Southern Oregon Public Television

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = KSYS / KFTS
city =
station_
station_slogan = nowrap|Connecting Our Community
station_branding = SOPTV
analog =
KSYS: 8 (VHF)
KFTS: 22 (UHF)
digital =
KSYS: 42 (UHF)
KFTS: 33 (UHF)
post_transition =
KSYS: 8 (VHF)
KFTS: 33 (UHF)
subchannels = 8.1 SOPTV-HD (1080i) 8.2 SOPTV (480i) 8.3 Oregon Channel
other_chs = (see article)
affiliations = PBS
network =
founded =
airdate = KSYS: January 17, 1977
KFTS: January 1989
location = KSYS: Medford, Oregon
KFTS: Klamath Falls, Oregon
callsign_meaning =
former_callsigns =
former_channel_numbers =
owner = Southern Oregon Public Television, Inc.
licensee =
sister_stations =
former_affiliations =
effective_radiated_power = KSYS:
191 kW (analog)
366 kW (digital)
KFTS:
9.33 kW (analog)
9.6 kW (digital)
HAAT = KSYS:
818 m (analog)
802 m (digital)
KFTS:
656 m (analog)
649 m (digital)
class =
facility_id = KSYS: 61350
KFTS: 61335
coordinates = KSYS:
coord|42|41|31.2|N|123|13|48.6|W|type:landmark_scale:2000|name=KSYS
KFTS:
coord|42|5|49.6|N|121|38|2.9|W|type:landmark_scale:2000|name=KFTS
homepage = [http://www.soptv.org/ www.soptv.org] |

Southern Oregon Public Television is the PBS member for most of southwest Oregon. It operates KSYS, channel 8 in Medford and KFTS, channel 22 in Klamath Falls.

In 1965, Oregon Educational Broadcasting, forerunner of Oregon Public Broadcasting, persuaded the FCC to reassign channel 8 to from Brookings to Medford. OEB intended to make channel 8 the third station in its television network, which at that time included flagship KOAC-TV in Corvallis and KOAP-TV (now KOPB-TV) in Portland. Southern Oregon was the only region of the state without public television. However, OEB backed out after a protracted battle with several commercial applicants. The license eventually went to Liberty Television, owners of KEZI-TV in Eugene.

However, the owners of the two commercial stations in the area--Bill Smullin of KTVM-TV (now KOBI) and Ray Johnson of KMED-TV (now KTVL) helped a new nonprofit corporation, Southern Oregon Educational Company, buy the channel 8 construction permit from Liberty. They also pledged payments of $50,000 once the station signed on. Getting the funds to sign on proved more difficult than expected. With the FCC permit about to run out, KSYS went on the air on January 17, 1977 with the strongest signal of any station in the region, at 191,000 watts. This was still not enough to cover Klamath Falls, and SOEC (later renamed Southern Oregon Public Television, Inc.) immediately applied for another station to cover that region. However, it took 12 more years before KFTS went on the air in January 1989.

The two stations are the only public television stations in the state not affiliated with OPB, but occasionally air some of OPB's programs.

The Oregon Channel is a public affairs network. Programing consist of Oregon legislative sessions and other public affairs events.

Digital Television

The SOPTV network digital channels is multiplexed:

Service to Gold Beach, Lakeview, Paisley, Port Orford, Silver Lake and Wedderburn is provided by Oregon Public Broadcasting.

External links

* [http://www.soptv.org/ SOPTV website]
* [http://www.wsmb.org/Page.asp?NavID=15 History of Television in Southern Oregon]
*TVQ|KSYS
*TVQ|KFTS
*BIA|KSYS|TV|TV
*BIA|KFTS|TV|TV

References