KQEH

KQEH (channel 54), branded on-air as KQED Plus, is a PBS member television station licensed to San Jose, California, United States, serving the San Francisco Bay Area. The station is owned by KQED Inc., alongside fellow PBS station KQED (channel 9) and NPR member KQED-FM (88.5) in San Francisco. The three stations share studios on Mariposa Street in San Francisco's Mission District and transmitter facilities atop Sutro Tower; until January 17, 2018, KQEH's transmitter was located atop Monument Peak.

History

The station first signed on the air on October 19, 1964, as KTEH, originally intended to serve the South Bay. In the late 1990s, KTEH bought KCAH in Watsonville, which was founded in 1989 to serve as the PBS station for the Santa Cruz–Salinas–Monterey market. 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.[1]

Programming

In April 1981, KTEH started showing the British science-fantasy show Doctor 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 of Red Dwarf in one night. In doing so, many episodes were shown on KTEH before their broadcast on British television.[3][4]

In the mid-1990s, Scott Apel hosted airings of The Prisoner with commentary, using an episode ordering he devised. The ordering is still a popular one in the Prisoner fandom, referred to as the "KTEH order".

KTEH also has a history of airing anime. From 1996 to 2003, the station would air various anime series on Sunday nights. KTEH was notable as the station that saw the broadcast premiere of the English-subtitled Neon Genesis Evangelion, as well as the dubbed version of the Tenchi Universe TV series. Other anime aired on KTEH include Bubblegum Crisis, Key the Metal Idol,[5] subtitled versions of Dirty Pair Flash, All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku, Uruesi Yatsura,[6] and Sakura Wars, and dubbed versions of Serial Experiments Lain,[7] City Hunter, Ruin Explorers, Please Save My Earth,[8][9] Ranma ½,[10] and Generator Gawl. KTEH also aired Robotech, an English production that was originally a combination of three similar, but otherwise unrelated anime series (Super Dimensional Fortress Macross, Super Dimensional Cavalry Southern Cross, and Genesis Climber Mospeada) that originally aired on commercial broadcast television in the United States. [11][12]

Karen Roberts was the person responsible for acquiring the programming for both British television series and Japanese anime.[13]

Local productions

KTEH has produced many television programs over the years, some of which have been nationally broadcast. Its current production schedule includes:[14]

KTEH was the production company for several other productions:[17]

This is Us (not to be confused with the NBC series of the same name) – an Emmy Award-winning[15] 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.[16]

callsign	KQEH
city	San Jose, California
branding	KQED Plus
digital	30 (UHF), shared with KQED
virtual	54
affiliations	54.1: PBS for others, see
owner	KQED Inc.
location	San Jose–San Francisco–Oakland, California
country	United States
airdate	October 19, 1964
callsign meaning	portmanteau of KQED and former KTEH call sign (meaning of KTEH not known)
sister stations	KQED, KQET, KQED-FM, KQEI
former callsigns	KTEH (1964–2011)
former channel numbers	Analog: 54 (UHF, 1964–2009) Digital: 50 (UHF, until 2018)
former affiliations	NET (1964–1970)
erp	1,000 kW
haat	511.7 m
facility id	35663
coordinates	37.75528°N, -122.45278°W
licensing authority	FCC
website	https://www.kqed.org/tv

History

Programming

Local productions

Technical information

Subchannels

Analog-to-digital conversion

See also

External links

References