City Reno Translators see list below | Branding KNPB Affiliations PBS | |
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Channels Digital: 15 (UHF)
Virtual: 5 (PSIP) Subchannels 5.1 PBS
5.2 Create
5.3 PBS Kids | ||
KNPB, virtual channel, 5, is the PBS television station for Western Nevada's Truckee Meadows licensed to Reno. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 15 (virtual channel 5.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter facility shared with KAME-TV on Red Hill between US 395 and SR 445 in Sun Valley. The station can also be seen on Charter channel 5 and in high definition on digital channel 785. Founded on April 19, 1982, the station is owned and operated by Channel 5 Public Broadcasting, Inc, a community licensee.
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History
KNPB began broadcasting on September 29, 1983, with the first program being Sesame Street. The station's studios and offices were located in the College of Education building on the campus of the University of Nevada, Reno. Prior to 1983, PBS programming was made available to Reno either from the city's commercial stations on a per-program basis, (i.e. Sesame Street was on KOLO) or via cable from KVIE in Sacramento, the nearest PBS station available.
In the early 1990s, KNPB moved into its current facility on Virginia Street, also on the university campus. The station's main transmitter is located on Red Peak in Sun Valley. A low-power digital translator, licensed as KNPB-LD and also broadcasting on channel 15, serves the communities surrounding Lake Tahoe and the Truckee, California region from a location on the flanks of Mt. Rose. A network of other community translators retransmit KNPB's signal across much of northern Nevada and bordering portions of California.
KNPB Online went active on September 29, 1997.
Digital channels
The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
On September 29, 2000, KNPB became the first TV station in Northern Nevada to offer digital broadcasts, and the smallest PBS station in the nation to do so (at this time).
Analog-to-digital conversion
KNPB shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 5, on February 17, 2009, the original date in which full-power television stations in the United States were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate (which was later pushed back to June 12, 2009). The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 15. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 5.