Frequently Asked Questions
STANDARD BROADCASTING (AM) PUBLIC
RADIO IN SOUTH DAKOTA
The
history for all of Public Broadcasting in South Dakota traces its
roots to KUSD (AM), now silent. This station was one of the oldest
educational radio stations in the United States and the flagship
station of what was to become the South Dakota Public Broadcasting
Network. The station began on the University of South Dakota Campus in
Vermillion in 1919 as an “Experimental Wireless Station” in the USD
College of Engineering. Sophomore student E.O. Lawrence (who later won
a Nobel Prize in Physics) and USD Dean Lewis Akeley were largely
responsible for putting this historic station on the air. The station
held several licenses and was assigned various call signs in the early
days including 9APC, 9YAM, and WEAJ. Its first license for regular
voice programming was granted on May 27, 1922.
The
first music and voice transmission from the station occurred on May
29, 1922 and was reported to be a live concert featuring a vocal
quartet with piano accompaniment. The program was broadcast from the
chapel of University Hall (now called Farber Hall in the Old Main
building on the USD Campus). The station began a regular schedule of
programming in 1924 with the call letters WEAJ which had been assigned
in early 1923. The call letters KUSD were granted in October of 1925.
In
1931 the station began its “School of the Air”, educational
programming for use in the schoolroom and elsewhere which continued
into the early 1960’s. This was the precursor for the later
presentation of television programming for use in schools.
In
1935 the station moved its studios to the fourth floor of the South
Dakota Union Building, its home for the next 47 years.
The
station’s transmitter plant moved for the last time when use of the
site north of Vermillion was begun in 1952 with two new towers, a new
transmitter and transmitter building. At this time the frequency
changed for the last time as well (to 690 kc). The station operated at
a power of 1000 watts (daytime only) and with a two-tower directional
antenna array. The antenna pattern provided signal to the northwest
and the southeast in a “figure-eight” pattern.
When the studios were moved to the E.O. Lawrence Telecommunications
Center in 1982, the AM station had the company of FM stations at
Vermillion and Brookings. KESD-FM began as a student station at South
Dakota State College in Brookings in 1967 but was operated later by a
service division of the College. KUSD-FM began service in late 1967
from the South Dakota Union Building on the University of South Dakota
campus.
Programming on AM continued until December of 1992 when one of the
towers was toppled by a nighttime encounter with a Chevrolet Suburban
being driven illegally across the golf course where the towers stood.
The driver was caught and prosecuted, but the station was unable to
collect a large enough settlement from his insurance carrier to
re-erect the tower. The money that was recovered was used to purchase
and install FM translators in Huron, Aberdeen, and Pierre to enhance
local coverage from our new FM station network which had added
stations at Rapid City, Reliance, and Pierpont.
The
station could not operate with its assigned directional pattern with
only the remaining tower but was allowed to remain on the air with a
non-directional pattern and at low power for just over one more year
under Special Temporary Authority from the FCC. The decision to
terminate operations was made in mid 1994.
The
remaining tower stood until October of 1998 when it was deliberately
cut down. This was another painful decision, but due to the age of the
tower and some continuing liability concerns it was the best of the
alternatives. This structure stood 285 feet above the base insulator
and had a face width of about twelve inches. It was manufactured by
the late Windcharger Company of Sioux City, Iowa. It was hot-dip
galvanized and had two levels of red sidelights and a top 300 mm.
aviation code beacon. By clicking on the icon below, you can watch a
short video of the tower falling to the ground after all of the guy
wires to the north were released at the same time.
When the AM license was surrendered to the FCC, we requested that they
reassign the flagship “KUSD” call letters to our Vermillion FM
station, so it became just KUSD (formerly KUSD-FM). They granted the
request so that even today this historical call sign lives on as apart
of our FM radio network.
THE SOUTH DAKOTA PUBLIC RADIO FM
NETWORK
In
the 1970's and 1980's, the South Dakota Public Radio Network built and
now operates nine radio stations and ten radio translators across the
state. When South Dakota Public Broadcasting built its television
network, every site and tower was designed for the eventual addition
of an FM radio transmitter and antenna. Although the television
stations were constructed first, this vision was culminated in 1991
when the last of the nine radio stations began transmitting from KZSD-FM
at the Long Valley site.
Prior
to 1982, South Dakota Public Radio was comprised of three stations (KUSD
AM&FM and KESD (FM) located in the east-central and southeastern
portions of the state. KUSD (AM) began regular program service in 1924
from the University of South Dakota in Vermillion. KESD (FM), licensed
to South Dakota State University, began as a student station in
Brookings in 1967 but was operated later by a service division of the
University. The transmitter was moved to the KESD television
transmitter site in 1973 and was increased in power from 10 watts to
38,000 watts. KUSD-FM (licensed to The University of South Dakota)
began service in late 1967 from the South Dakota Union Building on the
USD campus. In 1974 it was moved from the campus to the KUSD
television transmitter site near Beresford and its power was increased
from 10 watts to 50,000 watts. With the exception of a few shared
programs, the Brookings and Vermillion stations operated as
independent entities.
In
1982, KESD and KUSD (AM) & FM merged to form the South Dakota Public
Radio Network. The merger resulted in a common programming schedule
for the three stations and new network outlets were planned to cover
the unserved portions of the state.
In
1984, The State Board of Directors for Educational Television built
radio stations in the Aberdeen, Pierre, and Rapid City areas. The
licenses of the University stations were transferred to the ETV Board
on July 1, 1985. On the same day, ETV and Sioux Falls College,
working via a Management Agreement, activated a new station in Sioux
Falls. Translators serving six Black Hills communities were added
during 1986. Since then, the State Board built stations to cover
north central, northwestern, central west and southwest South Dakota.
In
1992, KUSD (AM) suffered what was to become a fatal blow when an
errant driver out for a midnight joyride trespassed across the
Vermillion Golf Course where the towers stood and knocked down one of
the two towers of its directional antenna array. The network was
unable to recover sufficient funds to rebuild the station, and after a
year of reduced power operation, the decision was made to let the AM
station go silent. Please see our AM Radio web page for a more
complete history of this remarkable station.
Our
currently operating stations and translators are located as follows:
FULL POWERED STATIONS
Call Sign
Frequency City of License Transmitter Site Air Date
KUSD
89.7 mHz Vermillion near Beresford October 1967
KESD
88.3 mHz Brookings near Hetland July 1967
KBHE-FM
89.3 mHz Rapid City Rapid City
March 1984
KTSD-FM
91.1 mHz Reliance near Reliance February 1984
KDSD-FM
90.9 mHz Pierpont near Pierpont April 1984
KQSD-FM
91.9 mHz Lowry near Lowry June 1988
KPSD-FM
97.1 mHz Faith near Faith June 1989
KZSD-FM
102.5 mHz Martin near LongValley July 1991
KCSD
90.9 mHz Sioux Falls Sioux Falls July 1985
TRANSLATORS
K19CM 91.7 mHz Aberdeen State Highway
Shop
K201AP 88.1 mHz Belle Fourche Belle Fourche
K214BN 90.7 mHz Edgemont Mount Matias
K201AQ 88.1 mHz Hot Springs Battle
Mountain
K217CE 91.3 mHz Huron State
Fairgrounds
K220BA 91.9 mHz Lead Terry Peak
K215AI 90.9 mHz Mitchell State
Highway Shop
K241AF 96.1 mHz Pierre Ft. Pierre
K203BN 88.5 mHz Pringle Mount
Coolidge
K216AO 91.1 mHz Spearfish Lookout
Mountain
Programming is provided 24 hours a day, seven days a week from the
Vermillion studios of our flagship station KUSD (FM); our own remote
studios in Rapid City, Pierre, and Brookings; National Public Radio
(NPR); and other outstanding program providers.
In
cooperation with the South Dakota Service to the Blind and Visually
Impaired, we also carry a reading service for the visually impaired on
our SCA (subcarrier) service. If you know of someone who might benefit
from this service, the special radio receivers are available at no
charge from that agency. You may click here to link to their
home page, or you may call them at 605.773.4644
The
primary objective of the radio broadcasting service is to provide
programs of a general educational, informational, and cultural nature.
Staff members have won repeated awards from the Associated Press and
other organizations for the quality and innovation of news coverage
they provide to our listeners.
PUBLIC TELEVISION IN SOUTH DAKOTA
KUSD TV, Channel 2, went on the air in 1961 from the University of
South Dakota in Vermillion as a low-powered station, the first
educational television station in the state. It is now the flagship
station for South Dakota's public television network. In 1967 the
State Legislature provided matching funds for a federal grant which
enabled transmitter relocation from Vermillion to a site near
Beresford with a much taller tower and a major power increase for KUSD-TV.
It also made possible the creation of two more high powered stations -
KBHE (late 1967) in Rapid City, and KESD (in early 1968), near Hetland.
The Legislature also created the State Board of Directors for
Educational Television (now the South Dakota Board of Directors for
Educational Telecommunications) to oversee growth of the network.
Their mandate to Martin Busch (their first Executive Director) and Jim
Prusha (their chief engineer) was to construct a system of television
stations such that every school across the state would have access to
in-school instructional television programs.
By
1978, after the construction of five additional stations, virtually
the entire state had coverage from the television network. In 1995 the
network built another medium-powered station in Sioux Falls to provide
even better coverage to that ever-expanding market. A network of
translators has also been built, expanding coverage to areas where
terrain and distance make reception difficult. The stations and
translators are as follows:
FULL POWERED STATIONS
Call Sign
Channel City of License Transmitter Site Air Date
KUSD-TV
2 Vermillion near Beresford July 1961
KBHE-TV
9 Rapid City Rapid City July 1961
KESD-TV
8 Brookings near Hetland February 1968
KTSD-TV
10 Pierre near Reliance August 1970
KDSD-TV
16 Aberdeen near Pierpont January 1972
KPSD-TV
13 Eagle Butte near Faith September 1973
KQSD-TV
11 Lowry near Lowry January, 1976
KZSD-TV
8 Martin near LongValley January 1978
KCSD-TV
23 Sioux Falls Sioux Falls June 1995
TRANSLATORS
K07JD 7 Aberdeen State
Highway Shop
K19CG 19 Belle Fourche Belle
Fourche
K64AL 64 Edgemont Mount
Matias
K09UN 9 Mitchell near
Mitchell
K06HG 6 Pine Ridge Pine
Ridge
K55AV 55 Pringle Mount
Coolidge
K04GW 4 Spearfish Lookout
mountain
K55BG 55 Wagner near
Tripp
K13PN 13 Wasta Wasta
Although the stations at Vermillion and Brookings were originally
licensed to their two respective universities (USD in Vermillion and
SDSU in Brookings), the network was consolidated under the umbrella of
the Board in the 1980's. The network continues to provide
instructional programming for use in school settings, and public
television for all of South Dakota on a seven day a week schedule. The
state network is affiliated with the Public Broadcasting System (PBS),
and other regional program suppliers. KUSD TV's studio production
center in Vermillion is utilized for production of programs about
South Dakota, student training, production of Instructional
Television, and for satellite delivered teleconferences.
We produce
several program services which are broadcast weekly including:
Buffalo Nation
Journal, a series for and about native Americans;
Dakota
Decisions about candidates and issues in election years;
Dakota Life, a
magazine program;
Garden Line, a
call-in program about home gardening; and
Midwest Market
Analysis for agricultural issues
Network
production staff members travel the length and width of the state to
create programming which has flavors from almost every corner of South
Dakota. Our largest and longest remote programming effort originates
from our state Capitol during the annual Legislative session.
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