WKAR-TV Channel 23 East Lansing

Slogan: WKAR-TV, Public Broadcasting for Mid-Michigan

Programming:

Power/Height: 50,000 watts / 969 feet
- Service Area

Construction permit: 425,000 watts / 969 feet, directional
- CP Service Area

Digital Channel: 40; PSIP maps to Ch. 23

More web sites about WKAR-TV:

More Technical Information:

Call Sign History:

Network Affiliation History: PBS

On Air Date: January 1954

Telephone: (517) 432-9527

Notes/History:

8/2009: Construction permit granted to maximize digital facilities, increasing power from 50,000 to 425,000 watts on Ch. 40.

1/13/2009: Regular programming on analog channel 23 ends as the station moves to digital-only regular broadcasts on Channel 55. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display WKAR's virtual channel as 23. The station will move to use Channel 40 for its digital broadcasts on June 12, 2009.

3/2008: Construction permit granted for post-transition digital facilities on Channel 40.

1972: With UHF-capable receivers becoming more common, Michigan State moves its TV operations to channel 23 as WKAR-TV and begins operating a full-time schedule. WILX (NBC) remains on channel 10.

1959: Moves to channel 10 as WMSB. Shares channel with WILX, an NBC affiliate. Most television sets at the time could not receive the UHF signal of WKAR on channel 60 and owner Michigan State University applied to move to channel 10 as a way to reach potential viewers. There were several other applications for channel 10, and eventually a deal was worked out so that WILX would broadcast about 70% of the schedule and WMSB the other 30%. WILX controlled the prime-time hours.

1/1954: Signs on the air as WKAR on channel 60, becoming only the third educational TV station in the USA and the first east of the Mississippi River. WKAR-TV is the second-oldest surviving educational TV station in the country.

Transmitter location:

Ingham County