The station first signed on the air on October 19, 1964, as KTEH, originally intended to serve theSouth Bay. In the late 1990s, KTEH bought KCAH inWatsonville, which was founded in 1989 to serve as the PBS station for theSanta Cruz–Salinas–Montereymarket. Before being acquired by KQED, KTEH maintained a Technical Volunteer program, which allowed volunteers to learn how to operate cameras, audio, shading, directing, and other production and technical responsibilities, while minimizing its costs. These volunteers made up the technical crews for all of their pledge drives and auction programming, as well as other occasional live broadcasts.
In 2006,KQED Inc. and the KTEH Foundation agreed to merge to form Northern California Public Broadcasting.[2] As a result of the merger, KCAH changed its call letters to KQET on August 12, 2007. Subsequently, on October 1, 2007, KQET, which became a satellite of KTEH following its acquisition of the station, switched programming sources from KTEH to KQED. KQET's programming is carried on the seconddigital subchannel of KQED.
In December 2010, the Board of Directors of Northern California Public Broadcasting changed the organization's name to KQED Inc. KTEH shut down its studio on Schallenberger Road, moved its operations to the KQED studio in San Francisco, changed its call letters to KQEH, and rebranded itself as "KQED Plus" on July 1, 2011, after research found that most viewers were unaware that KTEH was related to KQED; other aspects of the station's operation, including programming and staff, were not affected by this change.[3]
In April 1981, KTEH started showing the British science-fantasy showDoctor Who, which ran on the station until January 2003. On April 10, 2007,Doctor Who returned to the station with the airing of the program's 2005 revival. KTEH has also aired another British sci-fi show,Red Dwarf. In 1998, KTEH aired the entire eighth series ofRed Dwarf in one night. In doing so, many episodes were shown on KTEH before their broadcast on British television.[4][5]
In the mid-1990s,Scott Apel hosted airings ofThe Prisoner with commentary, using an episode ordering he devised. The ordering is still a popular one in thePrisoner fandom, referred to as the "KTEH order".[citation needed]
This article needs to beupdated. Please help update this section to reflect recent events or newly available information.(July 2011)
KTEH has produced many television programs over the years, some of which have been nationally broadcast. Its current production schedule includes:[15]
This is Us (not to be confused with theNBC series of the same name) – an Emmy Award-winning[16] show featuring profiles of remarkable people and places in Northern California.
Saving the Bay – an Emmy Award-winning documentary about San Francisco Bay which went on to a national release in 2011.
video i – an award-winning showcase of documentaries, dramas, and experimental films.
KTEH Cooks with Garlic – local viewers preparing their favorite garlic recipes. Winner of the first PBS Interactive Innovation of the Year Award.[17]
Moneytrack – an ongoing series on investment management.
KTEH was the production company for several other productions:[18]
KQEH (as KTEH) shut down its analog signal, overUHF channel 54, on June 12, 2009, as part of thefederally mandated transition from analog to digital television.[22] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 50, usingPSIP to display KQEH'svirtual channel as 54 on digital television receivers, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition. On January 17, 2018, KQEH ceased broadcasting on UHF channel 50 from Monument Peak Tower near Milpitas, and moved to UHF channel 30 broadcasting from Sutro Tower in San Francisco, a frequency shared with KQED.[23]
^Antonucci, Mike (February 8, 1998). "Anime Magnetism Drawing Power of Japanese Animation Tapes, Festivals Makes Imprint on U.S. Culture".The Mercury News.Moreover, in a nod to the purists who want subtitles instead of dubbing, KTEH is running a block of four anime episodes in that format March 8, starting at 9 p.m. The program isUrusei Yatsura, a comedy about aliens who want torepossess the Earth and the luckless,lecherous lad who opposes them.
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