Branding Basin PBS Affiliations PBS | Subchannels 36.1 PBS | |
Channels Digital: 38 (UHF)
Virtual: 36 (PSIP) Owner Permian Basin Public Telecommunications, Inc. First air date March 24, 1986; 30 years ago (1986-03-24) | ||
KPBT-TV (or Basin PBS) is a public television station located in Odessa, Texas, broadcasting in the Midland, Texas metropolitan area on digital channel 38 as a PBS member station. The station is owned by Permian Basin Public Television, Inc.
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History
The station signed on March 24, 1986 as KOCV-TV. Until then, PBS programming had to be sold to the basin's commercial stations, on a per program basis. The studio operations are located yards from Midland International Airport while the transmitting tower is located on the campus of Odessa College, the station's former location and owner (see below).
The station was owned by Odessa College (callsign meaning: Odessa College Voice) and later by the Ector County Independent School District. Former First Lady Laura Bush was one of the station's 500 original members. The station changed its calls to KPBT in 2006, following transfer to community ownership.
Analog-to-digital conversion
KPBT-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 36, on February 17, 2009, the original target date in which full-power television 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 38. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 36.