KUHT (Channel 8) is a PBS member television station serving Houston and the first public television station in the United States. Under the banner "HoustonPBS," it is owned by the
University of Houston SystemThe University of Houston System is a state system of higher education which oversees and funds four independent, self-governing universities and two multi-institution teaching centers...
, and licensed to and operated by the
University of HoustonThe University of Houston is a public research university located in Houston and is the flagship institution of the University of Houston System...
. It also serves as the default PBS member station for the market, which has no PBS station of its own. HoustonPBS is housed in the LeRoy and Lucile Melcher Center for Public Broadcasting—along with
KUHFKUHF is a public radio station serving Houston, Texas. It broadcasts on a frequency of 88.7 megahertz on the FM dial. It is owned by the University of Houston System, and licensed to and operated by the University of Houston...
, Houston Public Radio—on the University of Houston campus.
The station commenced broadcasting on May 25, 1953 from the
Ezekiel W. Cullen BuildingThe Ezekiel W. Cullen Building, usually shortened in pronunciation as the E. Cullen Building, is a building that serves as the main administrative headquarters of the University of Houston and the University of Houston System. It is named in honor of Ezekiel Wimberly Cullen, a former congressman...
on the University of Houston campus as the first public
television stationA television station is a type of broadcast station that broadcasts video and possibly audio to television receivers in a particular area. Traditionally, TV stations made their broadcasts by sending specially-encoded radio signals over the air, called terrestrial television...
in the United States, and one of the earliest stations of NET,
National Educational TelevisionNational Educational Television was an American educational television network in the United States from May 16, 1952, to October 4, 1970. It was replaced on October 5, 1970, by the PBS, which continues to the present.-History:...
, which eventually merged into PBS.
KUHT (Channel 8) is a PBS member television station serving Houston and the first public television station in the United States. Under the banner "HoustonPBS," it is owned by the
University of Houston SystemThe University of Houston System is a state system of higher education which oversees and funds four independent, self-governing universities and two multi-institution teaching centers...
, and licensed to and operated by the
University of HoustonThe University of Houston is a public research university located in Houston and is the flagship institution of the University of Houston System...
. It also serves as the default PBS member station for the market, which has no PBS station of its own. HoustonPBS is housed in the LeRoy and Lucile Melcher Center for Public Broadcasting—along with
KUHFKUHF is a public radio station serving Houston, Texas. It broadcasts on a frequency of 88.7 megahertz on the FM dial. It is owned by the University of Houston System, and licensed to and operated by the University of Houston...
, Houston Public Radio—on the University of Houston campus.
History
The station commenced broadcasting on May 25, 1953 from the
Ezekiel W. Cullen BuildingThe Ezekiel W. Cullen Building, usually shortened in pronunciation as the E. Cullen Building, is a building that serves as the main administrative headquarters of the University of Houston and the University of Houston System. It is named in honor of Ezekiel Wimberly Cullen, a former congressman...
on the University of Houston campus as the first public
television stationA television station is a type of broadcast station that broadcasts video and possibly audio to television receivers in a particular area. Traditionally, TV stations made their broadcasts by sending specially-encoded radio signals over the air, called terrestrial television...
in the United States, and one of the earliest stations of NET,
National Educational TelevisionNational Educational Television was an American educational television network in the United States from May 16, 1952, to October 4, 1970. It was replaced on October 5, 1970, by the PBS, which continues to the present.-History:...
, which eventually merged into PBS. Its dedication ceremonies were broadcast on June 8 of that year. The station's initial cost was an investment of $350,000 USD, and had an annual operating budget of about $110,000 USD. Originally licensed to both University of Houston ("UH") and the
Houston Independent School DistrictThe Houston Independent School District is the largest public school system in Texas and the seventh-largest in the United States...
, UH became its sole licensee in 1959.
The station also offered the university's first televised college credit classes. Running 13 to 15 hours weekly, these telecasts accounted for 38 percent of the program schedule. Most courses aired at night so that students who worked during the day could watch them. By the mid-1960s, with about one-third of the station's programming devoted to education, more than 100,000 semester hours had been taught on KUHT.
In 1964, KUHT moved into new studios on Cullen Boulevard, which were previously occupied in order by
KTRK-TVKTRK-TV, channel 13, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, located in Houston, Texas...
and later KNUZ-TV (now occupied by KIAH). It purchased a new transmitter that enables the station to not only broadcast beyond
Harris CountyHarris County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area. As of 2000 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 3,400,578 , making it the most populous county in Texas and the third most populous county in the United States...
into its surrounding areas, but it also begins broadcasting in color. Five years later, in 1969, the Association for Community Television (ACT) is formed to fund KUHT.
PBS era
In 1970, the
Public Broadcasting ServiceThe Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television service with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. However, its operations are largely funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting...
, the successor network to NET, began service, combining televised educational lectures with popular programs such as
Sesame StreetSesame Street is an American educational children's television series and a pioneer of the contemporary educational television standard, combining both education and entertainment. Sesame Street is well known for its Muppets characters created by Jim Henson. It premiered on November 10, 1969, and...
,
NOVAA nova is a cataclysmic nuclear explosion caused by the accretion of hydrogen onto the surface of a white dwarf star. Novae are not to be confused with supernovae or Luminous Red Novae.-Occurrence rate, and astrophysical significance:...
, and
Masterpiece TheatreMasterpiece is an anglophiliac drama anthology television series produced by WGBH Boston. It premiered on PBS on January 10, 1971, making it America's longest-running weekly primetime drama series. The series has presented numerous acclaimed British productions...
that remain PBS staples to this day.
In 1982, with assistance from Capital Cities' ABC affiliate,
KTRKKTRK-TV, channel 13, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, located in Houston, Texas...
and
MetromediaMetromedia was a media company that owned radio and television stations in the United States from 1956 to 1986.- Overview :...
's independent station,
KRIVKRIV, channel 26, is an owned-and-operated television station of the News Corporation-owned Fox, located in Houston, Texas. KRIV is co-owned with MyNetworkTV affiliate KTXH...
, KUHT launched on a new transmitter in Missouri City, making it one of several television and radio stations that now broadcast from that location.
On August 21, 2000, KUHT moved to its current studios at the LeRoy and Lucile Melcher Center for Public Broadcasting, where KUHT shares broadcast facilities with public radio station
KUHFKUHF is a public radio station serving Houston, Texas. It broadcasts on a frequency of 88.7 megahertz on the FM dial. It is owned by the University of Houston System, and licensed to and operated by the University of Houston...
—both owned by the University of Houston System and operated by the University of Houston—where the complex is located.
KUHT's digital signal, KUHT-DT (VHF channel 9), launched on May 12, 2001 and has moved to VHF channel 8 (20 kW) after analogue broadcasts ceased in June 2009.
Branding
KUHT was known on-air as "Houston Public Television" for many years before adopting the "HoustonPBS" moniker in the early 21st century. From 1993 into the early 2000s, KUHT's logo also did not include the number 8, but used a logo similar to the ones used by
DetroitDetroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Wayne County. Detroit is a major port city on the Detroit River, in the Midwest region of the United States. Located north of Windsor, Ontario, Detroit is the only major U.S. city that looks south to Canada. It was founded...
's
WTVSWTVS, branded as Detroit Public Television, is the PBS member station in Detroit, Michigan. Broadcasting since 1955, its vision statement is "educate, entertain and inspire — in partnership with our community." The viewer supported station produces many local programs including Get Up! Get Out, In...
and
SeattleSeattle is located in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Situated in the western part of Washington State on an isthmus between Puget Sound and Lake Washington, about south of the Canada – United States border, it is named after Chief Sealth, of the Duwamish and Suquamish tribes...
's
KCTS-TVKCTS-TV is a public television station in Seattle, Washington, that is a member of the Public Broadcasting Service , that broadcasts on digital channel 9. Its offices and broadcasting center are located at the northeast corner of Seattle Center...
. These stations are members of LARK International, a public-television production company, which owns the sunburst-on-square logo; however, they are not related to each other. KUHT's current logo is based on the
sunburstA Sunburst is a design or figure commonly used in architectural ornaments and design patterns. It consists of parts radiating out from a central disk in the manner of sunbeams...
portion of that logo.
Technical firsts
The station is also noted in Houston for many technical firsts at the local level. In 1981, KUHT became Houston's first closed captioned television station, and ten years later, in 1991, it became the first station in Houston to offer
Descriptive Video ServiceThe Descriptive Video Service is a major United States producer of video description, which makes visual media, such as television programs, feature films, and home videos, more accessible to people who are blind or otherwise visually impaired...
(DVS), and other services for the visually impaired as well as bilingual viewers via a secondary audio program (SAP).
Digital television
| Channel |
Programming |
| 8.1 |
HoustonPBS |
| 8.2 |
CreateCreate is a digital television network in the United States. The network was created to fill in some of the void left by the closure of PBS YOU in 2006...
|
| 8.3 |
V-meV-me pronounced veh-meh, Spanish for “see me." is one of America's largest Spanish TV networks.V-me entertains and informs Latino families in Spanish with primetime drama, music, sports, current affairs and Latin cinema, along with kids, food, lifestyle and nature.The 24-hour network launched in...
|