PBS off the air for some local viewers

About 16,000 Carson City and Douglas County KNPB viewers will go without "Nova" and "Charlie Rose" this week after a blowup in the local translator, station executives said Tuesday.

The Reno public broadcasting station is off the air indefinitely for some viewers after an amplifier failure in the Channel 29 translator Friday, said Fred Ihlow, KNPB vice president of technology.

"Replacement parts are on order," he said. "We don't have a firm delivery time."

The six-year-old translator is on Duck Hill in the Sugar Loaf Range north of Carson City. The signal is sent to homes in Carson City, Gardnerville and Minden. It could be a week until the damage, estimated to cost from $3,000-$4,000, is repaired.

"We had some symptoms earlier on, but when we went up there things came back into shape and finally whatever it was failed," he said. "Parts get old, like us."

The station has received a hundred phone calls since the blowout, something that doesn't bother Patricia Miller, vice president of programming, promotion and education.

"It's the best kind of problem to have," she said.

This way she knows some of those 16,000 estimated Nielsen viewers want their KNPB.

• Contact reporter Becky Bosshart at bbosshart@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1212.

Do you have your PBS?

Those affected? About 16,000 Carson City and Douglas County KNPB Channel 29 viewers who get a TV signal over the air.

How long? A station executive said it could take more than a week to receive the parts and repair the failed translator.

If you can't wait: The station is found on Channel 5 for those with Charter Cable, and in Reno; viewers with a digital receiver have it on Channel 15.