prospective investors in the company. KCPQ: The Clover Park years When the bankruptcy court revealed the identity of the winning bidder for channel 13's transmission site—the studio equipment having been sold at a sheriff's sale—the local television community was shocked to learn that the buyer would be the Clover Park School District. Clover Park had operated KPEC-TV, an educational station on channel 56, since April 1960; it was one of the South Sound's two public TV stations, alongside KTPS-TV (channel 62), owned by Tacoma Public Schools. However, by 1975, the UHF equipment that had been in service more than a decade was aging and needed replacement, and it was more cost-effective to replace the channel 56 physical plant with KTVW, a high-power VHF station that could reach more western Washington homes and schools. A booster group for KTPS, the fledgling Trinity Broadcasting Network, and a commercial group headed by Tacoma Twins manager Stan Naccarato also bid. Clover Park won the station for a final cost of $378,000 (equivalent to $ in dollars), with KSTW (the former KTNT-TV) owner Gaylord Broadcasting providing $250,000 of that total in what was viewed as a move to make KSTW the only independent in the market. Transmitter testing took place in November 1975, with channel 13 repeating the KPEC-TV signal; eventually, a new microwave link would be used to feed programming from channel 56's existing studios to the channel 13 transmitter near Ruston. The call letters were changed to KCPQ-TV and the license modified to noncommercial before channel 13 returned to the air on January 4, 1976; the microwave link was not ready, so KPEC-TV remained in service until it was. The new KCPQ also aired some programming produced by KTPS. Programming in the Clover Park era, which included PBS material, represented a continuation of KPEC-TV's former service and originated from its existing Lakewood studios. The transmitter upgrade also attracted a high-profile name: Jim Harriott, who had been the highest-paid anchor in local TV news at KING-TV and who took a pay cut to come to channel 13 and helm public affairs programming. Harriott soon left when KIRO-TV offered him a job. From Clover Park to Kelly KPEC-TV had turned a profit prior to the channel 13 move, a rarity among educational TV stations. However, two simultaneous events in 1978 prompted the district to reconsider its ownership of a television station. The Washington State Legislature—which