22 Facts About KCET

KCET is a secondary PBS member television station in Los Angeles, California, United States.

KCET was the second attempt at establishing 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.

KCET—the call letters of which stand for either California Educational Television, Committee for Educational Television, Community Educational Television, or Cultural and Educational Television—first signed on the air on September 28,1964, as an affiliate of National Educational Television.

KCET was originally located at 1313 North Vine Street in Hollywood, at what was the original Mutual-Don Lee Broadcasting System Building.

On October 5,1970, KCET became a charter member of the Public Broadcasting Service at the programming service's inception.

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KCET gained additional competitors when the Coast Community College District signed on Huntington Beach-licensed KOCE-TV on November 20,1972, and the Los Angeles Unified School District signed on secondary Los Angeles member KLCS on November 5,1973.

In 1971, KCET purchased the former Monogram Pictures property at 1425 Fleming Street in a historic area of East Hollywood—which was used as a film and television studio from 1912 to 1970—to serve as the station's headquarters, an acquisition assisted in part by financial contributions from both the Ford Foundation and the Michael Connell Foundation.

KCET renamed its production studio to BP Studios in thanks.

On October 8,2010, KCET announced that it could not reach an agreement to remain with PBS, and would end its partnership with PBS after 40 years to become an independent public television station—the second-largest such station in the United States in terms of market size, behind WNYE-TV in New York City—on January 1,2011.

KCET relocated in April 2012 to a new complex in a high-rise, state-of-the art building, The Pointe located in Burbank.

In October 2019, KCET officially rejoined PBS after eight years as an educational independent station.

In 2006, KCET launched a digital channel, KCET Desert Cities, for digital television and cable for the Coachella Valley.

KCET is in the process of determining what might replace the network.

KCET produced Roger Fisher's The Advocates, Boboquivari, Leon Russell's Homewood Session, Meeting of Minds, Artbound.

In 1971, KCET began producing Hollywood Television Theater, TV Movies directed by Norman Lloyd, Stacy Keach, Ivan Dixon, Lee Grant, and others.

KCET produced or presented The Cousteau Odyssey, Trying Times, and the Hispanic family drama American Family for PBS.

KCET produced the weeknight talk show Tavis Smiley and a PBS science show, Wired Science.

KCET produced California Connected, a television newsmagazine about various people, places and events throughout California, co-produced with KQED in San Francisco, KVIE in Sacramento, and KPBS in San Diego.

On December 9,2010, KCET announced its new program schedule after its disaffiliation from PBS in 2011.

KCET added more programs a few years later such as Zula Patrol and Wunderkind Little Amadeus.

KCET began transmitting a digital television signal on UHF channel 59 in 2000.

The station's digital signal operated on a high-band UHF channel that was removed from broadcast use after the official June 12,2009, transition date; as a result, KCET selected its former analog channel allocation on UHF channel 28 for its post-transition digital operations.