About Colorado Public Television

Station History

Colorado Public Television (KBDI-TV/12) is a unique civic resource that began broadcasting in 1980 as one of the country’s first alternative public television services. During its first quarter-century, KBDI has grown to be a significant media voice in Colorado and a distinct model for community-oriented public television nationwide.

The Founding Vision

KBDI’s founders created a new kind of public television. Identifying the public’s need for local programming infused with a rich, non-commercial public-service purpose, they shaped a public television station dedicated to

• Serving diverse populations throughout Colorado,
• Providing vigorous community affairs debate,
• Giving voice to independent, under-represented and frequently unpopular perspectives and views.

Since its inception, KBDI has enriched its schedule with innovative, educational programming from the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and many other national and international services as well as local producers and independent filmmakers.

Colorado Public Television (CPT) emerged as the result of the hard work of a coalition of citizens, activists and media organizers who, in the mid-to-late-1970’s, launched a series of alternative radio, counter-culture press, cable-access and community media organizations throughout Colorado.

Channel 12 was one of two, “noncommercial educational” frequencies the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) allocated to Denver as part of a national policy to provide multiple, differentiated public television services throughout the country. The KBDI organizers saw Channel 12 as an opportunity to broaden discourse in local television by creating a new, more community oriented and globally conscious station. 

Accordingly, in 1977 the founders formed the  Front Range Educational Media Corporation (FREMCO) to apply for the Channel 12 license and establish the station. Later that year the FCC granted the license to FREMCO, and in February 1980 Channel 12 went on the air.

KBDI began operations in Broomfield, Colorado, with transmitting facilities on Squaw Mountain in Clear Creek County. At 11,500 feet, the Channel 12 site remains the highest of any full-power television station in the nation. From there, Channel 12 began serving first the Denver Metro area, and then the entire Colorado Front Range, with an energetic mix of innovative and provocative programming independent of conventional public and commercial television.

In 1989, KBDI moved its offices and studios to Denver, and in 1994 to the historic and culturally-rich Five Points neighborhood. Since then it has been co-housed in the Five Points Media Center with other community-oriented media organizations, and in 2006 it bought the building. Meanwhile in the late 1990s KBDI began doing business as “Colorado Public Television,” and in 2005 it formally reincorporated under that name.

A Mature and Stable Present

Under the banner “World View, Community Voice,” KBDI has grown to serve over 80 percent of the state’s population. Beyond Denver and the Front Range, Colorado Public Television is increasingly received in various Western Slope and Eastern Plains communities, ever broadening its service throughout Colorado.

As part of the national public television system and as a member of PBS and other national services, Colorado Public Television airs a strong mixture of outstanding international, national and local children’s, adult education, science, history, news, public affairs, election and documentary programming.

Initially, Channel 12 faced opposition by some who did not understand its complementary role to other PBS stations. But as KBDI airs only 25 percent of the PBS schedule each year, it does not simply replicate existing forms of public television. Instead, Colorado Public Television is “differentiated,” providing multiple services that are distinct alternatives to typical “mainstream” PBS stations. Channel 12’s iconoclastic brand of independent and community-oriented programming creates a diversity that serves a wide range of needs and interests in Colorado.

Colorado Public Television regularly offers as many as a dozen locally-produced public and community affairs programs, including two for the Latino community, and it is Colorado’s leading forum for local, national and international documentary work.

KBDI also provides the largest amount of political campaign coverage and candidate debates of any television station in the state. Engaging viewers in a common civic purpose has earned KBDI the understanding, respect and affection of the region’s citizens and leaders.

Meanwhile, Colorado Public Television has become a leader in the national movement of similarly “differentiated” stations, collectively known as “The Beta Group.” A distinguishing feature of Beta Group stations is local, community-oriented programming serving a wide range of diverse political, ethnic, language and cultural interests that typically are underserved in commercial television and even much of public television.

The Digital Future

In 1999, Colorado Public Television developed a plan for its transition to digital (DTV) telecasting – a step made necessary by the federal government mandate for the conversion of all of U.S. television broadcasting from analog to digital.

The KBDI plan consists of six phases over ten years; it is designed to create a robust multiple-channel service that will provide more of the diverse programming characteristic of Channel 12 and its fellow Beta Group stations.

In 2003, KBDI completed Phase Three of its conversion plan by activating its transitional digital signal and inaugurating the first multicast DTV service in Colorado. As part of that plan it is now providing two high-quality national and international public television streams, The Documentary Channel (DT-12.2) and MHz Worldview (DT-12.3).

When Phase Six is complete in 2009, Channel 12 will be offering a diverse schedule of these and other public television services, including high definition (HD) programming.

Colorado Public Television also is actively experimenting with other new digital formats and distribution platforms. Using the Internet and “pull” technologies, KBDI is developing on-demand services for both large and small screens, including new content forms suitable for “micro-display” and increased interaction with viewers and the community at large.

Summary

Because of its unique, issues-oriented local and global focus, KBDI has secured a special place in Colorado political and social culture. It has worked hard to earn the understanding and support of the Colorado television viewing community, and it is now widely understood to be a unique part of Colorado telecommunications.

When Colorado Public Television celebrated its 25th Anniversary in 2005, it began charting a new course that, while protecting its traditional values and vigorous community service tradition, looked forward to the opportunities for increased and even stronger services in digital telecasting and interactive media.

Already well launched on its next quarter century, KBDI expects to continue to be a leader in alternative, differentiated forms of public-service television in Colorado – and across the nation.