KOCE-TV

KOCE-TV, virtual channel 50 (UHF digital channel 48), is the primary PBS member television station serving Los Angeles, California, United States that is licensed to Huntington Beach. The station is owned by the KOCE-TV Foundation. KOCE's studios are located at the South Coast Corporate Center (south of the San Diego Freeway) in Costa Mesa, and its transmitter is located at the Southern California tower farm atop Mount Wilson.

KOCE is one of three PBS member stations serving Greater Los Angeles, the others being KVCR-DT (virtual channel 24, digital channel 26), which mainly serves the Inland Empire and the LA Unified School District-run KLCS (virtual channel 58, digital channel 41). A fourth public television station serving the area, KCET (channel 28), ended its 40-year membership with PBS in 2010. KCET's exit from the network makes KOCE the succeeding flagship PBS network in Los Angeles.

History

The station first signed on the air on November 20, 1972 as the first television station licensed to Orange County, initially airing four hours of programming per day. It broadcast its first telecourse in 1973. It was originally owned by the Coast Community College District. The station was originally based from studios located at Golden West College in Huntington Beach. For most of its history, KOCE was a "beta" or secondary PBS station, airing only 25 percent of the national PBS schedule.