KQEH

KQEH

San Jose/San Francisco, California
Branding	KQED Plus
Channels	Digital: 50 (UHF)
Subchannels	54.1 KQEH SD 54.2 KQED SD 54.3 KQED Life 54.4 KQED Kids 54.5 V-me
Affiliations	PBS V-me DT5
Owner	KQED, Inc., licensee
First air date	October 19, 1964
Call letters' meaning	portmanteau of KQED and former KTEH call sign
Sister station(s)	KQED, KQET
Former callsigns	KTEH (1964–2011)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 54 (UHF, 1964-2009)
Former affiliations	NET (1964-1970)
Transmitter power	290 kW
Height	662 m
Facility ID	35663
Transmitter coordinates	37°29′17″N 121°51′59″W
Website	www.kqed.org/tv

KQEH, previously KTEH, and now commonly known as KQED Plus, is a public television station in San Jose, California, serving the San Francisco Bay Area as a PBS member station on channel 54/cable 10. The station is owned by KQED with sister-stations KQED in San Francisco and KQET in Watsonville, the latter mirroring KQED. The KQEH transmitter is on Monument Peak (Milpitas, California).

Known for its quality selection of programming, KQED Plus is available in 9 Bay Area counties. Its most popular genre are imports from Great Britain. The Brilliantly British series has continued to grow KQED Plus's audience and it is now frequently the most-watched public television station on Friday evenings.

History

KTEH's last logo before merging with KQED, used from 1993 through 2007.

The station began broadcasting as KTEH in 1964.

In the late 1990s, KTEH bought KCAH in Watsonville, which was founded in 1989 to serve as the PBS station for the Monterey/Salinas/Santa Cruz market.

Last logo as KTEH, used from 2007 through 2011.

In 2006, KQED and the KTEH Foundation agreed to merge to form Northern California Public Broadcasting, a name that was changed back to KQED in 2011. As a result of the merger, KCAH changed its call letters to KQET on August 12, 2007. Subsequently, on October 1, 2007, KQET switched programming sources from KTEH to KQED. As of 2010, KTEH can be seen on KQET on its second digital subchannel.

In December 2010, the Board of Directors of Northern California Public Broadcasting changed the organization's name to KQED Inc. The station changed its call letters to KQEH and rebranded to "KQED Plus" on July 1, 2011, after research found that most viewers were unaware that KTEH was affiliated with KQED; other aspects of the station's operation, including programming and staff, are not affected by this change.

Until 2011, the station was known as KTEH. Before becoming part of KQED, KTEH maintained a Technical Volunteer program. It allowed volunteers to learn how to operate cameras, audio, shading, directing, and more, while minimizing its costs. These volunteers made up the technical crews for all of their pledge drives and auction programming, as well as other occasional live broadcasts.

Programming

The station's daytime hours on weekdays are dominated by children's programming, including Clifford the Big Red Dog, Sesame Street, and Dragon Tales. Weeknights begin with news programming—the Nightly Business Report and BBC World News—followed by mostly United Kingdom-originating dramas and comedies (such as EastEnders and Are You Being Served?). Weeknight prime-time contains mainly documentaries (American Experience, Nature) and drama (Masterpiece Theater, Mystery!). During the weekend, mornings feature children's programming, middays and afternoons contain a mix of instructional (home and cooking), entertainment, travel, and cultural shows, and evenings present mostly British scripted shows. The current slogan for British programming on KQEH reflects this.

Programming history

Starting in April 1981, KTEH started showing the British science-fantasy show Doctor Who, and continued to do so until January 2003. On April 10, 2007, KTEH resumed airing "Doctor Who" with the 2005 series starring Christopher Eccleston. KTEH has also aired another British sci-fi show, Red Dwarf. In 1998, KTEH aired the entire season of Red Dwarf VIII in one night. In doing so, many episodes were shown on KTEH before British television.

KTEH was also the first to air Neon Genesis Evangelion (subtitled) in America, as well as Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki and Tenchi Universe (dubbed) TV series. These shows were later shown on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block. Other anime that have aired on KTEH include, but were not limited to, Bubblegum Crisis, Dirty Pair Flash (subbed), All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku (subbed), Sakura Wars (subbed), Serial Experiments Lain (dubbed), City Hunter (dubbed), Please Save My Earth (dubbed), Key the Metal Idol, Urusei Yatsura (subbed), Ranma ½ (dubbed), Sailor Moon (dubbed), Full Metal Panic! (dubbed), Magic Knight Rayearth (dubbed), Martian Successor Nadesico (dubbed), Betterman (dubbed), Robotech (dubbed), Corrector Yui (subbed), Mobile Suit Gundam (dubbed), and Cardcaptor Sakura (dubbed).

Local productions

KTEH has produced many television programs over the years, some of which have been nationally broadcast. Their current production schedule includes:

• "This is Us" - Emmy Award-winning show featuring profiles of remarkable people and places in Northern California.
• "Saving the Bay" - the Emmy Award-winning documentary about San Francisco Bay went on to a national release in 2011.
• video i - an award winning showcase of documentaries, dramas and experimental films
• KTEH Cooks with Garlic - local viewers preparing their favorite garlic recipes. Winner of the first PBS Interactive Innovation of the Year Award
• Moneytrack - ongoing series on investment management

KTEH was the production company for several other productions:

• The War: Nisei Soldiers (2007)
• The War: Soldados (2007)
• Dave Tatsuno: Movies and Memories (2006)
• Cosmopolitan (2003)
• Return to the Valley (2003)
• Rich Dad, Poor Dad with Robert Kiyosaki (2001)
• Adventures with Kanga Roddy
• The First Seven Years (1998)
• Cadillac Desert (1997)
• The Battle for Mono Lake (1997)
• The Men Who Sailed the Liberty Ships (1994)
• The Day After Trinity (1981)
• Tomorrow/Today 1981
• Kaleidoscope 1979
• Fluorocarbons: The Unfinished Agenda 1977
• The Aerosol Factor 1975

Station presentation

Station slogans

• Public Television for the South Bay (1970s-1980s)
• Discover the Difference (1980s)
• Brilliantly British (2007–present; used only during U.K.-produced shows)
• Public Media for San Jose and the Bay Area (2008–present)

Digital channels

All sub-channels broadcast in 480i standard definition:

Channel	Programming
54.1	Main KQEH programming / PBS
54.2	Simulcast of KQED
54.3	KQED Life
54.4	KQED Kids
54.5	V-me

See also

• Cosmopolitan

External links

• Official website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KQEH
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KQEH-TV
• IMDB