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|---|---|
| Channels | |
| Branding | Kansas City PBS |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner | Public Television 19, Inc. |
| KTBG | |
| History | |
First air date | March 29, 1961 |
Former call signs | KCSD-TV (1961–1971) |
Former channel number(s) | Analog: 19 (UHF, 1961–2009) |
| NET (1961–1970) | |
Call sign meaning | Kansas City Public Television |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 53843 |
| ERP | 1,000 kW |
| HAAT | 355 m (1,165 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 39°4′58.7″N 94°28′50.1″W / 39.082972°N 94.480583°W |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | kansascitypbs |
KCPT (channel 19), branded as Kansas City PBS or KC PBS, is a PBS member television station in Kansas City, Missouri, United States. It is owned by Public Television 19, Inc., alongside adult album alternative radio station KTBG (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 St. Joseph 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, 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 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.
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for KCPT". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.