BUNKER HILL – Osborne Elementary School students are more likely to enter the PBS Kids Writer’s Contest put on by Smoky Hills PBS each year than students from any other school. The contest is open to any child in grades 1 through 5 living in the 51 counties the station serves.

This year, 21 Osborne students entered. Teachers told the station they like to incorporate the contest into their curriculum as an opportunity to strengthen creativity and writing skills.

Grant funds from the Hansen Foundation helped cover the production costs of local shows, such as “Doctors on Call,” “Traveling Kansas,” and “Real Ag.” The grant also helped pay for children’s programming and other PBS programming. A children’s educational outreach provided three books to each child enrolled in Early Head Start and Head Start in the Hansen Foundation’s service area. Northwest Kansas kids received 1,617 books.

Smoky Hills PBS broadcasts an average of 52 hours per week of high-quality children’s educational television programs from PBS on its main channel and 168 hours per week on its 24/7 PBS Kids channel. Five new shows for preschool and elementary-school kids were premiered last year, and one new show for kids in grades 4 to 8.

The station’s transmitters continue to be a concern. The Russell and Colby transmitters have exceeded their service life. Replacing them will be a major financial challenge. Last fall, the station received a federal grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to replace the KOOD-Russell transmitter and antenna with ATSC 3.0-compatible equipment, but that grant was frozen in early February.