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KCPT (channel 19), branded as Kansas City PBS or KC PBS, is a
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
member
television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth's s ...
in
Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...
, United States. It is owned by Public Television 19, Inc., alongside
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radio station
KTBG KTBG (90.9 FM, 90.9 The Bridge) is a listener-supported, non-commercial NPR Music member radio station serving the Kansas City, Missouri market, broadcast from Warrensburg, Missouri, United States. It is currently owned by Public Television 19, ...
(90.9 FM) and online magazine ''Flatland''. KCPT and KTBG share studios on East 31st Street in the Union Hill section of Kansas City, Missouri. KCPT's transmitter is located near 23rd Street and Stark Avenue in the Blue Valley neighborhood. The station provides coverage to the Kansas City and
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areas. KCPT went on air as KCSD-TV, the television station of the Kansas City School District, on March 29, 1961. The school district used the station to broadcast instructional programming to its schools and also aired evening programming from
National Educational Television National Educational Television (NET) was an American non-commercial educational, educational terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Ford Foundation and later co-owned by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. It op ...
, predecessor to PBS. When members of the city school board began to disagree on which function of the station was more important amid a financial crunch, the case was made for the school district to spin out KCSD-TV to a community-owned non-profit organization. This officially took place at the start of 1972, at which time the station changed call signs to KCPT. In part by acquiring assets of the defunct KCIT-TV at bankruptcy auction, channel 19 improved its signal and began color telecasting. In addition, KCPT began producing local programming for the first time. KCPT moved in 1978 from studios near the transmitter site to the former
KCMO-TV KCTV (channel 5) is a television station in Kansas City, Missouri, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Gray Media alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate KSMO-TV (channel 62). The two stations share studios on Shawnee Mission Parkway ...
building in Union Hill in 1978. In the 1990s, KCPT debuted ''Kansas City Week in Review'', an ongoing public affairs series, and was among the first public TV stations to begin broadcasting a digital signal. When analog telecasting ceased in 2009, KCPT began offering additional subchannels of programming. Since 2013, KCPT has expanded into related public media businesses by purchasing a radio station and moving it into the Kansas City area as KTBG, starting ''Flatland'', and setting up a local newsroom.


History


Founded by schools

Ultra high frequency Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter ...
(UHF) channel 19 was allocated to Kansas City for educational television use in 1952, and in 1958, the Kansas City School District began investigating the possibility of building such a station. The Electron Corporation of
Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
offered free use of a low-power transmission system it wanted to try. In October 1959, the school board authorized the filing of an application with the
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...
(FCC) for the channel, and in March 1960, the school board sought bids for equipment. The
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was awarded on March 24, 1960, but the school system was still noncommittal about proceeding with the station, even though the 11th floor of the library and administration building was being refitted as a television studio. Delays in finishing the studio in turn delayed the launch of the station. KCSD-TV began broadcasting on March 29, 1961, using the studios in the administration building and an antenna on
Kansas City City Hall Kansas City City Hall is the official seat of government for the city of Kansas City, Missouri, United States. Located in downtown, it is a 29-story skyscraper with an observation deck. Completed in 1937, the building has a Beaux-Arts and Art ...
. The first program was a presentation to faculty, including a tour of the studios. On April 4, the first programs for schools were broadcast and every television set in the schools had to be converted to receive UHF stations. In September, the board of education authorized KCSD-TV to join
National Educational Television National Educational Television (NET) was an American non-commercial educational, educational terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Ford Foundation and later co-owned by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. It op ...
(NET), allowing it to present adult education programming at night beginning in February 1962. As with the schools, the public would need to convert TV sets to receive KCSD-TV, the only UHF station in Kansas City at the time. Though the Kansas City School District invited other nearby school systems in western Missouri and far eastern Kansas to use KCSD-TV programming, some systems in outlying areas were not covered. Additionally, as a result of increasing interest in the adult education programming, in 1963, KCSD-TV applied for and received a federal grant to increase its transmission power, which took effect for the late 1964 television season. Efforts were made toward regional planning to give school districts in the expanded coverage area a voice in KCSD-TV's educational programming.


From educational to public television

The growth of adult programming on KCSD-TV had increased the station's year-round payroll from two employees in 1963 to 13 in 1969. However, by 1969, the school board faced a financial crisis that ultimately led it to lay off more than 250 people. This exacerbated existing conflict within the school board as to the purpose of KCSD-TV. Board president Homer C. Wadsworth proposed the establishment of a community advisory board for the station in 1966, in order to enhance the effectiveness of its evening programming for adults; however, the idea met with opposition from several board members. As a result of the financial issues in the school district, superintendent James A. Hazlett recommended that the station cut $125,000 from its $275,000 budget by ceasing local production of educational programs for schools, instead purchasing series produced elsewhere. Two board members instead preferred cuts to the evening programming, one saying that the station's programs for adults were an unnecessary expense in a year when the board had to increase school lunch prices. Others, including Wadsworth and former
University of Missouri–Kansas City The University of Missouri–Kansas City (UMKC or Kansas City) is a Public university, public research university in Kansas City, Missouri, United States. UMKC is part of the University of Missouri System and has a UMKC School of Medicine, medic ...
chancellor Carleton Scofield, noted that federal funding for public television was increasing and called any cuts to that portion unwise. In July 1970, the school board voted to fully fund instructional television and provide half funding for public television for the 1970–1971 school year, after which it would quit supporting KCSD-TV. A new public non-profit corporation backed by Scofield and Wadsworth was being formed to pick up the remainder and eventually become the licensee. The group struggled to attract public interest to its efforts at first. A press conference to announce locally the fall lineup of PBS, which was replacing NET as the national network for public television stations, met with poor attendance from the news media.


New owners, more power, and color

Community Service Broadcasting of Mid-America (CSB) was formed in January 1971 with a board of 23 local civic and business leaders. It was chaired by Edward T. Matheny, Jr., who had served as attorney for the school board. In August 1971, the board approved the transfer of the KCSD-TV license to CSB with the stipulation that the new licensee provide five hours on weekdays for the broadcast of programs for schools, to be primarily financed by the Kansas City school district. In addition, CSB leased the school district's facilities until it could relocate the station. One of the major issues facing CSB was KCSD-TV's signal quality. In addition to being incapable of telecasting in color, it had a weak signal. Two new UHF stations had started in Kansas City in 1969 and 1970, both broadcasting with more effective radiated power than KCSD-TV: KCIT-TV on channel 50 and KBMA-TV on channel 41. CSB had a natural opportunity to improve this situation. KCIT-TV had struggled financially in just under two years on the air and left the air for good in early July 1971.
RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...
, a major creditor of the failed station, had repossessed the transmitter facility, and a bankruptcy auction was scheduled in late October for 10 acres of land and a building in Blue Summit. CSB won the bidding, described as "exciting" by Harry Jones Jr. of ''
The Kansas City Star ''The Kansas City Star'' is a newspaper based in Kansas City, Missouri. Published since 1880, the paper is the recipient of eight Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Star'' is most notable for its influence on the career of President Harry S. Truman and a ...
'', over Andrew "Skip" Carter—owner of the city's Black radio station, KPRS—and a surprise entrant to the auction, a local banker. CSB briefly considered applying for channel 50 as a second station, but it opted to focus on improving channel 19 first. The FCC granted approval for the transfer of KCSD-TV's license to CSB on December 10, 1971. On December 31, the call letters were changed to KCPT, for Kansas City Public Television. In January 1972, CSB agreed to purchase the tower from RCA and new channel 19 transmitting equipment from
General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...
. In mid-1972, work took place to ready the studios in Blue Summit and to prepare a new instructional television program, benefiting from CSB's superior financial resources compared to the Kansas City School District and a cooperative equipment purchase plan to aid schools without color TV sets. KCPT began broadcasting in color and with its increased power on October 16, 1972. In 1973, the station held its first televised auction to purchase equipment for local program production. John Masterman, a former
WDAF-TV WDAF-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Kansas City, Missouri, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, the station maintains studios and transmitter facilities on Summit Street in the Signal Hill se ...
newsman, joined KCPT in 1974 and began producing public affairs programs. In a 19-year tenure at channel 19, he led such local shows as ''Kansas City Illustrated'' and produced documentaries. By 1976, CSB had changed its name to Public Television 19, Inc.


New studios

KCMO-TV KCTV (channel 5) is a television station in Kansas City, Missouri, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Gray Media alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate KSMO-TV (channel 62). The two stations share studios on Shawnee Mission Parkway ...
(channel 5) and KCMO radio announced in 1976 that they would leave their longtime home on 31st Street—now considered in the Union Hill neighborhood—to a new facility to be built in
Fairway, Kansas Fairway is a city in Johnson County, Kansas, Johnson County, Kansas, United States. It is included in the Kansas City metropolitan area census designation and the Shawnee Mission, Kansas, Shawnee Mission postal services designation. As of the 2 ...
. KCPT then agreed to purchase the 31st Street studios from KCMO. For KCPT, the former KCMO studios were a major upgrade over Blue Summit. The station would have two large studios instead of one small studio, additional storage space, and a film lab. The transaction did not include the tower on the site, which continued to be used to broadcast KCMO-TV. KCMO completed its move to Fairway at the end of 1977, with KCPT moving into 31st Street shortly after. The
Missouri Lottery The Missouri Lottery is the state-run lottery in Missouri. It is a charter member of the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL). As of 2022, the lottery offers Powerball, Mega Millions, Cash4Life, Lotto, Show Me Cash, Pick 4, Pick 3, Cash Pop, C ...
's first televised drawings were conducted from the KCPT studios when the lottery began in 1986. Though a network of commercial stations led by KCTV held the rights to the telecasts, KCTV could not produce the show in its facilities in Kansas, and only KCPT had adequate space for the observers required by the lottery. In the 1980s, KCPT attempted to build a full-power satellite station in
St. Joseph According to the canonical Gospels, Joseph (; ) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. Joseph is venerated as Saint Joseph in the Catholic Church, Eastern Orth ...
on channel 22. It filed for the channel in 1983, won the construction permit, and attempted to build the proposed KMPT. However, construction of the station was contingent on the availability of the proposed transmitter site: the existing tower in St. Joseph of
KQTV KQTV (channel 2) is a television station in St. Joseph, Missouri, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Heartland Media. The station's studios and transmitter are located on Faraon Street in eastern St. Joseph. KQTV went on the a ...
. That station was planning to build a new, taller tower in Kansas and let KCPT use the vacated tower space for its broadcasts. However, the FCC denied approval for the proposed new tower facility. Joseph Fuzy, KCPT's general manager, retired in 1992 after 18 years. He advanced his retirement to save the station money during a budget crunch. He was replaced by Bill Reed. In 1996, KCPT followed
KCET KCET (channel 28) is a secondary PBS member television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the Public Media Group of Southern California alongside the market's primary PBS member, Huntington Beach–licensed KOC ...
in
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by opening a Store of Knowledge in Kansas City's
Country Club Plaza The Country Club Plaza (often called The Plaza) is a privately owned regional shopping center in the Country Club District of Kansas City, Missouri, Kansas City, Missouri. Opened in 1923, it is considered to be the first planned large outdoor su ...
. The hope was that the venture would help replace diminishing federal funds for public broadcasting. The station took no responsibility for losses or day-to-day operations while receiving 25 percent of profits. After the later addition of a second Store of Knowledge, the venture lasted less than five years, closing nationally in June 2001. One local series launched at KCPT in the 1990s became a station staple, and another remains on the air. ''Rare Visions & Roadside Revelations'', a travel program, became a regular series after positive response to a special produced the previous year. The program had a 12-season run, traveling to 40 states, and won regional awards. ''Kansas City Week in Review'' was started by John Masterman in 1992 and was conceived as a counterpart to the national ''
Washington Week in Review ''Washington Week'', originally titled as ''Washington Week in Review'' and billed as ''Washington Week with the Atlantic'' since 2023, is an American public affairs television program, which has aired on PBS and its predecessor, National Educa ...
''. It has been anchored by Nick Haines since 1997, who had joined as a Kansas statehouse panelist in 2014.


Digitalization

KCPT became the first Kansas City station to begin digital telecasting when KCPT-DT on channel 18 began operating on November 6, 1998. KCPT was the first client for a new television transmitter capable of broadcasting in analog and digital on adjacent channels. Delays in the acquisition of a new analog transmitter helped to advance the digital launch. Initially, KCPT received high-definition programs directly from PBS in Virginia, as its
master control Master control is the technical hub of a broadcast operation common among most over-the-air television stations and television networks. It is distinct from a production control room (PCR) in television studios where the activities such as swit ...
facility could not handle them. In 2000, the station produced ''Uniquely Kansas City'', a multi-part series that was the first
high-definition television High-definition television (HDTV) describes a television or video system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since at least 1933; in more recent times, it ref ...
production in the market. In the late 1990s, KCPT extended its educational services in partnership with a consortium of local community colleges, known as the Kansas City Regional Access Consortium for Higher Education (KC REACHE). In overnight hours when the station once was off the air, it began broadcasting distance learning courses in 1998. The program quickly grew from a pilot to include 10 institutions and serve 6,700 adults by 2001. In 2001, KCPT celebrated 40 years of broadcasting. At the time, the station had just completed a $6 million renovation of its studios, including an expansion in which KCPT extended the facility to cover where other businesses had stood. A capital campaign to pay for the digital television conversion also was intended to start a $2 million local program endowment in honor of Masterman. However, the economy declined, and the
September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
further diminished charitable giving. As a result of declining revenues, in 2002, Reed canceled plans for the endowment and discontinued the public affairs series ''Ruckus'', laying off four staffers. ''Ruckus'' later returned to the air for a total of 23 seasons and was put on hiatus in 2020. In 2004, KCPT won a National
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for Best Documentary for ''Be Good, Smile Pretty'', a film which documents Tracy Droz Tragos's journey to find the father she lost in
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and aired nationally on ''
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''. In the mid- to late 2000s, the station had two changes in leadership. Reed retired in 2005 and was replaced by Victor Hogstrom, who had built a reputation as a revenue generator in his previous position at
WTCI WTCI (channel 45) is a PBS member television station in Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States. Owned by the Greater Chattanooga Public Television Corporation, the station maintains studios on Bonnyshire Drive in Chattanooga, and its transmitter ...
in
Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Tennessee River and borders Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the south. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, it is Tennessee ...
. After Hogstrom resigned in 2008, he was replaced by Kliff Kuehl, previously of KNPB in
Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada–California border. It is the county seat and most populous city of Washoe County, Nevada, Washoe County. Sitting in the High Eastern Sierra foothills, ...
. In advance of the 2009 shutdown of full-power analog broadcasting, KCPT launched a second subchannel, KCPT2, airing programs different to those on the main channel plus shows not offered by the main station. KCPT shut down its analog signal on June 12, 2009, the official date full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal continued to broadcast on its pre-transition UHF channel 18. The national transition allowed KCPT to send out a higher-power digital signal because of the closure of analog
KAAS-TV KSAS-TV (channel 24) is a television station in Wichita, Kansas, United States, affiliated with Fox and MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which provides certain services to Hutchinson-licensed Dabl affiliate KMTW (channel 3 ...
in
Salina, Kansas Salina is a city in and the county seat of Saline County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 46,889. In the early 1800s, the Kanza tribal land reached eastward from the middle of the Kansas Territory. In 1858 ...
.


Beyond public television

In December 2013, KCPT gained a sister radio station when Public Television 19, Inc. finalized its purchase of
KTBG KTBG (90.9 FM, 90.9 The Bridge) is a listener-supported, non-commercial NPR Music member radio station serving the Kansas City, Missouri market, broadcast from Warrensburg, Missouri, United States. It is currently owned by Public Television 19, ...
(90.9 FM) in Warrensburg from the
University of Central Missouri The University of Central Missouri (UCM) is a public university in Warrensburg, Missouri, United States. In 2024, enrollment was 13,734 students from 48 states and 52 countries on its 1,561-acre campus. UCM offers 150 programs of study, incl ...
for $1.1 million, plus $550,000 in
in-kind The term in kind (or in-kind) generally refers to goods, services, and transactions not involving money or not measured in monetary terms. It is a part of many spheres, mainly economics, finance, but also politics, work career, food, health and o ...
services. The transmitter for the station was moved west to adequately cover most of the Kansas City area. Earlier that year, an anonymous donation of nearly $4 million allowed the station to start a digital newsroom. In 2014, KCPT launched the online magazine ''Flatland''. ''Flatland'' expanded in 2021 with a new monthly half-hour show. In 2020, KCPT rebranded as Kansas City PBS, bringing its brand closer to that of the national network. The station embarked on a new capital campaign named ''Picture This'' in 2022. Most of the $16.5 million initiative, primarily raised privately, went toward remodeling the studio complex and adding space for events and performances, and the remainder was used for technology and new content initiatives. Construction work concluded in June 2023.


Funding

In 2021, KCPT generated $13.4 million in total revenue, $1.4 million of that in the form of grants from the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB; stylized as cpb) is an American publicly funded non-profit corporation, created in 1967 to promote and help support public broadcasting. The corporation's mission is to ensure universal access to ...
. $3.6 million in revenue was earned from nearly 30,000 contributors. The station also received $1.5 million in major gifts and $1 million in endowment income. That year, there were $9.8 million in direct expenditures.


Subchannels

The station's signal is
multiplexed In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource— ...
:


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kcpt 1961 establishments in Missouri PBS member stations Television channels and stations established in 1961 Television stations in the Kansas City metropolitan area