About KEET

What's On Now

Our History

Image Description The dream of public television on the rural northern coast of California began more than 40 years ago when a small group of television pioneers including William Smullin, Angelo Franceschi, and Norman Cissna saw the need for educational media. In 1961 articles of incorporation were drawn and then in 1962, they armed themselves with $12,000 in donations, a $10,000 grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and a vision that someday the North Coast would be graced by public television.

In 1967, Redwood Empire Public Television received an endorsement by the California State Television Advisory Committee and top priority in the State of California to construct a new educational television station. With this state approval, the station began its fundraising tasks by obtaining individual charter memberships of $10 each. By November of 1968, more than 500 charter members had contributed a total of $10,670 to the station.

KEET-TV broadcast its inaugural signal on April 14, 1969. Using just 500 watts of power, KEET became the nation's 162nd public television station. Shortly thereafter, the station received a $52,000 grant from the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. The funds were used to install a new RCA transmitter with 67,000 watts of power. This new equipment allowed Channel 13 to broadcast in color for the first time.

As the station grew, so did the need for a permanent home. KEET's original office was located in the Humboldt County Schools office. In 1969, the facilities moved to a garage in downtown Eureka where KEET broadcast its first signal. The station would soon move to three classrooms in the Sacred Heart Parish in Eureka. KEET finally found its current home during the mid-1970s atop Eureka's Humboldt Hill Road.

The College of the Redwoods Foundation donated the current facility. Utilizing the space of its new location, Channel 13 installed a 30-foot satellite dish in 1978 and became the first local station to receive programming by satellite transmission.

During its 40-year history, KEET-TV has become an integral part of the North Coast community. The station's impacts have been expanded. No longer is television just about excellent programs. Just as importantly, today local public television is about reaching out to the community with forums, special projects, and literacy services.

Although there is a long record of accomplishment in the station's history, the future is where the excitement lies. Today, station management looks to the technological marvel of digital television to transform what public television can do in the 21st century.

Digital television will be KEET-TV's greatest investment in the community. This new fusion of video, audio, images, and text will allow viewers to have a truly interactive experience while using public television as an educational and cultural resource.

1962

Local public TV station becomes the dream of a small group of television pioneers who saw the need for an educational television station.

1967

Redwood Empire Public Television Station (a.k.a. KEET-TV) receives an endorsement by the California State Television Advisory Committee and top priority in the State of California to construct a new educational television station.

Donald Telford becomes the first Vice President and Director of KEET, establishing the first offices in the Humboldt County Schools office.

1968

Redwood Empire Public Television Station plans 20 hours a week of instructional television for classroom use and five additional hours of cultural programming. KEET moves to downtown Eureka into a garage.

1969

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting issues its first check to KEET-TV. $10,000 later, KEET is on the air! The KEET-TV studio is located in a garage in downtown Eureka. On April 14, 1969 KEET-TV broadcasts its inaugural signal and thus becomes the 162nd public broadcasting station in the country. Transmission of programming was accomplished employing used equipment-- some donated and some borrowed -- which allowed KEET to broadcast with just fewer than 5,000 watts of power.

1970

KEET-TV broadcasts the first of many political forums hosted by the League of Women Voters of Humboldt County.

1974

KEET-TV studio moves to Sacred Heart School.

1975

Fire-damaged studio on Humboldt Hill is donated to KEET-TV. 7246 Humboldt Hill Road becomes station's new home. KEET-TV broadcasts hearings on the expansion of Redwood National Park.

1977

KEET-TV is the first local station to use satellite technology to receive programming. General Manager St. Clair Adams joins KEET.

1979

Ten Years! KEET celebrates its first decade of broadcasting.

1983

The nation's first 60-minute newscast premiers as the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour.

1985

KEET airs its inaugural broadcast of the Rhododendron Festival Parade.

1986

KEET receives a grant for a new transmitter and families in outlying areas begin to receive Channel 13.

1987

"The Return of the King" is produced by KEET. The 30-minute documentary about salmon restoration efforts is distributed to PBS stations nationwide.

1989

KEET's broadcast schedule is expanded to meet viewers' needs. Channel 13 now provides continuous programming from early morning to late night.

1990

KEET broadcasts in stereo.

California's Gold with Huell Howser preimeres.

1994

25th Anniversary. Then-Assemblyman Dan Hauser presents KEET representatives with a California proclamation congratulating the station on 25 years of service.

1995

KEET begins broadcasting a second audio program (SAP) allowing the station to offer descriptive video services to the blind and those with low vision. The sight impaired can now hear descriptions of what is seen on the screen for programs including Nature and Masterpiece Theatre. KEET-TV becomes one of only five PBS stations in California to reach out in this way to the blind.

KEET presents the first Reading Rainbow Young Writers and Illustrators contest. This is a national contest that encourages, challenges and rewards students from kindergarten through third grade who tell their own stories in their own words and their own pictures.

1996

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) establishes digital television (DTV) as the new technological standard in the 21st century.

In October the Corporation for Public Broadcasting grants funding to KEET to become a Ready To Learn station. RTL expands KEET's committment to children's educational development with a series of workshops and resouce materials designed for parents, care-givers and teachers using KEET-TV children's programming.

In June KEET begins broadcasting 24-hours per day.

1997

KEET purchases 64 acres on Kneeland Ridge to construct a new tower and transmitter for the digital conversion.

Channel 13's Ready to Learn program distributes its first book through the First Book literacy effort. This PBS-fueled project educates teachers, parents and child care providers how to use television as an educational tool rather than a pastime. The benefits of the program have caught on in recent years. Besides donating thousands of books to low-income families, Ready to Learn has also re-emphasized the theory that television, when used properly, can be of educational use within families and classrooms.

Northcoast Landscapes II: Water Concerto is produced and made available for sale. This program is the sequel to Northcoast Landscapes featuring some of the most beautful aspects of our local environment.

KEET receives a Literacy award from the Humboldt/Del Norte Reading Council at their annual tea.

1998

KEET-TV becomes a local leader in researching DTV opportunities. Six PBS stations debut digital television. KEET-TV makes history again by unveiling the North Coast's first-ever digital television demonstration. Reporters, board members and community leaders pack into the studio to see first-hand the technological marvel of DTV.

KEET-TV expands its services to the sight impaired by using its second audio channel to broadcast readings of local newspaper articles with the help of the Reading Service of the Redwoods. The blind and those with low vision now access 25 to 30 news articles each week through KEET-TV services.

Living Biographies premiers in August. This on-going series enabled KEET to preserve the stories and bits of local history provided by the elder citizens who participated.

1999

Celebrate! KEET-TV reaches its 30th anniversary. A group of the station's inaugural members help celebrate. St. Claire Adams, General Manager of KEET announces his retirement. After 20 years with KEET he came to personify public television in our commmunity and, when in public, he was frequently called "Mr. KEET".

KEET produces the first interactive live, on-line television program on the North Coast with Our Schools Our Solutions. This one-hour interactive program explored the solutions for stopping school violence with an all teen panel. Live productions continue with two forums on Measure J - Rezoning of Eureka's BalloonTrack.

KEET receives a Bronze Telly Award for Foster Care outeach.

In December KEET-TV welcomes its new Executive Director Ronald Schoenherr.

2000

KEET receives grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PG&E, and the PBS Democracy Project for Teen Vote 2000. This year long effort focused on educating teens about the voting process and its importance in a democracry. It also allowed teens to cast their ballots at special polling places on election day. The effort culminated in a live program hosted by teens on election night comparing their votes with those of the adults.

Engineering Is Everywhere: Secrets of North Coast Wonders debuts. This program was part of KEET's community outreach which paired local civil engineers with 7th and 8th grade classes, after school programs and the Eureka Teen Center. The engineers shared hands-on activities with the students, discussed engineering careers and information about local structures.

The Spirt of Giving debuts which put the spotlight on local philanthropists. Inspired by a national summit on philanthropy, KEET produced this program which shared the stories of volunteerism and charitable giving in our community.

As a companion piece to the national broadcast of the four part series On Our Own Terms: Moyers On Dying, KEET produced Isn't It Time we Talked About It? a North Coast discussion about death and dying. This program was a part of a long term project in association with Hospice of Humboldt and other community organizations.

2001

KEET kicks off its first Capital Campaign "Focus On the Future" to raise funds for a digital transmitter. The total cost for the digital conversion may be as high as $4.6 million.

KEET receives $494,769 from the Public Telecommunications Facilities Program (PTFP) towards the digital transmitter and tower.

KEET receives $230,000 from the California State Office of Emergency Services to be used toward the digital conversion.

KEET receives a regional EMMY nomination for its program Engineering is Everywhere.

2002

August sees the compeletion of the new broadcast tower, a major component of the station's conversion to digital.

KEET also was awarded the Area Agency On Aging's Annual Media Award for the production of And Thou Shalt Honor which addressed issues of caregiving.

Every 15 Minutes receives a Bronze Telly award. This half-hour program chronicled the Every 15 Minutes drunken driving prevention program at Fortuna High School.

KEET and the League of Women Voters presented 12 forums for the November election, the most ever produced in one season.

KEET purchases property in Eureka at the foot of T street. This is to be the new home for the KEET studios.

KEET is recognized by the Northwest Committee for Employment of People with Disabilities for the stations on going efforts to provide information to the visulally impaired.

2003

In partnership with College of the Redwoods, KEET provides the Annenberg Channel to air on C/R's cable channel 8. The Annenberg Channel offers professional development courses for educators K - 12 and other education programs.

KEET is awarded two grants totaling $499,165 to purchase a digital transmitter and a video server.

KEET is first in the broadcasting community to begin transmitting a digital signal.

2004

KEET celebrates 35 years of sevice on the North Coast.

KEET is awarded a $350,548 USDA Public TV Digital Transition Grant to help finance conversion to digital broadcasting in rural Humboldt and Del Norte Counties.

As a companion piece to the national PBS program THE FORGETTING, KEET produces Taking Care: Alzheimer's On the North Coast, a documentary offering caregiving and resource information for families living with Alzheimer's Disease. In addition, KEET-TV launched the Humboldt Count contingent of Pet Partners, and animal assisted therapy program in partnership with the Eureka Alzheimer's Resource Center and the Sequoia Humane Society.

In partnerhip with the Eureka Adult School and Tu Casa, KEET creates the New Americans Resource and Opportunity Fair.

2005

In an effort to encourage exploration of our beautiful surroundings, KEET produces Hiking Humboldt's Backyard Trails, a nature-walk program featuring the Humboldt Wildlife Sanctuary, the Manila Dunes, Trinidad Tiedpools and Mad River Bluffs.

KEET receives funding from the Benton Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the California Endowment, Humboldt Area Foundation and Union Labor Health Foundation to conduct a multi-generational, multi-media awareness and prevention campaign on the effects of methamphetamine use on our community.

KEET produces IN CASE OF EMERGENCY featuring a panel of local emergency experts who discussed how Humboldt County is prepared to handle natural disasters and what families can do to prepare for such a crisis.

KEET dedicates Sunday evenings to programming by Native Americans.

2006

KEET launches the live weekly series, HomeWork Hotline. Teachers from dozens of local schools and hundreds of students from all over Northwestern California participate.

KEET produces LIFE AFTER METH: Facing the Northcoast Methamphetamine Crisis, which receives a Silver Telly Award. KEET staff work with students at Zoe Barnum Hight School to produce SPEAK UP: The Truth About Teens and Methamphetamine. Outreach partners, KHUM-FM receive an Edward R. Murrow Award for their radio documentary Picking Up.

KEET begins the monthly screening and discussion series First Thursday Film Night at the Morris Graves Museum of Art.

KEET is one of only six PBS stations in the country to four consecutive years of receive funding from the Fetzer Institute for the Campaign For Love and Forgiveness, which features facilitated conversations, forums, theatre pieces, TV and radio testimonials, a museum exhibit, curated art show, mini-grant program, and digital storytelling training.

KEET is the presenting station of KITKA AND DAVKA: Old and New World Jewish Music.

2007

KEET begins broadcast of second digital channel KEET WORLD.

KEET produces ORIGINAL PATRIOTS: Northern California Indian Veterans of World War II As a companion piece to the national PBS program THE WAR.

KEET conducts art history outreach with the Northcoast Masters painting contest and exhibition at the InkPeople Center for the Arts, as well as art history courses at the Morris Graves Museum and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.

KHSU-FM begins simulcasting KEET-TV's candidate forums.

KEET's local programs are made available om www.keet.org for viewing on-demand.

2008

KEET erects a digital broadcast tower in Smith River, CA to provide public television to Del Norte and Curry Counties.

KEET-TV's Ready To Learn Service is awarded at $20,000 sustained partnership grant from First 5 Humboldt.

Ready To Learn begins the KEET Kids Club monthly family arts workshops at the Morris Graves Museum of Art.

In collaboration with the Water Safety Coalition of Northwestern California, KEET-TV produced 5 water safety public service announcements addressing a range of issues specific to the North Coast.

KEET is the presenting station for ASSIGNMENT EARTH, a series of environmental journalism.

KEET begins streaming local candidates forums live on www.keet.org.

2009

Stay tuned for upcoming programs North Coast Visionaries, a documentary on local social entrepreneurs, and North Coast Cuisine, a cooking show series featuring chefs from fine restaurants throughout Humboldt County.