KIXE transmitter has plenty of gas in the tank, will stay on the air

REDDING — After what appeared to be a bleak outlook, Redding-based public television station KIXE will continue broadcasting its signal without interruption.

Due to snow in the past couple of weeks, the KIXE transmitter — atop 6,199-foot mountain Shasta Bally, 15 miles west of Redding — has been operating on generator power because the PG&E electrical supply lines had failed. The problem was, there had been so much snow that maintenance crews haven't been able to reach the generator to refill its diesel supply.

Had the generator run out of gas, as KIXE general manager Dave Cox and his staff predicted would happen, KIXE would’ve been forced to cease broadcasting its signal this weekend. Even so, viewers would still have been able to stream the station's content through its website.

A crew was finally able to bust through the heavy snow Friday morning, according to Cox, and what the workers discovered was a pleasant surprise.

"It turned out the tank was half-full," Cox explained. KIXE shares the transmitter with Redding-based KRCR, which arranged for a snowcat — a large vehicle designed to travel in snow — to approach the transmitter site. It succeeded.

Now, Cox said, the diesel supply will allow the transmitter to continue broadcasting for about two more weeks. He said PG&E will attempt to re-establish electricity to the unit during that time.

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