Coordinates

56°09′″N40°25′″N

{{infobox u.s. state |name

Colorado |Fullname State of Colorado |Flag Flag of Colorado.svg |Flaglink Flag |Seal Seal of Colorado.svg |Map Map_of_USA_CO.svg |Nickname The Centennial State |Motto Nil sine numine (Nothing without providence) |Former Colorado Territory |Capital Denver |OfficialLang English |Demonym Coloradan |LargestCity capital |LargestMetro Denver-Aurora-Broomfield MSA |Governor John Hickenlooper (D) |Lieutenant Governor Joseph A. Garcia (D) |Legislature General Assembly |Upperhouse Senate |Lowerhouse House of Representatives |Senators 2 – Mark Udall (D) 3 – Michael Bennet (D) |Representative4 Republicans and 3 Democrats |PostalAbbreviation CO |TradAbbreviation Colo. |AreaRank 8th |TotalArea 269,837 |TotalAreaUS 104,094 |LandArea 268,875 |LandAreaUS 103,718 |WaterArea 962 |WaterAreaUS 376 |PCWater 0.36% |PopRank 22nd |2000Pop (2010) 5,029,196 |DensityRank 37th |2000Density 18.64 |2000DensityUS 48.31 |MedianHouseholdIncome $56,993 |IncomeRank 13th |AdmittanceOrder 38th State |AdmittanceDate August 1, 1876 |TimeZone MSTUTC-07, MDTUTC-06 |Latitude 37°N to 41°N |Longitude 102°03'W to 109°03'W |Width 612 |WidthUS 380 |Length 451 |LengthUS 280 |HighestPoint Mount Elbert |HighestElev 4401.2 |HighestElevUS 14,440 |MeanElev 2073 |MeanElevUS 6,800 |LowestPoint Arikaree River |LowestElev 1011 |LowestElevUS 3,317 |ISOCode US-CO |Website www.colorado.gov }}

Colorado (pronounced or, ) is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains. Colorado is part of the Western United States and the Mountain States.

The state was named for the Colorado River, which early Spanish explorers named the Rio Colorado for the red colored () silt the river carried from the mountains. On August 1, 1876, U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant signed a proclamation admitting Colorado as the 38th state. Colorado is nicknamed the "Centennial State" because it was admitted to the Union as the 38th state in 1876, the centennial year of the United States Declaration of Independence.

Colorado is bordered by the northwest state of Wyoming to the north, the midwest states of Nebraska and Kansas to the northeast and east, on the south by New Mexico and a small portion of the southern state of Oklahoma, and on the west by Utah. The four states of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah meet at one common point known as the Four Corners, which is known as the heart of the American Southwest. Colorado is one of only three U.S. states with no natural borders, the others being neighboring Wyoming and Utah.

Colorado is noted for its vivid landscape of mountains, forests, high plains, mesas, canyons, plateaus, rivers, and desert lands. The 2010 United States Census tallied the state population at 5,029,196 as of April 1, 2010, an increase of 16.92% since the 2000 United States Census. Denver is the capital and the most populous city of Colorado. Residents of the state are properly known as "Coloradans", although the archaic term "Coloradoan" is still used.

Geography

The borders of Colorado were originally defined to be lines of latitude and longitude, making its shape a latitude-longitude* quadrangle which stretches from 37°N to 41°N latitude and from 102°03'W to 109°03'W longitude (25°W to 32°W from the Washington Meridian). Colorado, Wyoming and Utah are the only states which have boundaries defined solely by lines of latitude and longitude. When placing the border markers for the Territory of Colorado, minor surveying errors resulted in several nearly imperceptible kinks, most notably along the border with the Territory of Utah. Once agreed upon by the federal, state, and territorial governments, those surveyors' benchmarks, became the legal boundaries for the Colorado Territory, kinks and all.

The summit of Mount Elbert at in elevation in Lake County is the highest point of Colorado and the Rocky Mountains. Colorado is the only U.S. state that lies entirely above elevation. The point where the Arikaree River flows out of Yuma County, Colorado, and into Cheyenne County, Kansas, is the lowest point in Colorado at elevation. This point holds the distinction of being the highest low elevation point of any state.

A little over one fourth of the area of Colorado is flat and rolling land. East of the Rocky Mountains are the Colorado Eastern Plains of the High Plains, the section of the Great Plains within Colorado at elevations ranging from roughly . The midwest plains states of Kansas and Nebraska border Colorado to the east and northeast. The Colorado plains are usually thought of as prairies, but actually they have many patches of deciduous forests, buttes, and canyons, much like the high plains in New Mexico as well. Eastern Colorado is presently mainly covered in farmland, along with small farming villages and towns. Precipitation is fair, averaging from annually. The summers in the plains are normally hot and dry, while the winters are often quite cold, snowy, and icy. Corn, wheat, hay, soybeans, and oats are all typical crops, and most of the villages and towns in this region boast both a water tower and a grain elevator. As well as the farming of crops, Eastern Colorado has a good deal of livestock raising, such as at cattle ranches and hog farms. In eastern Colorado, a good deal of irrigation water is available from the South Platte, the Arkansas River, and a few other streams, and also from subterranean sources, including artesian wells. However, heavy use of ground water from wells for irrigation has caused underground water reserves to decline.

Most of Colorado's population resides along the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains in the Front Range Urban Corridor between Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Pueblo, Colorado. This region is partially protected from prevailing storms that blow in from the Pacific Ocean region by the high Rockies in the middle of Colorado. The only other significant population centers are at Grand Junction and Durango in far western Colorado.

To the west of Great Plains of Colorado rises the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains. Notable peaks of the Rocky Mountains include Longs Peak, Mount Evans, Pikes Peak, and the Spanish Peaks near Walsenburg, in southern Colorado. This area drains to the east and the southeast, ultimately either via the Mississippi River or the Rio Grande into the Gulf of Mexico.

The Continental Divide extends along the crest of the Rocky Mountains. The area of Colorado to the west of the Continental Divide is called the Western Slope of Colorado. Drainage water west of the Continental Divide flows to the southwest via the Green River and the Colorado River into the Gulf of California.

Within the interior of the Rocky Mountains are several large so-called "parks" or high broad basins. In the north, on the east side of the Continental Divide is the North Park of Colorado. The North Park is drained by the North Platte River, which flows north into Wyoming and Nebraska. Just to the south of North Park, but on the western side of the Continental Divide, is the Middle Park of Colorado, which is drained by the Colorado River. The South Park of Colorado is the region of the headwaters of the South Platte River.

In southmost Colorado is the large San Luis Valley, where the headwaters of the Rio Grande are located. The valley sits between the Sangre De Cristo Mountains and San Juan Mountains, and consists of large desert lands that eventually run into the mountains. The Rio Grande drains due south into New Mexico, Mexico, and Texas. Across the Sangre de Cristo Range to the east of the San Luis Valley lies the Wet Mountain Valley. These basins, particularly the San Luis Valley, lie along the Rio Grande Rift, a major geological formation of the Rocky Mountains, and its branches.

The Rocky Mountains within Colorado contain about 54 peaks that are or higher in elevation above sea level, known as fourteeners. These mountains are largely covered with trees such as conifers and aspens up to the tree line, at an elevation of about in southern Colorado to about in northern Colorado. Above this only alpine vegetation grows. Only small parts of the Colorado Rockies are snow-covered year round. Much of the alpine snow melts by mid-August with the exception of a few snowcapped peaks and a few small glaciers. The Colorado Mineral Belt, stretching from the San Juan Mountains in the southwest to Boulder and Central City on the front range, contains most of the historic gold- and silver-mining districts of Colorado.

The 30 highest major summits of the Rocky Mountains of North America all lie within the state. Colorado is home to four national parks, six national monuments, two national recreation areas, two national historic sites, three national historic trails, a national scenic trail, 11 national forests, two national grasslands, 41 national wilderness areas, two national conservation areas, eight national wildlife refuges, 44 state parks, a state forest, 323 state wildlife areas, and numerous other scenic, historic, and recreational attractions.

The Western Slope of Colorado is drained by the Colorado River and its tributaries (primarily the Green River and the San Juan River), or by evaporation in its arid areas. Prominent in the southwestern area of the Western Slope are the high San Juan Mountains, a rugged mountain range, and to the west of the San Juan Mountains, the Colorado Plateau, a high arid region that borders Southern Utah. The city of Grand Junction, Colorado, is the largest city on the Western Slope, Grand Junction and Durango are the only major centers of radio and television broadcasting, newspapers, and higher education on the Western Slope. The Mesa State College in Grand Junction, Western State College in Gunnison, and Fort Lewis College in Durango are the only four-year colleges in Colorado west of the Continental Divide.

Grand Junction is located along Interstate 70, the only major highway of Western Colorado. Grand Junction is also along the major railroad of the Western Slope, the Union Pacific, which also provides the tracks for Amtrak's California Zephyr passenger train, which crosses the Rocky Mountains between Denver and Grand Junction via a route on which there are no continuous highways.

To the southeast of Grand Junction is the Grand Mesa, said to be the world's largest flat-topped mountain. Other towns of the Western Slope include Glenwood Springs with its resort hot springs, and the ski resorts of Aspen, Breckenridge, Vail, Crested Butte, Steamboat Springs, and Telluride.

The northwestern corner of Colorado is a sparsely-populated region, and it contains part of the noted Dinosaur National Monument, which is not only a paleontological area, but is also a scenic area of high, rocky hills, canyons, and streambeads. Here, the Green River briefly crosses over into Colorado.

From west to east, the land of Colorado consists of desert lands and desert plateaus, then alpine mountains with National Forests, then some scattered desert land in the southern mountain areas in the state, and then the relatively-flat grasslands and scattered forests of the Great Plains. The famous Pikes Peak is located just west of Colorado Springs. Its isolated peak is visible from nearly the Kansas border on clear days, and also far to the north and the south. The desert lands in Colorado are located in and around areas such as, the Royal Gorge, Pueblo, Canon City, Florence, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, San Luis Valley, Cortez, Canyon of the Ancients National Monument, Hovenweep National Monument, Ute Mountain, Delta, Grand Junction, Colorado National Monument, Roan Plateau, and other areas surrounding the Uncompahgre Plateau and Uncompahgre National Forest.

Colorado is one of four states in the United States that share a common geographic point the Four Corners, together with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. At this intersection, it is possible to stand in four states at once.

Climate

The climate of Colorado is quite complex compared to most of the United States. Unlike in other states, southern Colorado is not necessarily warmer than northern Colorado. Most of Colorado is made up of mountains, foothills, high plains, and desert lands. Mountains and surrounding valleys greatly affect local climate. As a general rule, with an increase in elevation comes a decrease in temperature and an increase in precipitation. Northeast, east, and southeast Colorado are mostly the high plains, while Northern Colorado is a mix of high plains, foothills, and mountains. Northwest and west Colorado are predominantly mountainous, with some desert lands mixed in. Southwest and southern Colorado are a complex mixture of desert and mountain areas.

Eastern Plains

The climate of the Eastern Plains is semi-arid (Köppen climate classification BSk) with low humidity and moderate precipitation, usually from annually. The area is known for its abundant sunshine and cool clear nights, which give this area a great average diurnal temperature range. In summer, this area can have many days above and sometimes , although is the maximum in the front range cities above . In the plains, the winter extremes can be from 0 °F (-18 °C) to and . About 75% of the precipitation falls within the growing season, from April to September, but this area is very prone to droughts. Most of the precipitation comes from thunderstorms, which are often severe, and from major snowstorms that occur most often in the early spring, late autumn, and sometimes winter. Otherwise, winters tend to be mostly dry and cold. In much of the region, March and April are the snowiest months. April and May are normally the rainiest months, while April is the wettest month overall. The Front Range cities closer to the mountains tend to be warmer in the winter due to chinook winds which warm the area, sometimes bringing temperatures of or higher in the winter. The average July temperature is in the morning and close to in the afternoon. The average January temperature is in the morning and in the afternoon, although variation between consecutive days can be 40 °F (22 °C).

West of the plains and foothills

West of the plains and foothills, the weather of Colorado is much less uniform. Even places a few miles apart can experience entirely different weather depending on the topography of the area. Most valleys have a semi-arid climate, which becomes an alpine climate at higher elevations. Humid microclimates also exist in some areas. Generally, the wettest season in western Colorado is winter while June is the driest month. This is the opposite of precipitation patterns in the east. The mountains have cool summers with many days of high temperatures around to , although frequent thunderstorms can cause sudden drops in temperature. Summer nights are cool or even cold at the highest elevations, which sometimes get snow even in the middle of the summer. The winters bring abundant, powdery snowfall to the mountains with abundant sunshine in between major storms. The western slope has high summer temperatures similar to those found on the plains, while the winters tend to be slightly cooler due to the lack of warming winds common to the plains and Front Range. Other areas in the west have their own unique climate.

Extreme weather

Extreme weather is a common occurrence in Colorado. Thunderstorms are common east of the Continental divide in the spring and summer, and Colorado is one of the leading states in deaths due to lightning. Hail is a common sight in the mountains east of the divide and in the northwest part of the state. The Eastern Plains have some of the biggest hail storms in North America. Also the Eastern Plains are part of Tornado Alley and produce some of the deadliest U.S. tornadoes. Some damaging tornadoes in the Eastern Plains include the 1990 Limon F3 tornado and the 2008 Windsor EF3 tornado, which devastated the town. The plains are also susceptible to floods, which are caused both by thunderstorms and by the rapid melting of snow in the mountains during warm weather. Denver's record in 1921 for the number of consecutive days above was broken during the summer of 2008. The new record of 24 consecutive days surpassed the previous record by almost a week. Much of Colorado is a relatively dry state averaging only of rain per year statewide and rarely experiences a time when some portion of the state is not in some degree of drought. The lack of precipitation contributes to the severity of wildfires in the state such as the Hayman Fire, one of the largest wildfires in American history, and the Fourmile Canyon Fire of 2010, the most destructive wildfire in Colorado's recorded history.

However, there are some of the mountainous regions of Colorado which receive a huge amount of moisture via winter snowfalls. The spring melts of these snows often cause great waterflows in such rivers as the Yampa River, the Grand River, the Colorado River, the Rio Grande, the Arkansas River, Cherry Creek, the North Platte River, and the South Platte River. Water flowing out of the Colorado Rocky Mountains is a very significant source of water for the farms, towns, and cities of fellow southwest states of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, as well as midwest like Nebraska and Kansas, and also southern states like Oklahoma and Texas. A significant amount of water is also diverted for use in California; occasionally (formerly naturally and consistently) the flow of water reaches northern Mexico.

Records

The highest temperature recorded in Colorado was on July 11, 1888, at Bennett, whereas the lowest was on February 1, 1985, at Maybell. >

+ Monthly normal high and low temperatures for various Colorado cities (°F)

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Alamosa

Colorado Springs

Denver

Grand Junction

Pueblo

Earthquakes

On August 22, 2011, a 5.3 magnitude earthquake occurred nine miles WSW of the city of Trinidad. No casualties and only small damage was reported. It was the second largest earthquake in Colorado since a magnitude 5.7 earthquake was recorded in 1973.

History

The region that is today the state of Colorado has been inhabited by Native Americans for more than 13 millennia. The Lindenmeier Site in Larimer County contains artifacts dating from approximately 11200 BCE to 3000 BCE. The eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains was a major migration route that was important to the spread of early peoples throughout the Americas. The Ancient Pueblo Peoples lived in the valleys and mesas of the Colorado Plateau. The Ute Nation inhabited the mountain valleys of the Southern Rocky Mountains and the Western Rocky Mountains. The Arapaho Nation and the Cheyenne Nation moved west to hunt across the High Plains.

The United States acquired a territorial claim to the eastern flank of the Rocky Mountains with the Louisiana Purchase from France in 1803. This U.S. claim conflicted with the claim of Spain to a huge region surrounding its colony of Santa Fé de Nuevo Méjico as its sovereign trading zone with native peoples. Zebulon Pike led a U.S. Army reconnaissance expedition into the disputed region in 1806. Colonel Pike and his men were arrested by Spanish cavalrymen in the San Luis Valley the following February, taken to Chihuahua, and then expelled from Mexico the following July.

The United States relinquished its claim to all land south and west of the Arkansas River and south of 42nd parallel north and west of the 100th meridian west as part of its purchase of Florida from Spain with the Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819. The treaty took effect February 22, 1821. Having settled its border with Spain, the United States admitted the southeastern portion of the Territory of Missouri to the Union as the state of Missouri on August 10, 1821. The remainder of the Missouri Territory, including what would become northeastern Colorado, became unorganized territory, and would remain so for 33 years over the question of slavery. After 11 years of war, Spain finally recognized the independence of Mexico with the Treaty of Córdoba signed on August 24, 1821. Mexico eventually ratified the Adams-Onís Treaty in 1831. The Texian Revolt of 1835–1836 fomented a dispute between the United States and Mexico which eventually erupted into the Mexican-American War in 1846. Mexico surrendered its northern territory to the United States with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo at the conclusion of the war in 1848.

Most American settlers traveling overland west to the Oregon Country, the new goldfields of California, or the new Mormon settlements of Deseret in the Salt Lake Valley, avoided the rugged Southern Rocky Mountains, and instead followed the North Platte River and Sweetwater River to South Pass, the lowest crossing of the Continental Divide between the Southern Rocky Mountains and the Central Rocky Mountains. In 1849, the Mormons of the Salt Lake Valley organized the extralegal State of Deseret, claiming the entire Great Basin and all lands drained by the Green, Grand, and Colorado rivers. The federal government of the United States flatly refused to recognize the new Mormon government, because it was theocratic and sanctioned plural marriage. Instead, the Compromise of 1850 divided the Mexican Cession and the northwestern claims of Texas into a new state and two new territories, the state of California, the Territory of New Mexico, and the Territory of Utah. On April 9, 1851, Mexican American settlers from the area of Taos settled the village of San Luis, then in the New Mexico Territory, later to become Colorado's first permanent Euro-American settlement.

In 1854, Senator Stephen A. Douglas persuaded the U.S. Congress to divide the unorganized territory east of the Continental Divide into two new organized territories, the Territory of Kansas and the Territory of Nebraska, and an unorganized southern region known as the Indian territory. Each new territory was to decide the fate of slavery within its boundaries, but this compromise merely served to fuel animosity between free soil and pro-slavery factions.

Gold was discovered along the South Platte River then in western Kansas Territory in July 1858, precipitating the Pike's Peak Gold Rush. The placer gold deposits along the rivers and streams of the region rapidly played out, but prospectors soon discovered far more valuable seams of hard rock gold in the nearby mountains.

The gold seekers organized the Provisional Government of the Territory of Jefferson on August 24, 1859, but this new territory failed to secure approval from the Congress of the United States embroiled in the debate over slavery. The election of Abraham Lincoln for the President of the United States on November 6, 1860, led to the secession of nine southern slave states and the threat of civil war among the states. Seeking to augment the political power of the Union states, the Republican Party dominated Congress quickly admitted the eastern portion of the Territory of Kansas into the Union as the free State of Kansas on January 29, 1861, leaving the western portion of the Kansas Territory, and its gold-mining areas, as unorganized territory.

Thirty days later on February 28, 1861, outgoing U.S. President James Buchanan signed an Act of Congress organizing the free Territory of Colorado. The original boundaries of Colorado remain unchanged today. The name Colorado was chosen because it was commonly believed that the Colorado River originated in the territory. In 1776, Spanish priest Silvestre Vélez de Escalante recorded that Native Americans in the area knew the river as el Rio Colorado for the red-brown silt that the river carried from the mountains. In 1859, a U.S. Army topographic expedition led by Captain John Macomb located the confluence of the Green River with the Grand River in what is now Canyonlands National Park in Utah. The Macomb party designated the confluence as the source of the Colorado River.

On April 12, 1861, South Carolina artillery opened fire on Fort Sumter to start the American Civil War. While many gold seekers held sympathies for the Confederacy, the vast majority remained fiercely loyal to the Union cause. In 1862, a force of Texas cavalry invaded the Territory of New Mexico and captured Santa Fe on March 10. The object of this Western Campaign was to seize or disrupt the gold fields of Colorado and California and to seize ports on the Pacific Ocean for the Confederacy. A hastily organized force of Colorado volunteers force-marched from Denver City, Colorado Territory, to Glorieta Pass, New Mexico Territory, in an attempt to block the Texans. On March 28, the Coloradans and local New Mexico volunteers stopped the Texans at the Battle of Glorieta Pass, destroyed their cannon and supply wagons, and ran off 500 head of their horses and mules. The Texans were forced to retreat to Santa Fe. Having lost the supplies for their campaign and finding little support in New Mexico, the Texans abandoned Santa Fe and returned to San Antonio in defeat. The Confederacy made no further attempts to seize the Southwestern United States.

In 1864, Territorial Governor John Evans appointed the Reverend John Chivington as Colonel of the Colorado Volunteers with orders to protect white settlers from Cheyenne and Arapaho warriors who were accused of stealing cattle. Colonel Chivington ordered his men to attack a band of Cheyenne and Arapaho encamped along Sand Creek. Chivington reported that his troops killed more than 500 warriors. The militia returned to Denver City in triumph, but several officers reported that the so called battle was a blatant massacre of Indians at peace, that most of the dead were women and children, and that bodies of the dead had been mutilated and desecrated in hideous manner. Three U.S. Army inquiries condemned the action, and incoming President Andrew Johnson asked Governor Evans for his resignation, but none of the perpetrators was ever punished.

In the midst and aftermath of Civil War, many discouraged prospectors returned to their homes, but a determined few stayed on to develop mines, mills, farms, ranches, roads, and towns in the Territory. On September 14, 1864, James Huff discovered silver near Argentine Pass, the first of many silver strikes. In 1867, the Union Pacific Railroad laid its tracks west to Weir, now Julesburg, in the northeast corner of the Territory. The Union Pacific linked up with the Central Pacific Railroad at Promontory Summit, Utah, on May 10, 1869, to form the First Transcontinental Railroad. The Denver Pacific Railway reached Denver in June of the following year, and the Kansas Pacific arrived two months later to forge the second line across the continent. In 1872, rich veins of silver were discovered in the San Juan Mountains on the Ute Indian reservation in southwestern Colorado. The Ute people were removed from the San Juans the following year.

The United States Congress passed an enabling act on March 3, 1875, specifying the requirements for the Territory of Colorado to become a state. On August 1, 1876 (28 days after the Centennial of the United States), U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant signed a proclamation admitting Colorado to the Union as the 38th state and earning it the moniker "Centennial State".

The discovery of a major silver lode near Leadville in 1878, triggered the Colorado Silver Boom. The Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890 invigorated silver mining, and Colorado's last, but greatest, gold strike at Cripple Creek a few months later lured a new generation of gold seekers. Colorado women were granted the right to vote beginning on November 7, 1893, making Colorado the second state to grant universal suffrage and the first one by a popular vote (of Colorado men). The repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act in 1893 led to a staggering collapse of the mining and agricultural economy of Colorado, but the state slowly and steadily recovered.

Colorado became the first western state to host a major political convention when the Democratic Party met in Denver in 1908. By the U.S. Census in 1930, the population of Colorado first exceeded one million residents. Colorado suffered greatly through the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, but a major wave of immigration following World War II boosted Colorado's fortune. Tourism became a mainstay of the state economy, and high technology became an important economic engine. The United States Census Bureau estimated that the population of Colorado exceeded five million in 2009.

Three warships of the U.S. Navy have been named the USS Colorado. The first USS Colorado was named for the Colorado River. The later two ships were named in honor of the state, including the battleship USS Colorado which served in World War II in the Pacific beginning in 1941. At the time of the Attack on Pearl Harbor, this USS Colorado was located at the naval base in San Diego, Calif. and hence went unscathed.

Demographics

Colorado's most populous city, and capital, is Denver. The Denver-Aurora-Boulder Combined Statistical Area with an estimated 2009 population of 3,110,436, is home to 61.90% of the state's residents.

As of 2005, Colorado has an estimated population of 4,665,177, which is an increase of 63,356, or 1.4%, from the prior year and an increase of 363,162, or 8.4%, since the year 2000. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 205,321 people (that is 353,091 births minus 147,770 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 159,957 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 112,217 people, and migration within the country produced a net increase of 47,740 people.

The largest increases are expected in the Front Range Urban Corridor, especially in the Denver metropolitan area. The state's fastest-growing counties are Douglas and Weld. The center of population of Colorado is located just north of the village of Critchell in Jefferson County.

Colorado has a high proportion of Hispanic, mostly Mexican-American, citizens in Metropolitan Denver, Colorado Springs, as well as the smaller cities of Greeley and Pueblo, and in many other smaller cities and towns all throughout the state. Colorado is well known for its strong Latino culture and presence. Southern, Southwestern, and Southeastern Colorado has a large number of Hispanos, the descendants of the early Mexican settlers of colonial Spanish origin. The 2000 United States Census found that 10.5% of people aged five and over in Colorado speak only Spanish at home, with the 2009 estimate being roughly 14%. Colorado also has a large immigration presence all throughout the state, which has led to Colorado cities being referred to as "Sanctuary Cities" for illegal immigrants as well. Colorado has the 5th highest percentage of undocumented people in the U.S., only behind Nevada, Arizona, California, and tied with Texas. An estimated 5.5-6.0% of the state's population is composed of illegal immigrants. Also, over 20% of the state's prisoners are undocumented inmates. Colorado, like New Mexico, is very rich in archaic Spanish idioms.

Colorado also has some African-American communities located in Denver, in the neighborhoods of Montbello, Green Valley Ranch, Park Hill, Five Points, Whittier, and many other East Denver areas. A decent amount of African Americans are also found in Colorado Springs on the east and southeast side of the city. The state has sizable numbers of Asian-Americans of Mongolian, Chinese, Filipino, Korean, Southeast Asian and Japanese descent. The highest population of Asian Americans can be found on the south and southeast side of Denver, as well as some on Denver's southwest side. The Denver metropolitan area is considered more liberal and diverse than much of the state when it comes to political issues and environmental concerns.

According to the 2000 Census, the largest ancestry groups in Colorado are German (22%) including of Swiss and Austrian nationalities, Mexican (18%), Irish (12%), and English (12%). Persons reporting German ancestry are especially numerous in the Front Range, the Rockies (west-central counties) and Eastern parts/High Plains. Denver, as well as all of Colorado, have numerous amount of predominately Latino neighborhoods and communities. Also, Denver and nearby areas on the Front Range has sizable German, Scandinavian, Italian, Slavic and Jewish American communities, partly a legacy of gold rushes in the late 19th century (1861–1889).

According to the 2010 U.S. Census, Colorado had a population of 5,029,196. In terms of race and ethnicity, the state was 81.3% White (70.0% Non-Hispanic White Alone), 4.0% Black or African American, 1.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 2.8% Asian, 0.1% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, 7.2% from Some Other Race, and 3.4% from Two or More Races. Hispanics and Latinos of any race made up 20.7% of the population.

There were a total of 70,331 births in Colorado in 2006. (Birth Rate of 14.6). In 2007, non-Hispanic whites were involved in 59.1% of all the births. Some 14.06% of those births involved a non-Hispanic white person and someone of a different race, most often with a couple including one Hispanic. A birth where at least one Hispanic person was involved counted for 43% of the births in Colorado. As of the 2010 Census, Colorado has the seventh highest percentage of Hispanics (20.7%) in the U.S. behind New Mexico (46.3%), California (37.6%), Texas (37.6%), Arizona (29.6%), Nevada (26.5%), and Florida (22.5%). Per the 2000 census, the Hispanic population is estimated to be 918,899 or approximately 20% of the state total population. Colorado has the 4th largest population of Mexican-Americans behind California, Texas, and Arizona. In percentages, Colorado has the 6th highest percentage of Mexican-Americans behind New Mexico, California, Texas, Arizona, and Nevada.

Religion

Major religious affiliations of the people of Colorado are:

Christian — 64%

* Protestant — 44%

** Evangelical — 23%

** Mainline — 19%

** Other Protestant — 2%

* Roman Catholic — 19%

* Latter Day Saint / Mormon — 2%

* Orthodox — 1%

Jewish — 2%

Muslim — 1%

Other Religions — 5%

Unaffiliated — 25%

The largest denominations by number of adherents in 2000 were the Roman Catholic Church with 752,505; The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with 92,326 (133,727 year-end 2007) ; and Baptist with 85,083.

At 25%, Colorado also has an above-average proportion of citizens who claim no religion. The U.S. average is 17%.

Health

Colorado also has a reputation for being a state of active and athletic people. According to several studies, Coloradans have the lowest rates of obesity of any state in the US. As of 2007 the 18% of the population was considered medically obese, and while the lowest in the nation, the percentage had increased from 17% from 2004. Colorado Governor Bill Ritter commented: “As an avid fisherman and bike rider, I know first-hand that Colorado provides a great environment for active, healthy lifestyles,” although he highlighted the need for continued education and support to slow the growth of obesity in the state.

Culture

List of museums in Colorado

Fine arts

Music of Colorado

Theater in Colorado

Cuisine

Colorado is known for its Southwest and Rocky Mountain cuisine. Mexican restaurants are throughout the state.

Boulder, Colorado was named America’s Foodiest Town 2010 by Bon Appétit. Boulder, and Colorado in general, is home to a number of national food and beverage companies, top-tier restaurants and farmers' markets. Boulder, Colorado also has more Master Sommeliers per capita than any other city, including San Francisco and New York.

The Food & Wine Classic held annually each June in Aspen, Colorado. Aspen also has a reputation as the culinary capital of the Rocky Mountain region.

Denver, Colorado is known for steak, but now has a diverse culinary scene with many top-tier restaurants.

Wine

Colorado wines include award-winning varietals that have attracted favorable notice from outside the state. With wines made from traditional Vitis vinifera grapes along with wines made from cherries, peaches, plums and honey, Colorado wines have won top national and international awards for their quality. Colorado's grape growing regions contain the highest elevation vineyards in the United States, with most viticulture in the state practiced between and feet above sea level. The mountain climate ensures warm summer days and cool nights. Colorado is home to two designated American Viticultural Areas of the Grand Valley AVA and the West Elks AVA, where most of the vineyards in the state are located. However, an increasing number of wineries are located along the Front Range.

Economy

[[File:Denver CO DT WTC AMH 322.JPG|thumb|upright|right|Denver World Trade Center. The Denver financial district along 17th Street is known as the Wall Street of the West.]] CNBC's list of "Top States for Business for 2010" has recognized Colorado as the third best state in the nation, falling short to only Texas and Virginia. The Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates that the total state product in 2008 was $248.6 billion. Per capita personal income in 2010 was $51 940, ranking Colorado 11th in the nation. The state's economy broadened from its mid-19th century roots in mining when irrigated agriculture developed, and by the late 19th century, raising livestock had become important. Early industry was based on the extraction and processing of minerals and agricultural products. Current agricultural products are cattle, wheat, dairy products, corn, and hay.

The federal government is also a major economic force in the state with many important federal facilities including NORAD, United States Air Force Academy and Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs; NOAA and the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder; U.S. Geological Survey and other government agencies at the Denver Federal Center in Lakewood; the Denver Mint, Buckley Air Force Base, and 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver; and a federal Supermax Prison and other federal prisons near Cañon City. In addition to these and other federal agencies, Colorado has abundant National Forest land and four National Parks that contribute to federal ownership of of land in Colorado, or 37% of the total area of the state. In the second half of the 20th century, the industrial and service sectors have expanded greatly. The state's economy is diversified and is notable for its concentration of scientific research and high-technology industries. Other industries include food processing, transportation equipment, machinery, chemical products, the extraction of metals such as gold (see Gold mining in Colorado), silver, and molybdenum. Colorado now also has the largest annual production of beer of any state. Denver is an important financial center.

A number of nationally known brand names have originated in Colorado factories and laboratories. From Denver came the forerunner of telecommunications giant Qwest in 1879, Samsonite luggage in 1910, Gates belts and hoses in 1911, and Russell Stover Candies in 1923. Kuner canned vegetables began in Brighton in 1864. From Golden came Coors beer in 1873, CoorsTek industrial ceramics in 1920, and Jolly Rancher candy in 1949. CF&I; railroad rails, wire, nails and pipe debuted in Pueblo in 1892. Holly Sugar was first milled from beets in Holly in 1905, and later moved its headquarters to Colorado Springs. The present-day Swift packed meat of Greeley evolved from Monfort of Colorado, Inc., established in 1930. Estes model rockets were launched in Penrose in 1958. Fort Collins has been the home of Woodward Governor Company's motor controllers (governors) since 1870, and Waterpik dental water jets and showerheads since 1962. Celestial Seasonings herbal teas have been made in Boulder since 1969. Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory made its first candy in Durango in 1981.

Colorado has a flat 4.63% income tax, regardless of income level. Unlike most states, which calculate taxes based on federal adjusted gross income, Colorado taxes are based on taxable income – income after federal exemptions and federal itemized (or standard) deductions. Colorado's state sales tax is 2.9% on retail sales. When state revenues exceed state constitutional limits, full-year Colorado residents can claim a sales tax refund on their individual state income tax return. Many counties and cities charge their own rates in addition to the base state rate. There are also certain county and special district taxes that may apply.

Real estate and personal business property are taxable in Colorado. The state's senior property tax exemption was temporarily suspended by the Colorado Legislature in 2003. The tax break is scheduled to return for assessment year 2006, payable in 2007.

As of September 2010, the state's unemployment rate is 8.2%.

Philanthropy

Major philanthropic organizations based in Colorado, including the Daniels Fund, the Anschutz Family Foundation, the Gates Family Foundation, the El Pomar Foundation and the Boettcher Foundation, grant approximately $400 million each year from approximately $7 billion of assets.

Natural resources

Colorado has significant hydrocarbon resources. According to the Energy Information Administration, Colorado hosts seven of the Nation’s 100 largest natural gas fields and two of its 100 largest oil fields. Conventional and unconventional natural gas output from several Colorado basins typically account for more than 5 percent of annual U.S. natural gas production. Colorado’s oil shale deposits hold an estimated of oil – nearly as much oil as the entire world’s proven oil reserves; the economic viability of the oil shale, however, has not been demonstrated. Substantial deposits of bituminous, subbituminous, and lignite coal are found in the state. Kimberlite volcanic pipes have been found in Colorado; the Kelsey Lake Diamond Mine operated for several years, recovering gem quality diamonds.

Colorado's high Rocky Mountain ridges and eastern plains offer wind power potential, and geologic activity in the mountain areas provides potential for geothermal power development. Much of the state is sunny and could produce solar power. Major rivers flowing from the Rocky Mountains offer hydroelectric power resources. Corn grown in the flat eastern part of the state offers potential resources for ethanol production.

Transportation

Colorado transportation system connects its cities, residents, and visitors through a diverse and well regulated modes.

Highways and roads

{| |+ Interstate and Federal Highway Routes in Colorado |- | valign="top" | | valign="top" | | valign="top" | | valign="top" | |}

Aviation

{| |+ Commercial Airports in Colorado |- | valign="top" |

ALS – San Luis Valley Regional Airport

ASE – Aspen-Pitkin County Airport

CEZ – Cortez Municipal Airport

COS – City of Colorado Springs Municipal Airport

DEN – Denver International Airport

DRO – Durango-La Plata County Airport

EGE – Eagle County Regional Airport

| valign="top" |

FNL – Fort Collins-Loveland Municipal Airport

GJT – Grand Junction Regional Airport

GUC – Gunnison-Crested Butte Regional Airport

HDN – Yampa Valley Airport

MTJ – Montrose Regional Airport

PUB – Pueblo Memorial Airport

TEX – Telluride Regional Airport

WBU - Boulder Municipal Airport

|}

Rail

{| |+ Amtrak Passenger Railroad Routes through Colorado |- | valign="top" |

California Zephyr:  Chicago, Galesburg, Omaha, Fort Morgan, Denver, Winter Park, Granby, Glenwood Springs, Grand Junction, Salt Lake City, Reno, Sacramento, and Emeryville'''

Southwest Chief:  Chicago, Galesburg, Kansas City, Topeka, Lamar, La Junta, Trinidad, Raton, Lamy, Albuquerque, Gallup, Flagstaff, and Los Angeles

|}

Mass transit

{| |+ Communities in Colorado with Regional Bus Service |- | valign="top" | Alamosa, Aurora, Boulder, Brush, Berthoud, Colorado Springs, Delta, Denver, Durango, Englewood, Frisco, Fort Collins, Fort Morgan, Glenwood Springs, Grand Junction, Greeley, Lamar, Limon, Longmont, Loveland, Montrose, Pueblo, Rocky Ford, Springfield, Sterling, Trinidad, Vail, and Walsenburg |}

Denver and Colorado Springs are serviced by the FREX regional bus.

Fort Collins, Loveland, Berthoud, and Longmont are serviced by the FLEX regional bus.

Accidents

In 2011, Colorado ranked among the five deadliest states for debris/litter–caused vehicle accidents per total number of registered vehicles and population size. Figures derived from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) show at least 16 persons in Colorado were killed each year in motor vehicle collisions with non-fixed objects, including debris, dumped litter, animals and their carcasses.

In the United States including Colorado, most civil aviation incidents are investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), as well as the Colorado Bureau of Investigations (CBI). When investigating an aviation disaster, NTSB investigators piece together evidence from the crash and determine the likely cause or causes. Where as the CBI will also investigate if there is any involved criminal actions.

Government and politics

State government

+ Gubernatorial election results
! Year	Republican Party (United States)>Republican	Democratic Party (United States)>Democratic
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style="text-align:center; background:#f0f0ff;"
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Just like all the states, Colorado's state constitution provides for three branches of government: the legislative, the executive, and the judicial branches. The Governor heads the state's executive branch. The Colorado Supreme Court is the highest judicial court in the state. The state legislative body is the Colorado General Assembly, which is made up of two houses, the House of Representatives and the Senate.

The House has 65 members and the Senate has 35. Currently, the House is controlled by the Republican Party by a one vote majority and the Senate is controlled by the Democratic Party. The 2005 Colorado General Assembly was the first to be controlled by the Democrats in forty years. The incumbent governor is Democrat John Hickenlooper.

Most Coloradans are originally native to other states (nearly 60% according to the 2000 census), and this is illustrated by the fact that the state did not have a native-born governor from 1975 (when John David Vanderhoof left office) until 2007, when Bill Ritter took office; his election the previous year marked the first electoral victory for a native-born Coloradan in a gubernatorial race since 1958 (Vanderhoof had ascended from the Lieutenant Governorship when John Arthur Love was given a position in Richard Nixon's administration in 1973).

State symbols

Boxwidth	25em
Flag	Flag of Colorado.svg
Name	Colorado
Bird	Lark BuntingCalamospiza melanocoryus
Fish	Greenback Cutthroat TroutOncorhynchus clarki somias
Flower	Rocky Mountain ColumbineAquilegia caerules
Grass	Blue Grama GrassBouteloua gracilis
Insect	Colorado Hairstreak ButterflyHypaurotis cysaluswas
Mammal	Rocky Mountain Bighorn SheepOvis canadensis
Reptile	Western Painted TurtleChrysemys picta bellii
Tree	Colorado Blue SprucePicea pungens
Dance	Square Dance
Fossil	Stegosaurus
Gemstone	Aquamarine
Mineral	Rhodochrosite
Staterock	Yule Marble
Soil	Seitz
Song	Where the Columbines GrowRocky Mountain High
Tartan	Colorado State Tartan
Route marker	Colorado 5.svg
Quarter	Colorado quarter, reverse side, 2006.jpg
Quarterreleasedate	2006 }}

Federal politics

+ Presidential elections results
! Year	Republican Party (United States)>Republican	Democratic Party (United States)>Democratic
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Colorado is considered a swing state in both state and federal elections. Coloradans have elected 17 Democrats and 12 Republicans to the governorship in the last 100 years. In presidential politics, Colorado supported Democrats Bill Clinton in 1992 and Barack Obama in 2008, and supported Republicans Robert J. Dole in 1996 and George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004. The presidential outcome in 2008 was the second closest to the national popular vote, after Virginia.

Colorado politics has the contrast of conservative cities such as Colorado Springs and liberal cities such as Boulder. Democrats are strongest in metropolitan Denver, the college towns of Fort Collins and Boulder, southern Colorado (including Pueblo), and a few western ski resort counties. The Republicans are strongest in the Eastern Plains, Colorado Springs, Greeley, and far Western Colorado near Grand Junction.

Former Colorado senator and attorney general Ken Salazar is the current United States Secretary of the Interior (as of January 20, 2009).

The state of Colorado is represented by its two United States Senators:

United States Senate Class 2 – Mark Emery Udall (Democratic) 2009–

United States Senate Class 3 – Michael Farrand Bennet (Democratic) 2009– Colorado is represented by seven Representatives to the United States House of Representatives:

Colorado's 1st congressional district - Diana Louise DeGette (Democratic) 1997-

Colorado's 2nd congressional district - Jared Schutz Polis (Democratic) 2009-

Colorado's 3rd congressional district - Scott Tipton (Republican) 2011–

Colorado's 4th congressional district - Cory Gardner (Republican) 2011–

Colorado's 5th congressional district - Douglas L. "Doug" Lamborn (Republican) 2007-

Colorado's 6th congressional district - Michael "Mike" Coffman (Republican) 2009-

Colorado's 7th congressional district - Edwin George "Ed" Perlmutter (Democratic) 2007-

Counties

thumb|An enlargeable map of the [[List of counties in Colorado|64 counties of the state of Colorado]] The state of Colorado is divided into 64 counties. Counties are important units of government in Colorado since the state has no secondary civil subdivisions such as townships. Two of these counties, the City and County of Denver and the City and County of Broomfield, have consolidated city and county governments.

Nine Colorado counties have a population in excess of 250,000 each, while eight Colorado counties have a population of less than 2,500 each. The ten most populous Colorado counties are located in the Front Range Urban Corridor.

{|class="wikitable sortable" |+The 25 Most Populous Colorado Counties 2010 !Pop Rank !County !2010 Census !2000 Census !Pop Change |- |El Paso County |- |Denver City and County |- |Arapahoe County |- |Jefferson County |- |Adams County |- |Larimer County |- |Boulder County |- |Douglas County |- |Weld County |- |Pueblo County |- |Mesa County |- |Garfield County |- |Broomfield City and County |- |Eagle County |- |La Plata County |- |Fremont County |- |Montrose County |- |Delta County |- |Morgan County |- |Summit County |- |Montezuma County |- |Routt County |- |Teller County |- |Elbert County |- |Logan County |}

Metropolitan areas

The United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has defined one Combined Statistical Area (CSA), seven Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs), and seven Micropolitan Statistical Areas (μSAs) in the state of Colorado.

The most populous of the 14 Core Based Statistical Areas in Colorado is the Denver-Aurora-Broomfield, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area. This area had a population of 2,543,482 at the 2010 United States Census, an increase of 17.88% since the 2000 United States Census.

The more extensive Denver-Aurora-Boulder, CO Combined Statistical Area had a population of 3,090,874 at the 2010 United States Census, an increase of +17.52% since the 2000 United States Census.

The most populous extended metropolitan region in Rocky Mountain Region is the Front Range Urban Corridor along the northeast face of the Southern Rocky Mountains. This region with Denver at its center had a population of 4,333,742 at the 2010 United States Census, an increase of +17.50% since the 2000 United States Census.

Municipalities

The state of Colorado currently has 271 active incorporated municipalities, including 196 towns, 73 cities, and two consolidated city and county governments.

Colorado municipalities operate under one of five types of municipal governing authority. Colorado has one town with a territorial charter, 160 statutory towns, 12 statutory cities, 96 home rule municipalities (61 cities and 35 towns), and 2 consolidated city and county governments.

{|class="wikitable sortable" |+The 25 Most Populous Colorado Municipalities 2010 !Pop Rank !Municipality !2010 Census !2000 Census !Pop Change |- |City and County of Denver |- |City of Colorado Springs |- |City of Aurora |- |City of Fort Collins |- |City of Lakewood |- |City of Thornton |- |City of Pueblo |- |City of Arvada |- |City of Westminster |- |City of Centennial |- |City of Boulder |- |City of Greeley |- |City of Longmont |- |City of Loveland |- |City of Grand Junction |- |City and County of Broomfield |- |Town of Castle Rock |- |City of Commerce City |- |Town of Parker |- |City of Littleton |- |City of Northglenn |- |City of Brighton |- |City of Englewood |- |City of Wheat Ridge |- |City of Fountain |} The City and County of Denver and the City of Aurora both levy an Occupational Privilege Tax (OPT or Head Tax) on employers and employees.

If any employee performs work in the city limits and is paid over US$500.00 for that work in a single month, the employee and employer are both liable for the OPT regardless of where the main business office is located or headquartered.

In Denver, the employer is liable for US$4.00 per employee per month and the employee is liable for US$5.75 per month.

In Aurora, both employer and employees are liable for US$2.00 per month.

It is the employer's responsibility to withhold, remit, and file the OPT returns. If an employer does not comply, they can be held liable for both portions of the OPT as well as penalties and interest.

Unincorporated communities

In addition to its 271 municipalities, Colorado has 187 unincorporated United States census designated places and many other small communities. {|class="wikitable sortable" |+The 15 Most Populous Census Designated Places in Colorado 2010 !Pop Rank !Census Designated Place !2010 Census !2000 Census !Pop Change |- |Highlands Ranch |- |Security-Widefield |- |Ken Caryl |- |Dakota Ridge |- |Pueblo West |- |Columbine |- |Clifton |- |Sherrelwood |- |Cimarron Hills |- |Welby |- |Fort Carson |- |Black Forest |- |Berkley |- |Cherry Creek |- |The Pinery |}

Districts

The state of Colorado has more than 3,000 districts with taxing authority. These districts may provide schools, law enforcement, fire protection, water, sewage, drainage, irrigation, transportation, recreation, infrastructure, cultural facilities, business support, redevelopment, or other services.

Some of these districts have authority to levy sales tax and well as property tax and use fees. This has led to a hodgepodge of sales tax and property tax rates in Colorado. There are some street intersections in Colorado with a different sales tax rate on each corner, sometimes substantially different.

Some of the more notable Colorado districts are:

The Regional Transportation District (RTD), which affects the counties of Denver, Boulder, Jefferson, and portions of Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, and Douglas Counties

The Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD), a special regional tax district with physical boundaries contiguous with county boundaries of Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, and Jefferson Counties

* It is a 0.1% retail sales and use tax (one penny on every $10).

* According to the Colorado statute, the SCFD distributes the money to local organizations on an annual basis. These organizations must provide for the enlightenment and entertainment of the public through the production, presentation, exhibition, advancement or preservation of art, music, theater, dance, zoology, botany, natural history or cultural history.

* As directed by statute, SCFD recipient organizations are currently divided into three "tiers" among which receipts are allocated by percentage.

** Tier I includes regional organizations: the Denver Art Museum, the Denver Botanic Gardens, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, the Denver Zoo, and the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. It receives 65.5%.

** Tier II currently includes 26 regional organizations. Tier II receives 21%.

** Tier III has over 280 local organizations such as small theaters, orchestras, art centers, and natural history, cultural history, and community groups. Tier III organizations apply for funding to the county cultural councils via a grant process. This tier receives 13.5%.

* An 11-member board of directors oversees the distributions in accordance with the Colorado Revised Statutes. Seven board members are appointed by county commissioners (in Denver, the Denver City Council) and four members are appointed by the Governor of Colorado.

The Football Stadium District (FD or FTBL), approved by the voters to pay for and help build the Denver Broncos' stadium INVESCO Field at Mile High

Local Improvement Districts (LID) within designated areas of southeast Jefferson and Boulder counties

Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) taxes at varying rates in Basalt, Carbondale, Glenwood Springs, Gunnison County

Education

thumb|upright|right|The United States Air Force Academy. Colleges and universities in Colorado: thumb|upright|right|The University of Colorado at Boulder. upright|right|thumb|The University of Denver.

Military installations

thumb|upright|Peterson Air Force Base

Air Reserve Personnel Center

Buckley Air Force Base

Fort Carson (U.S. Army)

*Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site

Peterson Air Force Base

*Cheyenne Mountain Directorate

Pueblo Chemical Depot (U.S. Army)

Schriever Air Force Base

United States Air Force Academy

Protected areas

thumb|upright|Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve thumb|upright|Spruce Tree House in Mesa Verde National Park Units of the National Park System in Colorado: Arapaho National Recreation Area

Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

Canyons of the Ancients National Monument

Colorado National Monument

Continental Divide National Scenic Trail

Curecanti National Recreation Area

Dinosaur National Monument

Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument

Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve

Hovenweep National Monument

Mesa Verde National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site

Old Spanish National Historic Trail

Pony Express National Historic Trail

Rocky Mountain National Park

Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site

Santa Fe National Historic Trail

Yucca House National Monument

Sports

Professional sports teams

thumb|upright|The Colorado Rockies National League baseball club at Coors Field in Denver. thumb|upright|Sports Authority Field at Mile High, home of the Denver Broncos National Football League club and the Denver Outlaws Major League Lacrosse club. thumb|upright|Pepsi Center in Denver, home of the Denver Nuggets National Basketball Association club, the Colorado Avalanche National Hockey League club, and the Colorado Mammoth National Lacrosse League club. Colorado is the least populous state with a franchise in each of the major professional sports leagues. {|class="wikitable sortable" |+Professional Sports Clubs based in Colorado !Club !Home !First game !Sport !League |- |Denver Broncos |Denver |align=center| |Football |National Football League |- |Denver Barbarians |Denver |align=center| |Rugby Union |Rugby Super League |- |Denver Nuggets |Denver |align=center| |Basketball |National Basketball Association |- |Colorado Springs Sky Sox |Colorado Springs |align=center| |Baseball |Minor League Baseball (AAA) |- |Colorado Rockies |Denver |align=center| |Baseball |Major League Baseball |- |Colorado Avalanche |Denver |align=center| |Ice hockey |National Hockey League |- |Colorado Rapids |Commerce City |align=center| |Soccer |Major League Soccer |- |Colorado Mammoth |Denver |align=center| |Lacrosse |National Lacrosse League |- |Colorado Eagles |Loveland |align=center| |Ice hockey |ECHL |- |Denver Outlaws |Denver |align=center| |Lacrosse |Major League Lacrosse |}

College athletics

The following universities and colleges participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I.

See also

List of federal lands in Colorado

List of National Register of Historic Places in Colorado

List of people from Colorado

List of places in Colorado

Mountain peaks of Colorado

U.S. state

References

Further reading

Explore Colorado, A Naturalist's Handbook, The Denver Museum of Natural History and Westcliff Publishers, 1995, ISBN 1-56579-124-X for an excellent guide to the ecological regions of Colorado.

The Archeology of Colorado, Revised Edition, E. Steve Cassells, Johnson Books, Boulder, Colorado, 1997, trade paperback, ISBN 1-55566-193-9.

Chokecherry Places, Essays from the High Plains, Merrill Gilfillan, Johnson Press, Boulder, Colorado, trade paperback, ISBN 1-55566-227-7.

The Tie That Binds, Kent Haruf, 1984, hardcover, ISBN 0-03-071979-8, a fictional account of farming in Colorado.

Railroads of Colorado: Your Guide to Colorado's Historic Trains and Railway Sites, Claude Wiatrowski, Voyageur Press, 2002, hardcover, 160 pages, ISBN 0-89658-591-3

External links

State government

Colorado state government website

*Colorado information

*Colorado state government

*Colorado state agencies

**Colorado Department of Transportation

***Colorado highway maps

****Colorado Travel Map

*Colorado counties

*Colorado municipalities

*Colorado special districts

*Colorado tourism

Colorado State and County Government Websites

List of searchable databases produced by Colorado state agencies hosted by the American Library Association Government Documents Roundtable.

Federal government

Energy & Environmental Data for Colorado

USGS Colorado state facts, real-time, geographic, and other scientific resources of Colorado

United States Census Bureau

* Colorado QuickFacts

* Colorado economic data

* Colorado housing data

* Colorado social data

USDA ERS Colorado state facts

Other

Colorado County Evolution

Ask Colorado

2000 Census of Population and Housing for Colorado

Mountain and Desert Plants of Colorado and the Southwest,

Climate of Colorado

| North = | Northeast = | West = | Centre = Colorado : Outline • Index | East = | Southwest = | South = | Southeast = }}

Category:States and territories established in 1876 Category:States of the United States

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Colorado Public Radio is a two-channel public radio state network based in Denver, Colorado with transmitters throughout Colorado. In the Denver area, it broadcasts an FM classical music station, KVOD 88.1, and an in-depth news station, KCFR 90.1. Other simulcasts exist on KVOV Carbondale and KPRE in Vail.

External links

Colorado Public Radio

Category:Radio stations in Colorado

Public broadcasting includes radio, television and other electronic media outlets who's primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing and commercial financing.

Public broadcasting may be nationally or locally operated, depending on the country and the station. In some countries, public broadcasting is run by a single organization. Other countries have multiple public broadcasting organizations operating regionally or in different languages.

Historically, in many countries (with the notable exception of the US), public broadcasting was once the only form or the dominant form of broadcasting. Commercial broadcasting now also exists in most of these countries; the number of countries with only public broadcasting declined substantially during the latter part of the 20th century.

The biggest public broadcaster worldwide by budget (6.3 billion euros in 2009) and employees (23,000) is the German ARD followed by the British BBC. Other large public broadcasters are China National Radio and China Central Television.

Defining public broadcasting

The primary mission of public broadcasting that of public service, speaking to and engaging as a citizen. The British model has been widely accepted as a universal definition. The model embodies the following principles:

universal accessibility (geographic)

universal appeal (general tastes and interests)

particular attention to minorities

contribution to sense of national identity and community

distance from vested interests

direct funding and universality of payment

competition in good programming rather than numbers

guidelines that liberate rather than restrict programme-makers

While application of certain principles may be straightforward, as in the case of accessibility, some of the principles may be poorly defined or difficult to implement. In the context of a shifting national identity, the role of public broadcasting may be unclear. Likewise, the subjective nature of good programming may beg the question of individual or public taste.

Within public broadcasting there are two different views regarding commercial activity. One is that public broadcasting is incompatible with commercial objectives. The other is that public broadcasting can and should compete in the marketplace with commercial broadcasters. This dichotomy is highlighted by the public service aspects of traditional commercial broadcasters.

Economics

Public broadcasters may receive their funding from an obligatory television licence fee, individual contributions, government funding or commercial sources. Public broadcasters do not rely on advertising to the same degree as commercial broadcasters, or at all; this allows public broadcasters to transmit programmes that are not commercially viable to the mass market, such as public affairs shows, radio and television documentaries, and educational programmes.

One of the principles of public broadcasting is to provide coverage of interests for which there are missing or small markets. Public broadcasting attempts to supply topics of social benefit that are otherwise not be broadcast by commercial broadcasters. Typically, such underprovision is argued to exist when the benefits to viewers are relatively high in comparison to the benefits to advertisers from contacting viewers. This frequently is the case in undeveloped countries that normally have low benefits to advertising.

Cultural policy

Additionally, public broadcasting may facilitate the implementation of a cultural policy (an industrial policy and investment policy for culture). Some examples include:

The Canadian government is committed to official bilingualism (English and French). As a result, the public broadcaster, the CBC employs translators and journalists who speak both official languages and it encourages production of cross-cultural material. Quebec separatists argue that this is also a policy of cultural imperialism and assimilation.

In the UK, the BBC supports multiculturalism and diversity, in part by using on-screen commentators and hosts of different ethnic origins. There are also Welsh-language programmes.

In New Zealand, the public broadcasting system provides support to Maori (native New Zealander) broadcasting, with the staed intention of improving their opportunities, maintaining their cultural heritage and promoting their language. In Australia, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation is legally required to 'encourage and promote the musical, dramatic and other performing arts in Australia' and 'broadcasting programs that contribute to a sense of national identity' with specific emphasis on regional and rural Australia'. As well as the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is still encourage and provides through the spirit and sense of multicultural richness and the unique international cultural values within the Australian society.

Vested interests

Public broadcasting, unless its independence is vigorously upheld, can become a tool of government. Similarly, private networks can promote the policies of their owners and suppress other viewpoints, alleging it is in the public interest. Conflicts are common: the state alleges that private broadcasters are attacking it in the interests of the owners, and controls them or takes them over.

History

Implementation of public broadcasting around the world

The model, established in the 1920s, of the British Broadcasting Corporation – an organization widely trusted, even by citizens of the Axis Powers during World War II – was widely emulated throughout Europe, the British Empire, and later the Commonwealth. The public broadcasters in a number of countries are basically an application of the model used in Britain.

Modern public broadcasting is often a mixed commercial model. For example, the CBC has always relied on a subsidy from general revenues of the government, in addition to advertising revenue, to support its television service. This means they must compete with commercial broadcasting. Some argue that this dilutes their mandate as truly public broadcasters, who have no commercial bias to distort their presentation.

The rest of this section looks at some specific implementations of public broadcasting around the world.

Asia

India

In India, Prasar Bharati is India's public broadcaster. It is an autonomous corporation of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Government of India and comprises the Doordarshan television network and All India Radio. Prasar Bharati was established on November 23, 1957 following a demand that the government owned broadcasters in India should be given autonomy like those in many other countries. The Parliament of India passed an Act to grant this autonomy in 1990, but it was not enacted until September 15, 1997.

Nepal

Public Service Broadcasting in Nepal

Pakistan

In Pakistan, the public broadcaster is the state owned PBC which is short for "Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation." It consists of PTV (Pakistan Television) and Radio Pakistan. In the past PBC was funded publicly through money obtained from television, radio and VCR licensing. Pakistan entered into Television Broadcasting age with a small pilot TV Station established at Lahore from where transmission was first beamed in Black & White with effect from 26 November 1964. Television centres were established in Dhaka, Karachi and Rawalpindi/Islamabad in 1967 and in Peshawar and Quetta in 1974. PTV has various channels trasmitting throughout the world including PTV National, PTV World, PTV 2, PTV Global, PTV Bolan etc. Radio Pakistan has stations covering all the major cities, it covers 80% of the country serving 95.5 Million listeners. It has world service in seven languages daily.

Hong Kong

In Hong Kong, the Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) is the sole public service broadcaster. Although a government department under administrative hierarchy, it enjoys editorial independence. It operates seven radio channels, and produces television programmes and broadcast on commercial television channels, as these channels are required by law to provide time slot for RTHK television programmes.

RTHK would be assigned a digital terrestrial television channel within 2013 to 2015, when the new broadcasting building is completed in Tseung Kwan O.

Japan

In Japan, the main public broadcaster is the NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation), sometimes informally referred to as Radio Tokyo by English speakers. The broadcaster was set up in 1926 and was modelled on the British Broadcasting Company, the precursor to the British Broadcasting Corporation created in 1927. Much like the BBC, NHK is funded by a "receiving fee" by every Japanese household, with no commercial advertising and the maintenance of a position of strict political impartiality. However, rampant non-payment by a large fraction of households has led the receiving fee to become something of a political issue. NHK runs two national terrestrial TV stations (NHK General and NHK Educational) and three satellite only services (NHK BS-1, BS-2 and the hi-definition NHK Hi-Vision services). NHK also runs 3 national radio services and a number of international radio and television services, akin to the BBC World Service. NHK has also been an innovator in television, developing the world's first high definition television technology in 1964 and launching high definition services in Japan in 1981.

Malaysia

In Malaysia, the public broadcaster is the state owned RTM which is short for "Radio Televisyen Malaysia" (Malaysian Radio and Television). RTM was previously funded publicly through money obtained from television licensing, however it is currently state subsidised as television licences have been abolished.

At present, RTM operates 8 national, 16 state and 7 district radio stations as well as 2 national terrestrial television channels called TV1 and TV2. RTM has also done test transmissions on a new digital television channel called RTMi. Tests involving 2000 residential homes in the Klang Valley began in September 2006 and ended in March 2007.

KOREA

Korean Brocasting System KBS, Munwha Brocasting Corporation MBC, Education Brocasting System EBS,

Europe

In most countries in Europe, state broadcasters are funded through a mix of advertising and public money, either through a licence fee or directly from the government.

Croatia

Croatian Radiotelevision (, HRT) is a Croatian public broadcasting company. It operates several radio and television channels, over a domestic transmitter network as well as satellite. , 70% of HRT's funding comes from broadcast user fees with each house in Croatia required to pay 79 HRK, kuna, per month for a single television), with the remainder being made up from advertising.

Estonia

ERR (Estonian Public Broadcasting) organizes the public radio and television stations of Estonia. ETV (Estonian Television), the public television station, made its first broadcast in 1955, and together with its sister channel ETV2 has ca. 20% audience share.

France

Following World War II, the RTF (Radiodiffusion-télévision française - French television and radio broadcasting) was created to operate the only two channels of television in France. The RTF was transformed into ORTF (Office de radiodiffusion-télévision française - French television and radio diffusion office), a more independent structure, in 1964. The ORTF saw the birth of a third channel in 1972, two years before the dissolution of the structure in 1974. From this date to 2000, each channel had its own direction structure. The first channel (TF1) was sold to the private sector in 1987 (in these years, the channel which had the most audience was the other public channel Antenne 2). In 1986 a French/German public channel was created, ARTE, originally broadcast on cable and satellite, the fall of the private channel La Cinq freed some frequencies that it had used each day after 19:00. In 1994 a new public channel, La cinquième was created to use the remaining time on the same frequencies. La cinquieme and ARTE subsequently shared the same channels with the exception of satellite, cable, and internet channels where both could be broadcast all day long. In 2000 all the public channels were united into one structure, France Télévisions.

Germany

Following World War II, when regional broadcasters had been merged into one national network by the Nazis to create a powerful means of propaganda, the Allies insisted on a de-centralised, independent structure for German public broadcasting and created regional public broadcasting agencies that, by and large, still exist today. In addition to these nine regional radio and TV broadcasters, which cooperate within ARD, a second national television service—actually called Second German Television (, ZDF)—was later created in 1961 and a national radio service with two networks (Deutschlandradio) emerged from the remains of Cold War propaganda stations in 1994. All services are mainly financed through license fees paid by everybody who keeps a radio, TV set, PC or mobile phone with internet access "ready for use", and are governed by councils of representatives of the "societally relevant groups". Public TV and radio stations spend about 60% of the ~10 Bil. € spent altogether for broadcasting in Germany per year.

Ireland

In Ireland a system of TV licencing and advertising to fund public services operates. RTÉ the incumbent offers a range of free to air services on TV and Radio. The Sound and Vision Fund is operated by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, this fund receives 5% of the licence fee. The fund is used to assist broadcasters to commission public service broadcast programming. It is open to all independent producers provided they get a free to air or community broadcaster's backing, including TV3, Today FM, BBC Northern Ireland, RTÉ, Channel 4, UTV etc. An off-shot of RTÉ, TG4 is an independent Irish language broadcaster that is funded by the government through subsidy, and through advertising revenue.

Italy

The Italian national broadcasting company is RAI - Radiotelevisione Italiana, born as URI in 1924. RAI transmits on analogue television on three channels, named Rai Uno, Rai Due and Rai Tre, but also broadcasts via satellite and is involved in radio, publishing and cinema. RAI has the largest audience share (45%) of any Italian television network. Proceeds derive from a periodical standing charge and from advertising. The main competitors of RAI are Mediaset, the biggest national private broadcaster, divided in three channels, and La7, owned by Telecom Italia.

Montenegro

RTCG (Radio Television of Montenegro) is the public broadcaster in Montenegro.

Netherlands

In the Netherlands a different system is used from most other countries. Public-broadcasting associations are allocated money and time to broadcast their programmes on the publicly owned television and radio channels. The time and money is allocated in proportion to their membership numbers. The system is intended to reflect the diversity of all the groups composing the nation.

Poland

The main public broadcasters are Telewizja Polska (TVP) television and Polskie Radio. TVP operates three nationwide channels: TVP 1, TVP 2 and TVP Info. It also broadcasts couple of digital channels via satellite and 16 regional affiliates. Polskie Radio operates four radio stations available throughout the country. There are also 17 state-owned radio stations broadcasting in particular regions.

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom has a strong tradition of public service broadcasting. In addition to the BBC, established in 1922, there is also Channel 4, a commercial public service broadcaster, and S4C, a Welsh language broadcaster in Wales. Furthermore, the two commercial analogue broadcasters ITV and Channel 5 also have significant public service obligations imposed as part of their licence to broadcast.

In the UK there are also community broadcasters, there are now 228 stations with FM broadcast licences (licensed by OfCom) Community radio stations typically cover a small geographical area with a coverage radius of up to 5km and run on a not-for-profit basis. They can cater for whole communities or for different areas of interest – such as a particular ethnic group, age group or interest group. Community radio stations reflect a diverse mix of cultures and interests. For example, you can listen to stations which cater for urban or experimental music, while others are aimed at younger people, religious communities or the Armed Forces and their families.

Scandinavia

National public broadcasters in the Scandinavian countries were modelled after the BBC and established a decade later: Radioordningen (now DR) in Denmark, Kringkastingselskapet (now NRK) in Norway, and Radiotjänst (now Sveriges Radio and Sveriges Television) in Sweden (all in 1925), and YLE in Finland in 1926. All four are funded from television licence fees costing (in 2007) around () per household per year.

Spain

In Spain, being a highly decentralised country, two public broadcasting systems coexist: a national broadcasting television, Radio y Televisión Española (RTVE), that can be watched all around Spain, and many autonomic TV channels, only broadcasted within their respective Autonomous Community. Televisión Española was founded in 1956, during Franco's dictatorship. It broadcasts two different TV-channels: TVE1 (a.k.a La Primera or La uno), that is a wide-range audience general channel; and TVE2, (a.k.a La dos), that tends to offer cultural programation, as well as sport competitions. Till 2008, RTVE was founded both with public funding and with private advertising; however, the Spanish government has recently decreed that starting in September 2009, RTVE's channels shall be founded with taxpayer's money and with private founding raised from the rest of Spain's private TV stations, thus removing advertising from the broadcaster. A TV licence fee has been suggested, but with little popular success.

Moreover, each of the autonomous communities of Spain have their own public broadcaster, usually consisting in either one or two public channels that tend to reproduce the model set up by Televisión Española: a general channel and a more cultural related one. In the Autonomous Communities that have their own official language besides Spanish, those channels may broadcast not in Spanish, but in the other co-official language. For example, this occurs in Catalonia, where Televisió de Catalunya broadcasts mainly in Catalan. In the Basque Country, Euskal Telebista (ETB) has three channels, two of which broadcast only in basque (ETB 1 and ETB 3), whereas the other (ETB 2) broadcasts in Spanish. In Galicia, the Television de Galicia and the G2. All the autonomic networks are publicly founded, and also admit private advertising.

North and South America

Argentina

State presence in television had a strong history, not in the way of European style public service radio or television. The private sector has taken an active role in the development of television in Buenos Aires. In opposition, state broadcasters tend to be federal and technical inovative, such as the Argentinian Canal 7, the first 60 years old national tv station.

Canada

In Canada, the main public broadcaster is the national Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (the CBC), which operates two television networks (CBC Television and Télévision de Radio-Canada), four radio networks (CBC Radio One, CBC Radio Two, Première Chaîne and Espace musique) and two 24-hour news channels (CBC News Network and RDI) in both of Canada's official languages. CBC's television operations are funded in part by advertisements, in addition to tax dollars from the federal government (Newsworld and RDI are funded entirely by commercials). CBC's radio operations are commercial-free. In recent years, the CBC was frequently battered by budget cuts and labour disputes.

In addition, several provinces operate public broadcasters; these are not CBC subentities, but distinct networks in their own right. These include the English-language TVOntario and the French-language TFO in Ontario, Télé-Québec in Quebec, SCN in Saskatchewan, public radio station CKUA in Alberta, and Knowledge in British Columbia. Some of the provincial broadcasters operate through conventional transmitters, while others are cable-only channels.

Alberta also has a semi-public television network, Access, which is licensed to provide some public service programming but is owned and operated by a commercial broadcaster. The network, formerly a public broadcaster operated by the provincial government, was sold to CHUM Limited in 1995. CJRT-FM in Toronto also operated as a public government-owned radio station for many years; while no longer funded by the provincial government, it still solicits most of its budget from listener and corporate donations and is permitted to air only a very small amount of commercial advertising. One television station, CFTU in Montreal, operates as an educational station owned by the Université de Montréal. Some other universities have dedicated cable channels to broadcast educational programming, but no other university in Canada operates a conventional broadcast television station.

Some local community stations also operate non-commercially with funding from corporate and individual donors. In addition, cable companies are required to produce a local community channel in each licensed market. Such channels have traditionally aired community talk shows, city council meetings and other locally oriented programming, although it is becoming increasingly common for them to adopt the format and branding of a local news channel.

Canada also has a large number of campus radio and community radio stations.

Chile

The closest model to the British BBC is that of Chile's Televisión Nacional, an open channel which serves the entire country (including Easter Island and Antarctica bases). Televisión Nacional, popularly known as channel 7 because of its Santiago frequency, is governed by a seven-member board appointed by the Chilean Senate. It is meant to be independent of political pressures, although accusations of bias have been made, especially during election campaigns.

United States

Public broadcasting in the United States is as old as broadcasting itself. Most early public stations were operated by state colleges and universities, and were often run as part of the schools' cooperative extension services. Stations in this era were internally funded, and did not rely on listener contributions to operate; some accepted advertising. Networks such as Iowa, South Dakota, and Wisconsin Public Radio began in this way.

The concept of a "non-commercial, educational" station per se does not show up in U.S. law until the 1940s, when the FM band was moved to its present location; the part of the band between 88.1 and 91.9 MHz is reserved for such stations, though they are not limited to those frequencies. For example, WFIU-Bloomington, Ind. has its FM frequency at 103.7 MHz. Houston's KUHT was the nation's first public television station, and signed on the air in 25 May 1953 from the campus of the University of Houston. This phenomenon continued in other big cities in the 1950s; in rural areas, it was not uncommon for colleges to operate commercial stations instead (e.g., the University of Missouri's KOMU-TV, an NBC affiliate).

In the United States, public broadcasting is decentralized and is not government operated, but does receive some government support. Some of the funding comes from community support to hundreds of public radio and public television stations, each of which is an individual entity licensed to one of several different non-profit organizations, municipal or state governments, or universities. Sources of funding also include on-air and online pledge drives and the sale of underwriting "spots" (typically 15–30 seconds) to sponsors. Public radio and television stations often produce their own programs as well as purchase additional programming from national producers and program distributors such as National Public Radio (NPR), Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), Public Radio International (PRI), American Public Television (APT), American Public Media (APM), and Public Radio Exchange (PRX). U.S. federal government support for public radio and television is filtered through a separate organization, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).

Public broadcasting is sometimes also referred to as public media, in an effort to capture the expansion of public broadcasting content from radio and television into digital technologies, in particular the web and mobile platforms. While some consider public media to be analogous to public broadcasting, others use the term more broadly to include all noncommercial media.

Individual stations and programs rely on highly varied proportions of funding. Program-by-program funding creates the potential for conflict-of-interest situations, which must be weighed program by program under standards such as the guidelines established by PBS. Donations are widely dispersed to stations and producers, giving the system a resilience and broad base of support but diffusing authority and impeding decisive change and priority-setting.

Television

In the United States, the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) (formerly National Educational Television) television network operates on a largely viewer-supported basis (see telethon), with commercial sponsors of specific programs. Over time, sponsorship announcements ("underwriting") have slowly transformed into something resembling regular (commercial) TV advertisements, though they are usually shorter and have a more muted tone than what normally appears on commercial and cable TV, and many organizations still only receive a short thanks for their contributions. Underwriting may only issue declarative statements (including slogans) and may not include "calls to action". Most communities also have Public-access television channels on local cable television systems, which are generally paid for by Cable television franchise fees and sometimes supported in part through citizens donations.

US public broadcasting for television has, from the late 1960s onward, dealt with severe criticism from conservative politicians and think-tanks, which allege that its programming has a leftist bias.

Radio

A public radio network, National Public Radio (NPR), was created in 1970, following the passage of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 which established the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. This network is colloquially though inaccurately conflated with public radio as a whole, when in fact public radio includes many organizations. Independent local public radio stations buy their programming from distributors such as NPR; Public Radio International (PRI); American Public Media (APM); Public Radio Exchange (PRX); and Pacifica Radio, most often distributed through the Public Radio Satellite System (PRSS). Around these distributed programs, stations fill in varying amounts of local and other programming. Some stations and producers receive no federal funding.

Public radio stations in the U.S. tend to broadcast a mixture of news and talk radio programming along with some arts, culture, and music. Some of the larger operations split off these formats into separate stations or networks. Public radio's music stations are probably best known for playing classical music, although other formats have been used, including the time-honored "eclectic" music format that is rather freeform in nature common among college radio stations; jazz is another public radio programming staple.

Local stations derive some of the funding for their operations through regular pledge drives seeking individual and corporate donations, and corporate underwriting. Some stations also derive a portion of their funding from federal, state and local governments and government-funded colleges and universities (in addition to receiving free use of the public radio spectrum). The local stations then contract with program distributors and also provide some programming themselves. NPR produces some of its own programming. PBS, by contrast, does not create its own content. NPR also receives some direct funding from private donors, foundations, and from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Venezuela

Recently, under the initiative of the Venezuelan government of president Hugo Chávez, and with the sponsorship of the governments of Argentina, Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador and Nicaragua, the news and documentary network teleSUR was created with the intended to be an instrument toward the "concretizing of the Bolivarian idea" through the integration of America, and as a counterweight to what the governments that funds it consider a "distorted view of Latin American reality by privately run networks that broadcast to the region". There is an ongoing debate on whether teleSUR will be able become a neutral and fair news channel able to counter the huge influence of global media outlets, or whether it will end up as a propaganda tool of the Venezuelan government, which owns a 51 percent share of said channel.

Oceania

Australia

In Australia, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is owned by the Australian Government and is 100% taxpayer funded. The multicultural Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), another public broadcaster, now accepts limited sponsorship and advertising. Imparja is an Aboriginal community broadcaster in Australia that receives funding from the Federal Government. Most of its programs are bought from Australia's commercial broadcasters, and it only airs a small amount of local content.

In addition, there is a large Australian community broadcasting sector, funded in part by Federal grants via the Community Broadcasting Foundation, but largely sustained via subscriptions, donations and business sponsorship. As of June 2005, there were 442 fully-licensed community radio stations (including remote Indigenous services) and a number of community television stations (most operating as Channel 31 despite being unrelated across different states). They are organised similarly to PBS and NPR stations in the US, and take on the role that Public access television stations have in the US.

New Zealand

In New Zealand, the former public broadcaster BCNZ (formerly NZBC) was broken up into separate state-owned corporations, Television New Zealand (TVNZ) and Radio New Zealand (RNZ). While RNZ remains commercial-free, about 90% of funding for TVNZ comes from selling advertising during programmes on their two stations. TVNZ continues to be a public broadcaster; however like CBC Television in Canada it is essentially a fully commercial network in continuous ratings battles with other stations.

Programmes offered on TVNZ include popular US-produced shows like Desperate Housewives, ER, Lost, Cold Case, and Dancing with the Stars. TVNZ operates five stations: TV ONE, TV2, TVNZ 6, TVNZ 7 and TVNZ Sport Extra and hold majority ratings in the country. Because of its high ratings some of the most expensive advertising slots in the country are on TV ONE and TV2. TVNZ 6 and 7 are fully-funded and advertisement-free.

The Government owns a network of reserved channels for non-commercial regional access broadcasting, and some of them have been awarded to local community trusts to provide public service and access television. Examples are Triangle TV in Auckland and Wellington; and Channel 7 in Taranaki.

List of public broadcasters

American

Argentinian

Canal 7 Argentina — Argentina (nationwide)

Canal 10 - Tucumán — Tucumán, Argentina

Canal 10 - Rio Negro — Rio Negro, Argentina

Canal 10 - Cordoba — Cordoba, Argentina

Brazilian

TV Cultura — São Paulo, Brasil (some programming available nationwide)

TV Brasil — Rio de Janeiro, Brasil (some programming available nationwide)

Canadian

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

:*CBC Television :*Télévision de Radio-Canada :*CBC Radio One :*CBC Radio 2 :*CBC Radio 3 :*Première Chaîne :*Espace musique :*Bande à part :*CBC Newsworld :*RDI :*Radio Canada International

Knowledge — British Columbia

Saskatchewan Communications Network — Saskatchewan

Télé-Québec — Quebec

TFO — Ontario

TVOntario — Ontario

CKUA — Alberta

CJRT-FM — Toronto, Ontario

CFTU-TV — Montreal, Quebec

Chilean

Televisión Nacional de Chile — Chile (nationwide)

Colombian

National

Radio Televisión Nacional de Colombia

*Señal Colombia

*Señal Institucional

Regional

Canal 13

Teleantioquia

Telecafé

Teleislas

Televisión Regional del Oriente

Telecaribe

Telepacífico

Local

Canal Capital

Telemedellín

Costa Rican

Canal 13 (SINART) — Costa Rica

Canal 15 (Universidad de Costa Rica) — Costa Rica

Cuba

Cubavisión — Cuba

Ecuadorian

Ecuador TV - Ecuador

United States

National Public Radio

Public Broadcasting Service

Wisconsin Public Television

Minnesota Public Radio

Uruguay

TNU - Televición Nacional de Uruguay

S.O.D.R.E - Servicio Oficioal Radioletrico(en desuso)

Radio Clasica Radio Uruguay Radio Nacional

Venezuelan

Venezolana de Televisión — Venezuela (nationwide)

Televisión Educativa — Venezuela

Visión Venezuela — Venezuela

Many American countries

teleSUR — Reaches the entire continent, Europe and Northern Africa. Owned by La Nueva Televisora del Sur, a public company sponsored by several American countries.

African and Middle Eastern

SABC - South Africa

Botswana Television - Botswana

GBC - Ghana

Televisão Pública de Angola - Angola

SNRT - Morocco

ENTV & TPA - Algeria

ERTU - Egypt

LJBC - Libya

LBS - Liberia

Israel Broadcasting Authority - Israel

IRIB - Iran

Télé-Liban - Lebanon

Al Jazeera - Qatar

JRTV - Jordan

Abu Dhabi TV - United Arab Emirates

Syrian Television - Syria

Nigerian Television Authority - NTA - Nigeria

Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria - FRCN - Nigeria

Asian

Taiwan

Taiwan Broadcasting System (台灣公共廣播電視集團|TBS)

Radio Taiwan International （中央廣播電台|RTI）

National Education Radio （國立教育廣播電臺|NER）

Police Radio Station （警察廣播電台|PRS）

Taipei Broadcasting Station （台北廣播電台|TBS）

Kaohsiung Broadcasting Station （高雄廣播電台|KBS）

Hong Kong (China) SAR

Radio Television Hong Kong (香港電台|RTHK)

Macau (China) SAR

Teledifusão de Macau (澳門廣播電視股份有限公司 "澳廣視"|TDM) - Macau

Indonesia

Televisi Republik Indonesia (TVRI) - Indonesia

Malaysia

Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) - Malaysia

Singapore

Media Corproration of Singapore (MediaCorp) - Singapore

Brunei Darussalam

Radio Televisyen Brunei (RTB) - Brunei Darussalam

Asian Legends

Pakistan Television Corporation - Pakistan

Educational Broadcasting System - South Korea

Korean Broadcasting System - South Korea

Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation - South Korea; half-public, half-private

NHK - Japan

Prasar Bharati - India

*All India Radio

*Doordarshan

Nepal television (NTV)- Nepal

*NTV Metro 2

*Radio Nepal

Vietnam Television - Vietnam

Thai Public Broadcasting Service - Thailand

National Broadcasting Network - Philippines

Oceanian

Australia

Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Special Broadcasting Service

Imparja Television

East Timor

Radio-Televisão Timor Leste

New Zealand

Radio New Zealand

European

ARD — working partnership of German public-service broadcasters

*Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk — Leipzig

*Westdeutscher Rundfunk — Cologne

*Norddeutscher Rundfunk — Hamburg

*Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg — Berlin

*Bayerischer Rundfunk — Munich

*Südwestrundfunk — Stuttgart

*Saarländischer Rundfunk — Saarbrücken

*Hessischer Rundfunk — Frankfurt

*Radio Bremen — Bremen

Arte — France / Germany

BBC — United Kingdom

BNT — Bulgaria

BRF — German-speaking Community of Belgium

BVN — Flanders and Netherlands television

Česká televize — Czech Republic

Channel 4 — United Kingdom

Danmarks Radio — Denmark

Duna TV— Hungary

EITB- Basque Country

ERT — Greece

ETV — Estonia

France Télévisions

*France 2

*France 3

*France 4

*France 5

GBC — Gibraltar

KNR — Greenland

HRT — Croatia

LRT — Lithuania

LTV — Latvia

Magyar Televízió — Hungary

MRT — FYR Macedonia

NRK — Norway

NTKU - Ukraine

ORF — Austria

Polish Radio - Poland

PBS — Malta

Netherlands Public Broadcasting — Netherlands

*BNN

*EO

*KRO

*LLiNK

*MAX

*NCRV

*TROS

*VARA

*VPRO

RTP — Portugal

Radio France

*France Inter

*France Info

*France Culture

*France Musique

*France Bleu

*FIP

*Le Mouv'

Radio France Internationale

Ràdio i Televisió d'Andorra — Andorra

RAI — Italy

RAS — Italy

RTBF — Wallonia, Belgium

RTCG — Montenegro

RTÉ — Ireland

RTS — Serbia

RTSH — Albania

RTK - Kosovo

RTV Slovenija — Slovenia

RTVE — Spain

*TVE-1

*TVE-2

*Clan TVE

*Canal 24 Horas

*Teledeporte

*TVE Internacional

RÚV — Iceland

S4C — Wales, United Kingdom

Sjónvarp Føroya — Faroe Islands

SRG SSR idée suisse — Switzerland

STV — Slovakia

SVT - Sveriges Television — Sweden

SR - Sveriges Radio — Sweden

UR — Sweden

TG4 — Ireland

TVP — Poland

Televisió de Catalunya — Catalonia

TVR — Romania

TRT — Turkey

VRT — Flanders, Belgium

Yleisradio — Finland

ZDF — Germany

See also

Campus radio

Citizen media

Commercial broadcasting

Community radio

Corporate media

Pirate broadcasting

Religious broadcasting

Notes

References

External links

The 100th Anniversary of Public Broadcasting

Public Broadcasting Map

Public Radio Map (in portuguese)

A Model Public Service Broadcasting Law, by ARTICLE 19

AIR, the Association for Independents in Radio

Current, the newspaper about public TV and radio in the United States

Public Radio Exchange, non-profit distribution, peer review and licensing

Public Radio Fan website, Public Radio Fan is a listing of public radio programs and stations worldwide.

Radio College, Internet Resources for Radio Journalists and Producers

Transom, A Showcase and Workshop for New Public Radio

Interview with public radio guru Jay Allison on the purpose of public media, on ThoughtCast.

Comparative Advantage - Some Considerations Regarding the Future of Public Media.

Access to the Airwaves: Principles on Freedom of Expression and Broadcast Regulation

The Association of Public Television Stations

The Public Radio Program Directors Association

Ray Fitzwalter on public service broadcasting in Britain London Frontline Club, May 2008.

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