MontanaPBS to air Flathead broadcast channels

By KRISTI ALBERTSONThe Daily Inter Lake

Flathead Valley residents will have more access to Montana’s public broadcasting channels starting this fall.

MontanaPBS will launch five free broadcast channels in the Flathead sometime this fall, said Anne Hossner, director of fundraising and external relations for MontanaPBS. The new over-the-air signal will be called KUKL.

“It’s a project MontanaPBS has been working on for a really long time,” Hossner said. “We’re getting very close to actually launching the over-the-air signal to the Flathead Valley.”

The channels include MontanaPBS HD, which offers a mix of children’s shows, how-to programs and Montana documentaries and series; MontanaPBS Kids, a children’s educational channel; MontanaPBS Create, a lifelong learning channel; MontanaPBS World, a 24-hour news, public affairs and documentary channel; and Montana Capitol Coverage, which will offer daily coverage of the state Legislature when it convenes in January.

The new digital signals will be accessible via antenna on channels 46.1, 46.2, 46.3, 46.4 and 46.5. The channels are also available through cable and satellite television providers, Hossner said.

“It’s the fifth and final full-power station in Montana,” Hossner said. “We have almost complete state coverage.”

Already, access to public broadcasting has increased across Northwest Montana, with a new, more powerful radio transmitter in the Flathead Valley; improved coverage in Polson and the south Flathead Lake area through the station KPJH; and a new public radio station, KUFL, in Libby.

The improvements were part of a $475,000 signal extension project, according to a fact sheet from MontanaPBS. All told, the improvements and expansions to public television and radio will help the stations reach about 130,000 people.

Much of Northwest Montana lost some access to public broadcasting this spring when cable company Optimum stopped carrying KSPS, the Spokane PBS affiliate.

The decision was based in part because the company opted to focus on “in-market stations” to avoid duplicating content. Optimum still carries KUFM, the Missoula affiliate.

But the move disappointed many local longtime KSPS supporters who said the Spokane- and Missoula-based stations often offered different programming.

Adding KUKL didn’t have anything to do with the Flathead’s losing access to KSPS, Hossner said.

“Working on launching the signal has been about a 10-year project,” she said.

To raise awareness of the increased access to Montana-based public television and radio — and to help the nonprofit media groups raise money to finish the expansion — Montana Public Media has launched a “Power to the Towers” campaign.

Montana Public Media (a collaboration between MontanaPBS, Montana Public Radio, Yellowstone Public Radio and the University of Montana School of Journalism) allotted $1.475 million for media expansion in Northwest Montana. Most of that money came from funds raised through the Corporation of Public Broadcasting and private foundations.

Montana Public Media hopes its Power to the Towers campaign will raise $100,000 more to support its final effort to bring MontanaPBS to the Flathead.

 Even if that goal isn’t met, MontanaPBS will launch its new signal, Hossner said.

“We’d like to be completely funded by the end of the year, but we’re definitely going to go ahead and launch,” she said. “Hopefully we’ll launch the signal this fall season.”

To promote the Power to the Towers campaign, MontanaPBS will screen two of its recent documentaries in the Flathead Valley in the next few weeks.

“4-H: Six Montana Stories” follows six young Montanans as they learn about the 4-H program and its commitment to fun, responsibility and life lessons.

It will be screened Monday in the Columbia Falls High School auditorium and on Oct. 4 in Room 139 of the Arts and Technology Building at Flathead Valley Community College in Kalispell. Both showings start at 7 p.m.

“Boom! Behind the Bakken” explores the oil boom in western North Dakota and Eastern Montana, as well as its impact on the towns in those areas. The documentary will be shown in the Whitefish Middle School auditorium at 7 p.m. Sept. 24.

Both shows exemplify MontanaPBS’ commitment to creating content relevant to Montanans, Hossner said.

“In rural areas, in rural Montana, we really need resources like public media, radio or TV,” she said. “It’s critical that the highest quality information is transmitted to hard-to-reach areas — and we’ve got those.”

For more information, visit www.montanapublicmedia.org, call MontanaPBS at (866) 832-0829 or call Montana Public Radio at (800) 325-1565.