KUSM

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = KUSM / KUFM-TV
city =
station_
station_slogan =
station_branding = Montana PBS
analog =
KUSM: 9 (VHF)
KUFM: 11 (VHF)
digital =
KUSM: 8 (VHF)
KUFM: 27 (UHF)
other_chs =
affiliations = PBS
network =
founded =
airdate = KUSM: October 1, 1984
KUFM: 1996
location = KUSM: Bozeman, Montana
KUFM: Missoula, Montana
callsign_meaning = KUSM:
Montana State University reversed
KUFM:
University oF Montana
former_callsigns =
former_channel_numbers =
owner = KUSM: Montana State University
KUFM: The University of Montana
licensee =
sister_stations =
former_affiliations =
effective_radiated_power = KUSM:
44 kW (analog)
17.9 kW (digital)
KUFM:
9.06 kW (analog)
11.9 kW (digital)
HAAT = KUSM:
277 m (analog)
271 m (digital)
KUFM:
631 m (analog)
630 m (digital)
class =
facility_id = KUSM: 43567
KUFM: 66611
coordinates = KUSM:
coord|45|40|22.4|N|110|52|2.4|W|type:landmark_scale:2000
KUFM:
coord|46|48|8.5|N|113|58|25|W|type:landmark_scale:2000|name=KUFM-TV
homepage = [http://www.montanapbs.org/ www.montanapbs.org]

KUSM channel 9, known on-air as Montana PBS, is a PBS station that is based at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana. The station's facilities are in the Visual Communications Building on campus. Programming can also be seen on KUFM-TV, channel 11 in Missoula, Montana, located at the University of Montana-Missoula, and on a network of 60 low-powered repeaters in Montana, plus statewide cable coverage.

Due to a strong program for documentary filmmaking at MSU, many programs broadcast on KUSM are locally produced.

Some of the Montana-made programming is now available as a video podcast through a new distribution service called Terra.

KUSM signed on for the first time on October 1, 1984, making Montana the last state to have its own PBS station, 14 years after Mississippi became the last state east of the Mississippi River with a PBS station within its borders. Since MSU didn't have enough funding at the time to support a public television station, station engineers switched to and from the signal of KUED in Salt Lake City for most PBS programming until 1987. Prior to 1984, Montana received PBS programming from KSPS-TV in Spokane, Washington; Prairie Public Television in North Dakota; KRMA-TV in Denver, Colorado; and KUED. Some commercial stations in Montana, including KTVQ in Billings and KFBB in Great Falls, carried Sesame Street and may have carried other PBS programs besides.

Also in 1987, KUSM was added to TCI's cable systems in central and eastern Montana, completely replacing KUED in that part of the state by 1990.

UM had won a construction permit for KUFM-TV in 1992, but had trouble getting on the air until 1996. UM and MSU joined forces to form Montana PBS, which broadcast for the first time as a network on New Year's Day 1997.

External links

* [http://www.montanapbs.org/ Montana PBS]
* [http://terravideos.blogspot.com/ Terra Podcast]
*TVQ|KUSM
*TVQ|KUFM
*TVQ|K20HB
*TVQ|K49EH
*BIA|KUSM|TV|TV
*BIA|KUFM|TV|TV