KSKN
CitySpokane, Washington
Channels
BrandingKSKN 22, The Spot
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
KREM
History
First air date
December 18, 1983 (1983-12-18)[lower-alpha 1]
Former channel number(s)
Analog: 22 (UHF, 1983–2009)
Call sign meaning
Spokane
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID35606
ERP1,000 kW
HAAT622 m (2,041 ft)
Transmitter coordinates47°35′41″N 117°17′57″W / 47.59472°N 117.29917°W / 47.59472; -117.29917
Links
Public license information

KSKN (channel 22) is a television station in Spokane, Washington, United States, affiliated with The CW. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside CBS affiliate KREM (channel 2). Both stations share studios on South Regal Street in Spokane, while KSKN's transmitter is on Krell Hill southeast of Spokane.

KSKN began broadcasting full programming in December 1983 as an independent station and remained on the air for less than four years, during which two successive owners filed for bankruptcy. It did not return to the air until 1994, airing home shopping programs until KREM took control of its operations in 1997. The station then affiliated with UPN and later The WB before becoming Spokane's CW affiliate in 2006. KSKN airs local morning and 10 p.m. newscasts from the KREM newsroom.

History

Early years

In 1982, Broadcast Vision Television, a company owned by Lee Schulman, obtained the construction permit for KSKN and began construction on what would be the city's second UHF outlet after KAYU-TV (channel 28).[2][3] Schulman planned for a news department, even including space for news in the station's offices at E4022 Broadway.[4]

KSKN signed on the air for a preview on September 30, 1983, airing a performance of the play Gypsy from the Spokane Civic Theatre.[5] However, the station did not begin full-time broadcasting as a general-entertainment independent station until December 18.[6] Broadcast Vision Television filed for bankruptcy in April 1985.[7] The station scaled back operations to daily from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. The station added more barter shows and dropped the stronger programming. Judgments from this first bankruptcy case continued to be awarded in federal court to creditors as late as 1988.[8]

I went up to Spokane and did a show, and I asked the two mayoral candidates what the biggest problem was in the town. They said it was the 10 percent unemployment. I knew then it was a big mistake.

Ellen Adelstein[9]

In September 1985, KSKN was sold to Sun Continental Group over the objection of one of Broadcast Vision Television's creditors.[10] The new owners, former owners of independent station KZAZ in Tucson, Arizona, returned the station to stronger programming and added most of the shows the previous owners lost. Tragedy struck on March 1, 1986, when Gene Adelstein died at the age of 55 while playing tennis in West Palm Beach, Florida. Ellen, Gene's widow, headed up the operation of the station. However, she had doubted the idea of buying into Spokane from the start.[9] The station's finances began to deteriorate not long after. In February 1987, the station trimmed two and a half hours out of its broadcast day;[11] in March, the station filed for bankruptcy again, and in May, it began airing home shopping programs 10 hours a day.[12] On June 27, 1987, the ailing station went off the air.[13]

Return to air

After a 1990 attempt to return the station to air with the ill-fated Star Television Network failed,[14] the station remained off the air until emerging in late 1994 with primarily Home Shopping Network programming.[15] Mel Querio was the primary owner of the station; he died in 1996 and was succeeded by his wife Judy.[16][17]

In July 1996, KSKN entered into a local marketing agreement with KREM, which was owned by The Providence Journal Company at the time.[18] The next year, the station joined UPN and began airing a 10 p.m. newscast produced by KREM; at the time, KAYU was not airing a newscast.[17] Programming from The WB was added in 1999. The Providence Journal Company was bought by the Belo Corporation in 1997, and after the 1999 legalization of duopolies, Belo purchased KSKN for $5 million in 2001.[19]

The next year, KSKN became an exclusive affiliate of The WB and began airing its shows in pattern, having previously displaced them to other timeslots to air UPN prime time shows; UPN migrated to a new station, KQUP (channel 24).[20][21] KSKN then affiliated with The CW in September 2006 when The WB and UPN merged, by which time KQUP had dropped UPN programming.[22] (UPN was seen for the remainder of its existence in overnight time periods on KXLY-TV.[23])

In 2013, Belo was acquired by the Gannett Company,[24][25] which split into print (Gannett) and broadcasting (Tegna) divisions in 2015.[26]

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Subchannels of KSKN[27]
Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming
22.1 1080i16:9KSKN-DTMain KSKN programming / The CW
22.2 480i4:3LaffLaff
22.3 16:9QuestQuest
22.4 4:3This TVThis TV
22.5 TheGrioTheGrio

Analog-to-digital conversion

KSKN discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 22, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 36, using virtual channel 22.[28]

Translator

Notes

  1. ↑ The station broadcast a special program on September 30 but did not start full-time programming until December 18.

References

  1. ↑ "Facility Technical Data for KSKN". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ↑ Spoerhase, Jim (October 14, 1982). "Here comes KSKN-TV". Spokane Chronicle. Spokane, Washington. p. 29. Archived from the original on November 18, 2022. Retrieved November 18, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ↑ Spoerhase, Jim (March 18, 1983). "Another TV station will go on the air". Spokane Chronicle. Spokane, Washington. p. 3. Archived from the original on November 18, 2022. Retrieved November 18, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ Feinstein, Alice (August 28, 1983). "The birth of a station". The Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. p. TV Preview 11, 15. Archived from the original on November 18, 2022. Retrieved November 18, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ↑ "KSKN-TV airs Civic opening". Spokane Chronicle. Spokane, Washington. September 30, 1983. p. 9. Archived from the original on November 18, 2022. Retrieved November 18, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ "KSKN TV goes on air tomorrow". The Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. December 17, 1983. p. 19. Archived from the original on November 18, 2022. Retrieved November 18, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ "TV station files for Chapter 11". Spokane Chronicle. Spokane, Washington. April 16, 1985. p. 3. Archived from the original on November 18, 2022. Retrieved November 18, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ "$236,000 judgment filed against KSKN". The Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. March 17, 1988. p. B5. Archived from the original on August 13, 2022. Retrieved August 13, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. 1 2 Henry, Bonnie (May 31, 2009). "Those crazy, hazy days at KZAZ". Arizona Daily Star. Tucson, Arizona. p. E4–5. Archived from the original on July 4, 2022. Retrieved July 3, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ Crompton, Kim (September 20, 1985). "KSKN sale wraps up legal fight". The Spokesman-Review. p. 17. Archived from the original on November 18, 2022. Retrieved November 18, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ Sowa, Tom (February 14, 1987). "Continuing money woes trim station's schedule". The Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. p. B10. Archived from the original on August 13, 2022. Retrieved August 13, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ "KSKN to carry home-shopping service". The Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. May 2, 1987. p. A8. Archived from the original on August 13, 2022. Retrieved August 13, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ↑ DeFede, Jim (June 28, 1987). "Financial troubles pull plug on KSKN". The Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. p. A1, A5. Archived from the original on August 13, 2022. Retrieved August 13, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ↑ Jamieson, Sean (July 12, 1990). "Independent station KSKN to be Star network affiliate". Spokane Chronicle. p. 13. Archived from the original on January 10, 2023. Retrieved August 27, 2019.
  15. ↑ Torberson, Eric (October 26, 1994). "Kootenai viewers lose shopping channels". The Spokesman-Review. p. B2. Archived from the original on November 18, 2022. Retrieved November 18, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ↑ Kershner, Jim (August 11, 1996). "Wynonna plans an Arena show". The Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. p. E3. Archived from the original on November 18, 2022. Retrieved November 18, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. 1 2 Kershner, Jim (August 17, 1997). "KREM-2 caters to early bedtimes with 10 p.m. news". The Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. p. E3. Archived from the original on November 18, 2022. Retrieved November 18, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ↑ Kershner, Jim (July 14, 1996). "Sweetness is in demand". The Spokesman-Review. p. E3, E8. Archived from the original on November 18, 2022. Retrieved November 18, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ↑ "Belo group cutting 160 jobs, freezing wages". Electronic Media. October 15, 2001. p. 4.
  20. ↑ Kershner, Jim (July 28, 2002). "Secondary networks find homes". The Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. p. F3, F9. Archived from the original on November 18, 2022. Retrieved November 18, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ↑ Kershner, Jim (September 1, 2002). "Viewers will miss UPN premieres". The Spokesman-Review. p. F3. Archived from the original on November 18, 2022. Retrieved November 18, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ↑ Kershner, Jim (April 16, 2006). "The CW Network set to land on KSKN-22 in the fall". The Spokesman-Review. p. D3. Archived from the original on January 10, 2023. Retrieved November 18, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ↑ Kershner, Jim (January 22, 2006). "KXLY-4 makes room for UPN". The Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. p. D3, D6. Archived from the original on November 18, 2022. Retrieved November 18, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. ↑ "Gannett to buy KREM-TV owner Belo for $1.5 billion". KREM.com. Associated Press. June 13, 2013. Archived from the original on December 24, 2013. Retrieved June 13, 2013.
  25. ↑ "Gannett Completes Its Acquisition of Belo". TVNewsCheck. December 23, 2013. Archived from the original on July 26, 2014. Retrieved December 23, 2013.
  26. ↑ "Separation of Gannett into two public companies completed | TEGNA". Tegna. Archived from the original on July 2, 2015. Retrieved June 29, 2015.
  27. ↑ "RabbitEars TV Query for KSKN". RabbitEars. Archived from the original on November 18, 2022. Retrieved November 18, 2022.
  28. ↑ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2012.
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