Greetings from the new Alaska Public Television!
The public television stations in Anchorage, Bethel and Juneau are joining forces to bring forward a unified television service reaching about 85 percent of Alaska households.
Starting July 1, whether you’re watching from KAKM in Anchorage, KTOO in Southeast Alaska, KYUK in Bethel, or a participating cable outlet, Alaska Public Television is the combined service that makes it all possible.
By combining our talents and resources, we’ll be able to purchase and create more quality programming. Our signal will reach more Alaskans. And we’ll have a statewide infrastructure that economizes the heavy costs of television broadcasting in individual communities – thus stretching member dollars even further.
What does it mean in Southcentral Alaska?
If you’re a KAKM viewer, this shared service means the station you love and depend on each day for PBS Kids, public affairs and arts programming will be able to touch many more lives across Alaska. Your programming won’t change much at first, but over time we’ll be able to produce and present more Alaska-based content.
And because Alaska Public Television is a shared network of stations and personnel, we’ve now got more people around the state whose job it is to provide you with more local Alaska television programs, more often, and better.
What does it mean for Southeast and Southwestern Alaska?
If AlaskaOne has been your home for public broadcasting, Alaska Public Television will bring you the PBS programming you depend on, though with some changes in scheduling. And the unified service will bring you even more local programs like Alaska Edition or Alaska Weather.
Over-the-air viewers in Juneau will also start to receive the new flagship public television channel, “Create TV,” a 24-hour channel dedicated to cooking, arts and crafts, gardening, home improvement, and travel programs. Juneau-based “360 North” will remain in the channel lineup.
What happened to AlaskaOne?
The university-based KUAC-Fairbanks is relinquishing the statewide service so that it can focus its energies on more locally rooted Fairbanks and Interior service. AlaskaOne is being disbanded after 17 years of quality programming. The other three Alaska stations reached an agreement this spring to join forces and replace AlaskaOne with a new arrangement. And all four stations, together, are working to secure state and community support for the new setup.
What about Members of KAKM and AlaskaOne?
Financial support and passionate feedback from dedicated members enables public television to exist in Alaska. So our primary goal is to make members happy – it’s as simple as that.
With Alaska Public Television, the essential take-away is that with a shared statewide television service reaching more than 85 percent of Alaska’s viewership, membership support will enable us to reach more homes, to purchase more quality programs for broadcast, and to build on our statewide network to produce more local programs.
A successful Alaska Public Television will be a win/win for everybody, and we’re excited about what lies ahead. Among the plans on our drawing board is a “road team” for video production anywhere in the state, especially on the road system. Your membership and sponsorship dollars will move us closer to that goal each day.
Former members of AlaskaOne will have an opportunity to join the new Alaska Public Television during membership drives in the coming fall and winter. Members of KAKM, the largest group of public broadcasting supporters in Alaska, will continue to receive the same benefits of membership under the unified Alaska Public Television service.
What about the schedules?
Full schedules for statewide viewers will be available here at alaskapublic.org.
Who can I talk to for more information?
Please email any one of us!
Steve Lindbeck, General Manager, KAKM-Anchorage – slindbeck@alaskapublic.org
Mike Martz, General Manager, KYUK-Bethel – mike@kyuk.org
Bill Legere, General Manager, KTOO-Juneau – bill@ktoo.org
