The Los Angeles-based public broadcaster still exists, and “KCET” remains its legal call letters. But effective Tuesday, Feb. 6, the station will start branding itself on air as “PBS SoCal Plus.” That brings it further in line with its sister station PBS SoCal (KOCE), with which it merged in 2018.
ITVS veteran Tamara Gould has been named chief content officer of PBS SoCal, KCET and Link TV. She will lead a team of content producers across multiple platforms to amplify the voices and stories of the communities within and beyond Southern California. Gould will report to Andrew Russell, president-CEO of the Public Media Group of Southern California, the parent of PBS SoCal and KCET.
Shirley Baskin Familian, who co-founded Los Angeles public TV station KCET and served on its board for more than 60 years, has died. She was 101. Baskin Familian, whose brother and late husband launched the Baskin-Robbins chain of ice cream stores in 1945, died Sunday.
The station groups were cited for their “strong, clear, vocal leadership.” Other winners of the political journalism award, which is bestowed by the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism,include include KUSA Denver (two awards); KXAN Austin, Texas; WXIA Atlanta; WOI Des Moines, Iowa; KMGH Denver; and KCET Los Angeles.
Ali Doc Begins KCET’s Black History Month
Exclusives
Ex-ABC Family President Named KCET CEO
More than three months after exiting the teen-focused Disney-owned network’s top job, Michael Riley has been tapped to serve as CEO of independent public broadcasting and digital media network KCETLink Media Group. Riley, who succeeds Al Jerome as KCET’s fourth CEO in its 50-year history, begins his new post immediately.
KCET, KLCS In Channel-Sharing Partnership
The two noncommercial stations in Los Angeles will give up 6 MHz of spectrum for the FCC’s auction and then share a single over-the-air channel.
KCET Downplays Downbeat Funding Report
KCETLink Lays Off 22 In Reorganization
Famed for blurting out “That’s amazing!” or “Oh my gosh!” during interviews, the white-maned Howser had announced he was retiring from his show California’s Gold on Nov. 27.
Longtime KCET Host Huell Howser Retires
Pubcaster KCET Joins Link TV In New Venture
Two California-based public television businesses are merging. Link Media, the San Francisco-based parent of the Link TV satellite-distributed network and online international news portal, and KCET, the independent Los Angeles public television station that quit PBS last year, said they would join forces in a new venture known as KCETLink.
KCET, APT Syndicate ‘Your Turn To Care’
KCET Los Angeles signed a syndication agreement with American Public Television (APT) to distribute KCET’s original series on caregiving, Your Turn to Care, hosted by Holly Robinson Peete. The multi-platform […]
The station says it is making ‘progress’ in reinventing itself after bolting PBS in 2011, but revenue is way down and few new shows have been produced. Critics question its survival.
KCET Upgrades With SeaChange Universal
Noncommercial KCET Los Angeles (DMA 2) will launch its new state-of-the-art Burbank facility with a 56 HD channel SeaChange Universal MediaLibrary system. The system architecture includes 360 TB of shared […]
Contributions and grants dropped to $22.3 million, after the public station cut its ties with PBS. KCET hopes new programming will boost fundraising.
Independent public television station KCET Los Angeles (DMA 2), announced today that veteran journalist Bill Moyers returns to KCET with his new series, Moyers and Company, which debuts on KCET […]
Jean-Michel Cousteau kicks off the Los Angeles independent noncommercial station’s new slate of five programs as host of the environmental-themed show Oceans Alive.
Independent KCET Los Angeles will partner with the Verizon Foundation for a special live, on-air event Autism: Coming of Age, Nov. 8 at 8 p.m. The special event, hosted by […]
The former PBS in Los Angeles is teaming with Dominique Bigle, a former Walt Disney Co. executive and the founder of an Encino-based visual-effects and production company called Eyetronics Media & Studios, to produce and acquire original series about Southern California.
Al Jerome, head of the noncommercial station in Los Angeles, says that since leaving PBS, its finances are stabilizing. Viewership is down from last year, but rising.
The former PBS station turned independent will create a new studio at the Pointe, an office tower on a site in Burbank that used to be part of the NBC campus.
The public broadcaster that quit carrying PBS programming on Jan. 1 to avoid paying dues, began broadcasting Al Jazeera English on its main channel on Feb. 1, as the political landscape in Northern Africa and the Middle East started to unwind. Viewers responded, and the newscast has now found a home on KCET four times each weekday, from early morning to late nights, and once a day on weekends.
The price is not disclosed, but the 4.5-acre studio has an assessed value of $14.1 million, county records say. The former Los Angeles PBS station will stay there up to a year while seeking a place to move.
KCET Los Angeles, which has been struggling to rebuild viewership after its split from PBS, is in talks to sell its landmark Sunset Boulevard studio to the Church of Scientology and move to a smaller location, real estate brokers say.
KCET, the former flagship PBS station in Los Angeles, is being fined $10,000 over an incident with its public inspection file. The FCC issued a Notice of Apparent Liability to the station for not making its public inspection file available. The notice says KCET “willfully and repeatedly” violated the requirement.
The Los Angeles noncommercial indie adds some shows to replace lost PBS children’s programming and will launch KCET Kids & Family Channel and MHz Worldview.
Critics say the station lacked ambition and failed to tap Hollywood resources. Station officials say they were kept down by a network that catered to three powerful East Coast entities.
Just days away from signing off PBS and setting out as the nation’s largest independent public broadcaster, KCET Los Angeles is switching chief financial officers amid a larger management reshuffling.
The Los Angeles noncommercial outlet that is dropping PBS next month says it will feature a new on-air look with organized “themed viewing blocks” to make it easier for viewers to find shows.
