History
The network's flagship station, KRMA-TV, channel 6 in Denver, signed on January 30, 1956 as an educational television station owned by the Denver Public Schools, with University of Denver instructor Jim Case as program director. It is the oldest public television station in the Rockies. Its studio was located in a converted body shop at the Emily Griffith Opportunity School in downtown Denver. Originally a member of National Educational Television, it joined PBS in 1969.
Originally broadcasting only two hours of programming a day during the week, KRMA soon became a key PBS member, bringing PBS programming to many areas that didn't have stations of their own. From the 1960s onward, it began building translators across Colorado and surrounding states. It was also picked up by nearly every cable television system in Colorado and eastern Wyoming. Denver Public Schools sold KRMA to Channel Six, Inc., a community group, in 1987. In 1992, KRMA moved into its present–day studios at 1089 Bannock St. in Denver. Prior to KRMA moving in, the same building use to house KUSA before the move to their current home located at 500 Speer.
In response to requests from viewers on the Western Slope, KRMA applied for and won a construction permit for channel 18 in Grand Junction in August 1995. That station signed on for the first time in August 1997 as KRMJ. Before then, KRMA had been available on cable in western Colorado for decades, and also operated numerous translators in the region. Soon afterward, KRMA dropped its longtime branding of "Six" and relaunched as Rocky Mountain PBS, and Channel Six, Inc. changed its name to the Rocky Mountain Public Broadcasting Network.
In 1999, KTSC, channel 8 in Pueblo joined the network. Formerly owned by Colorado State University - Pueblo, KTSC had been the PBS station for Pueblo and Colorado Springs since 1971.
On December 3, 2004 KRMU, channel 20, in Durango, Colorado signed on to serve southwestern Colorado and a small portion of northwestern New Mexico. When KRMU received its license in 2001, it was the nation's first digital television station without a prior analog assignment.
On February 2, 2007, Rocky Mountain PBS added its fifth full-service station and second station in western Colorado--KMAS-TV, channel 24 in Steamboat Springs. KMAS had been Denver's Telemundo station, and brought its programming into Denver itself by way of low-powered satellites. However, its status was placed in doubt when NBC purchased KDEN-TV and moved Telemundo programming there. NBC finally decided to donate KMAS to Rocky Mountain PBS rather than shut it down. On September 4, 2007, the station's call letters were changed to KRMZ, reflecting its identity as a Rocky Mountain PBS station.
Read more about this topic: Rocky Mountain PBS
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