 | |
 The network's headquarters at the Buell Public Media Center in Denver | |
| Type | Non-commercial educationalbroadcast television network |
|---|---|
| Branding | Rocky Mountain PBS |
| Country | United States |
First air date | January 20, 1956 (1956-01-20) |
Broadcast area | statewideColorado |
| Owner | Rocky Mountain Public Media, Inc. |
| see§ Stations | |
| KUVO | |
| Affiliations |
|
Formeraffiliations | NET (1956–1970) |
Official website | www.rmpbs.org |
Rocky Mountain PBS is a network ofPBS membertelevision stations serving theU.S. state ofColorado. Headquartered inDenver, it is operated byRocky Mountain Public Media, Inc., anon-profit organization which holds thelicenses for most of the PBS member stations licensed in the state, with the exception ofKBDI-TV (channel 12) inBroomfield, which serves as the Denvermarket's secondary (or "beta") PBS station through the network's Program Differentiation Plan. The network comprises five full-power stations—flagship stationKRMA-TV (channel 6) in Denver andsatellitesKTSC (channel 8) inPueblo (also servingColorado Springs),KRMJ (channel 18) inGrand Junction,KRMU (channel 20) inDurango andKRMZ (channel 24) inSteamboat Springs. The broadcast signals of the five full-power stations and 60translators cover almost all of the state, as well as parts ofWyoming,Montana,Nebraska andNew Mexico.
The network's offices and network operations center are located at the Buell Public Media Center on Arapahoe Street in Denver'sFive Points section. KRMJ and KTSC maintain their own respective studio facilities: KRMJ is based at the Kephart Fine Arts Building on the campus ofColorado Mesa University on Bunting Avenue in Grand Junction, while KTSC operates from the Buell Communications Center on the campus ofColorado State University–Pueblo on Bonforte Boulevard in downtown Pueblo. Rocky Mountain Public Media also operates apublic radio station,NPR andjazz outletKUVO (89.3 FM) in Denver, which joined the organization in a merger announced in January 2013.
The network's flagship station, KRMA-TV (channel 6) in Denver, first signed on the air on January 30, 1956, as aneducational television station owned by theDenver Public Schools, withUniversity of Denver instructorJim Case serving as its program director. It is the oldest public television station in theRocky Mountains. Its original studio facility was located in a converted body shop at theEmily Griffith Opportunity School in downtown Denver. The station was originally a member ofNational Educational Television (NET), before becoming a member of PBS when it launched on October 6, 1970.
Originally broadcasting only two hours of programming a day during the week, KRMA soon became a key PBS member, distributing PBS programming to many areas in the Rocky Mountain region that did not have educational stations of their own. From the 1960s onward, it began building translators across Colorado and surrounding states. It was also carried by nearly everycable television system in Colorado and eastern Wyoming. Denver Public Schools sold KRMA to the community group Channel Six, Inc. in 1987. In 1992, KRMA moved its operations into a studio facility on Bannock Street in Denver's Civic Center neighborhood, which formerly housed the operations ofABC affiliateKUSA-TV (channel 9, now anNBC affiliate); that station moved to a new facility located on Speer Boulevard before KRMA moved into the Bannock Street facility.
In response to requests from viewers on theWestern Slope, KRMA applied for and was awarded aconstruction permit by theFederal Communications Commission (FCC) to operate a station onUHF channel 18 inGrand Junction in August 1995. That station signed on the air on January 1, 1997, as KRMJ. Prior to that station's launch, KRMA had been available on cable in western Colorado for decades. It still operates a number of translators in the area. Soon afterward, KRMA dropped its longtime "Six" branding and relaunched as "Rocky Mountain PBS", while Channel Six, Inc. changed its name to the Rocky Mountain Public Broadcasting Network.
In 1999,KTSC (channel 8) in Pueblo joined the network after it was sold by the University of Southern Colorado (now CSU-Pueblo). The station had originally operated as a separate PBS station for Pueblo, Colorado Springs and southern Colorado from its sign-on on February 3, 1971. Until KRMJ's sign-on, KRMA and KTSC had been the only full PBS members in Colorado (as mentioned above, Denver's KBDI is a "beta" PBS member).
On December 3, 2004, KRMU (channel 20) in Durango signed on to serve southwestern Colorado and a small portion of northwestern New Mexico. When KRMU received its license in 2001, it was the first television station in the United States to operate a digital signal without a companion analog channel assignment.
On February 2, 2007, Rocky Mountain PBS added its fifth full-service station and its second station in western Colorado, KMAS-TV (channel 24) inSteamboat Springs. KMAS had served as theTelemundo station for the Denver market prior to joining RMPBS, and brought its programming into Denver itself by way of two low-powered repeater stations—KMAS-LP (channel 33) andKSBS-LP (channel 10). However, its status was placed in doubt whenNBC Universal purchasedKDEN-TV (channel 25) and converted it into a Telemundoowned-and-operated station. NBC Universal finally decided to donate the KMAS-TV license and transmitter to Rocky Mountain PBS. On September 4, 2007, the station's call letters were changed toKRMZ, reflecting its identity as a Rocky Mountain PBS station.
On January 16, 2013, it was announced that the non-profitinvestigative journalism organization I-News Network and public radio stationKUVO (89.3 FM) had reached an agreement to merge with Rocky Mountain PBS. The merger is intended to broaden the reach of their content to new platforms and ensure formal collaboration between the outlets. The deal was expected to close in April 2013.[1] With the merger, the corporate name was modified to Rocky Mountain Public Media.
In 2020, RMPBS moved out of the Bannock Street facility and into the new Buell Studios building which also house radio stations KUVO and Urban Alternative formattedThe Drop.
In January 2026, Rocky Mountain Public Media filed to sell KRMZ for $200,000 to Syncom Media Group, which owns four low-power TV stations in Denver. The application provides for a change in the station's call sign and an application to return the station to commercial status before closing.[2]
Rocky Mountain PBS produces several local programs, such as the weeklyColorado State of Mind,Arts District and the seasonalColorado Experience. However, the network has focused much of its production efforts on local documentaries, which often take months or years to produce. Many of these documentaries (such asLa Raza de Colorado,Jewel of the Rockies,The Arkansas River: From Leadville to Lamar andUrban Rez have earned multipleEmmy Awards over the years.
Satellite stations KRMJ and KTSC occasionally break away from the KRMA feed to provide programming targeted for their respective communities, and each station airs separate local promotions andunderwriting. KRMU is a full-time satellite of KRMJ, while KRMZ is a full-time satellite of KRMA. Citing costs at each station, Rocky Mountain PBS applied for and received waivers of the FCC's main studio rule, which requires that each full-service station maintain a main studio within its local service area.[3][4]
Notes:
The signals of Rocky Mountain PBS' stations aremultiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| xx.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | xxxx-DT | PBS |
| xx.2 | 480i | Kids | PBS Kids | |
| xx.3 | Create | Create | ||
| xx.4 | World | World |
During 2009, in the lead-up to theanalog-to-digital television transition that would ultimately occur on June 12, Rocky Mountain PBS shut down the analog transmitters of its stations on a staggered basis. Listed below are the dates each analog transmitter ceased operations as well as their post-transition channel allocations:[6]
KRMU signed on in December 2004 as a digital-only station, although it also had endured a temporary shutdown in early 2009 in final preparation for the transition.
In addition to its five full-service television stations, Rocky Mountain PBS operates one of the largest translator networks in the country, serving portions of Colorado, Wyoming,Kansas, Nebraska andUtah. KRMA feeds two translators inBoulder andFort Collins. KTSC feeds 10 translators in rural southern Colorado, and KRMJ feeds 13 translators serving rural western Colorado. The other translators are operated by community groups that pick up one of the three Rocky Mountain PBS regional feeds, and carry the signals onward through their systems.
All 25 translators within the RMPBS system operate as digital signals, and as such carry the primary channel and two subchannels from their respective parent transmitters.
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Includes stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of Colorado | ||
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