kuht / houston public television
america's first public television station

On May 25, 1953, KUHT made television history when it signed on the air for its premier broadcast. As America's first public television station, KUHT has served as a model and example for other educational television stations and systems throughout the country. A Houston institution, the station even pre-dates the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and the Public Broadcasting System (PBS).

KUHT, licensed to the University of Houston, has proven the value of educational television over the years. It began with a mission to expand the reach of the university's classroom offerings and to provide programming that would interest not only students and faculty, but also the community at large. The station has changed with the times: broadcasting in color for the first time in 1964; becoming the first station in Houston to telecast with closed captioning for the hearing impaired in 1981; and the first to offer bilingual capabilities, descriptive video and the Houston Taping for the Blind Radio signal through SAP technology in 1991.

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Houston Public Television has a long history of quality, award-winning local and national productions. KUHT's original productions feature the history and culture of the Southeast Texas Gulf Coast region with programs like THE TEXAS RANGERS, THE RANCHERS, LOVE OF THE GAME: THE HISTORY OF BASEBALL IN HOUSTON, LIBERTY TEXAS, IN SEARCH OF LA SALLE and the six-part series HOUSTON: REMEMBER WHEN. National productions include LIVE AT THE WOODLANDS WITH B.B. KING, LIVING WITH KILLER BEES and A WORLD TRANSFORMED.

The station's most recent offering is SPACE STATION, a two-part national PBS documentary series airing on consecutive Tuesdays, December 14 and 21, 1999, which takes viewers on a behind-the-scenes look at the construction of the International Space Station. In the winter of 1999-2000, national programming will include BROTHER, CAN YOU SPARE A BILLION? THE STORY OF JESSE H. JONES, about the Houston businessman who saved American capitalism during the Great Depression and a digital production of THE HOUSTON SYMPHONY: A MAESTRO'S FAREWELL.

KUHT/Houston Public Television is leading PBS stations into the digital age of television through the construction of the LeRoy and Lucile Melcher Center for Public Broadcasting. This new state-of-the-art broadcast facility will allow KUHT to prepare for programming on its digital channel. With the increased capabilities of the digital channel, the station's future plans include expanding its electronic courses and long-distance education programs.

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