KCET
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KCET is the PBS member-television station in Los Angeles, California. It is one of four PBS member stations serving Greater Los Angeles, the others being KVCR-TV, KOCE-TV, and KLCS, and is the network's primary affiliate for the market. Broadcasting on channel 28, the studio is located at 4401 West Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson, one of the highest points in Los Angeles County.
The station will discontinue carrying PBS programming effective January 1, 2011, citing financial and programming disputes, which could not be resolved, among its major reasons, and will be carrying non-commercial programming that will be independent of PBS.[1] KOCE will replace KCET as the area's primary PBS affiliate.[2]
KCET and KTLA are the only broadcasters in the Southern California to be based in Hollywood, as many radio and television stations have left the community for other neighborhoods and cities.
History
KCET signed on September 28, 1964 as an affiliate of National Educational Television, or NET, with Jim Case heading all of the program direction. It was actually the second attempt at an educational station in the Los Angeles area. KTHE, operated by the University of Southern California, had previously broadcast on channel 28, beginning on November 29, 1953. It was the second educational television station in the United States, signing on six months and four days after KUHT in Houston, Texas, but it went dark after nine months due to its primary benefactor, the Hancock Foundation, determining that the station was too much of a financial drain on its resources.
The call letters KCET stand for Community Educational Television, not to be confused with the organization of the same name formed by Daystar Television Network in 2003, which made an unsuccessful bid to purchase Orange County public television station KOCE.
KCET is located in a historic area of Hollywood, used as a film and television studio from 1912 to 1970. KCET purchased the property in 1971, assisted financially in part by both the Ford Foundation and the Michael Connell Foundation. The newest building is named the Weingart Educational Telecommunications Center which houses KCET's master control, digital control rooms, ingest, and editing stations on the first floor and the Engineering department, New Media department, and the News and Public Affairs Department on the second floor.
In 2000, channel 59 was designated as KCET-DT. As of 2007[update], Al Jerome is the president and CEO.
Today, all programs produced by KCET are produced in the 16 x 9 aspect ratio. KCET is also broadcast in 720p HDTV, unlike most PBS stations where they use 1080i.
On October 8, 2010, KCET announced that it would be ending its affiliation with PBS and would become an independent television service as of January 1, 2011.
Programming
KCET produced the acclaimed Carl Sagan series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage in 1978-1979. To commemorate the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, KCET produced a six-part miniseries in conjunction with the BBC called Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State.
As of 2007[update] productions include its award-winning and signature news and public affairs program Life & Times hosted by Val Zavala (underwritten by The Whittier Foundation, Jim & Anne Rothenberg, QueensCare, The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, Boeing, and the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department). Huell Howser's California's Gold is produced at the KCET lot.
KCET also produces the weeknight talk show Tavis Smiley and the new PBS science show, Wired Science. Peabody award-winning shows A Place of Our Own [1] and the Spanish language equivalent, Los Niños en Su Casa [2] are taped at the KCET studios. Both programs, part of the KCEd initiative, have received a generous grant from BP to expand its coverage as a nation-wide television program designed for care-givers.
A few kids' shows also come from KCET-- Storytime, The Puzzle Place, Adventures from the Book of Virtues, The Charlie Horse Music Pizza, and Sid the Science Kid.
KCET also airs familiar PBS shows such as Antiques Roadshow, Nature, NOVA, Frontline, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Masterpiece Theatre, Soundstage and Tavis Smiley, amongst others.
Award-winning California Connected ended its run in 2007 after five seasons.
On December 9, 2010, KCET announced their new program schedule without PBS affiliation in 2011. Commercial-free programming will include classic and blockbuster movies, travel, science, drama programs, British sitcoms and news programs. Some of the programs that were announced on the new lineup include Globe Trekker, Rick Steves' Europe, Burt Wolf: Travels and Traditions, The Nature of Things with David Suzuki, Doc Martin, The McLaughlin Group, Inside Washington, BBC World News, Keeping Up Appearances, As Time Goes By and Visiting With Huell Howser.[3]
Digital television
The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
Digital channels| Channel | Programming |
|---|---|
| 28.1 | PBS |
| 28.2 | KCET Orange |
| 28.3 | V-me |
| 28.4 | PBS World |
For its first seven years on digital TV, the majority of the programming on KCET's high definition subchannel 28.1 (outside of most primetime shows) was different from the main signal on Channel 28 (which was initially operated on digital subchannel 28.2 and has since been replaced with KCET Orange), as is with most other PBS stations with HDTV capabilities. With the arrival of new programming services from PBS and V-me (which airs on digital subchannel 28.3) in mid 2007, programming from the main signal has been integrated into the HD subchannel to accommodate for space, while at the same time preserving the integrity and demand for quality HD programming. In August 2007, KCET began broadcasting PBS World under digital subchannel 28.4. World's lineup includes programming related to world culture, news and history.
According to KCET's website, as of January 1 2011, 28.2 will become "KCET Kids and Family" airing mostly children's programs. 28.3 will remain V-ME, and 28.4 will air Mhz Worldview.
Other ventures and partnerships
KCET's website produces original multimedia web content including CA Stories. There are also video clips, podcasts, television schedule, contact information, and a Life & Times blog.
In 2006, KCET established an exclusive media partnership with California State University, Fullerton. In 2007, KCET and CSUF announced that a new 24/7 digital cable channel, KCET Orange, will premiere in the fall of that year. Programs like Life and Times will feature expanded Orange County news coverage, plus additional arts and cultural programming tailored to Orange County. Contributions from students from Titan Communications TV[4] and the College of Communications[5] is intended to expand Cal State Fullerton's contribution to KCET. KCET Orange is broadcast under digital subchannel 28.2. [6].
KCET also has a digital cable channel, KCET Desert Cities, which is currently available for Time Warner Cable subscribers in the Palm Springs/Coachella Valley area. It is carried on Channel 218, and its programming schedule differs from the main Los Angeles signal.
In July 2007, the KCET Studios became the host studios for Camouflage, a game show for cable TV's Game Show Network (GSN), and served as the host studio in March 2010 for the third season of GSN's version of The Newlywed Game. The facilities also served as home to the MTV game show webRIOT as well as the California Lottery game shows The Big Spin and Make Me a Millionaire.
Rebroadcasters
KCET utilizes several repeaters to extend its coverage:
| Call sign | Analog channel | Digital channel | City of License | Ownership | Notes |
| K16FC | 16 | yes | San Luis Obispo | KCET | originally on channel 15 as K15BD, displaced for KSBY-DT |
| K26FT | 26 | Yes | Santa Barbara | KCET | Now K26FT-D since June 2009 |
| K28GY | 28 | yes | Santa Barbara, etc. | KCET | |
| K46II | 46 | yes | Bakersfield | KCET | |
| K47CC | 47 | no | Victorville | KCET | |
| K14AT | 14 | no | China Lake, etc. | Indian Wells Valley TV Booster | |
| K31JM-D | no | 31 (soon) | China Lake, etc. | Indian Wells Valley TV Booster | currently holds a construction permit |
| K51DD-D | no | 51 | Ridgecrest | Indian Wells Valley TV Booster | |
| K46HT | 46 | no | Daggett, etc. | County of San Bernardino | |
| K48EM | 48 | no | Morongo Valley | County of San Bernardino |
References
- ^ Los Angeles Times: "Los Angeles PBS affiliate KCET exits network fold to go independent", October 8, 2010.
- ^ Larsen, Peter (October 8, 2010). "KOCE takes over as top PBS station after KCET cuts ties with network". The Orange County Register. Retrieved October 10, 2010.
- ^ KCET Announces New Program Schedule Retrieved December 13, 2010
- ^ Titan Communications TV
- ^ College of Communications
- ^ Titan TV's Announcement with President Gordon & Special Guests