KUAC-TV

KUAC-TV is the Public Broadcasting Service member station for Fairbanks, Alaska and the Alaska Interior. Owned by the University of Alaska Fairbanks, it broadcasts a high-definition signal on digital channel 9 from a transmitter on Bender Mountain, with studios in the Great Hall on the UAF campus alongside the area's NPR station, KUAC-FM.

History

KUAC-TV signed on for the first time on December 22, 1971 as an early Christmas present to the Interior. It was the first public television station in Alaska, and the only one until KAKM in Anchorage signed on in 1975. It originally aired for only five hours a day, from 5 pm to 10 pm. As the difficulties associated with bringing PBS programming decreased, channel 9 increased its schedule, and now operates 24 hours per day.

In 1995, KUAC-TV joined with KTOO-TV in Juneau and KYUK-TV in Bethel to form AlaskaOne, a network of PBS stations serving all of Alaska outside of Anchorage. The three stations formed the Alaska Public Broadcasting Service to air a common PBS schedule. This move was made in hopes of sharing administrative costs. KTOO and KYUK occasionally broke off from the AlaskaOne feed to air programming relevant to their areas, while KUAC-TV used its massive translator network to deliver AlaskaOne programming across the Interior.