Product Code Database
KVIE (channel 6) is a PBS member television station in Sacramento, California, United States. The station is owned by KVIE, Inc., a community-based non-profit organization. KVIE's studios are located on West El Camino Avenue in the Natomas district of Sacramento, and its transmitter is located in Walnut Grove, California.
After years of interest in educational television in the Sacramento area, KVIE began broadcasting in February 1959, airing evening educational programs from PBS predecessor National Educational Television and daytime instructional output for schools. Originally located in studios in Sacramento used by a previous UHF station that had become outdated and run down by the 1980s, KVIE relocated to its present studios in 1990. KVIE's local programming has focused on topics including agriculture and activity at the California state capitol.
In October 1957, CCET approved a fundraising project to raise necessary money for staffing. The fund drive needed to raise money from the community to support matching funds from the Fund for Adult Education; John C. Crabbe, one of KVIE's founders, traveled the region and gave 92 speeches in 90 days. This drive raised $205,000, enough to qualify for the matching funds. In April, KOVR extended an offer to the station, which was accepted, to use facilities it had acquired when it purchased the assets of UHF station KCCC-TV the year prior on Garden Highway; KOVR would also carry demonstration programs to present educational television to the area until the station launched.
The FCC granted CCET a construction permit on July 30, 1958. The consortium invited proposals for call signs, selecting KVIE (for "Valley Information and Education" as well as containing VI, the Roman numeral for 6). The pilot programs on KOVR ended in December 1958 in preparation for the launch of channel 6.
KVIE steadily increased its local programming. Most of its early efforts centered around activities at the state capitol. The station televised the full 14-hour death penalty hearing for Caryl Chessman, a man who was convicted for a series of crimes in the late 1940s, and also aired governors' press conferences and legislative hearings at a time when longform coverage of such events was rare on television.
The 1970s were turbulent times for station leadership. Art Paul succeeded Crabbe in 1970, and while he was successful at managing KVIE's finances—an issue in Crabbe's last years—station board members desired to increase local programming, and there were objections to several decisions and use of station funds. The board of directors recommended not rehiring Paul when his contract expired. Instructional programs also went by the wayside in 1978 as a result of Proposition 13, which capped and reduced property taxes and severely restricted new tax increases; schools could no longer afford the programs as a result of declining tax receipts.
Under John Hershberger, general manager from 1979 to 1994, KVIE renewed its emphasis on local program production, which had been a sore point under Paul. KVIE supporter organization Friends of Six, in a unique attempt to help raise funds for the station, opened At Six, a restaurant in the Sierra 2 performing arts center. The cafe lasted a year, beset by management turnover and poor advertising, and its closure left the station out $35,000 in money it gave for setup costs.
After three years during which KVIE was led by former CBS News executive Van Gordon Sauter, who launched several new TV programs including California Heartland and Central Valley Chronicles, David Hosley's nine-year tenure as general manager was dominated by the construction of digital transmission facilities and the upgrading of the physical plant. Early in his tenure, in July 1999, KVIE managed the highest prime time rating of any public television station in the United States, surpassing KQED in San Francisco, which had attracted the most viewers for seven consecutive years.
David Lowe became KVIE's general manager in 2008; at the nadir of the Great Recession, membership fell to 40,000 but had increased to 50,000 by 2018. That year, the station and Lowe received a "Pillar of Public Service" award from America's Public Television Stations for testing datacasting of earthquake early warning alerts to businesses and public agencies.
As the public television station in the state capital, KVIE has also historically produced public affairs programs of statewide interest. Until its cancellation in the early 1980s, the statewide political roundtable California Week in Review originated at the station. From 2002 to 2007, it was one of four co-producers of the statewide newsmagazine California Connected. More recently, Inside California Education, aired statewide, profiles issues facing the state's education system.
KVIE's local programs include Viewfinder, a documentary series; KVIE Arts Showcase, an arts magazine; Rob on the Road, a series of regional travel profiles; and Studio Sacramento, covering public affairs issues in the region.
| +Subchannels of KVIE ! scope = "col" | Channel ! scope = "col" | Res. ! scope = "col" | Aspect ! scope = "col" | Short name ! scope = "col" | Programming |
As part of the SAFER Act, KVIE kept its analog signal on the air until July 12 to inform viewers of the digital television transition through a loop of public service announcements from the National Association of Broadcasters.
|
|
