Wyoming PBS

Wyoming PBS (formerly known as Wyoming Public Television) is the PBS member network in the U.S. state of Wyoming. It currently consists of flagship KCWC-DT (channel 4) in Lander (serving Riverton); full-power satellites KWYP-DT (channel 8) in Laramie (serving Cheyenne) and KPTW (channel 6) in Casper; and over 35 low-power translator stations across the state. The network is operated by Central Wyoming College, a community college in Riverton which owns the licenses to all of the state's PBS stations, with studios located on the Central Wyoming College campus. History Wyoming had been among the first states to begin the groundwork for a non-commercial educational/public television station, doing so in 1951, three years before any television station was on the air in the state. However, due to numerous delays, it would be several years before the idea even got beyond the planning stages. In the meantime, KRMA-TV in Denver brought PBS programming to much of the state on cable and via translators. Other parts of Wyoming were served by KTNE-TV in Alliance, Nebraska, part of the Nebraska ETV Network; and KUED and KBYU-TV in Salt Lake City. KRMA (now known as Rocky Mountain PBS) and KUED still operate several translators in Wyoming, as much of the southern portion of the state is considered part of the Denver and Salt Lake City markets. Central Wyoming College applied for the channel 4 license in Riverton in the late 1970s. Before then, the college offered college programming through the Riverton cable system on channel 4 using its own head end modulator on campus. Programming was in black and white from 1971 to 1973 and very limited. Examples of shows included Riverton high school football, college basketball, on-campus lectures, and educational films. By the mid-1970s, the educational radio station got on air and work began on KCWC-TV for full color equipment and FCC licenses. They had to fight a commercial station in nearby Casper to keep the channel designated as non-commercial. After securing the largest single federal grant for a public television station at the time, KCWC-TV finally went on the air on May 10, 1983. This made Wyoming the next-to-last state to get a public television station on the air within its borders; CWC filed just days before Montana State University filed for KUSM in Bozeman, Montana; which went on the air over a year after KCWC.