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Channels Digital: 26 (UHF)
Virtual: 24 (PSIP) Translators KVCR-DT3:
K09XW-D Palm Springs
KJHP-LP 18 Morongo Valley Affiliations .1: PBS
.2: FNX
.3: KVCR Desert Cities
.4: PBS Create Owner San Bernardino Community College District | ||
KVCR-DT, virtual channel 24 (UHF digital channel 26), is a PBS member television station serving Los Angeles, California, United States that is licensed to San Bernardino. The station is owned by the San Bernardino Community College District, and is sister to radio station KVCR-FM (91.9). KVCR's studios are located at the San Bernardino Valley College campus on North Mt. Vernon Avenue in San Bernardino, and its transmitter is located atop Box Springs Mountain.
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In addition to its main programming, KVCR also programs an alternate feed specifically for the Coachella Valley area known as KVCR Desert Cities. This alternate feed is seen over-the-air in the Palm Springs area on low-power stations K09XW-D (channel 9) and KJHP-LP (channel 18), and is carried on KVCR's third digital subchannel.
History
KVCR-TV first signed on the air on September 11, 1962; it became the first successful UHF television station in the Inland Empire area. The station was also the first non-commercial public television station in Southern California – predating the launches of KCET (channel 28) by two years; KPBS in San Diego by five years; KOCE-TV (channel 50) in Huntington Beach by ten years; and KLCS (channel 58) by eleven years – and the third in the entire state – preceded only by KQED in San Francisco and KVIE in Sacramento.
The station's transmitter was originally located on the campus of San Bernardino Valley College, where the channel 24 studios are still located. In the 1980s, KVCR's transmitter facilities were moved to Box Springs Mountain, overlooking Moreno Valley. The higher location along with increased effective radiated power greatly increased the station's grade A and grade B signal coverage. During the summers of 2005 and 2006, separate transmitter failures knocked both the KVCR television and radio stations off the air for extended periods.
Digital channels
The station's digital channel is multiplexed:
Analog-to-digital conversion
KVCR-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 24, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 26, using PSIP to display KVCR-TV's virtual channel as 24 on digital television receivers.