computer entertainment tokyo . kcet los angeles california united states branding kcet slogan local . global . connected . primary channels digital 28 uhf virtual 28 psip translators see article affiliations .1 noncommercial educational independent .2 link tv .3 v me .4 nhk world owner kcetlink media group first air date september 28 1964 ; 52 years ago 1964 09 28 call letters meaning community educational television former channel number s analog 28 uhf 1964 2009 digital 59 uhf 2000 2009 former affiliations net 1964 1970 pbs 1970 2010 pbs world until 2011 mhz worldview 2011 2013 transmitter power 155 kw height 926 metres 3 038 feet facility id 13058 transmitter coordinates 34 13 26 n 118 3 44 w 34.22389 n 118.06222 w 34.22389 ; 118.06222 coordinates 34 13 26 n 118 3 44 w 34.22389 n 118.06222 w 34.22389 ; 118.06222 licensing authority federal communications commission public license information profile cdbs website kcet.org kcet channel 28 is a non commercial educational independent television station located in los angeles california usa . the station s studios are located in burbank california and its transmitter is located atop mount wilson . it is part of the kcetlink media group . kcet was a charter member of the public broadcasting service pbs at its inception in 1970 . the station was southern california s flagship pbs member station until december 31 2010 when it ended its partnership with pbs after 40 years to become the nation s largest independent public television station . kcet s management cited unsolvable financial and programming disputes among its major reasons for leaving pbs . 1 for much of its time on air kcet had broadcast from its studios in hollywood until moving to new offices in burbank s media district in 2012 . the move left cw affiliate ktla channel 5 as the last remaining radio or tv broadcaster in that neighborhood as stations have moved on to other cities and neighborhoods in the region . contents 1 background 2 history 2.1 independence from pbs 2.2 recent developments 3 programming 4 rebroadcasters 5 references 6 external links background edit kcet 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 september 22 1953 . 2 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 . history edit kcet licensed to the non profit group community television of southern california ctsc first signed on the air on september 28 1964 as an affiliate of national educational television net . 3 part of the station s initial funding came from four of los angeles s commercial stations knxt channel 2 ; now kcbs tv 4 knbc channel 4 5 kttv channel 11 6 and kcop channel 13 7 along with grants from the ford foundation and the u.s. department of health education and welfare . 8 kcet initially broadcast in black and white from monday through friday . 9 james loper a co founder of ctsc served as the station s director of education from 1964 to 1966 and then vice president and general manager from 1966 to 1971 . 10 loper then served as president of kcet from 1971 to 1983 . 10 11 prior to applying for and receiving a construction permit to build the new channel 28 ctsc attempted to acquire one of los angeles s seven existing vhf commercial stations . in 1968 community television of southern california emerged as a potential buyer of ktla s license from then owner gene autry 12 but could not raise the cash needed to make a serious offer . 13 if ctsc succeeded in moving kcet to channel 5 the move would have mirrored a similar occurrence seven years earlier in the new york city area where local broadcasters assisted a non profit group in purchasing commercial independent vhf station wnta tv and converting it into non commercial educational wndt it is now wnet . in 1970 kcet became a charter member of pbs . for most of the next 40 years it was the second most watched pbs station in the country . kcet s previous long time studios in los angeles . previously kcet was headquartered in a historic area of hollywood used as a film and television studio from 1912 to 1970 . kcet purchased the former monogram pictures property in 1971 assisted financially in part by both the ford foundation and the michael connell foundation . the newest building was named the weingart educational telecommunications center and housed kcet s master control digital control rooms ingest and editing stations on the first floor and engineering new media operations and news and public affairs on the second floor . in 2004 bp started granting kcet half the funding for preschool shows including a place of our own and los ninos en su casa a spanish language version . the other half of the 50 million grants for the show and supporting outreach programs came from first 5 california plus additional funding from a secret donor . the show would win peabody and local emmy awards and be shown nationally over pbs . kcet renamed its production studio to bp studios in appreciation . 14 kcet originally planned to purchase fellow pbs station koce tv channel 50 licensed to huntington beach in orange county from the coast community college district but dropped out previous to bidding . 15 in 2006 kcet launched a digital channel kcet desert cities for digital television and cable for the coachella valley . in september kcet announced a similar channel for orange county in partnership with california state university fullerton to be launched in late 2007 . 15 pbs included bp s and other grants for the two pre school shows in its complex progressive dues structures even though the grants came with the stipulation that they could not be used for administrative costs . the pbs dues for kcet had previously been 4.9 million but with the new grants included the dues increased by 40 % to close to 7 million . other large funding sources that had previously been counted on were shrinking and thus could not be tapped to pay the dues . kcet s request that these specific grants which were restricted to show production only not be counted towards the dues owed was denied ; pbs executives indicated that pbs stations were expected to anticipate their dues and increase their reserves to pay them and therefore would not grant special treatment for kcet . with the january 2010 half year payment coming up kcet offered to reduce their status to a secondary affiliation reducing the dues owed to a total of 1.3 million due with cpb paying 750 000 and a special campaign to raise the rest . pbs rejected the offer insisting the station to remain as the primary affiliate . 14 a consortium of the four existing pbs stations in southern california kcet koce tv secondary los angeles affiliate klcs channel 58 and san bernardino licensed kvcr channel 24 was proposed with the idea of the stations uniting to share various functions certain programming fundraising and marketing and to save money . 16 17 although the consortium proposal was still considered viable by both pbs and kcet even after the station announced its independence nothing further happened and the consortium never materialized . 18 independence from pbs edit on october 8 2010 kcet announced that it could not reach an agreement to remain with pbs and would become an independent public television station on january 1 2011 . after channel 28 left pbs koce tv replaced kcet as the area s primary pbs station . 19 the newly independent kcet launched on january 1 2011 with programming tied to themed nights including a monday travel and action show night tuesday science and nature night wednesday drama night and friday news programming night . with the ending of pbs affiliation on january 1 2011 kcet changed its subchannels .1 going independent .2 changing to kcet kids & family .3 vme continued .4 and pbs world replaced by mhz worldview kcet desert cities and kcet orange converted to kcet kids & family with its shows moving to kcet s daytime lifestyle block . 20 kcet primary subchannel offered themed nights during the first year of operation . 21 on february 4 2011 the federal communications commission fcc fined kcet 10 000 for failure to make its public file available for inspection by the general public . 22 on march 30 2011 the los angeles times reported that kcet was in negotiations to sell the hollywood studio to the church of scientology with kcet relocating to a smaller location following the sale in light of kcet s sharp decreases in ratings and pledges following disaffiliation from pbs . 23 the sale of the property which was sold for a reported 45 million 24 closed on april 25 2011 with part of the proceeds going towards kcet s leasing of the studios 24 until new facilities were found . 25 26 kcet relocated to a new complex in a high rise state of the art building the pointe in april 2012 located in burbank . 24 at the end of the 2011 fiscal year contributions and grants to kcet decreased even further down 41 % from the previous year to 22.3 million . 24 recent developments edit in october 2012 kcet announced it was merging with san francisco based link media to form kcetlink a single 501 c 3 multimedia organization based in burbank . kcetlink is a national independent broadcast and digital network which reaches a wide broadcast audience that includes link media s 35 million subscribers on directv and dish network and kcet s 6.6 million households in southern and central california . 27 link s feed on cable satellite was renamed kcetlink and replaced kcet kids & family on subchannel 28.2 . on july 9 2013 nhk world was selected as the replacement for mhz worldview on subchannel 28.4 . mhz worldview moved to a subchannel of klcs dt . 28 in 2014 kcetlink saw a 10 % year over year growth in revenue which included increased support from some of the nation s most respected foundations . in december 2014 alone the organization was the recipient of grants totaling 1.2 million . 29 on september 10 2014 it was announced that after negotiations with the los angeles unified school district owners of pbs member station klcs kcet and klcs will consolidate their broadcast signals onto one over the air channel band so the remaining wireless spectrum can be divested during the fcc s 2016 spectrum incentive auction . both stations will retain separate licenses . 30 31 earlier in the year klcs had participated in a trial of channel sharing with kjla . 32 33 34 35 50th anniversary inspiring a better state kcet marked its 50th anniversary in september 2014 with a new slogan inspiring a better state and a broadcast special kcet 50 years at the forefront which celebrated half a century of groundbreaking programming that featured important voices of the station s past and present including los angeles mayor eric garcetti journalist bill moyers and political strategist kerman maddox . simultaneously a 50th anniversary hub http www.kcet.org about 50 36 was launched which included an interactive timeline that follows kcet through the decades and gives an insight to the impact of local and regional events shaping california . the content includes reminisces from kcet staff members some of whom have been at the station for decades recalling their experiences working at the station ; historical articles