates 15 translators to widen its coverage area. Nine directly repeat KUON, four repeat KXNE and one repeats KMNE.
StationCity of licenseChannelParent stationFacility ID
K23AABeatrice23KHNE47983
K24GOBlair24KUON47969
K31OC-DBroken Bow7KMNE181534
K06JCChadron6KTNE47977
K06KRCrawford6KTNE47991
K34IBDecatur34KXNE47976
K25OG-DFalls City25KUON-TV47970
K08LNHarrison8KUON47992
K33FOMax33KPNE48009
K21OI-DMcCook/Culbertson9KPNE-TV47954
K27NI-DNeligh27KXNE-TV47985
K14MINiobrara14KXNE47988
K33ACPawnee City33KUON47993
K10JW-DVerdigre19KXNE-TV47989
K20IJWauneta20KPNE47980

Cable and satellite availability

Nebraska Public Media is available on nearly all cable systems in Nebraska. Selected cable systems in northern Kansas carry Hastings' KHNE in addition to Smoky Hills PBS; these counties are part of the Hastings/Kearney side of the Lincoln/Hastings/Kearney media market. Additionally, Omaha's KYNE is carried on most cable systems in southwestern Iowa.
On satellite, KUON, KYNE, KPNE, KXNE, and KTNE are carried on the local Lincoln, Omaha, North Platte, Sioux City, and Cheyenne, Wyoming Dish Network feeds, respectively. KTNE is the sole PBS station available to satellite viewers in the Cheyenne market, due to FCC regulations that prohibit Wyoming PBS to be seen in that market, since KWYP-TV in Laramie is located in the Denver television market. KHNE, KYNE, and KXNE are available on the Lincoln, Omaha, and Sioux City DirecTV feeds, respectively.

Digital television

Subchannels

The signals of Nebraska Public Media's television stations are multiplexed:
ChannelRes.AspectShort nameProgramming
xx.11080i16:9NE-PBSPBS
xx.21080i16:9NE-WWorld
xx.3720p16:9NE-CCreate
xx.4480i16:9NE-KIDSPBS Kids
xx.5480i16:9NE-FNXFirst Nations Experience

Analog-to-digital conversion

During 2009, in the lead-up to the Digital television transition in [the United States|analog-to-digital television transition] that would ultimately occur in 2009, Nebraska Public Media shut down the analog transmitters of its stations on a staggered basis. Listed below are the dates each analog transmitter ceased operations as well as their post-transition channel allocations:
  • KUON-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 12, in Autumn 2008. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 40 to VHF channel 12.
  • KHNE-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 29, on February 17, 2009, the original date on which full-power television stations in the United States were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 28, using virtual channel 29.
  • KLNE-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 3, on February 17, 2009. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 26, using virtual channel 3.
  • KMNE-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 7, in autumn 2008. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 15 to VHF channel 7.
  • KPNE-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 9, in autumn 2008. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 16 to VHF channel 9.
  • KRNE-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 12, in autumn 2008. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 17 to VHF channel 12.
  • KTNE-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 13, in autumn 2008. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 24 to VHF channel 13.
  • KXNE-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 19, in November 2008. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 16 to former UHF analog channel 19.
  • KYNE-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 26, on February 17, 2009. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 17, using virtual channel 26.

Radio stations

Nebraska Public Media's radio stations are governed by the NET Commission and the NET Foundation for Radio Board. It consists of all NPR member stations in the state except for KIOS in Omaha; that station is operated by the Omaha Public Schools. The stations' combined footprint covers most of the state outside the Omaha metropolitan area, as well as parts of Iowa, South Dakota, and Kansas. Programming consists of classical music and NPR news and talk.
Nebraska Public Media Radio can also be heard on the FNX television channel.
There are nine full-power stations in the state network:
StationFrequencyCityERPHAATCallsign meaning
KUCV91.1 FMLincoln 100 kWUnion College Voice
KCNE-FM91.9 FMChadron8.4 kWChadron, Nebraska
KHNE-FM89.1 FMHastings68 kWHastings, Nebraska
KLNE-FM88.7 FMLexington65 kWLexington, Nebraska
KMNE-FM90.3 FMBassett100 kWMiddle Nebraska
KPNE-FM91.7 FMNorth Platte88 kWNorth Platte, Nebraska
KQNE-FM89.9 FMFalls City3.2 kWQuality Radio for Nebraska
KRNE-FM91.5 FMMerriman100 kWMerriman, Nebraska
KTNE-FM91.1 FMAlliance100 kWTowards Nebraska
KXNE-FM89.3 FMNorfolk45 kWAcross Nebraska

The state network also has four low-power repeater/translator signals.
StationFrequencyCityParent Station
K209FS89.7 FMColumbusKXNE
K224CH92.7 FMCulbertsonKPNE
K208CB89.5 FMHarrisonKTNE
K227AC93.3 FMMaxKPNE

K209FS went off the air in July 2023 due to the dismantling of its broadcast tower. NPM is seeking a new location for the translator but ultimately will replace it with a higher-power station, KUNE-FM.

Programming

Although Nebraska Public Media provides PBS programming, it also produces original programs, such as:

News operation

The Nebraska Public Media News team was led by News Director Dennis Kellogg until 2022. The news department produces regular "Signature Stories" for air on Nebraska Public Media's radio stations.