Lakeland PBS is the community-licensed PBS member network for northern and central Minnesota, operating KAWE Bemidji and KAWB Brainerd and producing a weeknight local newscast and regional programs.
Lakeland PBS is the PBS member television network for northern and central Minnesota. It is operated by Northern Minnesota Public Television, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit owned by the public it serves, from headquarters in Bemidji with a satellite office and studio in Brainerd. KAWE, channel 9 in Bemidji, signed on June 1, 1980, and KAWB, channel 22 in Brainerd, followed on March 1, 1988. The network was known as Lakeland Public Television until it adopted the Lakeland PBS name in 2018.
Its signal reaches about 383,500 people over roughly 7,500 square miles, from Little Falls north to the Canadian border and from Fosston east to Bovey, through two full-power stations and nine translators. Six subchannels carry PBS, PBS Kids, Create, First Nations Experience, the Minnesota Channel and encore programming. Lakeland PBS produces a weeknight local newscast from Bemidji and local programs on the region's arts, culture and history, some funded through Minnesota's Legacy Amendment.
About 30 people work in news, production, engineering, underwriting and business development, marketing, membership and administration. Openings are listed on the employment page with the email address to apply to.
