PBS SoCal

PBS SoCal enriches Southern California by connecting communities to the wider world through public media. Available to nearly 19M viewers in the region, we provide free access to educational, news, environmental, and cultural content that mirrors our diverse community. Through cultural events and hands-on learning experiences, we foster dialogue and prepare children for success, making a meaningful impact on our community.​

PBS SoCal is a donor supported 501(c)3 charitable organization.

PBS SoCal's public media legacy serving Southern California spans over 60 years. Today, we're a multi-platform destination for engaging, educational entertainment. And we’ve unified what began as two separate SoCal public television stations, each with its own unique history: KCET and KOCE.

Our public media legacy serving Southern California spans over 60 years. Today, we're a multi-platform destination for engaging, educational entertainment. And we’ve unified what began as two separate SoCal public television stations, each with its own unique history.

Community Television of Southern California's KCET-TV (Channel 28) was the first public television station in SoCal. It first broadcast from Hollywood's Historic Mutual-Don Lee Studios in 1964 and was formally dedicated in January 1965. A few years later, KOCE-TV "educational television for Orange County" (Channel 50) began broadcasting, airing as its first program, "The Electric Company," on November 20, 1972.

By then, the non-profit Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) had been created, thanks to the signing of the Public Broadcasting Act by then-President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1967. The creation of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) — "America's fourth new network" — soon followed in 1969. KCET became a PBS member station in 1970 with the official launch of PBS. KOCE after its 1972 debut operated for much of its PBS member history as a secondary station, broadcasting from the Golden West College campus in Huntington Beach.

In 1985, KOCE’s volunteer organization, The Friends of KOCE, was formed and had over 100 members ready to support station fundraising and events. In 2004, KOCE become an independent community licensee, owned and operated by the KOCE-TV Foundation that was formed back in 1978 when it was incorporated as a non-profit.

In 2011, KCET became the largest independent public television station in the United States after ending its affiliation with PBS in October 2010. In April of that year, the station sold its 40-year Sunset Boulevard home and moved to a new state-of-the-art facility in Burbank. In 2012, it merged with San Francisco-based independent non-profit media company Link Media to form a new independent public media company with a national reach, KCETLink.

Also in 2011, KOCE became the new flagship PBS station for Southern California, re-branded as PBS SoCal, and expanded its reach into Palm Springs and Santa Barbara.

In 2018, the KCET and KOCE stations came together as one organization — and PBS SoCal and KCETLink merged under the umbrella of the donor-supported, flagship PBS organization Public Media Group of Southern California. As of February 2024, we have united our two stations under a single name: PBS SoCal.

2023 by the Numbers:
• 7 Broadcast channels available to nearly 19M viewers
• 32 New, locally produced programs/series
• 64 Hosted events in our community
• 91 National programs designated as diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI)
• 200+ Virtual and in-person family education workshops
• 362 Articles and videos on our websites related to our DEI efforts
• 19K Regional parents and children received our educational materials
• Bilingual educational programs for more than 1M children under five, and for the more than 40% of children who don’t attend pre-school
• Reached 2.2M monthly local viewers (17% Over-the-air)

2023 Impact Summary
In 2023, we continued our efforts to adapt to a digital future in the ever-changing media landscape. We worked towards ensuring that our content is available for free on the platforms our viewers prefer, while offering special incentives for Passport. Our programming showcased the full schedule of beloved and trusted PBS content with new program debuts like Ken Burns' The U.S. and the Holocaust as well as the debut of the new food competition series The Great American Recipe. Perennial favorites like Finding Your Roots, NOVA and Frontline continued to roll out new content with some episodes specific to Southern California audiences. Over the course of the year, we had 32 locally produced, original productions including community urban garden docuseries 10 Days in Watts, award-winning arts & culture series Artbound, student film showcase Fine Cut and the LIVE broadcast of the beloved holiday tradition LA County Holiday Celebration. These programs elevated Southern California’s stories and continued to highlight our region’s rich cultural tapestry while providing our community with an essential connection to a wider world.

We expanded our early learning program locally, statewide, and nationally. By offering free bilingual, hands-on learning experiences, we helped prepare children for kindergarten and beyond. Recognizing an unmet educational need for Southern California’s children, we implemented a family engagement-focused plan to make a meaningful impact on children and caregivers. Key highlights from the year include:
• Serving our Learning Neighborhoods with partnership-driven experiences from “Ready To Learn” and Family Math.
• More than 1,200 parents engaged in STEM curriculum and PBS KIDS resources.
• More than 500 parents were reached through our Ready To Learn (RTL) program in East L.A., and 19 libraries across the state partnered with
us to run a Watch Party experience for the new animated series Molly of Denali in collaboration with library meal programs.
• Almost 6,000 parents engaged in Family Math curriculum and PBS KIDS resources.
• Participation in Family Math workshops resulted in a statistically significant 10% increase in parent math confidence, 11% increase in parent knowledge and awareness of foundational math skills and 9% increase in math positivity.
• Family Math efforts in 2023 included creation of toolkits, forging of station partnerships and digital expansion as well as ramping up to launch Family Music Videos in the new year.
• 146 local educators were trained on how to use high-quality PBS resources in the classroom.
• More than 30 local community partners worked with PBS SoCal to enhance our collective impact in the community.

We also engaged our communities through various initiatives, including our Ambassador and Intern programs, PBS NewsHour’s Student Reporting Labs, the PBS Learning Media platform, and a Community Advisory Board that honored two new Local Heroes. We extended our reach beyond broadcast and digital viewing by offering engagement opportunities that brought audiences together for shared experiences and meaningful impact.

1. Original Content in Arts & Culture, News & Public Affairs, Science & Environment, and Children's Programming 2. Educational Outreach for Families 3. Free Access to National Programming 4. Educator Engagement and professional development

Nearly 19 million viewers in 10 counties (Inyo, Kern, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura) across Southern and Central California from as far north as San Luis Obispo County, as far south to San Diego and as far east to the Nevada-Arizona border. You can access our programs for free through our seven 24/7 broadcast channels. You can also stream our programs for free on the PBS app for mobile and via connected platforms like Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Android TV, Samsung Smart TV, Chromecast, and VIZIO SmartCast TV. PBS SoCal members can also access an even deeper library of PBS content with PBS Passport.