KQED
Encyclopedia
KQED is a Public Broadcasting Service
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....

-member public television station in San Francisco, California, broadcasting digitally on UHF
Ultra high frequency
Ultra-High Frequency designates the ITU Radio frequency range of electromagnetic waves between 300 MHz and 3 GHz , also known as the decimetre band or decimetre wave as the wavelengths range from one to ten decimetres...

 channel 30 (Ex-Analog Channel 9). This channel is also carried on Comcast
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...

 cable TV
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...

 and via satellite by DirecTV
DirecTV
DirecTV is an American direct broadcast satellite service provider and broadcaster based in El Segundo, California. Its satellite service, launched on June 17, 1994, transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, Latin America, and the Anglophone Caribbean. ...

 and Dish Network
Dish Network
Dish Network Corporation is the second largest pay TV provider in the United States, providing direct broadcast satellite service—including satellite television, audio programming, and interactive television services—to 14.337 million commercial and residential customers in the United States. Dish...

. Its transmitter
Transmitter
In electronics and telecommunications a transmitter or radio transmitter is an electronic device which, with the aid of an antenna, produces radio waves. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to the antenna. When excited by this alternating...

 is located on Sutro Tower
Sutro Tower
Sutro Tower is a three-pronged antenna tower near Clarendon Heights in San Francisco, California. Rising from a hill between Twin Peaks and Mount Sutro, it is a prominent part of the city skyline and a landmark for city residents and visitors...

 in San Francisco.

It is one of the most-watched PBS stations in the country during primetime.

Noteworthy KQED television productions include the first installment of Armistead Maupin
Armistead Maupin
Armistead Jones Maupin, Jr. is an American writer, best known for his Tales of the City series of novels, based in San Francisco.-Early life:...

's miniseries Tales of the City
Tales of the City
Tales of the City refers to a series of eight novels written by American author Armistead Maupin. The stories from Tales were originally serialized prior to their novelization, with the first four titles appearing as regular installments in the San Francisco Chronicle, while the fifth appeared in...

, Tongues Untied
Tongues Untied
Tongues Untied is a 1989 semi-documentary film directed by Marlon Riggs. The film seeks, in its author's words to, "...shatter the nation's brutalising silence on matters of sexual and racial difference."-Content:...

 by Marlon Riggs
Marlon Riggs
Marlon Troy Riggs was a gay African-American filmmaker, educator, poet, and gay rights activist. He produced, wrote, and directed several television documentaries, including Ethnic Notions, Tongues Untied, Color Adjustment, and Black Is. ....

, and a series of programs focusing on the historic neighborhoods in San Francisco
Neighborhoods in San Francisco, California
San Francisco has both major, well-known neighborhoods and districts as well as smaller, specific subsections and developments. While there is considerable fluidity among the sources, one guidebook identifies five major districts, corresponding to the four quadrants plus a south central district...

, such as The Castro and The Fillmore District. Ongoing productions include California Connected
California Connected
California Connected was a television newsmagazine that broadcast stories about the state of California to "increase civic engagement." The show was created by Marley Klaus and aired on twelve PBS member stations throughout California. In 2006, former NBC producer Bret Marcus took over as executive...

, Check, Please! Bay Area
Check, Please!
Check, Please! is a popular restaurant review program that airs on Chicago's PBS member station WTTW. The show first aired in 2001.The format of the show is very simple: three everyday people, from anywhere in the greater Chicago area, sit down with a host to discuss three eating establishments,...

, Spark, This Week in Northern California and QUEST.

History

KQED was organized and created by veteran broadcast journalists
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

 James Day
James Day (journalist)
James Day was an American public television station and network executive and on-air interviewer, and professor of television broadcasting.- References :...

 and Jonathan Rice on June 1, 1953 and first went on air April 5, 1954. It was the sixth public broadcasting
Public broadcasting
Public broadcasting includes radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing and commercial financing.Public broadcasting may be...

 station in the United States, debuting shortly after WQED
WQED (TV)
WQED is a Public Broadcasting Service member Public television station based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Established April 1, 1954, it was the first community-sponsored television station in the United States as well as the fifth public TV station...

 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The station's call letters, Q.E.D.
Q.E.D.
Q.E.D. is an initialism of the Latin phrase , which translates as "which was to be demonstrated". The phrase is traditionally placed in its abbreviated form at the end of a mathematical proof or philosophical argument when what was specified in the enunciation — and in the setting-out —...

, are taken from the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 phrase, quod erat demonstrandum, commonly used in mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...

.

KQED's World Press was an hour-long weekly roundup of international news analyzed by a panel of political analysts debuted in 1963. Panel members, who were political science analysts, who specialized in each specific global area, each brought a newspaper for round table discussion. It was founded by San Francisco Supervisor Roger Boas, who brought his long-term interest in government, politics, television and business to the show. The program "summed up the foreign reaction to such events as the Kennedy assassinations, the Vietnam War, along with thousands of other events that have shaped the decade of the sixties." What started as a local public access program with no financial support became the longest lived continuous discussion program televised on on 185 stations.

In its early days following sign-on, KQED broadcast only twice a week for one hour each day. Despite the very limited schedule, the station was still losing money, leading to a decision in early 1955 from its board of trustees to close down the station. Its staff got the board to keep the station on the air and try to get needed funds from the public in a form of a televised auction
Auction
An auction is a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bid, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder...

, in which celebrities would appear to auction off goods and services donated to the station. While the station still came a little short, it did show that the general public cared to keep KQED on the air. Since then, the auction became a fund-raising tool for many public television stations, though its usage waned in recent years in favor of increased usage of special pledge drive
Pledge drive
A pledge drive is an extended period of fundraising activities, generally used by public broadcasting stations to increase contributions. The term "pledge" originates from the promise a contributor makes to send in funding at regular intervals for a certain amount of time...

s throughout the year.

Channel 9 had a sister station
Sister station
In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio and/or television stations operated by the same ownership....

, KQEC
KMTP-TV
KMTP-TV, channel 32, is an independent, non-commercial television station located in San Francisco, California, USA. Owned and operated by the Minority Television Project, KMTP's has its main studio and offices in Palo Alto, California, and transmitter situated atop Mount Sutro.KMTP airs a large...

, which broadcast on Channel 32. KQED had inherited the station in 1970 (as KNEW-TV) from Metromedia
Metromedia
Metromedia was a media company that owned radio and television stations in the United States from 1956 to 1986 and owned Orion Pictures from 1986-1997.- Overview :...

, but found they could not operate it without losing money. Various PBS and locally produced programs from KQED would air erratically and at different times of the day on KQEC. In 1988, the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...

 (FCC) revoked KQED's license to operate KQEC, citing excessive off-air time, further charging dishonesty in previous filings with regard to the specific reasons. The alleged dishonesty was in reference to KQED's claim of financial woes for keeping KQEC off the air for most of 1972 through 1977, and again for several months in 1979 and 1980. After being revoked from KQED, the reassigned license was granted to the Minority Television Project (MTP), one of the challengers of the KQED/KQEC filing. The KQEC call letters were changed to KMTP-TV
KMTP-TV
KMTP-TV, channel 32, is an independent, non-commercial television station located in San Francisco, California, USA. Owned and operated by the Minority Television Project, KMTP's has its main studio and offices in Palo Alto, California, and transmitter situated atop Mount Sutro.KMTP airs a large...

 under the new license.

During the early 1990s, when the State of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 reintroduced the death penalty, the KQED organization waged a legal battle for the right to televise the forthcoming execution of Robert Alton Harris
Robert Alton Harris
Robert Alton Harris was an American career criminal and murderer who was executed in San Quentin's gas chamber in 1992. This marked the first execution in the state of California since 1967. Harris had killed two teenage boys in 1978...

 at San Quentin State Prison. The decision to pursue the videotaping of executions was controversial amongst those on both sides of the capital punishment
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...

 debate.

KQED was co-producer of the television adaptation of Armistead Maupin
Armistead Maupin
Armistead Jones Maupin, Jr. is an American writer, best known for his Tales of the City series of novels, based in San Francisco.-Early life:...

's novel, Tales of the City
Tales of the City
Tales of the City refers to a series of eight novels written by American author Armistead Maupin. The stories from Tales were originally serialized prior to their novelization, with the first four titles appearing as regular installments in the San Francisco Chronicle, while the fifth appeared in...

, which aired on PBS stations nationwide in January 1994. The original six-part series was produced by Britain's public-service
Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom the term "public service broadcasting" refers to broadcasting intended for the public benefit rather than for purely commercial concerns. The communications regulator Ofcom, requires that certain television and radio broadcasters fulfil certain requirements as part of their...

 Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...

 Corporation with KQED and PBS' American Playhouse
American Playhouse
American Playhouse is an anthology television series periodically broadcast by Public Broadcasting Service in the United States.It premiered on January 12, 1982 with The Shady Hill Kidnapping, written and narrated by John Cheever and directed by Paul Bogart...

. The six-part miniseries featured gay themes, nudity and illicit drug use in this fictional portrayal of life in 1970s San Francisco. Although the program gave PBS its highest ratings ever for a dramatic program, PBS bowed to threats of federal funding cuts and announced it would not participate in the television production of an adaptation of the second book in the series, More Tales of the City
More Tales of the City (novel)
More Tales of the City is the second book in the Tales of the City series by San Francisco novelist Armistead Maupin, originally serialized in the San Francisco Chronicle.-Plot:...

.

On May 1, 2006, KQED, Inc. and the KTEH Foundation merged to form Northern California Public Broadcasting
Northern California Public Broadcasting
Northern California Public Broadcasting was formed on May 1, 2006 when the boards of KQED, Inc., and the KTEH Foundation agreed to merge, forming the "most watched public television broadcaster and the second most listened-to public radio broadcaster in the country."NCPB operates:*KQED Public...

. The KQED assets including its television
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...

 (KQED TV) and FM radio stations (KQED-FM) were taken under the umbrella of that new organization. Both remain members of Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....

 and National Public Radio (NPR), respectively. With this change, KQED and KTEH are considered as sister-stations today. KTEH would change its call letters to KQEH and rebrand to "KQED Plus" on July 1, 2011 after research found that most viewers were unaware that KTEH was affiliated with KQED.

On November 11, 2010, KQED and NBR Worldwide, LLC, the owners of PBS' Nightly Business Report
Nightly Business Report
Nightly Business Report is a Business news television magazine broadcast live Monday to Friday evenings on most public television stations in the United States. Every weeknight, Nightly Business Report distills the essence of what matters in the business world, and provides analysis and reflection...

, reached into an agreement to open a bureau in the Silicon Valley in order to enhance coverage of NBR.

On January 4, 2011, KQED expanded its broadcasting areas to include both San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo, California
San Luis Obispo is a city in California, located roughly midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles on the Central Coast. Founded in 1772 by Spanish Fr. Junipero Serra, San Luis Obispo is one of California’s oldest communities...

 and Santa Maria
Santa Maria, California
Santa Maria is a city in Santa Barbara County, on the Central Coast of California. The 2010 census population was 100,062, putting it ahead of Santa Barbara for the first time and making it the largest city in the county...

, as then-PBS affiliate KCET
KCET
KCET, channel 28, is an independent, non-commercial public television station licensed to Los Angeles, California, USA. KCET's studio is located on West Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, and its transmitter is atop Mount Wilson. Al Jerome is the current CEO and President, serving since 1996.KCET was...

 left public broadcasting at the end of 2010. Those areas are currently available only via cable.

Programming

KQED currently airs most of its programming on television 24 hours a day. On a typical weekday, the station is dominated by children's programming in the mornings and in the late afternoons, with news and other programming between noon and 4pm and after 6pm. Prime time programming includes programming carried by PBS. On Saturdays, several cooking shows and other home programming airs during the daytime, with movies or special programming during the evenings and overnight hours. On Sundays, children's programming airs during the morning, with reruns of popular shows during the daytime and prime time.

For many years, KQED has carried PBS Newshour ever since its debut. The program would eventually open its West coast studios at KQED in 1997 to extend coverage throughout the United States.

Children

Although KQED and KQEH airs many children's programming distributed by other stations including WGBH
WGBH-TV
WGBH-TV, channel 2, is a non-commercial educational public television station located in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. WGBH-TV is a member station of the Public Broadcasting Service , and produces more than two-thirds of PBS's national prime time television programming...

 and WNET
WNET
WNET, channel 13 is a non-commercial educational public television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey. With its signal covering the New York metropolitan area, WNET is a primary station of the Public Broadcasting Service and a primary provider of PBS programming...

, KQED did not distribute any children's programming until 2007, when Raggs
RAGGS Kids Club Band
The Raggs Band is a US-based musical troupe of five canine characters who have played over 2,000 live performances on four continents since 2002.-Creation:...

 became the first children's programming to be distributed by the station. Raggs would first be tested on ten public television stations, including KQED and its partners (but not counting its partners), and eventually in 2008, KQED would distribute the program nationally. However, Raggs was not distributed by PBS itself, but instead by American Public Television
American Public Television
American Public Television is the largest syndicator of programming for public television stations in the United States.-History:...

.

On May 11, 2009, PBS announced another show, The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!
The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!
The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That! is an American/Canadian/British animated television series that premiered August 7, 2010 on Treehouse TV in Canada, on September 6, 2010 on PBS Kids in the US and also in the UK on CITV and Cartoonito...

with KQED as the presenting station. Unlike Raggs, Dr. Seuss's latest show is considered the first children's program not by American Public Television, but instead distributed by PBS.

Digital television

Channel Video Aspect
Aspect ratio
The aspect ratio of a shape is the ratio of its longer dimension to its shorter dimension. It may be applied to two characteristic dimensions of a three-dimensional shape, such as the ratio of the longest and shortest axis, or for symmetrical objects that are described by just two measurements,...

Programming
9.1 1080i
1080i
1080i is the shorthand name for a high-definition television mode. The i means interlaced video; 1080i differs from 1080p, in which the p stands for progressive scan. The term 1080i assumes a widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9, implying a frame size of 1920×1080 pixels...

 
16:9
16:9
16:9 is an aspect ratio with a width of 16 units and height of 9. Since 2009, it has become the most common aspect ratio for sold televisions and computer monitors and is also the international standard format of HDTV, Full HD, non-HD digital television and analog widescreen television ...

 
Main KQED programming / PBS
9.2 480i
480i
480i is the shorthand name for a video mode, namely the US NTSC television system or digital television systems with the same characteristics. The i, which is sometimes uppercase, stands for interlaced, the 480 for a vertical frame resolution of 480 lines containing picture information; while NTSC...

 
4:3  KQEH (KQED Plus)
9.3 KQED World
PBS World
PBS World is a 24-hour United States over-the-air digital subchannel showing public TV non-fiction, science, nature, news, public affairs and documentaries...



All channels are available on Comcast
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...

; AT&T U-verse offers KQED and KQEH, but not KQED World.

KQET

KQED's television programming is repeated in the Monterey
Monterey, California
The City of Monterey in Monterey County is located on Monterey Bay along the Pacific coast in Central California. Monterey lies at an elevation of 26 feet above sea level. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 27,810. Monterey is of historical importance because it was the capital of...

/Salinas
Salinas, California
Salinas is the county seat and the largest municipality of Monterey County, California. Salinas is located east-southeast of the mouth of the Salinas River, at an elevation of about 52 feet above sea level. The population was 150,441 at the 2010 census...

/Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, California
Santa Cruz is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, California in the US. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Santa Cruz had a total population of 59,946...

 market on KQET analog channel 25 and digital channel 58, licensed to Watsonville
Watsonville, California
Watsonville is a city in Santa Cruz County, California, United States. The population was 51,199 according to the 2010 census.Located on the central coast of California, the economy centers predominantly around the farming industry. It is known for growing strawberries, apples, lettuce and a host...

.

KQET was first aired on May 17, 1989 as KCAH, a locally-owned PBS member station that served the Monterey area. In the late 1990s, San Jose
San Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...

 PBS member station KTEH acquired KCAH, making it a satellite of KTEH.

KCAH changed its call letters to KQET on August 12, 2007, months after the merger of KQED and KTEH. On October 1, 2007, KQET switched programming sources from KTEH to KQED.

KQET terminated its analog transmissions on May 9, 2009, and has now moved its digital signal from its pre-transition UHF channel 58 back to UHF channel 25, its historic analog frequency.

The station broadcasts from Fremont Peak near San Juan Bautista
San Juan Bautista, California
San Juan Bautista is a city in San Benito County, California, United States. The population was 1,862 at the 2010 census, up from 1,549 at the 2000 census. The city of San Juan Bautista was named after Mission San Juan Bautista...

. KQET's subchannels are multiplexed:
Channel Video Aspect
Aspect ratio
The aspect ratio of a shape is the ratio of its longer dimension to its shorter dimension. It may be applied to two characteristic dimensions of a three-dimensional shape, such as the ratio of the longest and shortest axis, or for symmetrical objects that are described by just two measurements,...

Programming
25.1 1080i
1080i
1080i is the shorthand name for a high-definition television mode. The i means interlaced video; 1080i differs from 1080p, in which the p stands for progressive scan. The term 1080i assumes a widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9, implying a frame size of 1920×1080 pixels...

 
16:9
16:9
16:9 is an aspect ratio with a width of 16 units and height of 9. Since 2009, it has become the most common aspect ratio for sold televisions and computer monitors and is also the international standard format of HDTV, Full HD, non-HD digital television and analog widescreen television ...

 
main KQED programming
25.2 480i
480i
480i is the shorthand name for a video mode, namely the US NTSC television system or digital television systems with the same characteristics. The i, which is sometimes uppercase, stands for interlaced, the 480 for a vertical frame resolution of 480 lines containing picture information; while NTSC...

 
4:3  KQEH (KQED Plus)
25.3 V-me
V-me
V-me is a public television service in the United States, broadcasting only in Spanish. The 24-hour digital broadcast service was launched on March 5, 2007, and is currently available in over 75% of all U.S...


Publishing

In 1955, KQED began publishing a programming guide called KQED in Focus. The program guide began to add more articles and took on the character of a regular magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...

. The name was later changed to Focus Magazine and then to San Francisco Focus. In 1984, a new programming guide, Fine Tuning was separated off from Focus, with Focus carrying on as a self-contained magazine. In the early 1990s, San Francisco Focus was the recipient of number of journalism and publishing awards, including a National Headliner Award for feature writing in 1993. In 1997, KQED sold San Francisco Focus to Diablo Publications in order to pay off debts. In 2005, San Francisco Focus was resold to Modern Luxury Media, who rebranded the magazine as San Francisco
San Francisco (magazine)
San Francisco is an American monthly magazine devoted to San Francisco Bay Area culture, including arts, food, and entertainment. It is published monthly by publications.-History:...

.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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