Jeff Evans, KCPT's VP of broadcasting and technology, just checked in with me to explain why viewers with no cable have gotten no public television since this time on Friday. "We have a redundant analog transmitter — two tubes," Evans told me. "We lost the first one early on Friday, about 2:30. Friday afternoon, we lost the other tube. In my 12 years at the station we've never been off this long."
Didn't notice? That's because local cable companies get their KCPT via microwave, not over-the-air. (Or maybe they get it by fiber optic line. But they don't get it from the airwaves.) I don't know if satellite has had uninterrupted service.
Anyway, the emergency tube finally arrived. Evans said, "We should be on in two hours," or 8 p.m. Saturday.
(UPDATE: Reader David Bremly wrote on Sunday that KCPT "went back on around 9pm last night." Meanwhile, readers with Everest inform me that they were KCPT-less, too. Maybe Everest should invest some of its recent rate hike in a microwave dish.)
