KCTS-TV

KCTS-TV, channel 9, is a non-commercial educational station licensed to Seattle, Washington, USA. KCTS-TV is the primary member station of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) for the Seattle-Tacoma television market. The station's offices and studios are located at the northeast corner of Seattle Center, and its transmitter is based on Capitol Hill in Seattle.

KCTS-TV also operates KYVE (channel 47) in Yakima, Washington, which serves as the PBS member station for the western portion of the Yakima/Tri-Cities market. KYVE has its own studio on Second Street in Yakima, though some support operations are based at KCTS' studios in Seattle.

History

KCTS first went on the air on December 7, 1954, broadcasting from the campus of the University of Washington, the station's original licensee, and using equipment donated by KING-TV owner Dorothy Bullitt.

During the 1950s and 1960s, KCTS primarily supplied classroom instructional programs used in Washington State's K–12 schools, plus National Educational Television programs. Outside of schoolrooms, KCTS' audience among the general public was somewhat limited, and most programming was in black-and-white until the mid-1970s.