About Colorado Public Television

Station History

Originally known as KBDI Channel 12, Colorado Public Television (CPT12) is a unique civic resource that began broadcasting in 1980 as one of the country’s first alternative public television services. During its first 30 years, the station has grown to be a significant media voice in Colorado and a distinct model for community-oriented public television nationwide.

The Founding Vision

KBDI’s founders created a new kind of public television. Identifying the public’s need for local programming infused with a rich, non-commercial public-service purpose, they shaped a public television station dedicated to

• Serving diverse populations throughout Colorado,
• Providing vigorous community affairs debate,
• Giving voice to independent, under-represented and frequently unpopular perspectives and views.

Since its inception, Channel 12 has enriched its schedule with innovative, educational programming from the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and many other national and international services as well as local producers and independent filmmakers.

Colorado Public Television emerged as the result of the hard work of a coalition of citizens, activists and media organizers who, in the mid-to-late-1970’s, launched a series of alternative radio, counter-culture press, cable-access and community media organizations throughout Colorado.

Channel 12 was one of two, “noncommercial educational” frequencies the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) allocated to Denver as part of a national policy to provide multiple, differentiated public television services throughout the country. The KBDI organizers saw Channel 12 as an opportunity to broaden discourse in local television by creating a new, more community oriented and globally conscious station. 

Accordingly, in 1977 the founders formed the  Front Range Educational Media Corporation (FREMCO) to apply for the Channel 12 license and establish the station. Later that year the FCC granted the license to FREMCO, and in February 1980 Channel 12 went on the air.

KBDI began operations in Broomfield, Colorado, with transmitting facilities on Squaw Mountain in Clear Creek County. At 11,500 feet, the Channel 12 site remains the highest of any full-power television station in the nation. From there, Channel 12 began serving first the Denver Metro area, and then the entire Colorado Front Range, with an energetic mix of innovative and provocative programming independent of conventional public and commercial television.

In 1989, KBDI moved its offices and studios to Denver, and in 1994 to the historic and culturally-rich Five Points neighborhood. Since then it has been co-housed in the Five Points Media Center with other community-oriented media organizations, and in 2006 it bought the building. Meanwhile in the late 1990s KBDI began doing business as “Colorado Public Television,” and in 2005 it formally reincorporated under that name.

A Mature and Stable Present

Under the banner “World View, Community Voice,” Colorado Public Television has grown to serve over 80 percent of the state’s population. Beyond Denver and the Front Range, CPT12 is increasingly received in various Western Slope and Eastern Plains communities, ever broadening its service throughout Colorado.

As part of the national public television system and as a member of PBS and other national services, CPT12 airs a strong mixture of outstanding international, national and local children’s, adult education, science, history, news, public affairs, election and documentary programming.

As the station airs only 25 percent of the PBS schedule each year, it does not simply replicate existing forms of public television. Instead, Colorado Public Television is “differentiated,” providing multiple services that are distinct alternatives to typical “mainstream” PBS stations. Channel 12’s iconoclastic brand of independent and community-oriented programming creates a diversity that serves a wide range of needs and interests in Colorado.

Colorado Public Television regularly offers as many as a dozen locally-produced public and community affairs programs, including two for the Latino community, and it is Colorado’s leading forum for local, national and international documentary work.

The station also provides the largest amount of political campaign coverage and candidate debates of any television station in the state. Engaging viewers in a common civic purpose has earned the station the understanding, respect and affection of the region’s citizens and leaders.

Meanwhile, Colorado Public Television has become a leader in the national movement of similarly “differentiated” stations, collectively known as “The Beta Group.” A distinguishing feature of Beta Group stations is local, community-oriented programming serving a wide range of diverse political, ethnic, language and cultural interests that typically are underserved in commercial television and even much of public television.

Summary

Because of its unique, issues-oriented local and global focus, Colorado Public Television has secured a special place in Colorado political and social culture. It has worked hard to earn the understanding and support of the Colorado television viewing community, and it is now widely understood to be a unique part of Colorado telecommunications.

When the station celebrated its 25th Anniversary in 2005, it began charting a new course that, while protecting its traditional values and vigorous community service tradition, looked forward to the opportunities for increased and even stronger services in digital telecasting and interactive media.

Already well launched on its next quarter century, Colorado Public Television expects to continue to be a leader in alternative, differentiated forms of public-service television in Colorado – and across the nation.