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KEDT
KEDT (channel 16) is a PBS member television station in Corpus Christi, Texas, United States. It is owned by South Texas Public Broadcasting alongside NPR member KEDT-FM (90.3). The two outlets share studios on South Staples Street in Corpus Christi; the TV station's transmitter is located near Petronila, Texas.
KEDT was created by businessman Charles Butt to bring public television to south Texas. Butt, part of the family that founded the H-E-B supermarket chain, joined with Don Weber, another businessman, and the two approached the Corpus Christi business community with a proposal to start a local PBS television station. Others became interested, and soon formed a Board of Directors.
The station's original equipment were donations from KVVV-TV of Galveston, an independent station that had ceased operations in 1969. The original transmitter location was on a site donated by a local rancher. The original broadcast facilities were in an abandoned school building in town, and the original programming was provided by San Antonio PBS station KLRN via telephone cables. KEDT signed on the air on October 16, 1972. The station moved into its current facilities the following year.
KEDT was well received in the community; the station received additional funding from philanthropy.[citation needed] In 1980, South Texas Public Broadcasting System, the station's owner, applied for a low-power repeater station for Victoria that would have expanded KEDT's reach in South Texas. In addition, KEDT began to produce its own programming, supplementing PBS fare.
However, the Corpus Christi economy was heavily dependent on one industry that is subject to its fortunes and misfortunes. As the energy industry began to disappear in the mid- to late 1980s, so would the funding KEDT received in the late 1970s and early 1980s.[citation needed] Corporate and personal donations to the station all but vanished, and the locally produced programming did not generate enough revenue to meet the station's needs.[citation needed] Plans for the Victoria repeater were scrapped in late 1984. By the end of the 1980s, KEDT was deeply in debt.[citation needed]
The station began to recover in the 1990s through debt restructuring, aggressive cost-cutting, and revenue enhancement.[citation needed] KEDT outsourced many of its non-essential functions and began changing its programming. One such change was the addition of distance learning in conjunction with local educational establishments.[citation needed]
The advent of the new century brought new opportunities and challenges to KEDT. Digital television (DTV) has brought new financial burdens to the station, but also allowed for modernization. As of 2003, the station was still using some of its original equipment and transmitter from 1972, so DTV presented an opportunity to modernize. In addition, DTV has allowed the station to air even more programming.[citation needed]
On January 16, 2008, a U.S. Navy MH 53 Sea Dragon helicopter crashed into KEDT's tower, killing three sailors, damaging the top 75 feet of the 1000-foot tower, including the beacon light and the antenna, and knocking the station off the air. KEDT resumed broadcasting the next day from auxiliary facilities at reduced power.
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KEDT
KEDT (channel 16) is a PBS member television station in Corpus Christi, Texas, United States. It is owned by South Texas Public Broadcasting alongside NPR member KEDT-FM (90.3). The two outlets share studios on South Staples Street in Corpus Christi; the TV station's transmitter is located near Petronila, Texas.
KEDT was created by businessman Charles Butt to bring public television to south Texas. Butt, part of the family that founded the H-E-B supermarket chain, joined with Don Weber, another businessman, and the two approached the Corpus Christi business community with a proposal to start a local PBS television station. Others became interested, and soon formed a Board of Directors.
The station's original equipment were donations from KVVV-TV of Galveston, an independent station that had ceased operations in 1969. The original transmitter location was on a site donated by a local rancher. The original broadcast facilities were in an abandoned school building in town, and the original programming was provided by San Antonio PBS station KLRN via telephone cables. KEDT signed on the air on October 16, 1972. The station moved into its current facilities the following year.
KEDT was well received in the community; the station received additional funding from philanthropy.[citation needed] In 1980, South Texas Public Broadcasting System, the station's owner, applied for a low-power repeater station for Victoria that would have expanded KEDT's reach in South Texas. In addition, KEDT began to produce its own programming, supplementing PBS fare.
However, the Corpus Christi economy was heavily dependent on one industry that is subject to its fortunes and misfortunes. As the energy industry began to disappear in the mid- to late 1980s, so would the funding KEDT received in the late 1970s and early 1980s.[citation needed] Corporate and personal donations to the station all but vanished, and the locally produced programming did not generate enough revenue to meet the station's needs.[citation needed] Plans for the Victoria repeater were scrapped in late 1984. By the end of the 1980s, KEDT was deeply in debt.[citation needed]
The station began to recover in the 1990s through debt restructuring, aggressive cost-cutting, and revenue enhancement.[citation needed] KEDT outsourced many of its non-essential functions and began changing its programming. One such change was the addition of distance learning in conjunction with local educational establishments.[citation needed]
The advent of the new century brought new opportunities and challenges to KEDT. Digital television (DTV) has brought new financial burdens to the station, but also allowed for modernization. As of 2003, the station was still using some of its original equipment and transmitter from 1972, so DTV presented an opportunity to modernize. In addition, DTV has allowed the station to air even more programming.[citation needed]
On January 16, 2008, a U.S. Navy MH 53 Sea Dragon helicopter crashed into KEDT's tower, killing three sailors, damaging the top 75 feet of the 1000-foot tower, including the beacon light and the antenna, and knocking the station off the air. KEDT resumed broadcasting the next day from auxiliary facilities at reduced power.