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KCTS Television 

Description

KCTS 9 provides exceptional, relevant programming on air, online and in the community to positively impact the quality of life for our 2.7 million weekly viewers. Our goal is to enrich and improve the lives of our public and their communities in Washington state and British Columbia through free access to independent public media services. We excel in examining public issues in a thoughtful, engaging way; exploring and celebrating our rich diversity of arts, culture and heritage; facilitating lifelong learning for all ages; and providing free access to world-class programming.

Mission Statement
KCTS 9's mission is to improve the quality of life in the communities we serve by providing meaningful programming on air, online, and in the community that informs, involves and inspires.
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KCTS Television
401 Mercer St 
Seattle 
WA
98109-4640 
(206) 728-6463 

Maurice "Moss" Bresnahan 
President & CEO 

Programs

KCTS Television Programs

On Air
KCTS 9, a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member station, provides award-winning TV programming through three free digital channels: KCTS 9, Create and Vme. In the last two years, KCTS 9 has significantly advanced our goal to increase relevant, local content production that is especially meaningful for our regional audiences. Key partnerships contribute to KCTS 9 specials such as the recent documentaries When Seattle Invented the Future: The 1962 World’s Fair; Something in the Water, exploring the Seattle music scene; and Undamming the Elwha, chronicling the historic removal of the Elwha River dams.

Online Content
KCTS 9 consistently provides expanded access to our local and national on-air programming via web streaming, in addition to producing web-only content. Examples include interviews with luminaries in the arts, public affairs, science, education, and literature, and video from numerous community events including our popular Science Cafés. KCTS 9 uses social media to create interactive engagement opportunities with and among our viewers, as well as to collect vital feedback.

Community-Based Engagement and Outreach
In order to extend the reach and impact of our local and national on-air programming, each year KCTS 9 offers hundreds of media services (e.g., screenings), educational opportunities and curriculum (digital storytelling workshops, teacher trainings and classroom materials) and collaborative activities (community summits, Town Halls) to engage individuals and foster community, addressing a wide range of issues. KCTS 9 annually hosts the Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood Sweater Drive in partnership with PCC Natural Markets and our communities to benefit Wellspring Family Services and Northwest Center.

Recent Successes and Current Challenges

The impact of KCTS 9’s media services has been measurably increased by successfully meeting our goal to create standards-aligned classroom materials and youth engagement. Our nationally distributed documentary The 1962 World’s Fair: When Seattle Invented the Future won an Association of King County Historical Organizations (AKCHO) Heritage Education Award for its educational curriculum created in a collaborative partnership. For our Golden Apple Awards 20th anniversary, one recipient – Lincoln High School – was spotlighted in student video diaries created with small cameras KCTS 9 provided to students who examined school reform from their own point of view. The videos and accompanying case study (available on our website) powerfully convey the story of transformative urban education in Washington state, showing how one school incorporated the writing curricula into its normal class curriculum. KCTS 9 now locally distributes the new PBS LearningMedia, a free online classroom-ready library of PreK-12 standards-aligned curriculum materials, resources and digital assets. Our editorial process to evaluate new production ideas now includes the potential for educational resources for the KCTS 9 website and PBS LearningMedia. 

Our most important need is support that enables KCTS 9 to tell more of our region’s most compelling stories, including those of national appeal—in arts & culture, civic engagement & public affairs, history & heritage, and science & the environment (STEM literacy - science, technology, engineering and math). This will allow us to share the distinctive stories of what we've faced, our unique accomplishments and the innovative solutions we seek: the stories that define us, bind us together and help shape our future.

Evaluation


KCTS Television (KCTS), the Pacific Northwest’s award-winning Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) station, uses its programming to increase the public knowledge and add to understanding and appreciation of the diversity and widely different cultures, traditions and practices within the local and global community. They have grown from being a public broadcast station delivering television content into the region’s hub for public media with local content developed through partnerships, delivered across multiple platforms, and integrating new media technologies.

Accessibility and Cultural Competency
KCTS’ Arts & Culture local content initiative works to reduce disparities and access barriers to arts and culture experiences through bringing these experiences to a television audience that may be prevented from seeing them in person by financial, regional or other barriers.
KCTS is also the exclusive broadcaster of Vme, a ground-breaking Spanish-language digital public television network that features original productions and Spanish-language versions of PBS programming.

Sustainability
KCTS has a wide support network with 2.4+ million weekly viewers and growing numbers of individual donors, including around 20,000 donors who have supported KCTS for more than 20 years. Between FY09 and FY10, a time of economic hardship and decreased giving nationwide, KCTS’ number of donors grew by 2% and the donor percentage of viewing households grew by 2.4%. They consistently have among the highest ratings in the country for public programming.

Collaboration
KCTS has agreements in place with almost every cultural organization in the community to help bring their programming to television in some way. For example, the documentary, “Picasso in Seattle: Private Life, Private Collection,” was produced in partnership with the Seattle Art Museum and highly successful for both organizations. This partnership continues to examine opportunities for the two organizations for both the near- and long- term.

The station’s new local weekly independent film series, “Reel NW,” engages a multitude of partners as it showcases films made/shot in the Northwest by a Northwest filmmaker and/or covering a relevant Northwest topic.

Grant History with The Seattle Foundation:

Grants Awarded through The Seattle Foundation Grantmaking Program:

DateAmountPurpose
9/10/2011 $15,000.00support general operating expenses.
3/10/2009 $35,000.00support general operating expenses.
12/14/2006 $40,000.00support general operating expenses.
6/17/2004 $35,000.00support general operating expenses.

Financials

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