KAWE
KAWE, virtual and VHF digital channel 9, is a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member television station licensed to Bemidji, Minnesota, United States. The station is owned by Northern Minnesota Public Television, Inc. KAWE's studios are located on Grant Avenue Northeast in Bemidji, and its transmitter is located southeast of Blackduck, Minnesota. KAWB (virtual channel 22, UHF digital channel 28) in Brainerd operates as a full-time satellite of KAWE; this station's transmitter is located near East Gull Lake, Minnesota. KAWB covers areas of central Minnesota that receive a marginal to non-existent over-the-air signal from  KAWE, although there is significant overlap between the two stations' contours otherwise. KAWB is a straight simulcast of KAWE; on-air references to KAWB are limited to Federal Communications Commission (FCC)-mandated hourly station identifications during programming. The two stations are collectively branded as Lakeland PBS. The network first took to the air on June 1, 1980 and was formerly known as Lakeland Public Television; it re-branded on January 8, 2018 to better align its brand with PBS. It is the only full-power television broadcasting operation based in north central Minnesota, an area that is served mainly by translators  of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul television stations. Lakeland PBS utilizes KAWB's channel 22 position on DirecTV and Dish Network's Twin Cities local lineups to avert confusion with Fox owned-and-operated station KMSP-TV (channel 9) in Minneapolis. Digital television. Lakeland PBS' television signals are multiplexed into six subchannels. Translators. The broadcast areas of KAWE and KAWB are extended by way of seven digital translators in northern Minnesota and one in central Minnesota. Newscasts. Lakeland PBS produces a 30-minute local newscast Monday through Friday. The newscast originates from its studios in Bemidji, and the station also has  a news-production facility in Brainerd. Lakeland PBS airs the only local newscast in north central Minnesota.