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| Channels | |
| Branding | WSKG PBS |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner | WSKG Public Telecommunications Council |
| WSKG-FM, WSQX-FM | |
| History | |
First air date | May 12, 1968 |
Former call signs |
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Former channel number(s) |
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| NET (1968–1970) | |
Call sign meaning | Stanley Kiehl Gambell |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 74034 |
| ERP | 40.2 kW |
| HAAT | 408 m (1,339 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 42°3′40.2″N 75°56′44.2″W / 42.061167°N 75.945611°W |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | wskg |
| Satellite station | |
| WSKA | |
| City | Corning, New York |
| Channels | |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
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| History | |
First air date | 2006 |
Former channel number(s) | Digital: 30 (UHF, 2006–2019) |
| Technical information[2] | |
| Facility ID | 78908 |
| ERP | 50 kW |
| HAAT | 334 m (1,096 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 42°8′31.2″N 77°4′38.8″W / 42.142000°N 77.077444°W |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
WSKG-TV (channel 46) is a PBS member television station in Binghamton, New York, United States, serving New York's Southern Tier. It is owned by the WSKG Public Telecommunications Council alongside NPR members WSKG-FM (89.3) and WSQX-FM (91.5). The three stations share studios on Gates Road in Vestal, New York; WSKG-TV's transmitter is located on Ingraham Hill in the town of Binghamton. WSKG is rebroadcast on a high-power satellite station, WSKA (channel 30), licensed to Corning and serving the western Twin Tiers from a transmitter on Higman Hill.
The New York State Department of Education's plans for educational television in New York state included a transmitter on channel 46 in Binghamton, and in 1952 the state obtained a construction permit for the facility. However, the network never received state funding. Meanwhile, in 1961, the Southern Tier Educational Television Association, a consortium representing local school districts, was chartered to provide educational programs for air on Binghamton's commercial stations. In 1966, it took over planning for its own educational station, taking the Department of Education permit.
Named after an anonymous donor wished to honor a deceased local clergyman, WSKG-TV began broadcasting on May 12, 1968. However, in constructing the facility, the original general management wildly overspent, leaving the station with more than a million dollars in debt and triggering a financial crisis in 1969. The station came days away from signing off the air but survived thanks to budgetary austerity, state support, and increased local giving. In 1975, WSKG-TV spawned WSKG-FM, the region's public radio station. In the 1970s, WSKG and local education officials built a large regional translator network, while the station began producing local newscasts. The newscasts were cut in 1981 as a drain on station resources. Between 1968 and 1989, the station operated from five different locations, including space in four different regional elementary schools, before acquiring and moving into its present site in Vestal.
In the 1990s, WSKG negotiated steep cuts in state funding that saw its subsidy decline by more than half from 1990 to 1996. Management responded by conducting two rounds of layoffs, closing most of the translators, and outsourcing many of the broadcaster's business operations. In the 2000s, WSKA was built to provide high-power public television to the Elmira–Corning area for the first time.
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for WSKG-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for WSKA". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.