Nebraska Educational Telecommunications


Nebraska Educational Telecommunications is a state network of public radio and television stations in the U.S. state of Nebraska and is based in Lincoln. It is operated by the Nebraska Educational Telecommunications Commission. The television stations are all members of PBS, while the radio stations are members of NPR.
The network is headquartered in the Terry M. Carpenter & Jack G. McBride Nebraska Educational Telecommunications Center which is located at 1800 N. 33rd Street on the East campus of the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, and has a satellite studio in Omaha.

History

Television

Nebraska was one of the first states in the nation to begin the groundwork for educational broadcasting. The University of Nebraska successfully applied to have channel 18 in Lincoln allocated for educational use in 1951.
Meanwhile, broadcasting pioneer John Fetzer purchased Lincoln's two commercial TV stations, KOLN-TV in August 1953 and KFOR-TV in February 1954. In order to avoid running afoul of Federal Communications Commission ownership regulations and to create a commercial broadcast monopoly for himself in the Lincoln market, Fetzer moved KOLN from its sign-on channel 12 to KFOR's channel 10 and offered to donate the channel 12 license to UNL. Since this would allow UNL to use more signal at less cost, the school quickly jumped at this proposal. KUON-TV went on the air on November 1, 1954, from KOLN-TV's studios, where the stations had to take turns using studio space; when KOLN was live, KUON had to broadcast a film, and vice versa. The station joined the nascent National Educational Television network upon its sign-on. It was operated in trust for UNL until 1956, when the FCC granted the channel 12 license to the school's Board of Regents. In 1957, KUON moved to its own studios in the Temple Building on the UNL campus. In 1960, the Nebraska Council for Educational Television was created by six school districts in Nebraska. By 1961, 5 VHF and 3 UHF channels were allocated for educational use in Nebraska—the largest set ever approved for educational use in a single state. In 1963, the state legislature, per a committee's recommendation, approved plans for a statewide educational television network under the control of the Nebraska Educational Television Commission. A deal was quickly reached in which Lincoln's KUON-TV would remain under NU's ownership, but serve as the new state network's flagship.
In 1965, KLNE-TV in Lexington became the first station in the new state network, followed a month later by KYNE-TV at channel 26 in Omaha. The state network grew quickly; six stations signed on from 1966 to 1968 to complete the state network. It began a full seven-day schedule in 1969. The Nebraska Educational Telecommunications Center opened in 1972; it's named for Carpenter, a state senator who introduced legislation in 1969 to fund the center, and McBride, NET’s founding general manager and leader for 43 years. National Educational Television would be absorbed into the new PBS network in October 1970, and KUON-TV joined that network.
In 1974, Nebraska ETV adopted a new logo – a red stylized abstract "N" formed from two trapezoids. A year later, NBC unveiled a new logo that was identical to the Nebraska ETV logo, but for the blue coloring of the right trapezoid in the NBC logo. The commission sued NBC for trademark infringement in February 1976, a suit which generated national attention. In an out-of-court settlement, Nebraska ETV agreed to allow NBC to keep its logo. In return, NBC donated a color mobile unit and other equipment totaling over $800,000. It also paid the commission an additional $55,000 for the costs of rolling out a new logo and eliminating the old logo from all advertising; Nebraska ETV's new logo was unveiled in late 1976.
A CPB study, Study of School Use of Television and Video, found Reading Rainbow to be the most used and viewed children's television program in America during the 1990–1991 school year.
Since 1974, NET has operated a studio in Omaha, on the campus of the University of Nebraska–Omaha. It is primarily used when KYNE breaks off from the state network to broadcast programming of specific interest to the Omaha market.
In January 2005, Nebraska ETV and Nebraska Public Radio were united under a single name, Nebraska Educational Telecommunications.

Radio

The Educational Television Commission had its mission broadened to radio in 1984, but it was 1989 before it could begin the groundwork for building a statewide public radio network. For many years, there were only two NPR members in the entire state--Omaha's KIOS and Lincoln's KUCV, which had signed on in 1974. In 1989, however, UNL bought KUCV from Union College. KUCV officially relaunched from its new studios on October 10, 1989. In 2001, KUCV moved from 90.9 FM to 91.1.
In 1990, the commission opened stations in Alliance, Lexington, Columbus, Norfolk, and Hastings. North Platte, Bassett, Merriman, and Chadron followed in 1991. The entire Nebraska Public Radio Network was formally dedicated on October 8 in a special ceremony, broadcast live on NPRN and NETV.
The Nebraska Educational Telecommunications Facilities Corporation was established to facilitate lease/purchase of the GTE SpaceNet 3 transponder.

Television stations

NET Television consists of nine full-power TV stations make up the network, all stations have callsigns beginning with the letter K, as licensed by the Federal Communications Commission, and ending in NE except UON for the Lincoln station. Combined, they reach almost all of Nebraska, as well as parts of Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, South Dakota, and Wyoming. Eight of the stations are owned by the NETC. Flagship station KUON is owned by the University of Nebraska, but is operated by the Commission through a long-standing agreement between the Commission and NU.
StationCity of licenseChannels
'		First air dateCall letters'
meaning		ERPHAATFacility IDTransmitter coordinatesPublic license information
KTNE-TVAlliance13
13 		Television NEbraska27 kW47996
KMNE-TVBassett7
7 		Middle NEbraska27 kW47981
KHNE-TVHastings29
28 		Hastings NEbraska200 kW47987
KLNE-TVLexington3
26 		Lexington NEbraska375 kW47975
'
KUON-TVLincoln12
12 		University Of Nebraska75 kW66589
KRNE-TVMerriman12
12 		MeRriman NEbraska75 kW47971
KXNE-TVNorfolk19
19 		X NEbraska475 kW47995
KPNE-TVNorth Platte9
9 		North Platte NEbraska85 kW47973
KYNE-TVOmaha26
17 		Your NEbraska21.5 kW47974

Note:
NET operates 15 translators to widen its coverage area. Nine directly repeat KUON, four repeat KXNE and one repeats KMNE.
StationCity of licenseChannels
'		Parent stationFacility ID
K23AABeatrice23 KHNE47983
K24GOBlair24 KUON47969
K46KP-DBroken Bow46 KMNE181534
K06JCChadron6 KTNE47977
K06KRCrawford6 KTNE47991
K44FNCulbertson44 KPNE47954
K34IBDecatur34 KXNE47976
K46FG-DFalls City25 KUON-TV47970
K08LNHarrison8 KUON47992
K33FOMax33 KPNE48009
K50IONeligh50 KXNE47985
K14MINiobrara14 KXNE47988
K33ACPawnee City33 KUON47993
K10JWVerdigre10 KXNE47989
K20IJ'''Wauneta20 KPNE47980

Cable and satellite availability

NET Television is available on nearly all cable systems in Nebraska. Selected cable systems in northern Kansas carry Hastings' KHNE in addition to Smoky Hills PBS; these counties are part of the Hastings/Kearney side of the Lincoln/Hastings/Kearney media market. Additionally, Omaha's KYNE is carried on most cable systems in southwestern Iowa.
On satellite, KUON, KYNE, KPNE, KXNE, and KTNE are carried on the local Lincoln, Omaha, North Platte, Sioux City, and Cheyenne, Wyoming Dish Network feeds, respectively. KTNE is the sole PBS station available to satellite viewers in the Cheyenne market. KHNE, KYNE, and KXNE are available on the Lincoln, Omaha, and Sioux City DirecTV feeds, respectively.

Digital television

Digital channels

The digital signals of NET's stations are multiplexed:
ChannelVideoAspectPSIP Short NameProgramming
xx.1720pNETMain NET Programming / PBS
xx.2720pNET-WWorld
xx.3480iNET-CCreate
xx.4480iNET-KPBS Kids

Analog-to-digital conversion

During 2009, in the lead-up to the analog-to-digital television transition that would ultimately occur in 2009, NET shut down the analog transmitters of its stations on a staggered basis. Listed below are the dates each analog transmitter ceased operations as well as their post-transition channel allocations:
NET Radio is governed by the NET Commission and the NET Foundation for Radio Board. It consists of all NPR member stations in the state except for KIOS in Omaha; that station is operated by the Omaha Public Schools. Programming consists of classical music and NPR news and talk.
NET Radio broadcasts two HD Radio channels. The first is a simulcast of the analog signal, while the second airs increased news programming as well as jazz. Both stream live on the Internet. National radio programming carried on the radio network is distributed by NPR. NET's radio service is committed to providing programs that inform, entertain, and inspire most of the communities of Nebraska.
There are nine full-power stations in the state network:
StationFrequencyCityERP
W		Height
m 		Callsign Meaning
KUCV91.1 FMLincoln 100,000Union College Voice
KCNE-FM91.9 FMChadron8,400Chadron Nebraska
KHNE-FM89.1 FMHastings68,000Hastings NEbraska
KLNE-FM88.7 FMLexington65,000Lexington NEbraska
KMNE-FM90.3 FMBassett100,000Middle NEbraska
KPNE-FM91.7 FMNorth Platte88,000North Platte NEbraska
KRNE-FM91.5 FMMerriman100,000MeRriman NEbraska
KTNE-FM91.1 FMAlliance100,000Towards NEbraska
KXNE-FM89.3 FMNorfolk45,000X NEbraska

The state network also has five low-power repeater/translator signals.
StationFrequencyCityParent Station
K209FS89.7 FMColumbusKXNE
K224CH92.7 FMCulbertsonKPNE
K205FP88.9 FMFalls CityKUCV
K208CB89.5 FMHarrisonKTNE
K227AC93.3 FMMaxKPNE

Programming

Although NET Television provides PBS programming, it also produces original programs, such as:
The NET News team consist of seven full-time reporters, led by News Director Dennis Kellogg. The news department produces regular "Signature Stories" for air on NET Radio.