. ketc st. louis missouri united states branding the nine network channels digital 39 uhf virtual 9 psip affiliations .1 pbs .2 nine kids .3 nine world .4 nine create owner st. louis regional public media inc. first air date september 20 1954 ; 62 years ago 1954 09 20 call letters meaning st. louis educational television commission former name for st. louis regional public media former channel number s analog 9 vhf 1954 2009 former affiliations net 1954 1970 transmitter power 124.6 kw height 278.6 m facility id 62182 transmitter coordinates 38 28 55.8 n 90 23 52.6 w 38.482167 n 90.397944 w 38.482167 ; 90.397944 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website ninenet.org ketc virtual channel 9 uhf digital channel 39 is a pbs member television station located in st. louis missouri united states . the station is owned by st. louis regional public media . ketc maintains studio facilities located at the dana brown communications center on olive street in st. louis grand center neighborhood and its transmitter is located in south st. louis county . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 4 references 5 external links history edit ketc building . the station first signed on the air on september 20 1954 the call letters ketc represent the st. louis educational television commission the former name of the organization responsible for bringing public television to st. louis . it was the first community licensed educational television station in the united states . the station s first general manager was shelby storck who also emceed the station s first evening of broadcasting . ketc originally broadcast from temporary studios in mcmillan hall on the campus of washington university in st. louis with transmitting facilities atop the former boatmen s bank building now the marquette building in downtown st. louis . in 1955 it moved to the julius and freda baer memorial building also on the washington university campus . it was the first facility specifically built for an educational television station . it activated its current tower in south county in 1970 allowing it to begin color broadcasts a year later . in 1998 the station moved its studios from the washington university campus to the dana brown communications center in the grand center district . during the 2004 elections ketc partnered with area nbc affiliate ksdk channel 5 to provide st. louisans with comprehensive and up to date local and national election results . this partnership was first utilized to simulcast a gubernatorial debate between republican candidate missouri secretary of state matt blunt and democratic candidate state auditor claire mccaskill . on election night november 9 ksdk aired nbc s primetime election coverage with tom brokaw and tim russert as well as segments of local results . ketc meanwhile ran three hours of local election results hosted by ksdk anchors mike bush and karen foss . viewers could also watch election results online on the websites of both stations . the successful ketc ksdk partnership was used again in september 2005 when along with radio partners kyky 98.1 fm and kezk 102.5 fm a telethon for hurricane katrina relief was simulcast that raised more than 5 million . the telethon featured an appearance by affton native john goodman who now calls new orleans home and whose family went missing for a time during the storm s peak . kennett native sheryl crow and her then fianc lance armstrong urged viewers to call when they were interviewed by phone from the region . in may 2008 e contracted with ketc to film two episodes of the cable network s weekly pop culture series the soup at the ketc studios to accommodate host joel mchale s filming of the informant in the st. louis area . 1 after being known for most of its history as ketc 9 the station rebranded itself as the nine network in 2010 . on october 13 2010 the station partnered with the st. louis beacon an online only non profit news publication to form the public insight network a citizen journalism initiative created in conjunction with american public media . digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 2 9.1 720p 16 9 ketc hd main ketc programming nine pbs 9.2 480i 4 3 ketckid nine kids 9.3 16 9 world nine world 9.4 ketcdiy nine create analog to digital conversion edit ketc shut down its analog signal over vhf channel 9 on june 12 2009 the official date in 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 39 . 3 through the use of psip digital television receivers display the station s virtual channel as its former vhf analog channel 9 . programming edit ketc is known among viewers in st. louis for pre empting pbs programs to air library program content or less controversial pledge drive programs citation needed such as wqed produced doo wop specials using the default network feed in late night to premiere those pbs programs instead though st. louis has traditionally had stations commercial and non commercial pre empt programming from their networks due to content . ketc has given some leeway as far as some pre emptions such as a case where st. louis post dispatch columnist eric mink wrote an editorial complaining about the station s scheduling of a pledge drive ice skating show instead of a pbs documentary on the september 11 attacks ; ketc announced the next day that it would instead air the 9 11 documentary as nationally scheduled . some of the programs produced by ketc for national distribution include selected episodes of inside out as well as the letter people an instructional program about reading which was seen on many pbs and educational television stations in the mid 1970s ; a time for champions an hour long documentary chronicling the st. louis university soccer dynasty of the 1960s and 1970s ; and homeland a miniseries examining the topic of immigration in the united states . references edit 1 rabbitears tv query for ketc dtv tentative channel designations for the first and second rounds pdf . retrieved 2012 03 24 . external links edit ketc official website nine kids & family query the fcc s tv station database for ketc biafn s media web database information on ketc tv v t e broadcast television in the greater st. louis and metro east illinois areas local stations ktvi 2.1 fox 2.2 antenna 2.3 escape kmov 4.1 cbs 4.2 metv 4.3 mynetworktv ksdk 5.1 nbc 5.2 bounce 5.3 justice network kptn ld 7.1 hsn 7.2 sbn 7.3 rev n 7.7 ontv4u ketc 9.1 pbs 9.2 pbs kids 9.3 world 9.4 create kplr tv 11.1 cw 11.2 this 11.3 comet kdtl ld 16.1 retro tv knlc 24.1 religious ind. 24.2 res kdnl tv 30.1 abc 30.2 gettv 30.3 grit kbgu lp 33.1 buzzr 33.2 estrella tv 33.3 video mix tv 33.4 laff k38hd d 38.1 hsn wrbu 46.1 ion 46.2 qubo 46.3 ion life 46.4 ion shop 46.5 qvc 46.6 hsn w50ch 50 religious ind. kefn cd 49.1 eternal word tv network kumo ld 51.1 daystar outlying stations illinois wsiu tv 8.1 pbs 8.2 world 8.3 create 8.4 wsiu fm ; carbondale wpxs 13.1 daystar 13.2 retro tv ; mt. vernon w29ci d 29.1 3abn ; salem missouri kdkz ld 18.1 retro tv k16fe 16 silent ; rolla lutv cable only ; st. charles defunct k22hg 22 st. charles see also quincy columbia jefferson city kansas city springfield mo springfield il peoria evansville memphis paducah terre haute v t e pbs member stations in the state of missouri kmos 6.1 sedalia ketc 9.1 st. louis kcpt 19.1 kansas city kozk 21.1 kozj 26.1 springfield joplin see also abc cbs cw fox ion mynetworktv nbc pbs other stations in missouri retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title ketc & oldid 743640451 categories pbs member stationstelevision channels and stations established in 1954television stations in st. louishidden categories all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from december 2015 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 10 october 2016 at 14 29 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view